King’s Valley Board — A Handmade Wooden Game (2011)

I created this board after playing the game King’s Valley on my iPod and finding it simple yet fascinating. It feels like a shorter version of Othello, with a bit more strategy than tic-tac-toe, and closer to chess than gomoku — that was the impression it left on me.

The basic rules are very simple: the first player to move their king piece to the central tile — the “King’s Valley” — wins the race. Both the king and the servant pieces can move in any of the eight directions (vertical, horizontal, or diagonal), but they cannot stop midway along a move.

The rules may seem easy, so you might expect to win quickly — but once you play, you’ll find it surprisingly challenging. Each match lasts only about five minutes, making it a game you can enjoy casually again and again.
(Original reference: King’s Valley game introduction page.)