FITS

The Game

The easiest way to describe this puzzle-like game is "it's like Tetris". You have many pieces of different shapes and sizes that you will slide down a slope, and you try to slide them down to cover up as many dots as you can. One difference from Tetris is once you decide where to drop your piece, you can't slip it sideways while it is in flight. Also you can't rotate once it is in flight. Everyone starts the game with a different piece, but after that the next pieces to be used are determined by a common deck of cards. There are four levels in the game, each with slightly different rules. In Level 1, every complete row is worth 1pt, and every single exposed dot is -1pt. In Level 2, there are some white dots which are worth (positive) points when exposed. In Level 3, there are both white and black dots giving positive and negative points respectively. In Level four, there are pairs of icons, which are worth 3pts if both are exposed, -3pts if only one is, and naturally 0pts if neither is.

Level 1 - just try not to leave too many dots exposed.

The end of Level 1 for me. 8 completed rows - 4 exposed dots = 4pts.

Level 3 - normal dots (if exposed by end of the level) is still -1pts, white dots give positive points, black dots give -5pts.

Level 4 - Five types of symbols and two of each type.

It is quite tricky to keep both symbols of the same type exposed, while not getting too many negative points from the normal dots.

I think I did pretty well. Later on I will slide that 1x3 piece down the remaining gap on the top left. So I will have (3pts x 4 pairs of symbols) - 7 pts for exposed dots = 5pts.

The Play

Whoosh... It was over so fast that I don't remember much, except I beat Allen who taught me the game. Heh heh... And I decided to buy the game, because it's something that my children will be able to play. Really. It's not for me, and it shouldn't count towards that 20 games quota.

The Thoughts

FITS is not as easy as it looks. Sometimes I have to pause and think a little. It is quite tricky. You need to think of the remaining pieces and how they will fit. Surprisingly by only varying the starting piece, the game can become very different for each player, even though after the first piece everyone will be taking the same pieces to add to his/her own board every turn.

This is undeniably a multiplayer solitaire game, but that's not a problem. It's fun enough to watch your opponents (and yourself) crash and burn. It is actually not exactly easy to have a positive score.

I am not surprised FITS was nominated for the Spiel des Jahres. It's easy to learn, quick to play, and suitable for families and casual players. There are a number of official and unofficial expansions to it, and I think they are necessary to keep the game interesting if you like the game. The game only comes with 4 levels.