Great two player games don’t cross my desk all that often.  I find that a lot of games say they can be played with two players but for a really great experience, you need more than 2 players.  Not with this week’s game – because it’s a true two player game.  Like backgammon or chess, you can only play City Square Off with two players – and I’m addicted.

I mentioned Gamewright’s City Square Off in one of my 2011 Toy Fair trends articles (you can see it HERE).  I talked about how tile-placement games (ala Blokus and Cir*Kis) were still on the rise and although the trend may start to feel stale soon, I though that City Square Off was different and fun.  And I was so right!  At Toy Fair I rarely get to play games from start to finish, so I only get the general idea of what is going on and if it might be fun.  And City Square Off is.  Gamewright was nice enough to send me a copy to try out and we played about 20 times over Memorial Day weekend alone.

In City Square Off each player starts with a board and a “city.” I like using the city I’ve lovingly dubbed “the Skywalker Residence” because it looks like the place Luke grew up on Tatooine (okay maybe not a lot like it…but it does look like it belongs on Tatooine).  There are three other cities to choose from and it really doesn’t matter which one you pick but it needs to be placed over the Gamewright logo in the middle of your board.  From there, the cards are shuffled and then the top one is flipped over.  Both players take the piece shown on the card and place it adjacent to their City.  Pieces can be rotated in any direction and even flipped over so how you put it on the board is up to you, it just must be touching the City or, as the game progresses, another piece.  The game ends when a player cannot place a piece on their board without it hanging off the side.  If both players can’t place a piece on the same turn, then each person counts up the biggest mass of adjacent open spaces and whoever has the highest number wins!

There are also a couple game variations in the box that are just as fun to play, but I’ll let you discover them on your own.   I highly recommend this game and hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

Note: I also have to give mad props to whoever designed their packaging.  The box looks great — but it’s the inside packaging that made me melt.  There is a black plastic piece sorter that has 4 spaces: 2 for the colored tiles, one for cities and one for cards — and oh my gosh – the boards snap in place like a lid so the don’t get all jumbled up inside the box.  OUTSTANDING!

City Square Off Stats

• ~$20 Amazon.com, FatBrainToys.com, Gamewright.com and some mom & pop retailers
• 2 players ONLY
• ~8-10 minutes per game
• Ages 8 and up is what the box says…I say 6 and up

Two weeks in a row we’re going to discuss games I came across for the first time at ChiTag (the Chicago Toy and Game Fair) – it’s unintentional, but pretty interesting. When I first saw FlipOut it was called Patchwork and the inventor/self-manufacturer, Daniel Weaver, had a booth with just this one game, but when you saw it you just kind of got it.  I love games that you “get” when you see them – I gives you that “well duh, why didn’t I think of that, okay let’s play” feeling.

As you can see from the photo, FlipOut is all about patterns.  Each card has a pattern on both sides – not necessarily the same pattern – and each player has 6 cards in their holder.  Now only you can see one side of your cards, and the other players can see the other side.  The goal of the game is to collect as many cards as possible.  You collect cards by getting 4, 5, or 6 cards of the same pattern in a row either in your cards facing you or on the visible-to-you side of your opponent’s cards.

On your turn you get to make any two of the following moves (and they can be made to the cards in your holder or in any opponent’s):

1. Flip: Turn any card around in its holder
2. Switch: Switch the positions of any two cards
3. Swap: Trade one of your cards for one from an opponent (keep the same side facing you)
4. Swap 2: Trade two adjacent, same-color cards from your holder with two adjacent, same-color cards in an opponent’s holder
5. Score: Collect a set of 4-6 adjacent same-color cards from your holder
6. Swipe: Collect a set of 4-6 cards from an opponent’s holder — BUT you must give them one card (kind of as payment for stealing their cards)

You play until you run out of cards and then everyone counts up how many they’ve collected and the person who has the most wins.  Simple as pie.

