Tag: Review

Scuttle! A Card Game of High Seas Pirate Adventure

Review

Scuttle! by Jellybean Games is a card game full of pirate adventure, attacks, conquest, and fun, for 1-5 players. Manage the shifting seas of cards like an old salt, be the first to collect enough treasure, and you’ll win the title of master pirate captain.

Arrrrre you ready to find out what makes Scuttle! so interesting and different every time you play? Hop aboard, and you’ll earn your sea legs as we explore this great game and sail to capture the most doubloons!

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Clear for Takeoff : A Race Down the Runway

Review

One of my recently adopted criteria for a good family game is total length – from setup, through play time, to teardown. In this, Clear for Takeoff excels. Designed by Hagen Temeryazev, an airline pilot, illustrated by Etienne Hebinger, and published by Blue Orange Games, Clear for Takeoff is a card game that has you racing to get all three of your planes down the runway and into the air before anyone else. Hampered by an over-dependence on luck, and at times descending into maddening waits for just the right card draw, the game is still a fine amusement for a wide age range when you’ve got only a few minutes for play and even fewer for reading a rulebook.

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Fight for Olympus: An Epic Battle!

Review
Fight for Olympus Cover

Unbelievable tales of legend filled with debauchery, treachery, and heroism make the stories of the Greek gods fascinating to anyone who enjoys a good adventure. From the snakes of Medusa to the rippling muscles of Hercules, to the near invincibility of Achilles, every hero and villain captures our imagination with their epic tales of adventure, victory, and heartbreak.

With virtually countless characters to draw from, it’s a small wonder we don’t see more games in this setting. Fight for Olympus, released last year by MayFair Games and Lookout Games, puts the Greek roster to good use. One of the gods has died and you are fighting to ascend Mount Olympus and assume their recently vacated post. But will Fight for Olympus yield a mountaintop experience?

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Hoyle Play games: Catch’n Fish, Sharks are Wild, Piggy Bank

Review
Hoyle

Hoyle, the familiar name in playing cards, is introducing its own line of original card games for kids, under the brand name Hoyle Play. Their motto is “fun with room for a lesson”. The Family Gamers were given three of these games to try. All three reinforce early math skills, but are they fun enough to keep playing?

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Wise Alec: Family Trivia Game

Review
Wise Alec

In 1982, a few newspaper editors came together to eventually create a game that became a household phenomenon. Using a non-linear board that facilitated stumping friends with trivia questions across various disciplines, Trivial Pursuit became firmly entrenched in the cultural zeitgeist of the United States. But for Gen-Xers and Millennials, it existed as a game with impossibly difficult questions and nebulous goals. What was the point of the game? Although the game mechanics were approachable and understandable for all ages, the needed knowledge made Trivial Pursuit difficult to play for all but the most knowledgeable adults.

Griddly Games seized on this mechanic with the release of their family trivia game, Wise Alec. With a similarly styled board and a wealth of trivia questions to bear, does Wise Alec capture the charm that created a household name? Let’s look and see. » Read more

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Battle Sheep: One Sheep, Two Sheep, Red Sheep, Blue Sheep

Review
Battle Sheep - Flock to Greener Pastures

I love playing games with my kids that have either a simple setup, a simple cleanup, or simple rules. Battle Sheep, designed by Francesco Rotta and published by Blue Orange Games, has all three. With just a handful of quality components and a very limited set of choices to make each turn, games are breezy fun with your little lambs, but there’s surprising strategic depth when playing with older ones.

Let’s take a look at the game, and I promise to not use too many baa-d puns.

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Digit’y Do: Fun With Numbers For All Ages

Review

Digit’y Do is a simple pen-and-paper game that combines Bingo, counting, probability, and guesswork. It keeps kids and adults engaged and entertained. It takes less than five minutes to explain, so you’ll be playing in no time. Best of all, proceeds from this game go to a good cause: the UnitedHealthcare Children’s Foundation (UHCCF), which provides medical grants for children across the U.S. So you can have fun and help kids at the same time!

Before the partnership with UHCCF, Digit’y Do was also known as Streams or 20 Express. It won a Parent’s Choice award in 2013, and we think it deserves more attention!

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Cardventures: Stowaway 52 and Jump Ship!

Review
Cardventures

Stowaway 52 and Jump Ship! inaugurate the new Cardventures series from GameWright. Do these solitaire, choose-your-own-adventure story games live up to their promise?

In Stowaway 52, you have stowed away on an alien spaceship. You’re trying to escape, but first will you spy on the aliens to discover their plans for earth, or sabotage their spaceship on your way out?

In Jump Ship! you are a pirate captain. Do you defend your own ship from rivals, or raid their ships for booty? If your nemesis confronts you, will you face them head-on, or jump overboard into shark-infested waters? » Read more

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