How Blokus Works

First, peek inside the brightly colored box. There, you'll find 84 geometrically shaped game pieces in 4 distinct colors (21 in each color), a 400-square board and an instruction booklet.

As we mentioned, some of those pieces might look strangely familiar to Tetris fans. Here's why -- All 21 pieces represent different types of polyominos, geometric shapes made up of unit squares that border each other in various patterns [source: Weisstein]:

So, the goal of Blokus is to put all 21 of these babies on the board. Sound easy? Consider that there are only a certain number of legal placements.

Let's say you picked blue, so it's your turn first. (The game is always played in order of blue, yellow, red and green turns, no matter what, and play proceeds clockwise). Start by placing a piece in the corner of your choice -- note that one square unit of your inaugural game piece must actually cover the corner square of the board. Your fellow players will then do the same with their respective corners. On each subsequent turn, each player will strategically place his or her Blokus pieces on the board. Two rules govern placement of pieces:

In other words, you can't simply jam the pieces together like a puzzle (or Tetris). The pieces can touch the sides of your opponents' different colored ones, but -- again -- only if one corner of your piece is touching a corner of another piece belonging to you.

Best-case scenario, you'll be able to fit all your pieces on the board. If you're new to Blokus (or simply not a born Blokus prodigy), you'll run out of eligible moves before you run out of pieces. In that case, you're done playing. But just wait to see how the game ends, because each block (or covered unit square) you've played scores you a point at the end of the game.

When all the players have been foiled, the game is over. Count up all the squares on the board for a point each and then subtract your unused squares from that total. In other words, +1 for each square on the board, -1 for each unused square. If you were some kind of amazing Blokus genius and placed all 21 squares, good for you: You get 15 extra points! If you were even more amazing and managed to use the single square on your very last turn? Add another five points to that 15. You, my friend, are a Blokus champ.

Think Blokus is for babies? Think again. (Especially since it's been noted that the sound of a Blokus board being knocked over by a toddler is a terrifying, shattering noise that leaves parents with curdled blood.) The truth is, although it's technically simple to understand, Blokus can be maddeningly strategic. Not only are you attempting to thwart the advances of other players, but you're also on an offensive attack to save space for your squares, as well.

Luckily, there are a few easy tips you can keep in mind while you're playing to leverage your chances at Blokus success. When placing your first pieces, make sure to move toward the center. Remember, you want to keep as many corners of your pieces open as possible -- so lining them up on the side of the board is going to immediately point you out as a Blokus amateur, and all your friends will laugh at you.

Also, be aware that the more squares you cover on the board, the more points you get. So use your shapes strategically. Positioning the smaller squares first is not only going to leave you less room to place the bigger ones; you're also handicapping yourself when it comes to getting the most points on the board fast.

In terms of playing against your opponents, it's Blokus -- and not WatchUsWhileWeBlokYou -- for a reason. Be aggressive about making sure the other players have few options for their own pieces. The Blokus instructions refer to the corners that are unprotected and jut out the most as "advanced" corners. Be proactive about surrounding your opponents' most available, advanced corners. Remember that while you can only touch the corners of your colored pieces, you can abut all sides of another player's piece. Use this ability to surround your opponents.

Want a fast, sneaky way to try out Blokus strategies on your own? Lucky for you, there are many ways to play Blokus apart from the board games. There's an app available for various smartphone platforms, as well as free online versions at the Blokus Web site. You can even go the old-fashioned route and play a solitaire version of Blokus, where the goal is to get all the pieces on the board legally.

Before you go rogue, meet the clever mind behind Blokus -- and discover why you might actually (gasp) learn something from playing it.

Blokus is a so-called "hobby game," meaning it's a bit more specialized than more mainstream games. Usually played at a clip (a Blokus game is generally a half hour long), these games prize strategy above, say, the luck of the draw that comes with Uno [source: Thai].

The game was dreamed up by a French designer, Bernard Tavitian. Apparently not one to loll around on the couch and watch reality shows in his free time, Tavitian boasts a master's degree in mathematics, an engineering degree and a doctorate in biophysics, among other accomplishments [source: Blokus].

Not satisfied with book smarts, Tavitian was also a painter. One day, he was attempting to frame a painting he had finished of an orchestra represented by geometric figures, and he decided that he wanted colored shapes to frame the picture. With the thought that each similarly colored piece should never touch, the game of Blokus was born [source: NAGC].

Another influence? The four-color theorem, first introduced in 1852 by Francis Guthrie [source: Thomas]. The theorem states that on any given map, you only need four colors to distinguish separate territories -- that is, without any borders of the same color touching each other, side by side. Well, it's a nice theory. But only a computer program has been able to prove it, and mathematicians are still searching for the ultimate human proof [source: MegaMath].

Theorems or not, you're still playing a brain game. As we said, it's gained a huge following in general and has been heralded by smarty-pants organizations like Mensa (a society for those special folks with the highest of high IQs) as a "Select" game, which "indicates that a game is original, challenging and well-designed" [source: Mensa].

Even scholarly journals like Mathematics Teaching in Middle School have highlighted the game's brain-boosting potential. An article published in the journal in April 2011 studied the use of Blokus in math classrooms as a learning tool. Authors Michael and Paula Maida determined that investing a short period of time in playing the game yielded improvements in students' geometric and spatial reasoning, as well as problem-solving skills [source: TeacherWeb]. (Middle schoolers, be sure to keep this article handy when you're caught playing Blokus on your phone in math class.)

Blokus can help you with more practical things, too. For instance, the financial investment Web site The Motley Fool even suggests that making agonizing decisions about where to situate your squares on a Blokus game board teaches you patient investment strategies. By judging priorities in a board game (should I attack aggressively or build patiently?), you're able to plan for the future while keeping an eye on what resources you need on hand [source: Maranjian].