I’m in awe with how clever and so straight forward Qwirkle is, whilst also being a proper head scratcher with its immense puzzle element, as you try and achieve best value from each and every placement. Just superb!
Rules Overview
My most favourite type of game, easy rules with a great deal of depth and strategy, or in this game, the puzzle element. The objective here is simple: score the most points.
A game for 2-4 players where each player draws 6 tiles from the bag at the start. The bag of tiles contains 108 tiles within it. Printed on the tile is one of 6 colours and one of 6 shapes. For example, you may have a red circle or a blue square.
The starting player is the player that can make the longest run from the 6 tiles they have. This may be up to 6 different shapes all in the same colour or up to 6 of the same shape that are all a different colour. The player then scores 1 point for each tile played.
Moving around the table, players have to build off of what has been played already, like scrabble. The play follows the same principle described above. If you are cunning though you can lie tiles to build in multiple directions, score in all directions for new tiles played. See the picture to get an idea here.
There are rules for discarding if needed. The winner is the player with the most points. The game ends when the bag is empty and the first player gets their final tile played. It’s a blast!
A wonderful tile drawing game.
Qwirkle is visually stunning and incredibly satisfying to play as you watch the patterns and colours emerge. It looks brilliant and the large wooden tile playing pieces really make it feel like a more quality product than your average game. They really stand out. It’s a simple look but so effective with the bold colours on black tiles. I love it.
The luck of the draw.
Qwirkle, first of all, is driven by chance on the tiles you pick out of the bag. That is where the luck ends though and you make your own luck within the game from here on out. How good are you at seeing the potential big scores and maximising your potential on each and every turn? It isn’t easy, as the board sprawls out there is a lot to look around each and every turn. This is the joy of the game though, puzzling over the potential high scores and looking to maximise the points available.
It has a feel of Rummikub meets dominoes meets scrabble which are all games driven by luck of the draw. However they are also games where you create your own luck from the pieces drawn. Qwirkle is not a repeat of one of these games, it does bring something different which, for me, makes it very appealing to play.
An awesome family game.
We’ve played quite a few times as a family now and my 5 and 3 year old are getting to grips with the concept. We are only working with 6 colours and 6 shapes which makes it possible for them to work things out. Watching their development with each and every game as a parent is very satisfying because it is tapping into those problem solving skills and how they might try to achieve the best score available. They are improving with every play as they get to grips with the concept and they really won’t be that long away from being competitive and making their old man look very foolish, I’m convinced of this.
Don’t go thinking that this game is too easy though. With 4 adults this game is furiously competitive as everyone is looking to one up the opposition on each and every turn. It’s one of the most competitive games I’ve seen in that respect and is so accessible for all abilities because of its very simple mechanics. It’s fantastic that you will have fully grasped the rules after the 2nd turn of play.
Final Thought
Qwirkle is a superb game. A great problem solving competitive challenge suitable for everyone. It’s always a crowd pleaser on our table and I hope it is for you as well.
