In the fast-paced bluffing game “Spicy”, it’s easy to get your fingers burned. Players take turns to play face-down wasabi, chilli and pepper cards with increasing levels of heat. You can’t always find the right spice in your hand, so you might have to slip some …
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“Box”, “dice”, “play”, “fun”. What could these words possibly be describing? Easy: a board game! In the co-operative game Just One, one player has to guess a word. The clues aren’t provided by the game but by the rest of the players. Without discussing it with …
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Everyone likes llamas! In the speedy card game Lama, the llama isn’t just the mascot for the game but also provides the German acronym “Lege alle Minuspunkte ab” (something like “Leave All your Minus points Aside”). Behind this slogan lies a simple principle for how to …
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Presumably “Dizzle” is a new portmanteau word from the words “dice” and “puzzle”. There’s no real evidence to suggest that is the case but it does a good job of describing this game in two… sorry… in one word. It’s a puzzle using dice – on …
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The name of this game (“Who did it”?) and the cute animal illustrations are definitely aimed at children. But Who Did It? can be fun for grown-ups too, especially grown-ups who are still children at heart. Which means us. We have to free our own pets …
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In the tactical tile-laying game Reef, players are creating colourful coral reefs by stacking playing pieces onto their tableau. How the reef grows is determined by cards with a double function: playing a card means you can first place new coral stones of the displayed colour …
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In the tactical tile-laying game Azul, the Portuguese King Manuel I commissions craftsmen to decorate the walls of his palace with beautiful mosaics. They can’t just use any old tiles: they need the so-called ‘Azulejos’. Beneath the simple action of laying tiles burns a fierce competition …
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In the race and collection game Luxor, players enter an ancient Egyptian temple with their team of adventurers and make their way along its corridors to the tomb of the Pharaoh. The route to the centre is already lined with valuable vases, statues, jewellery and other …
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“The Mind” is a co-operative card game with an almost banal concept. Over various levels, players all have to play number cards from their hand, in ascending order. The twist: not a single word may be spoken about your own cards. There are no defined turns, …
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