If you’re looking for some game suggestions to get the gang playing together this Christmas – look no further; no matter what age the person or what they are interested in there’s a board game (or card game) to suit everyone.
Quirk! Now with added mischief!
Quirk! is a quick to learn and play card game for 2 – 6 players aged 5+. You can adjust the level of challenge and the length of play from 15mins to up to 60mins. It contains two decks which makes it super flexible.
The object of Quirk! is to collect the most sets of three cards (called Quirks) – you do this by acting out the creature on your card and taking cards from your opponents.
How to Play
You start with three character cards, if you fall below three, you draw up. Character cards form sets of three and the person with the most sets wins! So just remember that three is the magic number and you are half way to learning how to play!
Now for the fun bits! On your turn you choose a card in your hand, choose an opponent and act out the creature on your card. You can use sounds and actions but you mustn’t describe the character or say its name. If your opponent has one or two of that card they must give them to you.
And if they think your pirate is a parrot and give you the wrong cards? That’s their loss – you get to keep the cards. But maybe rethink your plans to audition for the next Pirates of the Caribbean film.
Pro Tip – even if you know what they are doing I like to feign confusion for a good while so that they really have to work for the card. That means that even if you sacrifice a card you are laughing! This is especially satisfying if you have graduated to the more challenging deck. I’m always playing with the secret secondary objective of ‘How long can I make someone be a Bigfoot for?’
If you are unsuccessful and you don’t gain a card, you must ‘Go Quirk!’ – which means you pick a card up from the draw pile.
As soon as you get a set of three or a ‘Quirk’ you place it in front of you face up. Once 13 Quirks are face up on the table, the game ends and you count up your Quirks to find out who won.
Action Cards
These special cards are used once and then removed from the game so use them wisely. They allow you to disrupt others plans! You can stop someone in their tracks, preventing them from asking you for a character. There are 5 steal cards which allow you to steal complete Quirks from your opponents but only 3 block cards which prevent people from stealing. Each deck has it’s own set of these so you can play about with these balances if you want to.
Double the Decks = Double the chaos!
I absolutely love the fact this comes with two decks – it gives you so much flexibility. You can adjust difficulty by substituting some of the easier ones for more challenging ones or simply adding extra sets for a longer game. If it’s additional chaos you crave sling in some extra Mischief or actions. You can use a mixture of characters to up the challenge or stick to the easier deck if you prefer.
Challenge
The game is suitable for 5 years plus but I have played it with younger ones and just removed the action cards to make it super easy. There’s no reading requirement in the game apart from the Mischief Cards which do have visual prompts so that makes it more accessible too. The action cards are colour coded but the artwork is clear and distinctive and symbols are also used for clarity. For instance the block cards feature a large shield.
Mischief
You may recognise the distinctive artwork, the title or the game itself from the earlier version of Quirk. That’s because Emma May from Emmerse Studios has worked closely with Gibsons Games to bring you new characters, a simpler, clearer design, a honed mechanic and new mischief cards. The work Emmerse Studios is doing on character development is really clear from this new design and I’m loving watching Mischief grow!
The Mischief cards add a fun and chaotic challenge to the game making you redistribute your hard earned Quirks, passing hands on or gaining an extra card. These cards are played and come into effect immediately. My two absolute favourites are the statue still/ sounds only for a round and the actions only for a round. It is also worth noting that each deck has it’s own set of Mischief cards so you could add extras in. As if I wasn’t making you work hard enough for that Big Foot card – these are a gift!! Plus the sight of Mischief wielding a megaphone brings a smile to my face!
Over the year Mischief has become a character all of his own – starring in his very own book all about having the courage to be yourself. So, if you are enjoying this character in Quirk it’s worth checking out the book too.
Quirk is a great family game for all ages and the fact it plays up to 6 players is brilliant. And when I say all ages – I really mean ‘all’. Like many great family games, if you get a group of adults playing it, it is just as entertaining. We just need to give ourselves permission to let go, have fun and embrace our quirkiness!
Making Games for the Family
My favourite homework to be asked for help with is, unsurprisingly, ‘make a board game of…’ And with the kids going ‘back to school’ on Monday I thought I would share some game making ideas that all the family can get on board with!
They require varying amounts of equipment/ technology and assistance and will appeal to different ages. I haven’t assigned ages to the games – you know your children and now we are at home we can educate them based on what is most appropriate to their needs rather than what month and year they were born in. Things like dice and pawns may be useful for some of them but just use whatever you have to hand – raid the plastic farm animals or the kinder egg toys! No dice? Remember the spinners you used to get on the back of selection boxes? You could spend some time engineering one of those and doing some testing and refining to make sure it is truly random.
Kippers
You will need: Thin paper, a thicker grade of paper or card, string or tape.
1. Cut out your kippers from the thin paper (traditionally newspaper was used)
2. Make sure they are all identical sizes (you don’t want any unfairness – believe me!).
3. Write names on the kippers.
4. Lay out a starting line and a finish line on the floor.
5. Space the kippers out along the starting line.
6. On ‘Go’ players have to use their thicker piece of paper or card to waft their Kipper repeatedly until it makes it over the finish line.
Educational Value: It depends on how much you let the children do, the cutting out can help them practice their finer motor skills. It’s also surprisingly athletic!!
Snakes and Ladders
You will need: a patio is ideal for this, if not just some concrete and a tape measure, chalks, a sunny day, dice.
Or, a sheet of card, a ruler, colours, dice.
1. Draw out your board taking care to measure the squares 1- 100.
2. Add Snakes and Ladders to your drawing making sure they start and end clearly inside your marked squares.
3. Roll the dice – if you are outside, you can move yourself the number of spaces you roll or if you are playing on a smaller scale move your pawn.
4. If you land on a snake’s head you slip down the snake back to the square its tail ends in.
5. If you land on a ladder you climb up to the space the ladder ends in.
Educational Value: this game involves drawing snakes (the more colourful the better) and ladders. If you wanted, you could do some research and draw some different breeds of snakes. You will need to accurately measure the spaces if you are drawing the board.
Guess Who!
You will need: a camera, a selection of fancy dress – e.g. hats, glasses, wigs!, cardboard, a printer. I had menu card holders but you don’t need these.
1. Take photos of the family in a variety of poses/ outfits. Or, find existing photos of yourselves. When I made our version for the wedding I was surprised by how often myself and my partner wear different hats – it proved very useful. You need a variety of photos so that you will be able to deduce which image your opponent has in front of them.
2. Print out the photos. You will need three copies of each – you may want to use different colours on the reverse side to differentiate the three decks.
3. Lay out two decks face up – one facing each player.
4. Players choose a card from the third deck (Keep it hidden)
5. Take turns to ask closed questions (yes or no answers only) until you have deduced which card your opponent has.
e.g. Q. Has yours got sunglasses on?
