Nine little wells cut into maple, five cherry apples on one side, five Washington states on the other with a heart cut clean through each one. That is the whole game, and it is the kind of thing a person picks up off a shelf and does not put back down.

The board is built from two layers of maple, so every square is a recessed well instead of a printed line. Pieces drop in and stay put, which is the difference between a game you can play on a ferry deck or a picnic table and one that slides into a heap. Both layers are clear coated, and so are the playing pieces, cut 1/4 inch thick from cherry and maple. At 7 by 5.75 inches and half an inch thick, it packs like a paperback.

Ten pieces come with it, five of each, plus a natural cotton drawstring bag that keeps the board and the pieces together in a glovebox, a daypack or a cabin drawer. Handmade in the USA by a woman owned workshop in McKinney, Texas, whose Brave and Loved program turns the offcut wood from every order into engraved affirmation tags for children entering foster care.

TIC-TAC-Washington is engraved across the face in script. It reads as an Evergreen State keepsake sitting out on a coffee table, and plays like the game everybody already knows.