I asked Daniel Weaver how he came up with this pretty unique game and here’s what he said,

“I discovered FlipOut where many great American inventions are discovered – in the shower!  The previous evening, I had played poker with friends and while shampooing my hair I started thinking “what have I never seen before in games?”  I was visualizing the previous evening’s poker game and realized that the backs of playing cards are never used!  By the time I was done drying off, FlipOut existed in my head almost exactly as it is today.”

You can see that not much has changed since Gamewright has licensed the concept – the game play is the same, the cards have the same patterns (although the colors look brighter) but the biggest difference is the packaging.  The old Patchwork version of the game didn’t have a box that visually “popped” and I think FlipOut has a “fresher” feeling to it.  The one thing I do miss?  The beautiful wooden cardholders – they made me drool.  But in the end, it’s always easier to convince friends to play a game in a pretty box.

FlipOut Stats:

• ~$20 Amazon.com, Fat Brain Toys, Barnes & Noble (starting in July) and some mom & pop retailers
• 2-5 player
• ~15 Minutes
• Ages 8 and up

Earlier this week I posted an interview with Mary Jo Reutter who won the TAGIE award for Excellence in Game Design in November of 2010 and you can see that article HERE.  But now it’s time to take a peek at some of her games and Mary Jo has AGAIN been nice enough to share some tidbits about how the games changed from her initial prototype – which is something I always find interesting!

First up, Laundry Jumble by Educational Insights.  While this game has roots in the 1967 game Feeley Meeley I think that the updated theme is adorable.  During the game players select a card with an image of an article of clothing on it.  They reach into the “dryer” and try to feel around to find the correct fabric item.  If they do, the player gets to keep the card.  If you pull the “Skunk’s Undies” you need to return a card you’ve already collected.  (ugh!)  Regardless, of whether you pull the correct item or not, it goes right back into the dryer so there’s always tons of stuff in there.

Mary Jo:

“When I pitched Laundry Jumble I called it “Tumble Jumble” (and I think some of the older cards even still say Tumble Bumble).  We loved the name Tumble Jumble, but it was taken, so Educational Insights had to make a change to “The Laundry Jumble Game”. The prototype had a spinning mechanism and also folded flat.  Originally the child was to roll a die to see how many times they’d turn the dryer before reaching in to find the item. Unfortunately this didn’t cost out low enough so we had to lose that feature. Fortunately the play was not compromised.  I’m very pleased that Educational Insights was able to keep the fabric for the construction of the dryer — one of the sweet subtleties of the fabric construction is that the dryer begins getting warm as your hand reaches around searching for the right piece of clothing.  And I’m also very pleased that they were able to get the small details in all of the clothing items. The Skunk’s Undies are a favorite!” (See Mary Jo’s prototype at left – wow that looks just about the same!)

Second is her mini-line of Flip-A-Longs with Fat Brain Toys.  There’s a train version called “Long Long Locomotive” and a medieval version called “Knights of the Long Table” but both play exactly the same.  It’s a matching game but instead of matching the same thing, players must match two halves of the same scene.  In the locomotive version each player starts with an engine and each time they get a match they add this new car to their train.  Obviously, the player with the longest train wins.

Mary Jo:

“The Flip-A-Long theme that was originally pitched was “Lenny’s Limo” — a long stretch limo with different sets of interesting passengers inside.  We changed that theme out for Knights of the Long Table, and Long Long Locomotive.  This game is much like a standard match game in that you can have a lot of different themes, and the twist of using your winning pieces to create a long scene.  The kids are much better at the memory and matching than most of the adults who play!  I like it when kids can genuinely beat their parents at a game.” (see Mary Jo’s prototype at left – it’s super cute!)

Even though the previous two have classic game play roots, I really enjoyed them both.  I thought that Mary Jo really improved upon Feeley Meeley (especially cute fabric instead of weird plastic tchotchkes, click HERE to find out more about Feeley Meeley if you have no idea what I’m talking about.) and making memory/matching play FAR more interesting and visually appealing.

