Chris Miller
United States
Rock Hill
South Carolina
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Note that this review is actually for “Blokus Duo”, which is a 2-player only version of this game. The game is the same other than the board being smaller and it of course only comes with two sets of playing pieces. It’s also cheaper, which was my main motivation for buying this version, since I only was looking for something to play with my wife.
Speaking of the better half… my wife is not a gamer. She will play some games, such as Uno, Rummy, and is a mean Scrabbleplayer. But my taste of games is usually deeper than that, and that means I’m constantly buying games that I think she will want to play with me, followed by me being disappointed but not surprised. For the most part this is because she doesn’t take games seriously, and usually doesn’t plan ahead of the current turn – which is about opposite of my style. I try to not beat her badly at any game in hopes she will stick with it long enough to get a taste of the strategy, but it doesn’t happen. I can’t intentionally let her win, because she will see right through that and I get an even worse reaction 
Blokus was suggested by a gamer friend, who said that she might just play randomly and have fun long enough to discover the strategy. Always willing to do about anything to get my wife to share a game, I bought the set. The rules are very simple, and I won’t go into them here as you can find that easily.. and they are all of 1 page. On the surface it features Tetris-like shapes that you place to score points… looking a little deeper, it’s a territory control game that has faint similarities to Go. Anyway, on to the game and our first night with it.
I quickly explained the rules, there were no questions, and so we chose our sides and I let her go first. I felt my strategist blood pumping pretty early as I played pieces to block her into the corner she started near. Dammit guys.. I just can’t help it  A few moves later she saw what I was doing and shot me a glare. “What?” I asked with a grin. She growled out “See… THIS is why I don’t play games with you! You’ve practically stuck me into this little corner and I’ve already lost!”. I felt pretty bad, but I know her well enough to know she wouldn’t quit THAT easily. “You haven’t lost yet, you could still… well, ok… you probably won’t be able to win. How about we start over now that you see how it works?”.
She reluctantly agreed, and as we sorted our pieces out I heard her say “This time I’m going to stick your ass in a corner…”. I was pretty sure I had her attention at this point. She went first again in game two, and this time played right at my starting position. I played likewise, and then we danced our pieces around each other’s for several turns. We had managed to nearly split the board in half, with each of us having a few openings that could be played into. She was really in to it, and although I won by a good number, she had caught an understanding of the strategy and was testing it out.
We played a third game, which was a bit less aggressive as we both tried to lay down solid barriers with smaller gains rather than trying to claim large portions that couldn’t be defended. We played pretty even through the midgame and through the first of the end phase – but I managed to make a few better moves that ended up being the difference. I won again, but by a much closer margin. Best of all, she smiled, said “Fun game” and walked away without hitting me. I think I can see this becoming a good game for us to enjoy and probably trade wins with.
As to my personal thoughts on the game, I was really pleased with the depths of strategy, and I’m sure there is a lot yet to be discovered. For example, in our second game I played my larger straight pieces early, thinking they would make great walls to claim area with. In the end phase there were several times I could have really used one, so I held some back in the third game, and they proved to be the difference at the end.
Because of the restrictions on placing tiles, it’s hard to truly block off an area. Once the board starts to fill up, you find that the areas that you can’t play into are the areas that your opponent can, and will use to break through your line if you don’t react properly.
I give it an 8 of 10 overall. Very quick to explain and yet holds some depth to grow into.
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SIMS
Australia
Canberra
ACT
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Nice review. You might also like Ingenious: Travel Edition, close to my wifes favourite.
By the way, on BGG Blokus Duo is the primary name for Blokus Duo and why you couldn't find it.
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Chris Miller
United States
Rock Hill
South Carolina
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SSims wrote: Nice review. You might also like Ingenious: Travel Edition, close to my wifes favourite. By the way, on BGG Blokus Duo is the primary name for Blokus Duo and why you couldn't find it.
d'oh ... Thanks 
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William Hostman
United States
Eagle River
Alaska
Gaming in Greater Anchorage area, Alaska since 1978. Looking for Indy-willing RPG players in Eagle River (or willing to drive to Eagle River). Geekmail me if interested.
Yes, this really is what I looked like when I uploaded that avatar. Not that it's quite current anymore.
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If she likes Blokus Duo, realize a similar style can be played on a Trigon board by not using the outer 3 rows. I marked mine off with a sharpie for that. And trigon is better adaptable to 3p, and just as good with 4p, as regular Blokus.
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Keng Leong Yeo
Singapore
Singapore
aka Uncle
小富靠勤，中富靠智，大富靠德。
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Blokus is a great gateway board game. It is especially useful when there is a language barrier. Most games require a minimal language knowledge and Blokus is one of the few that doesn't have any.
Your story reminds me of how my Significant Other introduced her parents to the world of board gaming recently. Her mum is English illiterate so Blokus became her gateway game.
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Russ Williams
Poland
Wrocław
Dolny Śląsk
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SSims wrote: By the way, on BGG Blokus Duo is the primary name for Blokus Duo and why you couldn't find it.
Searching for Blokus Duo or for Travel Blokus both find the game...
I suggest a moderator move this thread to the Blokus Duo forum.
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C R
United States
Overland Park
Kansas
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MillertimeRC wrote: I felt my strategist blood pumping pretty early as I played pieces to block her into the corner she started near.
Nobody puts baby in a corner!
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Fraser
Australia
Melbourne
Yep that was 12 Power Grid maps back to back over two days. Worth doing, but possibly not in such a concentrated burst.
Ooh yes, now a little to the left - my nose is itchy. No, no the other left! Now what colour is 12 supporter badge going to be I wonder?
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Thread moved to Travel Blokus» Forums » Reviews
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Pete Jurchen
United States
Altoona
Iowa
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Found a copy of this on clearance at Walmart this week, great deal. It may still be out there if anyone's looking, just FYI...
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tom brown
United Kingdom
Stanley
Co. Durham
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I played this with my girlfriend 4 times tonight while lying in bed. Ok, we were sitting up, and she is in bed because she is 8.5 months pregnant, but she still suggested we play.
I think she has played before, but this is one of the games i take away with me when im working away to play with non gamer colleagues in hotels and it goes down well there, so i know its an easy pick up and play game.
I did win all 4 times, the first game by about 20 points, the second game by 6, the 3rd by 3 and the 4th by 7. Despite my much greater experience with the game I was only winning by 1 or 2 pieces and this solid competition makes it a much better spouse game than something highly strategic which my partner like your probably doesnt get into things too deeply.
A great version, better for casual gaming the using 2 colours on the 4 way game.
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