A. No
Person who asked the question turns all the ones with sunglasses on facedown.
Educational Value: computer skills – photos can be edited, photography skills including uploading the photos. The game itself uses questioning and deduction skills.
Themed Top Trumps
You will need: Card – cut into card sized rectangles, colours, pens.
1. Decide on your topic and then decide what headings your cards will have. Choose about 5 headings for categories e.g. height, strength, intellect, danger….
2. Research your topic finding different people, creatures, vehicles, characters, deities… to go on your cards.
3. On each card add an image, a short summary – some interesting facts about the subject of the card, then 5 numbers – one for each heading.
4. For each category think about what will be the highest number and what will be the lowest. They don’t all have to have the same range but you do want a good variety in your cards.
5. When your deck is complete, shuffle it and deal out the cards.
6. Turn over your top card, choose a category and challenge your opponent. Whoever has the highest number wins. The first to lose all their cards is the loser.
Educational Value: research. This really invites some in depth study of a subject or hobby. You can use art or computing skills depending on whether you are drawing or printing cards out.
Beetle Drive
You will need: Dice, Paper, Pencils.
Most of us probably remember Beetle Drive or some variation of it from our childhood. You can mix it up by using different animals instead of beetles if you like.
1. You must roll a 6 to start and when you roll 6 you may draw the beetle’s head.
2. There are other parts which must be drawn in order – e.g. you cannot draw the legs until you have drawn the body.
3. Play continues in a clockwise direction with everyone taking a turn to roll the dice and then draw if they get the number they need. However, you can abandon the turn taking and make it into a race by giving each player a dice of their own.
Educational Value: This encourages children to recognise numbers and the number patterns on the dice.
I made a cat version but you could do any animal or creature you like. I also did a Zombie version for Halloween.
Misfits
You will need: card, scissors, pencil, colours, images of people.
1. You can either draw people or cut out pictures of people and glue them to the card.
If you are drawing people it may help to draw lines across the card where the segments will be cut.
2. Then carefully cut each person into the same number of segments. In the original game that is hat, face, body and arms and legs.
3. Shuffle the cards then deal out the same amount to each player. Leave the rest in a draw pile.
4. The first person to shout that they have a hat in their hand (or just a head if you are playing with less segments) goes first.
5. Take turns to add to the misfit on the table or start a new one with a hat card.
6. If you add a leg to a misfit the person who plays the matching leg takes the misfit and puts it in a pile in front of them.
7. Legs have to match in order to play the second leg card.
8. The winner is the person with the most misfits in front of them at the end.
Educational Value: Art and creativity.
Dixit
You will need: card, scissors, glue, magazines, newspapers, greetings cards, brochures, junk mail, a way of keeping score, voting chips and at least 3 players. In order to create the cards it would first help to understand how the game is to be played so I will explain that first.
1. Choose a card from your hand and say something about it – that can be a word, a phrase, a lyric, a line from a film.
2. Everyone else then chooses a card from their hand which matches with what you said. They give you the card.
3. Shuffle the cards and lay them out face up.
4. Everyone (except you) must vote for which they think is your card.
5. If some people guess correctly both you and those who got it correct score 3 points.
But, if everybody or nobody correctly identifies your card – you score 0.
6. Everyone who received a vote on their card earns one point for every vote they received.
Because of the way the game plays the cards are delightfully abstract, strange and detailed. There are always lots of different ways of looking at them and a variety of things to say about them.
You could make a fantastic set of cards using drawing, collage and a free imagination. If you have the game you could add them to your deck.
Educational Value: Art for arts sake! The exploration and creation of art is a fantastic escape from the stresses and strains of the everyday. The game itself is very imaginative with beautiful illustrations. There is also the challenge of distilling down the image on the card into a word or phrase.
Or… just ‘Make a Board Game’
You will need: whatever you like- your imagination is the only boundary here – pens, paints, chalks, paper, cardboard (use a cereal packet cut open), the recycling bin contents, pebbles, pawns, toy dragons, toy dinosaurs, a dice or spinner.
You can make it as big as your garden or tiny – to fit in an old matchbox.
You can research the theme – vikings, dinosaurs, whales… or you can make it entirely fictitious, from the depths of your marvellous brain.
Taking Board Games Online.
The Cards or Die Board Games collection has been all over the place – pubs, cafes, weddings, corporate training, senior citizens groups, schools, dementia cafes, festivals and now they are heading online.
For me board games are always about connecting with other people. Before now that has always meant sitting round the table, touching the pieces, shuffling the cards, chatting and laughing. Board games are intrinsically tactile and social. But now with all my bookings cancelled I like many of you have had to rethink things. I looked at online gaming in its true sense with virtual boards and pieces but it’s just not for me. I’m not a tremendously digital person. I use technology but honestly I’d be happy if I still had my typewriter, still sent and received actual letters and I could still call the operator if there was a problem with my phone calls.
So the lowest tech solution I could come up with was a google doc, which has suggested times and dates of games along with details of games we can play, and then a Skype call with whoever wants to join in. So far we have played Forbidden Island, Pandemic (I appreciate this didn’t appeal to everyone), Boggle, Fletter Fuse and Picture This. I’ve really enjoyed connecting with people over Skype – I’ve met some new people and seen lots of familiar faces too.
I find Skype, Zoom and any other facetime apps which allow multiple people in the conversation quite awkward. I find it difficult to read social cues if I am not face to face with people in real life so these kind of apps can make me feel incredibly anxious. However, doing a structured activity where (even in co-operative games) we take turns has helped me to feel comfortable online. Board games are a brilliant way to reduce or remove social awkwardness. I knew this was true in real life and now I know it is true online too.
You are more than welcome to sign up to sessions I am running or get in touch and request a game. A group of you can book on (whether you are in the same house or spread across a few households). I am offering this on a pay as you feel basis as I know that many people (like me) are not earning anything if they are stuck at home while others are still making money and can afford to pay something. If you are home alone with no income I don’t want you to feel that you can’t access this service.
The online events are much the same as my face to face events really. I teach the game and then either join in to make up the numbers or just facilitate to make sure we all remember what we are supposed to be doing and when! I email you anything I think might help you play – copies of cards or summary of turn so you don’t need to be familiar with the game to play either.
What works online?
I am still working out the answer to this. So far I have concentrated mainly on quiz games and co-operative games. Have a look on the google doc to see what sorts of games I’m offering for inspiration. Some of the suitable games are pictured below.
If you have the same game as other people this is a bonus as you can use the cards and pieces from each of them although you may still find it easier to just use one board. You can always use a pen and paper to make a note of where you are up to, what cards you have etc.
