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Citadels: Building A City Has Never Been So Ruthless

Citadels takes the concept of city-building and turns it into a race full of back-stabbing, theft, and deception. In this fantasy board game, you’ll take on different roles as you attempt to be the first to construct eight buildings and win the game. You’ll love the opportunities for throwing a wrench into your opponent’s plans as you take on the role of the deadly Assassin or malicious Warlord. With Citadels, you’ll find there’s nothing that you won’t do for your city.

Choose Your Character

Citadels is played in rounds in which each player takes on a new role. These roles represent the newest character you’ve hired to help you acquire gold and construct your buildings. At the beginning of each round, the player that was King on the previous round will randomly discard one of the eight character cards and choose one from the rest. Then, they’ll pass the cards to the next player, with everyone taking a card until each player has their own secret character.

These characters all have different unique abilities that can help you either get more gold, construct buildings, or hinder your opponents. Depending on what your strategy is and what your current needs are at the beginning of the round, certain characters can help or hinder your mission. 

The characters will perform their actions in numerical order, beginning with the Assassin. The Assassin will eliminate one of the other characters from the round, while the Thief will steal gold from whichever character you choose. The Wizard can swap building cards with another player, while the Warlord can destroy a building.

Choosing your character is a decision not to be made lightly, so be sure to plan ahead if you want to make the most of each round. However, you’ll also have to anticipate the moves of the other players if you don’t want to be caught off guard.

Constructing Buildings

The goal of the game is to earn the most points, which you earn by constructing buildings. The game begins with each player being given a certain number of building cards. These come in five different colors, each of which can provide you with a different ability provided you have a specific character that round.

Each turn, a player is given the choice between earning two or more gold or drawing two building cards and discarding one. Then, each player is allowed to construct one building if they choose (or as many as three when playing the role of the architect). In order to construct your building, however, you must have the amount of gold indicated by the symbols on the card.

Buildings are worth a certain number of points when you build them. You can also earn bonus points by constructing buildings of each color or by being the first player to build eight buildings. Once all eight buildings have been built by one player, then the game ends and everyone tallies up their points.

Citadels Expansion

Citadels comes with an expansion called Citadels: The Dark City that allows you to play the board game with up to eight players. It also includes additional elements such as the Quarry, which allows you to build identical districts to the ones you already have. If you order the 3rd Edition of Citadels, then you automatically get the expansion.

You can also earn bonus points with the Imperial Treasury, giving you a boost at the end of the game equal to the amount of gold you have. You can also earn bonus points with the Fountain of Youth or the Wish Fountain, which earns you points equal to the number of purple buildings you construct. 

Be the First to Build Your City with Citadels

Citadels is playable by 2-8 players, which makes it just as good for one-on-one games as it is for a family game night or a group of friends. It’s suitable for ages 10 and up, which makes it a good game to play with both adults and children together. Playing time lasts around 20-60 minutes depending on how many players you play with.

Buy Citadels today and enjoy the ruthlessness of city politics!

 

Suburbia: Grow Your Town (and Your Reputation)

The suburbs are an idyllic slice of American life. With the charm and the simplicity of the country and the resources and connections of big cities, the suburbs truly are the best of both worlds. But as the city manager of your little suburban town, it’s your job to turn this meager little neighborhood into a sprawling metropolis!

Suburbia is a fun city-building strategy game in which players collect building tiles in an effort to build the most thriving and populated borough. One of the most dynamic features of the game is its inclusion of secret bonus objectives for each player, which change every game and ensure you’ll never play the same game twice. Suburbia is definitely one of those board games that stands up to repeat playing, as you’ll never get bored of its many twists and turns.

Building Income and Reputation

The goal of Suburbia is to plan, build, and develop your small town into a bustling metropolis. Players are given their own playing board that they’ll populate with hex-shaped building tiles. These building tiles represent different residential, commercial, civic, and industrial areas. You can buy generic buildings like factories or suburbs or buy a new building from the market with a special ability that you can take advantage of.

