Khet is a new strategy game where two players move or rotate their Egyptian-style pieces and fire a laser beam. The beam bounces off the one and two-sided mirrored pieces. A piece is removed from the board when struck by the beam on a non-reflective side or when a non-reflective piece is hit. The player that hits his or her opponent’s pharaoh first wins.

Similar to chess, players have pieces with unique functions and appearances. A pyramid has one mirror. A djed has mirrors on two sides. Obelisks and the pharaoh have no mirrors. Now onto movement. All pieces move one square forward, backwards, sideways or diagonally per turn. Or any piece can rotate 90 degrees in a turn. The djed can swap places with a pyramid or obelisk; and obelisks can stack two high or unstack.

Each player has his or her own laser beam on opposing sides of the board. Players can use their laser beam to reflect off any piece on the board, and if a player shoots his or her own piece that player is out of luck.

As in chess, players are always thinking several moves ahead, and as in pool, players need to take into account the angles at which the laser will reflect off several pieces. Khet offers recommended starting boards or create one of your own.

Now if that wasn’t enough…a new game piece was recently introduced that splits one laser beam into two! The new piece is called the Eye of Horus Beam Splitter. Personally, we found the game challenging on a first run through without the new beam splitter. With two beam splitters in play, one laser beam can be split twice sending three laser beams around the field. Stay tuned for another new twist in the game to be released in time for the holidays. We had a lot of fun playing Khet. If you’ve played, write in and tell us what you think.

Khet Strategy Game: MSRP: $44.95
Khet Strategy Game + Eye of Horus Beam Splitter: MSRP: $54.95
Recommended for ages 9 and up.

Below is a photo of the laser beam reflecting off several pieces.

Below is a photo of the game pieces.

Below is a photo of the board with beam splitters in play.