Tic Tac Chec

"The perfect chess alternative"

Tic Tac Chec is an interesting little boardgame designed to help teach kids how to play chess. It demonstrates most of the basics but combines them with a form of Tic-Tac-Toe to make an entirely new game.

Physically, it's a very nice little set. It all comes in a sleek little cardboard carrying case that has recessed areas to store the pieces and the board. Since it's much smaller than a full chess set (there are only 8 pieces in total and a 4x4 board), it's actually quite portable. I've even played a short game in a car, albeit while waiting in line, not driving. The board and the pieces are made out of treated wood and are extremely high quality. The production values are quite good.

Each side only gets 4 pieces in Tic Tac Chec: one pawn, one knight, one bishop and one rook. The idea, according to the description on the box, is that these 4 pieces demonstrate all of the basic chess moves. The queen, for example, can be seen as a combination of a bishop and a rook, so if you understand how those two pieces move, you'll be able to pick up how a queen works with ease.

The board is only 4x4, which keeps things simple. Furthermore, play is designed so that neither side actually loses any pieces, which helps keep kids from getting discouraged too easily.

Now, realistically, once I describe how it's played, there's no reason why you couldn't draw a 4x4 grid, steal some plastic chess pieces from somewhere, and duplicate the entire game for free. The rules are very simple. So it's good that the production values are high and that the set is just the right size to be portable without losing pieces left and right. The set is nicely made so unless money is really tight, I'd suggest springing for the $16.95 instead of hacking one together yourself. There's also a little insert that gives some basic instructions and additional advice.

The rules of play are very basic. The two sides take turns placing pieces on the board or moving an already placed piece. The pieces all use their standard chess moves and can capture other pieces normally. The object is to get 4 pieces in a row, whether vertically, horizontally or diagonally (that's the Tic-Tac-Toe part). The interesting bit is that whenever a piece gets taken by your opponent, it goes back into your pile and you can then place it again if you want. This means that it's impossible to actually defeat your foe by taking all of their chess pieces; in many cases you won't want to take a piece, because all that does is let your opponent put it back on the board again next turn in a new location.

Sounds simple? Well, it is... mostly. But the strategy can actually get interesting. Our first few games were pretty much just random luck (much like my first few chess games were, I believe). Play would continue until someone stumbled into victory. Now that I've played a number of times, I'm starting to see actual strategies at work. Like forcing an opponent to take your pawn because, honestly, the pawn is far more flexible and powerful off of the board, where it can be placed in any square, than it is on the board, where it has all of the crippling limitations of the pawn's regular movement and capture rules. And putting your opponent onto the defensive, so that you force him to make one particular move each turn or lose... while you manuever him into a position where he can't do anything at all.

Play is supposed to be fast; the box claims that about 5 minutes is typical, so that children won't get bored. Well, that may be the case... with kids. I don't have any kids. I've only played against adults. And our games have sometimes gone on for 10-15 minutes because (much like Tic Tac Toe) victory usually comes when your opponent makes a mistake... and adults are not going to make as many mistakes as kids. I haven't gotten to the level of being able to pull off "subtle strategies" yet, but it seems like I'm slowly getting there.

If you're a chess freak, this could definitely be good for quick, portable games, especially with younger gamers. The pieces may move like standard chess pieces, but the 4-in-a-row bit makes the strategy quite different. You may even want to lose pieces at times, just so that you can move them to a more directly useful location.

The game has apparently been rated in the top ten by Dr. Toy, Edusource and the top one-hundred by Games Magazine, for what that's worth (I'm not familiar enough with game awards to say). There's some additional info at http://www.thebestbargains.com/ where you can order it and similar games.

In fact, my only real complaint about the game is that the pawns don't have directional markers on them. Rather than being "queened", when a pawn reaches the far side of the little board, it's supposed to turn around and start coming back the other way. It would be nice if there were some sort of marking on them to help keep track of which way they're going. A few moments with a magic marker could probably take care of that problem, though, so it's a minor quibble.

So, honestly, it's a good game. I wouldn't call it "The Perfect Chess Alternative" unless you added some additional qualifiers such as "For kids" or "When you're short on time". I give it a 4 for style and a 3 for substance. If you like chess and have kids, you might seriously consider investing in a Tic Tac Chec set. Mine is labelled the "Hardwood Classic" set.