Disclaimer out the gate: This game has a really sick premise of blowing up kittens. Where2Game does not support any animal cruelty of any kind. In fact, we love kittens, especially with little bowties.
Age: 7+ Playing Time: 15 min Players: 2-
A deck building game from the makers of The Oatmeal, the strategy is simple. Collect cats and avoid picking up the exploding kitten cards. If you pick it up, you can defuse the bomb and put it back in the pick up deck wherever you want. If you can’t defuse it, you’re out of the game.
It’s a simple premise and makes for a quick game.
Plus it has tacocat – he’s cute, delicious, and a palindrome!
For more information, see your local gaming venue!
Scotty, I am your father now beam me up and make it so. You may find this and other science-fiction (Sci-Fi) goodness in this small unassuming card game.
The Fluxx series is an ever changing game where you control the victory conditions. The most common victory is matching up assets you’ve collected through the game with goal cards you can play in your hands. How do you do that? By laying down a number of cards that make you win without playing cards that let your opponents win.
This is one of those games that has to be played to truly understood. There are so many different options of rules that it’s easier for any visual learners to see and hear. This game does involve a lot of reading so I’d recommend it for strong readers. If you’re not, it will certainly give you practice!
A very worn case of Star Fluxx
The starting rules for the game are simple. Draw 1 card, and play 1 card. As you play on, you’ll have opportunities to tweak the game, add rules, change the number of cards drawn, or played, change the goal of the game, or remove cards that stop you from winning (called Creepers).
An example of some of the cards in Star Flux. The cute fuzzy alien creature is one of my favourites.
This is another quick game that can go quickly with a small number of players. Perfect for convention wait times, killing time between flights, or wanting to frustrate your friends while humming about it just being a game.
Do you love the idea of being a powerful wizard with the ability to channel the cosmos? Do you love magic, but think that Harry Potter just simply doesn’t have enough blood and gore? Welcome to the magical world of Mt. Skullzfyre where mages duel to the death. Cue the heavy metal soundtrack, because this game will rock your world!
Creating some gnarly and epic spell wars on the box art
The art of this game is reminiscent of old heavy metal albums and features dark themes not suitable for younger children. There is one particular card called Gorenado which is a tornado of gory-bits. Super cool to cast on your opponents, but not cool if you don’t want to see bodies with entrails being whipped around by supernatural energy.
The game play is simple enough to pick up on. Basically there are three different types of cards you can play: source, delivery, or quality cards. You can play any combination of these three without duplicating a card type. For example, you can play a source card by itself, play a source card with a delivery, or play all three, but couldn’t play two source cards. The wizard with the highest initiative (a note on the cards) goes first and then chaos ensues.
An example of a source, quality, and delivery card
Game play continues until one wizard is the last wizard standing. This repeats until someone wins 3 rounds.
This is one of my favourite games to play while people show up for the game. People can be added easily in between rounds. Great for something short to play.
Age: 14+
# of Players: 2 to 6 players
Game Length: 20 minutes
From the makers of Exploding Kittens comes Bears vs. Babies. Babies may seem cute and innocent, but in their core is a desire to ruin all humanity. Their ceaseless crying has driven humanity to manufacture all sorts of monsters in order to preserve themselves.
Bears vs. Babies is a card laying game where it’s up to you to create random and zany monsters to defend against the Baby armies that will be coming up against you by way of land, air, and sea. Play involves drawing or laying cards. If you get a card that with “baby” written anywhere on it, you place it into the appropriate legion. Once you feel you are strong enough, or you fear your opponent is getting too powerful, you can provoke one of the baby armies into a fight. If the sum of your monster is greater than their sum, the highest power army eats the babies for points. If the sum of the babies’ army is greater, than the monsters have been defeated and all corresponding armies are destroyed.
The combinations for this game are truly odd, but fit well with the storyline. It also comes with cards that are not safe for work (NSFW) that certainly ramp this game up to the 18+ plus crowd.
Great for killing time, I’d make this a play at least once to see how your Mantis Shrimp with fire coming out of nipples can handle the Sea Baby Army. (I strongly suggest the party hat.)
For more information or to purchase, please see your local gaming venue!
I love puzzles and figuring them out. The video games I used to play all had some sort of puzzle feature because I loved that A-Ha moment when you figured it out. Don’t get me wrong, there was a lot of frustration as well, but it always made for a sweeter release from the tension. With Escape Rooms gaining traction, we wanted to see what the fuss was about so while we were at the Mancala Monk we played Unlock!: House on the Hill.
This game features two components: a numbered set of cards and a free downloadable app. The app provides atmospheric music, hints, and is used to progress through the numbered cards. The cards have a number on the back and are kept facedown until you discover them either by linking together components that go with one another or using a machine or code on the app.
Screenshot of Unlock! on Android
The House on the Hill takes you on a paranormal ride as you try to undo the damage done by some troublesome teenagers. (shake fist dramatically here) You have an hour to break the curse and we definitely needed it. We escaped with almost 3 minutes to spare before the house almost consumed us.
House on the Hill is great party game that is inexpensive to purchase but doesn’t have much replayability unless you run the game for others. With that said, you’ll still save money compared to an escape room which can run upwards of $80 for a group of 4. If you’re looking for a fun activity to do at a board game cafe, or for your next party, I recommend thinking about Unlock!
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