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Gen Con 2017: Nmbr 9

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What is Nmbr 9? I had no idea going in, other than there were some weird shapes that had to go together somehow.

Well, now that I’ve played it I’d compare it to Patchwork, but with an extra dimension. There are, apparently, no shortage if ideas for how to turn Tetris into a board game.

In this scenario, each player is building their own configuration of shapes (which are based on the numbers 0 – 9 in “pixelated” form to a degree). Each turn a card is flipped over, revealing a number. Each player takes the corresponding piece and fits it into their… collection. You can arrange things any way you want (although you can’t flip the pieces over to mirror them), but once a new card is drawn you can’t change it.

My next piece will probably fit… somewhere…

The goal is to stack your pieces vertically as high as possible. Each “floor” scores points by multiplying the numbers played by the floor value – which starts at 0, by the way. The catch is, in order to place a piece on the next floor, it can’t cover any gaps. Since all of these pieces are ridiculous shapes, that’s harder than it seems. Of course, you can make your base floor as big as you like – but every piece you place there is worth 0, so it’s better to get moving upward as quickly as possible.

If you’re into spatial puzzles, this game is simply fantastic. I mean, it’s quite the challenge. But at least the end result is fun to look at, and the game is very colorful. There isn’t any interaction at all, which may frustrate some players, and you can’t try to block someone who is doing far too well for their own good. Still, I think there’s a definite audience for the solo puzzle-building adventure.

Also, the box supports up to 4 players. But, since play is simultaneous and everyone is doing their own thing, you can buy additional boxes and have as many people as you have table space for playing along at the same time.

My masterpiece! Which did not win, not by a long shot.

Futurewolfie loves epic games, space, and epic games set in space. You'll find him rolling fistfuls of dice, reveling in thematic goodness, and giving Farmerlenny a hard time for liking boring stuff.

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