Party Archives - Punchboard https://mail.punchboard.co.uk/tag/party/ Board game reviews & previews Tue, 16 Jan 2024 11:42:20 +0000 en-GB hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.7.1 https://punchboard.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/pale-yellow-greenAsset-13-150x150.png Party Archives - Punchboard https://mail.punchboard.co.uk/tag/party/ 32 32 Medium Review https://punchboard.co.uk/medium-game-review/ https://punchboard.co.uk/medium-game-review/#respond Tue, 16 Jan 2024 11:42:03 +0000 https://punchboard.co.uk/?p=5048 Medium, the mind-reading game from Greater Than Games. Medium, like so many of the best party games, is based around a simple concept: How well do you know the person sitting next to you?

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Continuing the series of party game reviews, I’m taking a look at Medium, the mind-reading game from Greater Than Games. Medium, like so many of the best party games, is based around a simple concept: How well do you know the person sitting next to you? Can you guess what they’re thinking? It’s quick, easy, and a lot of fun.

One degree of separation

Medium’s ‘one simple trick to keep you playing’ is associating words with other words. Play goes around the table with one person turning to the person to their left. Each chooses a card from their hand and reads it out loud. The cards have a single word on them. Both people then access their latent psychic abilities to come up with a word that links the two words on the cards. Not just any word mind you. The same word.

Let’s pretend that you and I are playing, dear reader. You chose a card with ‘screen’ on it, and mine says ‘refrigerator’. We have a think, link our hive mind, and both simultaneously shout “Door“. As in ‘screen door’ and refrigerators have doors. So that’s the obvious answer, right? Right!?

What’s that? You didn’t say ‘door’? You said ‘electricity’? Oh for fluff’s sake…

When that situation happens, you get a second bite at the cherry, but this time the words to link are the words you just said. In this instance, we’ve got to go again, but this time trying to link ‘door’ and ‘electricity’. If we get it this time, we still get points, just not as many. If we fail we get one more try with the third set of words for even fewer points. Fail that, and it’s a big fat zero, and definitely your partner’s fault for not thinking the right way.

cards from the game Medium
Some of the cards from Medium. Image credit BGG user @kalchio

Sharing is caring

The scoring in Medium fits in with the theme of working together, and you’ll do well if you manage to work with both your neighbours. Remember, that as well as having someone on your left, you’re also someone else’s ‘player on your left’. When you get a matching word you take a score token from the pile in the middle of the table, the value of which is based on how many attempts it took you. The score token sits between you and your neighbour.

When you come to do final scoring at the end of the game, you total up the points on both sides of you. So, mind-meld with both neighbours, you’re going to do well.

I like it when games make use of the concept of working with your neighbours, just like Between Two Cities, or the follow-up, Between Two Castles of Mad King Ludwig. It’s a nice thing to make scoring dependent on working with two different people, and it really encourages teamwork and a mutual want to do well.

Final thoughts

Medium ticks all the boxes to make it a great party game. It’s easy to explain, you can play with anyone (language-dependent), and most importantly, it’s a lot of fun. Even though there are only two people playing in each turn, it doesn’t feel like there’s any downtime. That’s thanks mostly to just how engaging and interactive the game is. The people around the table not taking part in a turn are usually the noisiest infact. It’s common to hear “Ooh I’ve got a good one”, “This is so obvious!”, and other things like that when the words are read out. It’s just as common to hear “Oh, that’s not what I thought at all”, when the answers are read out.

I think the designers must have realised the same during development, as there are some extra ‘ESP’ cards you can use in the game as an optional addon, one of which lets you join in with another pair’s turn, and score points at the same time!

The only problem I’ve found is when you play with a large player count. We played with seven people at my local group’s Christmas party, and the number of cards used in the game scales with the player count. It’s good in a way because it means everyone always gets roughly the same number of turns, regardless of the number of people around the table. On the flip side though, when you play with seven of eight players, the game can take a long time to get to the end of. You may want to house rule it to limit the number of turns so that it doesn’t outstay its welcome.

