Mattel
Blokus
★★★★⯨4.5 / 5 – editorial rating
Get all your pieces on the board – each new one touching your own only at a corner. Pure spatial strategy.
age 7+2–4 players20–30 min.
Logic & planning
How it plays
Each player receives 21 differently shaped pieces in one color. Pieces are placed in turn; every new piece must touch at least one of your own at a corner – edges may never be shared. Whoever has the fewest unplaced squares at the end wins.
What it trains
Blokus is pure area-and-planning training: keep your own paths open, block your opponents', rotate and mirror pieces in your head. With zero luck involved, children experience how thinking ahead is rewarded directly – and the corner rule forces refreshingly unusual perspectives.
Community voices: Multi-award-winning and a bestseller for years; praised as "chess light" for families. Most common feedback: astonishing depth from minimal rules. Criticism at most concerns the plastic look and feel.
Our tip for parents: Works with two as well as four players; the rules take two minutes to explain.
Especially good for
- Thoughtful kids from age 7
- The whole family – rules explained in two minutes
- Strong with two players as well (two colors each)
Less suitable for
- Children who take deliberate blocking personally
- Anyone needing theme and story in a game
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