The Triangle

Issue date: 2/17/06 Section: Entertainment

Media Credit: deflexion.biz

With video games, movies and whatnot, it's rare to find a board game these days that can be entertaining. Then again, any board game with lasers and mirrors has got to be cool. My buddy from work Steve recently acquired Deflexion, a chess-like game involving lasers and mirrors.

Deflexion consists of a rectangular board with two lasers beams, one in the top left corner and one in the bottom right corner. There are four types of pieces given to each player. Each team gets seven Pyramids. They basically look like a pyramid that's been chopped in half diagonally, with a mirror along the long diagonal side. You get two Djeds, basically a mirror that sits diagonally across the square. Additionally, each side has two Obelisks, a shape that looks like a mini Washington Monument with no mirrors. Finally, there is a Pharaoh, the equivalent of the king in chess; you don't want this guy to get taken out.

The object of the game is to align your pieces so that when you fire your laser beam - or you opponent fires their laser beam­ - the light will bounce around and hit your opponent's Pharaoh. You can also eliminate Pyramids by hitting them on one of their non-mirrored sides. Obelisks, which have no mirrors, are sacrificial pieces used for blocking a hit to another piece. They are gone when the laser hits them. During a turn, a player can move a piece one square in any direction or rotate one of their mirrored pieces 90 degrees. Djeds are a powerful piece with no reflective sides, so they can't be taken out, they can also swap positions on the board with any piece within one square of them. Each player must fire their laser after they move their piece.

It takes a couple turns to get used to how the laser bounces around and a few games to get used to the strategy. What makes the game addictive is that the movement of the pieces is simple, yet the strategy is complex. It's not uncommon for a laser to hit three or four pieces before reaching its final mark. On moves that wind up eliminating a Pharaoh, the laser could easily bounce off five or more pieces. Since you are limited in your movement, the challenge is developing a strategy that is offensive as well as defensive. The smaller board makes it a quicker game than chess, while adding complexity to the strategy. You may be able to take out a couple of your opponent's supporting pieces, but if you don't pay attention, your opponent may be using that time to develop a plan to take out your Pharaoh. Many times, a player's final blow may catch him completely by surprise. Sometimes, you might even end up eliminating your own piece.

The only way this game would be cooler is if the laser actually burned holes through the pieces, but if that were the case, you could play only once.

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