Other than that, Medium is a great addition to any family’s game collection and comes highly recommended.

You can buy this game from my retail partner, Kienda. Remember to sign-up for your account at kienda.co.uk/punchboard for a 5% discount on your first order of £60 or more.



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medium box art

Medium (2019)

Design: Danielle Deley, Lindsey Sherwood, Nathan Thornton
Publisher: Greater Than Games
Art: Sarah Kelly
Players: 2-8
Playing time: 30-60 mins

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Secret Identity Review https://punchboard.co.uk/secret-identity-game-review/ https://punchboard.co.uk/secret-identity-game-review/#respond Mon, 08 Jan 2024 13:05:14 +0000 https://punchboard.co.uk/?p=5026 We'll start with the bit you probably want to know - is it any good? The answer is yes, it's great, with a small caveat for younger players.

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We’re fresh into 2024, and maybe you found your way here as someone new to board and card games. Maybe you played something different with friends and family over the festive period and it piqued your interest. Given that it’s often party games that get played with groups during holidays, let’s have a look at some party games that you might not have played before, and broaden your horizons. This time it’s the turn of Secret Identity, a deduction party game for three to eight players. We’ll start with the bit you probably want to know – is it any good?

The answer is yes, it’s great, with a small caveat for younger players.

Get a clue

The basic premise of Secret Identity is to get the other players to guess your mystery person, while simultaneously trying to guess every other player’s identity. How do you do this? Pictures, dear friend.

At the start of the game, eight cards are placed face-up, next to a number from one to eight, each with the name of someone famous on them. It might be a real person or a fictional one. It could be a super-famous pop singer or a character from a TV programme like Game of Thrones. There are eight face-down keys up for grabs in the middle of the table, and everyone takes one before looking at it to see who their key’s number corresponds with.

Each player also has a stack of ten pictorial clue cards. They’re double-sided with a picture on either end, for a total of four potential clues per card. On your player board there’s a cardboard flap you can tuck cards behind. Some slots along this flap have red dots, some have green dots. You try to place your clues so that green means ‘this person is associated with this thing’, and red means ‘this person has nothing to do with this thing’.

So I might have Darth Vader as my secret identity, which means I tuck my card showing a dove of peace into the red slots, and another showing a spaceship in the green slots. On their own, maybe that’s not enough, but when compared to the other seven names on the table, it might be.

secret identity board, cards and player boards

In a flap

The trick to making a party game stand out over any other is having some kind of gimmick, and Secret Identity’s gimmick is a winner. At the top of each player board, there are eight holes behind a hinged, magnetic flap. Your secret identity key goes in the first slot, and the flap covers the number on it. When it’s time to guess you pass the boards around and each person can take one of the numbered keys in their chosen colour and slot in the key with the number they think matches the clues.

Once the boards have gone around the group you get to have this wonderful moment of The Big Reveal, where each person gets to fold down the flap on their board and reveal the numbers on the keys. You get the great thing which makes a party game a winner, where half the table cheers while the other half groans.

Games like this always generate the most fun in my experience. Secret Identity, Just One, So Clover, Codenames, Mysterium – games where the person giving the clues gets a chance to explain their choices. These discussions are usually where most of the fun of the game comes from, and Secret Identity has it in spades.

Final thoughts

So Secret Idetity is a winner. At least, it is in my friend and family groups. It’s pretty easy to explain, and everyone gets it after a single round. The thing I particularly like is that the clues are all pictorial which removes language dependence, and also makes it more accessible for people who find reading small text hard. I didn’t realise the importance of this until I played Just One with my family over Christmas, and my dad had forgotten his glasses. He just couldn’t read the text on those cards, but managed just fine with black and white line art on these.

The biggest problem I found with the game is with younger players. My son is 11 now, and every time we sit down to play with him I have to discard a load of cards during setup, because they’re names of people and characters he has no knowledge of. Sometimes because they’re TV characters from things he hasn’t seen (kids these days seem to watch substantially more Youtube than TV and movies), and other times they’re singers, politicians or actors from well before his time.

