Riff Raff is a game of rigorous self-assessment, strategic cunning, and Kung-Fu-like dexterity. OK, maybe not so rigorous or cunning. And more of the white-belt level, Kung-Fu-wise. But, for a rocking-boat-in-the-water balancing-type game, surprisingly, shall we say, deep.

Stage one: the setting-up

There are two large cardboard “waves” that bend into three sections. These are placed together on to the parts compartment in the box, so as to form the base for the ship. A wooden collar is then placed over the opening where the two wave-pieces meet. Into this, you “place the joint of the ball-bar on the wooden ring in such a way that the boat sinks into the whole and the two retaining rods come to lie in the troughs of the ring.” Thus assuring something like 360-degree rockability. And then on goes the hull, and the mast goes into the hole in the hull, and a small round bar is placed into the bottommost mast-hole upon which is placed the lower yardarm. And, oh, you know, you get a boat, cunningly counterweighted, tantalizingly tippable, with three yardarms, that have numbers on each end.

Each player (2-4) gets a set of 8 different pieces- wooden, of course, as is the boat and all its parts, except for the metal ball counter-weight, and a deck of ten cards, numbered from one, to, let me see, yes, ten.

Stage two: the up-setting

Each player selects one of her cards. Simultaneously, all players reveal their chosen number. The player with the highest number is captain, and starts the game. The player who has the second highest card goes next, etc. Once a card is played, it gets thrown into somewhere retrievable for the next game. Now here’s the thing about the cards. It’s not just about seeing who gets to go when. It’s also about where you have to put a piece of your cargo. Note the numbers on the ship. Note the corresponding number on the card you played. Ten gets to go first. But then again, that means the player who played a ten has to put a piece of the very top yardarm in the “ten” section.

So, when you select your card, you have to anticipate (predict, potentially; guess, actually) what card the other players might also choose. Which, of course, entails considerations about what card they think you’re likely to choose. Hence the whole strategic cunning part. And the Kung-Fu-like hand-steadiness. And, of course, the rigorous self-assessment (I mean, can I actually get the monkey to hang on the 10 side of the yardarm, given how the whole ship is tilting 1o-wardly?).

The game is surprisingly easy to understand. Consistently engaging. Frequently funny. And probably one of the strategically deepest dexterity games we’ve yet encountered. Major, we say, fun.

Designed by Christoph Cantzler, art by Michael Menzel, published by Zoch, available in the U.S. from Lion Rampant Imports

For people who like to explore the mysteries of balance and steadiness of hand,  Hamsterrolle is an ingenious, and, to our knowledge, unique (and, hence, uniquely fun) challenge.

If it reminds you a bit of one of those wheelish things you find in a hamster cage, you have satisfactorily explained the etymology of the game’s name.

The main component of the game is a large, wooden wheel, divided into 12 sections by steps of different length. There are also four sets of 7 wooden pieces, each piece a different color and shape. In addition, there is a cone-shaped piece, used to steady the wheel in preparation for the beginning of the game. Each of the 2-4 players gets one full set.

Once the cone-shaped piece is in postion, the game begins. The first player places any of her pieces into the first, second, or third compartment (separated by steps) after the cone. From then on, players take turns placing their pieces, either in the same compartment in which the last piece was placed, or the compartment after that, or the compartment after that. If a piece is placed in the same compartment, it must be different than all the other pieces in that compartment, and placed so that it is ahead of the last piece placed.

Sooner or later, the wheel rolls. That establishes the “roll” direction, and all subsequent plays must be made so that the wheel, if it rolls, will continue rolling in the same direction. This can also cause a piece or several to fall out of their compartments. Even if they only fall partly out, they are still considered “yours,” so you must add them to your collection, which is not so good for you, especially when you take into account that the first player to use up all her pieces is the winner.

The game is challenging, absorbing, and takes you enough by surprise to catalyze serious laughter. It can be played by almost any age. The rules can be easily changed to accommodate younger children and older adults. It is elegant, attractive, and major fun.

Watch a couple kids playing:

Now watch the amazingness:

Designed by Jacques Zeimet and produced by Zoch games, Hamsterrolle is recommended for 2-4 players ages 7 and older. It is available in the U.S. from Lion Rampant Imports

Cross Boule is a kinder, gentler, sillier, and, some might claim, much more fun version of a very ancient game that comes to us as pétanque (a.k.a. boules and bocce).

Perhaps the most salient distinction is the balls, or, in this case, round bean bags. (If you go Zoch’s official Cross Boule page, you’ll discover 12 different versions of Cross Boules – all the same, except for the patterns – the significance of which will be explicated later.)(You can also go to the official Cross Boule site - also in German.) The bean bagginess of the balls (traditionally made out of metal, stone, wood or other hard substances) is the key to the many wonders of Cross Boule, namely: you can play anywhere (I haven’t tried playing them underwater yet).

