Description

?????????? (Penta cube match) is a 2 player abstract game from Japan. Players are trying to fill a narrow space with pentacubes against the clock.

A pentacube is made from five cubes joined in various different patterns. There are two sets of matching cubes, one set for each player. At the beginning of the game, all the pentacubes are mixed up in a bag, and each player draws three. They take turns placing two of them on the board in any position, and keep the third as their hand.

The board is a simple 6*7 grid and the pentacubes must not go outside of the grid. Nor can they go any higher than two cubes.

The remaining cubes are tipped out in a pile, and players cannot touch them. One player starts and must pick a pentacube to place by sight alone in ten seconds, counted down by the opponent (who is allowed to count fast!). Once they have chosen their piece, they take it from the pile, and either place it or the hand pentacube, so that it fits on the board and goes no higher than 2 cubes.

Players alternate this way until one player can no longer place legally, and they lose.

The designer points out that players suffer in the back end of the game from poor choices made at the opening. Planning ahead is crucial to survival.
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