Still, that’s a minor (pun not intended, but very welcome) problem in the grand scheme of things. It’s still a game he loves playing, and I can see him get excited every time he gets a chance to explain the (often very clever) reasoning behind his clues.

For less than 30 quid, it’s a winner in my book. I say this as someone who bought the game after playing someone else’s copy and knew right away that I needed a copy. You can pick it up at my partner store, Kienda, right here. Remember, if you’re signing up for a new account, you can get 5% off your first £60 spend by signing up here – kienda.co.uk/punchboard.


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secret identity box art

Secret Identity (2022)

Design: Johan Benvenuto, Alexandre Droit, Kévin Jost, Bertrand Roux
Publisher: Funnyfox
Art: Alain Boyer
Players: 3-8
Playing time: 20-40 mins

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Asteroid Dice Preview https://punchboard.co.uk/asteroid-dice-preview/ https://punchboard.co.uk/asteroid-dice-preview/#respond Fri, 19 May 2023 12:10:00 +0000 https://punchboard.co.uk/?p=4443 Asteroid Dice is best described as Throw Throw Burrito in spaaaaaace! But it's also got a bit of bluffing thrown in and a natty, secondary throwing part to it which reminds me of Strike, despite being pretty different.

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I have a bit of a problem. When I talk about a game that takes a theme or a mechanism and transplants it into a space setting, I’m unable to do it without adding “in spaaaaaace!” afterwards. So let’s just get it out of the way right now. Asteroid Dice is best described as Throw Throw Burrito in spaaaaaace! But it’s also got a bit of bluffing thrown in and a natty, secondary throwing part to it which reminds me of Strike, despite being pretty different. If you’ve got a very specific set of criteria for a game which just so happens to match this description, this is your perfect game. For the rest of us, we’re just going to have a good time throwing stuff at our friends and loved ones.

Deep Impact

The first thing you’ll notice about the game is the collection of big, squishy dice. Asteroids? Diceteroids? Whatever, they’re squidgy, vibrant, and they look like they were made for giants with anger issues. They’re also incredibly tactile. I mean seriously, seriously good fun to play with. In the aforementioned burrito game, the titular burritos were also squishy, but not in a ‘toss up and down in your hand’, fiddly, juggley, kind of way, not like these asteroids. You’ll notice that the asteroids include all the standard dice types for a tabletop RPG. You’ve got a D6, D8, D10, D12, and a D20, which is really cool. Firm bouncy, and satisfying to play with, like so many of the best things in life. They might even be the gentle nudge you need to get your hardcore D&D friend to emerge from behind their GM screen and engage in some primal tomfoolery.

This is the version on the right is the one I was sent. Bright, colourful dice and artwork

Playing the game is simple enough that the rules are printed on a three-fold sheet of paper. Everyone plays a card from their hand, face-down, and then they’re all revealed. Most show one of the dice on them, and there are a couple of special cards too. If yours is the only card showing a particular die – congratulations! – you just take it. If two or more of you play the same card, however, it’s battle stations. The players who matched scramble to grab that die and throw it at the other person. Imagine Cobra Paw, but you could throw the tile at the other people. If you hit the other person, you add the loser’s card to your score pile. If you miss, you can expect it to be picked up and returned with all the haste of a Happy Meal box full of turds.

When everybody has licked their wounds, and the losers take what’s left in the pool of unclaimed dice, you move on to the part where you score the majority of the points. The player with the die with the most sides throws it onto the table. Then the next biggest die, and so on. The trick here is to aim to knock the other dice to change their scores. There is nothing as satisfying as picking up your feeble D6, aiming at the D20 with an 18 or something ridiculous on it, and knocking it down to single figures. Even if you don’t win the round, there’s this delicious, spiteful part of your brain which is doused with dopamine when you prevent some smug git from winning. It’s a glorious feeling, and it abounds in Asteroid Dice.

Abounds, I tell you!

