Cowabunga

Cowabunga is card game in the tradition of 99, which is also in the tradition of 98 and 100. In these "adder" games, every time a card is discarded, its value is added to the total value of cards on the deck. Some cards don't count. Some cards can be added or subtracted. And some raise the value to 99. The objective is not to go over 99.

Designer Reinhard Staupe has taken that basic concept, and added, if I may use the term, some novel game play to it - novel enough to make it into a new, and significantly fun game in its very own right.

Cowabunga uses a surfing metaphor. As you play cards you build "waves." As the value of the discard pile increases, the wave gets higher and higher. When the wave value reaches 30, it crests. Each new card now makes the wave decrease in height, until it is lower than 10. And then it once again builds. If you happen to be the one who makes the wave change direction, you get to pick an Obstacle Card. So, OK. So here's the conceptual undertow. These Obstacle Cards have numbers on them. When someone plays a card that makes the wave height reach the number on one of your Obstacle Cards, you get to make that player pick up a Cow Pawn. Which could be a bad thing for that player. Hence, the delight, the agony, the ever-playworthy "screw-you factor." As soon as any player has four Cow pawns (or when the last Obstacle Card is drawn), the game immediately ends and the player with the fewest Cow Pawns wins. Then, if there is a tie for the fewest Cow Pawns, the tied player with the most Obstacle Cards wins the tie-breaker.

About the Cow Pawns - they are what you most definitely would be tempted to call "cute" - little cows in red bathing trunks, each holding surfboard. Since the game is primarily for kids, these little Cow Pawns alone make it covet-worthy.

Everything in this sweet little half-hour card game for 2-5 players works well to build the surfing fantasy - the art, the rules, the cute little Cow Pawns. But please note: it comes in a box that's at least three times wider than you need for the contents. I know, packaging has a strong influence on the marketability of a game. Stores stock games according to shelf-space needed. And Cowabunga is packaged to fit nicely in the board game section, and Playroom Entertainment has done a wonderful job on the art and manufacture of the cards and pieces. We spent at least three minutes looking for the board. But it's a card game, with cows. Which led to some minor disappointment and wonderment, until we started playing the game, and discovered that the fun of it is indeed larger than the box.

Box-size-wise, Dan Rowen, president of Playroom Entertainment, explains: "I understand your point on the bigger box; but, with the 17 pawns and 80 cards it simply didn’t fit in our smaller 'card game box.' Also, having a decent presence on a retailer’s shelf is important to get the best exposure to the product. This has been doing really well for us in Hobby-Game stores, as well as Toy stores, gift shops and even some educational and school supply stores. So, we try to have a product that will cross over into numerous segments of the market."

All in all, considering the size of the fun contained, a good value in any size box.

Geominos

There's something inherently satisfying when things fit together. And even more satisfying when they fit completely together. Especially if they fit on the right color squares.

There's also something inherently pleasing about a game called "Geominos" that comes in a pizza-like box. A sturdy box, mind you. One that amply protects the heavily-laminated board, the 21 durably plastic tiles and the two, one-minute sand timers, and deck of 21 cards. Pleasing because one cannot help be amusingly reminded of a Geominos-sounding pizza store in one's probable neighborhood.

The game. Simply put:

• Place your Geominos™ game tiles next to tiles already on the board, matching pips (spots) to pips, as in dominos.
• You're assessed points for any pips that are on a light-colored square of the board.
• The game ends when all tiles have been placed on the board.
• The player with the fewest points wins the game.

Gamestaster Marc pithily pointed out that a game that could be completely explained with so few rules demonstrates what the Major Fun seal is all about: clarity, elegance, simplicity.

Geominos is game that engages strategic thinking, visual skills, speed, and just enough luck to keep you from hating yourself. Strategic thinking because each tile has a different shape, and each tile has two different sides with a different array of pips, and though you only have to match one section of your tile, there are still more than enough parameters to make you hate both of those nicely made one-minute sand timers.

Of course, it depends, somewhat, on which Geomino game you decide to play. Because you see, there are three different games (the one-tile, the five-tile, and the all-tiles), each of which demands a different enough strategy to make it, well, different. Still Geominos, still challenging, but each with a different balance of luck and strategy.

In order to start a game, players have to draw tiles, randomly. This is a bit difficult, since all the tiles are on the table. Even if they were in a bag, you'd still be able to more-or-less tell their shape - just in case you're looking for something in particular. So, you use that special deck of cards I told you about - ensuring that the selection of tiles is truly random.

If you're new to the game, you'll need more time to ponder. So each game can be played in 1- to 3-minute rounds. In a 1-minute round, you just use one timer. In a 2, you use both. In 3, you restart the first one as soon as the second one is done. Simple, effective, and can be used to add a certain, shall we say, flare of implied pressure.

The 5-tile game is significantly challenging, but also the best game to start with - it gives you a chance to experience all the properties of the tiles and board and the various significances thereof. The 1-tile game has a stronger element of luck. The All-tile game can lead to psycho-aerobic brain-strain.

Recommended for 2-4 players of at least checker-playing age, Geominos takes about 15 minutes to learn and from 30-60 minutes to play. Geominos has been found by our independent gang of Game Tasters to be Major FUN.

Gumball Rally

Ted Cheatham's Gumball Rally is another excellent card game from Z-Man Games. This one's especially for kids or for adults looking for a "filler game."

It's a race, all right, for up to 8 players. The game takes less than a half-hour to play, and probably less than half of that to learn. The manufacturers recommend it for kids 6 and up. We recommend it for kids who like playing race-type games, and especially for adults who enjoy playing light and quick.

You get 8 different Go Kart cards - that is, large, thick, well-illustrated, cardboard cards depicting different Go Karts. You also get a deck of playing cards - 4 different kinds of playing cards (Race cards - 4 suits, each numbered 1-10; Hazard cards (19 cards, no numbers), 10 point cards, and 8 small Go Kart cards to help you remember which Kart is yours. So there are several sorting moments required. And yet more sorting moments once you separate out all the Hazard cards: giving each player 3 cards, removing the Winner and two Checkpoint cards, shuffling the remaining cards, removing 4 cards and placing them in the box (without looking at the cards), taking 3 cards from the Hazard deck and shuffling them with the Winner card, then 3 more cards from the Hazard deck shuffled with one Winner card, and again - placing these all in a stack to form the bottom of the draw pile. All of which is very clever and logical once you actually play the game, because the Winner and Checkpoint cards, placed as they are near the bottom of the deck, force the game to some oft-delightful and generally timely conclusions. After the first game, all this shuffling and sorting seems to add both to the fun of the game and the fun of getting ready to have fun.

The large Go Kart cards are placed, in order of play, on the table - the first player in the first position, etc. Race cards determine which Go Kart is the fastest. If you play a Race card, and you are in, say, third position, and your card is higher than the Go Kart in the second position, then you move up one position. Then there are the Hazard cards which affect the Go Kart whose color matches the inner border of the Hazard card.

Oddly enough, despite all this apparent complexity, the game takes only about 15 minutes to learn and less than a half-hour to play. The pace is fast enough to keep everyone in play - even when there are 8 players. Which makes the game feel most race-like - especially as cars are constantly changing position, and even more especially when you pass the lead car.

The cards are vividly illustrated by John Donahue under the direction of jim pinto (who artistically spells his name in lower case).

A lot of big fun in this little game.

The List of Five is Finalized

Major Fun's 2007 List of Five: - the topmost majorfunnest makeyoulaughmost party games of the year, according the Major Fun Board of Impartial Game Tasters and Major Fun, of MajorFun.com, him-actual-self.