The more buildings you add to your board, the more income you’ll take in. This is the amount of money you receive each turn, which allows you to then buy even more buildings from the market. The longer a building is on the market, the cheaper it will be, so you may want to wait for the price to drop. Just make sure someone else doesn’t steal it out from underneath you first!

You’ll also build your reputation whenever you buy buildings, which earns you a certain number of victory points each turn. These victory points move you along the victory track and develop your community. However, you’ll encounter certain speedbumps on the victory track, which can negatively affect your stats and reduce your reputation and income.

Bonus Objectives

Suburbia has both public and secret bonus objectives that you’re trying to reach in order to earn points. Bonus objectives usually require you to have either the most or the least of a certain kind of building, which forces you to closely watch your opponents in order to see what they’re building. This makes the board game much more competitive and ensures the players are interacting a bit more.

In addition to adding building hexes to your board, you can also add lake hexes. These will earn you cash based on how close they are to other pieces on the board. Lastly, you can use investment markers to repurchase buildings you already have in order to reuse their special ability. You’ll have to navigate between buying building hexes, lake hexes, and investment markers if you want to win the game.

Suburbia Expansions

Suburbia comes with several expansions that move you out of the suburbs and into uncharted territory. Suburbia Inc allows you to define your borders in a new way, earning you additional benefits that can help you jettison ahead in the development of your metropolis. The expansion also comes with over a dozen additional buildings that you can buy as well as new Bonuses and Challenges to boost your income and reputation.

Suburbia 5 Stars turns your bustling town into a tourist destination, allowing you to build landmarks, monuments, and tourist traps in your city. These 50 new building tiles can all increase your reputation and income, while having an additional resource to manage can make the game more complex. This expansion to the original board game also allows an additional fifth player to take part in the fun.

Suburbia

Suburbia is playable by 1-4 players, which is perfect for either small families and friend groups or single-player fun. It’s suitable for ages 8 and up, so younger players can learn more about resource management and set collection with this fun board game. Playing time lasts around 90 minutes, so it’s definitely the kind of game you’ll want to make the centerpiece of any game night.

Buy Suburbia today and enjoy the power and fun of city management!

 

Carcassonne: A Blast From the Medieval Past

You may have heard about Carcassonne, the medieval fortified town in southern France famous for its impressive outer walls.  Every year countless people flock to this historical city to learn about its rich history and explore its many towers.  But you don’t have to fly all the way to France for a blast to the medieval past!  The city of Carcassonne inspired a tile-based board game of the same name that lets you experience the world of knighthood through building landscapes and fortifying your city.

Build Your City with Carcassonne

Carcassonne uses a game board with a medieval landscape that the players will build piece by piece throughout the games.  Turn by turn, each player will draw a new terrain tile as the outer city begins to materialize.  Skill and cunning are required if you’re going to complete your cities, cloisters, and roads that earn you those valuable points.

Tiles can only connect to other like tiles—grass to grass, city to city, road to road.  Certain tiles are a combination of multiple types of areas, which means that no two completed games are going to look identical.  This variety makes Carcassonne feel fresh and new every time you break out the box for a new game.

Score Points From Your Followers

Just because you built a new road or city doesn’t mean it’s yours to keep!  You’ll have to claim your land by placing your little followers on a tile once it’s been placed.  These little followers are also called “meeples”, and add a cute visual element to the game with little bright red or yellow wooden figures.  

Your meeple will differ based on where you place it: knights defend cities, robbers defend the roads, and farmers defend the grass.  Once you’ve placed your meeple on a completed area, they’ll score you points and get you one step closer to winning the game.

Scoring points isn’t always so straightforward, however.  Just as you have to be quick to place followers before someone else steals your land out from under you, you also have an opportunity to steal from your fellow players.  A major part of the fun of Carcassonne is claiming your opponent’s land before they have a chance to.

