New to Games? 5 - Shut Up & Sit Down

The Mind

The Mind is an experiment, a journey, a team experience in which you can’t exchange information, yet will become one to defeat all the levels of the game.

In more detail, the deck contains cards numbered 1-100, and during the game you try to complete 12, 10, or 8 levels of play with 2, 3, or 4 players. In a level, each player receives a hand of cards equal to the number of the level: one card in level 1, two cards in level 2, etc. Collectively you must play these cards into the center of the table on a single discard pile in ascending order but you cannot communicate with one another in any way as to which cards you hold. You simply stare into one another’s eyes, and when you feel the time is right, you play your lowest card. If no one holds a card lower than what you played, great, the game continues! If someone did, all players discard face up all cards lower than what you played, and you lose one life.

You start the game with a number of lives equal to the number of players. Lose all your lives, and you lose the game. You start with one shuriken as well, and if everyone wants to use a shuriken, each player discards their lowest card face up, giving everyone information and getting you closer to completing the level. As you complete levels, you might receive a reward of a shuriken or an extra life. Complete all the levels, and you win!

In Patchwork, two players compete to build the most aesthetic (and high-scoring) patchwork quilt on a personal 9×9 game board.

Zestrea is a marriage negotiation game, for 3-6 players, inspired from ridiculous Romanian traditions. Work hard, secure your dowry (Zestre), and match spouses wisely! This particular village is plagued by silly yet somewhat historically accurate catastrophes. From foreign invaders to highways in your yard, from Chernobyl to communism, who knows what destiny will throw your … Read more

Help nature reclaim what is hers by restoring a polluted valley to its pristine state. Place your animal dominoes along the course of a brook and replant the surrounding land to score points. But when is the best moment to plant each of your various plants? And where are the best spots to do so? … Read more

Queen Gimnax has ordered the reclamation of the northern lands. As a cartographer in her service, you are sent to map this territory, claiming it for the Kingdom of Nalos. Through official edicts, the queen announces which lands she prizes most, and you will increase your reputation by meeting her demands. But you are not … Read more

When you add Decrypto: Expansion #01 – Laserdrive to the base game, each round you draw a category card — movie titles, tourist attractions, words that begin with an A, etc. — and at least one of the clues that you give to your teammates must match this category. If all three of your clues … Read more

A new party game with codes! Teammates try to transmit secret codes without letting the opposing team intercept them.

In more detail, each team has their own screen, and in this screen they tuck four cards in pockets numbered 1-4, letting everyone on the same team see the words on these cards while hiding the words from the opposing team. In the first round, each team does the following: One team member takes a code card that shows three of the digits 1-4 in some order, e.g., 4-2-1. They then give a coded message that their teammates must use to guess this code. For example, if the team’s four words are ‘pig’, ‘candy’, ‘tent’, and ‘son’, then I might say ‘Sam-striped-pink’ and hope that my teammates can correctly map those words to 4-2-1. If they guess correctly, great; if not, we receive a black mark of failure.

Starting in the second round, a member of each team must again give a clue about their words to match a numbered code. If I get 2-4-3, I might now say, ‘sucker-prince-stake’. The other team then attempts to guess our numbered code. If they’re correct, they receive a white mark of success; if not, then my team must guess the number correctly or take a black mark of failure. (Guessing correctly does nothing except avoid failure and give the opposing team information about what our hidden words might be.)

The rounds continue until a team collects either its second white mark (winning the game) or its second black mark (losing the game). Games typically last between 4-7 rounds. If neither team has won after eight rounds, then each team must attempt to guess the other team’s words; whichever team guesses more words correctly wins.

Geometric Art is a party game which is a drawing game in which everyone take turns to drawing and guessing, The simple goal is to let the guesser understand the name of your artwork. Remember, you may only be able to finish your “Art work” with a few geometric symbols. In Geometric Art , every round will exchange … Read more

Unlike in other cultures, the desert Tuareg men, known as Targi, cover their faces whereas women of the tribe do not wear veils. They run the household and they have the last word at home in the tents. Different families are divided into tribes, headed by the ‘Imascheren’ (or nobles). As leader of a Tuareg … Read more

Ice Team is a two-player racing game in which you have to bring your polar bears as quickly as possible to the finish line, having collected as many fish as possible from the igloos. Each turn, a player moves one of their four bears in any directions over round ice tiles with either an ice … Read more

The Mind

Patchwork

Zestrea

Renature

Cartographers: A Roll Player Tale

Decrypto: Laser Drive

Decrypto

Geometric Art

Targi

Ice Team

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