Final thoughts

This was never going to be a big review. It’s a game about chucking squidgy things at your mates. I’ve just posted reviews of Skymines (here) and Beyond The Sun (here) which are space games that take themselves seriously, but Asteroid Dice is a stupid, raucous blast. Throwing stuff at people is fun, and I’ll fight anyone who says otherwise. I’ll fight them with squidgy dice from 3ft.

the kickstarter edition
This Kickstarter edition is gorgeous, I just wonder if it’ll be harder to spot your die, and whether that’s a bad thing or not.

The best advice I can give you if you’re thinking about backing the game, or picking it up if you’re reading this post-Kickstarter, is to consider two things. Firstly, who will you play it with, and secondly, where will you play it? If your answer is ‘With the elderly and toddlers in a china & knife warehouse”, then it’s not for you. In all seriousness though, some people don’t like any kind of conflict at all, so be mindful of who’s around the table, and what space you have to play it in.

Asteroid Dice is silly and funny, and I can see it getting plenty of play in the garden and at barbecues over the summer. It’s a great game for non-gamers too if they’re willing to give it a go. While I wouldn’t necessarily endorse my own house rules for playing with my oldest mates of ‘loser takes a drink’ and ‘headshots only’, we certainly had a blast with it. It’s a game which won’t take up a lot of space and packs a lot of fun into a few cards and squodgy blocks. I’m looking forward to seeing what Camden Games come up with next.

The Kickstarter campaign starts on May 23rd 2023, and you can find it right here.

Preview copy kindly provided by Camden Games. Thoughts and opinions are my own.


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asteroid dice box and conternts

Asteroid Dice (2023)

Design: uncredited
Publisher: Camden Games
Art: uncredited
Players: 2-5
Playing time: 15 mins

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The Halloween Board Game Guide https://punchboard.co.uk/halloween-board-game-guide/ https://punchboard.co.uk/halloween-board-game-guide/#respond Mon, 03 Oct 2022 19:38:56 +0000 https://punchboard.co.uk/?p=3656 Now that we're able to be in the same room as other people again, why not throw a Halloween party of your own, and get family and friends gathered around a table to turn the spook dial all the way up to 11.

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You can call me a big kid if you like, but I love this time of year, and Halloween is one of my favourite parts. People throw parties and gatherings all over the world, reveling in the spookiness of it all.

Now that we’re able to be in the same room as other people again, why not throw a Halloween party of your own, and get family and friends gathered around a table to turn the spook dial all the way up to 11. Below you’ll find my guide to my favourite Halloween games for families, kids, gamers, and groups of friends. Whatever your situation, you’ll be able to find something to fit the bill.

halloween board game guide

Special note: Kienda is now a sponsor of Punchboard. Some of the included games are available there. If you buy any of them (or any others), and your order totals £60 or more, you can get 5% off your purchase. Just head to kienda.co.uk/punchboard to create your account. No tricks, just treats.

Clickable games index

Family GamesChildren’s GamesGamers’ GamesParty Games
Horrified
Scooby-Doo: Haunted Mansion
Mysterium
Zombie Kidz Evolution
Ghost Fightin’ Treasure Hunters
Ghost Adventure
Betrayal at House on the Hill
Abomination
Zombicide: 2nd Edition
Mansions of Madness: 2E
One Night Ultimate Werewolf
Medium
Blood on the Clocktower

Family games

I’ve chosen these games to work with a combination of adults and older kids. Or just adults, there’s no shame in a bit of Scooby-Doo action, especially at Halloween.

horrified box art
horrified game

Horrified

I reviewed Horrified here on the site a while back, and it’s still in my collection. It’s a cooperative game (great to avoid arguments!) in which you’re trying to stop the monsters from achieving their goals.

The monsters are classics from Universal’s back catalogue, including Dracula, Frankenstein’s Monster (and his wife), and The Wolfman. They can be mixed and matched, and all play the game very differently.

