You’d think that there’d be nothing more to say about Pajaggle, the already Keeper-award receiving puzzle game that has never left our living room. You’d think that the designers of Pajaggles would rest on their well-deserved Pajjagly laurels, and go on to make whole new games.

Well, what would you think if you learned that they have managed to make Pajaggle a better game than it already was?

How, you might wonder, is that possible?

By changing, subtly, but drastically, the design, not of the puzzle itself, but of the presentation.

Pajaggle, which formerly came to us in a lovely drawstring bag, now comes in a far more functional plastic box, the lid of which is the board for the game itself. And this lid/board is also different. The back of it is flexible – just flexible enough so that, should the need be dire enough, you can pop out any misplaced Pajaggle piece (a Pajiggle) without having to resort to using the new and improved Pajiggle piece-popping tool.

Being able to store the pieces and rules and timer and piece bag all in the remarkably functional box is part of the gift that this new Pajaggle presentation has to offer. It makes the award-winning puzzle/game it far more portable, because, instead of having to carefully place all the pieces on a drop cloth, you can keep the pieces in the box while you’re playing. Even when you’re not the only one playing. And with consummate ease, throw them back in the box when you’re finished.

Another minor change: the Pajaggle pieces now are outlined with raised ridges. They are also textured on one side. They are otherwise exactly the same as the original pieces. The ridges make the game easier for partially sighted people. The textured side invites people to play some of the two-set variations, using only one set.

We do recommend that you consider purchasing at least one additional set of pieces. There are more games to play. Extra sets are available for a most reasonable price. And there’s room enough in the box to house them with ease.

Chromino. Hmm, you might say to yourself. Chromino. Like domino, perhaps? That would explain the “…omino” part. Hmm again. Perhaps the “Chr” refers to, yes, chrome? Of course. Dominoes made out of chrome. That would be lovely, don’t you think? Possessing quantities of shininess and heft. But that would still be dominoes, just by another name and material. No, Chrominoes is more than that. Related, but significantly other. The “Chrom” is as in chromatic, you see. As in having color. Hence, far more visually appealing than dominoes. Yes, there are tiles. But each tile is composed of three, not two sections. And each section is a one of five different colors. And there are 75 of those. And another five, similarly three-sectioned tiles, the center of which is mysteriously yin-yangish – a special tile, known as the “chameleon,” whose center can be considered any color, or, should the circumstance manifest, two different colors, somehow simultaneously. And each Chromino is unique.

So you get all these colorful, three-sectioned tiles in this hefty, all cotton, flat-bottomed, drawstring bag. You fish around in the bag for a chameleon tile. Place that in the center of the table. Each player then draws eight tiles. The game commences. Players take turns trying to find one tile in their collection that can match two colors of tiles already on the table (as illustrated). Intriguingly, and often causing a moment of rapacious delight, it is possible to place a tile so that its end color matches a color on two different tiles, fulfilling the connect-to-two rule, yet with all the same color. Fascinatingly, and occasionally giving rise to a sense of aesthetic comeuppance, sometimes one of your tiles can bridge two different, hitherto completely unconnected tiles. And as the game progresses, more and more of these fascinating, colorful, eye-catching, mind-absorbing possibilities make themselves evident.

Chromino is easy to learn. But, as you play it, it fairly reeks of evermore enticing strategic implications – none of which is particularly threatening, but most often engagingly fascinating. Those chameleon tiles can sure come in handy, which means that you just might want to hold on to yours until that most excruciatingly strategic moment. And the way the tiles get clustered as the game evolves, enticing the eye and often befuddling the brain. And it all seems so innocent, so easy to understand, and yet offers so much to play with.

To win, all you need is to be the first player to run out of tiles. On your turn, if you don’t have a match, you must pick (which, as in dominoes, is antithetical to the “getting rid” part. If you can use your new tile, you can play. In one variation, you have to keep on picking until you have a match (o, the ever-increasing anguish). In another (one we made up), you can keep on playing until you run out of matches. There are more variations. O, yes, there are more. There’s one called “Bambino” (of special interest to the younger set) in which you only have to match one color. Then there’s the Expert version in which each Chromino has a value (depending on how many different colors it has), and you score each play by adding the value of the Chromino and the other Chromino(s) it touches. Then there’s the solitaire-like Conondrums variation, more of a puzzle, really, where you attempt to determine all the possible ways a particular Chromino can be correctly placed in the growing array. This, of course, gets more and more challenging as more tiles are added.

