We all know that learning a game from someone else is so much easier than mucking through the directions (even if the writers did follow the tips I laid out in a previous article, Poorly Written Rules = Everybody Loses).  It’s why they have people demoing the games to buyers at Toy Fair – otherwise they’d just hand out printed directions.  (Just imagine how painful that would be.)  But when someone shows you how to play, you can often learn and play at the same time!

Unfortunately, there aren’t too many opportunities for the general public to try out games before they buy them.  This past weekend you could have gone to your local library for National Gaming Day, a local game store for Neighborhood Toy Store Day, or insisted a friend with a huge game collection host a game night, but if you missed those opportunities, THIS weekend you could head to the midwest for the Chicago Toy and Game Fair (ChiTag).   It’s one of the largest, open to the public, game fairs in the United States and what makes ChiTag different from some of the others, like Origins or Gen Con, is that it has mass games, specialty games and what I call specialty mass-appeal games.  These are games that could easily fit in the game aisle at your local Target or Toys ‘R Us if there was more aisle real estate because they’re casual-gamer friendly (not the ones you have to read a bible-sized direction book and set aside 40% of your weekend to play).   And while game fairs aren’t ingrained into our culture like they are in some other countries (Germany for example), they’re definitely growing.  This is ChiTag’s eighth year and it has over a hundred exhibitors all teaching consumers how to play their hot new games just like they teach buyers at Toy Fair!  (click image at right for full sized $2 off admission coupon!)

So here’s a little preview to entice you to head to Navy Pier on Nov. 20th  & 21st:

The NOT-EASILY-FOUND Games from Small Companies

Square Shooters, Heartland Games

This is a fun dice game that is actually multiple games in one all using a set of nine “square shooters” dice that were developed by Carmelyn Calvert.  She figured out that on nine dice you can have an entire deck of 52 cards plus 2 jokers AND make every 4 of a kind and straight flush, therefore lending square shooters to multiple poker and rummy themed games.  The main game called Square Shooters is about trying to match the hand (or roll) found on a deck of cards.  You have to match the card in three rolls or less and you collect the full number of points if you match it exactly, but you only collect half the points match the KIND of hand.  So lets say the card shows a four of a kind with kings.  If you get all four kings, you get 4 chips but if you don’t think you can roll four kings but you can roll four jacks, you can do that and collect 2 chips.  There are some other cards like “Showdowns” and “DoubleDowns” that brings player interaction to the game.  It’s a lot of fun (although the directions are a bit wordy).

Square Shooters Stats:
~$10 for the regular set, ~$18 for the deluxe set at ChiTag, Specialty Retailers and Amazon.com
1 or more players
~20-30 minutes
Ages 8 and Up

Triplica, Fun Q Games

If you don’t lives near Smithfield, Rhode Island than you probably didn’t spend your day at Sparks Toy & Hobby Shop for Neighborhood Toy Store day and you didn’t get to see the demos of Triplica by the Fun Q Game folks.  Well, lucky us they’ll be at ChiTag too! Triplica which is a fun, easy, family card game in which you are attempting reach your secret goal of getting three of one of the symbols (x, square, circle, etc.) in a row.  There are typically 5 cards (depending on number of players) with three symbols on each in the center of the table.  On their turn, players place another card with three symbols on it from their hand on top of one of the cards already in play.  If you get three in a row, you call it out, earn one point and select another secret goal.  First player to 5 points wins.  There are also two other games that can be played with the Triplica cards one of which is a solitaire version.

Triplica Stats:
$15 at ChiTag, Specialty Retailers and Amazon.com
1- 6 Players
~10-15 minutes
Ages 7 and Up

KingsCourt Game, Winsor Entertainment

KingsCourt is by FAR a more expensive game than I would ever review on this site, BUT I feel that I have to mention it for two big reasons.  First, it was invented by Reyn Guyer — the inventor of Twister!  Second, it’s been shown at ChiTag before and every year the booth is PACKED with people playing it!  (And third, because it’s FUN!)

The game is a fun mix of chess and croquet; each team has a mallet and the goal is to knock over their opponent’s “KingPin.” The game consists of 3 balls, 2 “Soldier Pins” and a KingPin for each team. Using the mallets, teams hit their own ball and try to knock down their opponent’s Soldier Pin or hit their opponent’s balls.  If they are successful with either one, the object (ball or Soldier Pin) is removed from the game.  Knocking over your own guard, also eliminates it from the game so you have to use a little skill.  To win you want to knock over the other team’s Soldier Pins and then their KingPin, OR you could eliminate all of their balls.

While the game is pricy, you can get years of outdoor fun with it so it might be worth the investment — besides, everyone seems to have a bags game right now, so why not be different?

KingsCourt Stats:
$200 at ChiTag, KingsCourtGame.com
2 Players (or Two Teams)
Time varies based on skill
Ages 6 and Up

Newer Games from Medium Sized Companies

Telestrations, USAopoly

From USAopoly, Telestrations drawing meets telephone.  The first player gets a word, they draw that word, the next player guesses the word, the next player draws that guessed word and the method continues.  And because you don’t want to end up with the same word you started with (or the game would be dull), not being able to draw like a master artist is a HUGE plus.  Great game for a group laugh this holiday season.