Your standard Cross Boule set comes with two sets of three beany boules, and one beany Jack (the smaller ball that serves as a target). This is pretty much exactly what you’ll find in your standard pétanque/boules/bocce set – except for the beaniness.

As for the rationale for purchasing more Cross Boule sets – each set is designed for two players. You’ll most definitely want to include your friends and theirs. And you want to make sure that each player knows which boule is hers

And now to the significant difference, the distinction that makes Cross Boule the major fun that it truly is: the rules.

So, you’re anywhere, and you call that the “starting area.” The youngest player, starting at the starting area, throws the jack (the smaller boule) anywhere else: under the couch, on top of the 8th stair, in the open drawer. Then players take turns, each throwing one of their beany boules, trying to get as close as possible to the jack in a manner most clearly reminiscent of horseshoes. Now, here’s the major part of the fun: the player who throws the jack also decides how the rest of the boules are to be thrown for the round (e.g.: two-handedly, between your legs, backwards, eyes closed, while wearing an oven mit). Then there’s the scoring, which takes intriguing advantage of the beaniness of the Cross Boule, awarding extra points if you can get one boule to rest on top of another, or if you can get it to land on top of the jack, or if you can make a pyramid out of three boules, or if you can get three in line. And before a round starts, you can redefine the playing area to include or exclude any property of your three-dimensional physical environment.

Allow me to illustrate (in German, but you don’t need the translation)

Cross Boule was designed by Mark Calin Caliman and is distributed in the U.S. by Lion Rampant Imports

Can… not… resist… Monty… Python…

[full volume] “I’m a lumberjack and I’m OK…”

Mayday’s release of the English version of Toc Toc Woodman comes with one major advantage over other stacking games like Jenga. Along with the requisite stacking pieces, Toc Toc Woodman comes with an axe. This plastic toy axe stole the show every time I opened the game. I know it is supposed to be a woodman’s axe but the proportions and blade design look much more like an executioner’s axe than that of a lumberjack. Be warned: when playing this game, especially for the first time, budget some axe appreciation time.

And watch your fingers.

When you are finally ready for the game proper, you will find a very clever arrangement of plastic disks and arcs that stack to form the trunk of a tree. Each disk is surrounded by a ring of four pieces of bark. The disk and accompanying ring of bark is stacked on top of others to make the tree. Players take turns hitting the tree with—wait for it— the axe so that only the bark pieces fall to the table. Think of this as the anti-Jenga in which you are trying to knock down pieces instead of build them up.

You get 1 point for each piece of bark you knock off. Knocking off one of the disks earns you -5 points. The chance of knocking off one or more of the disks increases as the tree is battered turn after turn. It doesn’t help that your first instinct (certainly mine) when handed an axe is to give your target a resounding whack! If you knock over several disks you get the bark but you also get the negative points, and late in the game there is little bark left.

A light touch is required. Who knew lumberjacks should be so dainty?

Rules are included but illustrated rules are also printed on the box itself. It is always a good sign when a game this fun—Major Fun even—can be fully explained without the need to waste any more paper. The game creates lots of tension and laughs and moments of fist pounding, teeth grinding frustration. But mainly laughs. Games are quick and almost any one of any age can play.

Highly recommended.

For 2+ players, ages 5+

Toc Toc Woodman was designed by Justin Oh and © 2011 by Mayday Games who is offering 25% off Toc Toc by using coupon code: MajorTocTocDiscount (Limit 1 per customer. Valid to first 25 customers.)

We reviewed Swish (the senior) a couple posts ago, and all of the things that go into making it Major Fun have translated into the Junior edition: hefty, clear cards; colorful art; intuitive rules. It is the mark of great design that a game can be made simpler for younger players and it still retains the elements that make it fun and challenging. In this case, Swish Jr., is indeed fun and challenging for kids, but it remains fun and challenging for sophisticated adults who are playing alongside the callow youth.

For those who have not seen our earlier review of Swish—a recap. Twelve cards are dealt in a grid to the center of the table. The cards are made of clear plastic and are decorated with combinations of four basic shapes: purple circles, orange stars, blue arrows, and green lozenges (when you see those green things you’ll understand). Each card contains two of the shapes BUT some of the shapes are solid and some are rendered in outline. The game revolves around finding sets of cards that, when stacked, combine outline shapes with their corresponding solid shapes. For example, if you have a card with a solid star and a solid arrow, you would look for another card with an outline star and an outline arrow. When stacked, the solids fill in the outlines.

When someone spies what they believe to be a set of cards that could be combined to fill all outlines, the player yells Swish, grabs the cards, and demonstrates to the assembled room how the pieces fit together. Or don’t. If the cards fit, the player scores. If they don’t (and sometimes they won’t), the player fails. As cards are removed from the grid, new cards from the deck are used to fill in.

