Rio Grande Games Yinsh

This game has a great build quality of bakelite & metal for the pieces, and a standard cardboard game board. The box is oversized for its contents, but that means you could possibly store other Gipf games like Zertz in this. Also, the pieces and board are reusable for other games, such as Backgammon, Checkers, & Gipf, so that is a nice bonus (though you will need the right boards for Backgammon and Checkers, but the Yinsh board is big enough to play Gipf without any modification). Gameplay is easy to understand but there is a lot of depth that is easy to miss the first time around. Your rings are critical for blocking and offense, and in the former case could become pinned. Adjacent rings or those aligned in the same row are considerably weaker, and if you have your rings clumped together, you are in a weak position. Ideally, you want to build your rows of markers in such a way that is is impossible or exceedingly difficult for your opponent to convert them. This game, unlike Othello/Reversi, allows for a much more offensive play, but the consequence is that as you progress, you get weaker with less options to place pieces. Gameplay can quickly pivot, with the person with a winning setup suddenly usurped by the underdog that converted the enemy pieces into their own. You will commonly find yourself having to possibly break up your own lines, or create forks in order to defend against the opponent and build out your longer term strategy. The nature of the game does make it harder to predict many moves ahead, as the board can look so different so quickly. This makes it easier for beginners to compete with more experience players, which I think is a plus when introducing the game to new players. Unfortunately, this game is commonly hard to find in the US, and scalpers sell the game for over $100, When the game has a MSRP of about $35. Fortunately, the German Amazon, Amazon.de, is able to ship this game to the states, for a total cost of around $30-35, which is totally worth it IMHO, as you are buying from a trusted seller a a close to market price. This is definitely the first game of the Gipf series I would start with, both for the aesthetics and the gameplay.

By far the most played game that we have. We have over 60 board games and this one has been the one played the most. We like to play it on teams of 2v2 just like Sequence. Epic game!

Love this game! I’m always looking for innovative and interesting two-player games. Yinsh keeps you involved and thinking since the board is constantly changing. This game is so great! I highly recommend.

One of the best abstract games Ive played. Super addictive!

Very nice piece strategic board game for beginners.

But im not good at it!

Its easy to learn, fast to play, but itll take a while to master! Really solid game pieces, too.

Really fun game. Great seller.

Chips and pieces are beautiful and solid. I like the weight in my hand. Game is the easy to learn, lifetime to master type. My new favorite game.

This game works a different part of the brain. Its kind of like if chess and Othello had a baby and then that baby had a baby with lost cities then that baby went into the outback and met Go and then became best friends with Go and then decided to take a long walk in the desert alone to discover itself. Very tactical. Im sure theres a strategy but I have yet to discover it.