Card Games

Jungle Speed is a fast and furious, somewhat chaotic, game of observation and then of lightning reflexes, so that rules me out.

It is a matching game, a bit like snap, but, instead of calling out snap when two cards match, you have to be the first to grab the Totem (the yellow rubber cylinder thing) that sits in the middle of the table.

The cards are divided equally amongst the players (the more, the merrier).  On each card is a symbol in a variety of colours.  Some symbols are quite different, others are deceptively alike. Players place their cards in a pile face down in front of them.  One by one, each player flips over the top card and, as they accumulate, gradually makes a discard pile in front of him.  When one player flips over a card whose symbol matches the shape of the symbol on the top card of another player's discard pile, both players make a lunge for the Totem.  The winner then smugly hands over his discard cards to the loser who puts both these and his own discard cards face down under his cards.  Grabbing the Totem mistakenly results in you getting everybody's discard cards. The winner of the game is the first to get rid of all their cards.  Each game takes about 20 minutes.

To complicate the game further, there are several special cards.  One of these special cards for example changes the rules so that you have to match the colour of symbols rather than the shape. A different special card requires every player to lunge simultaneously for the Totem.  A third one requires everybody to flip over a card at he same time on the count of three.

2 - 8 players

Age suitability: 6 +

Here's an excellent Youtube video from Skip the Rules (NB the Totem has since been changed from wood to rubber):

 

Two teams, the red and the blue team, try to guess the identity of their own spies.  Twenty five cards are laid out on the table.  Each card has the codename for an agent. Some of these will be red spies, some blue, some will be innocent bystanders and one will be the assassin. Each team's spymaster gives the team a single word clue.  They then have to choose which spy or spies' codename this clue relates to.  However should they choose the wrong one, they help the opponents.  Should they accidentally choose the assassin, it's game over for them.

Each game takes 15 -30 minutes.

Number one party game on Boardgame Geek, the website for avid games players.  Over 5 million copies sold.

2 - 8 players ( ideally at least 4)

Age suitability: 10+