The last game I’m going to review was probably my least favorite out of the three I’m reviewing here, but it definitely gets BIG points for cute!   (But note, that I’m not entirely sold on games action games like Rock’em Sock’em that are essentially toys with rules that are designed for kids — I’m sure skews my rankings.)  Sumo Ham Slam is a game about Sumo hamsters, which in itself is hilarious.  Players battle their hamsters using a wand that goes underneath the plastic board and magnetically attaches to their hamster.  It’s a battle of the bulge with each hamster trying to push the other out of the ring.  Along the way you earn food which are little white discs that adds to your hamster’s bulk when you shove it down their gullet.  The funny theme mixed with the cute characters really makes it a great birthday party gift for any kid 6-9.

Mary Jo:

“Sumo Ham Slam was originally called Masu Masu (which means More! More! in Japanese). The brilliant addition of the hamsters goes to Jason Schneider at Gamewright!  The game play and mechanisms stayed the same, and the hamsters and fantastic name just take it over the top in wacky.” (see her prototype at left, click to enlarge)

Thanks again to Mary Jo for all of her help and the great prototype pics she was awesome enough to send along!

Laundry Jumble Stats:

~$25 at Amazon, Target.com,  QVC, EducationalInsights.com, mom & pop retailers
2 to 4 players
~5-10 minutes
Ages 6 and Up

Flip-A-Longs Stats:

~$13 at Fat Brain Toys ONLY
2 to 4 players
~5-10 minutes
Ages 4 and Up

Sumo Ham Slam Stats:

~$20-25 at Amazon, Fun Again Games, mom & pop retailers
2 to 6 players
~10-15 minutes
Ages 6 and Up

Sometimes I think people are willing to cut games a little slack when they look really great but don’t play as well as they should.  Whereas I’m more likely to enjoy a game that is unattractive but that plays really well.  (What does that say about me?)   So when there is a good looking game that’s really fun to play I get downright excited!   (See my article on Pentago…I was drooling while playing that game!)  Anyway, Dweebies is just that kind of game.  I saw it at Gamewright’s booth at Toy Fair in February and have been dying to have a copy ever since.  The metal packaging is adorable but it’s the super cute Dweebies illustrations that I enjoy.  There are doctor Dweebies, yoga Dweebies, super Dweebies, foam-finger Dweebies and so on, and each one of them has been carefully illustrated for maximum cuteness!  (And yes, we name them as we play them!)

There are 54 Dweebies cards in the deck (27 different illustrations) and the goal is to collect as many of them as you can.  (And why wouldn’t you want to – they’re so CUTE!)  Players each starts with 5 cards in their hand and  replenishes as they play.  One by one players place Dweebies in a grid pattern in the center of the table by adding a Dweebie above, below or next to any other Dweebie.  To capture Dweebies you must create “bookends” of two of the same Dweebies and you collect all of the Dweebies in the middle.  Look at the the grainy illustration below  to get a better idea of what I mean by “bookends.”  Essentially, the two matching Dweebies must be on the ends.  Once you do this, you collect the two bookend Dweebies and any Dweebies in between them.

The other rule of the game is that apparently Dweebies don’t like to be lonely so if someone picks up a line of Dweebies and it creates some loner Dweebies or a couple of unconnected packs of Dweebies players must play cards to connect the Dweebies before adding cards elsewhere on the mass.  (Just FYI, the grainy image shows 2 game scenarios…I know that because someone couldn’t place a second bookend Dweebie until the two groups had been connected.)

It’s an easy overall concept for younger players to grasp, but there is another layer to this card game that makes it appealing to us older players as well.  Each Dweebie has a dot in the corner of the card.  This tells you how many of this particular Dweebie are in the deck.  The dots range from 1 to 4 and you’ll find that there is a strategy to playing the 1-dot “blocking” Dweebies and 4-dot Dweebies.   Obviously it’s very advantageous to count the cards, and it’s a great way to teach the younger crowd why card counting can be important in games.  Yep, that last sentence really solidifies it…. I’m a game geek.  But is that really wrong?

