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Magic Maze
Magic maze is a co-operative game for 1-8 people . It's an easy to learn, engaging, heart-racing, adventure!
The story line: A mage, an elf, a barbarian and a dwarf are robbed of their possessions and head to the local Magic Maze shopping mall to rob, in turn, the equipment they'll need for their next adventure.
The plan is for everyone to pull off a heist simultaneously, and dash for the exits! Once every character is out, the game is won.
Every players acts simultaneously - with unique actions - and controls all characters in the game. In this timed tale, as the game progresses, the map gets uncovered, and the game rules change!
There is one twist that makes this game even more exciting: there is no talking allowed, during the active game play.
Overall, this game brings a unique invigoration, as each player keeps their eyes spanning the map for available moves.
Once you know how to play, it only takes 15 mins to go through a round. And there are many levels of cumulative challenges available to explore!
This game gets my two thumbs up!
-Reese
This game plays best with 2-4 players.
Player Count: 1-8
Difficulty Level: easy to play, 10-15 mins to learn
Time: 15 mins
Age: 8+
Review: 2 thumbs up
Galaxy Trucker
Galaxy Trucker is a fast-paced game for 1-4 scrappy intergalactic pilots. Players race against the clock to cobble together a space-worthy ship that will (hopefully!) hold itself together through a series of obstacles such as meteor swarms and space pirate attacks.
There are no specified turns in this game, as both ship-building and journeying through space take place simultaneously for all players.
To build your ship, you pick components like cannons, engines, and crew quarters from a communal pile in the middle of the play area and place them on your player mat. Be careful to match up the connectors between parts carefully or you may just lose half of your ship before you start flying!
The game takes place over three rounds, with an increasingly large spaceship to build and more dangerous (and rewarding) adventures during the flight each round. The winner is whichever player manages to earn the most cash from shipping goods and keeping their spaceship intact!
The relatively simple mechanics and friendly, humorous rulebook make this game approachable and super fun! As long as you can accept that your spaceship will blow up at some point during the game, I guarantee that you will enjoy playing!
Player Count: 2-4 players
Difficult Level: Easy to play, 15-20 minutes to learn
Time: ~60 min
Age: 10+
Review: Chaotic and fun!
Steam Park
In Steam Park, players take on the role of carnival owners and compete to build the best, cleanest, and most profitable carnival for the hard-working robot citizens of Roboburg. Build colourful rides and service stands, attract visitors, and clear dirt from your park in this creative strategy game!
Each turn as the game progresses, your amusement park will acquire a certain amount of dirt based on the number of visitors in your park, how fast you pick your actions, and whether you are unlucky enough to have dirt icons show up on your dice!
Dirt piles up very quickly and Roboburg has high standards for cleanliness, so it's important to clear as much dirt as you can while you're building new attractions for the visitors!
The 3-dimensional cardboard components and colourful meeples in this game contribute greatly to its creativity and charm!
There are endless different strategies to try and each game is different from the last and equally as fun. I would recommend this game to anyone who loves adorable strategy games, amusement parks, and/or robots!
Player Count: 2-4 players
Difficulty Level: A little complicated - lots of rules to remember! But overall not too difficult. Approx. 20 minutes to learn.
Time: ~60 min
Age: 10+
Review: Witty and unique!
Lost Cities
Lost Cities is a competitive card game for two players. Acting as explorers, the players build expedition routes to distant and mysterious locations with the cards in their hand. Add as many cards to each of your expeditions as possible to get the most discovery points and win!
The two players take turns placing cards on the board, either adding to a current expedition, starting a new expedition, or discarding a card to the middle of the board for communal use.
Once the draw pile is empty, the round ends and players total their points. Be careful - starting an expedition is expensive and there is a minimum amount of points that must be reached in each expedition to pay your expenses before you can score any discovery points yourself!
This game has simple mechanics but a surprising amount of strategy to be applied! It can be played and replayed hundreds of times without getting boring, even if you're just in it to look at the cool art on the expedition cards!
Player Count: 2
Difficulty Level: Easy to learn and play, about 10 minutes to learn
Time: ~30 min
Age: 10+
Review: Addictive and super approachable!