Carcassonne Expansions and Spinoffs

While Carcassonne was inspired by the medieval French city, the game itself has also inspired a series of expansions and spinoffs.  The first expansion adds inns and cathedrals to the mix, making the game more complex for people who are looking for something a little more challenging.  With The Princess & The Dragon expansion, Carcassonne transforms into a mythical and mystical game that pits benevolent fairies against fire-breathing dragons in a fight to rescue the princess.

If medieval times don’t go back far enough for you, Carcassonne: Hunters and Gatherers is a spinoff that will take you back to the time when cavemen painted on walls and wooly mammoths roamed the earth.  Or, if you’re looking for something a little out of this world, the Carcassonne: Star Wars spinoff takes you to a land far far away where the evil Empire fights the virtuous Rebel Alliance.  If you’ve grown up playing the basic game of Carcassonne, you’ll love the combined sense of nostalgia and fun that comes from one of these countless spinoffs.

Go Back In Time with Carcassonne

Carcassonne is a board game that’s simple enough for ages 7 and up, so it’s definitely something that the entire family can enjoy.  Gameplay also usually lasts between 30 to 45 minutes, so it isn’t something that’s going to take up the entire night, either.  While the basic game isn’t incredibly complex, the spinoffs offer additional elements that will make the game advanced enough for adults to enjoy playing without the kids.

If you’ve ever felt drawn to the era of knights and chivalry, then Carcassonne is the game for you.  The randomness of the tile drawing provides endless possibilities that can take the game in any number of directions.  You’ll love the fast paced turns and heartless double crosses of this high stakes tile-based board game.  Step into the past and build your medieval French city with Carcassonne!

 

Scrabble: Word-Lovers Everywhere Unite

Scrabble is one of those board games that you just have to own. Whether you’re an English major who’s about to publish your second novel or you’re someone who hasn’t cracked open a book since high school, you’ll love the classic wordplay that comes with Scrabble. With countless online variations of the game, Scrabble has cemented itself in history as a board game that challenges the mind and will have you reaching for the dictionary.

Collecting the Tiles

Scrabble is played with a checkered game board and little wooden tiles with letters from A – Z. Players draw seven wooden tiles at random from the bag, taking turns by using these tiles to lay down words on the board. In order to determine which player goes first, players will have to each draw a tile at random from the bag. Whoever gets the tile closest to the beginning of the alphabet gets to begin.

In order to earn points in Scrabble, you’ll add up the number of points of each tile you play. Each letter has a certain number of points that you earn when you play it, which usually get higher the more difficult the letter. For example, the ubiquitous E will earn you only one point, while the quixotic Q gets you a whopping 10 points. 

There are also different numbers of each tile in the bag based on how frequently the letter appears in language. You’ll find eight tiles of common vowels such as O, six tiles of consonants like R, but only 1 of the elusive Q. While you may want to collect common letters in order to boost your chances of spelling words with many letters, collecting the more challenging tiles may ultimately earn you a higher score.

Racking Up Points

The key to winning this board game is being able to navigate collecting special bonuses on the board while denying your opponents the opportunity to do the same. The board is set up with individual squares that contain special bonuses such as double word score, triple letter score, and even the rare triple word score. You’ll want to lay down words that make the most of these tiles without setting your opponents up to do the same.

For example, you may find that you can earn a nifty 15 points by spelling out a certain word that uses the double letter space. However, this would leave the next player to then take advantage of the double word space nearby, which would likely blow your score out of the water. Although you can’t see your opponents’ tiles, it pays to keep an eye out on the board to prepare for anything.

Players will pull tiles from the bag to replenish their hand back to seven tiles after each time they play a word. The game ends once all of the tiles have been drawn and the last player plays all seven tiles. Beware of holding on to high-point tiles, however, as any tiles left over in your hand by the end of the game will be deducted from your overall score.

