Polarity (Temple Games, 1986 – Douglas Seaton) is on many lists of “games you should play at least once in your lifetime”. That is because Polarity is extremely unique – the only game I know of that uses magnets for its main mechanic. From a child, I’ve been fascinated with magnets and their uses, and Polarity takes this fascination and makes a game out of it. The game is a dexterity game, in which players attempt to balance magnet pieces on magnetic fields created by other pieces.

Polarity is a dexterity game, one that I personally am quite horrific at. Regardless, I still enjoy it, although I wonder if I like it because of the novelty factor. The rules are a bit convoluted for a game that isn’t really that complicated, and the written rules included with the game are almost a nightmare (although online rules helped me understand it quite a bit better.) Most newcomers will be soundly trounced by experienced players, but many will stay and play – mostly out of utter fascination.

Polarity is a difficult game to explain without one seeing it, but basically it consists of a large cloth mat with a circle drawn on it. Each player is given twenty-six disks that are magnetic and dual-colored – black on one side, and white on the other. A red disc is flipped and placed on the center of the circle. Players then place five “foundation discs”, placing them face up in their color anywhere inside the circle – with the White player placing all five first, then the black player. The game is then ready to begin.

On a player’s turn, they must attempt to play one disc from their stack onto the circle, placing it so that it becomes a “leaner”. In other words, the disc must lean, without falling, balanced by the magnetic forces from the foundation discs. While placing a disc, it’s very possible that the player causes a “fault”. This can be by causing a leaning disc to fall down, two or more discs to snap together, a disc to fly to the player’s hand, etc. When a player causes one of these faults, they face a penalty, which depends on the fault that is caused. Many times, the penalty involves allowing another player to capture a disc or stack of discs that are laying flat on the mat, flipping them over to their color.

As the game progresses, players will be able to place “leaners” that balance off of other “leaners” or the “towers” (stacks of discs), although this is harder. A player can also, through poor play, set of a chain reaction of faults. The game continues until one player has used all the discs in their stack. At this point, all “towers” are counted, and the player who has the most discs in their color in these towers is the winner (subtracting any discs left in hand). A player also immediately loses the game if they cause any disc to touch the red disc or cause the red disc to move off the center dot.

Some comments on the game…

1. Components: Polarity comes in a long tube that is stored in a cloth bag. Inside the tube is stored the cloth mat, with all the discs stacked together in the middle. I’m not a huge fan of tube games, especially ones that are this long; but it does lean in my game room okay, and you can even hang it on a hook. The discs themselves are made out of heavy plastic with decent magnets inside, although you would have to work hard to use these magnets to ruin anything. The magnets are stronger than they appear, however; and the magnetic fields they create are fairly strong. The discs are sturdy and survive dropping fairly well. The cloth board is okay, although I would recommend ironing it before games so that creases or bends in it don’t affect game play.
   
   
2. Rules: The rules included in the game are actually rather atrocious. We played several games, not knowing what in the world we were doing, because the way that faults were explained was simply poorly done. However, at www.polaritygame.com, one can see a flash version of the rules, download a rulebook that makes sense, and download a strategy guide that helps out exceedingly when trying to figure out what fault was just caused (if any). Polarity is an interesting game in the fact that players will usually be a little slow to catch onto all the exact rules; but once you understand the game, everything moves fairly smoothly. Just make sure that the person explaining the rules knows what they are doing.
   
   
3. Dexterity: No matter what strategy you may figure out with the game, much of it comes down to the fact that people with nimble fingers and non-shaking hands will certainly far better than clumsy, shaky folks like myself. Oddly, I personally find that I do poorly when it’s critical, although the process of creating a “leaner” – once learned – isn’t that difficult. It’s a question of space, really, because one most likely will not be able to get all of their discs as leaners against the original five foundation discs. Placing a leaner on the field of another leaner is difficult, doing it twice is even more so.
   
   
4. Strategy: The manual lists one of the main strategies for Polarity as “Practice, practice, practice”, but there are other things a clever player can do, also. They can cause a leaner to fall deliberately – just to form another foundation disc for themselves. They can set up their foundation discs and leaners in such a way that play for their opponent without causing a fault. Or, even better, they can place discs in such a way to allow themselves optimal placement on following turns. The whole game revolves around players setting up the discs so that they eventually become towers, but that usually stems from bad play on your opponent’s part rather than play on your part (or in my case – bad play on my part to help out my opponent.)
   
   
5. Fun Factor: Polarity is fun, of course, because of its unique mechanics and the “cool” factor when players encounter the different magnetic fields. But there are also some amazing moments (well, for the player watching anyway), when there is a massive chain reaction; and it seems like half or more of the magnets on the board snap together. The contortions that players do to avoid such catastrophes are rather comical to watch, but oh – the sweat pours off my brow when attempting to make a critical placement! Honestly, though, I don’t find myself to be craving more games of Polarity – I could continue to practice, but the motivation isn’t really there. For me, the most fun part of Polarity is watching the reactions of newcomers to the game and their amazement at how the magnetic fields work.
   

I know that some have become enamored with Polarity, and a few that I’ve taught it to have enjoyed it to the point of wanting to play it over and over again. But for most that I’ve seen playing it, myself included, it’s merely a pleasant distraction. I wouldn’t turn down a game, but it isn’t as gripping to keep playing. I love magnets, and whenever I’m in the mood to play with them – in a good game, mind you – I’ll pull out Polarity.

Tom Vasel
“Real men play board games”