A whole new dimension for Set

I became a fan of the game Set during my senior year of high school when our college guidance counselors kept it on hand for distracting stressed-out students during free periods. Long after our letters had come, we still hung out in their basement office, playing that addictive game.

If you’ve never played, Set is a wonderful game for children and adults alike. Set was invented by a Population Geneticist, Marsha Jean Falco, who was doing research on German Shepherd dogs. She developed a shorthand system for tracking their genetic traits using cards with colorful symbols on them, which attracted a lot of attention from the veterinarians in the lab. As she tried to explain which patterns she was looking for in the symbols, she realized she had the beginnings of a good game. Back at home, she developed the game with her husband and kids. They loved it so much, they eventually convinced her to take it to stores. That was in 1991. For 17 years, Set has been winning awards and flying off the shelves.

Now, they’ve come out with Set Cubed, a sort of a cross between Set, dominoes and Scrabble. Using dice printed with Set symbols, players lay out interlocking sets on a game board that has a limited number of bonus squares, which offer higher scoring opportunities. There’s far more strategy involved in this version, but the time pressure of the original Set game is eased because players take turns laying out their sets. Set Cubed is recommended for ages 8 and up (way up, if you ask me)  and will be available in April 2008.

Looking for something fun to do? The Set website has a daily puzzle, an online version of the original game. Check it out.

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