Games and Puzzles

 Play the centuries-old strategy game on this wooden board.

Comes with 48 colourful acrylic 'stones'.

Two-player game for people of almost all ages (not suitable for the under 3 year-olds - small bits - choking hazard).

34007

Colourful wooden board with four wooden counters and a dice.

28 cm across

Age suitability: 3 years +

BJ788

Camel Up features a camel race and you have to bet on the winners and losers.  Throwing the dice determines which camel moves forward and how far but it's not quite so simple.

Each game takes about half an hour.

3-8 players

Age suitability: 8+

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Abalone is like chess played with marbles but thankfully the rules are more simple and straightforward.  It is two-person game that bright seven year olds will be able to play.  There's even an Abalone world championship.

You have a hexagonal board with 14 white marbles set up against your opponent's 14 black ones. When it's your turn, you move one of your marbles, or a row of two or three marbles, one step in any direction. When your marbles meet your opponents, on your next move you can push them backwards, forwards or sideways.  The aim is to push your opponent's marbles off the board and into the gutter that surrounds it but your column of marbles has to bigger than theirs.  So you need two of your marbles to push one of their marbles, three of yours to push two of theirs. The winner is the first to push off 6 marbles.  For most people, the game will last about 20 minutes.

Here's a video explaining it:

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7 Wonders has won a huge number of awards since it was released in 2010.

It can be played by 2-7 players but probably best avoided if there are only two of you.  Games take about half an hour. 

Like most board games, the rules are a little complicated to explain in a few sentences. It's only by playing the game do you really get to understand it.

At the start of the game, you get one of the Seven Wonders of the World and seven cards. You then pass six of the cards to your neighbour.  The one you choose to keep back could be used for several purposes: for resources, to build your Wonder and to strengthen your military might. Of the six cards you receive from your neighbour, you choose one and pass the remaining ones on. It goes on like that until the initial cards are all used and that's the end of the first round or Age 1.  There are two further Ages each a little more complex.à At the end of Age 3, you tot up the points you will have received for your efforts to decide the winner.

Here is a short explanatory video:

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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.

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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:

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 these 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.  After 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

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':

Wooden board marked with the numbers 1 to 90.

90 wooden number discs.

48 cards

28 cm across

Age suitability: 3 years +

BJ788