Matthew BaileyI appreciate the last few games I have reviewed have all been really high recommendations. I promise there is some bad stuff to avoid coming in the next few days 
A quicker one today; game 4 in our “Reviews Leading Up to the February Half Term and Valentine’s Day” series is ”OK Play.”
Thank you to Julie Vickery, Sarah Ray for suggesting it.
“OK play” is a fairly simple abstract strategy game from Big Potato Games that can be best described as a mix between noughts and crosses or connect four, but on a table laying tiles.
The rules of the game are super simple. On your turn, you place a tile on the board orthogonally to another tile (with diagonals not allowed), and you are essentially trying to get five in a row either straight or diagonally.
Obviously, this is a super easy game to teach but actually, when you are playing especially with more than two players, the strategy needed to win has a lot of depth to it which became very apparent after a few playthroughs.
We’ve all played noughts and crosses and had the good feeling when we get ourselves into a position where it’s impossible for us to not win regardless of where the other player puts their mark and winning OK Play essentially is about trying to put yourself in that situation.
Unlike other games like this, the fact that you are not playing on a grid and can expand in any direction at any point with no restrictions actually changes the strategy needed to win quite considerably. It was all very even with all of us, including Toby, winning at least one game in the several that we played. Most games like this are two-player, so being able to play three or four players equally adds an extra dimension to the game.
From a production point of view, the game is extremely distinctive. It comes on a card, and the product itself is four holders clipped onto a central ring with a carabiner that can then be attached to a rucksack. The idea is that you can take this clip onto your backpack out and about. My only negative is that the clips that hold each individual holder onto the central ring are not actually that strong, and I definitely would not feel comfortable clipping this onto the outside of my backpack, and I would worry that it was gonna come loose. It does, however, have a very distinct look to it, and I think it benefits from it all the same.
I was really impressed by “OK Play,” and for such a simple game, we enjoyed it way more than I thought we would. This game has universal appeal from young children to an elderly relative, and I think most people could play on a fairly level playing field. We are going camping in a few months’ time, and I know full well that this will be a game that we definitely take with us for that trip.
There is also a “duo” 2-player version which is on the Amazon link below which is slightly cheaper, comes in a more normal box and has 2 different colours “INCLUDING PURPLE!” which I am tempted to buy to be able to play a 6 player game….
Sigh… I just ordered OK Play Duo while writing this review…
That escalated quickly
In case you haven’t guessed this is an extremely high recommendation from me on this one.
Disclaimer: A copy of “OK Play” was kindly provided by “Big Potato Games” for the purpose of review. I did however go and buy a copy of Duo while writing this review. All of our thoughts and opinions are our own.
