Keesdrow

If you like word games, especially those of the word-seek, Boggle-type, you should most seriously and assuredly consider immediately purchasing Pywacket's surprisingly well-made, designed, and documented Keesdrow. (Keesdrow, as in word-seek, only spelled sdrawkcab). Surprisingly well.

First, of course, the game. Because even though the quality of the pieces and the cleverness of the design and the thoroughness of the documentation are all exemplary, if the game itself weren't fun and challenging and unique, the rest wouldn't matter. The board (made by a random arrangement of 64 tiles, double-sided tiles, each of which has 4 letters on it) presents an array of 16x16 letters.

Not to, shall we say, "boggle" your mind, but, do you recall how many letters there are in the original, Parker Brothers version of Boggle? Did you say 16? And did we say that Keesdrow has 16 times 16 letters? Why, yes, we did. So, one might easily conclude that Keesdrow is Boggle overkill.

Words are created by connecting letters that are horizontally, vertically or diagonally adjacent - as would be familiar to any Boggle player. Each time a letter is used, it is marked with a peg. When a pegged letter is used (a letter is used for the second time) to make a word, that peg is replaced with a different peg of a different color (yellow), and the letter's score-value is doubled. When that letter is used a third (and last) time, a red peg us used, and the letter's score is tripled. This makes every letter of increasing strategic value - so the temptation is to build from other people's words, focusing on one small area of the board. And thus, quite brilliantly, keeping the players from being totally overwhelmed by all the possibilities.

There's also a unique double letter rule, where you can use the same letter twice in a row or in the word, doubling back, as it were, if you need, and of course adding to your score as you make your green pegs yellow, and your yellow, red. And, to encourage players to widen their use of the board as the game continues, letters marked with a red peg are "dead" and can't be used again. All of this just about guarantees that you will be taken completely by surprise by each other's brilliance - all of you looking at the same cluster of letters and suddenly someone finding a word that was everso blatantly there and yet completely invisible to you. Hence, the Majorness of the FUN. Finally, there's a two-minute timer, just to keep things in perspective.

In the deluxe version, the letter tiles are made of wood. For five dollars less, you can get them made out of plastic. Which maybe less appealing aesthetically-speaking, but perhaps even more durable. Everything else, deluxe or regular version, is the same. A plastic box, divided into three compartments, stocked with three different colored pegs. A folding board that acts as a frame, and a set of carefully illustrated, full-color instructions completes the package. Recommended for 2 to 6 players, 8 to adult. Though if you have more than 4 players, more than childlike patience will be required. It's also helpful if players are relatively equally skilled, or as much imbued with compassion as with the love of wordly challenge.

Snatch

Snatch, based on the Victorian word game of anagrams, is a very portable and nicely executed word game from US Games Systems, Inc..

Anagrams, under any name, is a word game you should know about. It is elegantly simple, with very few rules, and yet can become remarkably absorbing, intense, and challenging for even the best of word game players. The look and feel of the tiles is an important contribution to an overall excellent game, hence, our most wholehearted endorsement of Snatch.

You begin with a pool of letter tiles, all turned face down. On your turn, you turn over any tile. Then it's the next player's turn. As soon as any player sees a word that can be made from the exposed tiles, that player calls the word out and wins the tiles for herself. She places the tiles in front of her, face-up, so that all players can see her word. The game continues, tiles turned over one per turn, so to speak. Now here is the excruciating part - if any player can add some exposed tiles to one of your words so as to change it into a different word, that player can claim your tiles. So: 1) you never really own anything until the very end of the game, and, 2) as the game progresses, there are more and more snatch-worthy words to contemplate. Especially those long words.

So Snatch, even though it is not in itself a new game, is clearly Major FUN. It is reasonably priced, attractive, well-executed, the plastic tiles are smooth to the touch and slide easily on tablecloth or tabletop as you rearrange them (which you do often) - all the things you want in a good game. Though it can be played by as many players as are interested, we've found that it's best in a smallish group (2-4) of people who are equally adept, word-wise, and equally competitive, reaction-time-wise.

What's Yours Like?

Today's conceptual gift is a remarkably simple, and deeply fun party game from Patch Products called "What's Yours Like?".

Pick a card. The card has a word on it. Show the card to everyone except the person guessing, who asks: "what's yours like." Take turns answering the question, being sure to be accurate, and subtle. Too clear a clue, and it will be guessed immediately. Too subtle, and, well, it's just not fair.