The variations, the ease of making up your own rules increase the replay value as well as the likelihood of finding a way to play that each player will find inviting, and suitably challenging.You can play it by yourself, you can play it with as many as eight people, you can play it with peers, with kids as young as six. You can play it with anyone who has a steady enough hand to place a tile without disrupting all the others (it’s better to play on a tablecloth than on a slippery surface).

There’s just enough luck so that you don’t really need to take the game seriously, and just enough strategic potential to make you believe you can win by virtue of sheer mental superiority. Designed by Louis Abraham, published by Asmodee, Chromino is fun for the whole family. Major Fun.

We have already greeted Rory’s Story Cubes with appreciation and enthusiasm. This elegantly designed Major Fun award-winning set of nine story-building dice has found happy welcome in classrooms and restaurants, libraries and living rooms. The evocative images on the faces of each die, the simple rules, the sturdy little box with the magnetic closure – all work so beautifully together to invite creativity and humor and the endless invention of new invitations to the imagination and new ways to play with it.

So it is with great interest and anticipation that we greeted the arrival of the Actions set of Rory’s amazing cubes. Same packaging. Same number of dice, but, instead of nouns, the illustrations suggest verbs. And, even if this is the only version of the Story Cubes you have, you’ll find the Actions set as stimulating and and inspiring as the original set. And, should you have both sets, you’ll soon discover that you can happily combine dice.

According to Rory:

One tip is to mix 3 Rory’s Story Cubes®: Actions with 6 Rory’s Story Cubes®. We find this to be a good combination for storytelling.

We find that some prefer the Actions for storytelling. Especially people exhibiting Autism. They can relate to the character it seems. Others don’t like the use of characters so much, as they find it hard to use images in other ways (unlike the more metaphoric icons on the original set). The Actions have been used on their own, and all 18 together, especially with larger groups (like in the classroom).

Quite a few teachers teaching ages 4-6 like to use just 3 dice of either set, to form simple sentences and stories.

What a fascinating invitation to explore not just story telling, but also story tellers. So much to play with. Such fun, as a way to spark your own imagination, as an exercise, a game, for children, families, creative thinkers of all ages and purposes. Thank you Rory. Thank you Gamewright.

Unlike the David Fincher movie of the same name, Seven! by the New Zealanders Julian Stewart and Jarn La Rooij is a peppy, witty, feel-good game that is a great way to kill time (unlike the rather gruesome killing throughout David Fincher’s movie). Julian and Jarn are going out on their own to produce and distribute their labor of love. It takes a lot of work and dedication to bring a game out of the circle of friends who can fit around your dining room table and offer it to the gaming masses—many of whom live on the other side of the world (in this case, quite literally). For that they have my respect.

But Major Fun is not here to traffic in respect!! We want the fun.

And Seven! impressed us by cracking open an old chestnut and making it fun. At it’s heart, Seven! is a variation of Go Fish! Yes, you read correctly. Go Fish: the joy of young children and the scourge of their parents. But Major Fun wouldn’t hang you out to dry on that line. Jarn and Julian have tweaked the inner workings a bit and the result is a game that provides a competitive test of a player’s memory as well as a bit of chaotic strategy.

There are seven suits. Each suit has seven cards. Players try to collect all seven cards of a suit in order to make a set. The player with the most sets at the end of the game is the winner. As I mentioned above, the Go Fish! mechanic drives much of the game. On your turn you may ask any other player if they have a SPECIFIC card. You may only ask for a card that fits one of the suits in your hand. In this way, your opponents will know what suits are present in your hand when it is their time to choose. If you choose successfully, you may ask again. If you ask for a card that your opponent does not have, you draw from the deck and your turn is over.

