Focus (board game)

Last updated
Focus
Focus 2.jpg
Designers Sid Sackson
Publishers Kosmos
Milton Bradley
Parker Brothers
Publication1963;61 years ago (1963)
Players2–4
Playing time45'
SkillsStrategy

Focus is an abstract strategy board game, designed by Sid Sackson and first published in 1963 by Kosmos. The game has been re-published many times since, sometimes under the titles Domination or Dominio. Focus won the 1981 Spiel des Jahres and Essen Feather awards. The game appears in Sackson's A Gamut of Games in the section New Battles on an Old Battlefield.

Contents

Gameplay

Starting positions Focus 01.svg
Starting positions

Two to four players move stacks of one to five pieces around a checkerboard with the three squares in each corner removed, thus forming a 6×6 board with 1×4 extensions on each side. Stacks may move as many spaces as there are pieces in the stack. Players may only move a stack if the topmost piece in the stack is one of their pieces. When a stack lands on another stack, the two stacks merge; if the new stack contains more than five pieces, then pieces are removed from the bottom to bring it down to five. If a player's own piece is removed, they are kept and may be placed on the board later in lieu of moving a stack. If an opponent's piece is removed, it is captured. The last player who is able to move a stack wins.

Reception

Games included the game as Domination in their "Top 100 Games of 1982", noting that while it does include short versions for 3-4 players, "the two-player game has the most depth". [1]

Reviews

See also

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References

  1. Schmittberger, R. Wayne, ed. (November 1982). "The Top 100 Games 1982". Games . No. 33. p. 56.
  2. Lowder, James (2010). Family games : The 100 best. Green Ronin. ISBN   978-1-934547-21-2.