Matthew BaileyWatermelon Chess is a 2-player abstract strategy game based on an old Chinese game called Xi Gua Qi. Played here in turns with myself, Jack(.8.) and Toby(5) (who turned out to be a real pro at this and surprisingly difficult to beat).
Rules are simple. You play on a circular board with each player playing as a colour. On your turn you can move one piece one space and essentially what you are trying to do is eliminate the other player’s pieces by boxing them in so they are unable to move similar to how you would in a game of Go.
This continues until one player only has 2 pieces left and has therefore lost.
In reality this sounds like a fun little strategy game but due to the layout of the board and the fact you can only move 1 space at a time I can only really describe how the game plays as, that end part of a game of chess where you both have like 3 pieces left and you kind of edge back and forth until someone inevitably gets bored and makes a silly mistake… Except that’s the whole game.
None of us particularly enjoyed the game and most games seem to instantly get to stalemates that involve a load of back and forth until someone gets bored and tries something different (and more than likely loses)
The components are nice and the game is super colourful and for once it is actually a game that comes in a weird shape box that I quite like.
I picked this up for less than £10 largely because it comes in a cool box but to be brutally honest I can’t really see anyone finding that much enjoyment in this. There are way better abstract strategy games out there and this is a missed opportunity all around.
Def not a recommendation today.
