Bōku is an

abstract strategy Abstract may refer to: *"Abstract", a 2017 episode of the animated television series ''Adventure Time'' * ''Abstract'' (album), 1962 album by Joe Harriott * Abstract algebra, sets with specific operations acting on their elements * Abstract of ti ...

board game A board game is a type of tabletop game that involves small objects () that are placed and moved in particular ways on a specially designed patterned game board, potentially including other components, e.g. dice. The earliest known uses of the ...

Boku at

Board Game Geek BoardGameGeek (BGG) is an online forum for Board game, board gaming hobbyists and a game database that holds reviews, images and videos for over 125,600 different tabletop games, including German-style board game, European-style board games, warg ...

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retrieved 29 April 2011 played with marbles on a perforated hexagonal board with 80 spaces. The object of the game is to arrange five marbles in a row. The game has also been sold under the name ''Bollox'', and later ''Bolix''Boku background http://boku.bandoodle.co.uk/story.php and won a Mensa Select award in 1999. Invented by Rob Nelson, the former

Portland Mavericks The Portland Mavericks are a baseball team located in Keizer, Oregon, who are charter members of the Mavericks Independent Baseball League, a four-team league created in 2021. The entire league, including the Mavericks, will play their games at ...

left-handed pitcher and creator of

Big League Chew Big League Chew is an American brand of bubble gum made to resemble chewing tobacco. It was created by Portland Mavericks left-handed pitcher Rob Nelson and bat boy and future filmmaker Todd Field. It was then pitched to the Wrigley Company (long ...

bubblegum. The idea for the game came to Nelson in 1991 when he was in London pitching for the Enfield Spartans. Along with good friend and owner of the Spartans Malcolm Needs they developed and marketed the game. Distributed by the London Games Company in Europe and Cadaco Toys in North America, for a time it enjoyed the position of being the best selling two player strategy games in both

Harrods Harrods is a Listed building, Grade II listed luxury department store on Brompton Road in Knightsbridge, London, England. It was designed by C. W. Stephens for Charles Digby Harrod, and opened in 1905; it replaced the first store on the ground ...

and

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. The game was awarded a

Mensa International Mensa International is the largest and oldest high-IQ society in the world. It is a non-profit organization open to people who score at the 98th percentile or higher on a standardised, supervised IQ or other approved intelligence test. Mensa ...

Gold Star.

Rules

''Bōku'' belongs to the class of connection games ("n-in-a-row" games) similar to

Gomoku ''Gomoku'', also called ''five in a row'', is an Abstract strategy game, abstract strategy board game. It is traditionally played with Go (game), Go pieces (black and white stones) on a 15×15 Go board while in the past a 19×19 board was standa ...

or ''

Connect Four Connect Four (also known as Connect 4, Four Up, Plot Four, Find Four, Captain's Mistress, Four in a Row, Drop Four, and in the Soviet Union, Gravitrips) is a game in which the players choose a color and then take turns dropping colored tokens int ...

''. It has two main rules: * the game is won by putting five marbles into a row * if a player traps two of his opponent's marbles between two of his own, he may remove one of the sandwiched marbles (and the opponent may not put a marble back into the same place with his next move).Rules of Bok

Retrieved 29 April 2011

World championships

The official Boku world championships have been held as part of the

Mind Sports Olympiad The Mind Sports Olympiad (MSO) is an annual international multi-sport event, multi-disciplined competition and festival for game of skill, games of mental skill and mind sports by Mind Sports Organisation. The inaugural event was held in 1997 i ...

since 2000Mind Sports Olympiad Boku Results http://www.boardability.com/result.php?id=boku 06 September 2010 in England and David M. Pearce (England) has been the champion five times. Andres Kuusk (Estonia) has won the title four times. The 2005 ''Bōku'' World Champion was Joey Ho from London, who was aged 17 when he claimed the title after defeating reigning champion David Pearce.

List of World Champions

* 2000:

David Glaude (Belgium) * 2001:

Jan Palmgren (Sweden) * 2002:

Ben Pridmore Ben Pridmore (born 14 October 1976) is a former world memory champion, memory sport competitor and accountant. Achievements Pridmore is a three-time World Memory Champion winning the title 2004, 2008 and 2009. From Derby in the United Kingdom, ...

(England) * 2003: David M. Pearce (England) * 2004: David M. Pearce (England) * 2005:

Joey Ho (Hong Kong) * 2006: David M. Pearce (England) * 2007: James Heppell (England) * 2008: David M. Pearce (England) * 2010: David M. Pearce (England) * 2011:

Andres Kuusk (Estonia) * 2012:

Andres Kuusk (Estonia) * 2013:

Andres Kuusk (Estonia) * 2014:

Andres Kuusk (Estonia) * 2015:

Martin Hobemagi (Estonia) * 2016:

Alain Dekker (South Africa)

References

External links

MSO ''Boku'' page

The Game of ''Bōku''
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Boku Board games introduced in 1999 Abstract strategy games Mensa Select winners In-a-row games