Category: Quick games

Games that can be learned and played quickly, typically under 30 minutes

Schrödinger’s Cats

Schrödinger’s Cats is a small card game with a lot of betting and (go figure!) cats. You are betting how many boxes (cards in the round) have dead cats, alive cats, or nothing at all! You are all Cat Physicists, trying to prove that you are right about the statistics.Schrödinger's Cats

It is an elimination game, so each round one player gets out until the next game. If there are 5 players, you each start with 5 cards. Then the next round 4, then 3, etc., until there are only 2 players with 2 cards each.

The Cat Physicists all have names and powers (unrelated to the name). Some names are Sir Isaac Mewton, Stephen Pawking, Albert Felinestein, and Madame Purrie. The powers include skipping your hypothesis (bet) for one turn, adding 1 empty box to the findings, and using a power someone else has already used this game.

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I’m Shipwrecked!

Shipwrecked is yet another John Kovalic-illustrated game. You are bidding on resources for your character. The truth is it doesn’t much matter!  Only the resource type, the point value, the income, and the normal value matter. You win by having 100 points in one resource type or 150 points overall.Shipwrecked

Some resources you can bid on are coconut milk (drink), fruit (food), treehouse (housing), lean-to (housing), pet cricket (pet… not food!), parrot (pet) and more!  The price starts at 5 and works down by 1 in each round of bidding.

I think the best part of this game is either the illustrations or the role-playing. In one game, I lived in a treehouse drinking my coconut milk, with a lean-to at the base of my tree for my pet cricket and parrot.

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Virus Alert! Virus Alert!

Virus Alert is a computer-oriented card game involving strategy and sabotage. You add different parts of the computer, like graphics and software (it doesn’t matter which ones) to the collection in front of you. You can sabotage the other player by playing piracy, which lets you steal 1 card from their collection, or cards like virus, which allows you to put virus tokens on the other players’ cards. You can also play cards to remove virus tokens from your cards. You win by having ten computer pieces without viruses on them.Virus Alert

When I played with my mother, I won! I actually won with closer to 13 computer pieces, since six of my cards had viruses early on. I however, managed to play a card that, by chance (rolling a d6), let me clear six virus tokens. That was great! I had around 4 graphics cards in play by the end.

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Kids of Catan

Kids of Catan is a children’s game from the Settlers of Catan. It was, unfortunately, discontinued before they came out with Catan Junior. I’ve played it since I was 3, and I personally enjoy it. While not necessary, I found the back story in the instructions quite fun, and also wryly amusing, as the Mad Robber is called Eric (I know several Erics).Kids of Catan

The characters are placed in slots on a spinning table, kind of like a Lazy Susan. Behind each character are 3 slots for resources. The red-roofed buildings are split into groups depending on the number of players. When you role the die, move 1, 2 or 3 spaces (depending on the role), and pick up the resource in that space if you don’t yet have it. If you land on Eric, take a resource of your choice out of your cart and put it in a matching color-coded space.

When you reach all three resources, unload them all and place one of your red-roofed buildings. When you run out of those, the next time you earn all three resources you place the green-roofed building. This symbolizes that you won.

Each of the little buildings has markings on it. They are actually symbolizing real places. There’s a church, a bakery, a butcher, a school, a tower, a gate, and 2 different types of houses, both of which come in larger quantities. The green-roofed building is the Town Hall. I love the simplicity of this game, yet at the same time the complexity of the story and buildings. I like the fact that the story isn’t necessary, but very complimentary.

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Why was 6 afraid of 7?

Because 7 Ate 9! 7 Ate 9 is a lovable math game. It’s small and portable, so you can play it at a restaurant (I have!). It’s a very fast moving game, though, so beware! You and your partner each have half of the deck. You draw as many as you want at a time. There will be a card in the middle, with either a +/-1, +/-2, or +/-3 on it. The numbers on the center of the card range from 1-10. You have to use the +/- numbers on the side of the card to find which card to play. (2+/-1=1 or 3. 9+/-3=6 or 2. (9+3=12, last digit is 2.))7 Ate 9

This is, I repeat, a speed game. Thus, you are not waiting for the other player to play a card! Your goal is to be the first person to finish your deck of cards by playing them. Then, eat the food you surely ordered before starting the game! Mmm, burrito bowl (my personal experience)! Yum!

