Category: Beginner Games

7 Wonders 🟢

You are the leader of one of the 7 great cities of the Ancient World. Gather resources, develop commercial routes, and affirm your military supremacy. Build your city and erect an architectural wonder which will transcend future times.

7 Wonders lasts three ages. In each age, players receive seven cards from a particular deck, choose one of those cards, then pass the remainder to an adjacent player. Players reveal their cards simultaneously, paying resources if needed or collecting resources or interacting with other players in various ways. (Players have individual boards with special powers on which to organize their cards, and the boards are double-sided). Each player then chooses another card from the deck they were passed, and the process repeats until players have six cards in play from that age. After three ages, the game ends.

In essence, 7 Wonders is a card development game. Some cards have immediate effects, while others provide bonuses or upgrades later in the game. Some cards provide discounts on future purchases. Some provide military strength to overpower your neighbors and others give nothing but victory points. Each card is played immediately after being drafted, so you’ll know which cards your neighbor is receiving and how her choices might affect what you’ve already built up. Cards are passed left-right-left over the three ages, so you need to keep an eye on the neighbors in both directions.

Game Mechanics:

  • City Building
  • Civilization
  • Closed Drafting
  • Economic
  • Hand Management
  • Set Collection

Game Specifications:

  • 3 – 7 Players
  • 30 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.32

DC Deck-Building Game: Multiverse Box

The DC Deck-Building Game: Multiverse Box is a storage solution for one box to house every DC Deck-Building Game card, featuring customizable trays, spacers, and a Crossover Pack of brand new cards! These new cards allow for each previous DC Deck-Building Game to be used together in one game.

Games included are: 

  • DC Deck-Building Game: Injustice: Gods Among Us
  • DC Deck-Building Game: Rebirth
  • DC Deck-Building Game: Rivals – Shazam! vs. Black Adam
  • DC Deck-Building Game: Rivals – The Flash vs. Reverse Flash

 

Game Mechanics:

  • Deck Building
  • Open Drafting

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 4 Players
  • 60 – 90 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.50

Dixit

Each turn in Dixit, one player is the storyteller, chooses one of the six cards in their hand, then makes up a sentence based on that card’s image and says it out loud without showing the card to the other players. Each other player then selects the card in their hand that best matches the sentence and gives the selected card to the storyteller, without showing it to anyone else.

The storyteller shuffles their card with all of the received cards, then reveals all of these cards. Each player other than the storyteller then secretly guesses which card belongs to the storyteller. If nobody or everybody guesses the correct card, the storyteller scores 0 points, and each other player scores 2 points. Otherwise, the storyteller and whoever found the correct answer score 3 points. Additionally, the non-storyteller players score 1 point for every vote received by their card.

The game ends when the deck is empty or if a player has scored at least 30 points. In either case, the player with the most points wins.

Game Mechanics:

  • Party Game
  • Racing
  • Storytelling
  • Targeted Clues

Game Specifications:

  • 3 – 6 Players
  • ~30 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.26

Dimension

In the puzzle game Dimension six task cards are laid out each round, with these cards dictating how the balls in the game should be stacked on top of one another and side to side. These challenges aren’t easy as some colors shouldn’t touch one another.

Fast puzzle-solving is important, but more than that in the end whoever solves the most of these difficult tasks wins.

Game Mechanics:

  • Pattern Building
  • Puzzle

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 4 Players
  • ~30 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.37

Decorum

Decorum is a cooperative, hidden information game where you and your partner share the same objective: decorate your home in a way that makes you both happy. The problem is, different things make each of you happy and nobody says exactly what they need. Can you find a happy compromise, or is it time to move out?!

Game Mechanics:

  • Cooperative
  • Deduction
  • Limited Communication
  • Negotiation
  • Puzzle

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 4 Players
  • 30 – 45 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.60

Dance Card! Freshman Year

Dance Card! is a family friendly strategy game, set during a high school Homecoming dance! All of the players take on the roles of students and have the objective of dancing with each of their personal dance partners to win the game. The contemporary setting, vibrant art style, and unique theme is designed to appeal to younger players, those new to the tabletop hobby, and parents who want a game to help their kids transition into the world of hobby gaming. Despite being a gateway game, Dance Card! also provides plenty of challenge and replay value for more experienced players as well.

The most important aspect of Dance Card! is its cast. Rather than include generic students, each of the 32 playable characters in Dance Card are completely unique, with their own style and personal abilities. To better reflect the real, contemporary world that high school students live in today, the cast of Dance Card is designed to be inclusive and representative of many different cultures, orientations, and dress styles.

Game Mechanics:

  • Dice Rolling
  • Racing
  • Set Collection
  • Team Based

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 4 Players
  • 30 – 60 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.50

Clue: Harry Potter Edition

Discover the secrets of Hogwarts in this version of the classic Mystery game. Enjoy new game play features and a moving Hogwarts game board. Dark magic has been performed at Hogwarts. A fellow student has vanished from the famous School of Witchcraft and Wizardry–and it is up to you to solve the mysterious disappearance.
Play as Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Luna or Neville and try to discover who did it, what spell or item they used, and where the student was attacked. Was it Draco Malfoy with a Sleeping Draught in the Owlery?


