Polarity (game)

Polarity is a board game of stacking magnetic discs created by Canadian designer Douglas Seaton in 1985 and first published the following year, since passing through several publishers including Irwin Toy, Mattel and most recently Temple Games. Players place round foundation discs, colored white or black to represent opposing magnetic polarities, onto the board, then balance further pieces called leaners on the magnetic fields generated by discs already in play, trying to build stacks that score points for their own color. Because the magnetic balance is genuinely delicate, a player can cause a fault in which pieces fall over or stick together unexpectedly, handing an opponent the chance to capture loose pieces and build a scoring tower of their own; a game ends when a player runs out of pieces to place or when any piece touches a central red disc marking the board's middle.