Number of players: 2-4 Type of game: Boardgame
Period: Period-esq (2006)

Herkle is an adaption of Qwirkle, a modern abstract strategy game for 2 to 4 players, involving matching tiles by colour and shape in a grid. Created by Susan McKinley Ross and published in 2006, the game has won numerous awards, including the Spiel des Jahres (Game of the Year) in 2011. It is easy to learn and well-suited for families, combining elements of dominoes, Scrabble, and set collection.

Number of players: 2
Type of game: Boardgame
Period: Period-esq (2010)

History

Mijnlieff is a period-esq game designed by Andy Hopwood in 2010.

The standard game is played on a 4 x 4 square grid. Each Player has eight pieces with two of four different symbols. Each piece when played determines where your opponent can play their next piece.

In Mijnlieff each piece you play instructs your opponent to play in a straight line (either orthogonally or diagonally) from the piece just played, to play away from, or to play adjacent to the piece just played. The aim is to form lines of 3 but with your opponent controlling where you can play this is harder than it sounds. If you can play so your opponent is unable to go you get a free play anywhere on the board.

Number of players: 2
Type of game: Boardgame
Period: Period-esq (1996)

Stonewall is a strategic board game released in 1996 by Stonewall Developments, a New Zealand-based publisher. Designed by Grant Bullot, Mark McGregor, and Roger Bullot, the game accommodates 2 to 4 players

Number of players: 2
Type of game: Boardgame
Period: Period-esq (1971)

Tablero de Jesús is a dice-based board game presented as a 15th-century Andalusian monastic game but now recognised as a modern invention. Popularised in the 1970s—especially among members of the Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA)—it remains a well-loved game for its strategic simplicity and potential for adaptation, even though no historical precedent exists for it prior to the late 20th century.

Number of players: 2
Type of game: Boardgame
Period: Period-esq (2016)

Tak is a two-player abstract strategy game inspired by the fictional game described in Patrick Rothfuss’s The Wise Man’s Fear (from the Kingkiller Chronicle series). It was later developed into a real-world playable game by James Ernest and Rothfuss, first published in 2016. Tak is elegant in design, with simple rules but deep strategy, and shares a lineage with classic games like Go and chess.