Critical Thinking With Armis
Strategy games rely on a player’s mental capacity to outwit his opponent, this differs from most other games that primarily rely on luck (roll of the dice, and/or pick of a card) to win. Brain games are often distinguished from strategy games in that they focus on static information you may know, and how fast you process it. Strategy board games are affectionately called brain games because they are often accompanied by lots and lots of meaningful thinking.
Checkers, and warri (also called mancala) are perhaps the most basic of strategy board games, these games are played more for fun than competition so they don’t often get to enjoy the ‘strategy game’ cache. In both games all of the individual player pieces essentially have the same power, duty, and movement ability.
The board game called “Go” is very similar to checkers and warri in the power, duty, and movement ability categories, however it is often played competitively as such it is often called a strategy board game.
Chess is the most well known of all strategy board games. In our opinion it rises above the previously mentioned games in that various player pieces have different powers, duties, and movement abilities, these differences add a layer of complexity to the game.
Armis is the newest member of the strategy board game family, it is distinguished from the others in many ways, so much so that we believe Armis is the first HIGH strategy board game. Here are some major distinguishing characteristics:
1) an asymmetric game board,
2) 5 different environments (land, air, coastal waters, deep surface waters, and deep submerged waters)
3) some pieces have conditional powers,
4) identical not mirrored (your right hand in the mirror is your reflection’s left hand) setup
and
5) there are over a million ways to properly setup
Armis was created in the USA for brain game enthusiasts worldwide, it is currently played online in over 140 countries. Some say playing Armis is like playing Chess, Checkers, Risk, and Stratego all at the same time.
Critical Thinking For Children
Armis is enjoyed by thinkers of all ages; the Armis for Schools Worldwide program uses Armis to help students to develop critical thinking skills at many schools around the world.
More info here:
http://game4commit.gamers-coin.org/projects/37
