Ringo

No, this isn't a game about the drummer from The Beatles. Nor is it themed around the original narrator of the Thomas the Tank Engine TV series. Ringo is a two-player abstract strategy game designed by Julien Griffon and published by Steffen Spiele and Helvetiq as part of their series of small-box strategy games.

Ringo is a 'four-in-a-row' variant: to win, you need to create a horizontal or vertical row of four of your discs or four rings of your colour. There's no board. The game is instead played on an initially square set up made of eight red and blue rings. Players each have 10 wooden discs in their colour (red or blue). On your turn you place one of your discs into any ring, regardless of its colour, and you move that ring to place it orthogonally adjacent to any other ring.

With its simple rules, this is a game that's super easy to pick up and play right out of the box. The constant repositioning of the playing grid is reminiscent of Nonaga, another of the small-box games from Steffen Spiele and Helvetiq, tho' the mechanics of Ringo are very different. Because it's possible to claim a win by having four rings in a row, canny players can force an opponent onto the backfoot in having to use their turn to defend rather than build towards their own victory.

Despite its seeming simplicity, Ringo is very well produced: the rings have been fashioned in anodised aluminium. Our plays at Board's Eye View have mostly run to around 10-15 minutes, but this is a game where players will more often than not ask for an immediate re-match. That's always a good sign. It's made this game something of a Starr :-)

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