This year we are going away as a family glamping with my wife's brother, sister and their partners/kids. That's 6 adults, 5 kids aged 7-16, and 3 dogs. Now, granted game choices for dogs are limited (mine won't even do Fetch), but what should you take with you in case of the worst of the British weather, or even just to stay occupied? Especially when the rest of them range from casual gamers to not at all... but they ask you to be on charge of the games regardless?
So I had some thoughts, which I will share with you, but I also put it to the Zatu blogger community, and they came up with a few cracking suggestions.
The Gang – Ian Paczek
The Gang is a cooperative version of poker, specifically the Texas Hold’em variant. Without discussion or revealing your cards, everyone is trying to use the information gained from four rounds of bidding to come to a final arrangement in which the order of the bids matches the order of the hands. So, in the last round, the best hand will have the highest bidding chip and so on.
There are four rounds of bidding – pre-flop, flop, turn, and finally river – using white, then yellow, then orange and finally red chips. Try to infer information about players hands by when they increase their bid and by how much.
The theme of the game is a gang of robbers, planning and executing a heist. For every hand where you collectively fail to arrange the final red bids in the correct order, you activate an alarm, but this also gives you an assistant card to help on the next hand. For every hand where
you successfully bid in the correct order, you unlock a vault, but that also gives your gang a challenge card to hinder your progress on the next round. Unlock three vaults to win the game before you trip three alarms.
I’ve played at many different player counts and it’s definitely an easier game at lower player count. The highest player counts – up to 10 with the deluxe version – also incorporate “duck” chips so that someone who really isn’t sure where their hand sits can effectively fold before the end without affecting the win condition.
This is a super fun multi-player puzzle and highly recommended.
Splendor – David the wellbeing gamer
There is a reason when Splendor was released in 2014 that it cleaned up on so many board gaming awards. For me, one of those reasons is its simplicity. A game for 2-4 players that plays well in all ways, the rules are printed on a double side of A4 paper. The rules are that few and that simple to pick up incredibly quickly.
Once the game is prepared the order of play is straight forward. The first player either draws 3 different gems, 2 of the same gem, reserves a card from the pool and takes a gold, or chooses to spend the resources gathered to pick up a precious gem. If a gem is purchased this gem can permanently be used for further purchases.
Why are we buying these stones? The goal is to be the first player to collect 15 victory points and the more valuable stones have victory point values printed on which is what players need to get to 15. Players also need to consider the nobles for bonus victory points and these can be gained purchasing the right combination of gems.
This is it, the basic overview. There are a couple more rules (there are 2 sides of a4 to read) but this is the basic premise. There is a lot of depth in the game with strategy on route to victory and keeping an eye on what the opponents are up to along the way. I recently taught Splendor to good friends that are not gamers on the august bank holiday and they had grasped it within about 2 turns. We ended up playing 4 games in a row as they were hooked and loved it. It says everything about the game.
Stack o Cats – Chris Ridley
Ages: 7+
Player Count: 4-8 Players
Playtime: 20-40 mins
When it comes to dexterity games, there are plenty to choose from, starting with the classic, Jenga all the way to the tiny box of Oink Games’ Rafter Five. However, my recommendation has to be Stack o Cats. This charming game about building a precarious tower of our nine-lives companions, has both a competitive mode and a cooperative mode, and even comes with variants too – providing plenty of replayability.
The gameplay is super quick to explain: Blindly pick a cat from the bag, and place said cat on the stack. If the cat fails, try again. If any other cats fall during your turn, you lose points. Once you place the cat, score points based on the stack height. The player with the most points when the bag is empty, wins!
The cats come in a variety of shapes and all have little derpy faces too, which just add to the fun.
And then there’s…
Racing Line
Ages: 8+
Player Count: 3-8 Players
Playtime: 45-120mins
Perfect for competitive groups and F1 fans, Racing Line puts you in the driver's seat as you roll dice and play cards to score points across a series of Championship races.