It works great on a family games night because of the combination of bright colours, cool plastic monster minis, and the ‘us against the monsters’ feel. Younger kids can play too but might take a little bit of careful steering by experienced parents. Win or lose, you’re all in it together.

Scooby-Doo: Escape from the Haunted Mansion

Nothing says “child-friendly spooky” like Scooby-Doo. There are probably countless games out there that bear everyone’s favourite scaredy-dog’s name, but Escape from the Haunted Mansion (review here) must surely be the best.

It’s another cooperative game in which you control the gang as they attempt to escape the titular mansion. The artwork and presentation are fantastic, and you’ll use the various books included in the game to do your very best Shaggy impressions – like, zoiks!

The gameplay is great and makes clever use of a code system. If you want to try using an item with a character’s skill, look up the unique code in the book and see what happens. My son absolutely loved this game, and I think your kids will too.

Scooby doo box art
scooby doo character cards
mysterium box art
mysterium game

Mysterium

It doesn’t get much spookier than ghosts, right? Mysterium is another cooperative game, where one player is a ghost, and the others are paranormal investigators.

If you’re the ghost, you don’t speak at all in Mysterium. Instead, you try to pass clues as to the identity of your killer, and the location and weapon. The clues come in the form of dream-like cards which you hand to the players, who then have to decipher your hint from the (sometimes surreal) images on the cards.

It’s great fun, and half the fun comes when you fail and try to explain how each card was meant to be a clue for something really tangential.

Buy it now at Kienda and don’t forget to sign-up with this link for a potential 5% off (see top of page)


Children’s games

Halloween is (apparently) for kids, so ramp up the spook factor safely with games like these.

Zombie Kidz Evolution

Kids’ games don’t have to stray far from the path of the sort of games hobbyists play. Zombie Kidz Evolution is a proper Legacy game, but one which your screaming ankle-biters control.

As unlikely a scenario as it may be, in Zombie Kidz Evolution the kids are trying to save the school. The janitor scarpered at the first sign of trouble, and the children need to work together to fend off the zombie horde while trying to lock the entrances to keep them out.

They’ll unlock new heroes, and new abilities, and even get to do the cool thing of opening envelopes to see how the story progresses. It’s a fantastic game that deserves to hold the #1 spot on BGG’s children’s games list.

Buy it now at Kienda and don’t forget to sign-up with this link for a potential 5% off (see top of page)

zombie kidz evolution box art
zombie kidz evolution
ghost fightin treasure hunters box art
ghosts!
Photo credit: Steph Hodge

Ghost Fightin’ Treasure Hunters

This game is so frequently recommended for kids that not including it in a list of top Halloween kids’ games would be criminal. It’s another cooperative game and this time you’re trying to find jewels in a house. A haunted house!

It’s really easy to play – rolling dice to move around, collect treasure and fight ghosts. There are some great little tweaks that force the kids to work as a team, like for example when a third ghost enters a room and it becomes a Haunting. Two of you then need to fight those spooks.

The little ghosts are adorable, and the plastic player characters are very cool, with slots in their backpacks that the jewels actually fit into. It’s basically a lighter Pandemic, but with ghosts instead of diseases, which is awesome.

Ghost Adventure

Ghost Adventure is a bit of a gimmick game, but it’s a great gimmick. The aim is to guide your ghost mouse (don’t ask) on missions, collecting stuff and moving through the various boards. “How?” you ask. A spinning top!

It’s a dexterity game where you pick up the boards and tilt them to move the top around, avoiding traps, and trying to reach specific spots. The boards are beautifully made, double- and sometimes triple-layered. You’ll be jumping the top, flipping boards, making perilous board-to-board transfers.

I played this at last year’s UK Games Expo, and while it might not keep adults interested too long, the game and its gorgeous comic certainly keep kids hooked.

