Even though there have been holiday decorations up in stores across the country for more than a month, I personally can’t believe it’s already November and the holidays are right around the corner!  Now, for many of you in the game world you know that before we can dig in to our Thanksgiving turkey, we have to meet in Chicago for ChiTag!  And the game I’m going to review this week, Befuzzled, will be the star of the Fun Q Games booth.

I’ve had Befuzzled on my desk for a little while but waited to write my review for a couple reasons.  First, I think this is a great family party game for the holidays – especially for a crowd of slightly over-served adults, teens and kids.  Second, if you are stopping by ChiTag I wanted to remind you to stop by the Fun Q Games booth #219 – not only are they nice people, but they have 2 games worth checking out (Befuzzled and Triplica) and you’ll be able to buy it there!

So what is this game I speak so highly of?  Befuzzled is a speed/action game with quick rounds; which is a nice combination for a family-friendly party game.  There are 3 types of cards in the box: Action cards, Flip cards and Shape cards.   Action cards list actions (duh!) like “Bark like a Dog” and “Snap Your Fingers.”  You lay 8 of these cards face-up on the table in 2 rows of 4.  Then you take the Shape card deck and lay one card on top of each Action card so you can still see the title of the action.  Next you pick a player to start the round and give them the deck of Flip cards. This person is the “judge” and they turn over the top Flip card so everyone can see what symbol it is.  Whoever does the action under the matching shape first, wins the round and gets to keep the Flip card.  The Flip deck gets passed to the next player and they’re the judge for the next round.  Play continues until there are no cards left in the Flip deck and then you can choose to count up cards and keep score, or just claim a winner for the game.

The instructions are pretty specific as to how many cards should be in the draw deck (5 x the number of players) but us beer-drinking adults skipped over that rule.  We did find that this game played really well with a larger group and while the instructions say 3-8 players, I’m not sure the game would be quite as much fun with only 3 players.  What I do like about this game is that it comes in a nice small box so it’s easy to pop in a bag and bring it to a friend’s or relative’s holiday party – or heck, you could even give it as a hostess gift!  (Man, am I filled with great ideas today!)

Befuzzled Stats:
~$14 ChiTag, Specialty Retailers and Amazon.com
3-8 players (although I recommend at least 4)
~10-30 minutes (you decide how many rounds you want to play!)
Ages 7 and Up

**For $2 admission to ChiTag, visit HERE

A while ago I asked on Twitter what everyone’s favorite speed games were and I got a variety of answers but one stuck out to me, “Jungle Speed.”  I was curious about this game as it was suggested by a couple tweeps who share my taste in games. Shortly after I got an email from the manufacturers of Jungle Speed and I figured the cosmos was trying to tell me that I’d enjoy this game.  And I do.  And apparently I’m not the only one since more than 2 million copies of the game have been sold worldwide.  That’s a lot of games!

In a way Jungle Speed is similar to Halli Galli as all players are flipping cards and looking at the cards to see if they find the right combination.  (see review of Halli Galli HERE) If they do, in Halli Galli they ring the bell but in Jungle Speed you grab the “totem” in the middle of the table.  In Halli Galli you’re trying to collect all of the cards, whereas in Jungle Speed you’re trying to get rid of your cards and they go to whoever wasn’t quick enough to grab the totem.  There are some small differences between the games but the big point of difference is that Jungle Speed includes cards that change up the play.  For example, you go from looking for the same symbol to the same color or it’s whoever is the quickest to grab the totem.  It keeps things fresh and players on their toes.  You can watch how to play here:

There’s one other thing I feel I must mention in this review.  In the past you’ve all heard me rant about boxes and how flimsy boxes don’t play nice on my game shelf.  Well, Jungle Speed has a flimsy box BUT they also include a nice fabric bag to contain the totem, cards and instructions, which is awesome, especially for travel.  So ditch the box and store everything in the nice bag!

Jungle Speed Stats: 

~$20 at Amazon, Target, ToysRUs, Barnes & Noble, mom & pop retailers
2 to 10 players
~10-15 minutes
Ages 8 and up

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I’m a big fan of dice games.  Therefore, when I saw Farkle Frenzy at the Patch booth at Toy Fair I was excited to get my hands on a copy!  (It was mentioned in my 2011 Toy Fair article, part 2.  See HERE) This time it wasn’t just because it’s a dice game that looks fun, but because it took away one of the things I dislike about classic Farkle – the waiting.  You see, Farkle Frenzy is an all-play game, so you no longer have time to get the mail and grab a Coke before it’s your turn again and I really like that.