Dweebies Stats:
~$10 at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, internet retailers and mom & pop game shops
2 to 6 (Never tested it with 5 or 6…sorry)
10 Minutes or less
Ages 8 and up

Obviously, Order’s Up is a diner themed game and to kick off play, everyone selects two guest checks, which each have 6 food and/or beverage items on them.  To win you need to collect all of the items on two checks.   The game starts with 4 meal/beverage tiles in the center of table surrounding the bell.  On each turn, a player rolls the die and it either has a picture of a bell, a broken bell (which puts you “on break” until your next turn – ouch!), a Free Meal, an Order Mixup or an image that indicates you need to add two tiles to the play area.  If you roll a bell, the first player to ring the bell gets to select a meal or beverage from the play area that matches an image on one of their guest checks.  If there isn’t one that matches, they draw from the stack and take it if it matches or add it to the center if it doesn’t.  So this is really a speed game, which makes you think that anyone who doesn’t have the reflexes of a cat probably isn’t going to win.  WRONG!  The inventor of this game, Myles Christensen, added in some nice catch up factors for the quickness-challenged folks out there.  For example, if you roll a Free Meal, then you could be a super-slow three-toed sloth and still get to start filling your guest check by grabbing a tile from the center.  If you roll an Order Mixup, then you get to swap either one of your guest checks with anyone else’s (tiles included) – my suggestion, steal from the player with the roadrunner like speed.  They’ll catch up again, right?  (You just can’t swap for a completed card; those stay with the player that finished them.)

Order’s Up did a really great job of putting a couple of catch up factors into a cute themed speed game.  And it’s these details that make the game memorable because at times it’s feels more like you’re getting bamboozled than your slow-as-molasses opponent is getting a chance to catch up.  Then again, it could be the lightning fast person who is getting all of the Free Meals, but it only takes one Order Mixup to change all that.

Overall, all of the parts of Order’s Up work together nicely, kind of like how a milkshake, burger and fries make a great diner meal.  And besides, the game’s got a bell and who doesn’t like a game with a bell?

Order’s Up Stats:
~$15 at Amazon, FunAgainGames.com (**Comes out June 1st but you can pre-order it now!)
2-6 players
15 Minutes or less (depends on number of players)
Ages 6 and up

There are times that you just know fate has a hand in things.  Like I swear fate pushed the toy/game industry on me.  There’s no way I would have pursued it on my own, and yet due to some events beyond my control here I am writing game reviews while taking a break from game inventing!

From the sound of it, the game In A Pickle ended up being invented as a result from a little push by fate too.  As told by one of the inventors, Colleen McCarthy-Evans, this is how she and Joyce
Johnson came up with the idea for their Gamewright hit:

“After we met at an Adult Education Class on game design, taught by Keith Meyers and Michael Stern, Joyce and I began tossing some game ideas around together. We were intrigued by one concept in particular, that had players wearing big silly hats and balancing objects on them. We both had other careers then, and all our precious design time was devoted to developing this game, along with a space-themed board game. Meanwhile, Keith Meyers was on his way to Nuremberg, and offered to represent us with any games we were ready to pitch to game companies. When we showed him the wacky hat game prototype (which was going to be a challenge to fit in a suitcase) he said something polite like, “Uh, didn’t you mention you had an idea for a nice little card game, where players are making sets of objects that can fit inside each other?” We temporarily abandoned the game that wouldn’t fit in Keith’s suitcase, and began to work on the card game idea we had all but forgotten, and called it “A Penguin in the Closet.”  While it was not a ‘fit’ for the companies Keith showed it to in Germany, Joyce and I continued to develop and test the game, and eventually sent it off to Gamewright.”

It’s a great story and I love how it’s the little things in life – like a lack of space in a suitcase – that alter our directions!  Also check out the photo of an early prototype to the right.

As for the game, it’s all about what fits in what.  It’s like the suitcase story all over again – only more outlandish!  Could you fit a giraffe in a taxi?  What about money in a test tube?  Granted – you may not want to DO either of these, but that’s not the game.  It’s could you, if you wanted to?  So this leaves a large space for hilarity and also player interpretation, which may cause some problems.  A teacher friend of mine played it with her gifted high school freshman and it was like WWIII was going to start.  They had their laptops out trying to prove each other’s moves impossible; it was a “train wreck.” So a word of caution, In A Pickle can be a lot of fun – when you’re not playing with the über competitive set.