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Wallamoppi…

Wallamoppi is a very simple game, despite the strange name. But don’t take “simple” to mean “easy”. For easy it is not.Wallamoppi

In Wallamoppi, both players get a color (decided at random). The player with the dark piece goes first. You take turns drawing tokens at random and placing them, 8 in the bottom row, 7 in the next row, and so on. Then you reach the next phase.

The dark team goes first. When they’ve chosen a piece, they say “Ready!” and the other player drops a marble down a marble run. The team currently going has until the marble reaches the hole at the end of the run to pull out a piece, stack it on top of the tower (positioned on top of the pyramid), and stop the marble. All without knocking over the tower (though bumping the pyramid is fine).

This goes until someone either fails to stop the marble or knocks over the tower. The person that succeeds in not doing either wins! I found this game quite convenient, as our friends from Britain were over with their three-year old. It makes a quick play, simple to understand, while still being challenging to even the most experienced players.

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World of Warships

World of Warships is an intricate strategy game. You choose which ship you want to play, then click ‘Battle’. You wait in queue until enough people in your rank range also click ‘Battle’, then you get drafted into a randomized battlefield. That’s when the fun begins.World of Warships

You have multiple bars for what speed you want to go at. You turn by pressing A and D, move faster by pressing W, and slower by passing S. You can choose a spot on the map to autopilot to using M, and Shift will let you scroll in. 1 and 2 are different shell types and 3 is torpedoes, if you have them. R is repair, which you use if something is immobilized or a crew member is injured. T is your special skill, if the ship has one. You left click to shoot.

This, like other wargaming games, is a fast-paced, quick decision simulation game. I like the fact that though you shoot stuff, there’s no gore.

This game is fun, interactive, and strategic. It is also historical as the ships are modeled off of genuine ships. I play it with my father, uncle, and older cousin.

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Foosball?

Foosball is a game involving 22 characters on sticks, a ball, and a lot of fun. In foosball, you have 11 pieces: 1 goalie, 2 defense, 5 centers, and 3 offense. You drop the ball in the middle and kick it, trying to make a goal. It’s like miniature soccer.Foosball

I enjoy this game very much. I received a foosball table for my birthday this year. We’re going to use it at my birthday party as the Chasers/Keepers part of Quidditch. (Yes, I’m having a Harry Potter themed party.)

I have a particular liking for this game and would recommend it for anyone who either enjoys interactive skill games, or likes soccer.

I have found it to be especially wonderful when I’m not feeling well, as I can just stand up, play a round with my dad, and then go sit down again.

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Shut The Box!

Shut the Box is a traditional English pub game. Unlike some pub games, it is family friendly and unrealistically easy. I marked this as a quick game, but that doesn’t at all describe it. With 2 players, this game takes 3 minutes. It is wonderful to play with your family, because you can sit down and it will fit most time constraints. It is especially great to play when you have a purring cat next to you. (Errr… might have tried that. What can I say? She was sleeping next to our chosen game board.)Shut-the-box

This game works with any amount of players, making it great for parties or being by yourself. In Shut the Box, you roll the dice. Then you flip down any one set of numbers that you can add to make the sum found on your dice. You continue your turn until you cannot flip anything to make that exact sum. Then you add up the remaining numbers. This is your score. You proceed to reset and the next person goes. This process repeats until everyone has gone. Then the person with the lowest score wins. If anyone successfully flips down all the numbers, they shut the box and automatically win the game. Yep, that’s it. The entire game. No, seriously, that’s it. Yep.

This is just one variation of the ways it can be played. See here for more.

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Firefly!… Fluxx?

Do you like the show Firefly? Do you like the card game Fluxx? Then this game is for you: the one and only… Firefly Fluxx!Firefly Fluxx

The Keepers have changed: Instead of Time, and Death, and Chocolate, they have Firefly Keepers: Kaylee Frye and Jayne Cobb. Therefore the Goals are also very different: Instead of Rocket to the Moon, where you need the Rocket and the Moon, they have Goals like The Tam Siblings: you need River Tam and Simon Tam. The New Rules and Actions are similar to the original… they just renamed some of them.

This variation also brings with it a less welcome change: Creepers. Creepers are cards like Reavers. You can’t win with them unless specific conditions say otherwise. There are some Goals that include Creepers as part of the winning criteria… for instance: the Crazy Ivan Maneuver requires Serenity and Reavers. Besides these special Goals, getting rid of a Creeper is particularly difficult.

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