One should not judge a board game by its cover. Yet there is no denying that the cover of a game is one of its strongest selling points. Games like Ticket to Ride and others with great artwork on them tend to draw people into playing them like flies to honey. Infinifield (Infinifield, Inc., 2004 - Andrew and Anthony Zanevsky) looks like a game from the seventies - one that you would find on a back shelf somewhere. On the front of the box is a picture of the game; but since it doesn’t say that it’s a game in progress, I thought it was merely a pile of pieces. The game looked bland and uninteresting.
Fortunately, the game is an interesting two to four player abstract game that can be played in less than twenty minutes. It’s a very interesting two-player game, one with a few choices each turn - but every one crucial. It feels a bit more chaotic with more than two players, giving the same unease that Chess does when you expand it for more the two players. Infinifield is simplistic and easy - and for that I enjoy it; it’s as simple to explain as Blokus, although not as visually stunning. Still, I'm glad to have a multiplayer quick abstract in my collection.
Infinifield is made up of several rounds, agreed on ahead of time by the players - or one round will suffice for a quick game. Twenty-four blocks are arranged on the table in any method the players desire. The blocks may even form three-dimensional setups, as long as every block is connected to the main body of blocks. Each block must touch at least one other block, and some other rules apply to building the field. The blocks are of different lengths - starting with the white blocks (8), which are about 2” square; the yellow blocks (8), which are twice the length of the white blocks; the red blocks (6), which are double the length of the yellow blocks; and the blue blocks (2), which are the double the length of the red blocks. Each player takes a pawn and places it on one of the starting blocks (white). One pawn is used as a turn counter and is placed on a Five Turns Counter Circle on the instruction sheet. One player is chosen to go first (usually the one to the left of the person who built the board, and the game begins.)
On a player’s turn, they must move their pawn to an adjacent block. They then move the pawn on the Five Turns Counter Circle one position. If the pawn lands on the circle with the “X” (every five turns), the player then removes one block from the board. They can remove any block they want, as long as it doesn’t split the board into two separate “islands”, or if there is a pawn on it, or if the block can’t be moved without other blocks being shifted. If a player lands their pawn on another pawn, the pawn landed on is removed from the board. The round continues until only one pawn is left.
Players can either award the winner of each round one point. Alternatively, they can give points for capturing pawns and points to the last pawn, according to how many blocks are left on the board. After a predetermined number of rounds (or points), the player with the most points is the winner!
Some comments on the game...
1.) Components: In the introduction, I mentioned the horrible box; and it is indeed a poor design, making the game look cheap and boring. The blocks themselves are hollow lengths of plastic - but are very sturdy - if you don’t like the game, kids can build with them! The pawns are ordinary plastic pawns, and overall - even though the quality of the game is very good, it just doesn’t have any zing. Functional, yes. Pretty, no.
2.) Rules: The rules are printed on two sides of a rather long cardstock sheet. One side shows several pictures of sample board setups, while the other explains the simple rules. The game itself is extremely easy to teach to other people - there are no exceptions; there is only one kind of move - it’s a very easy game.
3.) Strategy: For some reason the game reminds me of some pencil-and-paper games I've played, where you try to be the last one boxed in a corner, or something like that. With many players, it’s very easy for one player to get trapped between two other players and quickly captured. With two players, it’s more like a game of chicken; and although players usually only have a couple of options every turn, they can be a bit stressful. The mechanic in which the players must remove a block every five turns helps speed the game up and keeps perpetual loops from occurring. I'm personally very horrible at this game, but I do find the choices clever, for such a simple abstract.
4.) Fiddliness: Moving the pawn on the Five Turns Counter Circle is a bit fiddly; if a player forgets to do it, it can mess the game up. At the same time, it breaks the flow of the game a little, especially when two players are moving around the board, heading towards one another, trying to capture each other as quickly as possible.
5.) Fun Factor: While not the most fun game I've played, I do accept the fact that I'm not a fan of abstracts. I do enjoy quick ones and ones that aren’t too terribly brain burning, and this fits both accounts. Multiplayer games are a little chaotic for me; I'm always the guy who’s trapped between the others and dies first. But I do like how the board can be thousands of combinations, building it is probably my favorite feature of the game.
Infinifield is not for everyone; and because of its bland packaging, many won’t buy it. But there is a clever idea underneath, and the game plays quickly and simply - something that many people look for in a game. I’ll keep the game around simply because I occasionally need an abstract game that can be played in a short amount of time. Normally Blokus fills that slot, but the variability of Infinifield’s board gives it some uniqueness, and thus more play. If you’re looking for a game that never really plays the same twice, is a quick abstract, and you don’t care much how it looks, then Infinifield is your game!
Tom Vasel
“Real men play board games.”
