Category: Ω Board Games

Dixit

Dixit

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

Dive

Dive

Dive

Beyond the last continent on the remote island Windbark, diving is an ancestral tradition. During a rite of passage celebrated at the summer solstice, divers compete to retrieve the sacred stone of the village. The elder throws it from the top of the cliff, and the stone leads the contenders for the title of “hero” down to the depths of the ocean, aided in their quest by friendly sea turtles and manta rays.

However, to retrieve the stone, they will need to avoid upsetting the sharks that inhabit the ocean…

Dive plays simultaneously for all player divers, who start the game facing a shuffled stack of 36 transparent “ocean” cards. You have your own diver board and a set of five air tokens that are numbered 1-5 on both sides, with a shark on one side of each token.

Game Mechanics:

  • Action Points
  • Programmed Movement
  • Push Your Luck
  • Racing

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 4 Players
  • 20 – 30 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.53

Dimension

Dimension

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

Dice Town

Dice Town

Dice Town

Each player gets a cup with five poker dice and eight dollars. Each turn, a player will put together a poker hand and depending on the roll, take control of various key places in Dice Town that will allow him to perform the corresponding action of the location.

In a turn, all players shake their cup and take out all but one die, which is kept apart from the others. They repeat the process with the remaining dice until all five dice are on the table. Players may want to keep more than one die; they pay one dollar for each additional die.

Game Mechanics:

  • Dice Rolling
  • Set Collection

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 5 Players
  • ~45 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.69

Decorum

Decorum

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

Deception: Murder in Hong Kong

Deception: Murder in Hong Kong

Deception: Murder in Hong Kong

Deception: Murder in Hong Kong is a game of deduction and deception for 4-12 players that plays in about 20 minutes.

In the game, players take on the roles of investigators attempting to solve a murder case – but there’s a twist. The killer is one of the investigators! Each player’s role and team are randomly assigned at the start of play and include the unique roles of Forensic Scientist, Witness, Investigator, Murderer, and Accomplice. While the Investigators attempt to deduce the truth, the murderer’s team must deceive and mislead. This is a battle of wits!

The Forensic Scientist has the solution but can express the clues only using special scene tiles while the investigators (and the murderer) attempt to interpret the evidence. In order to succeed, the investigators must not only deduce the truth from the clues of the Forensic Scientist, they must also see through the misdirection being injected into the equation by the Murderer and Accomplice!

Find out who among you can cut through deception to find the truth and who is capable of getting away with murder!

Game Mechanics:

  • Bluffing
  • Deduction
  • Hidden Roles
  • Limited Communication
  • Party Game
  • Team Based

Game Specifications:

  • 4 – 12 Players
  • ~20 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.59

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

Crosstalk

CrossTalk is the party game of subtle conversation in which two teams race to guess secret keywords. Each round, teams select a clue-giver, and those clue-givers are given knowledge of the same secret keyword. The goal of the clue-givers is to help their teammates guess this keyword before the other team.

The round begins with both clue-givers writing a one-word clue to give their team in private. Then, clue-givers will alternate providing one-word public clues to everyone — but there is a catch! After your team gives a public clue, the other team — and only the other team — may attempt to guess the keyword. Clue-givers will need to use their private clue to provide context for the future. This will allow them to slip public clues by the other team.

The round ends when one team correctly guesses the keyword or both teams run out of guesses. Each correct guess is worth 1 point, and the first team to earn 5 points wins.

Game Mechanics:

  • Deduction
  • Party Game
  • Team Based
  • Word Game

Game Specifications:

  • 4 – 8 Players
  • 20 – 30 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.18

Connect 4

Connect 4 is a well known vertical game played with “checkers” game pieces, although it is more akin to Tic-Tac-Toe or Go Moku.

The board is placed in the stand to hold it vertically and the players drop game pieces into one of the seven slots, each of which holds up to six game pieces, until one player succeeds in getting four in a row, whether horizontally, vertically, or diagonally.

Game Mechanics:

  • Abstract Strategy
  • Pattern Building

Game Specifications:

  • 2 Players
  • ~10 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.20

Concept

In Concept, your goal is to guess words through the association of icons. A team of two players – neighbors at the table – choose a word or phrase that the other players need to guess. Acting together, this team places pieces judiciously on the available icons on the game board.

To get others to guess “milk”, for example, the team might place the question mark icon (which signifies the main concept) on the liquid icon, then cubes of this color on the icons for “food/drink” and “white”. For a more complicated concept, such as “Leonardo DiCaprio”, the team can use the main concept and its matching cubes to clue players into the hidden phrase being an actor or director, while then using sub-concept icons and their matching cubes to gives clues to particular movies in which DiCaprio starred, such as Titanic or Inception.

The first player to discover the word or phrase receives 2 victory points, the team receives points as well, and the player who ends up with the most points wins.

Game Mechanics:

  • Deduction
  • Limited Communication
  • Party Game
  • Team Based

Game Specifications:

  • 4 – 12 Players
  • ~40 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.39