If you know how to play classic Farkle getting started playing Farkle Frenzy is going to be a snap.  If you don’t know how to play classic Farkle, the instructions are at the beginning of the Farkle Frenzy instructions and it might be advantageous to walk through a round without using the tower before you get started because the game can get a little crazy!

As many of you know, Farkle is a game played with 6 dice and in Farkle Frenzy everyone shares the sixth die.  So each player has 5 dice in their hands, a stairway with 5 spaces in front of them that leads up to the communal 6^th die at the top of the pyramid.  To start the round, one player pushes the bubble at the top down into the pyramid and it does this fun multi-pop action back up to the top.  If die shows a 5, 1, 2x everyone starts rolling their dice right away.  If the communal die shows a Wild, the player who “popped” the 6^th die rolls once and picks which number (1-6) will be the wild and then everyone else starts.

Every die a player wants to keep is placed in a stairway step starting at the bottom and play is just like regular Farkle, like I can only keep three 6s if I roll them all at once.  If I roll two 5s and the communal die is a 5 that’s 500 points!  I’ll admit that there was a bit of confusion regarding when to use a communal 1, 5 or wild # – was it anytime during your rolls to get to the top of the stairway or on your first roll only?  We decided you could use it once anytime on your way up to the top of the pyramid, but it can’t be used to save you from “Farkleing” (aka “going bust” because you didn’t roll a die you could keep).

The round ends when all players decide to stop and keep their points, when everyone Farkles, or when one player reaches the top of the pyramid and yells STOP!  If a player makes it to the top and yells STOP! everyone must stop rolling and only the player with all of their dice nestled in the stairwell gets to decide if they want to take all of their dice and reroll them – which means they would get to use a communal 1, 5 or wild # again.  When the round ends, all points are totaled up and the game is over when one player reaches 10,000 points.

Now, because I’m a fan of making a game fit your group we made a few changes along the way.  We didn’t bother with yelling out STOP!, instead we allowed players to keep going if they could.  We did make them jot down their score at the end of the each trip up the pyramid just because it was so easy to forget!

Overall the game was a blast (even though I lost A LOT).  A couple people commented that they missed a 6^th die when the communal die was a 2x – but they were getting double points so really, what’s to complain about?!

Farkle Frenzy Stats:

• ~$18 Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, FunagainGames.com, and FatBrainToys.com
• 2-4 players
• ~15 min.
• Ages 8 and up

I’ve come to realize that either you like speed games or you don’t – which is similar to people who like games that require great fine motor skills like Jenga or Topple.  You’re either good at them and you like them or you stink and you probably hide when someone suggests playing one. (go figure, no one likes losing) Well, in general I like speed games – but I LOVE dice speed games.  It goes back to that little dice addiction I have.  (Read: “I LOVE Dice Games” Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4) So Ligretto Dice definitely gets a thumbs up from me!

You may have heard of Ligretto as it’s a pretty popular card game (and also called Dutch Blitz) but the dice version isn’t quite as popular (but it’s also newer – 2009 versus 1988).  But it doesn’t really matter because you don’t need to know anything about the card game to enjoy the dice game!  The game is simple, all 24 dice are put in the black bag and each player blindly draws a set number of dice.  (12 for a 2-player game, 8 for a 3-player game, etc.)  The dice go in your cup and when someone yells Ligretto! (or in my world Go!) everyone starts frantically rolling.  The goal is to be the first to get rid of all of your dice and you get rid of dice by placing them on the matching spot on the board.  There are 4 rows (1 for each color die) and there are spaces showing dice numbered 1-6 in each row and you can’t put your yellow 2 down until someone has placed a yellow 1 and you can’t place a red 4 until there’s a red 1, 2, and 3 on the board.  Got it?  So once you’ve placed all of the dice on the board that you can, you put the remaining dice back in the cup – including your yellow 2 — and keep rolling.

All of the players are going to be frantically rolling & placing dice, which makes the game a bit chaotic, but it’s also extremely quick.  So if you were bested in the first game – go ahead and play a second since you probably have time.  There is also a scoring system if you plan on playing a bunch rounds or you’re just that competitive.