The memory and set collecting work very well but the game really comes alive because of the 17 special cards and 4 Jokers. 14 of the cards are beneficial to you. 3 hurt you. The Jokers allow you to refuse to answer someone’s question. The 3 cards that harm you must be played as soon as you receive them (either in the initial deal or when you draw at the end of your turn). The 14 beneficial cards may be played AT ANY TIME! Choosing the right time is a blast (especially when it wipes the I-know-what-you-have-and-I’m-going-to-take-it look off your opponent’s face). Beneficial cards allow you to do things like steal cards from other players or draw extra cards. The harmful cards make you read all your cards aloud or miss a turn or lose cards.

The illustrations are funny and the special cards increase the strategic choices for each player rather than just making the game more random. This isn’t just a wackier Go Fish! This is Seven! This is Major Fun!

3-5 players. Ages 7+  

by Julian Stewart and Jarn La Rooij. © 2010 Greenstone Games.

Have an iPad, perhaps? Love to play on it, except getting a little tired, maybe, of playing by yourself?

So, there you are, at, I dunno, a coffee shop, maybe, with a friend – maybe a good friend, or someone you’d like to have for a good friend – and you just happen to have your iPad with you, as always, ever since you got it. And you turn to your friend, saying “care to Fingle?”

“Fingle?” asks your friend, quizzically.

And, without another word, you whip out the old Pad, launch your brand new Fingle app (which, for a limited time only, is only 99-cents and includes four, count them, puzzle packs), and you Fingle. Together. Laughing at the sheer delight of engaging in something quite similar to a game of Twister, only with your fingers. Challenged, ever-increasingly so; entertained, ever-more deeply so.

It’s Fingle. A game for two co-present players sharing an iPad. A cooperative game. A game that, from time to unavoidable time, makes you laugh together.

You have your squares. Your friend has hers. You put one finger on each square. Your friend puts one finger on each of hers. And, without losing contact with these squares, you attempt, simultaneously, to slide your squares into your targets, and hold them there, until your friend has managed not only to slide her squares into her targets, but also to hold them there long enough for the game to decide that accomplishment has been achieved. And then you go on to the next challenge where you have to use four fingers, each. And then the next, where you have to use your four fingers, each, to move into moving targets.

I first encountered Fingle at the DiGRA conference. I was excited about the potential of the game even before it was completely actualized. And now that it’s available, and finally on an iPad near me, I am even more excited to share this surprisingly innovative, paradigm-shifting, touchingly cooperative iPad game for two players even.

Designed by Adriaan de Jongh & Bojan Endrovski, from Game Oven Studios. Major Fun? Oh, yes. Majorly so.

Hexover by Maranda Enterprises is a great entry into the field of 2-player abstract strategy games. Take a familiar and robust game mechanic (Othello-style capture by surrounding), add a little twist, and bundle it all up with well-crafted, attractive game pieces and PRESTO you have yourself an engaging strategy game. It’s a crowded field but Hexover stands out with interesting innovation and excellent aesthetic design.

Like Othello, Hexover uses double sided chits as game markers. Each player attempts to make a row of five of their color by placing one piece and then flipping over the opponent’s color. The novelty of this game derives from the board which is composed of hexagons (instead of a square grid) of two different colors. Winning lines must be made on the white tiles. The red tiles may be used to flip over opposing pieces but those pieces on the red tiles do not count toward a run of five.

Games are quick as players move to consolidate their position around the long white corridors that radiate out from the middle. Because the game mechanics are so familiar and engaging, players can move very quickly from the moment the box is opened to the time they slap their heads at how fast one move can change the entire game. And for those who are perhaps not familiar with the Othello rules for placing and capturing pieces, Hexover provides very clear and intuitive rules.

As with another Major Fun award-winning game from Maranda Enterprises, Pathagon, it is worth emphasizing the impressive material quality of the game. The board has real heft and the playing surface is covered with a soft, leathery material that prevents the pieces from sliding around. The double-sided playing pieces are similarly weighty with a stone-like feel. All in all, Hexover is a game you would feel good about leaving out on the living room table or in the study.

It looks good. It feels good. It plays good.

It’s major fun!!

