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You thought 5 in a row was fun? Wait till you try Sequence!
The aim of Sequence is quite simple - each player, or team, must aim to get two sequences of 5 game tiles on the board to win the game. To do this, each player starts with a set number of playing cards. They then discard a card of their choice from their hand and place a tile piece on the corresponding place on the board. After your turn you take another card from the stack and the game continues until either player, or team, get two rows of 5 tiles.
Throw into the mix the jokers (where one-eyed jacks mean you can remove an opponent's tile from the board and two-eyed jacks means you can place a tile anywhere on the board regardless of whether or not you hold the appropriate card) and you have a very enjoyable and at times strategic game.
This game is funniest if you have 3 teams of 2 players each, and the battle of the board can become very intense. At first it will seem very random, and you'll put tile pieces on the board seemingly at random, but all of a sudden a plan will arrive out of nowhere, and you will have the first sequence, and from there, the second can often come quickly.
Its an incredibly funny game, that has the right mix of luck and strategy to make the replay value very big. I'll recommend this to everyone in the age group 12+, but bare in mind that some kids won't have the needed strategic overview to excel at the game. Try it, before your neighboor (or with them!)
The aim of Sequence is quite simple - each player, or team, must aim to get two sequences of 5 game tiles on the board to win the game. To do this, each player starts with a set number of playing cards. They then discard a card of their choice from their hand and place a tile piece on the corresponding place on the board. After your turn you take another card from the stack and the game continues until either player, or team, get two rows of 5 tiles.
Throw into the mix the jokers (where one-eyed jacks mean you can remove an opponent's tile from the board and two-eyed jacks means you can place a tile anywhere on the board regardless of whether or not you hold the appropriate card) and you have a very enjoyable and at times strategic game.
This game is funniest if you have 3 teams of 2 players each, and the battle of the board can become very intense. At first it will seem very random, and you'll put tile pieces on the board seemingly at random, but all of a sudden a plan will arrive out of nowhere, and you will have the first sequence, and from there, the second can often come quickly.
Its an incredibly funny game, that has the right mix of luck and strategy to make the replay value very big. I'll recommend this to everyone in the age group 12+, but bare in mind that some kids won't have the needed strategic overview to excel at the game. Try it, before your neighboor (or with them!)
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Board Games Reviews
Ticket to Ride (or TTR for short) is a fun, simple board game involving cross country train rides where you try to get to certain locations by way of card selection while trying to block others from reaching their destinations. The twist is that no one knows where anyone is trying to go..... Adding an element of surprise and gamesmanship to its game play. Because the tickets are kept secret from everyone else, each person's strategy to win the game won't actually be revealed until the very end. On the other hand, with multiple paths to locations and no knowledge of what anyone's objectives are in the 1st place, strategic blocking is almost a non-factor. In my experience, no one really used that function of the game. Instead, the common strategy was to get to one's goals as quickly as possible.
While you attempt to reach these destinations, you can also draw additional location cards and use the railway car cards you gather to control routes across the board. There are also secret rail paths exist to be either blocked or exploited. By completing the secret routes, you are rewarded with additional bonus points.
The game is played on a detailed, color-illustrated board map of North America. The only complaint I heard was that the locations weren't all together accurate. This probably only matters to Geography buffs and likely wouldn't effect most Americans. Anyway, on to actual game play. We had no need for the instruction book since the game play was mostly self-explanatory and can be picked up in game. You begin with miniature trains, train-car cards, and destination tickets. Game play consists of three possible moves (per turn): (1) drawing a destination ticket, (2) drawing an extra train-car card, or (3) building a train route. You receive your cards either via a face up draft or by randomly drawing them from the deck. The procedure for adding them to your hand is that you draw three and must keep at least one card.
The routes in the game come in nine different colors and go from 1 to 6 sections long. Scoring is done by claiming these routes over the course of the game. You claim routes by placing the same colored sets of cards over an entire section. The longer the section, the more points are awarded. The game ends once all the miniature trains have been laid out. At that point, any incomplete routes cause you to lose points.
While its labeled under strategy, TTR is mostly about luck. The unknown element of location and the loss of points at the end leads to surprise winners and reversals of fortune bordering on the ridiculous. It's actually like a hour long version of Texas hold 'em (poker) in that way. Bad beats and all.