Ligretto Dice Stats:

• ~$15 Barnes & Noble, Amazon.com, AreYouGame.com, FunAgainGames.com, some mom & pop retailers
• 2-4 players
• ~3-20 minutes depends on if you are using the games scoring or just playing a couple rounds
• Ages 8 and up (although I’d say 6 and up)

**Like this and want to find out about other speed games? Click the SPEED GAME in the tag cloud to your right.

If you live here in the US, Memorial Day is this weekend; which means the kids will all have a truckload of extra energy – you know, the kind that comes from knowing that they don’t have school on Monday.  I don’t know why this occurs, but whether they’re your own children, your relatives, neighborhood kids or ones of questionable ownership that show up just in time to snag a hot dog fresh-off the grill, you’re going to need to find something to keep their salty potato-chip fingers off your garden gnomes, your vintage board games and the game of bags you and some of the other adults want to play during the requisite Memorial Day barbeque.  May I suggest grabbing a copy of Out of the Box’s new game Shake ‘N Take – it will keep them occupied and out of trouble, at least for a little while.

Shake ‘N Take is a fast-paced, frenzied game for up to 10 players, although you only need 2 to play.  Everyone gets a sheet of funny-shaped aliens and then one kid is selected to start with the dry-erase marker and shape die and the player to their right gets the egg with the alien die in it.  When the game starts, the kid with the marker rolls the die and starts circling aliens that match the shape on the die.  The kid next to them is shaking the egg hoping to get the alien face-up on the die inside.  Once the kid with the egg is successful, they grab the pen from the other kid and roll the die and start circling aliens on their own card.  Obviously the kid on their right is going to grab the egg and start shaking it feverishly so they can get a chance with the pen since the object of the game is to be the first player to circle everything on your sheet.  With 2-5 players you play with one pen and one egg but with 6-10 players you play with 2 pens and 2 eggs to make things a bit more exciting.  It’s a simple, fun and fast-paced game invented by Keith Meyers and since I know Keith, I thought I’d ask him how he came up with the idea.  Here’s what Keith said:

“I’ve always felt that to be a good inventor you need to be a good observer.  I think my development of the game Shake N Take is a good example of that.

Shake N Take was born from a game played at camp and in classrooms.  The original premise had the sheets filled with letters or numbers and you would be progressing down or up through the alphabet or counting down or up a string of numbers.

In watching the game play it was obvious the fun factor was there: lots of screaming and laughing amongst the kids and a certain palpable tension that made the game very exciting.  But in watching several groups play over time, I noticed a couple of core repeating issues that I thought detracted from the heart of the game.

First, the older kids, or at least the ones with better critical thinking skills, would spend time plotting out where their next batch of letter or numbers would be when they weren’t marking their sheets, while the younger kids were caught up watching the insanity revolving around the table.  Invariably, these methodical kids came out ahead, but also seemed to miss out on the fun and laughter surrounding them.  Changing the numbers and letters to symbols and adding a die that allowed you to mark them off, solved this issue nicely.  There was only so much planning you could do when it came down to dice rolling.

And the second issue was the tug-of-war that often ensued when one person was ‘stealing’ the pen from another person.  Someone would have a death grip on the pen, the other desperately trying to wrest it from the other.  While initially funny to watch, it did not help the play of the game, and it put younger players, again, at serious disadvantage. Some tinkering with pencil toppers and other concepts, yielded the workable, but ugly, design you see pictured (wooden spool with packaging tape).

These observations lead to my design of “On A Roll” which took another step forward in the capable hands of Out of the Box, who upped the quality of the components – like the awesome alien-egg shaker, and added spiffy alien-themed graphics to make this design out-of-this-world!”

Thanks to Keith for sharing the story behind Shake ‘N Take!  I should also mention that the sheets have 2 sides, one with aliens and the other with basic shapes so kids of all ages can play and the game is pretty even, so whether you are having just a couple kids or a small army at your house this weekend, I highly recommend you have a copy of Shake ‘N Take to keep them entertained.  And let’s face it, if kids are playing games, they probably aren’t causing any trouble – at least not any major trouble.

Shake ‘N Take Stats

• ~$29 Amazon.com, FatBrainToys.com, FunAgainGames.com and some mom & pop retailers
• 2-10 player
• Time completely depends on the number of players
• Ages 8 and up is what the box says…I say 6 and up

There’s something about those old school, hotel desk bells that is just awesome.  One of my all time favorite games – Pit – has that style bell.  The quick, frenzied game Halli Galli that I’m reviewing here also has that bell. Seriously, who can resist like a game that you have to hit a bell?!

