In our family Christmas was always a time for game playing, my mother was a great checkers player and the fun of Chinese Checkers, Dominos, Croackino, and Chess were part of the celebration while some of the family played the traditional card game King Pedro and Auntie Verna liked to play Whist. The tradition has not changed over the years, some years we would get involved in lengthy exhausting games of Monopoly, which my sister the banker never ever lost and for some years we would throw darts and play a round of pool. But year after year the simple solid games that all could play, young and old alike were the favourites.
With this in mind I was amazed at the successive levels of play in a new Saskatchewan developed board game Pentagonia. This clever game with some very distant roots in the past has the appeal of the classic games of Checkers but with the advanced stages involving complex moves similar to Chess. Played by two players the game is begun as a simple variation on tic-tac-toe but once all of each players buttons get on the board the game evolves into a new form of play with the elimination of the opponents buttons, in fact two more levels of play each more complex kick in as the game advances yet the rules are so simple that any child would immediately know what to do.
It is rare that a new game of this universal appeal comes along. Most new games are trendy fads that are modifications of parlour games or involve the dynamics of television game shows but they rarely engage young and old alike or offer the great experience of young and old playing with each other. Pentagonia offers this wide range of experience and comes in a remarkably simple format.
The game has not yet broken into the mass-market chain store environment but thanks to the Internet is widely available. Developed and tested in Saskatoon the game's destine to become a classic as people all over North America are ordering their copies at $29.95. (For more information check out the web sites or email the creator of the game.)