Mozaic
Abstract strategy board game From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mozaic is an abstract strategy board game published by Games Above Board in 2004 in which players try to score points by forming square patterns on the game board with colored glass gemstones.
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| Designers | Martin H. Samuel |
|---|---|
| Illustrators | Martin H. Samuel |
| Publishers | Games Above Board Sterling Games |
| Players | 2 |
| Setup time | 1 minute |
| Playing time | 30 minutes |
| Age range | 8 and up |
| Skills | Tactics, strategy, concentration |
Mozaic is a 2-player board game played on an 8x8 grid of squares using a drawing bag of colored "gemstones" (33 Cobalt (blue), 33 Amber (orange), one Ruby (red), one Sapphire (green), one Onyx (black) and one Diamond (clear)). One player "owns" the 33 Cobalt (blue) stones, and the other player owns the 33 Amber (orange) stones.[1]
Each player, on their turn, draws a gemstone from the bag. If the player draws their own color, the gemstone is placed on the game board. Each time a player forms a 2x2 grid with their own stones, they score 4 points. (The score is tracked on the player's score-keeping ladder with one of their own gemstones.) If placing one gem finishes more than one square, the player gets points for each square completed.[1]
If the player draws their opponent's color, the drawing player must also place it on the game board, usually in such a way that it will not benefit the other player.[1]
If any of the single gems are drawn, the following happens:
- Ruby: The drawing player misses a turn.
- Sapphire: Slide any gem [on the board diagonally to an empty adjacent square.
- Onyx: The drawing player takes two turns.
- Diamond: The player removes any gem on the board and returns it to the drawing bag.
An individual gem is immediately returned to the bag once its action is taken.[1]
Victory conditions
The game ends when the last Cobalt or Amber stone is drawn from the bag and played. At that point, the player with the most points is the winner.[1]
Mosaik was designed by Martin H. Samuel, and was published by Games Above Board in 2003. It was also licensed and published through Sterling Games. The game was exhibited at Spellenspektakel in the Netherlands in 2004.[2] Giseh Verlag launched the game in Germany at Essen Spiel in 2006.[1]
An Axiom-powered electronic version of Mozaic was programmed for the PC platform by Greg Schmidt in 2010.
Kathrin Nos, writing for the German game review website H@ll 9000, commented, "The game leaves plenty of room for tactical considerations, as you can create situations in which you can score multiple points by placing a stone." However, Mos found the second half of the game dragged, pointing out that "At the point of time when there are four special pieces left but only one playing piece, the probability of drawing this last piece is only 20% - and the diamond also means that pieces on the board are occasionally returned to the bag. There is no tension through this long final phase, so the excitement suffers in the second half of the game." Nos concluded by giving this game a rating of only 2 out of 6.[1]
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