I briefly mentioned Halli Galli in a holiday posting a couple years ago, but really the game deserves it’s own review.  But since I’ve already touched on it once, I’ll keep it short and sweet – kind of like the game!  Halli Galli is a simple to learn card game with, like I said, a bell in the middle.  Players keep a stack of cards with 1-5 pieces of fruit on them in front of them.  Everyone turns their cards over at the same time and if you see a total of EXACTLY five similar items on the table you ring the bell and collect the cards.  The player with the most cards wins and there are penalties for ringing in at the wrong time — like if there are too many or two few of one piece of fruit.

Halli Galli is a great game for tweens and kids because they have wickedly fast reflexes.  It’s been on the market since the early 1990s and has sold more than 2.5 million games worldwide but I think the odd-sounding name scares some people off.  Don’t let it!  And as a fun tidbit, rumor has it that it was originally called Tutti Frutti but then an erotic game show was launched with the same name so – for good reason – it got changed!

Halli Galli Stats:

• ~$16-20 at Amazon.com, AreYouGame.com, Barnes & Noble, and many more
• 2-6 players
• ~10-20 min.
• Ages 2-6 and up

I know that there are plenty of toy and game inventors that read this site so and I’m sure they’ve had similar experiences – but there’s no feeling in the world quite like seeing your game on the shelf!  It makes all of the hard work and late nights worth it, and dulls the pain of all of the rejection letters that go with being in the business.  My big game this year is Scattergories Categories manufactured by Winning Moves.  Now, I don’t entirely think it’s fair that I review my own game, but then again this is my site…and I like this game – A LOT.  So I’ve decided to compromise a bit and I’ll explain a little of the history of the game, then I’ll have some outside folks toss their two cents in.

I’d like to say I knew Scattergories Categories was exactly what it was when I came up with the idea, but I didn’t.  I didn’t think the idea of having a vertical category word with players trying to come up with words horizontally that start with the letters in the vertical category word was enough to stand on it’s own, so it ended up being a mini-game in another game.  Luckily, Mike Gray remarked that the little mini-game was an interesting idea and that feedback got the Scatttergories Categories ball rolling.  After making it a game on it’s own it was obvious that it was a great line extension for the Scattergories brand (sketch at right).  Unique answers get you points just like in the classic version, but  it solved the one thing I disliked about Scattergories, which is you play the same 12 cards over and over.  This new method solves the “repeat” problem so easily because you get a new category every round thus you never feel like you’re playing the same questions over and over with different letters.   Thankfully, Winning Moves agreed, licensed it and asked me to write the content!  (Yipee – I LOVE writing content!)

I will admit that coming up with enough category phrases/words was a little more difficult than I had expected.  Scattergories Categories not like other category games where you come up with a category and boom – it’s done!  In Scattergories Categories the vertical word or phrase needed to have a minimal number of vowels, virtually no Is, Us, Xs,Ys, Zs or any other weird consonants.  For example: if I wanted the topic to be “Bubble Gum Brands and Flavors” BUBBLE GUM seems like the obvious choice especially since there are a ton of answers for B like: Big League Chew, banana, Berry Blast, Big Red, Bazooka, etc. but what flavor starts with U?!  Ugli fruit?  I’d veto that.  So the vertical word became BEST CHEW because it still includes the B and limits the vowels to only two Es which have a bunch of answers: Eclipse, Extra, Excel Extreme, euclyptus (although not common flavor it’s one of my favorites) just to name a few.  So coming up with words turned out to be more of a science than I expected!  But after two weeks and almost 1.5 inches of paper I was done and was more certain than ever that the game rocked – mostly because after essentially playing for 2 weeks straight, I wished I had to do more!

Like I said earlier, reviewing my own game may not be the most believable thing I could do (although I must ask, have I steared you wrong in the past?), so here are some other people who gave me their reviews:

Lauren Rizzo, Teen Programming Librarian at Indian Trails Public Library · Addison, IL

(Lauren got introduced to the game when I brought an advance copy to her library “Meet the Inventor, Play the Game” program back in June.)

“If you want great fun, Scattergories Categories definitely the way to go.  This game is a fun twist on the original game (Scattergories), and, I think, gives the game an additional level of strategy.  Players are given a word that describes a category – it is then up to the players to come up with words that start with each of the letters in the original describing word – a deeper level of play.  The fun begins when the timer starts, and you’ve got 2 minutes to think of something that will (1) fit into the category, (2) start with the correct letter, (3) be unique (in that no one else will write it as their own).  Example—Carnival: C = cotton candy, A = acrobats, R = rats, etc.   This can get very creative and you’ll get answers you would’ve never expected.  Especially if you’re playing with my mom who tends to “cheat” – somehow if there’s a letter D in the original word, the answer will always be “dirt.”  The rules do allow for people to challenge another player’s answers, which adds another hysterical dynamic to the fun-for-all-ages game.  My mom’s defense to any challenges?  Dirt is everywhere.  And it’s hard to say no to that!”