For example, suppose the card reads "washing machine." Legitimate answers to such an innocuous "what's yours like" question might be: "mine is white," "mine has a lot of knobs," "mine is noisy," etc. However, given the age and nature of the people playing, the answers could just as easily become rife with double meaning, and I mean rife, like, for example: "mine makes my underwear wet."

For us, that was really the charm of the game - how much of it was really up to us - to our collective cleverness and naughty nuanciness. Which means that the game will be different, depending on who's playing with whom. Different when playing with family than when playing with friends, different with teen-agers than with seniors. Which makes the game even that much more successful, and fascinating, and Major FUN-worthy.

There are 188 two-sided cards "guess word" cards. One side is recommended for older players because they might include things that kids don't have (in-laws, ulcers, jobs). There are two wipe-off clue boards with markers. The player in the "Hot Seat" uses one, writing down each clue as it is given (the fewer clues, the better the score). There are 95 Challenge cards. These cards allow the Hot Seated player to share the Hot Seat, as it were. That's when the other clue-writing board comes into play. Now the two players with the Hot Seats compete with each other, the first to guess the word correctly gets to take two points (points are bad) off her score.

What's Yours Like is a game for 4 or more players. With 4 players, it takes maybe 15 minutes for a round. Figure 3 rounds per game. The art of giving just the right response, of being clever, yet accurate, actually outweighs the accomplishment of guessing what was on the card. It's a game that will make you laugh, a lot, even without keeping score. Like I said, it's Major FUN.

Spin-It

Spin-It puts a new spin on an old game. The old game I'm talking about is an American folk game that has been invented and reinvented so often that, according to this article, it goes under the name of: Arizona Golf Balls, Australian Horseshoes, Ball Dangle, BlongoBall, Bola, Bolo, Bolo Ball, Bolo Golf, Bolo Polo, Cowboy Golf, Dandy Golf, Dingle Balls, Flingy Ball, Gladiator, Golfball Horseshoes, Hillbilly Golf, Hillbilly Horseshoes, Horseballs, Ladder Ball, Ladder Game, Ladder Golf, Ladder Toss, Monkey Balls, Monkey Bars Golf, Montana Golf, Norwegian Golf, Norwegian Horseshoes, Pocca Bolo, Polish Golf, Polish Horsehoes, Poor Man's Golf, Rattlerail Toss, Redneck Golf, Rodeo Golf, Slither, Snake Toss, Snakes, Snakes & Ladders, Spin-It, Swedish Golf, The Snake Game, Tower Ball, Willy Ball, and Zing-Ball." Whatever name it goes by, you have a series of bars that serve as targets, and bolo balls that you try to wrap around the highest scoring bars.

Spin-It, however, puts such a big spin on the traditional game that the result is a truly new, unique bolo-tossing game - in fact, a small cornucopia of new games.

The, so to speak, "pivotal" innovation is a wheel of five different-colored bars. The wheel spins very easily, so that if you manage to wrap your bolo around any one of those bars it will add just enough weight to make the whole wheel turn, ferris-wheel-like, so that the wrapped-around bar goes towards the bottom, changing the position of all the other bars. Since each bar has a different point value, the strategic significance of every successful toss becomes readily, and often painfully apparent. This makes for genuine strategic depth, and at least ten different, but equally challenging Spin-It-using games, including Spin-It Golf and Spin-It Bowling, each of which is an inspiration for the development of yet more Spin-It variations.

Which makes Spin-It an invitation to play in the best and deepest sense. It invites participation, it invites creativity, it invites the entire family. Enough skill is involved to make you want to take the game seriously. Enough luck to make you laugh.

There's something about tossing a bolo that is inherently fun. There's something about Spin-It that makes bolo-tossing Major FUN.

The Spin-It set comes with two complete Spin-It goals, two sets of bolo-balls (each set has three bolos made of rubber balls held together by a rainbow-colored cord), in a cardboard carrying box. Once you figure out how to set it up the first time, you'll find it's quite easy to set up again and again. On the other hand, you might not want to put it away, ever. There are so many games to play with it. So much fun to be explored. We, for example, have been collectively wondering how much fun it would be if you tried using one Spin-It goal, placed in the middle of two players (or teams), standing about 20 feet apart, throwing simultaneously. This seems to engender the potential for sudden turns, and almost excruciatingly delightful agony.