And a note: this year Joyce and Colleen have another Gamewright game coming out called Sounds Like a Plan, which is all about giving wacky advice.

In A Pickle Stats:
$10 – $15 at Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, Target, Toys ‘R Us and some specialty retailers
2-6 Players
15-25 Minutes
Ages 10 and up

I recently got asked for a suggestion for a “simple fun kids game” – you know, something for the very young soon-to-be-game lover.  There are a ton of these games out there that cover memory, matching, follow the path, counting, gross motor skills, etc.  And in my eyes the true test on whether these games are good or not is if the parents have fun (or at least a decent time) playing them.  As kids reach 7-10 years they’re fine playing most games on their own, but when they’re only 3-4 years an adult really has to play with them so unless you love stomping the youngins at Memory and Elefun, you need to find something that somewhat levels the playing field.

A game I like is Hisss.  It’s manufactured by Gamewright here in the USA, but was first seen in Germany (I believe).  Anyway, it’s a cute game about building multi-colored snakes.  On each turn, players randomly flip over cardboard tiles and either add it to an existing snake with a similar color section or start a totally new one if the color doesn’t match anywhere.  If you finish a snake by adding it’s head or tail you get to collect all of the tiles in that snake.  The player with the most tiles wins.

I really don’t have much to add in regards to commentary about this game.  It’s cute, simple, it’s easy to teach the youngsters, and it comes in a really nice, thick box.  (I hate games in cheap boxes.)

Hisss Stats:
~$11-$15 at Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, Toys ‘R Us
2-5 Players
~5-15 Minutes
Ages 4 and up (or a 3 year old who understands taking turns)

To me it’s sad that there are so many fun, entertaining and overall good games on the market that are virtual unknowns – especially when they cost less than a single movie ticket.  And all we really need is a glowing review from someone who’s actually played the game to convince us to try it.  So maybe there’s a lesson here.  Read more articles on this website (shameless plug) or ask your friends to play or borrow their favorite games.

I’m sure you’re wondering which game was so good that I insisted on recommending it to a total stranger; it was Gamewright’s There’s a Moose in the House.  While Gamewright isn’t the biggest game company out there, I’m sure you’ve seen at least a couple of their games marketed under the “12 Minute Games” brand (of which my favorite is Wig Out).   There’s a Moose in the House takes approximately 15 minutes, so it didn’t quite make the 12 minute cut but it’s still a winner in my eyes.  Gamewright’s too.  When the inventor, Scott Anderson, showed it to Gamewright it was love at first sight and it quickly rose to be one of their top selling games of all time.  They even liked his photo-real artwork so much that they kept the style when they produced the cards.  This is really impressive since games usually go through a series of modifications and changes so the product you see on the shelf is often quite different from the game that was initially pitched to the game company, especially when it comes to the artwork.  It’s similar to books going to an editor before they are published; they’re polished and tweaked until they are the best they can be.

So then where does one get the idea to make a game around a moose invading different rooms of a house?  You’ll never believe it but Scott got the idea from seeing a moose attempt to wander into a woman’s house on an episode of America’s Funniest Home Videos!  With this humorous image in his head, he set out to make a game he could play with his kids and that’s just what he did.  There’s a Moose in the House is a non-reading game for kids 8 and up and it’s just as fun for adults as it is for the under ten crowd.  The goal is to put as many moose as you can into the rooms of your opponent’s house but they can block you by playing door cards to close off a room or trapping a moose by using, what else, but a moose trap.  Who knew an oversized mousetrap baited with lettuce could trap a moose, but then again if it’s going to keep the moose out of my bathtub, that’s fine by me.  In the end, the only place a moose belongs in your house is on your game shelf or in your refrigerator, but only if it’s chocolate mousse.

There’s a Moose in the House stats:

• ~$6 at any major retailer
• 2-5 players (but 2 is not as fun)
• ~15 minutes
• Ages 8 and up