I have been emailing out anything I think will be useful in advance. It is always useful to be able to see what cards might come up with a summary of what they do and a turn order guide that tells you what sorts of things you can do on your turn. Some people like to have the rules in front of them whilst playing too.
Co-operative games work well as they don’t require you to keep your hand of cards hidden – you are working together to solve a puzzle, grab some treasure, cure a pandemic or escape a windswept desert. It’s also fine that one person moves the pieces on the board. Movement is just one small part of your strategising that turn.
Quizzes are good fun online and if there are a few of you in a household you can easily play against another household. In fact I am just off to add Family Fortunes to the list…. Quizzes are also plentiful on the internet and can easily be adapted to match the interests of your family and friends. It’s something you can get creative with – spend a bit of time creating the perfect quiz then get your family or friends online to see who triumphs!
There is a thread which I will keep adding to on the Facebook page which has lots of links to free games and activities so you can always download games there and then play with friends online.
So whether you are playing online with Cards or Die or getting together online with family and friends – keep in touch, stay safe and look after yourselves. Hope to see you at The Winchester for a game when all this has blown over.
Christmas Gift Guide – Games of course!
I firmly believe that there isn’t an age limit on games. Maybe it was because I was raised on games that proudly boasted their upper limit as 99 years of age. The likes of Spears, Waddingtons and MB knew all along that good games are good for everyone. As adults we don’t play enough. It can sometimes feel like we wait to have children around to give us the excuse to be daft, to let go of our inhibitions and immerse ourselves in play.
Play for the sake of play is perfectly valid but if that isn’t reason enough then think about the other benefits – the escapism of games, the mindfulness of them, the exercise for your brain.
And it’s not just me who thinks so…
“Play leads to brain plasticity, adaptability, and creativity. Nothing fires up the brain like play.” Stuart Brown
“Play stimulates the parts of the brain involved in both careful logical reasoning and carefree, unbound exploration.” Greg McKeown.
So for that reason I haven’t organised these by age or, god forbid, gender. If you want to know what sort of games ‘women’ like then I really can’t help you. At all.
I’ve included a wide variety so there’s just a short description of each game – give me a shout if you want any more details. Each title takes you to a website where you can buy the game – I’ve used amazon a lot for ease but you might want to also look on Zatu Games , Goblin Games or pop into a real life shop like Travelling Man.
Gross Games
These are some of my most popular pub games, it’s not just children who find poo inherently amusing. Quick to learn and fairly quick to play. most of these require a reading age of about 7.
You are monkeys flinging poo at each other. Use cards to deflect poo aimed at you or to clean some poo off. You’ll need some way of keeping score – I went for brown counters of course!
Easy to play – the instructions are on the cards.
Work out which animal did the poo in the living room! Race to get rid of all your cards by being the quickest to match the last card played and making plausible accusations! A cross between snap and a memory game. No reading is required in this one.
This is a swear free take on the classic ‘shithead’, also handily has action cards so you don’t have to begin by trying to remember which card does what! Be the first to get rid of all your cards, try and avoid having to pick up the discard pile. It comes with frankly foul scratch and sniff stickers which I suggest you reserve for the loser.
There’s no reason why gross games can’t be strategic! Be the goblin who gobbles the largest amount of disgusting foods. Collect sets of the same food but watch out for a variety of attacks such as vomiting, stealing and being made to eat your greens. Each goblin has their own special ability. It plays up to 12 goblins.
Fast Reactions
Be the first player to grab the object which is not represented on the card. In the picture below – working from left to right -you would need to grab the grey mouse, then the blue book and the grey mouse again. If you successfully grab the correct object you keep the card, and the person with the most cards wins. This is an addictive and easily portable game. I’m convinced that it uses part of your brain that nothing else uses! It definitely exercises those little grey cells.
Although a lot of people seem to have this it is an absolute classic and I couldn’t do a gift guide and not mention it. It comes in a small round tin, perfect to pop in your bag or in someone’s stocking. Similar to snap but each card features a number of images – you must match one of these with one on another card. You can also get themed versions – we have Star Wars Dobble and the Harry Potter version is on my Christmas list. There are 5 mini games which are entertaining with children or wine but probably not both!
A frantic dice rolling game for up to 4 people. You each get a set of dice which you race to place on the matching dice images. First to get rid of their dice shouts Zonkers! calling an end to that round. But watch out – fastest doesn’t always mean best. A test of observation, speed and strategy.
This also comes with a number of mini games so it’s great value!
Longer, thinkier games.
A co-operative game where you work together to collect the treasure you came for and escape the island. But the island is slowly flooding which hampers your efforts. If you are thinking of trying co-operative games then this is a great starting point.
If you have enjoyed this then you might want to try Forbidden Desert or Sky as these are similar but more challenging.
A short version of the classic Ticket to Ride Europe which was an instant hit and remains a best seller. Collect cards to enable you to place buses on routes across London. You score bonuses for linking certain places and for completing set routes. A nice strategic game with lovely pieces – who doesn’t love playing with tiny buses! It takes about 30 minutes whereas you can be playing the other versions for over an hour. So it’s a good one to try and there are loads of variations of this available so if you enjoy this you may want to collect some of the others.
Simply roll, move and place your dice to make sets of four or more. A lovely tactile strategy game which like all my favourites is quick to learn but gives you lots to think about. There’s also plenty of opportunity to thwart other people’s plans which is always satisfying.
Sleuthing
What could be more christmassy than donning your deerstalker or firing up your little grey cells. Settle down with a nice milky drink and these two classics:
A favourite in our house. Work your way round the board collecting clues about the crime. Each case is different and you must race your opponents to solve it and get back to Scotland Yard with the solution. Some of the clues are a little cryptic and some are quite tricky. Fine for adults but children may need some guidance or to team up.
You have to work out who the murderer is by playing a variety of detective and other tactical cards. Then, once you have uncovered the murderer you must prevent them skipping off into the sunset. The murderer meanwhile will be doing everything they can to freeze you out of society and make good their escape. With 5 or 6 players the murderer has an accomplice. Also works brilliantly as a two player game where the murderer is trying to escape while the detective tries to catch them.
Words
Each card has three letters on, turn over a card and trigger the bomb which will begin to tick loudly! Say a word which contains the letters shown (roll the die to determine whereabouts in the word they must be) and pass the bomb on to the next person. Continue to pass it with each player saying another word containing those letters until the bomb explodes (it has a variable timer so you can never know when it will go!). A great game for big groups – loads of wordy fun.
A speedy game of word recognition. Turn over the cards and shout out as you see the words appear. There are bonus cards for getting targeted word lengths and flettered cards for if you slip up under pressure! You can also push your luck by waiting for a longer word and hoping no one else has spotted your word! Each letter has a different value. At the end of the game you add up your pile of claimed words and the person with the most points at the end wins.
