While it would be impossible to achieve consensus on what the best game from a particular era might be, but among abstract strategies games created this decade, Tak is certainly in the top two-or-three in my mind.
Created in 2017 by the team of James Ernest, and Patrick RothfussTak is two-player abstract strategy game dreamed up by Rothfuss in his book 'The Wise Man's Fear' and then brought to reality with Ernest's help.
The game uses a simple ruleset, yet offers significant depth, as players try to connect two opposite sides of the board with their pieces.
Last August this space highlighted the game in an interview with Bill Leighton, one of a handful of Tak fans who created the US Tak Association in hopes of promoting and growing interest in the game.
And, now we get a more personal look at this gem thanks to the reigning Tak champion consenting to answer some questions via email.
Sam Dickinson is 28. He lives in London, UK, where he is a full-time wheelchair rugby player, as well as a fan of Tak.
Tak might not be Dickinson's first love in board games, but it has become a game he is passionate about.
"I grew up playing board games of all kinds, but I'm actually not a big fan of abstracts in general," he said. "I never had the patience for chess, for example, but for some reason Tak just grabbed me. I'm more of a 'euro' gamer by temperament – some favourites include Puerto Rico, Tzolk'in and Dominion – and I've played a lot of Dungeons & Dragons and Magic: the Gathering in my time, but in terms of number of games played and overall enjoyment Tak is certainly in my top-five."
Maybe the interest came about because of Rothfuss' book?
"Yes, I'm a big fan of the books, and I heard about Tak through Patrick Rothfuss's blog during the Kickstarter (to fund the game)," said Dickinson. "I was immediately intrigued, and after playing a few games I knew it was something different to the other abstracts I'd played.
"I can't say exactly what about Tak drew me in, but I think it was partly the game play – it's a great mix of tight, tense manoeuvring and big, swingy plays – and partly the fact that it wasn't an established game, so I was able to get in on the ground floor, so to speak."
From that ground floor Dickinson has basically grown with the game itself.
"I've been playing competitive Tak pretty much for as long as that's been a thing – I think my first was the 2016 US Tak Open – and tournaments are the main way I play Tak these days, as I enjoy the competition but don't have a ton of time for casual play," he explained.
"This year's Open had a nice mix of established and newer players, and I thought the standard was very high overall. As I mentioned above, the mix of tension and excitement makes it really fun, particularly when you add in the stakes of a tournament. My games against EVRNjayhawker and NohatCoder in particular are worth a watch."
So what does Dickinson see as his strength as a Tak player?
"My main strength as a player is my intuitive feel for the game, which comes primarily from just having played a lot of games," he said. "The more you play, the easier it is to spot patterns and threats, and to get a feel for which positions are stronger or weaker."
That said Tak is still something of a minor game when compared to the big ones like chess or go. Still Dickinson sees positives in terms of growing the game.
"As we have a small player base the progress is relatively slow, but yes, I do think the quality of play is increasing," he offered. "It was certainly great to see newer players like EVRNjayhawker holding their own against those of us who've been around a lot longer."
And the future could be brighter still.
"I think the game is good enough to grow much larger, but the market is pretty saturated these days, so without significant investment of time and realistically money, there's a limit to how much interest Tak will be able to garner," said Dickinson. "The USTA is doing good work, and there has been an increase in the amount of content being produced in recent months -- e.g. Tak Times and Simmon's coverage of tournament games -- all of which is great, but I think we may have to wait until the Kingkiller movie/show/video game is hopefully released before we see Tak reach its full potential."
As for his own play, champion, or not, Dickinson said he can be better.
"Although I've been one of the top players for a while now, it still feels like there is a lot to learn," he said. "I think we've only really scratched the surface of the game's potential strategic depth, particularly at the larger board sizes. So I'm excited to see how our understanding develops. That and the gameplay is still just really fun."
