Linkage

About this board game

Linkage is a two-player abstract game played in about 10 minutes on a 7×7 board with its center square blacked out.

The game uses 24 domino-shaped pieces, with six pieces in each of four colors. Every piece covers exactly two cells of the board, and both players select their pieces from a shared pool.

Linkage gives the players opposing objectives. The starting player is called More, while the other player is called Fewer. Their names reflect the condition they are trying to achieve at the end of the game.

• More wins if the finished position has 12 or more distinct groups of cells of the same color.
• Fewer wins if the number of those distinct same-color groups is less than 12.

Because the two players are working from the same collection of colored dominoes, each placement contributes to a shared final arrangement rather than a separate personal tableau. The central blocked square is a fixed feature of the board, shaping the available space throughout play.

The result is a compact contest centered on the way colored cells form distinct groups. The same completed board is judged from two opposite perspectives: one player wants the group count to reach the higher side of the threshold, while the other wants it to remain below it.

With exactly two players and a short playing time, Linkage offers a focused board-game experience built around shared-piece selection, domino placement, color relationships, and a clearly defined end-game comparison.