Kamon
- Board's Eye View
- 13 minutes ago
- 2 min read
Designed by Bruno Cathala, Kamon is an easy-to-play two-player abstract strategy game from Cosmoludo where you win either by connecting two opposite edges of the hexagonal board, completely surrounding a hex or by placing your opponent in the position where they have no legal play open to them.
The game is played on a board that is randomly populated with tokens, each of which shows one of six symbols in one of six colours. On your turn, you place one of your pieces on the board and that then dictates your opponent's next placement, which must be on a space that matches either the symbol or colour of the token on which you placed your piece.
That's really the entirety of the rules - making Kamon a doddle to teach and learn. As the game develops, players' placement options inevitably reduce. And because your placement is limited by your opponent's previous placement, and will likewise then limit where they can place a piece, Kamon automatically invites players to think a 'move' or two ahead. In our plays at Board's Eye View we've therefore found it a good way of developing the thought processes of youngsters coming new to Chess, encouraging them to think ahead about their opponent's likely responses.
The game comes with well-made wooden hex playing pieces on black and white, and with a golden piece that can be placed as a marker to show a player's most recent placement and therefore which symbol and colour the other player has available to them. The coloured discs that slot into the board are cardboard. They can be a bit of a faff to push in and out every time you play. We were slightly nervous that the process might result in wear but so far we haven't had a problem.
The randomised set up means that no two plays of Kamon will turn out exactly the same, so this is an addictive game that you're likely to return to time and again. And with a playing time that generally comes in at around 15 minutes, we've found ourselves playing it back to back.
