Category: Quick games

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

Would You Use Snake Oil?

Snake Oil Elixir is a game kind of like Apples To Apples, but with a few changes. For instance, instead of choosing a random adjective as the subject, you get to pick between 2 “customers”. The other players then chose 2 of their cards which they put together to make a product for you. They throw a sales pitch and you chose which you think would be better.Snake Oil

Choosing has a few options. You could be practical, but where’s the fun in that? I know people who vote for the most random, crazy thing possible. I personally go for the most wild, crazy, but distantly relative choice.

The person who wins the round gets the Customer card. The person to the left of the previous Customer gets to be the new Customer. The process repeats until everybody has been the Customer. Then the person with the most Customer Cards wins, unless there’s a tie, in which case you keep playing. In both games we played my mother won.

I like this game because you stretch the boundaries of reality to make the most ridiculous, odd and amusing inventions to please our customers. Of course, its nothing I can’t handle as I effectively do that every time I write fiction. Some things we came up with included Fairy Pickles and Pearl Musket. One thing to note is the more people, the better the game play is.

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Which Dojo will Win?

This is about one of the most epic battles of all time; a view into the 15th century; a mystery left unsolved: this week I present to you, Ninja versus Ninja! It was published in 2008 by Out Of The Box Publishing. In Ninja versus Ninja you start with your master at 0, as he scores points, and your spy at 0, as he keeps track of how many points each mission could potentially reward you.

Ninja vs. NinjaThe slightly shaded spots on the board show where the ninjas start at the beginning of the game. Each turn you roll the pair of swords for your movement roll. Then you may move any one ninja that amount of spaces, allowing only one 90 degree turn in your movement unless you are in the opponent’s dojo. If you are, you may have one move that turns him back towards you (a reversal) and a 90 degree turn.

You may only have one ninja in either the opponent’s base or in the neutral zone at once. Once they have left your dojo, they have two more turns to return to the dojo or they will be taken out of the game and their points will not be scored. The same consequences awaits any ninjas that are taken during their mission. You can take a ninja by landing on a ninja from the opposing dojo, but you must end your turn on him, not just pause there and then keep going. When you take a ninja it gets set aside for the rest of the game.

I like this game because it is mainly about logic and fun*.

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*Of course, what games aren’t about fun?

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Can you build Machi Koro?

In Machi Koro you build a town, starting with only a Wheat Field and a Bakery. Buy Establishments and build your landmarks, roll dice to activate Establishment-related events to get more money. Some Establishments include The Forest, The Fruit and Vegetable Stand, and the Furniture Factory.

Machi Koro

I got this game for Christmas from my cousins. It was sort of funny, as we had gotten them the same thing. I enjoyed it because it is a good balance between logic and luck. Of course, Dad won, just like with most logic games. Such a surprise! Oh, wait….

There is also a fine balance, as you have to buy Establishments to get money, but don’t want to spend it all, because then you don’t have enough to buy the Landmarks, which you need to win. There are 4 different types of Establishments, which are color-coded.  The red ones allow you to steal money from other players when they roll the number of that card. The blue ones are activated on anybody’s turn, and the green and purple ones are only on your turn.

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In a Fluxx?

There is a wonderful game called Fluxx. It is a Looney Labs game (click here to see my previous post). In Fluxx, the rules are always changing. I like this game because of that fact, though my grandmother found it a bit confusing. I don’t remember when and where I first tried Fluxx, but it might have been because of the numerous Fluxx decks we have floating around the game closet (a.k.a. the Ultimate Closet of Doom, or UCD).

Fluxx 3.0

There are several variations of Fluxx, including but not limited to: Monster Fluxx, Zombie Fluxx, Pirate Fluxx, Fluxx 3.0, Fluxx 2.1, Cthulhu Fluxx, and Wizard of Oz Fluxx. The version we played this time is Fluxx 3.0. That’s a lot of Fluxx!

There are different types of cards. Keepers like The Robot are played to help achieve Goals like The Appliances, which requires The Toaster and The Television. Actions like Draw 2 and Use ‘Em are played to either mess up the other person or get you closer to winning(or both!). New Rules such as Hand Limit 1 make it tougher to win for both players. There are also other cards like Creepers and Surprises in other decks.

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Brass Balls and Nerves of Steel

What has brass balls and nerves of steel? If you guessed a board game, you guessed right! Okay, Iron Man might have them too, but that’s besides the point. Anyway, Brass Balls and Nerves of Steel is a board game where you are rolling little metal balls across a three-by-three grid with small holes for the metal balls to fall in. Sounds tough, eh? Wait until you hear the spin-off options!Brass Balls and Nerves of Steel

In the original the scoring is based off of the rows. The farthest row from you is 3 points, the middle row is 2 points, and the row closest to you is 1 point. Included in the instructions are 4 possible spin-off options. These include games such as Tic Tac Toe and Four Corners. I like this game because it is a challenging, hand-eye coordination game in which you rely on a little metal ball. Okay, 6 little metal balls, but still….