Buy it now at Kienda and don’t forget to sign-up with this link for a potential 5% off (see top of page)

ghost adventure box art
ghost adventure gameplay

Gamers’ games

Look, I get it. Halloween is cool and all, but you’re serious about your board games. Ghost mice and anthropomorphic crime-fighting Great Danes won’t keep you or your group entertained. Here are some more serious games which ought to keep you busy, spooky hardcore.

betrayal box art
betrayal gfameplay

Betrayal at House on the Hill: 3rd Edition

There’s a reason Betrayal at House on the Hill is on a 3rd Edition – it’s great. One of the original hidden traitor games, Betrayal has these great narrative elements, telling the story of a group of explorers seeking to discover the secrets of the eponymous house. One of you, however, has a hidden role. Once the Haunt begins, the traitor needs to do whatever’s required of them before the good guys do the same. Who is it though!?

The plastic minis are great, and just the sort of thing a good spooky games night can do with to build atmosphere. The designers created a great modular system, with the house being revealed as you explore and flip tiles.

This third edition tidies up some of the things that left a sour taste for some people in its predecessors. There’s less of a chaotic feel at times, and the inclusion of scenario cards provides some back story, which helps pull the narrative together. It’s a great game.

Buy it now at Kienda and don’t forget to sign-up with this link for a potential 5% off (see top of page)

Abomination: The Heir of Frankenstein

If you can find a copy, Abomination is the perfect game for Halloween. It’s a worker-placement game where players hope to prove themselves as the next Dr Frankenstein by creating a new creature, to keep the previous monster company. Bless, he’s lonely!

The presentation of gothic Paris on the board is great, and it’s cool fun to actually find and place the body parts on your boards. Worker-placement is the order of the day, and it ties in with the theme so well. Digging around in graves and the morgue, researching science, even trying to find the spark itself, to bring it all to life.

If you play it, I highly recommend playing the official Igor Variant, which shortens the length of the game and tightens things up.

abomination box art
abomination game
zombicide box art
zombicide components

Zombicide: 2nd Edition

If you’re after a zombie game that recreates the feel of films like Dawn of the Dead, look no further. A group of over-the-top characters band together to fight off swarms of Zeds, find weapons and items, level-up, and engage in good ol’ fashioned carnage.

The scenarios are all linked with an overarching story, which lets you choose the way it branches, as a team. It adds a feeling of investment which keeps the same players coming back for more.

Zombicide really is the zombie game these days, and with good reason. The second edition tightens up a few rules which bring down the dependence on luck, and I understand you can mix in your stuff from the original. There’s a stupid amount of extras and expansions available to fuel your zombie-slaying for years to come. It’s a brilliant ‘beer and pretzels’ co-op blast-fest.

Buy it now at Kienda and don’t forget to sign-up with this link for a potential 5% off (see top of page)

Mansions of Madness: Second Edition

It wouldn’t be a horror compilation without a bit of Lovecraft, right? The original Mansions of Madness did really well, but required one player to act as the DM as such, controlling the mansion and the monsters therein. This second edition introduces an app which does the job for you.

Whether you like app-driven games or not, being able to play the game truly co-op with your group is great. As you explore the mansions of Arkham and Innsmouth you’ll need to work together to choose where to go, find weapons and items, solve puzzles, and do your best to avoid insanity – and death!

It’s scenario-based, which is good, but means you’ll end up buying expansions if you really get into it. Good news for the game, bad news for your wallet. A true horror classic.

Buy it now at Kienda and don’t forget to sign-up with this link for a potential 5% off (see top of page)

mansions of madness box art
mansions components

Party games

So you’re having a party for Halloween, but the folks coming aren’t gamers. Maybe they’re lifelong friends, people from work, or just those people you lured into your van with ‘FREE CANDY’ written on the side. Whatever the situation, you want to keep them entertained (or from trying to escape), and what better than a decent party game or two?

werewolf box art
werewolf cards

One Night Ultimate Werewolf

There are a buttload of different variants on the classic ‘Werewolf’ game, and this is the best place to start. 3-10 of you (the more the better) randomly take roles of people in a village. Some of you are werewolves, trying to eliminate the rest of the villagers, while the villagers aim to expose the werewolves for the lupine gits that they are.