While you attempt to reach these destinations, you can also draw additional location cards and use the railway car cards you gather to control routes across the board. There are also secret rail paths exist to be either blocked or exploited. By completing the secret routes, you are rewarded with additional bonus points.
The game is played on a detailed, color-illustrated board map of North America. The only complaint I heard was that the locations weren't all together accurate. This probably only matters to Geography buffs and likely wouldn't effect most Americans. Anyway, on to actual game play. We had no need for the instruction book since the game play was mostly self-explanatory and can be picked up in game. You begin with miniature trains, train-car cards, and destination tickets. Game play consists of three possible moves (per turn): (1) drawing a destination ticket, (2) drawing an extra train-car card, or (3) building a train route. You receive your cards either via a face up draft or by randomly drawing them from the deck. The procedure for adding them to your hand is that you draw three and must keep at least one card.
The routes in the game come in nine different colors and go from 1 to 6 sections long. Scoring is done by claiming these routes over the course of the game. You claim routes by placing the same colored sets of cards over an entire section. The longer the section, the more points are awarded. The game ends once all the miniature trains have been laid out. At that point, any incomplete routes cause you to lose points.
While its labeled under strategy, TTR is mostly about luck. The unknown element of location and the loss of points at the end leads to surprise winners and reversals of fortune bordering on the ridiculous. It's actually like a hour long version of Texas hold 'em (poker) in that way. Bad beats and all.
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The fun simple and entertaining game Rummikub, which can be played with kids down to the age of 6-7 and up to and very much including the grandparents. It's a easy popular game which entertain all ages groups, as the speed of the game if fast and the rules easy this is a game that can be played with short warning and bring joy and smiles even to a group of adults!
The objective of the game is very similar to the card game "Rummy", however this games is played with tiles. The winner of the game is the first one to use all of his/her tiles drawn.
The game play is simple, everyone draw 14 tiles and put them on their own board, the remaining tiles are left on the table face down.
When playing tiles on the table, the rules are quite simply, there can never be less then 3 in any set of tiles on the table. These can be played either in consecutive number of the same colour or sets of same numbers of different colours. This means that a player can play three different colours of 8, if anyone else then have one of the fourth colour, they can add this to the row. When at any stage, there's more then 3, the others can be moved around anywhere else, so if there's a row of four 8's, a player can use one of them to create a new set, this could be another set of 3 8's or it could be 7, 8, 9 or 8, 9, 10 etc. The tiles on the table can be moved around as much as the players which turn is it like, however ever round a player must either add at least one tile to the table, if the player is unable to do that, he's got to draw a new additional tile from the pile of tiles still left face down on the table.
To start the game, the first time a player put tiles on the table, it must give at least a total of 30 points.
So go find your Rummikub game and let it bring joy and smiles to your Family.
Let me start out by saying that Dirty Minds is a game for the age group 16+.
The games premise is that the more dirty your mind is, the more difficult you'll find it. Each card has 3 clues on them, all of them very dirty, but the answer you need to think off is very mundane. The player on your right reads you the clues one by one, and you can either guess or pass after each clue. When you guess the right answer you can draw a card from the letter card pile, and when you can spell the word D-I-R-T-Y you win the game. If the one being asked the questions cannot answer, the one to his/her right will get a try, but everyone except the original player will loose a letter card if they get the answer wrong.
Just to give you an example why the game is called Dirty Minds, here is one of the cards:
Clue 1; I'm big and smelly
Clue 2; You put things in my rear
Clue 3; I have to stand erect to deliver my load
Answer; A rubbish-truck
As you see from above, the game is perfect for a friday night with beers and stronger beverages, with a mixed group of guys and girls.
Remember - nothing is as dirty as it seems!
The games premise is that the more dirty your mind is, the more difficult you'll find it. Each card has 3 clues on them, all of them very dirty, but the answer you need to think off is very mundane. The player on your right reads you the clues one by one, and you can either guess or pass after each clue. When you guess the right answer you can draw a card from the letter card pile, and when you can spell the word D-I-R-T-Y you win the game. If the one being asked the questions cannot answer, the one to his/her right will get a try, but everyone except the original player will loose a letter card if they get the answer wrong.
