Fun times across the board
of the boardgame cafe Tabletop Cork on Castle Street, gives us his top tips for playing together as a family
Board games bring people together.
In this time of physical distancing, it is more important than ever that we use this time to connect with the people closest to us.
We are in each others’ space more now than we normally are, and games offer a fun way to deal with this proximity.
All of us have memories of playing games like Cluedo, Guess Who or Monopoly with family as children.
These games are still massively popular, in both our city centre cafe and West Cork bar, and they will forever have their place; but maybe you and yours would like to try something a little different during this time of isolation?
Game sales have been rising steadily for the past number of years, and last year industry forecasters estimated the board game industry would rise to a value of €9bn by 2023.
These figures are not based solely on the classics, which while still popular, are gradually being overtaken by new waves of titles which are being released every year.
There is a game out there for everyone and every occasion. Have fun finding the right one for you.
Families with Younger Players -
This game takes the basic idea of the grown up Ticket to Ride games, and simplifies things.
Players have a hand of destination tickets and must collect sets of coloured cards in order to lay their trains down on the board, joining up their cities.
A great game for teaching turn taking, while learning the capital cities of Europe
-Â The fast talking, quick thinking game, for kids!
This junior version of 30 Seconds has simplified words and a faster play time.
Designed in Ireland, there will be something on every card that everyone will know.
A great game for when you want to develop language skills and build up the energy levels a little bit.
Families with Teens -
Games in which you are competing, but not necessarily competing in the same space, are great for this age group.
Legendary Forest can be described as a solitaire/ competitive game; as each player is building
their own forest grid using the same information, but will score points based on how well they arrange their tiles and make use of their space.
There will be a winner, but you won’t feel attacked.
or
A semi co-operative game, the point scoring in this is really secondary to the thrill of solving the mystery.
One player takes on the role of a ghost, with the remaining players all become psychics attempting to solve the murder.
Of course the ghost knows the answers; they know who the murderer was, what the weapon was, and where the deed was done (sound familiar?).
Over a number of rounds the ghost gives the other players clues in the form of abstract art cards, similar in style to those found in Dixit.
A little fiddly to set up, but well worth the effort as the game unfolds.
Playing with Friends Online -
In this game, two teams face off attempting to locate a certain number of spies (cards) in a grid.
Each card has a word, and each team assigns a spymaster that is given a special card which tells them where their team’s spies are hidden.
The spymasters give their team-mates clues, a single word, and a number, which tells the team how many words in the grid the clue refers to.
It is very easy to pick up, although I personally struggle with being the spymaster!
To play remotely, simply set up a camera designated specifically to look at the grid of words. For the code cards, the spymasters need to be looking at the same codecard.
One way of doing this is to set up a message group (for example Whatsapp) in advance, and dump a number of photographs of different cards into that.
Roll some dice and use the photograph which matches that number!
Last year's Game of the Year -
Another word game, but this time you will get to work together with those people that you like so much!
In Just One, which won the prestigious Game of the Year award at Essen Spiel in 2019, players work together to uncover as many of the mystery words as they can.
In each round there is a guesser who does not get to see the word. All the other players write clues and share their clues, with any duplicates being discarded.
You need your clue to be relevant enough for the guesser to find their way to the answer, but original enough that it will not be eliminated.
This game is easily adapted to play via webcam, as the guesser simply needs to close their eyes or look away while their teammates select a word and compare clues.
Highly recommended!
Table for One -
Tiny Towns is for 1 to 6 players, and it is the first time I have played a game and thought afterwards, I would really like to try this solo.
In Tiny Towns players take turns naming a resource, and then all players take a cube of that type and place it into their 4x4 town.
The solo mechanic replaces other players with a deck of cards which limits the resource choice on each turn.
To build structures in your town grid, you place the coloured resource cubes in different patterns, as demonstrated on the face-up structure cards.
Your final score is compared against a list, giving you a skill level from aspiring architect to master architect.
or
If you have ever tried or heard of an escape room you’ll have the basic idea of how these games work. They are escape rooms in a box.
The player, or players, must solve puzzles and riddles to escape.
There is little difference to the game play in playing these series solo or with a team, although it can be nice to know that you worked it all out on your own!
A great solo puzzling adventure.
For a more challenging game -
Ghost Stories is a co-operative game which can be played solo.
Although not all co-op games will list as a single player option, most can be made to work for just one; although if the game is not specifically designed for solo play it may be cumbersome to take on multiple roles within the game.
In Ghost Stories, players must co-operate to protect the village from incarnations of the lord of hell, Wu-Feng, and his legions of ghosts before they haunt a town and recover Wu-Feng’s ashes to reanimate him.
Each player represents a Taoist monk.
I’ve only played this game once, and it was hard.
From what I have read, the solo play is no less unforgiving.
The games listed above may offer you and your isolating friends a welcome distraction.
You may even find your new favourite game or style of game during this time at home.
If you do decide to try something new, or stick with the classics, the only thing that really matters is that you have fun gaming. (And shop local!)
For more information or with any questions please contact Chris or Emer at info@tabletopcork.ie www.tabletopcork.ie/shop
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