El Cabeza társasjáték

Angol leírás

In a parallel universe, this game is as famous as Checkers and as respected and cherished as Chess or Go. However, in our universe, by chance or misfortune, it has been relegated to the dustbin of history. Regardless of the reasons one might suggest to explain its obscurity, it remains ultimately ineffable how El Cabeza has languished in near-anonymity for almost 50 years.

It's not the game's fault…

El Cabeza is not an ancient game depicted on priceless artifacts from antiquity, nor does it trace its origins to a mysterious progenitor, yet it's entirely understandable to mistake it for such. The surprisingly rudimentary components coupled with the unremarkable square-grid playing field seem to foreshadow a mechanical, mundane exercise at best. But you're soon thrown off-balance at how quickly you've become captivated by the emergent complexity hidden in plain sight…

Developed sometime prior to 1977 in Argentina by Enrique Lindenbaum and Jaime Poniachik, El Cabeza was never officially published for reasons unknown. It was, however, fully described in a 1987 issue of the Argentine gaming magazine Revista Humor y Juegos, with such vivid detail that one could believe it had actually been released. Yet, the article itself clarifies that El Cabeza had not yet been published, and to the current day still hasn't seen an official publication, however over the years DIY, physical versions have been produced by enthusiasts.

Each player commands five pieces: a small cube, a large cube, a small rectangular prism, a large rectangular prism, and a small disc, set up at opposite ends of a 10x10 board in a rotationally symmetrical arrangement. Only one piece moves per turn. To win, advance the disc, the Cabeza, to the opponent's back row, or use one of the other four pieces to land on, or 'crush,' the opponent's Cabeza.

The game's real novelty is in how the polyhedra move. Every piece rolls along its edges, one or two squares at a time, orthogonally, and may change direction between rolls — except the large cube, whose bulk allows only a single roll, covering two squares at once. Only the Cabeza piece can also move diagonally, up to two squares. The cubes roll predictably; the two prisms don't, tumbling erratically as they travel — and it's that contrast between the reliable and the erratic that keeps a fresh tactical puzzle arriving almost every turn.