Suzette Soukup-Oko, Private Investigator · Westmont, IL

“It’s now my favorite game to play.  I like it because I am a light-weight (drinker) and you can play it when you are drinking and it seems like the answers we come up with get funnier and funnier!  It’s easy, relaxing and fun to play with a lot of people or just 3 people. Even though there is thinking involved, the unique questions that are asked of us on the cards really seem to stimulate thoughts and are answer-able when intoxicated!  It’s easy to set-up, easy to explain to a new-comer, and the time really flies when playing it.  Nobody ever seems like they are ready to stop playing the game.  It’s great because both young people and old people can play it.  It brings out a lot of laughter from the group!”

Josh Gorman, Program Assistant at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History · Washington DC

“I found [the game] before thanksgiving and pulled it out a couple times with my family and [my wife’s]. It was great – a huge improvement over the original.  More letters makes it only slightly easier and tons more inventive (and thus more fun in my book).”

Chung Liang, Design Manager at Learning Curve Brands · Chicago, IL

“The categories are funny and people’s answers are likely to spark lively debate.  Also, the odds of having similar answers are more likely so there’s some strategy in how you fill in the answers for words with 2 of the same letters.”

Nicole Flores, Northside Prep High School Math Teacher · Chicago, IL

“I love Scattergories Categories!  Having a love of Scattergories and board games in general, I was naturally drawn to this new hit game.  What I enjoyed the most is having the category provided and then different letters as opposed to rolling a die and using one letter the whole time.  I think this offers more diversity in answers and more playing fun!  I have played Scattergories Categories with family, friends and even students.  This is definitely a game I will continue to play.”

Nina Kult, Public Relations Executive · St. Louis, MO

“I love the challenge of Scattergories Categories, taking the original Scattergories concept one step further. It forces you to think fast and be creative in attempt to outsmart your fellow players.”

Tracy Lopata, Manager at Lopata & Company · Naperville, IL

“I loved Scattergories Categories.  It was better than the original.  A wonderful game to play with a group of friends.  We had silly, warmhearted fun and laughter playing this game.”

Scott Slimmer, Post-Doctoral Student University of Illinois · Champaign, IL

“I’ve always enjoyed the original Scattergories, but I love the way that Scattergories Categories breathes new life into a familiar game with one simple yet elegant twist.  The combination of intriguing categories with playfully worded clue phrases also serves to infuse the game with the kind of unpredictable fun that brings to mind one of my all-time favorite game shows, Pyramid.  Scattergories Categories is definitely going into heavy rotation in my family’s game repertoire.”

Bonnie Olszewski, Public Relations Specialist · Joilet, IL

“I enjoyed it because of the wide variety of categories. It was harder than I thought to come up with answers for some of the letters, and tons of fun to hear what everyone came up with and for them to defend their words that were kind of a stretch.”

Lindsey Smith, Museum Curator, Archivist and Exhibit Developer · Des Moines, IO

“Scattergories Categories is the perfect game for anyone who wants to be a little creative and have a lot of fun!”

Jack Degnan, Board Game Inventor, San Diego, CA

“Very fun, easy, contagious!”

Laurie Wojtko, Scientist · Palatine, IL

“It’s a fantastic challenge and provided for lively conversation and competition.”

Emily Vandenbroucke, Pharmacology Doctoral Candidate · Chicago, IL

(yea, so we’re related…we grew up playing games together so if she likes it, it’s probably good.)

“Really creative take on the original Scattergories- still a ton of fun to play in groups or with just 2, but now with a new twist that makes you think just a little differently than before.”

Scattergories Categories Stats:

~$20 at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and lots of mom & pop stores
2 or more players (it says 4 but we’ve played with 10+)
~4 minutes per round, ~20-30 minutes for a game to 25
Ages 12 and Up

What did YOU think of Scattergories Categories?

I first got to play with Scrabble Flash at the Hasbro showroom of New York Toy Fair this past February and I desperately wanted to take it home with me, but I’m pretty sure that the hoards of other people waiting to play would have noticed.  It’s just so cute and magical that it’s hard not to like it!  The game is made up of five small LCD square tiles that recognize when they are touching each other, which allows the tiles to identify if they are in the proper order to make a word.  This concept is the backbone of all three games you can play with your Scrabble Flash tiles.

