Games

Octathlon. What does it mean?

Oct (from Greek) is a prefix, forming words that signify 8 of something. You have probably heard of a decathlon. Dec or deca is the Greek prefix for 10. Athlon is Greek for contest. A decathlon is 10 events which together form a contest. Hence, Octathlon is 8 events that form a contest. Competing in this begins the game and is the initial source of income for succeeding in winning the game. Pronounce the word with the accent on ATH. Oct ATH lon.

Octathlon is designed to be interactive. Very little waiting your turn. Most turns involve more than one player. The game is started by all 4 players (4 players makes the best game) together playing each of the 8 events in the running of the Octathlon.

Some events involve playing cards and some involve dice. And some are played on scratch paper.

Players each have 2 vehicles and travel the income highway to earn chips which are needed to develop property in their own town.

There are several suggested variations to the game. For example, for a much shorter game, any amount of players can just play the running of the 8 Octathlon events and tally their winnings. Play it through once or several times.