Scrabble Expansions

The basic game of Scrabble is a staple of countless households throughout the world, but there are a few expansions and variations of the board game that switch up the rules. Scrabblers is a board game that comes with double and triple letter tiles that you use to form words. This means that, in addition to single letter tiles, you’ll be using combinations like “BL” or “STE” to make even longer words.

This expansion board game can be used on its own or with the original Scrabble board game. It comes with six different ways to play the game, including a Solitaire mode that can be played alone and a Boardless Crossword mode.

Scrabble: Better Grab the Dictionary!

Scrabble is playable by 2-4 players, so it’s best for small groups or families. It’s suitable for ages 10 and up, so kids can definitely join in on the fun. Playing time lasts around 90 minutes, although it can be shorter if you put a time limit on turns.

Buy Scrabble today and enjoy the mind-bending fun of wordplay!

 

Kill The Unicorns: A Fantasy Card Game With A Twist

Unicorns are the mythical creatures we all wish really existed. Beautiful, elegant beasts with horns of ivory and rainbow manes, unicorns are a staple in many fantastical games. But in Kill the Unicorns, these silly creatures are public enemy number one!

Kill the Unicorns is a fast-paced and witty card game that forces you to capture these rapidly-producing magical creatures and kill them before they run out of control. A delightful mix of strategy, fantasy, and downright silliness, Kill the Unicorns is the card game that fantasy lovers will find themselves playing time and time again.

On the Hunt

The game is set up in four rounds, with each player taking a turn drawing and playing their cards to try and trap the unicorns on the table. There are 4 Unicorn Cards on the table each round, and the goal of the game is to win the most points by catching the most unicorns. However, you want to make sure you avoid the pesky Pigicorns or smelly Unicorns, as these can set you back!

The first thing you do on your turn is to draw two cards from the deck. It’s up to you to decide which one to use and which one to discard. Each unicorn has its own number of points, which you’ll want to collect in order to win the game. To win unicorns and earn points, you’ll bet Hunting Cards on the unicorns you want to catch.

Catching the Unicorns

From your hand of 8 cards, you can lay down 1-3 cards per unicorn during each round. Later players will have to match your same number of cards if they want to compete against you in hunting the unicorn. You can also use Trap cards to slip up the other players, forcing whoever catches that unicorn to deal with whatever misfortune you’ve created for them.

Once all of the unicorns have been bid on, the Hunting Cards are revealed. Whichever player has managed to compile the highest point value gets to catch the unicorn. However, they’ll also have to take any of the trap cards that go along with it, which can interfere with your strategy. Some traps can even flip the narrative and make it so that the lowest point value catches the unicorn, so there’s no telling what can happen in the world of Kill the Unicorns.

Going to the Market

One of the most intriguing parts of Kill the Unicorns is the market, where you can purchase accessories for your unicorns with leftover cards at the end of each round. These accessories can be things like wigs, which change the color of your unicorn and allow you to make a collection to earn extra points. You can also use your special Character Power to help you catch the unicorns, but you can only use it once per round, so choose wisely.

Bluff Your Way to the Top with Kill the Unicorns

Kill the Unicorns requires quite a bit of bluffing in order to fool the other players and capture those unicorns. When you lay your cards down on the unicorns, the other players don’t know whether you’re trying to make the most of your bid or whether there’s a deadly trap card hiding underneath. You’ll also have to keep an eye on the other hunters’ unicorns to make sure they don’t make a full set and earn bonus points.

Kill the Unicorns is playable by 3-6 players, so it’s definitely a group effort rather than a game for couples or for playing alone. It’s suitable for ages 10 and up, which makes it a fun adventure for adults and kids to play together. It has a playing time of around 30-45 minutes, so you should be able to get a decent amount of fun in before the game comes to a close.

