Bananagrams - Cobra Paw - Board Game & Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza - Card Game

Product Information

Mix and match potions for unpredictable results in this final exam for mages Now why is this setting so familiar...? With its three-minute time limit and the bizarre ruleset, Magic Maze is a fast-paced and chaotically fun experience that’s incredibly easy for everyone to get their heads round. What makes Machi Koro such an accessible game beyond the simple dice-rolling mechanic is that it involves absolutely no score-monitoring or point-counting; once someone has successfully constructed every building and landmark in their city then they’ve won. This straightforward approach towards city-building makes Machi Koro a perfect family board game to play with people of every age. Played with sets of five dice and a collection of cups, Perudo has players shaking their dice within said cups - which is an incredibly satisfying feeling, by the way - before rolling them onto the table in the most controlled fashion possible without their opponents seeing the result. Once all the dice are safely hidden underneath each player’s cup, everyone has a peek at what they have rolled and take it in turns to bet how many of a certain number they think everyone (including themselves) has rolled in total amongst the group. One player is invited to start the bidding, with the next player needing to increase either the value or the number of dice rolled. For example, someone might claim they think that there are four fives in total, so the next player would have to call either five fives or four sixes if they wanted to stay in the bid.

Players must snatch with just one paw. A combatant may roll with one paw and snatch with the other, however, two-paw snatching is forbidden. Stones may be snatched from the common pool or from other players. Snatching must be done with the fingers, not the whole paw. It is considered shameful to cover the stone with one’s paw. Magic Maze sees players looting a fantasy convenience store for the essential adventurer’s tools they need for upcoming quests - not exactly the kind of moral lesson you want to be teaching kids but it’s in the name of fun so there’s nothing really wrong with it. The first thing you might notice about Slide Quest are the funny little plastic handles attached to each side of the game’s box, these are what the players will be using to move their little hero figure across the board. Unlike in Flip ‘em Up! - another fantastic dexterity board game that involves artful sliding - Slide Quest has its players controlling the board rather than moving the actual character token.Takenoko is a really accessible way to introduce a ton of classic board game mechanics to newer players such as tile-placement, route-building and set-collection. It also helps that the game’s art style is incredibly aesthetically pleasing and it’s fairly easy to get ahold of a copy as well. Potion Explosion is all about unpredictability, and that's what makes it so replayable, getting completely different results each time you try and working to manifest it as something worth using. Just make sure you still have your eyebrows when it's all over.

Kids just love How to Train Your Dragon, don’t they? And what do those films have apart from dragons? Vikings. Which is why Valley of the Vikings is sure to be a hit with younger audiences. As for adults? Well, bowling seems to be a fairly popular activity regardless of your age and Valley of the Vikings has its fair share of rolling balls.

Slide Quest also requires a surprising amount of communication between players, with everyone needing to occasionally stop what they’re doing and discuss who needs to do what next. All this collaboration makes for a very effective family bonding exercise and could do a lot to bring everyone together - if only for an hour or so. It's amazing how easy it is not to think about these things, but Colourbrain tests you on what you know, and it's the great leveller between friends and family of all ages. Not only that, but you can have up to twenty players in a single match, which means reunions of any size can be accounted for. It is a frantic game which tests reactions, dexterity with a little bit of memory too. I do find myself getting in a zen-like state as I try and see all the stones rather than flitting from tile to tile. That’s my inner ninja trying to escape. I’m beginning to think I am close to mastering the Cobra Paw! Construct a glorious empire with special tiles and resources Build a kingdom of aeons using nothing more than a handful of dominos. It is inevitable that players will strike at the wrong stone after the dice have been rolled. A player who does so is shamed, and cannot claim a stone on this turn.

Stones may be snatched from the common pool or from other players. Snatching must be done with the fingers, not the whole paw. It is considered shameful to cover the stone with one's paw. Escape from Atlantis hits that perfect blend of desperation and strategy, working to get hold of a lifeboat while evading the threats around you. But there's not enough boats to go around. You can try swimming - anything's possible, I guess - but your chances are far better if you can find some sort of vehicle, so players will be battling for the few boats available, adding another layer of strategy. It's a solid set of mechanics that leads to good-length games that never stop being boring. The game lasts until one player has collected some agreed upon number of tiles. The game suggests 6 tiles for a 3 to 6 player game and 8 tiles for a 2 player game. Obviously, this could be adjusted if you wanted the game to last a little longer or run a little shorter. Thoughts Publisher Plaid Hat Games is renowned for adventure board games about flights of fantasy, with Stuffed Fables being perhaps its most family-friendly example. Unlike the slightly denser and darker dungeon-crawler Mice and Mystics - which is still one of the best modern board games around - Stuffed Fables keeps the gameplay lighter and the tone far more whimsical. In Stuffed Fables players take control of a brave band of cute little stuffed animals as they attempt to rescue their owner from the clutches of a devious villain. But they’ll have to use every inch of bravery as they encounter menacing foes and any number of dangers in their quest to save the day.The components are few, but they are absolutely lovely. The dominos are delightfully weighty and engraved with abstract symbols that match a pair of equally chunky dice that clunk along the table with a gleeful heft. Once the dice stop, everyone tries to snatch the matching domino – helped by the addition of a dimple in the middle of each piece. A few optional variants provide some variety, but there’s little need to overegg what is at heart a very basic but simply enjoyable crowdpleaser. No wonder they put a cat on the front. The great thing about Perudo is that players can bid as high as they like, with the player who bids the highest only winning if there are that number of dice values on the table, meaning someone will inevitably aim too high and come crashing down to much hilarity. Considering how easy it is to find a copy of Perudo - or even just make one yourself if you have enough dice and a bunch of cups - every household should really have one. Alright, fine - generally speaking, it's probably better that the school isn't invaded by hoardes of the living dead. I guess. While only one player rolls the dice each turn, all of the 2-6 players are constantly involved trying to find the matching tile. The game is a fairly level playing field in terms of demographics, this is more a test of speed and reactions so most people have a chance. Although if your opponent is particularly ninja-like in this field you may not get a go!