I should separately introduce what Tak is, and why I have come to love it, but that’s a longer story to tell.
I’ve been playing Tak for almost five years now, about as long as it’s been around publicly. The 2019 Tak tournament at Gen Con ended up being the highlight of the trip for me (surprising myself coming in at sixth place, cash prize and everything), and after that, I joined the US Tak Association, who put on tournaments both live and online.
At the tail end of 2020 I competed in the 2020 Open and didn’t do particularly well, but enjoyed my time getting better playing the 6×6 game, and quickly signed up when a beginner’s tournament was announced— Despite playing the game for as long as I have, the road to getting that much better has been a slow one.
This week I played two of my pairings, one of which was recorded with commentary. I lost both games to not taking in the state of the board well or quickly enough— on the first, I missed my opponent’s threat, on the second I missed both my own win as well as my opponent’s win that quickly followed.
I’ve taken a note from another player and started reviewing every game I play, win-or-lose, so you, too, can watch both matches with step-by-step commentary by other players from the community.
I also reviewed game 2 on ptn.ninja, which includes a few comments, as well as playing out alternate branches the game could have taken.