See? Saw! (Kilter)

Ah, to be a child again.  Climbing on the jungle gym, swinging on the aptly named swing sets, and sliding for hours on end at the school's playground.  There was nothing quite like it.  The best, however, was the seesaw.  Up, and down.  It fascinated the little mind, how could just a simple piece of wood and a block on the bottom make such a neat toy?  But, as you got bigger, it became simpler, easier to understand, and age threw life into a Kilter, one most struggle to overcome.



GAME DESCRIPTION:  Kilter, also known as KIPP X outside of the US, is a dexterity based game for 2-4 players published by SimplyFun. Players attempt to place cubes of various sizes onto a 4 armed seesaw without knocking any others off.

SET-UP:  If there are 3 or 4 players, each player gets 3 large Red Cubes, 4 Blue Cubes, 5 Yellow Cubes, and 6 small Green Cubes. If there are only 2 players, both players get 4 Red Cubes, 6 Blue Cubes, 8 Yellow Cubes, and 10 Green Cubes.  Place the Seesaw in the center, where everyone can reach.

PLACEMENT:  Each turn, a players places Cubes onto any arm of the Seesaw that is not touching the ground.  Players may only place 1 Cube at a time, but they continue placing cubes on their turn until either that arm falls to the ground, or any amount of Cubes are knocked off.  That player then takes any Cubes not on the seesaw, and the next player goes.  Cubes may be stacked on top of any other Cubes.



WINNING:  Once a player has finished placing all of their Cubes both from their starting pile, and any knocked over, that person is wins.

CONCLUSION:  Kilter is pretty unique in the tabletop and board game world.  With most games relying on pawns or dice or cards, Kilter has you rely on your dexterity and placement skills.  The most obvious comparison would be something like Jenga, and it's pretty clear why.  This is a solid game, with clean, simple rules and ease of access to understand.  Anyone can pick it up and learn it, and most people should.  Kilter is simply fun.