Games and Puzzles

Dobble is a modern-day classic game of observation. Each card in the tin is unique and has 8 symbolss on it.  However one of these, but only one, symbols is shared with each of other cards.  You have to be the first to spot that shared symbol .  It should be easy but it's not.

Suitable for 6 years+  (younger children might stuggle with some of the symbols so try Kids Dobble which has fewer but more recognisable symbols)

Outfoxed is an excellent cooperative deduction game.  Someone has stolen Mrs Plumpert's prize pie and you and the other players have to work out which fox is the guilty one.   At each roll of dice, you get a chance of finding a clue or revealing a suspect.  If you are unlucky or you make a mistake, the fox moves three steps closer to getting away.

Children like this game because it's fun.  Parents like it because it also encourages the children's logic and memory skills.

Each game takes about twenty minutes.

Age suitability: 5 +

2-4 players

Here is an excellent review on Youtube from Tom Vasel of the Dice Tower:

Colt Express is a fun board game in which you are one of a group of bandits trying to rob a train.  The board itself is a 3D train that you assemble out of cardboard before you play the game the first time. 

Each round of the game has two stages.  In the first stage, the Schemin' Phase, the players try to plan how their character will move around the train in the second stage and what it will do as it moves. So players take it in turn to lay down an activity card.  You will decide, for example, whether it moves from carriage to carriage, climbs onto the roof, robs the passengers, shoots or punches another character or moves the sheriff.  After everyone has laid down there four cards, the second stage, the Stealin' Phase, begins.  The bandits are moved around the train in the way that the cards instruct.  Some bandits may pick up the money and gems, others may be unlucky and meet the sheriff.

The game lasts for 5 rounds which should take about 40 minutes.

2-6 players (better and more chaotic with 4+)

Age suitability: 10+

Bigjig's version of the classic Mastermind game.  Ten rows to solve the problem.  Made of wood and the pegs are less fiddly than the plastic ones.

18.5 x 28 cm

Age suitability: 3 years +  (clever kid)

BJ694

28 chunky wooden dominoes in a sturdy wooden box with a sliding lid.

Storage box measures about 33 x 20 x 2.5 cm

Age suitability: 3 years +

BJ157

 Dixit is a light-hearted party game that works brilliantly when played by a group of 5 or 6 creative people.  It does not work so well with competitive, analytical types.  Yes, there is scoring and a winner but this is a game where the spirit in which you play the game  is more important than who won it.

The rules are quite straightforward.  You are dealt a hand of 6 cards.  The artwork on thesre cards is wonderful, somewhat whimsical, almost surreal.  One of the players is nominated to be the 'Story Teller'.  That person then chooses one of his cards and thinks up a clue about it.  That clue can be anything, a single word, a sentence, a short story, even just a sound.  The other players then look at their own cards and pick one for which the clue might also apply.  The Story Teller then takes each player's chosen card, shuffles them up with his own and then lays them all down face up. Players then have to guess which card is the Story Teller's.  This is where the skill of the Story Teller comes in.  If the clue is too obvious, everyone will guess correctly and the Story Teller gets no points.  If the clue is too obtuse and no one guesses correctly, again the Story Teller gets no points.  Ater each round, there is inevitably a post-mortem discussion and then a new round begins with a different story teller.

Games take about 30 minutes.

3 - 6 players (up to 12 with one of the expansions)

Age suitability: 8 - adult

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 agradually makes a discard pile.  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.

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.

A matching and memory game.  Be the first to fill your superhero game board.

2 - 4 players

Age suitability: 3-7 years

Orchard Toys is a Norfolk-based company designing and making their games in-house. They have been going for years and have a reputation for producing good, honest games which are both fun and educational.  All the games are fully tested by teachers and of course by children so they are totally safe and dependable.

Most of the games are aimed at the 3-6 year olds.  To an adult the games will inevitably seem somewhat simplistic but they really know that age group so I never have any hesitation about recommending them.  Obviously children develop at different rates so some children may not be able to follow the instructions at first but that doesn't seem to matter as they enjoy playing with the colourful cards.  As the child develops, it isn't long before they fully appreciate the game and they benefit from the educational aspects whilst enjoying themselves.

Based on the classic nursery rhyme, you race up to the top of the drain pipe but everyone knows what happens if it rains!

2 - 4 players

Age suitability: 3 - 6 years 

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Orchard Toys is a Norfolk-based company designing and making their games in-house. They have been going for years and have a reputation for producing good, honest games which are both fun and educational.  All the games are fully tested by teachers and of course by children so they are totally safe and dependable.

Most of the games are aimed at the 3-6 year olds.  To an adult the games will inevitably seem somewhat simplistic but they really know that age group so I never have any hesitation about recommending them.  Obviously children develop at different rates so some children may not be able to follow the instructions at first but that doesn't seem to matter as they enjoy playing with the colourful cards.  As the child develops, it isn't long before they fully appreciate the game and they benefit from the educational aspects whilst enjoying themselves.

