Take It Easy is a quick little game of simultaneous
puzzle solving. Although a single copy of the game includes boards
and pieces for only four players, using multiple sets will allow you
to play with many more. In fact, Alan Moon ran a Take It
Easy game for over 150 people once - but then, he worked for
F.X. Schmid at the time and had access to lots of copies of the game
...
I'm told the sets sold in the U.S.A. in English already have
components for eight players - cool! I haven't seen one - I have the
basic German edition - so read the box carefully before believing
that.
Components
The game is small and fairly inexpensive. You get four small boards,
each with 19 hexagons arranged in a large hexagon shape, like this:
_____
/ \
_____/ \_____
/ \ / \
_____/ \_____/ \_____
/ \ / \ / \
/ \_____/ \_____/ \
\ / \ / \ /
\_____/ \_____/ \_____/
/ \ / \ / \
/ \_____/ \_____/ \
\ / \ / \ /
\_____/ \_____/ \_____/
/ \ / \ / \
/ \_____/ \_____/ \
\ / \ / \ /
\_____/ \_____/ \_____/
\ / \ /
\_____/ \_____/
\ /
\_____/
Each player takes a board and one set of 27 unique tiles, which are
also hexagonal shaped and fit in the smaller hexes on the board. Each
tile has three lines on it, running from the center of one edge of the
hex to the opposite edge. The lines are different colors and are
marked with a number. All of the vertical lines, as you read the
numbers, are either 1, 5, or 9. Those running from the lower left to
upper right are either 2, 6, or 7. And those running from the lower
right to upper left are either 3, 4, or 8. The line for each number
has a unique color: red, blue, green, yellow, turquoise, orange, pink,
fuchsia, gray.
So a single tile might look like:
_____
/ 9 \
/ \
\7 8/
\_____/
You'll have to assume a line running from the top to the bottom of the
tile through the nine, and likewise through the 7 and 8 to their
opposite edges.
The Basics
Each person sorts their tiles by type: all the "9s" together, all the
"1s" together, and all the "5s" together, for example. One player,
however, mixes his tiles face down in the box lid so he doesn't know
which are which. This person is the "caller."
When all are ready, the caller draws a tile at random and reads it
off. (We read our tiles as top number, left number, right number - so
the tile shown above would be "9-7-8.") Each player finds their 9-7-8
tile and places it in any open hex on their board - even the caller.
The caller then draws another tile, reads it off, and each player
places the new tile on their board. And so on until all 19 spaces of
the board are filled in, and only eight undrawn tiles remain in each
player's stockpile.
When the boards are full, each player scores their board, and the
highest score either wins the game or possibly just the round, if
playing multiple rounds.
Scoring
You only score for connecting an entire row of the large hexagon with
the same colored lines. Your score for that row is the value of the
line (1-9) times the number of spaces connected (3-5). Count all
solid lines running up and down, lower left to upper right, and lower
right to upper left.
As an example of an incomplete board (so it wouldn't really be scored
yet), the player would score 45 points for the 5-hex north-south column
(five 9s), 12 points for the 3-hex lower-right to upper-left row (three
4s), but nothing for the 5-hex lower-left to upper-right column, because
they aren't all the same number (mixed 7s and 2s), for a total so far
of 57:
_____
/ 9 \
_____/ \_____
/ \2 4/ 5 \
_____/ \_____/ \_____
/ \ / 9 \6 4/ 1 \
/ \_____/ \_____/ \
\ / \6 4/ 5 \7 4/
\_____/ \_____/ \_____/
/ \ / 9 \7 4/ \
/ \_____/ \_____/ \
\ / 9 \7 8/ \ /
\_____/ \_____/ \_____/
/ 1 \7 3/ 9 \ / \
/ \_____/ \_____/ \
\2 3/ \6 3/ \ /
\_____/ \_____/ \_____/
\ / 9 \ /
\_____/ \_____/
\6 8/
\_____/
Decisions
The game gets very interesting the more tiles are drawn. No one
really pays attention to the other players' placement of their tiles
on their own boards - there isn't any point in it. Instead you focus
on your own, and begin to mutter and grumble as the caller draws yet
another blasted 1-2-X that you don't want to have to place!
Indeed, the entire point of the game is optimizing your score, but you
don't know what tiles will be drawn. Consider: there are nine tiles
of each number. Very well, you want the 5-hex north-south column to
have all 9s in it, to maximize your points there. But what if only
four of the 9s are drawn? There are eight undrawn tiles at the end of
the game, remember - what if even five of them are 9s? Then perhaps
it would be safer to build a four-hex column with 9s ... And so on.
Here's an example. Suppose the board looks like this:
_____
/ \
_____/ A \_____
/ \ / \
_____/ \_____/ B \_____
/ \ / 9 \ / \
/ C \_____/ \_____/ \
\ / 5 \6 4/ \ /
\_____/ \_____/ \_____/
/ \6 8/ 9 \ / \
/ D \_____/ \_____/ \
\ / 5 \7 8/ \ /
\_____/ \_____/ E \_____/
/ \7 3/ 9 \ / \
/ \_____/ \_____/ F \
\ / \6 3/ \ /
\_____/ \_____/ \_____/
\ / \ /
\_____/ G \_____/
\ /
\_____/
What do you do if the caller now draws the 9-6-8? You have some good,
unbroken rows and columns going here, and don't want to ruin any. You
could put it at either A or G, helping the main north-south 9s column.
But 6 and 8 are good numbers - you hate to put such a tile in a spot
that is in two 3-hex rows. Very well, you could try to expand the 8s
row at C, E, or F. Or maybe you should just go with the 6 row at B or
D.
If you decide to get risky and put it at E, it would look like:
_____
/ \
_____/ \_____
/ \ / \
_____/ \_____/ \_____
/ \ / 9 \ / \
/ \_____/ \_____/ \
\ / 5 \6 4/ \ /
\_____/ \_____/ \_____/
/ \6 8/ 9 \ / \
/ \_____/ \_____/ \
\ / 5 \7 8/ 9 \ /
\_____/ \_____/ \_____/
/ \7 3/ 9 \6 8/ \
/ \_____/ \_____/ \
\ / \6 3/ \ /
\_____/ \_____/ \_____/
\ / \ /
\_____/ \_____/
\ /
\_____/
This looks good at first glance - no broken rows yet! - but is
actually very risky. First, by not helping the main 5-hex north-south
column, you're hoping for at least two more 9s to be drawn. Second,
by placing it in a 4-hex column, you're probably dooming that to
incompletion. That's because if you fill the 5-hex column, you would
then need all nine 9s to be drawn to fill in the 4-hex column as well.
Do you feel lucky?
Why Wouldn't You Like This Game?
Some people just don't like simultaneous puzzle-solving games. In a
way, it's like Flickwerk,
except that there's no time element.
It's very abstract and a little dry - it's just numbers, no theme at
all. You might not like such abstract games, although it's short
enough that it shouldn't bother most people.
It's very short - a game takes maybe ten minutes. You might not think
such a short game is worth your while.
Summing Up
This is an excellent game for filling short time periods. It's worth
having two sets for up to eight people, in fact - something to play
while waiting for that last person to arrive, perhaps, or while
waiting for the pizza delivery person.
We even keep a score sheet in the box for record scores. We don't
record every score, just those that beat the old record. So there's a
little ongoing competition for us with this game, giving it a little
extra edge.
Nice game, simple, easy to understand, not as cerebral as it sounds,
quick to play - you'll find people asking for a rematch. Recommended.
Back to SOS'
Gameviews
Back to Steffan O'Sullivan's Home
Page