TZUKH® is a very different game of abstract strategy with a dash of chance. The key elements of TZUKH are like no other game.
TZUKH can best be described as a game of:
- INTRIGUING STRATEGIES WITH THE NATURAL ELEMENT OF FATE
- but it is not just about winning, the fun is in the playing.
To set the scene:-
It is 1653BC - The Minoan civilization on Crete rules the Mediterranean seas.
- Minos dies without leaving a decree for which heir shall inherit the crown.
- Siblings with their Palace entourages become rivals for the leadership.
TZUKH features:-
- The classic simplicity of a board layout, pieces and a unique playing dice.
- Players have an array of realistic strategic options to choose from.
- TZUKH is a very tactical game.
- The ratio of strategy to fate mirrors life.
- Flexibility is important but longer term strategies can also be formulated.
- The rules allow for a variety of styles of play.
- Calculated risks may be taken to gain an advantage.
- Even when down a player has the ability to fight back.
- Fortunes often fluctuate several times during a game.
- TZUKH is fluid with constant and some times surprising changes.
- Suspense on dice throws adds to the excitement.
- The dice conveys the will of the Minoan God Zeus (TZUKH).
- Play decides who will rule the Minoan Empire.
TZUKH is an exciting and innovative new social board game (for 1, 2, 3, 4 or more players) with the strategic decisions and luck of real life.
Every time you play TZUKH - the game varies from start to finish - (the design of TZUKH ensures each game follows a completely different path).
If you like card games - you'll love the sociability and chance in TZUKH.
If you like Chess - you'll love the depth of the strategies of TZUKH.
In a rapidly changing world TZUKH encourages flexible and adaptive thinking.
Playing games like TZUKH can help foster the genius within you.
"Is there a genius in all of us?" BBC website - 13th January 2011:
"Should every child be made to play Chess?" BBC website - 25th April 2011:
With TZUKH, no matter what the current situation, you always have the possibility of fighting back and still winning the game by playing very creatively. The TZUKH motto is 'Stay focused and don't give up'. But TZUKH isn't just about winning - the fun is in the process.
For people who know the rules - the dice makes TZUKH a great spectator sport.
TZUKH has been carefully crafted as a game for both adults and children that can be played on different levels (the basic concepts and rules are simple to learn with experience bringing much more diverse strategies into play).
- Playable by one, two, three, four or more people for ages 10 to 110.
- Games may be documented in script or pictorial form.
- 1 to 6 points can be scored for a game using the scoring dice.
- Duration of games can be varied.
Over 25 years in development, TZUKH® is set 3 and a half thousand years ago on Minoan Crete, a highly advanced nature loving civilization with hot and cold running water and flush toilets that had no need of armaments. Charles Pellegrino, in his spell-binding book Unearthing Atlantis, uses paleontology to construct convincing arguments for the Minoans being the Lost Civilization of Atlantis with his dating of their collapse now widely accepted. TZUKH is set in 1653BC - 25 years before the eruption of Thera destroyed the Minoan Empire.
3500 years ago the Minoans played a board game of strategy and chance. TZUKH brings the Minoan world alive - with Minoan art, Minoan inspired designs, Minoan script Linear B and much historical accuracy. We will never know for sure how the Minoans played their game but TZUKH is like finding a 3500 year old game in an archaeological dig.
Archaeologist, Sir Arthur Evans, who partially rebuilt Knossos, believed the gaming board he discovered there was the most magnificent of Minoan artefacts.
Debate continues as to whether the Minoans had a patriarchal or matriarchal society and appropriately TZUKH strategies neither favour male or female thinking.
Each TZUKH set includes a comprehensive 16 page parchment (hand stiched with twine) with the following:
- The Aim of TZUKH and a Chart of Play.
- An Overview shows in diagram form the key aspects of TZUKH.
- Two pages of diagrams and explanation of the Fundamentals of TZUKH.
- The Rules and Laws of TZUKH are clearly laid out to be concise, precise and easy to follow and reference.
- A Prologue (The Minoan Legend of TZUKH and the Labyrinth) in the vein of historical fiction links the game to a real life scenario.
- The Beginners Strategies Guide assists with formulating your strategies including Beginning Strategies, Deeper Strategies, Advanced Strategies and More Advanced Strategies.
- A Glossary of terms.
- How to document games in Script and Pictorial form is shown.
- A map of the Minoan World showing ancient place names.
The Design Brief: To develop a social abstract strategy game with an element of chance that humans would always play better than computers.
The element of chance in TZUKH significantly increases the number of possibilities and fosters the kind of creative risk taking found in card games where humans intuitively excel.
It took Tarkari, with a background in computing, more than 25 years to perfect the "anti-computer strategy game".