A memory game that encourages healthy eating and good manners.

Everybody takes a playing board on which are six pictures of healthy foods.  The food cards are placed face down on the table.  The players then take it in turn to pick a card.  If a player picks a card showing one of the healthy foods on his board, he places it on his board.  If it doesn't match but it is still a healthy food, it goes back on the table face down.  If it is an unhealthy food (on a yellow background), it is fed to the gorilla who will burp after which all players must say 'excuse me'.  The winner is the player who fills his board first.

2-4 players

Age suitability: 4 - 8 years

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Orchard Toys is a Norfolk-based company designing and making their games in-house. They have been going for years and have a reputation for producing good, honest games which are both fun and educational.  All the games are fully tested by teachers and of course by children so they are totally safe and dependable.

Most of the games are aimed at the 3-6 year olds.  To an adult the games will inevitably seem somewhat simplistic but they really know that age group so I never have any hesitation about recommending them.  Obviously children develop at different rates so some children may not be able to follow the instructions at first but that doesn't seem to matter as they enjoy playing with the colourful cards.  As the child develops, it isn't long before they fully appreciate the game and they benefit from the educational aspects whilst enjoying themselves.

A fun way to introduce children to the 2, 5 and 10 times tables by tossing pancakes in the air.

2 - 4 players

Age suitability: 5-8 years

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Snakes and Ladders on one side of a colourful fairy-themed board, Ludo on the reverse.

2-4 players

Age suitability: 5 - 9 years

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A simple matching and memory game.  Each player has a board with 6 dinosaur pictures on.  The picture cards are placed faced downwards on the table.  Players take it in turn to pick a card.  If it matches one of the pictures on their card, they keep it.  If not, the card is returned to the table face downwards and it's the next player's turn.

The winner is the one who completes their dinosaur board first.

2 - 4 players

Age suitability: 3 - 7 years

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Orchard Toys is a Norfolk-based company designing and making their games in-house. They have been going for years and have a reputation for producing good, honest games which are both fun and educational.  All the games are fully tested by teachers and of course by children so they are totally safe and dependable.

Most of the games are aimed at the 3-6 year olds.  To an adult the games will inevitably seem somewhat simplistic but they really know that age group so I never have any hesitation about recommending them.  Obviously children develop at different rates so some children may not be able to follow the instructions at first but that doesn't seem to matter as they enjoy playing with the colourful cards.  As the child develops, it isn't long before they fully appreciate the game and they benefit from the educational aspects whilst enjoying themselves.

This game was 'Game of the Year' in 2017.  Superficially it is quite simple.  Everybody starts with a castle, around which you build your kingdom.  Then you choose your dominoes.  On these are pictured the type of lands you will have in your kingdom.  So you might have a domino with a square of forest at one end and water at the other, or another with meadow at both ends. After you have chosen each domino, you lay it around the castle and, like in dominoes, you can only put a farmland domino next to another farmland and so on. At each step your kingdom gets bigger.  The aim though is to build as big an area of each type of land as you can within your kingdom.  So you score more points if you have a block of five squares of farmland together than you would if those five squares were split. Once you have all placed your dominoes, that's the end of the game and you have to total the points.

Each round takes about 15 minutes.

2 - 4 players

Age suitability: 8 +

 Photosynthesis comes in a gorgeous box and the components, the trees and the board, are excellent too.  Luckily it's also a great game.

The idea is too plant, grow and eventually to harvest trees making the most of the available light at the same time as throwing your neighbour's trees into shadow.  The complication though is that the sun gradually moves round the table, altering what's in the light and what's in the shadows.

Each game takes about an hour.

2-4 players

 Age suitability: 8+

Here's a video from the game designers:

Rat-a-Tat-Cat is a quick and fun card game that should not trouble most people intellectually even though it has been endorsed by Mensa. A good memory helps though.

The aim is to assemble a hand of four cards that, when revealed, add up to the lowest possible number.  Cat cards are low number cards and so are good whereas rat cards have high numbers and should be discarded.  The problem is that you are only allowed to look at two of your cards and then only at the start of each game.

At each turn, you have a choice.  You can take the discard card and swap it with one of your cards.  Of course you know at the start the value of two of your cards but not of the other two cards, so it's a risk that you might be discarding a low value card.  You can take the unknown card off the top of the park and, having seen it, decide whether to keep it or put it back in the discard pile face up. Alternatively you may draw a 'power card' which could enable you to have a peek at one of your cards or swap one of yours, sight unseen, with one of your opponents.

When someone thinks they have assembled a winning hand, they call out rat-a-tat-cat and everybody has to add up the value of their cards to determine who has won that round.

Tha game takes about 20 minutes.

