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Shifting Stones Review

When I was a kid I used to absolutely love those slidey picture puzzles you used to get, occasionally find them in kids’ party bags these days with a little 3 by 3 picture but the ones I remember were another level. The ones ‘back in the day’ were bigger and featured all your favourite cartoon characters, I’d be furiously shuffling and sliding tiles with that satisfying plastic clack to try and reassemble He-man’s arm or attempting to attach the correct set of My Little Pony Legs to the correct head. Then on completion I’d go and badger my poor old mum – who was probably mid washing and up to her elbows in bubbles - to mix it up again for me. We were even lucky enough to have jumbo versions on TVs Crystal Maze! We never had it so good, I feel sorry for today’s youth.

Shifting stones is very reminiscent of those sliding tile puzzles, as you’ll be attempting to rearrange the stone tiles to your advantage, but the problem is your opponent(s) want to do the same thing, and are most probably undoing all your hard work in the process.

Enough of being sedimental about the past

Shifting Stones, published by Gameright is an easy to learn abstract game, where you’ll be moving and flipping tiles to try and match one of the arrangements featured on a card in your hand. Each arrangement is worth points and of course, the more complex the mix of tiles is, the more points that card will be worth.

You’ll start by randomly placing the 9 ancient stone tiles in the middle of the playing area in a 3 by 3 grid formation. All tiles are all double sided with a different coloured face on each side, you’ll also get a handy reference card which tells you what colour is on the reverse of which other colour. Each colour also has a different corresponding picture, for instance all orange tiles have a fish, all yellow tiles have a sun etc. As we have a member of the household who is colour blind we always appreciate distinguishing features like this.

No stone left unturned

Each player is dealt four pattern cards (which has an arrangement of tiles on), should you complete one, you can score that card, but you’re going to need to shift some stones around to make everything match up - wait a minute… do you think that’s why it’s called shifting stones?

On your turn you can take as many actions as you wish, in addition to scoring a card, you can flip a stone over or swap its position with one of its adjacent buddies. However for every action you take, you must discard a pattern card and only at the end of your turn you can draw back up to 4 cards. That one simple little twist can really leave you second guessing which cards to keep in an attempt to score them and which to get rid of. Alternatively you can skip your turn entirely and instead of taking actions you can draw an additional two cards, while this could provide you with additional options to discard or score, it might allow your opponents to take the lead scoring cards.

The end of Shifting Stones is triggered when any player has scored the requisite number of cards (this is dependent on the number of players) then the round is completed so all players have had equal turns. Most cards scored, does not necessarily equal winner, as not only do cards have different scoring values, but theres also a bonus to be had for the player who collecting the most cards worth 1.

Shifting Stones gather no moss

Shifting Stones is a family friendly, mind bending, abstract puzzle game, there is some light strategy involved but it’s mainly about thinking 2 or three steps ahead in an attempt to pre-empt what your opponents up to. Perhaps it’s not the most intense thriller of a puzzle game, but it’s not trying to be, it knows it’s an easy going, quick playing, and cosy game to gently stretch your brain.

You can also play shifting stones solo with a reduced deck of cards and adjustments to the rules. What I like about the solo variant is theres a definite win or lose, as I’m not a big fan of the ‘see how much you can score’ criteria often found in the solo play of games. I’m far too competitive even with myself. One of the most pleasing things to me is actually the 9 ‘stones tiles’ they are made from really thick cardboard and every image is embossed on both sides, this makes them very tactile when using them. My one Gripe? Considering the components included, the box could be soo much smaller there is a lot of wasted space within the box.

If you’ve played any other Gameright games before such as Twin it or Trash Pandas you’ll notice this seems a little calmer and a little more sophisticated but still very accessible to families. It feels like the next step along to progress your family’s gaming habits, it’s definitely one of those games that will frustrate a middle age parent, because as your kids get older, they’ll absolutely wipe the floor with you.

I suddenly feel older than those 9 ancient stones!