Kogworks- Turn the Gears of your Mind!

Continuing with abstract strategy games, here comes Kogworks from Dr. Wood's stable of games. "An Amazing Strategy Game" is what the punch line reads. Well to be honest, this is far from being amazing, but something that can definitely keep you engaged for short periods of time. The game is short and so is this review :-) (Won't bore you all to death)

This is a game played with 30 gears (spur gears)- 15 of each color. Players try to for a chain that connects the gears to a final golden gear at the top of the board and when the bottom one is turned the entire series should turn. This is the game in a nutshell.

Kogworks by- Dr. Woods

Dr. Woods is an Australian company that produces a lot of puzzles, mind benders and abstract games like this one, Kaleidoscope, Heist etc. The company was incorporated with the express mandate to globally commercialize the works of Dr Mark Wood (psychologist) and Frank Dyksterhuis (mathematician/physicist).

I personally feel that Kogworks is one of their better products compared to a host of other games and puzzles that they have out in the market. BTW, all their products are available across all the Landmark bookstores across the country and Crossword bookstores.

This is again a 2 player game. Takes about 5-7 min to read the rules and understand it.

I did mention in my previous post that I would be talking about multiplayer games, but this one's an abberation.

What do you get in the box?

It comes in an oddly shaped triangular (well almost) shaped box:

• A triangular board with lot of pegs to mount the gear
• 15 Red colored gears
• 15 Blue colored gears
• 1 Gold gear

The quality of the plastics are good and robust. I say this as all these gears are costantly moving and needs to be strong :-)

How does it play?

This is a very simple game that offers good tactical depth. However if there was any category called as very light games, I would gladly put this under that.

• Place 3 gears-1 each in red and blue and the gold colored gears at 3 corners of the board.
  
• Each player chooses a color and starts placing a gear on alternating turns
• After each gear each player must prove that his base gear (the corner gear) can turn
• Players can block the other by forming a triangular formation
• Players cannot have 2 of their gears in a corner forming a triangle
• The 1st player to reach the gold gear and successfully turn it by turning the base gear or successfully block their opponent in a way that they can;t turn the base gear is the winner

This is it! Simple to learn and play. I would say it playes well even with kids!

How long does it play?

The box says it takes between 15-30 min. I say it usually takes somewhere between 10-15 min with occassional games going up to 20 min. So it playes fairly fast, with very little downtime. Its great for a coffee break!

Who would you reccommend it to?

If you are looking for a very light game to be placed on your table that you can play while waiting for someone- this is a good game. This is also a good game to keep kids engaged. If you are looking for a deeper game, don't even think about it.

Any Downsides?

Personally I'm not a bigfan of light games. This game looksattractive but fails to impress you in termsof game play. You'll come across this game as a very superficial game and might lose interest after a few game plays, as it lack both in variety and depth. But never the less a good gameif you want to finish fast or kill time.

Final Thoughts!

Personally I guess this is one of Dr. Woods' better games. Others like Kingdom Quest are heavily flawed and not worth your time. This being a very light game can form an addition to your collection, but you may want to try this one out in any of these stores- the guys would be more than happy to play a game with you! Then decide if you want to spend Rs. 700 on this.