Just to give you an example why the game is called Dirty Minds, here is one of the cards:
Clue 1; I'm big and smelly
Clue 2; You put things in my rear
Clue 3; I have to stand erect to deliver my load
Answer; A rubbish-truck
As you see from above, the game is perfect for a friday night with beers and stronger beverages, with a mixed group of guys and girls.
Remember - nothing is as dirty as it seems!
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Boggle- Great For The Whole Family
If you are a looking for a wonderful board game that you can play with the entire family, I definitely recommend giving Boggle a try! We decided that it was time for a family game night, and picked this up at the local store. The packaging is nice and bright, and definitely caught my eye on the shelf among the other items.
To start the game, all of the available letters are placed inside the cube. There are lots of tiny little dice with letters on every side. One person is to shake the cube until all of the dice settle into the holes on the bottom. After that has been done, one person will flip the sand timer over and everyone can begin playing.
The object of the game Boggle is to create different words out of the letters that are on the playing board. To create a word, you can only use a letter that is touching the last letter that was used. Each player must try to create as many words as possible. This gets to be a lot of fun when you are trying to "outsmart" the other players and create long unusual words that you hope no other players will get a chance to think of.
After the timer runs out, everyone must put their pencils down and stop writing immediately or they will become disqualified. Going around in a circle, each person takes a turn reading the list of words that they came up with out loud. If another player has the same word, all players must mark that word off of their lists. At the end of the round after everyone has taken their turn reading their list out loud, each person will get points for all of the words they came up with that nobody else had.
One of the best things that I enjoyed about this game is that an unlimited number of people can play all at one time. If you have a large family, it can become difficult to find a board game that everyone can play at once. With Boggle, nobody has to be left out of the fun. I also really enjoyed that while the game is fun, it can also be educational for the younger players and older players alike. I know that while playing, I learned a few words that I didn't know existed! Be sure to have a dictionary handy, just in case someone wants to challenge a word that has been created.
I know that this game is definitely going to be a big hit around the holidays when we have family and friends coming from out of town. We are always looking for something fun to do together, and I think we have found it. The kids can enjoy playing a game with the adults and this is something that people of all ages can enjoy. Even the younger kids were able to have a lot of fun making the smaller words that they have already learned, and they were fascinated learning the bigger words that the adults created too.
Boggle gets two thumbs up from me for sure. This is definitely a game that I would recommend to others if you are looking for a fun way to spend an evening with your loved ones!
To start the game, all of the available letters are placed inside the cube. There are lots of tiny little dice with letters on every side. One person is to shake the cube until all of the dice settle into the holes on the bottom. After that has been done, one person will flip the sand timer over and everyone can begin playing.
The object of the game Boggle is to create different words out of the letters that are on the playing board. To create a word, you can only use a letter that is touching the last letter that was used. Each player must try to create as many words as possible. This gets to be a lot of fun when you are trying to "outsmart" the other players and create long unusual words that you hope no other players will get a chance to think of.
After the timer runs out, everyone must put their pencils down and stop writing immediately or they will become disqualified. Going around in a circle, each person takes a turn reading the list of words that they came up with out loud. If another player has the same word, all players must mark that word off of their lists. At the end of the round after everyone has taken their turn reading their list out loud, each person will get points for all of the words they came up with that nobody else had.
One of the best things that I enjoyed about this game is that an unlimited number of people can play all at one time. If you have a large family, it can become difficult to find a board game that everyone can play at once. With Boggle, nobody has to be left out of the fun. I also really enjoyed that while the game is fun, it can also be educational for the younger players and older players alike. I know that while playing, I learned a few words that I didn't know existed! Be sure to have a dictionary handy, just in case someone wants to challenge a word that has been created.
I know that this game is definitely going to be a big hit around the holidays when we have family and friends coming from out of town. We are always looking for something fun to do together, and I think we have found it. The kids can enjoy playing a game with the adults and this is something that people of all ages can enjoy. Even the younger kids were able to have a lot of fun making the smaller words that they have already learned, and they were fascinated learning the bigger words that the adults created too.
Boggle gets two thumbs up from me for sure. This is definitely a game that I would recommend to others if you are looking for a fun way to spend an evening with your loved ones!
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Board Games Reviews
Are you a Ludomaniac? Do you love Ludo? Do you think Ludo needed a facelift?