Wibbell++ is not just one word game but a whole system of games. There are instructions for 6 different games in the box but there are many more on the website – they will have you creating stories, making up funny phrases, racing to grab as many cards as you can by matching symbols and letters and outwitting your opponent by being the first to come up with a word containing the revealed letters.
Quiz
This is always a popular game at my events. This quiz is all based on logos and product knowledge including some picture rounds. You can play up to 6 people individually or play in teams if there are more of you. I have the classic logo game but there are lots of versions available including a christmas one.
The rocks have been around a long time and their knowledge is immeasurable. Pit yourselves against them in this fun trivia quiz game. Work together to come up with an answer of 0, 1 or 2 and then give the rocks in the box a shake to see what they think. The double sided rocks have a 1 painted on one side while the other is blank, so they can land displaying 0, 1 or 2. One of the things I like about this is the quirky questions and the fact that the answer is not just given but explained so you might not start out smarter than a rock but hey at least you are learning which is more than can be said for the rocks!
This is another of my most popular games. The answers are all colours and each player has a hand of coloured cards. Reveal the question then place the coloured card or cards that you think are correct face down. When everyone is ready you reveal your answers. I think the idea that you can make an educated guess rather than being unable to answer really appeals. It also has a nice catch up mechanic allowing you to target the lead player with a colour catcher card so you can (for one turn only) steal some of an opponent’s cards.
Charades based games
Gamely Games have a trio of fabulous games two of which fall into this category and can be played in teams. Soundiculous has you mimicking the sounds of various things – fridges, monkeys, karate! while everyone races to be the first to accurately identify the sound.
In Randomise you select three cards (A, B and C) choose a number 1-3 which gives you a phrase like a confused dinosaur selling lemonade.This can then be communicated through description, charades or through pictures.
The pretender is a social deduction game where you must work out who is only pretending to know what the key word is.
All of these come in lovely small boxes – perfect for posting or for stocking fillers.
My wishlist
This seems like a good as place as any to let the big man know what I would like for Christmas this year. Considering I have been exceptionally well behaved this year I would very much like the following:
Splendor – I’m really enjoying Jaipur and if I remember correctly this is similar but plays 4 instead of 2. Nice and strategic with shiny gems!
Muse Card Game This sounds similar to Dixit and the art work looks absolutely beautiful (can you also send me some people who would play this with me as most of my family will hate it with a passion usually reserved for their disdain for Dixit) and Staccups because it looks like crazy fun and I can imagine the whole family playing this over Christmas.
If you’ve got loads of games or just don’t know where to start, why not buy a gift voucher for a games night. Instead of buying more stuff, why not buy an experience, some time together, memories. Book Cards or Die to run a games night for you – we read the rules and bring the games. All you have to do is get the gang together and tell us where and when! Prices start from £8.95 per person.
I hope this has provided you with some inspiration. And if you do fancy treating me to a festive cuppa or a slice of cake, here’s my Ko Fi link!
UK Games Expo: A Haul of Memories.
As the ‘games haul’ posts insinuate their way on to your various social media feeds, making you wonder if you missed out on the next big thing, and the moaners moan about the size or the temperature or something; I’m bringing you something a bit different.
It’s hard not to get drawn into these threads. Negativity begets negativity and our brains are still hardwired to focus on the negative. But we must resist. Our happiness depends upon it – adjust the focus or use a different lens entirely. There is a place for negative feedback and it is vital for any event to receive it in order to grow and improve. I still carry that teacher mantra though – public praise, private ‘suggestions of areas to improve’! Sure by Sunday morning, I thought I’d been there a week and Eldritch Rach thought it was evening. And yes it was hot. And it was brillliant.
Even the most negative of incidents was promptly dealt with and the offender expelled from Expo. I’m not going to go into this here- it has been covered elsewhere and carries too many triggers to open up here. Suffice to say that as an individual the UK Expo response to this makes me feel safer there.
Board games without people are just lifeless boxes filled with meaningless chits and worthless tokens. It is the people that breathe life into them, that make them funny or tense or moving. It is the fabulous people of Expo and the time spent uniting with fellow nerds that I want to focus on.
The Expo started for me with the Press Show. I chatted to lots of people, finally met Angela and Dan who I’ve chatted to online for years and booked in to play a demo of Arkosa – the new one from the creators of Gobblin Goblins. The thing that I enjoyed most about the press show was the enthusiasm of the games creators – I love chatting to people who have passion and belief. It’s infectious. In particular I remember meeting the folks from Pet Evil which is soon to be on Kickstarter; marvelling at the research that went into Jonathan Strange and Mr Norell the board game of English magic published by Osprey Games; playing a pattern making game with my eyes shut while two complete strangers gave me directions and talking penguin puns with Team Custard Kraken the makers of Penguin Brawl.
After that I caught up with Emma from Emmerse Studios and Amelia – Quirk Expert! We drank wine and played ‘Bilder’ a game in which you use the different shaped blocks to build or re-enact the thing on your card while idiots shout things at you which are very obviously wrong. They then draw a card and build something obscure while you make astute and intelligent guesses about the content of their card. That’s how I remember it anyway.
Lots of games by StuffbyBez: Yogi, Kitty Cataclysm and the Wibbell++ system of games.
I spent some time at Expo demoing games for both Bez and Wren Games. One of the heart warming things about teaching games was how easy it was to get strangers playing together. They sat, enjoyed a game, compared experiences, swapped stories and recommendations and then disappeared back into the crowd. These were quick games so often we didn’t hang out for long but I loved sharing some time with people and watching them learn. One of the things I miss about teaching is that interaction when you open something new up to a person and place it in their hands; to witness that sense of wonder, fun and freedom to explore is a miraculous thing.
Assembly and Sensor Ghosts by Wren Games
Most of the booths there are demoing games. I could quite happily spend the days playing different games without spending anything above the ticket price. As much as I love teaching, I love learning. Letting someone who is passionate teach you is a joy. I visited Yay games and played Ominoes and then Snaggit. Snaggit is a new one – a fun twist on observational/ grab it games that requires some imagination. I managed to Snag a copy (!) and I know it will be a sure fire hit at events. I also hung out on the Wotan bus for a while, setting the world to rights with Lawrence and watching and learning some games. There were loads of people playing Brexit but I couldn’t bring myself to join in with that. One of the most entertaining games to watch and indeed play is Ramasjang – a chaotic card game where players add to the basic rule set by making each other do accents, noises, physical actions, whatever they think of. I also learnt the much calmer Castle Build. Over on Redwell Games I was taught Six Gun Showdown which was loads of sharp shooting fun too. If I wasn’t working, I would have made more use of the Board Games Library and the open gaming spaces. Plus there are loads of events and seminars to take advantage of.
