Blokus

One rule, endless possibilities. A game for 2 to 4 players ages 7 and up.

Blokus seems like a simple game but when you play, you quickly learn that there is a lot of strategy involved.

Object

The object of Blokus is to cover as many squares of the game board as you can.

Playing

Each player chooses a colour, either red, yellow, blue or green. There are 21 pieces for each colour. The pieces are in different shapes with different amount of squares in them. All the players have the same number and shapes as all the other players.

The order of play is blue, yellow, red and then green. The order of colour isn’t really important as long as it is repeated. So if red goes then yellow then blue then green that is fine as long as it’s the same order every time.

Each player starts in his or her corner. The first piece a player places must have touch the corner piece. The one rule of the game is that you can only place tiles so that the corners touch. At least one corner must touch. If more than one corner touches that is fine. However, if tiles have flat sides touching their own sides, the move is invalid and the piece must be removed. A players piece can touch other players pieces in any way.

Ending a turn

When a player is unable to place anymore pieces, they are out of the game. The other players will continue taking turns until no one can place any more tiles.

Winning Blokus

At the end of the game of Blokus, players count the number of squares on the tiles that they have remaining. That number is their score. The player who has the smallest number is the winner.

Three Person Blokus

Blokus can be played with three people. This is done by the players each choosing a colour. The left over colour is played by everyone. For example, if blue is the unselected colour, player one will take the first time choosing a title to play. Next, the player who is yellow will go followed by red and then green. For the second round, player two chooses a tile to play for blue. Then the yellow player, red and green players play. In the third round, player three plays for blue. Similarly, in round four player number one plays for blue. Scoring and winning are all the same.

Two Player Blokus

To play Blokus with two players, each player chooses opposite colours. So if a player chooses blue, then he will also be playing with red. Player one gets the first play with blue. Second play goes to player two with yellow. Then player one goes with red and so on. For scoring, both colours of remaining tiles are counted. The winner is still the player who has the smallest score.

They also now have a Blokus Duo game that is great for two players.

What we Like

There’s something about the tinkling of the tiles and the feel on the odd shapes in your hands that makes you want to play this game. We also like that Blokus is easy to explain and that just about anybody can play this game. The quality of the game pieces is good too.

What we Don’t Like

The first thing that we don’t like, is the box. Although the box is a good size, there is a plastic insert that takes up a lot of room. If we were to remove the plastic then it becomes a box with a big empty whole. The inconvenience of making sure you have everything lined up just so to get everything back in the box is annoying. Next, play does get a bit repetitive. It can also take some players a long time to make a move, leaving everyone at the table getting frustrated.

Conclusion

The game of Blokus is simple to understand and simple to play but far from simple to win. It is a great strategy game. It is a fairly light game that takes about half an hour to play. If you have room and you like puzzles, I would recommend Blokus for your Family Game Shelf.

To buy your copy of Blokus check out Amazon.

Pros: easy to teach and play, quality,
Cons: poor box design, lost pieces potential, long turns
Mom: critical thinking,

Rating:

For more fun games, check out our game review section.
If you’re looking for dice games, check out our list in our dice game section.
And for card games, check out our list in our card game section.