The Deck of Boards

The Deck of Boards

Designer: Joao Neto
Type: Miscellaneous
Status: Free
Available from: http://www.di.fc.ul.pt/~jpn/gv/dob.htm

The Deck of Boards set (DoB) is, basically, a game system (for more on game systems see Ron Hale-Evans's article on game systems).

The World of Abstract Games (WAG) website presents many games divided into three main groups:

• Games of Soldiers - games which use only one type of piece (the soldier) for each player.
• Games of Kings and Soldiers - games which use two types of piece (the soldier and the king) for each player.
• Games of Towers - games which use stackable pieces.

DoB focuses on these games. It uses three concepts to construct the playing arena.

• Field - The surface where the game is going to be played.
• Cell - One atomic board part.
• Stone - One atomic piece part.

The field is simply a magnetic sheet. A cell is a circle made of metal so it can attach to the magnetic field and keep the board together. A stone can be a marble (used in games of soldiers and kings and soldiers) or a little stackable stone (used in games of towers).