A crack collective of indie game developers, artists, reviewers and generally lovely and supportive types got together at the Gaming Rules podcast to explain our existence. Today, using a sobriquet still frowned on by Janice they survive as board gamers of fortune. If you have a games related problem, if no one else can help, and if you can find us….maybe you can tweet #TeamTrevor. It was great fun to catch up with the Team Trevor folks in real life, especially as it was the Crafting Jones’ birthday so we could have cocktails! Any excuse!
Pictures by Emma May of Emmerse Studios
I also attended the Gaming Rules/ Paul Grogan top tips for teaching games seminar. It was fascinating to hear ideas about different approaches to teaching as well as, through audience participation, people’s experiences of different teaching methods. The drip feed approach that Paul advocates resonated with me and I definitely already use elements of it. It’s sparked my curiosity and desire to find out more. Of course other non-gaming-rules events were also available! I missed Jollyboat and The Dark Room which are both awesome. And the only tannoy message I deciphered all weekend was the announcement of the Happy Salmon tournament which I can only imagine was hilarious.
The absolute best bits of UK Games Expo have revolved around hanging out with people: whether it was finally meeting the lovely Katie Aidley in real life; playing Arkosa and thoroughly enjoying the well crafted flavour text and a good game; putting faces to names and avatars or drinking cocktails in the Sky Bar on Sally’s birthday – it was an absolute blast and I can’t wait to do it all again.
I did add games to the Cards or Die collection – some kindly donated, some purchased. Come along and try them out at one of our events. But that’s not my abiding memory of UKGE – it won’t reduce to a pile of cardboard, that is really just a vehicle. My memories and the reason I’ll be back next year is to connect with lots of slightly crazy, passionate, nerdy, kind, gorgeous individuals through gaming. If you want to get involved in that vibe, join us at a Cards or Die event soon – check out our events page for more details or subscribe using the form below so you don’t miss a thing.
Bears and Bees, Covering your Assets and Skull King.
Grandpa Beck’s card games have a homely family feel to them from the text, to the illustrations to the games themselves. They have a statement on their instructions which resonates loudly with me:
‘Your stories about enjoying time together as a family while playing our games motivate us to continue to produce fun & exciting products that will bring you and those you love, together.’
This encapsulates what makes Cards or Die tick. I know I keep banging on about it, but games are not just for children; children do not have a monopoly on fun. Sometimes as adults we get caught up in the daily grind of life, forgetting that we are allowed to play, to escape, to immerse ourselves in silliness or fantasy. Family for me is a wide circle comprising actual birthright family, Morris family, board gaming family and various others who I’ve adopted or who’ve adopted me along the way. Play is such a valuable way of connecting with people of all ages and all your families – however wide you draw your circle; escaping the drudge and pressures of adult life. Whether you haven’t played games for years or you play all the time, these three family classics are an excellent starting place.
After all this fluffy, hippy niceness it bears mentioning that all three of these games have a strong ‘be a dick to others’ element. Which just goes to show you should never, no matter what they say or do, turn your back on your family. They will take you down. Remorselessly.
The Bears and The Bees.
2-5 players
8+
30mins
When you get three new games it can be hard to choose which one to open first but as I had a Winnie The Pooh themed event that week it was an easy decision: The Bears and The Bees of course. The photos below are from the first week – we played it at home, we played it in the pub, we played it in the theatre, we played it in a cafe… we do so like Bears and Bees.
It’s beautiful and stylish with pretty colours and flowers, a cute looking bear cub and buzzy bees. But don’t be fooled – those bears have teeth and the bees will sting you.
All you have to do is get rid of all your cards by matching colours on the hexes. Match more sides to win bonus plays which help you get rid of all your cards. Play flowers and bees to make other people pick cards up.
We played it at our board games and dinner event at Mrs Smith’s Cafe, Harrogate. It started off gently enough as the family took turns encircling the Queen Bee with honey and bright hues. Then the siblings started attacking each other with bees, forcing each other to pick up more and more cards. Meanwhile, Mum made the most of this – dividing and conquering, almost securing victory. But at the last moment sibling loyalty won out, destroying Mum in a concerted effort.
There’s a lesson somewhere in here but as I look at my adoring and adorable offspring, I decide that the lesson is – aren’t siblings lovely. Yeah. Let’s go with that.
Cover Your A$$ets.
4-6 players
7+
30 mins
Cover Your A$$ets is a fast paced is a fast paced, card collecting, card stealing game. There are no alliances to be forged here – each player is trying to collect and hang on to the most rich stuff. I like games like this – unpredictable and different every time. Sometimes you might win by playing a strategic wild card (worth $25 or $50 thousand) plus a load of low value cards. Other times you need to burn that stamp collection and save the jewels.
You can only ever steal the top set of someone’s cards by playing a copy of the card you want to steal. They can block your steal by playing a further copy of that card. All of these are then added to the stack increasing its value. So even failed steals increase the value of your assets. You watch the pile of loot grow, clutching your matching card only to watch the stash covered before it gets to your turn. Do you trash that card and go for something else? Or, do you hope that someone else steals the top treasure letting you have another go?
It’s dynamic, fast paced and ever changing with lots of capacity to be a complete dick to various members of your family.
King of the cut throats however, is Skull King…
Skull King.
2-6 players
8+
30mins
A little more complex to master than the other two, it is a game of trick taking and betting. The game lasts 10 rounds gradually building in difficulty which is a neat feature making it very accessible. You look at your cards and then bet on how many tricks you believe you can take. You win tricks by playing a higher value card of the same suit on top of the previous players’ card. There are also cards which act as trumps, overpowering other suits as well as Escape Cards which allow you to deliberately lose the trick. Remember you are balancing winning tricks with making accurate predictions so this card can be very valuable.
It comes with a score sheet which is set out in a really helpful way allowing you to easily keep track of bids and scoring. This also helps you to learn the game.
As the rounds progress, you get a bigger and bigger hand making accurate prediction increasingly difficult. It also comes with an expansion pack. We’re still getting to grips with the base game but it’s great to know that once we’re used to the cards we can throw in some mermaids and a Kraken. The loot cards in particular add an interesting extra layer as they allow for alliances.
It is a fun game with two but it’s even more fun with six. Literally the more, the funner. It’s definitely more of a thinky game than Cover Your A$$ets but faster play than The Bears and The Bees.
My advice? Play all three, then you’ve covered everything!
If you want to try them out, join us at one of our events – subscribe to the newsletter using the link below to make sure you don’t miss out.
A week in war time games.
Board gaming for me is all about bringing people together and I’ve done that every day this week at The Royal Armouries in Leeds. There’s still Sunday left to come and see us. A whopping 1095 people have visited Cards or Die and stayed for a game or two (or more), I’ve told stories about the games, taught people how to play and more importantly listened to stories about and inspired by the games. I love listening to people’s tales and games are often the perfect jumping off point for a great story. People handle the boxes and the memories come – trickling at first, then flooding the senses giving brief glimpses of the past. I have enjoyed snippets of conversation overheard – ‘I’ve got a copy of that in my parents’ attic”We had that exact one”My Grandad made us one of those’.
