Friday Filler: Lacuna

Lacuna is a very light game that is incredibly fast and easy to learn and quick to play and it also looks good on the table. It is an abstract, highly themed area control game that can be played in ten minutes and set-up again for another go. Published by CYMK, Lacuna is ‘A Cozy Game of Mystical Geometry’ designed for two players, aged eight and over. It stands out for two reasons. The first is the packaging. Lacuna comes as a sturdy tube dotted with flowers in sift pastel shades against a black background. The second is the components. The first of these is the playing surface, a black cloth mat roughly seventy centimetres square, marked with a blank circle in the middle and bordered by different flowers. The second are the game’s wooden tokens, forty-nine flowers divided into seven different shapes and colours. The third are the twelve pawns, six in silver and six in gold, and weighing quite a lot in the hand. The fourth is the tube itself, which serves as a shaker to sprinkle the flowers on the cloth. This is a game that looks good and feels good, but when it is on the table, it is simply pretty.

The idea behind Lacuna is that the players are competing to collect the most flowers from a pond by moonlight. The cloth mat represents the pond and the flower tokens the flowers they are collecting. At the start of the game, the mat is laid out flat and the player who will go first takes a flower token of any colour. This is because the second player will have an advantage in placing his tokens when going last because the first player cannot put a token near his. Then the rest of the flower tokens are placed in the game’s tube and sprinkled onto the cloth, adjust as necessary to ensure that they are not all clumped together. Play proceeds in two phases.

In the first phase, the flowers captured. To do this, a player draws an imaginary line between two flowers of the same colour. If nothing blocks them, he places one of his metal pawns anywhere on that imaginary line between the two flowers and takes the two flowers. This continues until both players have placed all six of their metal pawns.

In the second phase, the players take in turns to collect the remaining flowers. This is determined by the player whose metal pawn is nearest the flowers. If it is unclear whose metal pawn is closer to a flower or group of flowers, the game includes a ruler to determine the exact distance.

Once both phases are complete, the players determine who the winner is. If one player has the most of one colour flower, he wins that colour, and the player who wins the most colours, wins the game. Since there are only seven of each colour, a player only has to win four of a colour to win it, and since there are seven colours, a player only has to win four of them to win the game.

This all sounds a bit simple, even simplistic, and random. Of course, the distribution of the flowers is random, but whilst the mechanics of the play, that is, the placing of the metal pawns, is simple, their placing is not simplistic. There is some nuance to Lacuna. Not necessarily a great deal, but some. And it boils down to this… Where does a player place his metal pawn on the imaginary line between to flowers of the same colour? At one end or in the middle? It all depends on close the metal pawn can be placed to another group of flowers to claim them in the second phase of play. Too close and whilst the player will claim those flowers, the metal token might to far from other flowers to claim them. Too far, and the player might not be able to claim enough of them or any at all because his opponent has a pawn placed closer. After that, Lacuna is a numbers game. Since there are only seven flowers in a colour set, a player only needs to take four of them to hold the majority and claim the point. Consequently, a player cannot simply place his metal pawns at random if he wants to win. He does need to think about the best, or at least, the optimal places, to put them.

Physically, Lacuna is a lovely looking game. It comes in a sturdy tube, the cloth mat is clean and simple, and both the flower tokens and metal pawns are attractive. However, the tube does make the game difficult to store on the shelf along with other board games as much as it does make it stand out. The rulebook is underwritten, not defining quite exactly where the line is drawn between flowers in the game’s first phase. Is it from the middle or any edge? This can matter in play and the players will need to decide on a house rule. The distribution system of using the tube to sprinkle the flower tokens is cute, but there is always the chance that the flower tokens will roll off the table and the players will find themselves on their knees, looking for them on the floor.

Unfortunately, Lacuna is a game that will quickly outstay its welcome. Not because it is a bad game. It is not. Rather, it is charming and simple, and easy to teach and play, but it lacks depth. It is relying upon the attractiveness of its components—and they are very pretty—rather than game play to sell itself. At its worst, Lacuna is slightly fiddly and irksome trying to work out if a line is clear or which is the nearest metal pawn. At its best, Lacuna is cozy and calming, a perfect five or ten minutes between longer, deeper games. Its simplicity and attractiveness make it suitable for play with children and family members who do not play board games, but for veteran board gamer, Lacuna will likely live up to its true meaning.