2 players. Ages 10+

Hexover by Mark Fuchs. © 2011 Maranda Enterprises.

Drawing games are often polarizing events because lots of people will say, “I’m not an artist. I can’t draw to save my life!” The games also turn the screws by putting a timer on the contestants. And then comes the sharing of the pictures: all that judgment and ridicule and justification that ensues.

Blue Orange’s elegant drawing game Sketch It! takes all of these frustrating aspects of other drawing games and doubles down on it all. Your pictures? They need to communicate specific items so that ANYONE at the table can identify your subject. Time limit? You have to be faster than the others to get the most points. The guessing process? Every single line will come under scrutiny and the inner workings of your mind will be laid bare.

Fun? Oh yeah.

The game is simple. Each player has a card with 6 items, a pencil, and a piece of paper. The game comes with 6 numbered chips (1-6) and these sit in the center of the table. Someone rolls a die and everyone sets to drawing the item that matches the rolled number. The first to finish grabs the highest numbered chip from the center of the table and the other players grab chips as they finish. The drawings are shuffled and passed out randomly so each player has a drawing made by someone else. They write what has been drawn and then reveal their guesses. If a player guesses correctly, the artist and guesser get the points on the artist’s chip. Incorrect guess means no points for either.

This mechanism of awarding the guesser and the artist works well to balance the game for those who do not feel so confident in their artistic skills. Being a good guesser is as important as being a good sketcher. The task of grabbing the numbered chips also adds a great deal of pressure to the better artists because they can’t keep their attention strictly on what they are drawing. A quick sketch that hints at the object can be more effective than a detailed depiction because the time for fine detail costs the artist the most valuable chips.

But part of the fun is the explanation and evaluation of the drawings created under such stressful conditions. How a creature with five legs, no ears, and a serious under bite (not over bite) can be a “donkey” is one funny conversation. That, more than the accumulation of points, is the aspect of Sketch It! that makes it Major Fun. I haven’t laughed so much at my own ineptitude as I did playing Sketch It!

3 – 6 players. Ages 10+

Sketch It! by Gregory Detrez. © 2011 Blue Orange Games.

Table top games saw me through middle school lunch. I’d throw down whatever dreck they had uncanned for us (elapsed time: 30 seconds) and then I’d set about the serious business of playing quarter basketball or pencil football for the remaining twenty-nine-and-a-half-minutes. A couple of props, a flat surface, an opponent—I had it made.

I would gladly bolt through my favorite meal (a thai peanut-sauce dish called pra ram long song thanks for asking…) in order to spend a bit more time with Gigamic’s table-top racing game, Regatta.

Now Regatta is a bit more complicated and prop driven than the games I played at school, but the conceit is the same. In this case, players race wooden sailboats across whatever flat surface they have handy. The game comes with four sailboats, four course buoys, and 54 movement cards.

The cards really make the game. Players hold five cards. Each card has an arrow that curves from one side to another. Sometimes a card will have multiple arrows so that the player has some choice. In short, players move their boats from one side of a card to another. When it is a racers turn to play, that boater places a card in front of his or her yacht so that the arrow starts at the bow of the yacht. The player moves the boat so that its aft quarters are on the tip of the arrow and the boat is facing the arrow’s direction.

The cards also serve to show where sailboats cannot go. Each yacht has a no-go region in front of it (so that another boat cannot block its turn. This no-go region is the size of one of the cards. You can move anywhere on the board as long as you do not move into the no-go zone of another player. There are also some special cards that allow double movement, extra turns, and an especially nasty one that makes an opponent miss a turn, but these just spice up the game’s elegant movement mechanic.

There is a surprising amount of strategy that goes in to placing the cards. Most cards do not move your boat in a straight line. Most curve to the left or the right so you have to set up a series of moves that play out over your next few turns. Saving up special cards for the right moment is critical.

The racing is clever and fast, and best of all there is no deep water!! Racing yachts in the comfort of my dining room? Major Fun.

2 – 4 players. Ages 5+

Regatta  by Emmanuel Fille and Martine Moisand. © 2010 Gigamic.

