What's colorful, multi-person, and fits in your pocket? It's a packet of candy or… Punto ! Rebel has released a game that will fit almost anywhere. However, it's the technique that counts - so let's see how these colorful dots are played.
Punto is a variation on the tic-tac-toe game. We put the cards with dots on the table to create a line of your color. Two nuances are covering other players’ cards when there are more dots on our card, and the possibility of playing up to four people. We will play several games in 15-20 minutes (e.g. competing to 3 wins).
When playing four, each has its own suit of cards with 1 to 9 dots on them. With three people, we additionally get cards from an unselected color, which will only serve to make the game more difficult for others. Playing with the two of us, everyone has two colors.
Ellipsis
The game comes in a handy metal box. Cards are printed on decent paper, which guarantees durability for many batches. Their small size means that the game does not take up much space on the table. Unfortunately – something for something – the cards are shuffled quite uncomfortably.
In Punto, alternately draw a card from the stack and add it to those on the table. We can make our line or block our opponents, but in practice the place to play the card is often forced – if we don’t play the card in a certain way, we will lose. Additionally, we are disturbed by randomness. Choosing “1” is not able to effectively block the opponent or give us a certain situation on the table. Without affecting the card drawn, our move is often unable to change the state on the table.
In a dot
For two players, the game gives a substitute for strategic planning and tactical outmaneuvering of the opponent, although the high card, successfully selected by the opponent, destroys these plans.
The most interesting game in Punto is played in a three-person squad. The neutral color in our deck is only for blocking, so it’s not a pity to put it away from our dots, just to disturb your opponents. In a game with 3 and 4 people, sometimes with our move we have to choose which opponent will win.
Medium (a) k
I didn’t expect much from this little game, although I hoped it would surprise me. It was so, but only during the first game for each number of players. The game does not gain in depth with the following games.
So who is Punto for ? I see an opportunity for schoolchildren and teenagers. Just like you used to play noughts and crosses over entire notebooks, now you can take out a compact box and fill the break between lessons. The more that the game is perfectly adapted to carry – a small metal box will fit in any pocket. Young players will approach the game’s problems more loosely and will enjoy it more.
