Game of the Week: 'Circular Reasoning'

We believe that few things are as enjoyable as sitting around the living room floor, playing a game with your family. Each week, in the ‘Game of the Week’ column, GeekDad will suggest a fun, family-friendly game everyone can enjoy while spending time together. Here’s this week’s pick:

Circular Reasoning

Circular Reasoning falls readily into the category of games that are easy to learn but hard to master. The goal is for players to get their three colored tiles into the center of the board. Each piece moves a set number of spaces in a single direction each turn, attempting to reach the “gate” which allows passage to the next level. At the end of each turn, the gates move based on the number of tiles on each level.

Much like chess, there are a finite number of possible moves, but unlike chess, you can actually calculate many of them easily. While the box suggests 12+, I’ve played with an 8 year old who won handily and a 6 year old that was able to play well with limited assistance, so YMMV.

This game, though simple in appearance, has amazing depth and teaches basic strategy that can be applied to most games. If you’re searching for a game to teach basic strategy at any age, check out Circular Reasoning.