Flash Review — MATRX GIPF

Players: 2
Age: 14+ (but it's really more like 8+)
Playtime: 30-60 min
Complexity: 3/10

MATRX GIPF is a two-player abstract game that brings Project GIPF—a celebrated nine-game series launched in 1996 by Belgian designer Kris Burm—to a glorious end.

The game is essentially GIPF, where you're putting pieces in play by pushing them (and everything in their path) from space to space in a straight line. If you succeed in forming a row of four of your own pieces, you return them to your reserve and eliminate any opposing pieces that extend that row.
Much like in GIPF, there are two ways to win: by eliminating your opponent's three basic pieces, or by running your opponent out of pieces in reserve. 

However, unlike GIPF, where all pieces move in the same way, MATRX provides five types of different pieces—stacked two-by-two—each with its own capabilities. So you can use a two-piece stack and make a standard GIPF move (pushing it into play) or you can pick the top piece of a stack and perform that piece's special move.

Learning the rules is a tad more difficult than your standard Project GIPF game, owing to the various piece types. But mastering the strategy? Now that's a different matter.

The result is an abstract symphony that may sound a bit familiar if you've ever played GIPF with its potentials (pieces that linked GIPF to other entries in the series), but opens up a whole new harmony of strategic and tactical possibilities. I'm just a few games in, but I can already see I'll be playing this one for decades to come.

I'd recommend you start with GIPF, but you certainly can't go wrong graduating to MATRX once you're comfortable in those 29-year-old shoes.

Most easily forgotten rule: When using a TAMSK piece, the extra move is considered an extension of the regular move, which means that no piece can be removed from play until the whole regular+extra move has been resolved.



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