GIPF project

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The GIPF Project is an award-winning series of six abstract strategy games by designer Kris Burm. The series is named after the first game, GIPF, and the idea behind the project is that the reward for winning each of the other games in the series is to allow the winner to introduce new pieces with special powers, called potentials, into a concurrent game of GIPF. However, any of the games may also be played individually in the normal way, and they have attained most popularity in this form. The potentials are available in 3 separate sets, the first containing TAMSK potentials, the second ZERTZ and DVONN potentials (and pieces to expand ZERTZ standalone games) and the third and final set containing YINSH and PÜNCT potentials, plus extra GIPF pieces. The publication of the third expansion set at Essen Spiel 2006 event completed the project, and also marked the partnership of Burm with Belgian game company SMART who are now publishing all the GIPF games.

Most of the games in the series can be played free online or against freely available computer opponents.

All the games take place on some form of hexagonal board, and usually the playing surface or a player's power diminishes as the game draws to an inevitable conclusion. The idea of introducing additional games that can be used to affect the outcome of the main game came from Burm's childhood, when he and his brother would "race" cars around a rug. For each turn, they would play another game, and the winner of that game would get to roll six dice to determine his cars' movement, while the loser would roll just five.

As of 2005, the most popular game in the series according to the Internet Top 100 Games List is DVONN, although YINSH gets the highest average rating from players both on the Top 100 Games List and on BoardGameGeek. ZÈRTZ, DVONN, and YINSH have all won the Mensa Select award.