November is a time for sales and Zatu is no exception. In celebration, here are 5 amazing games that you can buy in “Black November” sale at a price under £30.
1) Ticket to Ride – London
The Ticket to Ride series is incredibly popular and for good reason. They are great games that are easy to pick up and fun to play. Ticket to Ride London is a quick-playing version using double-decker busses to connect up locations making routes. At the end of the game, your routes then score points based on objective cards you have chosen and the combinations of locations that you have connected. Here is a game that is simple enough that everyone can enjoy it but also has enough strategy that most players looking for something with a bit more depth will find something here too. As a great game to gift to anyone that enjoys spending a bit of time gaming, Ticket to Ride London is a brilliant option and not just under £30 but currently costing less than half that amount!
2) Green Team Wins
If you have played “Herd Mentality”, then this concept will sound pretty familiar. You want quite a few players for the best experience. Everyone responds to a prompt; the aim is not to necessarily be “right” but to match the most popular reaction in the group as only the “Green Team” (those with the most popular answer) score points each round. This kind of game does a great job of getting people talking and laughing, be it about agreeing on decisions or having a choice that is somewhat unusual and/or the joy of being on the “Green Team”. Overall, Green Team Wins is the kind of game that is perfect at gatherings of people, so an ideal game to get in ahead of the winter holidays, a super choice for a game you can get for less than £30 to enjoy with friends.
3) Disney Lorcana: Ursula’s Return – Gift Set
I absolutely loved the Lorcana concept. A competitive game that easily expands to multiple players. It also has plenty of mechanics to make the game thought provoking yet remains simple enough that my children can play it with me and win. A way of winning that is not about destroying the opposing player, with your characters exploring for lore instead thus creating a race for the finish. I bought lots of the initial starter decks and enjoyed games with my children and their friends regularly; including heading to my local gaming shop for a bit of face-to-face socialising (shock horror ). Unfortunately, it never took off in my local store/area and it was that which ultimately prevented me from playing it more frequently. This set comes with two pre-built decks, allowing players to enjoy standard Lorcana head-to-head. It also introduces a new way to play, with a player/two players working to defeat a Ursula in a “boss” type scenario. This feels like more innovative thinking from the designers to create a playing experience unique to Lorcana and can be yours for less than £30.
4) Monopoly Deal
Not just below £30, the sale sees this wonderful card game available for less than £5… If you can find a better value game than that anywhere… Buy it! Monopoly Deal is an unassumingly amazing card game. The connections to monopoly are mostly in the identity rather than in the mechanics of the game itself. The aim of the game is simple, every turn you draw two cards and can then place/play up to three cards. The first player to accumulate three property sets wins. Money is not needed to buy property; they are simply placed from your hand. Money, however, acts as your shield vs opponent rent charges or birthday money etc. If they ask you for 8 rent, and you don’t have money cards on the table to pay up then they’re going to be taking your properties instead, potentially getting them one step closer to victory. Once you have a group of players that are used to the game, this game can be a really clever strategic experience far greater than it appears at face value. Needless to say, I’m a big fan of this game and I’m sure you will be too!
5) Exit – Advent Calendar – The Silent Storm
If I had £30 going spare and fancied investing in something that will keep me entertained and enjoying myself for a month, I think this advent Calendar would be it. What better way to work your way into the holiday season than to enjoy a little dose of puzzle solving gaming fun each and every day? This adaptation to the ever-popular Exit series provides a daily puzzle that builds to become a 24-day narrative event. I think this would be a brilliant investment for the puzzle loving family looking out for an alternative to modern “chocolate” calendars that also gets the whole family interacting. Afterall, you can always reward yourselves with a sweet treat upon solving each day’s puzzle
That is my list of 5 great games that you can enjoy for under £30 in the Black November sale; some for substantially less than that. Obviously personal preference plays a huge part in what you think are the best games on offer, but, I have tried to give a good cross-section of different experiences; all of which can be enjoyed at a relatively low price.
