Hilary and I tried out a couple of the games I picked up at the Black Diamond Games ding and dent sale tonight.
First game we tried out was Quirkle. First impression is that it is a really nice looking and feeling game, with big chunky wooden pieces. The gameplay is rather like Scrabble with colors and shapes. Each row must be composed of a single color or shape (but no exact duplicates), and you can score bonus points by adding tiles that fit into multiple rows at once or by completing a row of 6 of one color or shape (there are 6 colors and 6 shapes, 3 tiles of each).
What I really like about the game is that it is incredibly easy to teach and learn. Anyone familiar with Scrabble can pick it up in about 2 minutes (if not it might take them as many as 3). What I'm not sure about is if there is any real depth here. While in Scrabble you are rewarded for being able to rearrange letters in your mind, most of the possibilities on a given turn of Quirkle will be obvious fairly immediately. There may be some further level of strategy (being able to set up plays for yourself or block your opponents), but it was not obvious to me on my first play.
And I'm not just bitter because Hilary beat me 230 to 200.
While this was a big hit with my mom, Hilary was less enamored of it. First, she's not a big fan of either bees or spiders, so it was working uphill to begin with, but more to the point it's one of those games where what it is you are supposed to do is not at all clear in your first couple games, so you tend to feel you are making moves at random and stumbling blindly into traps. Basically the way I feel when I play chess against anyone who is even remotely good at it. It is still a great game to carry around with you since it is so fast to set up and play and it doesn't require a board, so I'll probably spring it on her again when we're sitting around at a cafe or something.
Oh. I won. Yay me.
Quirkle
First game we tried out was Quirkle. First impression is that it is a really nice looking and feeling game, with big chunky wooden pieces. The gameplay is rather like Scrabble with colors and shapes. Each row must be composed of a single color or shape (but no exact duplicates), and you can score bonus points by adding tiles that fit into multiple rows at once or by completing a row of 6 of one color or shape (there are 6 colors and 6 shapes, 3 tiles of each).
What I really like about the game is that it is incredibly easy to teach and learn. Anyone familiar with Scrabble can pick it up in about 2 minutes (if not it might take them as many as 3). What I'm not sure about is if there is any real depth here. While in Scrabble you are rewarded for being able to rearrange letters in your mind, most of the possibilities on a given turn of Quirkle will be obvious fairly immediately. There may be some further level of strategy (being able to set up plays for yourself or block your opponents), but it was not obvious to me on my first play.
And I'm not just bitter because Hilary beat me 230 to 200.
Hive
While this was a big hit with my mom, Hilary was less enamored of it. First, she's not a big fan of either bees or spiders, so it was working uphill to begin with, but more to the point it's one of those games where what it is you are supposed to do is not at all clear in your first couple games, so you tend to feel you are making moves at random and stumbling blindly into traps. Basically the way I feel when I play chess against anyone who is even remotely good at it. It is still a great game to carry around with you since it is so fast to set up and play and it doesn't require a board, so I'll probably spring it on her again when we're sitting around at a cafe or something.
Oh. I won. Yay me.
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