All the different roles on offer give players different abilities, and if you choose to use the companion app (which I recommend, it’s really well done), it ‘wakes’ each player during the night to carry out their tasks, before day breaks and the accusations start flying.

Quick, chaotic fun. If werewolves aren’t your thing there’s a vampire version, one with aliens, and even superhero and villain varieties.

Buy it now at Kienda and don’t forget to sign-up with this link for a potential 5% off (see top of page)

Medium

You knew I was including Medium, right? Because you’re psychic?

If so, Medium is the game you’re after. It’s a quick, light game, perfect for after-dinner games, and hysterical after a drink or two, if that’s your thing.

Everyone has a hand of cards, each card with a word on it. In pairs, you reveal a card each, and then the mind-reading happens. You both have to come up with a single word or sentence that links the two cards. There’s this brilliant “Three, two, one…” before you both blurt out your answer.

It’s great if you’re in sync and get it right, but the wrong answers can be straight-up hilarious. I love Medium.

Buy it now at Kienda and don’t forget to sign-up with this link for a potential 5% off (see top of page)

medium box art
medium components
blood on the clocktower box art
clocktower players

Blood on the Clocktower

Blood on the Clocktower is a recent phenomenon. I’ve seen people go to Expos just to play it. At this year’s UKGE (and last years for that matter) the group giving playthroughs had a queue for the whole show.

It’s a big social deduction game that plays up to 20 players, and does the whole ‘guess who the demons are before they kill too many of the townsfolk’ thing similar to Werewolf. The storyteller role is what really sets the game apart, with the way they run what’s happening, controlling pieces, and letting players concentrate on… playing. Players can even turn up late and join in. Every role (of the 200 or so available across different versions) is unique, and you can even win if you’re dead!

It’s not easy to get over here in the UK yet, but if you can get hold of it, I suggest you do so, it’s magnificent.


Summary

No two Halloween gatherings are the same, which means it’s impossible to put together a list that everyone will get something from. I’ve covered most of the bases here though, meaning whether you’re just with one other person, or another 19 people, you’ll find something to play, regardless of age.

If you enjoyed this guide and would like to read more of this kind of thing, consider supporting the site by joining my monthly membership over at Kofi. It starts from £1 per month and lets me know you’re enjoying what I’m doing, which is the most important thing to me.

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Hues and Cues Review https://punchboard.co.uk/hues-and-cues-review/ https://punchboard.co.uk/hues-and-cues-review/#respond Fri, 10 Dec 2021 11:51:23 +0000 https://punchboard.co.uk/?p=2324 Holidays, as I understand it, are coming. As I write this, Christmas is barrelling down on us like a festive red-and-white juggernaut, and it's the time of year when families reach for games. If your experience of games at gatherings can be summed-up with Charades and Pictionary, you might be pleased to know that there are loads more to choose from.

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Holidays, as I understand it, are coming. As I write this, Christmas is barrelling down on us like a festive red-and-white juggernaut, and it’s the time of year when families reach for games. If your experience of games at gatherings can be summed-up with Charades and Pictionary, you might be pleased to know that there are loads more to choose from. I’ve been playing Hues and Cues, from The Op, another game looking to help you make merry when the hordes descend on your house for a gathering.

Panettone or Pantone?

The board for Hues and Cues is simultaneously simple and gorgeous. It resembles something like a paint chart, or a colour picker if you’ve ever used something like Photoshop. I took this game to a convention recently, and it certainly turns heads. This might not sound like a big deal, but the huge swathe of colours is really good at drawing people’s attention. Another thing it has going for it is just how simple the game is to explain.

The full board, in all its glory, with the score track at the top

Take a card, and choose one of the four colours on it in secret. Each has a grid reference to find on the main board. Give everybody else a one-word clue to the colour, and ask them to place their first cone on the square they think matches the clue. Once everyone has had a guess, give a two-word clue and let people guess in reverse order. The closer you are to the correct colour, the more points you score.

