Tech Review

Before I start my review, let me answer some questions that I'm sure are gnawing on your liver:

Will the fact that my friend designed and markets the game influence my review?

Yes, but negatively. You see, I find the Yikerz! inventor irritating. He's somewhat of an outcast in our gaming group. Whoever is DM (never him [shudder]) most often relegates him to the gruff looking for adventure at the keep and bends the rules so that his initial "test of prowess" is usually the last we have to deal with his seriously defective characters (Gnome thief-illusionist: I've never seen one of those before). God help us if he survives the initial encounter and we have to endure one of his "authentic" gaming brogues ("Not bl[oː]dy likely"). Although we pride ourselves on our rationality, gameplay with him deteriorates to such a state that we sometimes fear the otherworldly retribution of Gary Gygax (RIP).

Wow, Aristotle was right- catharsis can generate a serious rush. Mean? Don't worry; he doesn't read this blog. He's probably on some Russian gaming forum asking how to avoid magic missiles ("What if I drink two potions of Dex?").*

Why is Yikerz! in the "tech" section of your blog?

Yikerz is based on a concept called "magnetism" invented by Benjamin Franklin. The casual reader of American history is unaware of this fact because Franklin's role in making magnetism readily available to the consumer is overshadowed by Franklin's discovery of electricity one week later. Indeed, electricity occupied almost all of Franklin's interest forthwith.

It wasn't until Dutch master Nicola Tesla built upon Franklin's novelty to invent the swinging magnetic ball set, which the generous Tesla named after his inspiration, Sir Isaac Newton, who, flattered upon hearing the news, sent him a box of soft cookies.

Tesla was able to smuggle an original sketch of his Newton's cradle in the interior of an android he invented for the purpose. Prescott Bush had the other copies destroyed.

Not content with bringing joy to millions of middle managers, Tesla toyed around with the Newton Cradle until he found a way to provide the world with a limitless source of magnetic ball-generated energy. The solution to humanity's most pressing problem never had a chance: Prescott Bush got wind of the discovery and goaded GM into firebombing Tesla's laboratories in Prague after Tesla couldn't come up with the protection money, forcing Tesla to take a job in America designing elevators for Bill Pullman.

Bill Pullman, elevator magnet

Why the exclamation point?

It's shorter than "Yikerz, the game that engenders strong feelings and astonishment."

Yikerz!

The Review:

So, how's the game? I must forgo my Schadenfreudian delight today, as Yikerz! is actually the best non-nerdy (girls can play too) game I've encountered since Jenga.

Why?

There may have been a time when I was willing to pour through pages and pages of rules to play a game, but that's definitely not today. I was actually dreading some kind of Eva Mendes-like learning curve when my friend invited me to a Yikerz! tournament at his house. I was fully immersed in Yikerz! within ten minutes.

Eva Mendes

To play, you open the small triangular bag containing the figuratively fossilized sweat of my friend's brow; take out the four squares, twenty magnetic thingies, and the two page instructions; peruse the rules; and divide the magnetic blocks between the players. You then take turns placing the pieces the squares until one, the winner, rids himself of his last shiny block.

Fun? Well, yes. Simple? Yes, and no. Yikerz (sorry, exclamation point got stuck) is that rare game, like Checkers, that's easy to understand, yet deep enough and with sufficient variability to last a snowed-in weekend in the mountains.

Reconfiguring the squares serves the dual purpose of changing difficulty levels and impressing your friends with your pseudo-origami skills. A steady hand is necessary, but a strategy is required to become proficient: You need to know the properties of the pieces to move the other players' far enough from your potential resting spot to avoid a "collapse," or a joining of blocks. You can place the blocks on their sides- there's really a lot to do here.

Or, you can do what the youngest Asymmetric staff member, Antonio (8) did and just play with the blocks. He spread the blocks out on the carpet and crashed one piece into the middle, creating a very satisfying chain reaction.

Anyways, it's a good deal and I'd be willing to guarantee that you'll find some aspect of Yikerz interesting.

Warning!

There are other games based on magnets. I haven't played them, but I'm sure they suck.

*My friend is actually a nice guy and soon-to-be husband (err, to somebody else).

**For the Yikerz song I wrote for my friend, go here.

***Wiggles 3d Yikerz site here.

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This ad for some online game called "Evony" keeps showing up on my sidebar. I'm all for mixing two (or three, in this case) things I enjoy. On the other hand, I feel kind of patronized. Yes, I clicked on the ad, the only one or two of mine I ever have, but I didn't feel good about it.

Evony has at least two nice features.