Kevin Graham
PortlandGamers.com
September 2003
USA

Octiles is an abstract game that has a good blend of luck and strategy. The game takes only a few minutes to learn, but takes far longer to master. The game has beautifully crafted wooden components, and the box is thicker and more durable than most games.  

The game involves creating paths from your start points to your goals by placing octagonal tiles. Each tile has different twists and turns, and the game board changes throughout the game. You have to be careful where you place tiles, because placing a tile that makes the perfect path for you may also make the perfect path for your opponent! If you like games like Streetcar (A.K.A. Linie 1), Ta Yü and The aMAZEing Labyrinth, you will most likely enjoy Octiles.  

One of my favorite things about Octiles is that you can easily adjust the length of the game by simply playing with fewer pieces. That way it can be played as a quick filler, or a full length game.   Another great thing about Octiles, and many other OTB games, is that you get multiple games in one. In fact, many OTB games can even be played solitaire. Check out all the Octiles variations.  

The great thing about all Out Of The Box games is that they are very easy to learn. Many games out there are just jam packed with a bunch of extra rules that make the game more complex without making it more fun. OTB keeps it simple, light and fun. Here is an excerpt from an interview withMark Osterhaus, President of Out Of The Box Games, which explains their philosophy on games quite well.

"When Apples to Apples came to us, it was designed as what I would call a "Trivial Pursuit" type game. The guy who built it had this box, a board, and all these cards, and the game had an incredible amount of mechanics to it. It had all this stuff going on. ... We were playing this game and I thought it was a really neat idea, but after forty minutes we were still constantly looking at the rules and trying to figure out what was going on. ... All of us were concerned we were doing something wrong and not playing by the rules. Finally, I said, "Matt, you know, I have a suggestion on this." ... "Look, can I take the board out of the game?" He said, "Fine," so I took the board out of the game, along with all the extraneous cards and markers. When it was all done I said, "You've got this box of orange cards and this box of apple cards, so let's try playing this way..." And we started playing. And pretty soon we were laughing so hard and having such a great time, I was like, "Man, I want to make this game! It's not like anything I've ever seen before; it's just raw fun. I don't feel like I'm going to lose. I have no problem following the rules."  

If you like abstract games, Octiles would be a perfect addition to your game collection.  

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