Placing this grid marker over the winning space determines how many points each player gets

You now know how to play Hues and Cues. Seriously, that’s it, and that’s what makes it a fantastic game for a large group. It supports up to ten players, but with more than eight you might find it hard to place your guess markers down without disturbing the others already on the board. That sort of thing bugs me, but who knows, maybe your clan enjoys that kind of abject chaos. Who am I to judge? The board is really glossy too, which makes it a pain to photograph, but ideal for wiping off dropped bits of Christmas cake.

Kaleidoscope

Hues and Cues is another game like Anomia, in as much as it’s amazing at breaking your brain. You pick up a card and see a bright pink square, and laugh internally how stupidly easy this game is. But now you have to give a one-word clue to this precise shade of pink, and suddenly the only words you know are Barbie and Flamingo. You’ve seen hundreds of pink things during your life, but can you remember any of them? Not a chance. Your brain is a sieve, and your knowledge of colours is but spilled flour on the kitchen counter of ignorance.

Go on, describe that green colour on that card, with one word

The hilarity that ensues from some peoples’ clue-giving is contagious, and enough to draw anyone to the table. You don’t really know your friends and family until you know what colour they think ‘mint’ is. I played a game with a group, and the first clue given was ‘sandy’. Five plastic cones took centre stage, occupying the beige-y colours near the middle of the board. He looked horrified, thought hard, and said ‘mossy sand’ as his second clue. Maybe it was because we’d had a couple of drinks by this point, but a couple of people were crying laughing as he tried to explain why sandy had a greenish hue in his mind.

True, there are bunches of colours on the board which are almost indistinguishable from one another, but nuance is the secret sauce that makes Hues and Cues so tasty. It’s the difference between Dairy Milk and aubergine. It’s grass versus lime versus aircraft primer.

Yes, aircraft primer was a clue I was given.

Shades of grey

This all makes Hues and Cues sound amazing, and it is, mostly. The only drawback I’ve found is it doesn’t retain the same level of novelty and excitement through repeated play with the same group. It’s still good fun, but it doesn’t feel as interesting as it did the first time. It’s definitely a consideration if you were thinking of buying it as a game for your regular group. I’ve found myself reaching for Wavelength and Codenames again. It’s also not nearly as entertaining if you’re playing with just three or four people, so save if for when you’ve got a group together around a table.

The cones are cute and chunky. There’s a good level of production throughout the game

If you’re looking for something fun and different to play from time to time, however, Hues and Cues is a great choice. Someone I played it with described it as ‘Battleships with colours’, and it’s a pretty good description. It’s the sort of game that was born for house rules. The standard game as described in the rulebook feels like it ends pretty quickly, and more than once I’ve played with people who’ve said “Shall we go round once more?”. If you’re worried about couples who know each other too well having an unfair advantage, restrict their choices to a category, like foods only for example.

Final thoughts

Hues and Cues does what it sets out to do, really well. It’s a lightweight, original, fun game for a group. It has universal appeal and pretty much anyone can enjoy it. I’m not sure how well it works for colour-blind people though, having said that. It’s a good game to add to a shelf of party-type games, like Wavelength, Codenames, The Resistance, Telestrations, and Balderdash. Social experiences.

I don’t know whether the feeling of it getting old, quickly, with the same group is just because of how many different games I’ve played, but it’s a consideration all the same. If you’ve got a board game group and you’re looking for something to start or end games nights, Hues and Cues is a great choice. It’s a really good ice-breaker for people who feel self-conscious too, as there’s no acting, bluffing, or social deduction.

Fans of simple games to bring the family together will have a great time with Hues and Cues, and the lack of text means the very young (or very old) don’t have to worry about reading. Is it worth buying? Yes, absolutely, just as long as it’s not your only party game.

Review copy kindly provided by The Op Games. Thoughts and opinions are my own.

Hues and Cues is available from our sponsor – Kienda. Sign-up using this link to get 5% off your first order over £60.

Hues And Cues 2020

Designer: Scott Brady
Publisher: The Op Games
Art: n/a
Players: 3-10
Playing time: 30 mins

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