Barricade was introduced on GT in the winter of 2014 and quickly reeled players in with it's deceptive simplicity. The object is to get one of your color pegs into the top spot first. Along the way are a number of 'barricades', white pegs blocking your path.
In a typical, two-person game, each player has 2 pieces of different colors. One person has warm colors(pink/yellow), the other has cool colors(blue/green).The board is a pleasing wood grain pattern, with insets of Goldie silhouettes on the sides. Moves are determined by dice roll. If you land on one of your opponents pieces, theirs float back to the starting gate, as if being sent to the corner for punishment. But the main problem are those pesky white pegs, which show up at the most inconvenient locations. The only way to vanquish them is to land directly on them. furryfeet has suggested that they ought to explode at that point, which would liven things up. I also imagined how startled a player would be the first time it happened. Until that option is available, you can move them anywhere on the board, presumably to block your opponent, a concept that took me awhile to learn, after repeatedly blocking my own pieces, something that is embarrassing to admit.
In the variant, Small Barricade, the white pegs are towards the middle of the playing field, so the strategy of moving along the outside of the board can work to your advantage. However, this nifty trick doesn't work as well in the regular version, where the barricades are arranged near the vertical outside pathways.
Some players focus on getting a single piece to the top, others will have multiple pieces in play. One person I know lines up a little group of pieces in a militaristic way, each ready to step into the gap if a previous one is sent back.
There are times when one is forced to move backwards, which is a bit bewildering. I finally realized that sometimes it's the only option, particularly when one's path is blocked by not only a barricade, but an opponent's piece as well. Now I think of it as being in a holding pattern, ready to make up the lost ground on the next turn.
The goal is the rosy red space at the very top of the board. It's a rather abrupt summit, no gradual, dramatic incline to the top, just boom, you're there! Barricade is not a game with a fast resolution, it requires patience and planning, but is enjoyable for those who savor the journey as well as the payoff.