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Qwixx: A Quick Dice Game Where Choices Narrow as You Play
In a nutshell… Qwixx is a roll‑and‑write game played with six dice: two white and four coloured. Each player has a scoresheet with two rows (red and yellow) that increase from 2 to 12, and two rows (green and blue) that decrease from 12 to 2. Players use dice rolls to cross off numbers in… Read more
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Modern Classic Games for the summer holidays
As summer holidays approach, many parents are considering which pocket games to pack for travel, visitors and long hot afternoons indoors. I’ve spent the past few months writing about games you might not know yet but this week I’m looking at modern classics. These are games almost everyone recognises, even if they’ve not played them… Read more
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Similo – A Co‑op Game of Mind‑Reading and Clues
In a nutshell… Similo is a compact co-operative card game where players work together as a team to identify a secret character based on silent clues given by one of the team. It is suitable for 2-6 players and takes around 10 to 15 minutes to play. One player knows which character is the chosen… Read more
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Love Letter — A deceptively simple game about reading people
In a nutshell… Love Letter is a small card game (just 16 cards!) where players compete to have the highest card at the end of each round. Players do this by playing cards with different effects, themed around delivering a message to the princess. Along the way, they encounter characters such as spies, guards, priests,… Read more
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No Thanks! — Working out when to stop
In a nutshell… No Thanks! is a card game where players choose whether to take a card or pass by paying a token from a finite supply. Each turn, a card is revealed. Players can either take it, along with any tokens placed on it, or pass by adding one of their own tokens. The… Read more
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Rhino Hero – Taking turns to build a wobbly tower
In a nutshell… Rhino Hero is a card-based stacking game where players build a tower by placing walls and floors carefully on top of each other. It is suitable for 2–5 players and takes around 5–10 minutes to play. On each turn, players add a layer to the structure following simple placement rules. Their choice… Read more
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The Mind – Collaborative play without words
In a nutshell… The Mind is a compact cooperative card game where players try to play numbered cards in order without speaking or signalling. It is suitable for 2–4 players and a full game (over several rounds) takes up to 20 minutes, although it can be much quicker. At the start of each round, each… Read more
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Cobra Paw — A fun way to wake everyone up
In a nutshell… Cobra Paw is a fast reaction game where players roll two chunky dice and then race to grab the tile that matches the symbols shown. Each tile has a unique combination of symbols and the aim is to end the game with more tiles than the other players. The tiles are laid… Read more
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Swish and SET – two ways of seeing patterns
These two games both put a shared display of cards in the middle of the table and ask players to look for patterns. So they look similar on the table, but they feel quite different to play. Unlike the previous game, these rely on everyone having a good view of the same shared layout in… Read more
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Shut the Box – a simple, structured time-filler
In a nutshell… Shut the Box is a simple dice game played on a small wooden board with numbered flaps. Players roll two dice and then choose which numbers to “shut” based on the numbers rolled. The aim is to close as many numbers as possible before you can no longer make a move. It… Read more