YORKTON -
Wrapping up September’s tip of the hat to Culture Days with a month of Canadian designed games we look at INYO, a 2024 design from Ian Czajczyc.
“When I began designing INYO (which is now a two-player martial arts combat game in which you place dice in an arena to manage your footwork) it was intended to be a combat system for a completely different game,” explained the designer via email.
“At first, the idea was to create a combat system for a monster hunting game that involved connecting dice in certain patterns to pull off attacks or cast spells. It wasn't until a few iterations later that I realized the dice could be used for both attacks and movement.
“This led me to think of the dice as feet in an arena. I've been practising martial arts from a young age, so it felt natural for me to try and capture the essence of martial arts sparring in a board game. Once I decided on the martial arts theme, the rest of the design began to fall into place.
“It was my first time as a game designer that I felt my game was designing itself, which was a very gratifying experience.”
At first blush INYO ‘felt’ very much like a Sumo wrestling match with the dice and the combatants trying to push and throw their opponents off a rather small board.
By the way the small board and special dice are it in terms of components – it is very minimalist in that regard.
Now there have been times The Meeple Guild has reviewed games which are ‘over-produced’ having bits and pieces far nicer than the game play warrants.
INYO is the opposite. While appreciating the desire to keep production costs low for a game that is like a niche sale, this one would be better appreciated with chunkier cubes and a larger board. The marking on the cubes are also stickers and there is a fear they with fade or wear off.
Now you might easily grab some wooden cubes – not a lot larger but somewhat – and some nail polish and create your own – and once you play INYO enough to fully appreciate you may want too.
And therein lies something of a conundrum with INYO.
There is a rather interesting game lurking here, one with a good level of strategic game play and potential tactics and that’s a plus for an abstract strategy game.
But the game isn’t particularly intuitive, nor is it immediately absorbed in terms of game play, and that is not the best scenario in an era where people seem to want ease of access to everything. INYO demands some work of players in order to get the most from it. It seems worth the effort but the fear is many will not give it the time required to fully appreciate it.
The designer speaks of INYO simplicity, but maybe not from the outset.
“While INYO was part of a broader action adventure game, my goal was to create a combat system that was simple enough to be easy to remember as players switched between combat and exploration phases, yet interesting enough that it provided players with some level of creative freedom and challenge,” said Czajczyc. “When I broke it off into its own game, my goal was to create a deep and complex combat system with as few components as possible.
“Once I decided on the martial arts theme, I was trying to capture the essence of a martial arts duel in a board game, especially the thoughtful and methodical nature of combat sports like judo and jiu-jitsu.”
But the game will shine through given some time.
“Players can expect a tense two-player duel,” said Czajczyc calling INYO “a minimalist abstract game that packs a deep combat system into a small and simple package. INYO takes seconds to set up, and in only a couple of turns, you'll find yourself locked in a mind game with your opponent. Every move is an interesting puzzle that rewards thoughtful and creative solutions. As you play, you'll learn to read the rhythm of the game, predict your opponent's patterns, and understand new strategies and tactics to improve your skill.”
So what does Czajczyc feels INYO offers that others don’t?
“Two things: the dice and the turn structure. The dice are unique because they have custom patterns that represent your fighter's stance,” he offered.
“Also, you never roll the dice. Each move is fully determined by the player, like in chess. You place the dice down like they are the feet of your martial arts fighter. Then, when your dice collide with the opponent's dice, your stances will determine whether you or the opponent will be moved -- the goal of the game is to either move the opponent out of the arena, or move their dice in two different directions at the same time.
“The turn structure is unique because the way you place your dice can determine who gets to go first next. Each die face has a certain number of pips, and the total number of ‘pips’ you have face-up determines your ‘weight’. If you have more pips face up, then your stance is stronger, but slower. If you have less pips face-up, then your stance is more vulnerable, but faster.
“So there is an element of risk-taking, where you can place a light die down to take the next move first, or you might want to bunker down with a heavy die to stand your ground or push your opponent back. These two elements, the dice and turn structure, combine to make every move an interesting decision of managing trade-offs between strength, speed, and placement.”
Within that Czajczyc said there is a rather unique mechanic at work the tilting of the dice.
“When dice are attacked, they don't just slide across the board,” he reiterated. “They are tilted, such that when getting pushed from one space to another, they are also rotated 90 degrees in that direction, changing which side is face-up. This means that getting "hit" doesn't only change your position on the board, but also your stance. This leads to interesting moments where you can hit an opponent not only to move them, but also to weaken their stance. Likewise, it is possible to intentionally get hit by your opponent to adjust your stance to your advantage.”
While the game quality is not stellar and the learning curve a bit steeper than many, this is a little ‘gem-in-the-rough’, that just might shine in your collection if you submit the time too it.