2-6 players

Age suitability: 6 +

Sleeping Queens is a card game in which the first player to wake up four of the 12 queens is the winner.  So you lay out the 12 queens face down (sleeping) on the table and deal five cards to each player. The stack of remaining cards is placed (face down) in the centre of the table.  When it's your turn, you must play one of your cards.   

Playing a king means that you get to wake up a queen; a knight enables you to steal one of your opponents' queens unless they hold a dragon card which counteracts a knight;  a sleeping potion card is used to send an opponent's queen back to sleep unless they can negate that with a magic wand card; jokers allow you to pick up another card from the pile number cards can be discarded singly or in multiples. At the end of your turn you pick up fresh cards so that you always have five cards in your card and of course you hope to pick the useful cards that will enable you to win more queens.  Sounds complicated but it's not really.  Each game takes about 20 minutes.

2 - 5 players

Age suitability: 8+  (although the game was invented by a six year old and many children below 8 will be able to enjoy the game)

At first sight, this is a wonderfully simple game. The goal is to put five marbles in a row on the board before your opponent does.  The board though is slightly different in that each quarter of the board can rotate in either direction. The twist in the game is that after placing your marble, you have to twist any quarter of the board a quarter turn.  So the board changes each go.  Your carefully prepared plan can be ruined when your opponent spots it and breaks the line by twisting one quarter.  Equally, if you are really clever, you can prepare a winning line out of sight and then twist it into being. 

2-person game

Age suitability: 8+

Battle Sheep is one of the more straightforward stategy board games.  The aim of the game is clear, the rules are easy to understand and each game doesn't take very long.

The aim of the game is to put your sheep over as much of the board (as many of the hexagonal fields) as possible.  You start off by creating the layout of the board.  Each player has four pasture pieces and takes it in turn to add a piece to the board in whichever way they like.  With the pasture created, each player positions their stack of 16 sheep tiles on any of the fields on the perimeter of the board. Leaving at least one sheep tile behind (to claim that field), you move a stack of tiles as far as you can go in a straight line in any direction.  On your next go, you move your stack in another direction, again leaving one behind to claim that field.  In this way, as the stacks get smaller, you start to carve the board up in such away that hopefully blocks in your competitors but allows you to claim a field each for your 16 sheep. The video below explains it much better than I can.

2-4 players

Age suitability: 7+

Here's a board game with a difference.  There's no board.  Instead the players create their own planet, by sticking desert, mountain, ice, water or forest tiles on a magnetic dodecahedron, an ingenious feature of the game.  You do this in a way that creates the most suitable habitats for animals.  So for example penguins would need a large area of ice next to water whereas an arctic wolf would need ice but not water.  Each game lasts about half an hour.

2-4 players

Age suitability: 8+ 

Here's an excellent review from Tom Vasel of the Dice Tower on Youtube:

and a video from the game designers:

Lovely co-operative game for children 7+ in which, working together, you have to move the four cute dinosaurs to safety on top of the mountains away from the encroaching larva, rescuing the eggs on the way.  Each game lasts about 25 minutes.

1-4 players

Age suitability: 7+

Here's an excellent video from Dice Towers from Youtube:

and a video from the game designers:

Five Crowns is a card game a bit like Rummy but with five suits, Stars being the extra suit.  The idea is to be the first to lay down your hand by assembling sequences (6,7,8,9 for example) or sets (three Jacks) for example.  It takes skill and a good dose of luck.  Each game takes about 45 minutes.

1-7 players

Age suitability: 8+

Here is a good explanatory video from the Board Game Museum:

Splender is a fast, tactical board game that has won many fans. It is also one of the easier board games to learn.

Set in the Renaissance period, you are jewel merchants, buying gem mines, transportation and shops and winning approval from the noblemen.

Here is the trailer for the game:

 Here is an excellent review of Splendor from Youtube.

Pandemic is the best-known of all the co-operative board games and deservedly so.

You and your co-players travel around the world fighting to contain and find a cure for a deadly disease that is spreading rapidly.  Each player has different roles with specific abilities to contribute to the team.

2-4 players

Age suitability: 8 (bright 8) to adult

Here's a youtube video from 'Watch It Played':

Ticket to Ride features in so many people's top 10 lists of board games and is often recommended to people new to the board game scene.  It is a stategy game in which you compete to connect cities by claiming train routes before your competitors can.

It comes in various formats.  The original one is based on North America.  This, the European one, has routes all over the continent from Edinburgh to Ankara which, unlike the original version, involves tunnels and ferries. 

2-5 players

Age suitability: 8 (bright 8) to adult

Here's an excellent video from 'Watch It Played' on Youtube:

Ticket to Ride features in so many people's top 10 lists of board games and is often recommended to people new to the board game scene.  It is a stategy game in which you compete to connect cities by claiming train routes before your competitors can.

It comes in various formats.  This is the original one based on North America.  The European one has routes all over the continent from Edinburgh to Ankara which, unlike the original version, involves tunnels and ferries.

2-5 players

Age suitability: 8 (bright 8) to adult