hyperpape wrote:I almost hesitate to call it a connection game--obviously connection is a huge issue, but connection is a big issue in Go, and I'd never think to call Go a connection game.
It doesn't have the feel of something like Hex, which is pure connection. Without slighting Hex, I find myself often enjoying "impure games." So Havannah is about connection, but there's races and rings. Slither is connection plus motion. Cephalapod is about parity, but not in the same way that dots and boxes is a slog of trying to manipulate parity. Similarly, I think Catchup is a nice mix of connection and combinatorics.
That's too simplified to be a real test of which games are good, but it's how I find myself thinking about the games I do like.
I have only played 2 games, so I can't really tell, but it activates my brain/reading in a similar sense to what Hex or Y do, even if connection is not that big of an issue (after all, the standard Hex jump can be cut in Catchup.) In any case, it's a very good game, probably appealing the kind of people who find Go and/or Hex interesting.
You can blitz through in two minutes if you want, or spend 15 minutes on a move like I did yesterday.
