Board Game Review - Relapse

This review is about a simple abstract strategy game given by Jeffery A. Krueger that I got to know on Facebook. The game arrive via air mail to Pitstop Cafe. It is one of those rare games that you don't find in other cafes.

Overview

Relapse is a 2 player abstract strategy game that has certain similarity to checkers. The objective of the games is to get your 4 out of 6 of your own pieces into your opponent's area, vice versa.

Game Components

The game component is pretty basic. It consist of a board and 2 set of plastic pieces that come in 3 different shapes. The rulebook is simple but isn't detailed enough. Illustrations would definitely be better but thankfully there is a video clip on the game play that is available on Youtube.

Game Play

The game play shares some characteristic of chess, with each piece having a different type of movement. The game pieces consist of 3 different type of shape, square, triangle and circle. The square can move one step at a time in horizontal or vertical direction. Triangle can only move one step diagonally and the circle is the most flexible having one step movement in any of the eight directions.

Moving the pieces across the board into the opponent's area. It is harder than it seem!

This configuration results in some interesting game play. Each player will need to move their pieces to a same zone across the board. During the movement, you can capture opponent pieces by moving into their occupied space. When this happen, they have to go all the way back to the home base and try again.

Hence a good strategy that utilizes the different movement of the pieces are necessary to advance your pieces into the opponent's base without being capture and send back to base.

Theme

I think it is a pity that the game designer did not incorporate a theme into the game, making the game play a really abstract experience that a limited group of people would enjoy. Instead of just shapes and a plain board, why not change them into military units in which they have to advance though the terrains to capture the enemy base? That would definitely make the game more interesting to the causal crowd.

Conclusion

This is a abstract strategy game that some would like while others would find it dry. The concept is interesting and it can be interesting trying to figure out a way to utilize the different movement characteristic of the pieces to win your opponent. However I find the pace slow due to the small movement step. A piece that got capture will have to start from the base again, making the game play a bit repetitive.

Nevertheless, the game is easy to pick up and suitable for folks who like games like chess and checkers. A good theme with a faster pace would make this game more appealing to the causal gamers.

This game is available at Pitstop Cafe, special thanks to Jeffery for giving us the game. Do give it a try and let me know what you think. 

Pitstop Cafe, be part of the fun!

WeeKee