Mana. A non-trivial duel of two minds.
Set a clever trap and capture your opponent's steward before he does the same to yours. But beware - there's a Mana bird prowling the board, hindering players' moves and forcing them to make adjustments to their clever strategy!
Cosmoludo: Mana is an abstract puzzle game for two people, in which you compete to see who can first take over a daimyo pawn belonging to an opponent. The gameplay is based on cleverly moving your pawns around the board - the box where you end your move indicates how many spaces you will be able to move by in the next turn, as well as which pawn your opponent will be able to move in their next turn.
What does this involve?
- Each player has two types of pawn: one daimyo and five ronin.
- During the game, we play our turns alternately. In each turn, you make a move with one pawn of your colour.
- The symbol on the field where you start to move indicates how many spaces your pawn must move by - from 1 to 3.
- We cannot move through squares occupied by other pawns, but we can end the turn on the same square where the opponent's pawn is. This way we knock him off the board.
- After moving the pawn, we move the Man bird to any unoccupied field with the same symbol as the one on the field where we finished the move. The opponent on the next turn must move one of their pawns which is also on such a field.
- If none of the opponent's pawns occupies a field with the same symbol as the one on which you have placed the bird, the other player may move any other of their own pawns or bring a ronin pawn knocked off the board back into play.
- The game ends when either participant captures an opponent's daimyo pawn.
Why will you love this game?
- This is quite a treat for all fans of abstract puzzle games such as chess, checkers or go.
- Unlike most abstract puzzle games, Mana allows us to directly influence our opponent's abilities. Skilful use of the titular bird will allow us some control, but we will always have to answer the question of which move will be most profitable for us.
- Thanks to the simple rules, you will be able to quickly explain the game to newcomers, and the neutral atmosphere will allow representatives of different generations to join together at the table. The abstract challenges are great for children to support the development of logical thinking and anticipation of opponent's moves, as well as for adults and seniors as a prevention of memory disorders.