Khet (pronounced ket) is an Egyptian-themed board game in which players use mirrors to reflect light across the board. The game effectively combines the three things that make most games fun: simplicity, strategy and lasers.

Each player commands a real class II laser and four different piece types. A turn consists of moving a piece one tile or rotating a mirror piece 90 degrees and then pushing “the big red button,” sending your laser to ricochet off several mirrors and hopefully hitting your opponent’s pieces.

When the laser hits a piece, the piece will be illuminated and then removed from play. The game ends when a player’s pharaoh is hit by the laser.

Besides the pharaoh, players control seven pyramid pieces, pieces containing one mirror, four obelisk pieces, pieces without any mirrors, and two djed pieces, pieces containing two mirrors.

Khet is very easy to play and understand since there are only four different piece types and only two different movement options. Despite the game’s apparent simplicity, players may find that the strategic possibilities are near endless.

A player must balance his offensive capabilities by moving pieces to take advantage of his own laser, while not ignoring his opponent’s laser. Often new players will only focus on their opponent’s laser, resulting in some friendly fire casualties.

But what makes this game even more entertaining is the simple fact that this game works exactly as it is supposed to. The laser will bounce exactly 90 degrees and won’t have a tendency to miss the board or become unaligned with the tiles.

The laser is consistent and is not prone to any mechanical problems. Tiles have raised edges so pieces will fit snuggly, resulting in a clean reflection on to the next piece.

Khet also avoids looking tacky or childish. The Egyptian history and theme give the game a good aesthetic value.

Technologically, Khet is very simple, using two small class II lasers which have an average lifespan of 2000 hours of continuous use. The lasers draw little enough power to be sustained by two AAA batteries each. Games that incorporate technology tend to lean either towards education, such as miniature science kits, or towards lots of bells and whistles while creating a sub-par playing experience, but Khet combines intellect with fun.

Two expansions are also available, including the “Eye of Horus” or the beam splitter expansion, which contains pieces that allow the player to split his laser, and the tower of Kadesh which adds a tower in the center of the board.

Khet has received nine awards, including the Mensa Select award and a nomination for Toy of the Year Award in 2007.