I do like playing classic abstract games in addition to modern board games. The game of
Dao fits in quite nicely with the ancient classics, even though it is only a couple decades old. Although we were playing
Dao outside in the dirt, it is a game that I first was given as a gift from my friend
Rick Seyfert, aka Commander Ambitious, several years ago. Although I like owning the physical copy of the game, it's only slightly more difficult to put together while out camping than it is to scratch out a game of Tic-Tac-Toes in the dirt.
Dao is a two-player game, played on a 4x4 grid with 8 pieces, 4 for each player.
The game consists of only one simple rule and three ways to win. Pieces move in a straight line, including diagonally, as far as possible with no jumps. The three ways to win are arranging your pieces in a straight line on the board (not diagonally), occupying the four corners, or forming a 2x2 square anywhere on the board. However, ... trapping an opponent's piece in a corner loses!
Most of the time when we play, we just play with the rules of winning by forming a straight line and losing by trapping an opponent in the corner. When I got the game originally, the way I learned it was having the other rules as "advanced" rules, and I often either skip them, to make it easier to transition for kids that just want to play Tic-Tac-Toe, or because it's been a while since I played and I forget the other win conditions.