Ka-Ching: The Buy the Numbers Card Game

What you need to know about Gamewright's two-player card game Ka-Ching is that it's mercifully short. You can play it in 15 minutes. That's 15 surprisingly intense minutes of essentially cutthroat competition. Which makes the shortness of it all so merciful. What you also need to know, is that it's surprisingly fun, absorbing, easy to learn, and well-designed.

There are two decks of cards: the money cards and the numbers cards. You use the money cards to buy the numbers cards.

There are five different cards of number cards, seven of each kind, numbered 2-6 (there are two 2's). First thing you do, after you've shuffled the number cards, is lay the number cards out in 5 rows of 7. After that, you give each player $20 worth of money cards (which come in denominations of $1, $2, $5, and $10). There are two wild cards. You give one to each player.

On your turn you may do one of two things: you may buy any of the five cards that are currently exposed (the bottom card of each column), or you may sell any two cards that are of the same kind. The price for buying a card is the number that appears on the card. The amount of money you get for selling a pair of cards is the multiple of the numbers on those two cards. Thus, you could conceivably buy a blue card for $5 and another blue card for $6, and then sell it for $30 (5x6), for a tidy profit of $22.

That's about it, rule-wise. Except for your one wild card. Which doubles the value of whatever card you want to sell it with.

Sounds simple, no? Except for the thinking part. Because, see, once you realize that if you buy, say, the purple 3, it makes it possible for your beloved opponent to buy the green 6 right above it. So maybe you should buy the blue 2 instead, given that the next card in that column is merely an orange 3. On the other hand, the blue 2 is only worth $2, and at best can only double the value of another blue card, and the card right above the green 6 is a purple 6, which would give you $18 - so your opponent might not really want to buy the green 6, even though it is a 6, because she doesn't want you to have that purple one. Know what I mean?

Designed by Klaus Palesch and Horst-Rainer Rösner, Ka-Ching, despite how easy it is to learn, and how short of a game it may be, is a game you need to take seriously. It is a remarkably well-designed and -executed game of pure strategy, and sometimes delicious agony.

As for those money cards - game designers, take note. Using card stock for money, despite the fact that paper has far more money-like verisimilitude, makes for money that is much easier to handle and much more fun to play with.

Igloo Pop

Igloo Pop, from Rio Grande Games is a family game requiring listening, estimating, and some deductive reasoning. The main component of the game is 12 plastic igloos, housing (thanks to you patience and care) from 2-13 tiny glass beads. If you shake the igloos, and listen carefully, you can actually estimate how many of those little beads they each contain. It is one of the few games that center on the senses, and, if only because of that, merits our collective attention. Especially when you think about how many games there are, designed specifically for children, that involve everything but the senses. There are guessing games, memory games, thinking games, drawing games, puzzles. But how many games can you name that involve auditory discrimination? My wife said it reminded her of a Montesorri activity. Only much more fun.

In addition to the igloos, you get a deck of 33 cards, and ten small wooden discs ("Thalers") of different colors, one color for each of up to 6 players. The cards have anywhere from one to 3 different numbers on them - each number corresponding to a quantity of beads. Nine cards are turned face up, and the game begins. Players take turns selecting and shaking the igloos.

If you think an igloo has a quantity of beads that matches one of the cards, you place it on that card, and put one of your Thalers in a tight-fitting slot located by the door of each igloo. If the card has 3 different numbers on it, you are correct as long as the count matches any of the 3 numbers. You might also notice that there is only one Eskimo pictured on that card. Remember, some cards have only one number on them. Those cards have only one matching igloo. But they also have three Eskimos.

After there are no more igloos, or no one thinks any of the remaining igloos are worth a Thaler, the round ends. Players determine who is correct. The correct players win the Thalers on all the igloos that are parked on that card. And the player who's igloo has the most beads in it wins the card. The next round is then played, and the game continues until someone has run out of Thalers. The player with the most points (Eskimos and Thalers) wins.

Assembly, as hinted above, is most definitely required, and adult participation is highly encouraged. You get a bunch of empty igloos, a bigger bunch of tiny glass beads (very cool tiny glass beads), igloo bottoms, and a sheet of stickers numbering 2-13. Into each igloo, you have to put the exact number of beads indicated on the sticker of your choice, sometimes rather forcefully press the igloo bottom into the igloo, and then put the sticker on. Fortunately, the effort required is relatively minor, compared to the fun you'll have from playing the game.