When you turn all of the tiles on by pressing each of their buttons, the tiles give you a choice of games 1, 2 or 3.  Game 1 is a 1-player game in which you find as many 3, 4, and 5 letter words as you can from one set of letters before the little timers appear on the screens.  Every time you line up the tiles to make a word they flash to let you know that the word’s been counted.  In a way it feels a lot like the old Boggle handheld just with fewer letters to choose from.

Game 2 is also a 1-player game where you find as many 5-letter words as you can in the allotted time.  After you find a word, you get a new set of letters to unscramble.  The third game is the same as game 2, but it’s for multiple players.  Once you get a word you pass the tiles to the next player.  If time runs out while you’re looking for a word it will display OUT and you have to pass the tiles to the next player.  Last man standing wins.

The cute little tiles also score!  At the end of game 1 if you line up the 5 tiles your score will appear as well as how many words were possible.  At the end of game 2 it shows you not only the word you missed but also how many sets you were able to unscramble before time ran out.  The only downfall I see is that it doesn’t save scores so there’s no running high score that you’re constantly striving to beat.  But I will totally forgive that small shortcoming because it comes with a nice hard plastic travel case!  You get to toss out the big box you brought home from the store and instead everything – including the instructions – packs easily into a box that’s a little larger than 2 in. x 2 in. x 4 in.  How nice is that?!  And because it’s not intrusive, it’s been on my desk for weeks now – I use it as a mini-break every now and then.  Love it!

Scrabble Flash Stats:
$30 at Target, Toys ‘R Us, Kmart, Amazon and many others
1 or more players, most games are for 1-player
~3 minutes per round so it’s up to you
Ages 8 and Up (although some words might be difficult for an 8 year old)

If I bought every game I thought looked cool, I’d be broke.  No really, my “to buy” list is very, very long.  Lucky me I got a freebie version of the game Q-bitz and I LOVE IT!  Why I waited when I knew it was a Peggy Brown game is somewhat perplexing me right now, but hindsight is 20/20 right?

Peggy is an inventor chum of mine and so I asked her to tell me a little about how she came up with the game.  She was also nice enough to share a picture of her Q-bitz prototype and inventor “sell sheet” which provides a great glimpse into the inventor side of this game! (Click to enlarge the sell sheet below.)

“Q-bitz is the game I wish I would have had as a kid. That’s where it came from. I wanted to make something fun based on graphic images – not recognizable graphics like logos or typefaces, but on some kind of graphic fine art. I also wanted to level the playing field between brainiacs and regular folks, and between people who could and couldn’t draw. I thought if I started with a few simple graphic elements, black and white squares, a black dot on white, a white dot on black, black and white triangles… these elements could be combined in a limitless number of ways to make graphic art in it’s purest form. Putting these images on cubes rather than on tiles was kind of a logical evolutionary step, and it turned out to be a pretty elegant way for players to make these little works of art, without having to think really hard, and without having to draw. All the cubes are identical, so you know that no matter which one you pick up, it’ll fit in any spot on your tray… all you have to do is orient it a certain way. And I secretly loved making up all the different “works of art” on the cards… by the way, I just got to make 120 new cards for a booster pack, and was so excited to do it, I couldn’t stop ’til they were all done! The rules are simple – in fact, you barely have to read them. Just use your cubes to recreate the image on the card. That’s it. It’s almost a toy with rules. I’ve watched kids whomp their parents, (which is what an overgrown kid/game designer like me lives for), and I’ve watched people who generally don’t excel at other kinds of games, like word games or strategy, go nuts over Q-bitz because they can really compete, and even win! Sometimes, from a game designer’s perspective, it takes so much time and gnashing of teeth to get a game over all the hurdles on its way to market, I’m kinda tired of it when it finally comes out. Not true with Q-bitz. I could still play it ever day!”

And I agree with Peggy, I could play it ever day too.

There are three mini-games in Q-bitz.  One you race to get your cubes into your tray so they match the card.  In the second game you do the same thing but you have to roll the cubes.  You may use any cubes you’ve rolled and you can roll again and again until you’ve completed your image. The last game I’m terrible at – no really, HORRIBLE.  You get 10 seconds to study the card then it’s flipped over and you have to put your cubes into the pattern you just saw.  I can’t win this game to save my life, but I still have a great time trying!

Q-Bitz Stats:
~$25 at Amazon, Mindware.com
1-4 players
1-3 minutes per round
Ages 8 and up (some younger kids might enjoy it too)

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