Good question, and I remember I picked this up since I heard good things about that one! It feels like this almost took that abstract and… Abstracted it some more? Meaning the polyominoes are now just single squares in this one. I’m afraid that means I don’t have a helpful comparison to make since I never played the original game, although I like your wife’s idea of making her own rules when playing abstract games! For me, this one kind of went a little too far being an abstract of an abstract game. Definitely has potential for the right audience, though.