For thousands of years, casual gamers and intellectuals alike have been fascinated with Go, the complex strategy board game invented in ancient China, popularized in Korea as well as Japan (from where it gets its modern name), and now a staple here in the West. In this classic cerebral dominance challenge, two players alternate placing black and white stones down on a grid; the object is to control a larger part of the board than one's opponent. Like chess, it's easy to learn but incredibly difficult to master, and therein lies its wide-ranging appeal.

For Go fan Mike Richie, the classic game has been a major source of inspiration. Taking his cues from Go while introducing new materials and play themes, Richie began developing the protoype for a new game three years ago. The result of his efforts is Element, a new board-and-stone strategy game for kids from San Diego-based Mindtwister USA, a division of the Swedish company behind the award-winning and outrageously popular Pentago. Mindtwister also set Richie up with a new gig: developing games full time.

“I have always been interested in strategy games such as Go or chess,” Richie tells Playthings. “I not only enjoy the game play but the philosophies and mindset that are often derived from those games.” Thus, considering the rich history of both Go and chess was critical to his creation of Element, he notes. “From the very beginning, I wanted a game that felt older then it actually was. I wanted something that hinted at a long lost history and mythology,” he says. “I felt that basing it on the elements found in various world mythologies would give it a wide appeal.”

In Element, two players ages 6 and up attempt to “capture” their opponent by surrounding it with different colored glass Element stones on a wooden grid. But rather than simply placing the stones, players start each turn by rolling four dice illustrated with icons of Wind, Fire, Water and Earth. Far from a game of randomness, Element actually focuses a player's efforts on resource management, Richie explains.

“Every roll gives you something to work with,” he says. “It's up to you to use them strategically to surround your opponent. Each element plays differently on the board and can both replace and be replaced by certain other elements.” For example, the blue “water” stones can replace the red “fire” stones on the board, and so on; once an opponent's piece can no longer move, the game is won.

So far, feedback for the game “has been great,” according to Richie. “I have yet to get someone to play that has not developed an interest in it,” he says. “Most have commented on its hidden depth of play and have wanted to play again with new strategies in mind.”

Richie adds, “I really like the accessibility of the game. It only takes a few minutes to learn and about 15 to 20 minutes to play, on average. Despite this, my wife and I have been playing it for three years and are still discovering new strategies … [it's] an exciting game for a broad range of ages and people. I've had 9-year-olds beat me—[which is] kind of embarrassing—and seen families play tournaments.”

Another aspect of the game that Richie is proud of is the quality of its components.

“To evoke the ambiance that I wanted, then paper boards and bingo chips would not do,” he says. “Ensuring this was the most challenging aspect during development … We even designed our own style of drawstring bag to hold the stones upright even when open.” Fortunately, Mindtwister provided solutions to these issues in spades, Richie says. The company also lent networking and infrastructure to secure distribution in specialty stores and online, with international markets hopefully on the horizon. Also down the line, Richie is eying expansions to the game, such as a four-player version and a “spell book” that advises on new ways to use the different dice rolls, as well as strategies for playing Element in teams. Notably, feedback from store owners will be critical to future game developments like these, Richie adds.

In the meantime, he says, “We will be at Toy Fair 2009 and we are also proud members of ASTRA.”