Swish Jr. is simpler in that the shapes are clearly different (in Swish they are all small circles) and there are fewer spaces on each card
where shapes can appear. The game also suggests that older or more experienced competitors should try to make sets of three or more cards while the younger and less experienced only need to match two. This handicapping can change throughout the game. As a novice starts scoring more and more two-card sets, he or she graduates to the next level.

Our group of adult game tasters generally found the two-card sets to be very easy and the three card sets were a good place to start. Four or more was quite difficult. Difficult in a Major Fun way. That kind of difficult where you know the solution is there you just need a little… more… time….

For 2+ players, ages 5+

Kosmos has a prize winner with their dexterity and racing game, Monster Trap (Monster-Falle for you deutschephiles). The game won a Kinderspiel des Jahres and a Deutscher Spielpreis in 2011 and in 2013 the coveted Major Fun Award (I’ll wait for the appreciative murmurs to die down…)

The artwork, the clever mechanical design, and the materials are beautiful. They invite play and giggles. Maybe it’s just that some words sound more fun in German (like Geschwindigkeitsbegrenzung for “speed limit”) but at the bottom of our game box (we played the German version) it says “Schubs… und schwups!” Who does not want to play with Schubs and schwups?

Players race to capture monsters and push them into the pit in the center of the house. There are twelve monsters scattered through the corridors of your house. When the timer starts, two players draw a monster card, find that monster on the board, drop a monster sack figure on it, and then push the monster into the pit. If the Monster-in-a-sack figure falls over (usually the result of running into a wall too hard) then the players put it back and start over. Monsters successfully caught in the pit are added to each player’s score and then two new players get a turn.

The complicating factor is the method of pushing (“schubbing”) the monsters around the board. Four plastic sticks cross the board at right angles to each other (2 cross east-west and the other 2 cross north-south). Each player controls one set of sticks and cooperation is essential. The combination of speed, dexterity, and cooperation with your opponent keeps things lively, especially for younger players.

The game also provides for a variation in which the monsters have to first visit parts of the house before being shoved into the pit. There are several spots marked on the board where the monster can pet the cat, take a bath, or get a snack from the fridge. A small deck of cards is used to tell the players where to send the monster.

The instructions are very clearly illustrated. Our copy was in German and we could figure out the board set-up just by looking at the pictures. Board Game Geek has a link to an English translation (register, for free, if not a member to view) which we needed for the rule-variation and the scoring system (a very clever way to keep score of individuals even when they have to cooperate with their opponents).
And no monsters were harmed in the playing of the game. They seem to like the pit.

For 2-4 players, ages 6+

Monster-Falle was designed by Inka and Markas Brand and is © 2011 by Kosmos.

Although billed as an education game, we like to think of Guess What! as a great party game with lots of pedagogical potential. Sure the game promotes spatial awareness, hand-eye coordination, pattern recognition, and geometric reasoning, but no one would care if it wasn’t so much fun.

At heart, Guess What! is a cross between Tangrams and Charades. Players take turns getting the other players to guess a word by making a picture with colorful plastic shapes. There are 81 cards, each containing 6 clues. The active player rolls a die, starts the timer, and must make that object with the tangram-style plastic pieces. Guessing players may ask yes or no questions, and the first one to guess correctly wins 2 points. The building player also gets 2 points if the word is correctly identified. Guessing players may also ask for the first letter of the word but this reduces the point value to 1 if the builder answers.

When we played with 6 people, we never ran out of time, but there was a lot pressure from all the guessing and questions that flew around. Clue building was especially intense because you had to simultaneously think about the item, sort through all the plastic pieces, arrange the pieces, and field questions from frantic guessers. Admiring (or ridiculing) the pictures at the end made up a big part of the fun.

There are a couple of clever additional features to the game. For younger players there are 27 Junior Cards which have a single clue PLUS a picture of how to build the item. This allows younger kids a way to manipulate the pieces while also creating something that the guessers will recognize. The pieces themselves are crafted from a flexible plastic that will cling to most clean, smooth surfaces (like refrigerators, windows, whiteboards, or laminated paper). Although this did not really affect the way we played on a table top (the pieces did not slide much) it does allow other kinds of play on vertical surfaces. Good for school and other creative play.

You do have to punch the pieces out before you can play (a process that proved more difficult than necessary, but that’s a small nitpick), but once you do, play is quick and intuitive. The directions are short and provide plenty of play alternatives. Major Fun for parties and school!

For 3-8 players, ages 5+

Guess What! © 2010 by EduStic.

Don’t Rock the Boat is a game of balance and dexterity. It’s for kids 5 and up. And, depending on the steadiness of your hand and mind at the time, you can play, too.

