Wouter & Ymke 
Coloro is one of those games that looks a lot softer than it actually is. You see the colorful wooden pieces, the little origami symbols, the clean layout on the table… and you kind of expect something easygoing. Then a few turns later somebody traps you into a terrible move and suddenly the mood changes a bit.
The game is built around a shared 6×6 grid of wooden tokens. Every turn, players move a black direction token to collect colors and slowly build stacks in front of themselves. The interesting part is that every move also changes the next set of options for the other player. So even when you’re taking something useful for yourself, you’re also shaping the next problem for the other player.
That’s where the game really starts working. The grid slowly breaks apart as empty spaces appear, movement options get tighter, and what looked like an innocent abstract puzzle suddenly becomes surprisingly mean in a fun way.
👥 2 players, ages 8+
⌛ Playing time: 15 minutes
📝 Designer: Ralf zur Linde
🎨 Graphic Design: Ewelina Proczko
🏢 Publisher: Helvetiq (review copy provided)
Gameplay overview
At the start of the game, all the wooden tokens are mixed together and placed into a random 6×6 grid. The black direction token gets placed onto one of the tokens, and the opening token is immediately collected before the normal flow of the game begins.
From there, players take turns moving the direction token within the allowed row or column. The token can jump over both empty spaces and other pieces, which becomes important later once the grid starts opening up. After choosing a token, you remove it from the grid, add it to your collection, rotate the direction token 90 degrees, and place it into the empty space you just created.
That rotation rule is basically the entire game. Mechanically it sounds tiny, but it changes everything. One move can open opportunities for you while creating a horrible next turn for the other player. Or the opposite, depending on how badly you planned ahead.
Collected tokens are grouped into stacks by color. Once a stack has been placed in front of you, it stays there for the rest of the game. New stacks can only be added to the left or right side of your existing row, which at first feels like a detail you can ignore… until the endgame arrives.
The game ends when somebody can no longer move the direction token according to the current restriction. The player with the highest stack wins the game. If players are tied, the game compares the position of those stacks, with the stack further to the left winning the tie-break. If those are still equal, players continue comparing their next highest stacks afterward.
Artwork, components, and visual design
Before we even started playing, we were already picking up the wooden pieces and looking at the symbols. The tokens are thick, colorful, and engraved with origami-inspired shapes instead of printed artwork. Each color has its own design, with cranes, paper boats, flowers, and paper airplanes. The engraved symbols also make the pieces easier to recognize quickly once the grid starts opening up and the table becomes a bit messier.
The color palette is bright without becoming chaotic. Once the full grid is set up, the game immediately stands out. The black direction token also contrasts nicely against the colorful grid, which helps because everybody ends up staring at that thing most of the game anyway.
The small drawstring bag is a nice touch too. It fits the game well. This feels like something you throw into a backpack and bring to a café or on holiday. Small box, short playtime, simple setup… it knows exactly what it is.
The origami theme mostly exists in the presentation though. Mechanically, this is a very abstract game. So if somebody expects the gameplay itself to feel thematic, they might bounce off it a little. The theme gives the game personality, but it does not really affect how it plays.
Still, I’d rather have abstract games look like this than another collection of plain cubes and symbols that feel like they escaped from a spreadsheet.
Our experience
The biggest surprise during our plays was how much the game changes once the grid starts opening up. The first turns feel very forgiving because there are so many possible moves available. You collect a few colors, start building stacks, and everything feels straightforward enough. It’s easy to think the game is mainly about collecting the colors you want most. Then the empty spaces start appearing and suddenly the whole grid feels different.
Rows and columns that looked harmless a turn earlier suddenly become difficult to use. Sometimes you realise too late that the direction token has been pushed toward a spot with almost no good moves left. We had several games where somebody thought they were doing perfectly fine, only to realise one turn later that they had basically guided themselves into a dead end.
Even after losing badly, we usually understood exactly where things started going wrong. Some of our favorite turns came from taking a piece that did not even help us very much, simply because it forced the opponent into a bad position afterward. Those moments gave the game much more bite than we expected from the cheerful presentation.
What stood out most is how quickly meaningful decisions start appearing. Coloro does not need a long warm-up before the interesting part begins. The rules are easy, the grid is readable, and mistakes are visible afterward. That naturally led to a lot of rematches because losses often felt fixable. Somebody would immediately want another game after noticing the one move where everything started going wrong.
The stack placement rules also became more important over time. During our first game we barely paid attention to where new stacks were placed. Later on, we started thinking much harder about when to introduce a new color and where to place it in the row because of the tie-break system. I liked that extra layer quite a lot once we started noticing it more.
The game also became much better once we stopped focusing only on collecting colors and started paying attention to movement options and future turns instead. If everyone only plays for their own stacks, the game can feel a bit plain. Once players start blocking and shaping each other’s choices, the grid becomes far more interesting to play around with.
Our thoughts
Coloro works best when you see it for what it is: a compact two-player abstract that focuses on interaction and positioning instead of huge long-term strategy. The game stays very focused from beginning to end. It takes one central idea and keeps building on it without adding unnecessary systems around it. Keeping the game this focused was probably the right decision.
The rotating direction token does almost all the work mechanically. It controls movement, influences pacing, creates restrictions, and slowly changes the shape of the grid as the game progresses. The changing shape of the grid is probably the most interesting part of the design. Early on, players mostly look at colors and opportunities. Later, the actual grid layout becomes more important because every empty space changes how future turns can play out.
Even people who normally avoid abstract games usually understood this one very quickly. You can explain the rules in a few minutes, games move fast, and you usually see what’s happening on the table at a glance. Nobody spends half the game trying to understand complicated systems or hidden scoring rules.
The wooden pieces also have enough weight to them that moving and stacking them stays satisfying even after several plays. Combined with the compact box and included bag, this feels like the kind of game you could easily bring on a trip or pull out while waiting for food somewhere, because getting it started takes almost no effort.
At the same time, Coloro has a more specific audience than the artwork first suggests. The origami presentation makes it look very welcoming and relaxed, but underneath that it can be pretty unforgiving. Players who dislike direct interaction or blocking may end up enjoying it less than expected.
After enough plays, experienced abstract players will probably start recognising the important patterns fairly quickly. That does not make the game weak at all, especially considering its short playtime, but it also does not feel like a game built around endless discovery.
And that’s completely fine.
Not every abstract game needs to become a lifelong obsession with tournament spreadsheets and opening theories. Sometimes it’s enough to be a fast, interactive game that keeps both players involved the whole time because every move affects the next one.
Coloro succeeds most when you play it as a quick, interactive duel instead of expecting some huge strategic monster. It’s approachable, easy to replay, and surprisingly sharp beneath the friendly presentation. The kind of game that stays close to the table because somebody usually ends up asking for “just one more round.”
📝 We received a copy of the game from Helvetiq.