Move around Hogwarts making suggestions–but watch out. Wheels on the board actually move to reveal secret passages, hidden staircases, and even the Dark Mark. Think you’ve gathered all the facts you need? Go to Dumbledore’s office to make your final accusation to win the game.

This version of the classic Clue game combines the standard clue idea of going from room to room making suggestions of who, what, and where. However, this version adds a few new ideas. The first is the ever changing board. On a players turn s/he roles three dice, two regular and a special die. The special die has the four houses of Hogwarts on it. This allows a player to change the layout of the board, by opening/closing doors, changing the secret passage way, reveling the dark mark (causing lose of house points), or getting help cards.

The house points are a second change. In this version either a player can win, or all players can lose and the dark side wins, by getting all the players house points. House points are lost when the dark mark appears and a card is reveled from the dark deck. The players affected must either show a help card that protects them from the dark deck card, or lose the set number of house points. Dropping to zero house points causes a player to lose and out of the game.

The other two card types are the third change in the game. There are help cards that consist of items, allies, and spells. These are used to combat the second deck, the Dark Deck. The dark deck cards are revealed when a dark mark appears either on the dice roll, or by moving the house wheels changing the door layouts. The dark mark card affect players in specific locations and those players must be able to show the indicated help cards or lose house points.

All-in-all the idea is the same as traditional clue, but the extra things makes the game just different enough. People that like Clue and/or Harry Potter would enjoy this version.

Game Mechanics:

  • Deduction
  • Paper and Pencil
  • Roll/Spin to Move

Game Specifications:

  • 3 – 5 Players
  • ~30 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.63

Century: Golem Edition

Century: Golem Edition is a re-themed version of Century: Spice Road set in the world of Caravania. In Century: Golem Edition, players are caravan leaders who travel the famed golem road to deliver crystals to the far reaches of the world.

Game Mechanics:

  • Contracts
  • Deck, Bag, and Pool Building
  • Hand Management
  • Open Drafting
  • Set Collection

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 5 Players
  • 30 – 45 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.71

Carcassonne: 20th Anniversary Edition

Carcassonne is a tile-placement game in which the players draw and place a tile with a piece of southern French landscape on it. The tile might feature a city, a road, a cloister, grassland or some combination thereof, and it must be placed adjacent to tiles that have already been played, in such a way that cities are connected to cities, roads to roads, etcetera. Having placed a tile, the player can then decide to place one of their meeples on one of the areas on it: on the city as a knight, on the road as a robber, on a cloister as a monk, or on the grass as a farmer. When that area is complete, that meeple scores points for its owner.

During a game of Carcassonne, players are faced with decisions like: “Is it really worth putting my last meeple there?” or “Should I use this tile to expand my city, or should I place it near my opponent instead, giving him a hard time to complete their project and score points?” Since players place only one tile and have the option to place one meeple on it, turns proceed quickly even if it is a game full of options and possibilities.

Carcassonne: 20th Anniversary Edition is a special edition of Carcassonne to celebrate the 20th anniversary of its Spiel des Jahres win in 2001. This edition includes the tiles from the Carcassonne base game, “The River” mini-expansion (with five new river tiles), “The Abbot” mini-expansion, and a new 15-tile “anniversary” mini-expansion. All tiles are adorned with UV-print, with many detailed easter eggs being hidden in the art. Costume stickers are included in case you wish to “dress” your meeples.

Game Mechanics:

  • Area Control
  • Map Addition
  • Tile Placement

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 5 Players
  • ~35 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.84

Canvas

In Canvas, you play as a painter competing in an art competition. Players will collect art cards, layering 3 of them together to create their own unique Painting. Each card contains a piece of artwork as well as a set of icons used during scoring. Icons will be revealed or hidden based on the way players choose to layer the cards making for an exciting puzzle. Paintings are scored based on a set of Scoring cards which will change each game. Once players have created and scored 3 paintings the game ends.

On your turn you may take an Art card or make a painting. Art cards are selected from a row of cards in the center of play. Each of these cards has a cost associated with their position. After selecting an Art card you must pay its cost by placing an Inspiration token on each of the cards to its left. If you do not have enough Inspiration tokens, you may not select that card. Any tokens on the card you have selected are kept for future turns. The far left card costs no Inspiration tokens to take.

If you have three or more Art cards you may choose to make a painting. Select 3 of your art cards, arrange them in any order and then score them by comparing the visible icons on your painting to the Scoring conditions.

Once all players have made 3 paintings the game ends.

The player with the most points wins!

Game Mechanics:

  • Hand Management
  • Open Drafting
  • Set Collection
  • Solo / Solitaire

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 5 Players
  • ~30 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.71