Telestrations Stats:
$25 at ChiTag, Barnes & Noble, Specialty Retailers, Amazon.com
4-8 Players
~45 minutes
Ages 13 and Up

5 Second Rule, Patch Products

5 Second Rule is very similar to “Name 5″ from Endless games, (see HERE) because the goal of both games is to give a certain number of answers before the timer runs out.  In Name 5 it’s 5 answers in 30 seconds and in 5 Second Rule it’s 3 answers in 5 seconds.  While Name 5 was sometimes too easy, 5 Second Rule is sometimes very hard, but in 5 Second Rule after the first player fails, the other players have a chance to steal but they can’t use words that have already been mentioned.  It’s beyond easy to learn and the timer is SUPER COOL, and since Endless isn’t going to be at ChiTag I have to recommend this one out of the two.  (Otherwise it might be a close call – I think it would depend on who you’re playing with and what kind of games YOU like.)

5 Second Rule Stats:
~$20 at ChiTag, Specialty Retailers, Amazon.com
3 or More Players
5+ minutes – you set the number of rounds!
Ages 10 and Up

Classic Games You’ve Never Tried

Sequence, Jax

You’ve seen it in stores, but you’ve never bought it.  I know, I was there once.  But it’s really an easy-to-learn five-in-a-row game that’s been around since 1982.  Each team or player is dealt five cards and on your turn you discard one of your cards and put a chip on one of the two spaces on the board that matches that card.  The goal is to get five-in-a-row first and your opponent can play cards to block or use a jack to either remove a chip of yours or play a chip of theirs anywhere.  It’s simple, easy, fun.

Sequence Stats:
$15 at ChiTag, Toys R Us, Target, Amazon.com and many more
2-12 Players (personally I think it maxes out at 6 players)
~10 minutes
Ages 7 and Up

And some other games that will be there that I’ve already reviewed:

• Wits & Wagers, Wits & Wagers Family by North Star Games
• Last Word, Truth Be Told by Buffalo Games
• Stix & Stones, Blurt by Educational Insights/Learning Resources
• Word on the Street, Backseat Drawing, 10 Days in the Americas by Out of the Box Games
• Triviathon by Jeezle Pete
• The Game of Chips by Jax
• Ratuki by USAopoly

And lots of others I’m sure I forgot.  Bonus too, lots of companies have “show specials” which means games at LOWER PRICES!  Perfect for either adding to your collection or buying holiday gifts.

Hope to see you all there!!

Not far from my house there is a dive bar, with scary red lighting that hosts bingo on Monday nights.  It’s really not all that exciting; you win a brown paper lunch bag filled with random odd items.  I was lucky enough to win the first round Monday night and my winnings included some Cheez-It snacks, baby food, a bunny sucker and Chicklets.  By the end of the night our table had a skull candle, a bible card game and three colors of “fun dough.”  But before the bingo festivities began, we played quite a few rounds of the classic, but somehow not super well known, game Shut The Box.

Surprising to me, no one at my table had ever played Shut The Box before but by the end of the night everyone was addicted.  There are lots of variations of this game but traditionally it’s a box with tiles numbered 1-9 that you can flip forward and backward, which allows players to “check them off” as they use them.  The game is simple; you roll two standard dice and total them up.  Then you flip forward any available tile combination that equals the number you rolled.  So if you roll an 11 and it’s your first turn, you can flip forward a 9 and a 2 or a 1, 4 and 6.  It’s totally up to you, but once you flip forward a number you can’t use it again.  Your turn ends when you roll and you don’t have the right combination of tiles to equal your dice total.   You get your score for the round by totaling up the unused tiles.

There are a couple ways to score.  We played that whoever had the lowest number each round got one point.  You can then play until someone reaches a certain number of wins or until you run out of time.  Keeping a running tally of each player’s actual score is another way to play, just make sure you have a pencil and paper handy.  Play a certain number of rounds or until one player reaches a set number, and then the player with the lowest score is the winner.

Other versions of the game include boxes with tiles numbered 1-10 or 1-12.  There are also 2-player versions and 4-player versions.  Blue Orange games also has a game called Double Shutter that has two levels of tiles numbered 1-9 so you can flip two 5s if you roll a 10.  I also own a dice game named The Game of Chips by Jax that is essentially Shut The Box, with no box.  It uses poker chips numbered 1-10 and you flip them over as you use them.  This is a great low-priced travel alternative; it comes in a nice fabric pouch and can be purchased for ~$5.

Fun bit of trivia for you too, there was a TV show back in the mid-1970s called High Roller that was based on the game Shut The Box.  It was hosted by Alex Trebek and players answered “toss up” questions to gain control of the dice and the option of rolling or passing to their opponent.  It was on for a couple years and then again in the late 80s with Wink Martindale, but the new show wasn’t as successful.

Shut The Box stats:
$15 – $65+ at Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, Toys R Us,  some mass market retailers, specialty retailers
Shown at top: Melissa & Doug Shut The Box retails for ~$19-$25
Article preview: Front Porch Classics Shut the Box Signature Edition retails for ~$45-$53
1 or more players
Any amount of time
Ages 6 and up

Double Shutter stats:
~$19 at Amazon.com, Toys ‘R Us, Target, specialty retailers
1 or more players
Any amount of time
Ages 8 and up (it’s a bit more complex)

The Game of Chips stats:
~$5 Amazon.com, online game retailers, some specialty stores
1 or more players
Any amount of time, ~15 if you play by their rules
Ages 6 and up