Kill the Unicorns is notable for being silly and irreverent while still enjoying all of the trappings of your typical fantasy game. By taking everyone’s favorite majestic creatures and turning them into prey for the taking, this card game is a delightful twist on classic fantasy. Buy this card game today and enjoy happy hunting!

 

Farkle: Do You Feel Lucky?

Farkle is a dice game that forces you to push your luck if you want to bank the most points and win the game. Like most dice games, Farkle comes with very few game pieces, making it an excellent game to play when traveling or camping. Roll after roll, you’ll send the dice spinning to see who can make the best combinations and avoid the dreadful “Farkle”. Fast-paced, simple to play, and easy to bring with you on the go, Farkle is a dice game that won’t run out of steam any time soon.

Get the Dice Rolling

Farkle is a traditional dice game that’s similar to the game Dix Mille (also known as Dice 10,000). The game of Farkle comes with six standard dice, a pen or a pencil, and a sheet of paper for counting points. The game begins with the selection of a starting player who’s usually chosen by the roll of the dice. Then, each player will go in turns rolling six dice at a time, trying to rack up as many points as possible each round.

The different sides of the dice equate to different points. Rolling a 1 gets you 100 points while rolling a 5 gets you 50 points. The other numbers on the dice do not get you any points on their own, but they can get you points if they’re rolled in certain combinations. For example, rolling three of a kind gives you 100 times the number rolled (i.e.three 6s equals 600 points). You get higher points for rolling four, five, and six of a kind, the last of which earns you a whopping 3000 points. You can also earn points for rolling a straight, three pairs, or two sets of three.

Banking Your Points

Obviously, the chances of rolling six of a kind on the first roll are going to be slim to none. The real strategy of the game comes from the fact that you can roll the dice multiple times, removing whichever dice you want to use for points after each roll. This means if you’re aiming to get six of a kind and you roll three 4s on the first round, you can set aside those three dice and roll the other three dice again.

The catch comes from the fact that you have to roll a scorable combination on each round. You can’t just keep rolling the dice ad infinitum until you get the combination you’re looking for. If you roll the dice and don’t get any scorable combinations, then you “Farkle” that round and wind up with zero points. Your turn ends when you either Farkle or bank your points, adding them to your score. The first player to bank 10,000 points triggers the end of the game, giving the other players one final turn to beat their score.

The Origin of Farkle

Farkle was created in the 1930s, but the game has taken on the mantle of a legendary myth thanks to its countless joke origin stories. Some say that Farkle is named after Sir Albert Farkle, the man who first played the game in Iceland in the 14th century. Others tell the story of the legendary Farkleberry tree, discovered by the early settlers of Texas. Legend has it that the Farkleberries would harden when they dried, which the settlers then carved into the shape of dice. The reality is that the origins of Farkle are actually unknown, but it’s remained highly popular for decades.

Don’t Push Your Luck With Farkle

Farkle is playable by 2-8 players, which makes it a great ice-breaker for large parties or a fun game for the kids to play while traveling. It’s also playable by ages 8 and up, so younger players can easily get a hang of the rules. Playing time lasts about 30 minutes because the rounds go pretty quickly. Farkle’s charm comes from its simplicity and its fast-paced nature, keeping you on your toes and forcing you to push your luck further and further in an effort to nab those elusive high-point wins. Buy this dice game today and enjoy the easy fun that is Farkle!

 

Wealth and Prestige Reign Supreme in Splendor

Nobles and merchants abound in Splendor, a chip-collecting card game that requires you to earn wealth and prestige in order to be crowned the victor.  If you’ve ever had a longing for the days of nobility and art, you’ll love the Renaissance theme that brings back memories of a time filled with wealth and luxury.  Splendor is an intriguing wealth-building game that’s simple to learn but full of complex strategy and opportunity.

Tokens, Cards, and Tiles

The goal of Splendor is to buy as many gems and build as many shops as possible to earn prestige points and win the game.  Gems are represented by different poker-style chips called gem tokens, which come in seven colors from shining emerald to captivating onyx.  The combination of cards and chips may make Splendor seem like a game of poker, but there’s a lot more to this imaginative game.

