Take-Back-Toe is a simple abstract game for two players. The rules are short enough to post right here, but we've also dressed them up in the usual Cheapass Games format, which is linked below.
Short Form Rules:
You need: 40 chips, a 6-sided die, and a board (which is optional, if you have a good imagination).
Play: On a 3x4 board, players will take turns moving chips around. The board starts with a stack of 10 chips on each space in the center row. On each turn, you roll a 6-sided die, and then move that number of chips from one space to an adjacent space (adjacency is orthogonal, not diagonal). To win, you must be the first player to have three stacks of the same size in your home row (the row closest to you). You can't move fewer chips than the number you roll, so it's theoretically possible that you will be forced to pass. Also, you can't undo your opponent's most recent move.
Take Back Toe was designed as an entry for Daniel Solis' "Thousand Year Game Design Challenge," and we're pleased to say that it won! Here's the article about the contest with links to the other entries: http://danielsolisblog.blogspot.com/2012/01/take-back-toe-wins-thousand-year-game.html
The rules and boards below are optional, since the whoe rules are written above, but we have provided them as a convenience and because we like making rules and boards. Each board has been formatted to fit a 9" x 7.5" mouse pad, so feel free to upload the graphics to your favorite custom mouse pad printer (we use Vistaprint).
- Rules for Take Back Toe PDF (1.7 MB)
- Board 1 for Take Back Toe (Blue, shown below) PDF (1.1 MB)
- Board 2 for Take Back Toe (Green, shown above) PDF (3.1 MB)
If you have a great idea for a variant of the game, or want to make art for a different version of the board, please let us know!
