Matthew BaileyToday, we’re going to be looking at Tridecco, a cute little indie-shaped oscillation game from the company Tridecagon.
Played by Jack(10) and I.
Now, interestingly, the irregular tridecagon used here is actually a newly discovered 13-sided shape, first identified in 2023. It’s known as the Einstein shape, a nickname given because it was the first single shape found that can tessellate a plane without repeating, a discovery that caused quite a stir in the maths world. It has the amazing property of being able to tessellate (you can lay them all out on a grid and they interlock with each other).
What makes this game even more interesting is the story of the designer, Ted Yu, who was inspired by the discovery of the shape and had the idea to create a game around it.
The game itself is relatively simple. Using these unusual shapes, you must tessellate them together and try to make full gems. You can only lay a shape where it fits and where all of the colours match up, eventually creating these gems. If you manage to lay a shape and create a gem, you get another go, the aim being to be the first player to get rid of all of their shapes and win.
There is also an advanced option that introduces the concept of trading shapes between players. This is a great little addition and a fun twist, including special ways that you can force other players to trade, potentially setting yourself up for a combo to get rid of several shapes at once.
The game itself is simple but really fun, and lining up the shapes is really satisfying. It’s not just a game of placing pieces – it’s a logic puzzle in disguise.
Now, this is where everything gets quite unusually quirky. From the outside, the box of Tridecco uses bold colours mixed with a rather unappealing brown that doesn’t give much away. It makes it look like a dry abstract puzzle game, which it sort of is, but on the back of the box, it tells a completely different story. It describes a quiet village where friends are playing a game with discarded shards of glass, and as they etch into them and fit them together, something magical happens. The shards begin to form tapestries of beautiful gems. It’s a really evocative little story, almost poetic, and genuinely lovely. But for some reason, they don’t lean into this at all on the front of the box, which is a shame because it massively downplays how cool this game really is.
The second thing I absolutely love is the unbelievably high quality of the components. Once inside, all the pieces are made of extremely thick magnetic tiles. The board itself is a really nice fold-out that looks like wood, but is magnetic and has raised sections to help you place the shapes. The shapes themselves are chunky, weighty, and feel fantastic to handle. Everything looks beautiful. The artwork on the pieces is really well done, and I have absolutely no idea why none of this beauty is reflected on the outside of the box. It deserves to be shown off.
One of the key passions of the designer was to help use this game as a learning tool for children. And in that regard, it really delivers. It’s excellent for developing spatial orientation, pattern recognition, critical thinking, and problem solving. It’s suitable for a wide range of ages – the Playwise article suggests ages 6 and up – and it’s definitely something that can work in the classroom or for homeschool families.
So to sum up, Tridecco is literally a diamond in the rough. It’s a game about placing shards and making gems, with beautiful components and a really simple, satisfying puzzle feel that younger children (and adults!) will really enjoy. There’s a lovely story behind it and a tactile joy to playing. You just have to overlook the really quite underwhelming box art – trust me, this is a wonderful game.
You can buy the game directly from their website at this link, and what’s also really cool is that you can actually log in and try a virtual version online to see if it’s your thing. It’s not the easiest to get in the UK right now, but for our US readers, this is an instant recommendation from me, especially for the many homeschoolers in our group.
Shop Link – https://tridecco.com/purchase
Play Digital Game online – https://play.tridecco.com/
