Da Vinci’s Challenge

The "Flower of Life" pattern, studied extensively by Leonardo Da Vinci, is used as the board for this game.

No. of Players

Two

Equipment

The board used for Da Vinci's challenge is an ancient symbol associated with various mystic sects and studied extensively by Leonardo Da Vinci himself. It is traditionally called a Flower of Life. A Flower of Life board and pieces are required for play. The two different shapes of pieces are called ovals and triangles by the game makers, but these shapes might better be called diarcs and triarcs, respectively. Included with the marketed game are forty-five each of black and white diarcs and twenty-seven each of black and white triarcs. Note that the counters required for this game to be played as a board game may be quite difficult to manufacture or purchase and one may find it easier to simply print off a page of the board and fill in territory with colored pencils.

History

The Flower of Life pattern appears at the temple of Osiris at Abydos, Egypt dated around 4,000 BC; in Phoenician, art from the 9th century BC; and in Japanese, Spanish, Turkish, and Indian art from the 10th century AD and afterwards. It was studied extensively by Leonardo Da Vinci. The game Da Vinci’s Challenge was designed by Paul Micarelli and published by 3 Amoebas, Inc. in 2004 (TM & ©).

Objective

The objective of the game is to score more points than your opponent by making the structures shown below.

Play

Alternate turns entail the placement of one friendly piece, either oval or triangle, at any vacant position on the board that matches the shape of the piece. No pieces will be moved or captured after placing. While placing pieces, you are attempting to form the patterns shown below and prohibit your opponent from making them. Different patterns are worth different points as shown below. A pattern that a player makes must consist entirely of their own counters. Any pattern made should be declared and the point value recorded for the player that made it. This can be done on a separate sheet of paper or a player can use the Da Vinci’s Challenge score sheet. On a turn, a player may achieve two or more patterns with the placement of a single piece and is rewarded the points for all of them. Once their turn is over, a player cannot go back and score points for patterns previously made but not noticed.

The game is over when the board is full or when no more patterns can be made by either player. The scores for each player are then tallied and the higher score wins.

Strategy

Try to notice what patterns your opponent is attempting to build and wait until all but one piece is in that pattern before blocking. This will cause several of the opponent’s previous turns to be wasted. The pyramid structure seems to be one of the hardest to notice and a good strategy will probably incorporate several of these. Be careful not to run out of one type of piece too early in the game as you will be unable to block any patterns made by your opponent with this type of piece.

Sources

1. Briarpatch. www.briarpatch.com. 150 Essex Street, Suite 301. Millburn, NJ 07041.

   1. Da Vinci's Challenege Game Rules. (TM & ©) 2004. Amoebas, Inc.