Blokus belongs to the board games/ video games of abstract strategy among indoor party games played by two or four players. Bernard Tavitian first invented it and a French company Sekkoïa first released it in the year 2000.
The board is divided in 20 rows and 20 columns making 400 squares on it. There are 84 game tiles or pieces in 21 shapes, with 4 of the same shape in 4 different colors – blue, yellow, red, and green. Blue moves first, followed by yellow, red, and green in that order.
The first piece of a color, when played, goes to one of the corners on the board. Further pieces, on playing, must touch at least one piece of the same color, but only corner to corner and never edge to edge.
If a player is not able to find an area to place her/his piece, s/he passes the move and the next player takes over. When no one is able to find any area to place any of their pieces, the game is declared over.
Score is counted by counting the number of squares in each player’s unplayed pieces, for which the players lose their points. In case a player was able to play all her/his pieces on the board, s/he not only doesn’t lose any points but also gets extra bonus to add to her/his score.
Funkitron developed a video game version named Blokus World Tour, releasing it in December 2007. The video version is faithful to the board game version, making a new video addition to the indoor party games. An online version of the game is also available on the net.
The game has won many awards, including the Mensa Select award and the 2004 Teacher’s Choice Award.