Unlike other racing games like Heat: Pedal To The Metal and Thunder Alley, which are brilliant games in their own rights, Racing Line is a game that was designed with families in mind – so much so they even brought out Racing Line Junior, which extends the age range down to 4+.
Racing Line’s appeal comes in the simple yet strategic gameplay and its thematic attention to detail. Each player receives a hand of action cards that can be played to trigger False Starts, dish out penalties and even cause obstacles on the track. Movement is determined by dice rolls and strategic positioning to utilise the titular racing line on the map and to defensively block the other drivers.
It plays up to 8 players and you can adapt the difficulty and chaos levels by the number of cards you dish out. A standard game recommends giving each player 1 card per race. For a more Mario Kart experience, why not give each player 3-4 cards per race?
Sushi Go Party! by Sophie Jones
One of my go to games is Sushi Go Party! With a 2 to 8 player count, it’s a crowd pleaser. It’s also an eye catcher, with cartoonish artwork, vibrant colours and soy sauce meeples.. Plus, it comes in a robust tin, making it perfect to bring along to any gaming occasion.
Sushi Go Party! is a simple pick and pass game. Each turn, players choose one card to keep before passing the rest of their hand to the left. Each card represents a sushi item, with different scoring conditions depending on the menu selected. The scoring is also on the menu tiles, so there’s no constant flicking through rulebooks or confusion over how to score.
And this is where the game really shines. You can choose from suggested menus, from the beginner friendly My First Meal to more challenging combinations, or create your own. This makes the game highly replayable and lets you adjust the complexity depending on who you’re playing with. So when those non gamers level up, Sushi Go Party! still has a place at the table.
And…
My big list:
Uno variants are a must. My 10 year old niece is a bit of a card shark when it comes to Uno, so having a range of versions that everyone can play is a good plan from the more ruthless No
Mercy, the friendlier Teams (or at least, more parent & child friendly) and our own summer holdiay hit, Liar's Uno, with its excellent bluffing mechanics.
Dexterity games are a safe bet, and like many casual games live in the overlap of the Venn diagram that is small children and tipsy grown ups. Cards against Gravity is a prime example of this, and happily uses any empty bottle as an integral component, stacking and slotting cards to ever higher heights. Flipping burgers is more on the chaotic hilarity end of things, as you try to stack food items to order and then catch them mid air; extremely silly and entirely suited to all ages.
OK Play is our everywhere game - pub, parties, travelling near or far - both the 4 and 2 player versions (which can be combined for 6 player silliness). Essentially Connect 5, with chunky plastic tiles on a carabiner clip for ease, it is both incredibly simple and fiendishly tricky,especially at higher player counts.
Flip 7 is a real upstart of a game, and we are seeing it everywhere. At higher player counts, it's worth having 2 sets for optimal chaos, and it's another game that works well for kids of all ages. A push your luck card flipping game, you aim to reveal 7 cards of different values; the value of each card is also the quantity of them in the deck, so it's a glorious game of chance (and a little bit of skill).
Cat Days is our pocket 2-player game of choice. It’s very simple and ruthlessly fun, as you alternate placing different cats on different days of the week; first player to fill a week wins! However, it’s not that simple – Jumpy cats run away, Lazy cats only like weekends, and Grumpy Cats can ruin your opponent’s plans! Distract them with laser pointers, steal them with a cardboard box – it’s just a little bit fiendish for all ages!
Stomp the plank is a real crowd pleaser that, although ostensibly for a younger audience, is one everyone can enjoy. Balancing wooden tokens against your elephant mascot, you aim to not topple over whilst on your quest for treasure. It's genuinely one of the best family games out there - I'm always struck by the number of adults playing it at conventions!
One Night Ultimate Werewolf is my tween daughter's favourite game, and she is not really a game player at all (bad parenting, I know, I know). Think Traitors as a cutthroat app driven game you can play with any number of people in the space of 10 minutes, and you've got the gist. You can sell it to veterans as Clocktower for the family, and the completely clueless as wink-murder. Perfection!
