TZAAR

About this board game

TZAAR is a two-player game played in about 60 minutes, built around difficult choices between capturing your opponent’s pieces and strengthening your own. Each player begins with 30 pieces divided among three interconnected types.

The three types form a trinity: Tzaars, Tzarras, and Totts. Each player has:

• 6 Tzaars
• 9 Tzarras
• 15 Totts

Your aim is to make your opponent run out of one of these three types, or to leave them unable to capture any more pieces. Every turn presents the same central question: should you make yourself stronger, or make your opponent weaker?

Capturing an opposing piece reduces your opponent’s strength. Alternatively, you can jump on top of one of your own pieces, making that piece stronger. These two options create a constant tension: strengthening too often may leave your opponent with too many pieces on the board, while capturing too often may leave you with pieces that are not strong enough later in the game.

There is no automatic answer to the choice. You must decide when to attack and when to build, balancing the number of pieces remaining with their strength. TZAAR turns a simple-looking decision into the heart of the game, with each move shaping the possibilities that follow.

Released in 2007, TZAAR replaced TAMSK as part of project GIPF. It offers a focused contest for two players in which the balance between capture and reinforcement drives every turn.