Overview
At a glance
Is this game right for my group?
ABG editorial scores on a 1–5 scale.
Harder to teach
High replayability
Highly interactive
Scales well
Deep strategy
How it plays
How does it play?
OTTO is a surprising game: it’s as simple as it’s complex. We can only tell you about some of the incredible features that make it so special.
Core mechanisms
Key systems that shape the decisions players make.
Pattern Building
Place elements to create arrangements that satisfy scoring or action patterns.
Connections
Create meaningful links between locations, pieces, or concepts.
Matching
Pair items with corresponding symbols, properties, or categories.
Modular Board
Build the play area from interchangeable sections that vary between games.
Pattern Movement
Pieces move according to defined geometric patterns.
Read the full game description
OTTO is a surprising game: it’s as simple as it’s complex. We can only tell you about some of the incredible features that make it so special. Not all of them can be described, but you can sense them as you play, and these sensations lead you to something bigger, something deeply connected to other worlds and civilizations. The game is based on the modularity of the never ending connection between all cards. You can literally pick them up and randomly place them on the chessboard: coherent designs with infinite combinations will always come to life. However that’s not the game. Being completely deprived of any setting, the game can be defined as ‘universal’, as it’s based on visual perception of symbolic geometries. OTTO is the most abstract game ever, with a unique and original design, perhaps even extraterrestrial. The game hangs in the balance between strategy, the vision of future opportunities, chance, and the player’s style. In playing OTTO you will always discover new strategies, unforeseeable scenarios and complete situation reversals up to the last move. —description from the designer