Hey there everybody!

I just wanted to show off my newly received custom Rabbitboard84, courtesy of u/rabbitboy84 of https://www.beautiful-upgrades.com !

I really like the wood and the inlay, and we broke the board in yesterday afternoon with a couple of rounds! :)

https://preview.redd.it/iij6f7nguf1e1.jpg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=331d83fce99664887ac7b9f9b7303f96af24cec4

https://preview.redd.it/ix2ab8nguf1e1.jpg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=70c3d438efab7f8cda511e00621a2c2f1c4096fa

https://preview.redd.it/rf9h19nguf1e1.jpg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ab9bfc2848645e034e69607c3ca319b223ebccdc

Registration for the November Intermediate Tournament is now open. Registration is open to all mid-level and beginner level players. The tournament begins November 16, 2024 and should end around December 21, 2024. Sign up can be found here: https://forms.gle/rAqoDXMBTZ76FcL66. Further info about the tournament can be found here: https://ustak.org/2024/november-intermediate/info. Various prizes will be awarded for 1st and 2nd place, along with drawings for participation prizes.

I'm happy to present the final version of my latest article Theoretic Studies on the Game of Tak - On Overloading Stones (PDF). Quite some work and thought went into this one, and I'm finally quite satisfied with how the precise characterization of thrashing turned out, although the formulation is complicated. With all the material for example games from playtak.com it turned out to be quite large - 15 pages overall. It aims at bringing clarity to what thrashing really is by means of suggested definitions and examples, as there seem to be different understandings of this in the community. As always, I'm happy to receive any kind of feedback either for improvement or just to exchange thoughts on the matter.

Hey there together!

A few years ago, I used to love playing Tak with my friends and my flatmates during my university days. Now last week, I dug up my first edition set and played a few rounds with my girlfriend and I feel like my interest returning again.

After searching on the internet for the past few days about the current state of Tak, I have some questions and wondered whether you guys, who have been part of the community for the last few years, might help me find some answers.

• Is the community alive & well? I have seen that there are still some tournaments being played which are organized by USTak and that there are semi-frequent posts in this sub, but I am unsure of the overall state of things. Are there any plans to continue supporting and promoting the game by Greater Than Games / Cheapass Games / Worldbuilders / Mr Rothfuss?

• When will Tak sets be available for purchase again? As I understand, there is some licensing back& fort going on between Mr. Ernest and Greater Than Games. I am living in Germany and all stores seem to have run out of sets currently.

• Are there any chances wooden boards (like the Arcanist's Board from way back when) will be available for purchase again at Wordlbuilders or some other site? Or are my best chances asking Mr u/rabbitboy84 for his services?

Thanks in advance for any advice! :-)

Having shower thoughts, I was thinking about the simplest way to explain tak to my minion, who has finally taken an interest in board games. I realized that some people like using different board sizes. I thought to myself what’s the smallest board you can really play on. I came to the conclusion that it was a 3x3. Which is tik-Tak-toe. Holy shenanigans! Tak is just chess level tik-tak-toe. 🤯

The 2024 September Beginner Tak Tournament is Open for Registration!

This tournament is open to all players who are beginners. Prizes and random drawings will be awarded to participants. In addition, the tournament is completely free.

Even if you've never played before or even if you think you're too good to join a Beginner Tak Tournament, you should give it a shot. It's a great chance to get better, meet some people in the community, and just play some great Tak! Not to mention you have ample opportunities to win prizes!

It takes place over several weeks and you schedule your games whenever it works best between you and your opponent, so finding the time for it is a breeze.

You can check out all the information about the tournament here

And you can register here.

So get out there and register for the Beginner Tak Tournament!!

Have a Devi’s box set bought through the original kickstarter campaign that I’m looking to sell as unfortunately I just don’t use it. It’s in near new condition. Original price was $552USD, happy to entertain any reasonable offers. Based in Australia.

Hello, everyone.

I was just on playtak And it seems like nobody is online. That or I don't know how to find people to play with.

How do I start a match with someone spontaneously? Do I have to find someone on discord first to play?

Thanks.

Well sh1t XD, got my ass kicked to hard, definitely need to learn better strategies and logic behind moves, something I didn’t share before is that I used to play a LOT of chess (like being a geek on tournaments in high school) -yes, I was definitely cool at that age XD-, that definitely didn’t help at Tak, that frustrates me but also makes me want to learn even more…

At this point I feel there’s a LOT of advantage in being the player 1, also is way too hard to defend against someone bombarding with constant aggressive plays, of course I’m a newbie so my logic and understanding must be seriously basic, anyway any tips on how should I defend?, probably I should start defending before the other player gains too much “momentum”?

Lastly I really really “fear” the fact that when I played chess I learn the difference between someone with 100 hours into the game and someone with 1000 hours, is was definitely hard to have a “good match” in chess, since either someone with more experience was destroying you, or you where destroying someone else (definitely the best way to have fun at that time, was with the same persons that started with myself), so, in Tak I feel even more disparity, anyway, that’s not something I’m against, is just an observation as a new player

To anyone reading this, thanks for your time, and at some point I’ll see you around the board =)

Hi everyone, I just learned about Tak and I’m a sucker for abstract strategy games, also a sucker for games that look so elegant and minimalist as Tak

I had the luck of getting a second hand first edition at a good price (20 + shipping), so I’m starting to learn the game (I understand the basic rules, I’m trying to learn advanced strategies, openings, etc.)

Could anyone recommend some resources?, YouTube channels, wiki, anything you guys think would help getting me started?

Also, weird question, why is Tak generally so expensive?, is there a dispute with the copyrights?, or why the game hasn’t been “printed” more?

Anyway, great to be here, thanks a lot

Here is another article in the series on Theoretic Studies on the Game of TAK introducing the so-called Phalanx as a formation of stones for effective and efficient road blocking, linked at TakTheoryPhalanx.pdf as a PDF. It is written in the style of an academic paper with precise textual formulations of definitions and some mathematical formalization. The latter, however, can be easily skipped by readers who want to focus on the textual description only without missing the context. It also contains quite some instructive walk through material of analyzed thematic games from playtak.com that show the application of the phalanx in practise, so give it a try.

As a personal project to learn more about AI, I spent about a month creating a model based on AlphaGo Zero's algorithm that plays Tak.

Currently, I interact with it thought a text interface but started toying with the idea of porting it to an Android app.

I thoroughly enjoy Tak and would love to contribute to the community but I'm unsure about the current legal state of the game. PlayTak.com doesn't seem to be licensed (says it's an unofficial implementation)? Greater than Games doesn't have the game listed anymore. Do they care if people make clones?

Is there any interest in a competent AI?

For those of you not on the discord, I plan on being at Dexlite and will be bringing a handful of copies of my book, Tak Puzzle Compendium. It's crazy that it's been about 6 months since I published it. I'd love to do another book of something - currently considering my options.

The 2024 June Beginner Tak Tournament is Open for Registration!

This tournament is open to all players who are beginners. Prizes and random drawings will be awarded to participants. In addition, the tournament is completely free.

Even if you've never played before or even if you think you're too good to join a Beginner Tak Tournament, you should give it a shot. It's a great chance to get better, meet some people in the community, and just play some great Tak! Not to mention you have ample opportunities to win prizes!

It takes place over several weeks and you schedule your games whenever it works best between you and your opponent, so finding the time for it is a breeze.

You can check out all the information about the tournament here

And you can register here.

So get out there and register for the Beginner Tak Tournament!!