Board Beyond Belief: K2

Photo credit: Kogo

FACT: K2 is the second deadliest mountain in the world. Around 25% of those who attempt it will not survive to tell the tale.

FACT: My mother has got 75% of her climbers killed while attempting to scale K2. The board game, that is.

K2 the board game is the board game of climbing K2. Surprisingly, it was designed by an actual mountain climber. Even more surprisingly, a game designed by a practitioner can actually be completely excellent.

Here's how it works. Everybody has two climbers, one with wavy sides, one with smooth curves. I call them "Bendy" and "Straighty". The aim of the game is to get both as far up the side of K2 as possible. In particular, to get them further up than your opponents.

Image credit: Maciej Teleglow

How do you do that? By a brilliant combination of planning, audacity, and luck. Each player has their individual deck of cards. Each deck is the same, so everybody has the same opportunities, but not necessarily at the same time - every round, the player has a hand of six cards, of which they will play three. Each point on the board has two pieces of information attached - the cost to move there, and the cost to "acclimitisation" (a.k.a. health) for every round they stay there.

As a piece of game design, this works as a fantastic example of the meeting point of open and closed information. Everybody knows where everybody else is on the board. Everybody knows what they need to go forward, and how it will affect their health. Health (and in some circumstances, movement) is also affected by the weather - however, you always have at least three days of forecast ahead of them, so everybody knows how the weather will affect them.

The problem, from a planning stage, is in the closed part of the information: what they have in their hand, and what their opponent has. Are they planning to make a big move next turn? Will they block your advance if they do? Even worse, are you trying to get down the mountain? If so, they may be moving to block you. Maybe you've calculated your movement and health budget perfectly for the cards you have in hand. You know you can make it up this round, and you're pretty sure (given what's left in your deck) you can make it down next round.

Photo credit: Henk Rolleman

Then some bastard moves in behind you. You've reached the top, and there they are, sitting right behind you. Someone else is behind them. There's no way you can leap over both of them. They can't shift you. And every round, your health is plummeting from exposure. You pitch your tent for its modest protection and comfort. It's not enough. Bendy is dead, shivering and alone, an arm's breadth from his supposed compatriots, the true authors of his downfall.

That's one example. Another is the heartbreak when you get both your climbers ahead of everyone else, you control the mountain, and you realise that, with your hand and the upcoming storm, there is no way in hell you can reach the top and live. Or even better, the pure elation of reaching the top and jumping off it in the same round, brilliantly leaving your opponent's homicidal blocking strategy empty and pointless. And that's just the easy game mode - if you want, you can play with winter weather, or attempt to scale the "difficult" face.

I have not tried these things. The game is more than heard enough on the easy setting. Maybe one day, when I'm really, really drunk (which is obviously the best time to go mountain climbing). However you choose to play it though, I confidently forecast you will not be disappointed. 'Tis the season - why not get chilly with the cold, hard brilliance of K2?