Five Reasons I Love Onitama

Let’s be honest here: I’m not an abstract strategy game kind of girl.  Growing up, I could never beat my father in checkers. In junior high, I encountered a chess player who assumed I must not be intelligent, since I didn’t play chess.  That put me off abstract strategy games (and chess players) nearly entirely, and more than three decades later, I still don’t play chess.  Maybe I’ll get around to learning it someday.  Or, you know…not.

I’ll never understand how I managed to give birth to a son who so thoroughly enjoys chess. Where did I go wrong?

Okay, I’m jesting. Maybe. A little. He really does enjoy chess, and I really enjoy gaming with him, but in this house, “chess” and “with mom” are mutually exclusive. What we really needed was a game that feels chess-like, but plays faster and lighter.

 

Enter Onitama, published by Arcane Wonders.

I love this game.

Here’s why:

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