Oversight is a strategy board game for 2-4 players that exercises visual abstract reasoning. The game board consists of square tiles, half of which are movable in rows or columns. Each players gets their own color of round discs which will be their playing pieces. (Each color of discs also has its own symbol on one side, so players can distinguish their pieces by color and/or symbol if they choose to use that side of the disc.) The goal is for the player to get 4 in a row of his discs on the board. Players take turn placing their discs on the board to get 4 in a row. Instead of playing a new piece, players can block an opponent from getting 4 in a row by placing their piece in the way (much like in tic-tac-toe) or by sliding an entire base row or column of the game board in any direction, which then shifts all the players' discs on that row or column. This element forces players to have to shift their strategies as the game board shifts. Players might also use the strategy of shifting tiles to move their own pieces into a better line up.

While the game provides a nice challenge for students to exercise abstract reasoning, flexible thinking and working memory, there are certain design elements that might make the experience overly challenging or frustrating for many students, especially those with weaker visual discrimination, fine or visual motor, or attention skills. The movable discs that are placed down to create the game board are not easy to line up and do not move as smoothly in rows as they could. As a result, if players go to shift a column or row, a pile-up of discs is likely to occur, especially where the game board creases, knocking players' discs out of place. Also, the movable base tiles are all different colors without purpose, on top of which players will then place their own colored discs as they play. These many colors on the game board might be fine for some students with strong attention and visual discrimination skills, but will be distracting or overstimulating for many.

• Provides sufficient and varied types of practice problems to maximize understanding and generalization of the targeted skill/concept
• Manufacturer claims alignment with Common Core/Known Standards
• Presents educational concepts accurately
• Explains answers so students can learn from mistakes
• Better for teaching the skill to new or struggling learners
• Better for practicing or refreshing the skill
• Skills are practiced through authentic, meaningful problems (not just rote practice)

• Appropriate for a broad age range to use and enjoy
• Visually appealing to children in the target age range
• Adults would enjoy playing with a child
• For electronic games, gives positive or encouraging feedback
• Offers ongoing, progressive challenge
• Overall - Enjoyable. Given the option, students would choose this option

• Attention
• Directions may be confusing for students using independently
• Visually distracting with too many pictures, problems or moving objects
• Fine Motor Skills
• Requires challenging finger movements, motor precision or physical manipulation
• Assembly is difficult or product may break or fall apart easily
• Gross Motor Coordination
• Requires challenging finger movements, motor precision or physical manipulation
• Organization
• Directions may be confusing for students using independently
• Self-regulation
• Multi-player activity with a clear 'winner' and 'loser'
• Assembly is difficult or product may break or fall apart easily
• Visual Discrimination
• Visually distracting with too many pictures, problems or moving objects
• Visual Motor Speed
• Requires challenging finger movements, motor precision or physical manipulation
• Assembly is difficult or product may break or fall apart easily
• Working Memory
• Directions may be confusing for students using independently

Exercise your mind and outwit your opponents with Oversight, the new fast paced 4 in a row abstract strategy game! Oversight is set up on a board of movable squares. Two to four players compete to be the first to get 4 tokens in a row. On their turn, each player can either place a token on the board, or shift an entire row or column of moveable squares over by one space. The rules are simple but the game gets increasingly challenging as players learn from their mistakes and predict their opponents’ moves.
This addictive brain-bending game and can be played by anyone aged 7 and up.