Kineti-Go

Kineti-Go

Kineti-Go Magnetic Shuffleboard mid-round
Designer(s)	Michael Stromberg
Years active	Since 2002
Players	2 or 4
Skill(s) required	Fine motor skill, eye–hand coordination, basic understanding of magnetism, intuitive understanding of physics & plane geometry

Kineti-Go is a magnetic wooden tabletop game with characteristics in common with shuffleboard, billiards, carrom, pitchnut, crokinole and shove ha'penny. Players take turns launching their magnetic wooden pucks across the rectangular game board with a magnetic shooter, trying to land their pucks in the highest scoring areas while also trying to prevent their opponent from scoring . The name Kineti-Go is derived from the word kinetics . Kineti-Go games have been enjoyed by players of all ages in homes and taverns from Montana to Connecticut .

Equipment

Kineti-Go is played on a polished wooden board, 2 by 4 feet (61 by 120 cm). The design of the board consists of a shooting area at one end, a long lane down the middle, and two identical triangular scoring areas opposite the shooting area. There are scoring areas of one, two and three points in each of the scoring triangles, with three being closest to the players.

A custom Kineti-Go Magnetic Shuffleboard with a magnetic maple puck

The playing area is defined by a raised border that enables players to utilize bank shots off the walls. There are seven magnets imbedded in the sidewalls which repel the pucks back toward the center of the playing area. Two of the magnets are located at the points where the lane transitions into the 3 point scoring areas. These magnets serve to protect the three point areas from a direct shot. The remaining five magnets are located along the back walls, two on each mitered corner, and one in the center. These magnets give the pucks a magnetic push when they are hit. The game is played using 6 magnetic pucks (three dark and three light) and one magnetic shooter. The magnetic shooter is designed to magnetically repel the pucks down the table as the pucks are pulled into the shooter's slot. The players control the strength of the shot by how far they pull the puck into the shooter.

Kineti-Go Magnetic Puck and Shooter

Custom Kineti-Go Magnetic Shooter

Gameplay

Kineti-Go is most commonly played by two players, or by four players in teams of two. Players take turns shooting their magnetic pucks from the shooting area down the lane towards the scoring area. Pucks are launched by pulling the magnetic puck into the slot of the magnetic shooter . By pulling the puck into the shooter, kinetic magnetic energy is built up. When the puck is released, the puck is repelled down the board, releasing the energy. Since all of the pucks are the same polarity, they will always repel each other. Therefore, when one puck is shot toward another, the second puck will be repelled without contact taking place.

To play, opponents jockey for placement in the highest of Kineti-Go’s three point zones while also strategically placing their pucks to prevent the other player from scoring .Pucks that land on a line are counted for the area where the majority of the puck lies. For example, if 52% of the puck lies in the three and 48% lies in the two, the puck will be counted as a three.

Scoring occurs after all pieces of the pucks have been played, at this point, both players add up their scores and mark them on the abacus located on the side rail of the game. In order to win the game, a player must get exactly 20 points. If a player goes over, he/she will bust and remain at the point total they were at when the round began.

Kineti-Go player shooting a puck

Origins

Kineti-Go is a fairly young game. It was developed in Missoula, Montana, in 2002 . In 2004, the company outsoured a version of the game "from a one-man-workshop operation to a factory where the board was built to an established set of standards".

Other Games

Kineti-Go released a two-sided, flip-top game table in March of 2012 The game has Magnetic Airless Hockey, the company's newest offering, on one side and Kineti-Go Magnetic Shuffleboard on the other. The table can be flipped by removing the four stabilizing pins around the corners and spinning it on the center axis pins.

Custom Kineti-Go Magnetic Shuffleboard

External links

• Kineti-Go Games official website
• Kineti-go at the BoardGameGeek.com webboard
• [http://[fortressat.com/index.php/reviews-toc]/2681-next-of-ken-volume-14-transformers-dark-of-the-moon-kineti-go]-cyclades-and-conspiracy
• [kineti-gos-magnetic-airless-hockey-poised-to-cross-sticks-with-the-players-in-the-game-indudustry.html
• [http://[thebiggamehunter.com/main-menu-bar/articles-2/articles/wood-games/]
• [1]

References

• Frederick Gazette article

• [THE GAZETTE,Thursday September 29, 2005, Smith, Kevin M.,"Personal appearances can boost store sales ", Frederick, Maryland, PGS 1-2"]
• {New Haven Register, Sunday October 16, 2005, Shelton, Sandy Kahn, "Guilford game inventor uses magnets to make his Kineti-Go " New Haven, CT]