Tak: A Beautiful Game

"Tak is the best sort of game: simple in its rules, complex in its strategy. Bredon beat me handily in all five games we played, but I am proud to say that he never beat me the same way twice." -Kvothe, from The Wise Man’s Fear by Patrick Rothfuss

Tak is a classic-style abstract game in the same family as chess, go, and mancala. It was created in 2016 by James Ernest and Patrick Rothfuss, based on Patrick’s descriptions in The Wise Man’s Fear. You can buy the current edition from Greater Than Games.

This page contains the rules and a small bit of history about the game. There is much more out there in places like boardgamegeek, wikipedia, and the Greater Than Games website.

The Basics

Tak is a two-player game that uses a square board and stacking pieces. Players win by creating a road, which is a line of pieces that connects opposite sides of the board. On each turn, you can either place a new piece in an empty space, or move a stack of pieces that you control. Moving pieces can lead to taller stacks, and taller stacks can move farther.

There are two types of piece in the game: stones and capstones. Stones can be played in two ways: flat or standing. Standing stones cannot be covered by other stones (except capstones), but don’t count as part of a road. Capstones also can’t have other stones played on them, but they do count as part of a road, and they have the power to flatten standing stones.

If either player should run out of pieces before a road is complete, then the player with the most flat stones (on top of stacks) wins.

Downloads

• Tak Rules (from the 2018 University Edition)

• Tak Board 5x5

• Tak Board 6x6

• Tak Companion Book PDF

• Reglas del Tak (Spanish translation by Mío Sharp)

Links

• Buy Tak from Greater Than Games

• How to Play Tak, video by James Ernest April 2016

• Tak on Tabletop Day, video from April 2016

• Tak Tournament “Year Zero,” video from Gen Con 2016

• Tak 2017 Kickstarter Campaign

• Tak tops top ten abstracts, 2023 video by Off Earth Games

• Tak ties Hive for top tier, 2021 video by Liege of Games

• Tak tops another top ten list, 2020 video by Dual Brain Games

• US. Tak Organization, An independent organization supporting Education and Competition

Similar Projects

• Tablero di Berona: A simpler stacking game with dice!

• Linos: A board-free classic abstract game

• Fist: A chess-like game described in The Verdigris Pawn, by Alysa Wishingrad

• El Oso: a solitaire abstract game on a 5x5 board

• The Pub: A few other pub games by James Ernest and Crab Fragment Labs, including pure abstracts like Take-Back-Toe and Queensland.