Octiles
Octiles is an abstract strategy game designed by Dale Walton and marketed by Out of the Box Publishing. The games is for 2 to 4 players and combines elements of tile laying, maze building and racing.The game board consists of 17 octagonal spaces on each of which can be layed one of 18 octagonal tiles - hence the name "octiles". Each tile shows four paths from one side to another, these paths crossing over and under each other rather than intersecting. Where the tiles meet there are 16 "stop" points.
Each player has five pieces of their colour and the objective of the game is to get these across to the opposite side of the board.
At the start of the game 17 of the 18 tiles are randomly placed face down on the board. The remaining tile is left face up as the switch tile. Players take turns to swap the switch tile with any other tile on the board - either face down or face up - and move one of their pieces to a "stop" point.
When exchanging the switch tile with a face down tile the players are effectively extending the board. When they exchange the switch tile with a face up tile they are changing the board. The constantly changing nature of the board gives Octiles a lot of depth of strategy.
Shorter games can be played simply by using 3 or 4 runners each instead of all 5. It is also possible to play octiles solitaire as a puzzle. There are also a number of more advanced games and variations some of which have been produced by fans.
External Links:
Out of the Box: Octiles Rules
Variations
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