Twenty-three White pieces. Twenty-three Black. Three Red neutrals on which White and Black depend for their lives. Such simple components form last year's enchanting Game of the Year. After players fill the board by placing one piece per turn, movement starts. Move a piece of your color to an adjacent occupied space, or a stack with your color on top as many spaces as it contains pieces. All pieces and stacks must be connected to at least one Red, either by including it or by being linked to it through chains of adjacent pieces. Pieces severed from Reds are immediately, pitilessly removed from play. When neither player can move, the player with the most pieces (enemy or friendly) in stacks with his color on top wins. A timeless beauty from today's greatest designer of abstract strategy games.

Last year, Phillippe Keyearts of Belgium designed our Game of the Year. This time around, fellow countryman Kris Burm represents that tiny but talented nation. Dvonn's closest rivals for the top honor were Puerto Rico (Advanced Strategy winner) and Mexica (Family Strategy winner), and all are indeed superb examples of their genres. Dvonn surpassed the others because of its simplicity, elegance, originality, and depth -- traits that make it an immensely satisfying game for everyone, from the casual to the fanatical gamer.

There are three neutral red pieces, 23 black pieces, and 23 white pieces. In Phase 1 (Placement), White and Black alternate placing pieces, one per space, on the 49-space board, starting with the neutral reds and continuing with their own colors. Once all pieces are placed, White begins Phase 2 (Movement). Each turn, you move a stack of one or more pieces in a line (over vacant or occupied spaces) exactly as many spaces as there are pieces in it. You may only move stacks with your color on top. Every living stack must be connected to a red piece by either including it or by being linked to it through a chain of adjacent stacks. When a player severs a linking stack, the resulting isolated stacks are instantly removed form the board. The reds are truly the three hearts of this vibrant game!

Play ends when neither player can move. Each player builds a large tower from the stacks he controls, and the highest tower wins. As my wife Robin King correctly predicted in her review in the May 2002 issue of GAMES, "You'll get the strong premonition that you'll be playing this finely balanced game again very soon." Dvonn is absolutely divine!

An easy game to learn but difficult to master.

The game consists of two phases. The first phase involves laying out coins on the board. The second phase is the movement phase. Ease of playing during the second phase is determined by how well you have set up your coins in the first phase.

I am still trying to figure out the optimal way of laying out the coins in the first phase.

Highly addictive game, although I keep losing to my wife.

I play this game with a coworker between 5 and 6 times per day. How can you play so much you ask, we use a chess clock. Three minutes each on the chess clock makes for a frantic quick thinking game, where 'timing out' is always on the back of your mind. We have recorded all 250 games that we have played and keep detailed statistics via Microsoft Excel.

What I love most about this game is how seamlessly it integrates tactical (of or relating to small-scale actions serving a larger purpose) and strategic movements. For an abstract game I feel it closely mirrors what battle planners must go through on the battlefield. Every game is uniquely setup and as such has a different set of tactics and strategies that must be employed to win.

This game is a blast to play, it is my favorite game by far.

It is a very good game, easy to learn, but hard to master, yet addictive to play. Pieces are beautifully done with nice heavy feel to it. It should be and probably will become one of the classics. Highly recommanded to gamers and non-gamers. This game will keep you thinking all through the game and really draws you into it.