Summer = holidays = having time, and having time for us who love playing board games can mean dedicating ourselves to different things:
– games also suitable for children;
– party games;
– structured gamesbut still under 40 minutes;
– slightly more structured gamesthe so-called “middleweights”!
So let’s find out what has come out in the last few months for each category! Let’s start with games suitable for the little ones, but also fun for adults!
Lift It Party
After placing on the forehead your gruthanks to one fasciayou have to build the required structures… obviously before the opponents. Guaranteed laughter for ages 7 and up!
Data sheet:
Age: 7+
Duration: 20 min.
Number of players: 1-4
Author: Per Gauding
Publisher: Cranio Creations
Prezzo: € 19,99
Face
Set in San Marco square in Venice during the Carnevalein this game of tactics and bluff the aim is to get your candidate to earn the position of Doge. To win you must get him to the opposite side of the game chessboard, sacrificing when necessary the other 9 pawns that make up your faction. Each type of piece has different characteristics and capabilitiesand you must always be careful which mask you decide to take: a capture can also be counterproductive.
Data sheet:
Age: 8+
Duration: 5 min.
Number of players: 2
Autore: Yusuke Emi
Publisher: Blue Orange Games
Prezzo: € 21,99
Morris The Dodo
This is a game collaborative. We’ve all studied the sad story of the Dodo, and how indiscriminate hunting drove them to extinction… So let’s even balance the scales of karma by helping Morris save his precious and colorful eggs from the explorer who wants to make an omelette out of it! Go, immediately to the hiding places… which, however, are down along the river, beyond the waterfall, so if any eggs break, you have to hide them so as not to give clues to the hunter!
Data sheet:
Age: 3+
Duration: 10 min.
Number of players: 2-4
Authors: Emile and Jerome Soleil
Publisher: Blue Orange Games
Prezzo: € 22,99
Woollie
This game is a lonely: we help the pastore keep an eye on hers sheeprecreating the scenarios drawn from the deck by placing the magnetic cards on the metal plank. It’s very simple to explain, but far more complex to put into practice!
Data sheet:
Age: 7+
Duration: 5 min.
Number of players: 1, solitaire
Authors: Marco Rava, Simona Greco
Publisher: Cranio Creations
Prezzo: € 11,99
Party Lines
This is a party game also suitable for the little ones. Take turns drawing a card, taking an erasable marker and a transparent card and you can decide whether draw two straight lines or one curved line. Nothing else. Will it be possible to guess the mysterious object from the overlapping of the tiles? And will the lines drawn by several players be compatible with each other or will they create an incomprehensible mess?
Data sheet:
Age: 7+
Duration: 15 min.
Number of players: 3-8
Authors: Piero Modolo
Publisher: Cranio Creations
Prezzo: € 19,99
Hitster
This game is supported by a free app which by reading the QR Code on the card starts a song… which will then be located correctly along the time line. And if sometimes it can be difficult to remember the year of release, it will still be pleasant to think about it in time with the music!
NB: the print&play essay version is available at this address:
Data sheet:
Age: 16+
Duration: 30 min.
Number of players: 2-10
Author: Marcus Carleson
Publisher: Yas! games
Prezzo: € 24,99
Punchline
The Boss draws a question card, the other players have 10 answer cards at their disposal and can choose which one is more suitable… bearing in mind that the funniest question/answer combo will be rewarded. As? Sounds like a lot “Cards Against Humanity”? Well yes. But it’s the version XXX.
Data sheet:
Age: 18+
Duration: 30/120 min.
Number of players: from 3 up
Publisher: Asmodee
Prezzo: € 14,99
Unstable Unicorns VM18
“Upset your friends. Abandon them. Unicorns don’t judge.” Also this version of the famous one Unstable Unicorns turns verse the triple X, giving back a fun and spicier gaming experience than usual… Not that the original was exactly a game for boarders, but you know: you never stop learning! You win when the seventh unicorn joins your stable, but that road can be long and bumpy and unicorns are easily distracted creatures!
Data sheet:
Age: 18+
Duration: 30-45 min.
Number of players: 2-8
Author: Ramy Badie
Publisher: Asmodee
Prezzo: € 24,99
Triqueta
This game is graphically very nice, which I particularly appreciate. In the course of 4 rounds the animal tiles are collected, with which groups of 3 units are formed. You can only have one triad of each type, and if I draw one too many pawn this not only is worth -1 at the end of the game but also cancels the score of the triqueta already made. It’s very punishing, you have to pay attention! Fishing can take place in 3 ways:
– I draw a pawn and put it on one of the rows on the table;
– I draw a piece and keep it hidden (it can only be done with 2 pieces per game, and at the end of the game it is decided whether to keep or discard them);
– I draw an entire row, and with it I form all the possible triads.
To finish a round it is not necessary to uncover all the tiles, simply each player will draw a row and that is their last move of that round.
Each game can be very fast, the duration depends exponentially on the number of players.
Data sheet:
Age: 8+
Duration: 20-30 min.
Number of players: 2-5
Authors: Ralf zur Linde, Stefan Dorra
Publisher: Genos Games
Prezzo: € 29,99
The Wolves
Also this game has a special care for graphics and components, and it’s something that always impresses me. We then add that there are dozens of miniature exquisitely shapedwell-designed and colorful planks, and it’s about manage a pack of wolves! You will have to explore the territory, manage its unexpected events, grow and multiply and at some point interact with the other packs, to achieve supremacy. Excuse me, I have to go queue at the store.
Data sheet:
Age: 14+
Duration: 75 min.
Number of players: 2-5
Autori: Clarence Simpson, Ashwin Kamath
Publisher: United Games
Prezzo: € 59,99
New land
This management software is defined by its own publisher “the light version of Terra Mystica”, another famous German-style game: it is a strategic game between factions each equipped with particular skills that affect the development tactics and control of the territory. You can choose from 10 different groups, which combined with the front/back planks multiply its longevity.
Data sheet:
Age: 12+
Duration: 60-90 min.
Number of players: 2-4
Autore: Andreas Faul
Publisher: Cranio Creations
Prezzo: € 49,99