nicoletergeist

As the box says, “A picture is worth a thousand words”. This is a wonderful game that requires equal parts imagination and knowing your friends.

Like others have stated, this game is similar to “Apples to Apples” in its mechanics. each player has a hand of cards, and on their turn, they describe one and put it down. Everyone else tries to match that description with a card of their own to trick the other players while trying to guess which card was being described in the first place. The description can be as short as a few words, or an entire story.

It really helps to be able to guess what someone put down based on not only their clue, but how it fits their personality. For example, once my friend said “a burglar”, and even though there were many other cards that represented that description, the one she put down ended up being a boy and a dragon- she is a huge Lord of the Rings fan.

My one complaint about this game is that the original only comes with a few cards, so you kind of have to buy an expansion to fill up the box and give it more replay value. However, Dixit is never quite the same game and is great to play over and over again.

Qwirkle is one of my favorite games! I love it as a “warm-up” game, or one to play when I don’t want to think too much. I also love to introduce this game to as many people as I can, including kids.

I brought this out at a game night once with some friends. When I started talking about this game I said “It’s like scrabble… but with colors and shapes”. This instantly relieved one of my friends, who is dyslexic but good with patterns. He ended up winning his first game!That just goes to show how easy Qwirkle is to learn.

As far as strategy, there are definitely a few different approaches. You can either play “selfishly” where you kind of block off Qwirkles and big scoring moves from other players while getting the maximum score possible for yourself that round. You can also play “cooperatively” where everyone adds to the grid, and everyone scores relatively highly. Generally, you want to be careful not to leave what I call a “Qwirkletunity” for another player by making it easy for them to place the 6th tile in a set.

One of my only problems with this game is how easy to lose the pieces are. I always think twice before taking this to work now because the little pieces always disappear and it kind of matters how many of each piece you have for strategy purposes.

Overall, this is a great game. I always feel like it looks like something from the future because of the simplicity and sleekness of the game being played. Qwirkle is super fun to play over and over- no two games are the same.

This expansion is absolutely a critical part of King of Tokyo. In fact, recommend buying them together. Once you play it this way, you will not want to play the game without it again.

With Power Up!, each character gets its own personalized evolution cards. This actually differentiates the characters and gives them their own special abilities. For example, the Kraken becomes great at healing, the King gets even better when in Tokyo (of course!) and Cyber Bunny loves to get energy and therefore buy more cards. Make sure to read through all the evolution cards before choosing a character next time you play.

Have fun storming Tokyo!

Sea of Clouds is an interesting deck-building style game in which you get to collect “loot” of rum, crew, and artifacts that will add up to victory points in the end of the game.

This is a fairly good filler game because it doesn’t take very long, especially if everyone knows how to play. The mechanics are relatively simple- pick up a pile, if you don’t like it or want the contents, move onto a different pile, leaving another card so the next person might get more out of it.

There are also “battles” in which you might get to steal cards or dubloons from other players or the “bank”. This makes the game more interesting because it is the only real interaction you have with other players. Otherwise you are just building your piles loot around your personal board.

There is quite a bit of chance in this game. For example, you might get a treasure box card that lets you get lots of victory points for having a certain amount of rum or doubloons or artifacts by the end of the game, but then you don’t have an opportunity to get those things later on. If you do get them, they can really make or break your score.

Overall, this game is okay. It is nice that it is so simple and you only have one deck of cards to keep track of. However, I feel like something is missing. There is no way to differentiate the characters, for example. Also, I don’t much care for having to tally up all the points in the end.

Do you ever find yourself looking for fun games to play with just a few (2 or 3) people? This is a good one for that. It goes quickly, but not too quickly. The more people you have to play, the faster the game becomes. Bananagrams is basically scrabble without a board. The scoring is a bit easier, though, and it is much more quickly paced.

One of my favorite things about this game is how portable it is- it’s great to take on trips, and can be stuffed into almost any space. Another thing that is nice about bananagrams is that since you have your own grid, no one else’s moves can mess you up!

I highly recommend this game for anyone who enjoys word games, but know that it can be challenging for those who struggle with spelling or are dyslexic.

I played this with my kids at the Boys and Girls Club. It was one of the few games I would allow them to play during power hour because it got their creative problem solving and critical thinking skills going. One of the best parts about bringing this game to a place where pieces get lost easily is that the pieces can really be anything! If a pom pom got lost, I could replace it with a tile, or a block, or a marble! It was fun to watch what the kids would come up with. I definitely recommend it in either a family or education setting.

Much like Candyland, Tokaido involves very little skill. Due to the many different cards and little pieces, it can be hard to explain, but is pretty easy to pick up once you play it once.

I find this game best to play with a few friends in the middle of the day with some tea. It’s definitely not a game for a raucous party night.

Tokaido is very relaxing and has beautiful artistry. It is perfect if you want to chill out and have something to do while having a nice conversation. If you are looking for a competitive game you might lose a few friends over, this is not the game for you!

I have played this game several times with friends at game nights and it is a great game to start out the night with! You have a stack of cards with words and symbols on them. The stack is upside-down and on your turn, you flip over one. If your symbol matches the symbol of someone else’s card, you shout out something that THEIR card describes. For instance, for “astronaut”, you would said “Buzz Aldrin!” or “Sally Ride!” And then you get that card. The object is to get the biggest pile of cards. It gets fun and difficult, though, when a card gets picked up and then the symbol and word underneath is revealed, which is then in play, and can trigger a domino effect of shouting and card grabbing!

I played this game with my cousin for the first time a few years ago and was skeptical at first, but then found myself on the fourth or fifth round and getting really into it. It is fun and very easy to learn-I got it after only a round or two. It’s one of those games you have to learn by playing.

Love letter serves as a great “warm-up” games at game nights, or filler game when waiting for your food at a restaurant, etc.

It’s important with love letter to get the right amount of players. You technically can play with 2 players, but four is the best amount in my opinion. The price point is also just right. Who doesn’t love a good game for under 10 bucks?!

I have played this game since I was a kid. It is a favorite at family reunions, dinner parties, and other get-togethers. Scrabble takes a fair amount of time to play, but does not dominate the entire evening by taking hours and hours.

This game is easy to learn (hence playing as a kid), although somewhat hard to score. Fun for the whole family, especially the wordsmith know-it-alls. Very good social game until someone gets all consonants or makes up a word.

Scrabble would make a great present for a relative who is a librarian, english teacher, or just likes word games. The pieces also make great crafting materials if you don’t like the game!