Tiddly Winks
Picking up a box of tiddly winks a lady in a wheelchair laughed and told me that years ago she was being patronised by a group of – as she referred to them – hooray Henrys – who were expressing their sorrow that she would never be able to take part in any sport. She informed them that nothing could be further from the truth. In fact she and her friend were the UK underwater tiddlywinks champions. She explained to them, at length, the excitement and danger of this niche sport – ‘if you get a tiddly wink in your snorkel it can be fatal’; how vital it is that you always ‘tiddle before you wink’ – her friend went to the loo at this point unable to conceal her laughter any longer. The Henrys were gripped by these tales of high energy, dare devil tiddlywinking. I like to think that at some point in the thirty years that followed it has dawned on them.
Battleship
This MB classic has been one of the most played games of the week – at times all four copies were in use. A child announced – “we’ve played this on your phone – but here it is ‘in real life’!” As a child who was not allowed to own battleship because ‘it’s a waste of money – you just need a piece of paper and a pencil’ I can fully understand the excitement of the real thing!
On Tuesday as they left, a group of people who had played Battleship were promising their children that they would get some games out when they got home. It’s lovely to be able to share something of our childhood with our own children.
One group came in and asked about playing Risk. I said they would need a couple of hours or could play for a while and just see who was in the lead. ‘Oh no,’ they said ‘we’re not staying that long.’ Then they sat and played battleship for two hours! I love that about games – you can get thoroughly lost in a game and have no idea how long you have been playing. Often we rush about and feel like there is never enough time for anything so it is a luxury to be able to lose ourselves in an activity, to be consumed by it and escape reality for a while.
Shut The Box
Another favourite from this week. People of all ages have played – from tiny ones adding up on their fingers and studiously counting each dot on the dice as they didn’t yet recognise the patterns to Grandmas and Grandads playing on their own while they waited for the children and grandchildren to finish on the crossbow range next door.
This ridiculous game is as luck based as it is addictive – you are trapped endlessly rolling the dice in an attempt to get the exact number needed to ‘shut the box’. I taught it to some people who had never played it before – while demonstrating it once I shut the box. As newcomers to the game they did not understand my elation and said how easy it seemed. ‘Ha!’ I said – ‘take it, play it… you will see’. I popped over to see how they were getting on. The youngest child (while continually rolling dice) ‘It’s a stupid game really, I mean I’m just rolling dice and putting numbers down. You don’t need any skill. You just need to roll dice and add up. It’s just luck’
Me: ‘You can’t stop, can you?’
Him: ‘No!’
This- this is the intrinsic genius of Shut The Box.
Hearts Vs Minecraft
Hearts is the oldest game in my collection. From 1914, billed as an ‘exciting letter game’ from Parker Brothers, its delicate paper dice shaker contains 6 red dice with gold letters on. You have three turns to try to roll the word HEARTS. Simple but lovely and very much of its time.
It also contains advice on how to learn games which I think is priceless and still relevant:
A family played it for a while and really enjoyed it. I don’t think it was ‘exciting’ by today’s standards, but their five year old adored it and succeeded in spelling out hearts over and over again. On the way out they said they had all spent a while in the minecraft session and while the children had thoroughly enjoyed it, the adults had felt a bit out of their depth – a bit left out. They were delighted to spend this time all playing together, enjoying each others company.
When I tell people what I do, they often make the assumption that it’s ‘for kids’ but it really isn’t. At least not exclusively. Board games are for everyone. They are for coming together across boundaries of age, experience, knowledge… and having fun. For grown ups it’s a much needed opportunity to play and forget about adulting for a while and for families it can be a lovely opportunity to get off your screens and just be together.
Sum It
Sum It finally made it out of its box and on to the table. A very simple game in theory, I have been unable to get my head round playing it as I have no grasp of adding up in old money. One visitor remembered being whacked whenever he got his sums wrong but he still remembers how to add up in pre-decimalisation currency and could convert it too. I’m not great at Maths and I’m pretty sure hitting me every time I got it wrong wouldn’t have helped me – although it probably would have got me out of the education system and into work a lot sooner!
Mancala
Possibly the oldest game known to mankind. It is certainly an ancient game and came in very handy for helping with homework this week. Two children are going away with photos, stories and hastily googled details about mancala. It is another simple game in so far as there are few rules to grapple with and yet there is plenty of strategy to consider. Being an ancient game there are always variations on the rules to stumble upon. A couple told me that they had seen it on a holiday in Egypt carved into a wall top in an ancient temple. Google helpfully suggests that it was perhaps Karnak, Luxor or Kurna.
Nine Men’s Morris
Another game that is simple to learn with a decent amount of strategy and also popular in Roman times. One visitor explained that he had seen it carved into sandstone in South Africa. Unlike more sophisticated strategy games evenly matched players or those with enough experience of the game can eventually force a draw. People also speculated on the name – one person asking if it was to do with Morris dancing – something that crossed my mind before I played it. This has since prompted me to look it up and it seems that in Morris Dancing and Nine Men’s Morris the word morris has different origins. The popular theory is that Morris Dancing comes from either ‘Morey’s daunce’ or Morisco (often associated with Moorish traditions from the mid 15th Century). The Morris in nine men’s Morris derives from the latin word merellus meaning game piece.
Over the week a whole range of games have been played by all different people. I expected that a lot of people would enjoy looking at Risk and Escape from Colditz, I didn’t think they’d get played but even they made it on to the table. While playing this I heard the story of a polish man, a friend of someone’s Grandma who had escaped Warsaw by strangling a guard and swimming the river.
A lady who picked up Ludo and asked if I remembered Frustration. Yes, I said and handed her the copy – just as she was telling me that the one she had as a child was a popomatic one. She grinned at me, took it and played it with her son. He loved popping it and she loved being able to play a game from her childhood with her son.
I’ve delighted in the post-its that went home with games written on – Abalone, Shut The Box, Mancala, The Grizzled – to look up and buy. As well as the promise of games once relegated to cupboards, caravans and attics which will now be freed.
The modern games have been a joy too. Being in a room full of laughter and animal noises is bizarre but lovely. Charades was originally a French game which actually involved solving riddles. Later, as a Victorian Parlour game it took on the form we recognise now where people act things out while others guess what they are doing. It has always been a popular game and remains so now. I brought along modern variations on the theme and so people have played Charades, Animal Ailments, all three versions of Quirk!, Obama Llama (1 and 2), Soundiculous and Randomise. These are games that bring joy to people and it has been fantastic to watch and hear them played.
