Second Look—Kulami & Six

Some of you probably read my Toy Fair coverage of FoxMind Games, and know that I got a good look at the two games I’m about to review. Kulami and Six are both beautiful abstract strategy games with a very minimalistic design.

Kulami is a game about area control. The playing space is built from several blocks that each have between 2 and six spaces. The only limitation of the play space is that it cannot exceed 10 spaces vertically or horizontally. Once built, each player takes turns placing their colored marbles on the tiles trying to have a majority of their color on them. There’s rules to how you can place your marbles, though. A marble can only be placed on the same row or column as the last marble played. Also, it cannot be played on the same tile the last person played on, or the last tile you played on. Play continues until all marbles are placed, or no more moves that can be made. The players then take all the tiles that they have the majority on and tally up all the spaces on those tiles for their score. Highest score wins.

It’s beautiful, simple to learn, and provides a lot of choice and depth. You can’t really ask for much more in an abstract strategy. My whole family has enjoyed this one, and it’s hitting the table pretty regularly.

While I wouldn’t think it possible, Six has been hitting our table even more. This is especially a big hit with my 7-year-old son. The game is so easy to pick up and play, that it almost baffles me that there’s as much depth as there is.

The goal of six is to get six of your hexagons into one of three shapes: a line, a triangle, or a hexagon. Each turn a player places a hexagon down with the only rule being that it has to touch another hexagon. Play continues until one player wins. If each player has placed all their hexagons without a winner, then pieces can start to move around the board. What’s cool is that if a section of the play area becomes unattached, those tiles are then removed from the game.

Overall, both of these games are solid titles. They’re well made, striking, easy to learn, and fun to play. FoxMind continues to impress me.

Copies of Kulami and Six were provided free for review my FoxMind Games.