Review: “Fits” The Board Game from Reiner Knizia

“Fits,” from Ravensburger Games is a Tetris-like board game with some twists. Rather than a computer screen Fits uses slanted plastic trays to drop plastic shapes into position.

The shapes resemble Tetris blocks, but there is more variety and they have more than four blocks in some pieces. Here is a shot of a partially played board.

Each game of “Fits” has four segments. In each segment, players draw a card to determine the first piece on their board. The random starting piece is different for each player, so cheating off of another player is not possible. Segment one is pure Tetris. You score one point for each complete line. However, every dot on the game board uncovered is minus one point. A deck of cards randomly determines the next piece you must fit. After drawing the last card, players score their board and then replace the scoring card in their tray. A plastic overlay provides “tracks” for the pieces to slide down. No, you cannot do the classic side-shift to fit pieces like Tetris. Straight down is the only allowed method.

Segment two involves leaving some squares uncovered for bonus points, while still trying to cover all of the dots. Segment three includes dots, bonus dots and minus five penalty areas. The fourth segment (pictured above) requires you to either completely cover both pairs of symbols or leaving both uncovered for bonus points. Leaving only one symbol uncovered is a minus five penalty.

Yes, the game is as difficult as it sounds, but it is a lot of fun! Tetris has a huge following, so getting even non-gamers to play this game is dead easy. Even my wife, famed for her lack of board game interest really enjoys this game. Much to my horror, she regularly defeats me…badly.

I admit to some skepticism regarding “Fits” before I played.  I do not enjoy Tetris, but this game is different enough to engage me and simple enough to play with non-gaming family members and children. I highly recommend you pick up a copy for a rainy day. “Fits” supports four players.

Trask, The Last Tyromancer

Full Disclosure: I bought this game at my FLGS and receive no benefit from any sales generated by this post.