There are 16 very cute plastic penguin pirates. There’s a boat: a three-masted, pirate-ship-like boat, hollow, of course, plastic, of similar course; balanced rather precariously on a plastic wave. Before the game begins, someone sets the boat upon its wave, and the players then distribute the plastic pirate penguins equally. If the number of players results in an extra penguin or two, those penguins are thrown mercilessly into the box for the duration of the game.

Players then take turns placing their plastic pirate penguins anywhere on the boat. Those Crows’ Nests topping each mast are most inviting, but, as you can plainly see, only the center Crows’ Nest can be occupied without risking tippage. The safest place to place one’s plastic pirate penguin is near the base of the central mast. But even that proves to be a precarious plastic penguin pirate placement, nonetheless.

Tippage-risking is the name of the game. Well, actually, “boat-rocking” is perhaps a term more in keeping with the theme. The thing is, it’s very easy to rock the boat, and even one poorly placed plastic pirate penguin can be all it takes to upset things irrevocably.

Of all the games of balance and dexterity, Don’t Rock the Boat offers by far the largest and most varied plethora of plastic penguin pirate platforms and other surfaces upon one can try one’s dexterous balancing skills.

There’s nothing in the rules preventing a player from attempting to place two plastic pirate penguins concomitantly. I’m just saying.

Not recommended for the easily frustrated, but highly recommended for its Major Funnyness. Easy to learn. Takes maybe 5 minutes to play, or, in my case, 30 seconds. Funny. And, with great focus and skill, one can succeed in accommodating a surprising amount of plastic pirate penguins aboard the perilous poised privateer.

Period.

Fun for many reasons. From Patch Products.

I found Nowhere to Go in a store for teachers. I suppose that was a logical place to find the game, given that it comes from a company called Educational Insights. So I naturally assumed it was an “educational” game, which I almost immediately (and somewhat shamefully) assumed would be more educational than, well, fun.

But fun it is. Major fun, that is.

It’s an abstract strategy game for two players. It’s played on a hexagonal board. There are 19 platforms, each connected to the adjacent platforms by bridges.

When the game begins, each player first places her “spy piece” (a shady looking character) on one of the two platforms with slightly raised centers. Next, players place five “blockers” (little, notched, grey pieces that like to inhabit the bridges between the platforms) on the five bridges of their choice. Where they place their bridges is fraught with strategic implications, but it may take a while for them to perceive the fraughtness of it all.  And, no, silly, you can’t put your blockers on the three bridges connecting to your opponent’s home, because that would make the game no fun at all.

From then on, players take turns, first moving their spy to any connected platform (as long as the path isn’t blocked), and then adding a blocker. The idea is to block every path that is available to your opponent’s spy, until you are the only player who can still move.

The instructions are wonderfully brief. The game takes only a few minutes to play. The rounds are quick. And death is often surprisingly sudden. All in all making this a perfect invitation to strategic thinking. Easy enough to entice your eight-year-old strategist, deep enough to make your adult self want to play with her.

Designed by Hank Atkins, Nowhere to Go is Major Fun.

You know the kids’ card game concentration? Well, Colorio isn’t that game. It’s something else. Something much deeper, involving strategery and cunning and, ok, concentration, and, yes, memory. But it’s not that card game, believe me you.

There’s a board – a 5×5 matrix. Inside the board there are 5 slots (well, ten slots if you consider both sides of the board) to accommodate 5 strips. Each strip has five spots of a different color. There are five different colors, but  all five just might not be present on any given strip, on any given side of that strip  - adding an essential uncertainty to the conceptual contemplation. The different colors are also illustrated, each with a different expression, providing a touch of humor and a large tad of assistance for the color-blind.

Key to the strategic part of the game, there are 25 “caps” that are used to cover all the holes in the board. Players take turns removing up to three caps at a time. While you’re so engaged, you can remove all three caps and take them off the board entirely, or, as long as you remove one cap completely, you can move one or both of the remaining two to other open spaces on the board. This assures that more and more spaces are revealed each turn.

Every time you remove a cap, you reveal what lies beneath. Every time you cover an open space, you have one more thing you probably want to remember.

The game continues in this manner until someone (not you, of course) accidentally reveals the fifth of any one color.

As the game progresses, and more and more spaces are revealed, the tension increases. How tense depends on how well players understand the impact of using the caps to cover colors back up. Once four of any one color are already revealed, the tension becomes palpable.

Colorio is very well made. The board, caps and color strips, and even the box are all designed to provide many years of play. The  game itself gets more interesting as players become more familiar with all the strategic implications, but even without all that thinking, the game is well enough designed to invite hours of repeated play.

Coloriois yet another Major Fun award-winning game available from Mindtwister. It was designed by Jacky Bonnet for 2-5 players. It’s best for families and kids 6 years old and up. It takes about 10 minutes to play and maybe even less to learn.