Lacuna

Lacuna is a two-player duel on a cloth mat, set on a pond at night where flowers float on the water. Setup takes seconds. On your turn you imagine a line between two flowers, put down a pawn there and collect both of them. The catch is that every pawn you place changes what your opponent can reach, so the board is a tiny, shifting zone-of-control puzzle. Collecting well matters as much as blocking well. A round is over in about a quarter of an hour, and the rules fit in a minute. Think of it as a quiet pond with sharp elbows, a compact head-to-head for people who like abstract games that look pretty.