My favourites, of course, are the slightly grumpy teens. I taught them for seventeen years and now I live with some – you’ve got to love them. A father and a young child settled down to a game of Mancala while the teenagers sat staring into the distance looking disgruntled. I had run through some of the games with them when they arrived but they were unimpressed. 10 minutes into Mancala, I noticed they had started watching the game. I took the second copy over and sure enough moments later they were engrossed in a game too. Often to win the war what is needed is a series of small victories.
So this blog or random collection of tales comes to a close. I’ve had a fabulous week and I hope to see lots of you at events soon. Subscribe to our monthly newsletter to make sure you don’t miss out.
War Time Gaming.
Every day over half term (16-24th February) Cards or Die will be joining the Royal Armouries Leeds in their War Games exhibition. I’m choosing a selection of war themed games and war time games from our collection for you to play or just have a look at. There will be loads of activities on throughout the week – you can see weaponry commonly found in video games, take part in historical and sci-fi scale model gaming, take part in a cyber mission and see war gaming demos.
Here are some of the games Cards or Die will be bringing along:
Playing Cards
Playing cards have been around for centuries and were certainly in both sets of trenches, on all sides of the wars, in homes and in kit bags. By carrying a deck of cards you are carrying an endless selection of games: games of skill, strategy, bluff, luck, push your luck – all the key game mechanics are here. Many of those classic games are still played today – Rummy, Whist, Pontoon, Old Maid, Bridge, Cribbage … the list is endless. Even simple childhood games like snap and Happy Families or Go Fish provide the basis for some great modern card games. Dobble, Twin It, Anomia, Who Did It? all use Snap as their basic premise.
As well as providing a pastime in the trenches, cards provided opportunities for propoganda – the Germans produced decks which depicted German heroes or caricatures of the enemy. Decks of cards were also used to educate – some decks were used to teach basic French vocabulary, while others showed the colours of the allies to help with recognition. Of course just as we do now, people would come together over the games – sharing their experiences and memories, teaching their favourites from home. At a time of shortages cards were the perfect game – cheap to produce and most households would have a couple of old packs of cards they could hand down to bored children.
Word Games
Word Games like Lexicon from 1932 and Kan-U-Go also from the 1930s remained popular for years. I remember Kan-U-Go from our caravan holidays as a child (and I’m not *that* old). Later this penchant for word games led to the development of scrabble.
Family board games.
- Snakes and Ladders actually dates back to the late 1800s and has always been loved by children. I don’t still have my childhood copy but I do have the wooden shaker that came with it; I still like the sound and feel of it. A simple game that doesn’t take too long and I remember really loving the pictures on mine. Now I have a lovely cloth bag version from M&S. Side note I did a Women’s Institute booking and one of the ladies said it was her favourite game – I expressed surprise and she explained that every time you go down a snake you drink a gin! We won’t be playing this version at The Royal Armouries but I thought I’d share the suggestion!
- Sorry 1929 – like so many traditional family games this is sure to end in tears. It is very similar in principle to Frustration, Headache, Ludo and its German sibling ‘Mensch ärgere dich nicht’ which literally translates as ‘don’t get angry, mate’. You move around the board landing on people and sending them back to their original base to start again.
- Cluedo and Monopoly from the 1940s have remained international family favourites and have been treated to many specialised editions. I’ve even seen a Big Bang Theory Cluedo. Many people start with these classics and then move on to bigger and (many would argue better) board games. Monopoly had a very special role in the second world war as Waddingtons manufactured editions with maps, real money and fake documents to be sent to prisoners of war. While I will still happily play Cluedo, I’m not so keen on Monopoly. You can read my further thoughts on that here.
Uckers
A friend whose brother was in the Navy told me about this one. The rules can vary depending on who you ask -so before you settle down to a game it’s always best to check which house rules you’ll be adopting. Based on Ludo it can be played on a Ludo board but an Uckers board is actually a mirror image. Often Ludo boards were used or hand made boards.
Just as in Ludo you must get all four pieces home before your opponents, if you land on an opponent they are ‘ucked off’ back to the starting point. Once you reach home referred to as ‘the tube’ or ‘pipe’ your pieces are usually safe (although some versions have rules allowing ‘suckback’ or ‘blowback’). Rules vary on whether you need to roll the exact number required to get home.
If your dice goes off the board three times (a ‘bum’ roll) it is declared “off the IPS” (International Playing Surface), you incur a punishment such as losing a turn. Rolls that knock other people’s counters out of place are also considered ‘bum’ or ‘cocky’ rolls and incur penalties.
To start moving round the board you must roll a 6 and place a piece on to the ‘doorstep’ (the first space). A roll of snake eyes triggers ‘out all bits’ which means all of your pieces, and in some versions your opponents too, come out on to your doorstep. Each dice may be used to move a different piece or you use the sum of the dice to move one piece.
Landing on your own piece creates a blob (like a barrier in Frustration or Headache) which prevents opponents from passing but your own pieces can move past. Blobs can be destroyed by landing on them with another blob or ‘sixed’ by rolling a 6 plus the number of pieces making up the blob. Destroyed blobs are sent back to the start. In a two player game, where players have two colours you may end up with a ‘mixi blob’ of two of your own colours – this works as a barrier but can be sent back by landing on it with a single piece. Blobs may be moved around the board but you need to roll doubles.
People who argue over the rules are encouraged to check the underside of the board where the rules are said to be recorded. In fact all they will find are the names of previous sore losers who have ‘upboarded’ either deliberately or in a fit of pique thereby forfeiting the game.
These are just the basic rules but there are advanced adaptations too. I don’t have an actual Uckers board but I’ll have the Ludo board so feel free to have a go at Uckers on it!
We’ll also bring a selection of War Themed Games from Battleships to Homelands.
What will you play first?
This Valentine’s find your perfect game set and match.
The world of online dating is fraught with cliches. Fortunately for you, I have found a practical use for them. Simply choose the cliche which best summarises you and I’ve matched you with your soul mate. Sad news, it turns out your soul mate is a board game. Read on to find your perfect match. All you need now is someone to play with….
1. I like going out and staying in.
Which makes me a match with everyone on here – I can’t believe I’m still single (that’s how my dating profile opened!). You are all things to all people, easy going and laid back, I’m starting with you first because you’re the most difficult to accommodate. You will love Sushi Go.
Sushi Go is a lovely portable game so you can pop it in your bag and take it to the pub – or play it at home! It’s a quick, fun game. Collect a high scoring combination of sushi by choosing cards carefully before you pass them on. Strike a balance between blocking your opponents, collecting cards that score now and puddings that will score at the end of the game.