If you can answer yes to either of the above, Partners is the game for you. Partners is a strategic boardgame based primarely on Ludo.
You have 4 pieces each, you have to get them out of your home, around the board, and into your house. All that is the same. The differences are few, but important;
Heart - allows you to take a piece and move it out of your home
1/14 - a card that allows you to choose if you want to move 1 or 14
7*1 - a card that allows you to make 7 moves in total, with as many of your pieces as you wan't - for example you move 1 piece 5 places, and another piece 2 places
Heart/8 - allows you to take a piece out of your houes, or move a piece already on the board 8 spaces.
Card with picture of 2 pieces - allowing you to take two pieces of any colour on the table, and switch them around
At the beginning of each round, each player gets 4 cards each, and the teammates then swap 1 card. Here its a common strategy to look at opportunities to hit your opponents pieces so they have to start over, or try to move your own pieces home or in safe positions.
The game is fairly easy to approach, and can therefore also be played while having a few drinks, in a camper or on a train journey. The game is easy to learn, but because of the different card types, you will find that you better grasp the strategy of the game, as you play more and more, and even among good friends, Partners can lead to a bit of grief when your partner misses an obvious chance.
The game can be played with all age groups, and there are absolutely no reason why you shouldn't go out and invest in it, even if just to play it on a winter holiday - its worth every penny.
If you can answer yes to either of the above, Partners is the game for you. Partners is a strategic boardgame based primarely on Ludo.
You have 4 pieces each, you have to get them out of your home, around the board, and into your house. All that is the same. The differences are few, but important;
- There are no dices, instead you use cards
- You play in two teams of two players, and you don't win untill all your 8 combined pieces are in their house
- If someone stands right outside their own home, noone else can pass them
Heart - allows you to take a piece and move it out of your home
1/14 - a card that allows you to choose if you want to move 1 or 14
7*1 - a card that allows you to make 7 moves in total, with as many of your pieces as you wan't - for example you move 1 piece 5 places, and another piece 2 places
Heart/8 - allows you to take a piece out of your houes, or move a piece already on the board 8 spaces.
Card with picture of 2 pieces - allowing you to take two pieces of any colour on the table, and switch them around
At the beginning of each round, each player gets 4 cards each, and the teammates then swap 1 card. Here its a common strategy to look at opportunities to hit your opponents pieces so they have to start over, or try to move your own pieces home or in safe positions.
The game is fairly easy to approach, and can therefore also be played while having a few drinks, in a camper or on a train journey. The game is easy to learn, but because of the different card types, you will find that you better grasp the strategy of the game, as you play more and more, and even among good friends, Partners can lead to a bit of grief when your partner misses an obvious chance.
The game can be played with all age groups, and there are absolutely no reason why you shouldn't go out and invest in it, even if just to play it on a winter holiday - its worth every penny.
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Wit & Wagers combines the fun of trivia with Vegas-style betting. It really is a guessing game that you can enjoy even if you do not know the answers. You can play as individuals or as teams. In this board game review, you will learn how to play Wits & Wagers.
There are seven rounds to each game of Wits & Wagers. A round begins with one person asking a question. Each answer is a number. You then consult your team and write down your answer on a small dry-erase board. Answers are then place onto the felt betting table in numerical order. Different answers will have different payouts depending on their location on the table.
Players place their bets on which answer they believe to be the right one. You begin the game with ten red chips and three blue chips. Red chips are worth five points and blue chips are worth ten. You do not have to bet on your answer. You can place up to two bets and cannot bet all of your chips. Once the answer is revealed, winning bets are paid out. If the exact answer is not given, then the closest answer without going over is the winning one.
Betting on the last round is different in that you can go "all in." Smart betting could net you enough coins to win the game. Once payout has been settled for the last round, the person or team with the most points wins the game.
Each round is timed to keep the game on track. Players need to answer and place bets before time runs out. Having timed rounds ensures the game flows smoothly. This also makes Wits & Wagers a good game for parties. The rules are simple and easily explained. One game will last 20 minutes or less.
You use one question card for each game. Expansion sets are available as well as a family version. You can also buy Wits & Wagers for the XBox 360 through XBox Live.
