Sullivan’s Top 10 Favourite Board Games

4. Shobu

Can you smeeeeeeeeeeeeeeell what these rocks are cooking?

Well they’re cooking up something delicious for you, a game that makes you have to think laterally, vertically and diagonally.

There was once a time where Onitama would perhaps have appeared on this list, perhaps even in place of Shobu.

But then something terrible happened.

Something really terrible that I can’t remember anymore because I paid scientists to remove that memory from my brain.

So I suppose we’ll never know what happened because I don’t even remember what it could possibly be.

But seriously, Shobu is actually my favourite abstract. It’s all so simple, knock all the stones off one of the four boards and you win!

But on each turn, your moves are linked, meaning that I can only make an aggressive move if I can make the exact same move on my passive turn and vice versa.

What’s great about this is that not only does it mean that you have to constantly be thinking about your own manouverability but you can also block your opponents.

It’s a devilish game that makes you feel either very very clever or very very stupid.