2. Cosy nights snuggling up in front of a roaring fire are my favourites.
You’re all about hugs and holding hands – you need a tactile game. Azul fits the bill. In Azul you are creating a beautiful mosaic with these gorgeous tiles. You score for placing tiles in the correct place and bonuses for sets of colour, columns and rows. The mechanic is straight forward but you need to plan carefully to ensure you maximise your points. You also need to keep an eye on what others are doing to make sure your plan can’t be scuppered! Each round you get to dig deep in the drawstring bag and replenish the tile stock – a very satisfying task!
3. GSOH – I don’t care about looks, I just want someone who I can have a laugh with.
Twin It: visually noisy, this is loads of fast paced fun. A variation on snap – you need to keep your wits about you as you have to be the first to spot a pair of matching patterns from 8 different piles (in a 4 player game). For added challenge, play on my chintzy tablecloth!
4. Honestly, though, you do care about looks.
Be honest now, if you had to choose between looks and personality – you choose looks every time. High Society is your game. Beautiful images adorn these cards which each represent elements of high society living that you can bid for. Attaining Joie de Vivre will double your points but watch out some cards half the value of your stash or make you discard a card. When these appear you bid NOT to end up with the card. The other nice twist in this game is that the person with the least money at the end of the game is disqualified. So make sure you don’t run out of money or it won’t matter how pretty your cards are – you’ve still lost. I think there’s another cynical dating reference in here somewhere….
5. Looking for fun – no strings attached.
No deck builders or legacies for you!
Yogi is a physical card game – it has been likened to Twister but with cards. I can see why, but it’s much more inventive than Twister. You must follow the instructions on the cards as you turn them over, each turn it becomes harder and harder as you add more cards to the mix. You might be battling to keep your lower teeth hidden, hold a card on your eyebrow, hold another card between your fingers and keep both arms touching!! Then you still need to be able to pick up another card and follow the instruction. Whenever we play it ends in chaos and laughter. Also if you get the right combination it can transform you into a rock star!
6. I’m new to this. My friends said I should try it… I’m not sure what to put but here goes…
Everyone loves Carcassonne, it is one of my most played games. My copy has been played at all sorts of bookings cafes, pubs, weddings… And with good reason -it’s a lovely game, great if you want to try something a bit more complex than Monopoly or Cluedo. Because of the different possibilities when placing your meeples and claiming land or roads you can just layer up the complexity as you go along. I’ve only recently mastered farmers and for some reason I still sometimes struggle to explain it clearly. So if you’re new to it I would advise you to come back to farmer later…
In its simplest terms, all you do on your turn is place the next tile from the pile adding to the map image – continuing roads, fields or cities. Each turn you can place one meeple, thereby claiming that stretch of road, city or fields surrounding an Abbey. You try to get the biggest cities or longest roads to get high scores. It’s a very satisfying game as you watch your lands grow, your score increase and your cities sprawl out. The more you play the more strategic you become.
7. Looking for my partner in crime.
If you have written this it is more than likely you are romanticising criminals – picturing stylish gangsters and their molls, spies and espionage, car chases and adventure. Get Adler will allow you to either take on the hidden role of Adler or play detective and is from just the right era to match the film playing in your head!
Agent Adler has done a runner with Top-Secret documents. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to track down and eliminate Adler and retrieve the stolen dossier. You have seven hours… The game is played in two halves – in the first part you must identify Adler and in the second you must apprehend them using the cards you have collected. Have you got enough pistol cards to outshoot Adler or will you be shot down?
8. I enjoy long walks… to the pub.
What you need is a game that you can slip in your bag and it won’t weigh you down on your long hikes. Travel Hive is a lightweight but lovely game which comes in a drawstring bag so it will fit easily into any backpack. Win by ensuring that your opponent’s Queen Bee is surrounded by tiles. Each insect in the hive has a different movement ability, making it highly strategic. It is reminiscent of chess but a much quicker game.
9. I’m laid back and easy going.
You’re not are you? In fact, you are super competitive. Your perfect game allows you to grind your opponents into the dust where they belong while you tactlessly celebrate. You need an old school classic – the insincerely named, Sorry! The kind of game siblings have played for decades, the kind of game that usually ends in tears!
10. I love travelling.
Ticket to Ride allows you to wistfully recall your travels round Europe and rant about the inadequacies of British transport whilst enjoying a tactical game of route planning and claiming. Best of all it comes with little trains!!
11. Don’t message me if you can’t differentiate between ‘your’ and ‘you’re’.
You’re lack of patience (d’ye see what I did their?!!- ooh and there. Are you twitching? What about know?) and love of language lends itself to Speedy Words. Be the first to shout out a word which matches the symbol and the letter shown. In the picture that would be a food beginning with P. If you win, you take the card and the person with the most cards at the end is the overall winner -the supreme word master, vocabulary overlord. You can come up with your own grammatically accurate title – you love doing that.
12. I don’t need any more drama in my life.
Oooh you big fibber, you thrive on it – otherwise you wouldn’t have mentioned it. Bucket of Doom for you! There are just three easy steps – choose 1 from 8 random items you could use to escape the terrifying scenario; convince the group that your plan is the best; vote for a winner each round. You definitely need a very fertile imagination for this one – you don’t have to be dramatic but it helps.
13. I’m normal.
Only people who are not normal claim to be normal. You’re not only lying, you are missing out on an opportunity to embrace your lack of normality. I can help you with that. In Quirk! you need to collect the most sets of three cards. Sounds normal so far. The twist is that in order to collect the sets you need to become the creature you’re collecting. In Quirk! Legends for instance to complete your set of Unicorns cards you must impersonate a Unicorn. You can also play tactic cards which allow you to block, distract others and tell people to Quirk Off which is immensely satisfying. It’s hilarious and noisy and anything but normal. Just like you.
14. I love my family.
The fact that you feel the need to announce this fills me with suspicion that your beloved family are under the patio. You can reminisce about their gruesome ends with a good game of Gloom. In Gloom your aim is to make your family as miserable as possible before killing them off, you can also try to lift the spirits of other people’s families (see – you’re not all bad.) The cards are see-through so that you can stack them up, obscuring or replacing some or all of the existing scores and categories. Event cards intensify the gloom of your family and outline a mishap or terrible event: ‘disappeared in the night’ or ‘was part of a feast’ for example. As these stack up you tell the horrifying story of that character. Storytelling is outlined in the rules as ‘half the fun’: you are encouraged to flesh out (if you will) how these chilling events came to pass – perhaps you could draw on past experience.
15. I give up. I’m deleting my profile.
I feel you. You don’t need anyone; you are a rock; you are an island and what you need is Tiny Epic Galaxies: a solid solo game. Take over galaxies, farm resources, beat the rogue galaxy – all in a small (ish) box. Perfect for while you are waiting for late friends (or dates).
Happy Valentine’s Y’all.
I hope you all get to play a game you love and that loves you.
