Overview
Place polyomino pieces on a shared board. Every piece you place must touch another of your own only at the corners, never along an edge. Whoever places the most squares wins.
Based on an original concept by Bernard Tavitian. Two to four players. This entry is checked against Mattel's Blokus instructions, item BJV44 (©2013).
1. Setup
Each player takes the 21 pieces of one colour: one 1-square piece, one 2-square, two 3-square, five 4-square and twelve 5-square pieces, 89 squares in all. The box has 84 pieces in four colours.
Choose who goes first; play proceeds clockwise.
Two players: one controls blue and red, the other yellow and green, playing in the order blue, yellow, red, green, and scoring both colours together.
2. The two placement rules
Every piece you place must touch at least one other piece of your own colour, corner to corner.
No piece may touch another of your own colour edge to edge.
Those two rules together are the entire game. Your pieces form a diagonal lattice, spreading like a crystal.
Pieces of other colours may touch yours in any way at all — edges, corners, or not at all. Only your own colour is restricted.
3. The first move
Your first piece must cover a corner square of the board. With four players that means everyone starts in a different corner and grows inward.
4. Play
Players take turns placing one piece at a time. Once placed, a piece can't be moved.
If you can't place a piece, you must pass. Because the board only gets fuller, a player who can't place now won't be able to later either, so in practice they're finished while the others play on.
5. Scoring
The game ends when nobody can place.
The rules give two scoring systems.
Basic scoring: count the squares in your leftover pieces. The lowest total wins.
Advanced scoring: now the highest score wins.
| Points | |
|---|---|
| Each square left unplaced | −1 |
| Placed every piece | +15 |
| …and the last piece placed was the one-square piece | +5 more (+20 in all) |
Under advanced scoring, holding the one-square piece to the end is worth doing.
6. Strategy
Play your large pieces early. A five-square piece left at the end costs five points; the same piece placed early costs nothing and claims territory.
Head for the centre. The middle of the board is contested by everyone and closes fastest.
Count your corners. Every exposed corner of your own shape is a future placement point. Play pieces that create many; deny your opponents theirs.
Blocking is the whole midgame. Placing a piece edge-to-edge against an opponent's shape costs you nothing and kills their expansion in that direction.
Commonly argued
- Your pieces touch your own colour at corners only.
- Other colours may touch you however they like.
- The first piece must cover a corner square.
- Basic scoring: fewest leftover squares wins. Advanced scoring: highest score wins, with bonuses for placing everything.
- Once you can't place, you pass, and the others play on.
Spotted a mistake?
Corrections are reviewed by an editor before they publish.