Wits & Wagers makes for a fun party game but may not be for everyone. It is a trivia guessing game mixed with Vegas-style betting. This may not appeal to some people. It is best played with a lot of people since this will give you more possible answers. Wits & Wagers does offer a lot of entertainment for those who enjoy playing a game of chance.
There are seven rounds to each game of Wits & Wagers. A round begins with one person asking a question. Each answer is a number. You then consult your team and write down your answer on a small dry-erase board. Answers are then place onto the felt betting table in numerical order. Different answers will have different payouts depending on their location on the table.
Players place their bets on which answer they believe to be the right one. You begin the game with ten red chips and three blue chips. Red chips are worth five points and blue chips are worth ten. You do not have to bet on your answer. You can place up to two bets and cannot bet all of your chips. Once the answer is revealed, winning bets are paid out. If the exact answer is not given, then the closest answer without going over is the winning one.
Betting on the last round is different in that you can go "all in." Smart betting could net you enough coins to win the game. Once payout has been settled for the last round, the person or team with the most points wins the game.
Each round is timed to keep the game on track. Players need to answer and place bets before time runs out. Having timed rounds ensures the game flows smoothly. This also makes Wits & Wagers a good game for parties. The rules are simple and easily explained. One game will last 20 minutes or less.
You use one question card for each game. Expansion sets are available as well as a family version. You can also buy Wits & Wagers for the XBox 360 through XBox Live.
Wits & Wagers makes for a fun party game but may not be for everyone. It is a trivia guessing game mixed with Vegas-style betting. This may not appeal to some people. It is best played with a lot of people since this will give you more possible answers. Wits & Wagers does offer a lot of entertainment for those who enjoy playing a game of chance.
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Horses. Betting. Chance. Do you have the winning horse?
When
I think of Der by, I think of warm summer holidays at my grandparents,
my gran-dad and I sitting in the living room playing Derby while my
grand-mom makes the crosswords, oblivious to the world around us, always
desperately hoping to be able to buy that illusive horse - Rigel. What a
horse, fast, elegant, and lethal. Always certain to bring you success,
even in the handicapped races.
Getting that horse was the equivalent of winning the lottery, and the ''looser'' had to make due with Aldebaran. This bit was almost more intense than the rest of the game!
The game is build up as 10 races with various rules/handicaps, in between which you can buy and sell horses, buy various value papers, and place your bets for the next race. The race in itself is decided by the pre-constructed moves the horses have, interrupted by the chance cards you get on various parts of the track.
The winner is, quite simply, the player who at the end of
the 10th race has the most money, after selling all your assets.
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Scotland Yard takes place in the city of London, where by using different transports such as taxi, underground & busses you can travel around the city on numbered point on the board. Before the game start's, it's decided who is going to play Mr X, the remaining players will be cop's trying to find him.
Each cop get a limited number of taxi, underground & bus tickets to travel the board and have to use these wisely to catch Mr X. Each round, Mr X use one of his travel tickets to move, during the game, all his moves, but 3 are covered and that means that only 3 times will the cops actually get to know Mr X's position, the remainder they need to travel in the locations they believe he's hiding.
Mr. X, have a couple of special travel tickets, which is 2x moves & hidden move, the hidden moves can account for any of the travel types, but can also word on the boat routes, these are only available for Mr X and not the cops. When it's the cops turn to move, the tickets they use always go to Mr. X, so while the cops get less and less travel options, he's getting more.
The game essentially ends either when the cops are standing on the same field as Mr X or 3 turns after Mr. X have showed himself for the last time.
The gameplay is very fun and the game can be played by both younger and older players and the replay value is very good.
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The Classic Monopoly board game is really a classic!
The objective of the game is to be the last player on the board, a player is removed from the game when they have no money and no properties to mortgage.
Going around the board, there's a number of different fields, if a player lands on a property which still belong to the bank, they are able to buy it for the amount shown on the board, if a player owns a property and other player lands on it, they will have to pay for the stay, the more the properties cost the more a player have to pay when they land there. When a player get all of the coloured properties, they are able to build houses and hotel's on the properties, which will make the stay for other players more expensive, they is one of the key ways to be able to take more money off the other player and remove them from the game.
The game generally requires patience, but can be played numerous times without getting bored, a lot of new versions of this game is now also available and gives more variation to this great game! Overall a great board game for board gamers!
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