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Home > Categories > Games & Puzzles > Stand-Alone Games > Brikks review
Brikks can be viewed as tabletop Tetris, with each player trying to place falling blocks into their grid to score the most points.
To start the game, each player draws a different quadromino at the bottom of their individual game sheet. On a turn, the active player rolls two dice - a colored d6 and a numbered d4 - then optionally rolls both dice again. The two dice determine which specific quadromino - that is, which colored shape and in which orientation - all players must "drop" into their grid. To represent this, you draw an outline of the block at the bottom of your sheet as if you had dropped it in from the top, then X out the spaces covered by the quadromino.
If you cover a circle on the grid that's the same color as the quadromino just placed there, you collect two energy points. By spending one energy point on a turn, you can possibly "rotate" the quadromino to be placed depending on what dice were rolled; by spending five energy points, you can place exactly the quadromino you want, ignoring the result of the dice. As you collect energy, you might cover an X on the energy chart; if you do, you track these Xs on a separate "extra point" bar, with the points escalating for each X you collect. If you complete 2-4 lines through the placement of a single quadromino, you collect an additional 1-4 Xs for this extra point bar.
Each player has three bombs they can spend to blow up a block instead of placing it, but by doing so you give up endgame points.
As soon as you can no longer place a quadromino in your grid, your game is over. Once everyone has filled their grid to the top, tally your points. In addition to the extra points bar and any bombs unused, you score 1-5 points for each horizontal line that contains 8-10 Xs, with these line points doubling, or even quadrupling, as you go higher in the grid. Whoever scores the most points wins!
"Brikks" also contains rules for a duel mode and a solitaire mode.
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Review by: birdsong (James)
Dated: 29th of August, 2021
For years I've been trying to get my kids off the iPad and just play a real game. One of our favourite games has yet again been overshadowed by technology and we're not going to stand for it anymore! All kidding aside, this is a really fun game with lots of good twists that will keep you coming back for more. The colours on the dice are rich and vivid, which have always played well with my wife's design sensibility - needless to say, she was delighted when I brought her home a new addition from Stronghold Games.
I first read about this toy for my kids in a magazine. I don't know where the idea originally came from, but that article convinced me to buy this for them! Most people see it as another Tetris clone, and the box does recreate all of the same common building blocks in written form. But, what really drew me into buying this game was its focus on shapes and colours - two things that are very appealing to children.
Brikks is the game to get your kids off their phones and onto the tabletop. This creative combination of Tetris on paper lets them pull up a chair, connect with friends or family, and become immersed in this fun, mind-bending game from stump to championship.
Review by: mizim (Miriam)
Dated: 23rd of August, 2021
I bought this game, solely based on the fact that I already owned a couple in the Stronghold Games roll and write catalogue and thought that this could be another fun one for the collection. Whilst I have played it a few times now and enjoy it enough to keep it, it is currently my least favourite roll and write game that I own (Stronghold Games or otherwise). This game takes the age old classic arcade game, Tetris and applies a twist to it. The piece that you will need to place on your sheet is determined by what number you roll, 1-4, but also what colour you roll. This determines which row and column you must now place on your sheet in the hopes of completing as many rows as possible for optimum points.
What I always find tricky with this game, is that the placement of your pieces is still governed by Tetris laws of physics. If, when playing the arcade game, you wouldn't be able to quickly slide a piece sideways and fit it in, the same applies for Brikks. I find it a challenge to figure out if I could slot a piece in sometimes and this takes some of the enjoyment out of the game for me. You do have the opportunity along the way to earn 'circles' by covering a circle on the sheet with a Tetris piece of the same colour, but I find these just a tad too hard to earn. The benefit of gaining the circles, though, is that you can use them to select a different piece in the same row, or if you have enough, any piece you like.
Whilst this game does have its merits, I feel it is far to reliant on pure luck of the dice, there is only a limited amount of planning and strategy that you can put into play. I'll hold onto it but I envision it will take awhile to use up the pad.
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