Once you get over how beautifully made the game is, how the wooden board and pieces are so finished, so pleasant to touch, how the octagonal pieces fit so perfectly (with just the amount of looseness to make them easy to place and remove, with exactly the right thickness so that you can easily lift them from between the pegs that keep them in position), you will finally find yourself able to appreciate the game itself.

Pathagon is an easy to learn (maybe five minutes), two-player strategy game. Each player has 14 octagonal pieces, each of a different color. The opposite sides of the square board have the same color as one set of pieces. The object of the game is to be first to create an unbroken line of your pieces from one of edges of the board (marked with the same color as your pieces) to the other.

At first glance, the educated gamer might be sorely tempted to conclude that Pathagon is another embodiment of the now classic game of Twixt. However, a closer reading of the rules, and maybe five minutes of play will be all the evidence necessary to realize that Pathagon is a unique game, aglow with brilliantly subtle strategic glimmers.

First, only orthogonal connections count. Pieces must actually touch edges in order for them to be considered contiguous.

Next, you can remove one of your opponent’s pieces by sandwiching it, again only orthogonally, between two of yours. (A removed piece isn’t captured, it is returned to the opponent for placement somewhere else on the board.) In fact, depending on how pieces are aligned, you can capture several of your opponent’s pieces in one move (as long as each piece is orthogonally sandwiched between two of yours).

And finally, once all the pieces are placed, if no one has won the game, players take turns moving their pieces until someone succeeds in creating the proverbial unbroken, edge-to-edge line.

A round of Pathagon can be as brief as 10 minutes and, depending on how long each player wants to consider strategic implications, as long as a half-hour. In either event, it is likely that players will want to complete several games before acknowledging defeat.

Anyone old enough to understand checkers will be able to appreciate what Pathagon has to offer. Though it is likely, given the elegance of the execution of the game, that Pathagon will long remain in the cherished possession of the mature gamer. Designed by Mark Fuchs, owner of Maranda Enterprises, is one six, beautifully rendered wooden games, all designed by Mr. Fuchs. More are on their way.

So, it’s like this: there are two decks of cards, almost identical, except that one deck is square, the other round. And on each card, in each deck, there are John Kovalic’s gently humorous, cartoon-like drawings of bugs, each card a different bug, each bug in one deck having a corresponding bug in the other. Now, you’d think that matching a square card to an identical round card – one with exactly the same cartoon-like bug on precisely the same color background – would be mere child’s play. You’d, of course, be right. All except for the “mere” and the “child’s” parts.

Yes, yes, the game could easily be played by five-year-olds. The cards are just the right size for little hands. And, with a little patience, even littler hands. And, with a little more patience, big, clumsy-handed people as old as I am. Sure, there are only 36 different bugs to deal with, but as soon as the bug cards are all out on the table, and you find yourself frantically shuffling through your hand of square cards (the “leaf cards”) while everyone else is shuffling and scanning, covering the round cards (the “bug cards”) with the corresponding leaf cards, racing to be the first to get rid of all their cards – the challenge becomes vividly evident.

Bug Out is easy to learn (maybe 5 minutes) and very fast (easily less than 5 minutes). But you’re going to want to play it again and again. You can even keep score, if you’re that kind of player. Speaking of kinds of players, it’s true that Bug Out is as fun for little kids as it is for grown kids (sometimes known as “adults”), but when playing together, as a family, discrepancies in recognition and reaction time might prove to be a bit too unavoidable to keep everyone in play. However, as Gamestaster Erin was quick to point out, that can be easily ameliorated by adding a handicapping rule, like: the winning player gets extra cards the next round. Whether or not you decide to invent some kind of rule to keep everyone equally in play, it’s a good idea, as the designers are quick to note, to let the game continue until everyone has finished, just so all the players can experience something akin to satisfaction.

The designers and refiners (Brad Ross and the many wonderful folk at Out of the Box Games) also make a distinction between Bug Out and Big Bug Out. In the latter, the bug cards are placed on the floor. How widely the cards are spread out on said floor determines the amount of frenzied physicality you wish to engender. Needless to say, physical limitations and proclivities need to be taken into account. But the fun, o, the sheer, manic, major fun!