Dobble

Dobble is a simple game all about matching symbols on cards. You think it sounds easy, well think again.

The main concept of Dobble is that you need to match the symbols on any given card (there will always be one) and name it. This is the rule that carries out through all of five mini-games provided. This is great as playing the simple game (match the symbol on a card and claim it) gets quite boring after a while. My favourite variant is one where you have to match the symbol on another persons card (that key mechanism popping up again) name it and give it to them. This means they have to get rid of those cards to someone else. At the end the slowest person is left with all the cards therefore losing.

Dobble is a great game to pull out when you have a spare moment or to play with less experienced players. Although it isn't the most engaging game ever, it is simple and fun (but tricky to master). Basically it is a good game to start a gaming session with, and it's a good game to start people who are new to hobby games in their gaming career. I would give at 7 out of 10.

One more thing to mention, is that I got the pleasure of playing Dobble for the first time at a games club at my school. We had only just got this game as part of a starter set from Esdevium Games. So thank you very much to all those lovely people at Esdevium Games.

Spot the matching symbol

What is a meeple?

I have had this question asked to me many times so now I have decided to tell people.

A meeple is a little figurine (normally wooden) in a human shape used as playing piece for a game.
It is a proper word, I checked, not some gamer jargon.

The top 3 games for play value

Okay so first we need to define what play value is and why it is important in a game (especially for children). So in answer to the first, play value is how much you can play with it as a toy, not as a game. One great way to see this in action is if you shove a kid in a room and leave them to play with the game pieces you will see some of them played with for ages and some they won't even get out of the box. Now (with me being a kid myself) I know that normally this factor is over-looked by adults so I have decided to give you list of my top 3 games for play value to get you started on this new concept.

And in third place is… North wind!

Okay I'm not sure where you can get this game (I got my copy in Germany) but I can tell you it is really, really cool. It is a game about being a ship captain and sailing about places and trading with people. Now this isn't the cool part of the game, the cool part of the game is the 3d ships which you can customise at your will with cannons, little meeple crew members and goods. This is great fun as you can imagine, and I think I have spent more time playing with it than actually playing the game.

And in second place is… Terror in meeple city!

This is a dexterity game that is all about eating/destroying a meeple city. But the real reason that this game is on here is the meeples and the things you can do with them. Each of the meeples has a sticker on the front and back of it giving it a face, clothes and other things like that. These meeples (and trucks)here.

make for great story telling and are great fun to play with. Another cool thing to do with them is you can make buildings with them which is very cool. I reviewed this game

And in first place is… Camel Up!

This game is a camel race betting game and is my favourite game to mess about with any time. It has a unique feature of camels being able to stack up on each other. But the real reason this is a personal favourite of mine is that you can race camels round the track in weird wacky races you can make up, mega long races or super short sprints. Yet another cool feature is a pyramid designed to throw your dice for you! I'm not sure why I find it so captivating but if your child is a fan of racing get it for them!

    

Terror in Meeplecity

In Terror in Meeplecity you are a monster trying to eat, basically, everything. Nothing is safe from your mighty jaws. But beware, you not the only monster in town.

Terror in Meeplecity, is a dexterity game where you have to try and eat the most floors, sets of meeples and collect the most teeth from your opponents. There are four basic actions that, and you can do two of them during your turn. The actions are: move, breathe, toss a vehicle and demolish. Move is where you flick your feet pawn, which can be quite tricky as sometimes numerous buildings are in the way.  Breathe, where you can try to blow buildings or opponents down (the big word in this sentences is try). Toss a vehicle is where you get to place a vehicle on your head and flick at other monster or buildings. Then there is demolish, in my opinion the best part of the game, where you can lift you're monster up and drop it on a building for lots and lots of rubble and delicious meeples.
Another important part of the game is that you have power cards (special powers that you can use as many times as you want), character cards (which score you extra points if you do a certian thing) and finally secret super powers that you can use only once. If you correctly utilise your powers you can probably win the game even if you are a bad shot.

Personally, I think that this game is pretty fun although, I wouldn't say it is one of my favourites. It is actually also quite fun to play with just as a toy and the pieces are really nice.

Sheriff of Nottingham

It is the year 1210 and you are merchants trying to get your legal (and illegal) goods into the city of Nottingham. But beware, blocking your way into the city is the dreaded Sheriff of Nottingham and if he inspects you, then you better hope you haven't got anything illegal stashed away in your bag.


Sheriff of Nottingham is a bluffing game where you take turns in being merchants, trying to get wares into the city, and the Sheriff of Nottingham, who is trying to figure out if anybody has illegal goods. The aim of the game is to get lots of money and goods on your stall - there are extra points to collect if you have the most of one kind of good, so specialising in one good might not be a bad tactic.

At the start of a round everybody, except the player who is the Sheriff of Nottingham this round, puts goods cards into their bag then they state the number and type of cards in the bag (illegal goods can't be stated) to the Sheriff. Then the Sheriff has to decide whether they think that the "merchant" trying to get into Nottingham has illegal goods in the bag - of course the Sheriff may let things past if people are willing to pay the price. If the Sheriff chooses to look inside the bag and there are illegal goods then the merchants has to pay some money to the Sheriff but if the merchant was telling the truth then the Sheriff has to pay the merchant for wasting their time.

This is a great game for anyone who has a moderate amount of experience in games. It leaves everyone talking about how they managed to sneak 5 illegal goods past the Sheriff and how they forgot what they put in the bag and had to make it up! Me and my sister loved beating my Dad at this. This is a game  I would definitely recommend for an introduction to bluffing games.

Hey, thats my fish!

In “Hey, thats my fish”, you are penguins on an ever shrinking block of ice trying to collect the most fish before you are cornered in by your devious foes. 

This is a simple strategy game that is devilishly difficult to master and is all about collecting fish. One of the key mechanisms that really makes the game interesting, is that when you move one of your penguins to another tile you take away the tile it has moved from and penguins can’t move through empty spaces. This means you can block your opponent in while you collect all the fish. On each ice flow tile there is at least one fish, so think carefully before blocking someone in, you might actually be doing them a favour!

This a great game for 8+ which is really quick to learn yet there are so many different strategies you can use! It gets a 9 out of 10 from me and a great game to pop out if you have got a spare twenty minutes. 

Snake Oil

In Snake Oil, you are a conman out to sell your latest accident prone invention to unwitting customers, but watch out you're not the only conman in town.

Snake Oil is a fast paced talking/card game for all the family where you have to try and sell weird inventions (created by putting two word cards in you hand together) like diaper-wings to a customer. The customer is played by one member of the group who takes on a role printed on a customer card. This makes for some hilarious moments as you try and sell your diaper-wings to a cool rapper!

This a great party game and even a 6 year olds could probably understand it! It always leaves me (an 11 year old boy) in fits of giggles, even my grumpy older sister can’t help but laugh. This definitely gets a 10 out 10 from me and is one of my favorite family games ever. Basically if you haven’t got it then get it!