Category: Quick games

Games that can be learned and played quickly, typically under 30 minutes

No soups, no salads, no entrees… Just Desserts!

There is a wonderful game called Just Desserts. It is a Looney Labs game and I first played it with none other than the wonderful Kristin Looney. The Looneys were the gaming guests of honor at Windycon (see my previous post). I also played Seven Dragons and Looney Pyramids, but that’s a different tale.Just Desserts

In Just Desserts you are trying to match desserts to what your customers do and do not want. You start with 3 desserts and 3 guests. On your turn, you draw another dessert and flip a guest card to walk into the restaurant. The first step is to try and match a favorite. The card says what their favorite dessert is. If you succeed in giving them their favorite, the guest card becomes yours and you draw a card as their tip.

If you don’t have a guest’s favorite, you can look at the components, for example, vegetables, fruits, and spices to complete Nature Girl. Nature Girl doesn’t actually have a favorite. Let’s pretend your hand had Baklava (pastries and nuts), Pineapple Upside Down Cake (cake and fruit), and Rhubarb Crumble (pastries and vegetables). For convenience, let’s pretend you drew Cinnamon Rolls (pastries and spices). You could combine Pineapple Upside Down Cake (fruit), Rhubarb Crumble (vegetables), and Cinnamon Rolls (spices) to win Nature Girl.

Now let’s pretend that instead of drawing Cinnamon Rolls, you drew Ambrosia Salad (fruit and marshmallows). You could not get any of the guests in front of you. In this turn of events, you would draw another dessert and play would pass. You may satisfy up to 2 guests per turn.

In this game there are 7 different families, illustrated by the color of the guest card. You win the game by winning either 3 of one family or 5 members of different families.

I like this game because it is some strategy, some luck and all fun.  I would play this game with my family and friends.

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Master the Codes

There is a game called Code Master in which you attempt to reach the portal from your starting point while collecting all the crystals and following only paths of certain colors. You have a certain amount of paths of each colors that you are allowed to take, depending on the level. You create your code by placing your assigned color tokens on the designated guide scroll for that level, then follow it and see if it works.Code Master

This game is available exclusively at Target. The assigned places for the crystals, portal and avatar are on the level map, as well as what colors you may use. Each map has all levels who’s final digit is their map number, such as Map 1, which has levels 1, 11, 21, and so forth. There are a total of 60 levels. To keep track of the crystals you have acquired, you put them on the avatar’s sword when you land on them.

In the level pictured, I am allowed exactly 4 greens, 1 red and 1 blue routes.  It uses Guide Scroll 3 and Map 2, and there are 2 crystals I have to acquire before exiting the level. If you look at the code in the Guide Scroll and then trace it on the Map, you will see how I used the color paths to clear level 22.

I would recommend this game for anyone who loves logic puzzles.

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Portable games

Need a game that you can play on the go, that doesn’t take much time, and is easy to play? Here are some of our personal favorites.

Pass the Pigs; Chupacabra; Easy Come, Easy Go

Easy Come, Easy Go is a fun math and logic game that requires you to be paying close attention. You roll dice to try to get certain number combinations so you can claim a goal, like Exactly 7. The game ends when someone has 3 goals. Plus, John Kovalic drew it!
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Chupacabra is a very appetizing game where you roll and eat dice with other dice. Chupacabras can eat cows, chickens and goats. (When you eat dice you acquire them.) For every chupacabra, you can eat 1 goat or 2 chickens. It takes 2 chupacabras to eat a cow. The goal is to have all of the dice.
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Pass The Pigs is a “dice” game where you use pigs instead of dice. Depending on the position they land in (like razorback, which is when the pig lands on his back), you get points. The goal is to be the first to reach 100 points.
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Hexxagon

Hexxagon is an online game where you may either play the computer or another person. There are rubies and pearls. Each turn, you may either multiply by moving onto a space adjacent to your current position, or you may jump, where you do not multiply unless you land adjacent to any of your opponent’s pieces. If you do, these pieces become yours.

Hexxagon
The goal of the game is to do one of three things: you could turn all their pieces into yours, you could block any legal movement for your opponent, or you could fill the board and have more pieces than the other players. If you want to know how many pieces there are for each person, there is a little counter in the bottom right corner.

I actually learned this game at school. Because it is about logic, when we have spare time our teacher lets us play. We even had a Hexxagon tournament once! It took a couple days because it was double elimination.

I would play this game with my family and friends.

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Don’t Pop that Belly!

There is a lovable game called Pop Belly. In Pop Belly you are feeding pigs until they burst (the stomach piece pops out). Pop Belly

You start by choosing a color. This color is the color of your feed chips and your pawn. Place your pawn on the barn door. It will stay there until somebody else pops a pig’s belly.

On your turn roll both the the numbered and colored dice. The numbered die shows how many pieces of food (feed chips) you will feed the pigs that turn. The color die shows what color blanket one of the pigs you are feeding is on. The other pig you feed is your choice. You may only feed two pigs each turn.

Points (movement) happens when the belly of any one pig pops. You must then count how many chips you put in the pig whose belly just popped and move that many spaces. The person who fed the pig last, causing it to pop, does not get to move. (“We were raising that pig for bacon! You overfed it, causing it to get sick!”) The first person to exit the barnyard wins.

I would play this with most people I know. It’s very simple and it’s super fun.

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Note to all intense gamers: This game is really weird in that play goes counter-clockwise instead of the usual clockwise.

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You’re Hired! ~the Bus Company

I tried this new game called Bus (part of our Pack O Game). In Bus, you have a color token, which is your Bus. When you land on a Bus Stop, you draw a Passenger Tile. You may choose between drawing a face-up Tile or a face-down Tile.Bus

These Tiles have point values and speed limits, as well as 2 Passengers. The passengers will be drawn in different colors. You must go to both Road Tiles with those colors to complete the Passenger Tile.

The speed limit tells you how many Road Tiles you are allowed to move per turn. The point value states how many points you get if you complete the Passenger Tile. The sum of the point value and the speed limit will always be 6.

The winner of the game is the person with the most points. If there is a tie, the winner is the person with the most Passenger Tiles. I only know this because we had a three-way tie.

I would play this with almost anybody.

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Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is now a board game!

There is this game called Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. It is kind of like Candyland in the way you move. You draw a card and move the amount of spaces the card says. The cards also have poems from the movie.

The goal of the game is to be the first player to the Glass Elevator space on the board. On the way to the Glass Elevator, there are golden ticket spaces. You cannot win if you do not have 5 golden tickets by the time you reach the elevator.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

If you hit the point when you are about to advance to the final section leading to the elevator, you have to move in the Round Chamber until you have 5 tickets.

I would play this game with most people because of its sheer simplicity.

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Fly

I tried a new game today called Fly. My mother bought it in a Kickstarter called Pack O Game. Fly is a very simple game that anyone can learn.

FlyYou use the table tiles to make a 9 by 3 picnic table grid. In the top left corner, you stand the box up next to the grid. Next, place the sky card so that it stands on top of the box. On the table tiles there are little flies. You raise the fly swatter card to a minimum height of the top of the sky card. When you drop the flyswatter, every fly you cover completely you remove to your score pile.  Scoring is based on collecting multiple flies with the same symbols or color.

I enjoyed this game because it is a simple game and does not require logic. The best part is the fact that you could have trouble reading and it doesn’t matter! The only part you need to read is the instructions. I would play this game with my family or my friends.

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