Some kids might have a little difficulty in refraining from looking at the number on the bottom of their chosen igloo. If it's too hard for them to refrain, it's a good sign that they are not ready to play this game.

Though the game seems to be designed for children, it's a good challenge for every member of the family, hence, Major FUN.

Booby Trap

Booby Trap is what you'd call a "classic kids' game." It's been around since the 60's (originally a Parker Brothers game), and has been recently re-released by Fundex. For kids old enough to appreciate the patience, dexterity, observation skills, and luck necessary to win, Booby Trap is a study in fascination.

An assortment 63 pieces (three different discs, each of a different width and color, each with a peg handle in the middle) is literally squeezed in the playing frame so that they are as tightly packed as possible. The squeezing is achieved by attaching a rubber band to a "tension bar" on one side of the frame. The goal of the game, then, becomes to remove as many of the discs as you can without disturbing the tension bar.

The larger pieces are, of course, worth the most points, and are, equally of course, the most difficult to remove. And yet, oddly enough, if you are very observant, or lucky, you might easily pick one that, despite appearances to the contrary, lifts out with the greatest of ease and heart-lightening joy. Of course, after someone's judgment or luck proves to be less than successful, and the bar moves, and other pieces get sprongged off the board, the tension, for the next player, is considerably, so to speak, released.

There is a rule which can be very difficult for younger children to observe - the one about having to move whatever you touch. The desire to test before plucking frequently overwhelms the need to play strictly by the rules. Those who are old enough to appreciate the sagacity of the touch-it-pluck-it rule will derive immense satisfaction, and the sometimes shockingly violent evidence, of the efficacy of their observational powers, and will be moved more quickly to laughter than to tears in either event.

This restored release of Booby Trap also includes a variation which allows for a shorter game. Six narrow boards are included, one for each of the up to six players. Each board shows a different sequence of pieces that must be selected. It's a good challenge, and, depending on what happens before your turn, and what size piece is next on your board, often surprisingly more than adequate.

Can't Stop

Can't Stop is the Majorest FUN of one of the Major FUNnest game designers I ever had the honor to know. The late Sid Sackson was a passionate, modest, and remarkably accessible game inventor and collector. His expertise, his appreciation for an elegant design, his love of play is everywhere evident in this most accessible of his games. And, thanks to Face 2 Face Games, you, too, may soon find yourself delightfully unable to stop.

Can't Stop is a dice game in which players try to be the first to claim 4 of the 11 rows (corresponding to all the combinations of two dice) on the Can't Stop board. You have 4 dice. You throw all of them, and then combine them into pairs - however you want. So, if you throw, for example, a 3, 4, 5, and 6, you can move one space forward in the 7 and 11 columns, or one space forward in the 8 and 10 columns, or two spaces forward in the 9 column - thus giving you just enough decision-making power to make you feel responsible for whatever fate awaits.

Can't Stop is perhaps the ultimate fate-tempting games. Because, you see, your turn doesn't end with one throw. Oh, no. You can throw and throw again. Until, don't you know, you don't have a legal move. If you only had stopped right before that, you could have progressed significantly up the board, coming everso closer to claiming a row of your own. But you didn't stop, did you. Oh, you could have. You should have. But, no. O'ertaken, once again, by the sheer bravado of your unassailable hopefulness.

You have three white pieces to move, and a bunch of markers to plant. You throw the dice and move one or two of the pieces. You feel somewhat sanguine about your next throw, knowing that you'll have at least one more piece to move regardless. Of course, any column already claimed by another player can't be used. Which is good (because any move that you can't make is not counted as a possible move) and not so good (because you have fewer opportunities to win).

If you have the good sense to stop at the right time, you remove the white pieces, and use your markers to indicate your progress along those columns. If you have the bad luck not to stop in time, all the white pieces are given to the next player, whatever progress you might have made on your turn is obliterated, and the game goes on.

The game always seems winnable, until it isn't. As more and more columns are claimed, the temptation not to stop becomes evermore profound. And the likelihood that you should've when you could've evermore self-evident.

Can't Stop can be played by 2-4 players. Or by that many teams. For anyone old enough to play checkers and appreciate the value of profound chagrin.