Players will purchase and reserve 90 development cards, which each have their own price tag of a certain number of gems.  These development cards can be purchased to earn prestige points alongside certain special bonuses that may invite a visit from a Noble.  The game comes with 10 noble tiles that get triggered once a player reaches a certain amount of bonuses, gracing them with their presence (and extra prestige points, of course).

Buying and Reserving

Each turn, players are given one of three choices: they can collect gems, buy and build a card, or reserve a card for later.  When collecting gems, players can choose three different kinds or two of the same kind of gem depending on their needs and their long-term strategy.  If players buy and build a card, they have to pay its price in gems before they can add it to their playing area.

Reserving a card for later is one of the sneakiest elements of the game, as this move can either be used to ensure that you get a certain card or be used to prevent another player from getting it.  It pays to be devious, however, as reserving a card also earns you a golden joker chip, which you can use in place of any type of gem.

Prestige Points

Whether you choose to collect gems, buy cards, or reserve cards, you’ll have to come up with your own unique strategy for collecting the most prestige points and winning the game.  The winner of Splendor is whichever player manages to collect 15 prestige points first—if there’s a tie, then the winning spot goes to the person who purchased the fewest development cards.  This can upset your winning strategy at the last second, so it pays to keep in mind alternative routes to earning prestige points.

Splendor Spinoffs and Expansions

Splendor was first published in 2014, with an expansion titled Cities of Splendor released three years later.  This expansion is really four separate expansions that can each revolutionize gameplay in their very own way.  The Cities will replace the noble tiles with city tiles, forcing you to fulfill certain objectives in order to win the game.  The Orient is a particularly fun expansion that adds three decks of cards, giving you special powers that you can tap into to dominate the competition.

Splendor also came out with a Marvel spinoff version that brings together your favorite super heroes in a quest to stop the evil Thanos.  Players will gain Infinity Points instead of prestige points, and they’ll also enjoy a different endgame trigger and victory conditions.  The Splendor spinoff is any Marvel fan’s dream come true!

Splendor: A Renaissance Card Game

Splendor can be played by 2-4 players ages 10 and up, so it’s best suited for small families or groups of friends.  Playing time lasts about 30 minutes, which is enough to allow players to enjoy a quick game or two in a night.  

Splendor is definitely a family-friendly game that’s simple enough for the kids to enjoy, but it also allows for more advanced players to experiment with riskier strategies.  Splendor will have you brimming with anticipation as you pick your cards and amass your wealth.  Who knows, you may even attract the attention of the nobility!

 

 

How to Play Splendor

Ticket To Ride: Hop on Board for the Ride of Your Life

One of the most annoying parts about playing a new board game is the time it takes to learn the rules.  Some games are so complicated that it feels like you need to sit through an entire course just to understand the basic rules of the game.  With Ticket To Ride, you’ll be off on your adventure in less than 15 minutes.  This game is the perfect mix of simplicity and fun, forcing you to weave and wind as you build your railway routes across North America.

Connecting The Endpoints

When the game starts, each player begins with four train car cards and three Destination Ticket cards.  The game board shows a vast map of the United States and southern Canada, and your Destination Ticket cards show you which two cities on the map you have to connect.  Keep it to yourself, however, as it’s your job to secretly build your route without alerting the other players to your goal.

Every turn you get three options: either you draw two railway car cards, draw three Destination Ticket cards, or play one of your cards to claim a route and earn points.  Claiming routes is a super fun part of the game as you get to victoriously place your colorful little train cars along the route.  As you claim more and more routes, the game board begins to fill up with a bright web of red, yellow, and blue train cards that weave their way across North America.