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Checkmate!

This post is for all those chess fans out there. I first learned chess in a simple way: I found an old chess board in the game closet and my dad taught me how to play. This newfound interest in the strategic board game led to my enrollment in the after school chess club, where I learned even more, like forks and pins.Chess

I learned the point values of the pieces (when you play at home the points don’t matter, you win or you don’t) and received several chess key chains to add to my wonderful collection. I also learned en-passant at a gaming party some of our friends hosted.

The picture is actually from one of the times my dad and I played chess together and the board itself is of sentimental value. You see, my father actually made that board for a school project. There’s the wooden box and board, which he didn’t actually finish putting the wood finish on, and the pieces are homemade out of acrylic resin.

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That’s a Lie!

Lie is from the same Pack O’ Game as Hue, Fly, Bus, and Shh. They are also coming out with a second Pack O’ Game set (the Kickstarter runs through April 2, 2016). In Lie you start by drawing 5 cards. Then you chose which of the 2 dice on each card you are using for the round. Once you have decided, there is no turning back.Lie

Then the bidding begins, playing like  Stone Soup or Balderdash. Either you declare what you “have”, or you declare the person before you to be lying. To do this you call out “Lie!”. Then everyone shows their hand. If the overall count of everybody’s hands is greater or equal to the previous claim, the person who declared it a lie loses. If the overall count is less than the previous claim, then the person who bluffed loses. For instance, you could call 3 2’s, only having 3 cards in hand, 2 of them being 2’s, knowing someone else called a 2.

If you lose, then on the next round you draw one less card than you did the round before, then stay at that number as your full-time draw number until you lose again. The winner is the last player still allowed to draw a card.

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Scrimish!!!

Scrimish is a really easy game, similar to Stratego, which I will probably reference a lot in this post. You have 5 piles of cards, which each have 5 cards. You chose which cards go where in which pile. Phew. Try saying that 5 times fast! Anyway, the only official rule for where you must Scrimish_webplace a card is the fact that the crown (the Stratego equivalent: the flag) must be on the bottom of one of the 5 piles.

There are basic characters, numbered 1-6, who, rather simply, win if they are the highest number. Then there are the special cards. There are archers, shields and the crown. If you attack with the archer, he automatically wins. If your archer is attacked, he automatically loses. Shields cannot attack, but when your shield is attacked, it takes the attacker into the discard with him. Last, there are crowns. If you want to, and it’s legal (when the crown is the top card of his stack), you can attack with your crown. If he attacks another crown, he wins, and you win. If he attacks anything else, he loses, and you lose. If he is attacked, you lose.

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What Hue will win?

There is a game called Hue. It came in the Pack O Game with Fly and Shh, as well as many others. Hue is about… so subtle… colors. In Hue there are several cards with different colors on each. There are five colors. You are, in the long run, trying to create long lines of each color. Ish. Let me explain.Hue

Each turn you play a card, generally to make at least 1 line of a color longer. At the end of the game you count each color. There’s a catch, however. You only get to score 3 colors, depending which ones are on your chosen score card. Your score card is the one card that you decide you won’t play. If the color isn’t on your score card, and there’s a long line of it, you can use your poison card to block off that row. Be careful, though. You only get 1 poison card each per game. Poison cards make that chosen row worth 0 points, no matter how long.

When placing, you may chose to cover a part of the rows already in place. When you do, you must cover at least a full square of the card (divided in white lines). When scoring, show your score card, then count up the longest line of each color on your card. Then multiply the color on the middle square of your card by 2. Add the 3 colors, including the doubled one. The player with the most points wins.

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Shh!

Shh is a cooperative game that came in the same Pack O Game as Fly. In Shh, you are trying to make words using consonants from your hand and vowels from the table. The consonants can each only be used once per game. The vowels are reused and reused until the game ends. There is only one of each letter, so any words with duplicates of a letter would count as invalid.

ShhThe catch is you aren’t allowed to tell your teammate(s) what letters you have and what words you have in mind. You take turns placing letters until one person, on their turn, decides that the word is finished. When the word is declared finished, the players use a show of hands to question the words validity.

If the validity is questioned, then the players must check the validity in a dictionary. A valid word is set on the scoring pile, minus the vowels, which go back to the center of the table. If the word is more than 5 letters, flip the vowels used to the +1 side.

During scoring, count the consonants in the scoring pile and add the amount of vowels with the +1 side up. The rules include a rating out of 4 of how you scored.

I would recommend this for people who enjoy cooperative games and for families who have trouble getting their kids to sit down long enough to play a game.

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