All games are “Abstract” games, allowing us to escape the boring and monotonous life for a while. It momentarily grants us opportunity to act, and to make decisions, from a perspective which is entirely different from our current life situation. Theme plays a very important role in the graphics of a game. It enables publishers to create vivid artwork, card text and descriptions, or miniatures to boost the engagement of the game play. Nevertheless, there are a plethora of games, old as well as new board games that are wholly bereft of any theme. Consequently, such games depend entirely on the intellectual challenge of the actual game in lieu of some added distractions of a thematic background story or visually stimulating components. In the world of board gaming, such games are regarded as Abstract Games.

In broader way, abstract board games are the games that do not rely on any odds. It’s where players skills and strategic thinking come into play! These games comprise no random elements, like rolling dice or drawing cards. Usually, abstract board games are aimed to avoid any tactical advantage that might divert players from thinking strategically, ultimately resulting in an easy/common game. However, not all games are challenging, most of the new abstract games are simple and easy to learn at their core. Yet, you need to think deeply to provoke strategy mechanics under the surface and evoke the challenges to do better the next around. Since added themes are quite unnecessary to the actual game play, these games have very simple and cleanly designed components, enabling players to emphasize the rational aspects of the game without any unimportant visual distractions. Most abstract games tend to be designed for 2 players but there are several exceptions that permit more players.

The most renowned example of an abstract game is ‘Chess,’ as it has no visually designed presentations except a vague battle of two royal courts. The basics of chess are quite easy to understand, yet it takes a long time (sometimes lifetime) to become an ace at it. It has no element of luck except the random start player option. The game wholly relies on the player’s strategic thinking and plotting. In today’s board gaming era, abstract games are quite popular with new and exciting new games entering the market daily. Try conceptual best board games on sales if you are competitive and relish a strategic challenge. There is something intrinsically gratifying in immersing yourself in intense combat of wits with your competitor while endeavoring to abide one step forth from them. Here are some of the best board abstract games:

Hive

This game requires 2 players under the age of 9 years or older. This is one of the new abstract games, which is an extremely addictive game that is not limited to a board only, as you can play it anywhere on any surface. This game comprises twenty-two pieces, eleven black and eleven white, that resemble numerous creatures each with a distinctive approach of moving. It won’t be wrong to call it the new version of chess with bugs. Each bug moves differently. The main objective of the game is to entirely trap your opponent’s queen bee along with safeguarding your queen bee from getting trapped by the opponent. The bugs encircling the Queen Bee could be made up of a mixture of both your creatures as well as your opponent’s. Lastly, the player who succeeds in trapping the queen first, wins the game!

Onitama

This abstract board game requires 2 players of age 8 years or above. This is a new board game, which involves random starting set-up. The board is of the same length and breadth. Both players commence the game with five pawns on their side, with the main pawn kept in the center. Both the players have two open cards, displaying the possible move for any of their pieces. Players cannot use the fifth card. While playing, players need to choose one of their cards with which they tend to take their move. Then, they put back the used card with the fifth card. The other player then picks one of their cards, and proceeds with the same. If you move onto one of your opponent’s pawns, it can remove that pawn from the game. In nutshell, the one who takes the opponent’s main pawn or moves their main pawn into the opponent’s main pawn’s starting space, triumphs the game!

Tzaar

Tzaar is among the best abstract board games. This game is played on a hexagonal grid with a gap in the center, wherein each player starts with a collection of pieces on the board. There are three types of elements with the same distribution among both players. In this game, either you need to move your pieces in a straight line to eliminate opposing pieces or stack your details on your own to make them more challenging to move. Remember, you can only stop an opposite stack with one of equal or greater height. You lose once you cannot make an action, or one of your three types of pieces is no longer represented on the board! This game might seem simple initially, but after you realize the delicate interplay between reinforcing your details to safeguard them and impose damage on yourself by covering up valuable pieces (effectively eradicating them from the play) through the fortification approach.

Undoubtedly, Tzaar is a riddle you will want to play again when it ends.

Patchwork

The game is one of the new board games best known for its big games, such as Caverna, Agricola, and A Feast for Odin. You might consider it the most thematic game at first glance. However, once you start playing the game, you will understand that it can only be regarded as a thematic game in the most easygoing stints. In this game, players work to place polyominoes in the most efficient way possible, as every revealed space on the playboard counts against them at the end of the game. The game comprises two incredible systems that function in perfect unison. The first is its double coin strategy, in which each piece you take must be accounted for in two ways: movement and buttons. Parts cost buttons, but every bit will also move your pawn forward a certain number of spaces, and when you run out of areas, the game is over for you. This makes every decision agony since often the most significant pieces shoot you forward like a rocket, corrupting your runway and leaving the door available for your opponent to annihilate you before you even get to recreate again (the other player will keep taking pieces until their pawn hands yours).

Conclusion

Abstracts games are games bereft of themes. Numerous abstract games, like chess, were played even centuries ago, and there are still many new and modern games, like Hive and many more. These games might have more straightforward rules than games with themes, yet these have great depth and interest. It won’t be wrong to say that there is beauty in their simple design in terms of intellectual constructs and their usage.