Winning The Game

In order to win the game, you have to earn the most points by successfully connecting your secret Destination Ticket cities.  You can also earn a magnificent ten-point bonus if you succeed in building the longest continuously connected set of routes.  By building longer routes and connecting cities from across the country, you can earn enough points to blow the competition out of the water.

The fun of the game comes from navigating risk and fear.  Do you add more cards to your hand to give yourself a better shot at winning?  Or do you nab the route you need in order to keep it from falling into the hands of your rival?  Whether you win or lose, you have to marvel at the intricacy of the custom-molded train cars and beautifully illustrated cards.

Ticket To Ride Spinoffs

Ticket to Ride was released in 2004, followed shortly after by six spinoff board games as well as a few card and electronic games.  If North America isn’t your jam, you can play Ticket to Ride across a sprawling map of Europe, Germany, Poland, or even the Nordic countries.  Certain expansions even allow you to play with new map collections including The Heart of Africa or the Old West.

While Ticket to Ride comes with a pretty large game board, Ticket To Ride: Rails and Sails ups the ante by including a giant double-sided board that features both land and water routes.  If you’re interested in playing Ticket to Ride with younger players, the First Journey version of the game features a smaller board and shorter game time that’s suitable for ages 6 and up.

Get Your Ticket To Ride And Start The Fun

Ticket to Ride is the perfect game for new players who are looking for something simple and entertaining.  Gameplay is suitable for 2-5 players ages 8 and up, so it’s an excellent board game for family game night or a lazy Sunday morning.  And although its simplicity is one of its greatest features, you’ll find that this board game is plenty interesting enough to keep you engaged throughout the entire 30-60 minutes of game time.

If you’re a locomotive junkie or you’re simply looking for a new board game to add to the mix, you’ll love the imaginative world of Ticket to Ride.  With circuitous routes traversing a beautifully illustrated game board, Ticket to Ride is just as much an adventure for your eyes as it is for your mind.  Hop on board and enjoy the ride with this entertaining and creative board game that will be sure to make “conductor” your newest dream job!

 

 

How to Play Ticket to Ride

Catan The Board Game: Fun For The Whole Family!

Board games have been a staple of family gatherings for decades.  There’s nothing more fun than dividing into teams that pit Mom against Dad, Cousin Joe against Grandma Ruth.  But Monopoly has grown stale, and Risk is too cut-throat (remember the near-brawl last Thanksgiving?)  The family needs a new board game that’s fun and interesting enough to come back to time and time again.  Enter Catan. 

Discovery of Catan

Catan, also known as Settlers of Catan, is a well-known board game that combines strategy and luck to help players build the biggest settlement in the land.  The game begins with the discovery of a new land as your ship washes ashore on the coast of an uncharted island.  But before you go about building your settlement with the carefree nature of early colonialists, you discover that other seafarers have also landed on Catan’s shores.  The race to gain supremacy on Catan is on!

Building and Bartering

The game board is set up using hexagonal terrain tiles to represent the beautiful island of Catan.  Each player sets two small houses on spaces where the three terrain hexes meet.  With the roll of a dice, resources get doled out to each player to then barter in order to build their settlements.

The fun of the game comes from building your new settlements that will become bustling and prosperous cities.  You’ll learn to barter the resources you have in abundance for the ones you lack.  Strategic planning is required in order to skillfully trade your resources and complete your building projects.  Each settlement scores you 1 victory point and each city scores you 2 victory points.  The first player to reach 10 victory points is the winner!

Who Can Play?

The base game of Catan is for 3-4 people ages 10 and up, and gameplay lasts from around 45 to 90 minutes.  There is an extension available that allows you to add extra players, expanding gameplay to 5-6 people.  If you’ve got a big family that’s all looking to take part in the fun, this is a great way to give everyone an opportunity to join in.

