Klask 4

• Designer: Mikkel Bertelsen
• Publisher: Klask
• Ages: 6+
• Players: 4
• Time: ~10 minutes
• Times played: ~10 with review copy provided by Klask

Klask is a game which has been around since 2015 or so. It’s essentially a super cool air-hockey like game which uses pieces that are controlled from underneath the table using strong magnets. The original version of the game was only for two players – and we reviewed it here when it came out.

Klask has a fairly large presence at SPIEL now – taking up a huge stand with multiple tables to play at – and dominated by a huge wooden clubhouse thing in the middle which you can climb up to the top to play the game and survey all of Hall 2

You may also see plenty of people running around participating in their unique guerilla marketing technique – if you are willing to wear a temporary tattoo of one of their games for 48 hrs, you can get a nice discount (or maybe free game). I suspect that I’ll see lots of Klask4 tattoos in about three weeks… Below you can see a tattoo for Bonk, one of their other previous releases.

So, what’s different about Klask 4? Obviously, the big deal here is now you can play the game with 4. And, really it needs to be strictly 4. The board is now a nice circle instead of a rectangle with a goal at each of the cardinal directions. Each player has their own piece which is limited in movement to a single quadrant of the board, and each quadrant gets its own two blockers.

The game is pretty much the same. Someone starts the point (usually the player who lost the last point) and bashes the yellow ball somewhere. Everyone tries to block the ball from going in their goal. On any given point, one player loses. You lose the point if:

• the ball goes in your goal
• you move too rapidly and you lose control of your large pawn
• you pick up two of the little white magnetic blockers
• your pawn falls into your own goal

When you lose, move your marker down one space on the scoring track. When one player reaches zero, the game is over. The player with the most points left at that time is the winner, or as we like to play, the player who is at zero is the big loser.

Overall, this is at least as much fun as regular Klask, and for me, it is a huge improvement as I almost never have just 2 player gaming. The rounded board is well designed with little bumps in the interface areas between player wedges. This design keeps the ball in play at all times. Furthermore, the curved shape on the outside leads to occasional unexpected bounce angles, and I like this more than the rectangular klask board.

The build quality is nice – the wood seems sturdy and has held up to multiple plays (and possibly at least one rage quit incident) without any problems at all. The company has also included a set of clear stickers to put on the base of the pawns to help them glide easily across the game surface; these stickers do not seem to affect the magnetic attraction between the pawn and the base.

Klask 4 is a blast and a nice dexterity game to have around. It’s great as a filler, opener or closer. It’s also a nice conversation piece to have out if you want to try to get non-gamers to ask you about games. :) I suspect that I’ll be sending you pictures soon of this year’s version of the clubhouse as well as this year’s temporary tattoo.

Until your next appointment

The Gaming Doctor