OTLO Stones

• Designer: Jeppe Norsker
• Publisher: Norsker Games
• Players: 1-4
• Age: 8+
• Time: 15 minutes
• Played with copy provided by publisher at SPIEL 2023

OTLO Stones is an intense brain teaser where up to four players compete to reproduce patterns using two layers of tiles. OTLO Stones challenges your logical skills with multiple levels of difficulty. Each player is given a set of six two-sided tiles with gemstones. Each of these tiles also features one or two holes, providing interesting options when attempting to recreate a pattern of gemstones on a challenge card. The tiles are arranged in two layers, allowing symbols on the bottom-layer tiles to be visible through the holes in the top-layer tiles.

The game includes 60 challenge cards that are divided into three levels of difficulty. Each card awards points based on its level, with level three cards granting three points. At the beginning of the game, all cards are shuffled, and piles of random face-up cards are placed in the center of the table—one pile for each player.  If this is your first game, you might want to start with all the easy (1 star) cards, but once you are accustomed to the game, shuffle in all the cards!  All players can solve any of the topmost cards in each pile simultaneously – it is possible that multiple players will work on the same card, but only the player who solves it first will score points for that particular card!

To solve any card, you must place your own set of tiles in no more than two layers.  You cannot exceed the footprint of the pattern shown on the card.  All the visible colors/holes must exactly match the pattern on the card.  You are not obligated to use all six tiles.  If you think you have solved a card, call out “OTLO” and then check your tiles against the card to see if you are correct.  If you are, take the card, and you will score the points on it.  If you are wrong, you are penalized in the sense that you cannot try to solve that particular card again; one of your opponents must solve it.

The game progresses as players strive to solve the available challenge cards and accumulate points. To win, players must attain a higher score than their opponents. The game ends when the card stacks are exhausted OR no player is allowed to work on any of the visible cards.  There is also a printed booklet of solutions for all the challenge cards, ensuring that players can refer to them if needed.

Overall, this is a fun puzzle, but one that I have enjoyed more in the solitaire sense than a competitive game.  Some of my usual complaints about speed games are mitigated here by having multiple stacks that are worked on simultaneously.  In a “normal” speed game where there is only one task, a player who is 10% better than everyone else might win 90% of the challenges.  Here, with multiple patterns to choose from, it is harder to see one player dominating the game over and over again.  Sure, that player might end up solving more cards in the course of the game, but the differing values of the cards may allow other players to compete.  In my first game, it was pretty clear that one of us was better at this particular puzzle, and he did win the game quite handily.  I would definitely recommend curating both the difficulty of the cards as well as the number of cards in play.

That being said, I have enjoyed working through the deck of challenges at my desk at work, just doing them in order in my downtime. (I also did a few on my tray table on the ride home from Europe).  I have found even the one-star puzzles to be difficult at times; and it sometimes takes a bit of mental gymnastics to work thru them – especially as you constantly have to flip the tiles over to see the gems on both sides.

The components are great, and I really like the thickness of the tiles.  The whole thing sits in a small box, and it’s been a relaxing pastime to try to challenge myself to solve the puzzles at my own speed.  I’ll probably work through all the puzzles in a few weeks, and then I’m sure there are a number of people who would love to borrow it for the challenge as well.

Ratings:

As a solo puzzle: I like it.

As a competitive game: Neutral.