The best part of the game is the different expansion packs you can buy.  These provide new and fun scenarios that allow you to expand the initial fun of the game well beyond the shores of Catan.   Travel the ocean with the Seafarers expansion, leaving Catan for the its wild and uncharted neighboring islands.  Or, step into knighthood with the Cities and Knights expansion, pitting the knights of Catan against the barbarians who would threaten your new way of life.

Let’s face it: there are only so many games of Scrabble you can play before someone loses their mind.  Catan is an exciting and fun board game that provides countless hours of family fun and a variety of expansion packs to keep things fresh.  Give it a chance and buy it today— your family will thank you!

Head of to the shop and buy it now before it is gone. Well… It will never be gone, this is one of our best sellers. But its a best seller for a reason. So…

 

Qwirkle: Find the Pattern and Lay Down the Line

Qwirkle is an abstract tile-playing game that takes the concept of Scrabble and turns it on its head.  Instead of forcing you to spell out difficult words with tiles that will send your friends and family scrambling to the dictionary, Qwirkle is played with tiles bearing colorful shapes that you have to arrange in a line.  No game board is required with this simple and creative game—all you need is a flat surface and a yearning for a little competition.

High Quality Wooden Game Pieces

As opposed to the bland little brown tile pieces you use in Scrabble, Qwirkle comes with 108 shiny black tiles featuring colorful patterns in various intricate shapes.  The delightful game pieces are often one of the most memorable parts of any board game, and Qwirkle delivers in spades.  From the whimsical clover to the dynamic eight-point star, Qwirkle’s quirky tiles will be sure to build a beautiful pattern by the end of the game.  

Laying The Tiles

Gameplay begins with mixing all of the tiles in the bag and having each player draw 6 tiles at random.  Every turn, each player will place one or more tiles on the table to form a row.  The rows need to each share one attribute of either color or shape, but not both.  For example, one row can consist of clover tiles in different colors, while a different row may be each of the shapes in the color red.

Unlike Scrabble, which forces you to play with the tiles you’ve got before drawing new ones, Qwirkle allows you to spend your turn exchanging the tiles in your hand for new ones.  This can end up making the game way more dynamic instead of saddling you with a dud hand for the rest of the game.

Scoring Points

Every time you place a tile in a line, you score one point for each tile within that line.  If you complete the line with the sixth and final tile, congratulations!  You win a 6-point bonus that can jettison you into the lead.  An additional 6-point bonus is given to the first person to play all of their tiles once the bag has run out, which is just enough of a boost to keep things competitive until the very last second.

Qwirkle is simple to learn, but definitely gives plenty of opportunity to employ strategy.  Blocking other people from continuing a pattern can be just as effective as plotting out your own high score combination.  However, the luck-based element of the game will throw a wrench into even the most carefully laid plans.  This combination of luck and strategy will keep you coming back to Qwirkle time and time again.

Fun For Families And Non-Gamers

Qwirkle is the perfect game for families and kids of all ages.  It’s an excellent game to use to teach younger children about concepts like shape and color matching and counting, while older kids can learn concepts like strategy and planning.  Suitable for ages 6 and up, Qwirkle is incredibly easy to learn and will having you playing like an expert within minutes.  But just because it’s so simple doesn’t mean that it’s boring—Qwirkle leaves plenty of room for more advanced players to play the long game while novices can enjoy it at the basic level.

Qwirkle is also much more accessible to non-gamers than hardcore games like Catan.  Because the rules are so simple, even people who don’t normally enjoy board games can find themselves drawn in for a 30-40 minute game.  This dynamic game can join together serious and casual gamers, serving as a gateway game towards more advanced board games.

Walk The Line With Qwirkle

Qwirkle is a simple game with an abstract concept that can appeal to a wide variety of gamers.  Its accessibility is where it truly shines, even if that removes a little bit of the complexity of the game for people who are looking for something with a greater challenge.  Still, if you’re a visual gamer who likes building intricate patterns and playing with beautiful wooden game pieces, you’ll love the quality that Qwirkle has to offer.

 

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