TEG

TEG is a board game of world conquest for two to six players. Its board is a planisphere drawn after fifteenth-century charts, its creator says, in two great ovals on a sea of pale blue, with a sun in the middle, a compass rose and galleons, and the title in a ribbon across the top: T.E.G. Plan Táctico y Estratégico de la Guerra. The world is split into 50 countries in six continents, coloured pink, green, ochre and violet, spelt in the old style, with a Mar del Norte and a Mar del Zur. Six small boxes hold plastic counters for the armies, and the cards carry a balloon, a galleon or a cannon.

It was the first game of Yetem, founded in Buenos Aires in 1976 by David Jiterman, then twenty-four. The name, he told Revista GENTE, came about because every plain word for war was already registered, so he chose initials when the printer pressed him. The company's name is his rendering of the French je t'aime.

The game is close to Risk, and Spanish Wikipedia calls it a copy. Yet its rules are its own. Each player draws a secret objective, such as taking Asia and two South American countries, or destroying the red army; reinforcements are half the countries held; and the defender may roll up to three dice and wins ties. GENTE notes that it went on sale during the dictatorship, when people could not meet in the street but could gather at home to play.

Yetem has since made TEG II, La Revancha, a junior version and a card game, but the original is still sold as TEG Tradicional, with the same 50 countries, 15 objectives and common goal of 30 countries. It has outlasted a change of company name and Jiterman's sale of the firm in 2000, and leagues across Argentina still hold tournaments, according to Yetem.