Rio Grande Games Yinsh

But im not good at it!

First game I bought in this game series. Super easy to learn but a great challenge to play. Lots of fun and keeps the mind woking!

This game has a great build quality of bakelite & metal for the pieces, and a standard cardboard game board. The box is oversized for its contents, but that means you could possibly store other Gipf games like Zertz in this. Also, the pieces and board are reusable for other games, such as Backgammon, Checkers, & Gipf, so that is a nice bonus (though you will need the right boards for Backgammon and Checkers, but the Yinsh board is big enough to play Gipf without any modification). Gameplay is easy to understand but there is a lot of depth that is easy to miss the first time around. Your rings are critical for blocking and offense, and in the former case could become pinned. Adjacent rings or those aligned in the same row are considerably weaker, and if you have your rings clumped together, you are in a weak position. Ideally, you want to build your rows of markers in such a way that is is impossible or exceedingly difficult for your opponent to convert them. This game, unlike Othello/Reversi, allows for a much more offensive play, but the consequence is that as you progress, you get weaker with less options to place pieces. Gameplay can quickly pivot, with the person with a winning setup suddenly usurped by the underdog that converted the enemy pieces into their own. You will commonly find yourself having to possibly break up your own lines, or create forks in order to defend against the opponent and build out your longer term strategy. The nature of the game does make it harder to predict many moves ahead, as the board can look so different so quickly. This makes it easier for beginners to compete with more experience players, which I think is a plus when introducing the game to new players. Unfortunately, this game is commonly hard to find in the US, and scalpers sell the game for over $100, When the game has a MSRP of about $35. Fortunately, the German Amazon, Amazon.de, is able to ship this game to the states, for a total cost of around $30-35, which is totally worth it IMHO, as you are buying from a trusted seller a a close to market price. This is definitely the first game of the Gipf series I would start with, both for the aesthetics and the gameplay.

This game is awesome! The components are wonderful. Like most abstract games, the concept is very easy but any number of strategies can take this game to many different levels. Id recommend this game to couples. Its specifically for 2 players and my husband and I had a really great time with it. I cant stop thinking about it.

Really fun game. Great seller.

This is my favorite of the GIPF series of games that Ive played (although all the others are worthwhile, too). The making of a great game is one in which the rules are relatively easy to grasp, but the strategy has many levels of complexity, and that is certainly the case here. Its a very engaging game, where a single move can change the situation so drastically that thinking more than a couple moves ahead is nearly impossible. If you are a fan of abstract strategy games, I highly recommend this one.

Great game. I bought it to play with my girlfriend and she loves it. Changing strategies, complex gameplay but also easy to learn. You can teach someone in five minutes and then play for years.

Excelent game and good quality!

Wonderful abstract game! If you thought checkers was fun as a kid, but now is boring and chess is intriguing but isnt worth the lifestyle commitment to get good, Yinsh is for you. This has enough twists and changes in fate and things to pay attention to that the game remains very interesting. The rivalry with my wife has gotten pretty humorous and intense. As a side note, the box for this game is way bigger than it needs to be. If you want to conserve space and dont care about the box, you can get by without it since theres a bag for all the pieces other than the board.

Quick pick up and good pace. Everyone Ive introduced it to really likes it. A lot of interesting characteristics for a simple abstract. Its difficult to perfect. You sacrifice to compete and surprised by outcomes. There is somewhat of a handicap as the player in the lead loses a piece. Sometimes youll sit out a score to leverage a block. You can definitely get better at it despite feeling somewhat chaotic on the first couple plays. Only issue is minor wrinkling on the board edge which gives an unsightly spot where it looks like its peeling some but very small and not enough to complain over.