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!