Category: Party Games

For Sale

| OTSG Staff

For Sale is a quick, fun game nominally about buying and selling real estate. During the game’s two distinct phases, players first bid for several buildings then, after all buildings have been bought, sell the buildings for the greatest profit possible.

Rounding rule

The rounding rule preferred by the designer Stefan Dorra is that players get back half of their bid rounded DOWN (not UP), as confirmed in correspondence with him here and here. A history of how the rounding rule has changed in different editions is documented here.

Game Mechanics:

Game Specifications:

  • 3 – 6 Players
  • 30 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.25

Flip 7

| OTSG Staff

Flip over cards one by one without flipping the same number twice.

Sound easy? Think again! This isn’t just any deck of cards… In Flip 7 there’s only one 1 card, two 2’s, three 3’s, etc plus a bunch of special cards that can score you extra points, give you a second chance, or freeze you or your opponents in your tracks.

Are you the type of player to play it safe and bank points before you bust, or are you going to risk it all and go for the bonus points by flipping over seven in a row? Press your luck meets strategy in this addictive card game that’s sure to be the greatest card game you’ve ever played!

Game Mechanics:

Game Specifications:

  • 3 – 18 Players
  • ~20 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.03

dude

| OTSG Staff

dude is a game where you say “dude”. The word “dude” appears on each card in one of six different ways, with 12 dooode cards, 12 dewd cards, 12 dude. cards, 12 dude? cards, 12 tiny dude cards, and 12 tie-dyed dude cards.

The goal is to quickly find matches for as many of your cards as you can. To play, you say the word “dude” as you think it should be said, based on how it appears on your card. At the same time, listen to how the other players are saying the word “dude”. Trying to figure out whether you have the same card as another player is the essence of dude.

Game Mechanics:

Game Specifications:

  • 3 – 6 Players
  • 1 – 5 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.00

Decrypto

| OTSG Staff

Players compete in two teams in Decrypto, with each trying to correctly interpret the coded messages presented to them by their teammates while cracking the codes they intercept from the opposing team.

Each team has their own screen, and in this screen they tuck four cards in pockets numbered 1-4, letting everyone on the same team see the words on these cards while hiding the words from the opposing team. In the first round, one team member from each team takes a code card that shows three of the digits 1-4 in some order, e.g., 4-2-1. They then give a coded message using synonyms of the code words so that their teammate can guess the sequence. If the teammates guess incorrectly, the team receives a black mark of failure.

Subsequent rounds have the same structure, except now the other team can attempt to guess your code. If they’re correct, they receive a white mark of success; if not, then the first team must guess the number correctly or take a black mark of failure. (Guessing correctly does nothing except avoid failure and give the opposing team information about what our hidden words might be.)

The rounds continue until a team collects either its second white mark (winning the game) or its second black mark (losing the game). Games typically last between 4-7 rounds. If neither team has won after eight rounds, then each team must attempt to guess the other team’s words; whichever team guesses more words correctly wins.

Game Mechanics:

  • Communication Limits
  • Paper and Pencil
  • Team-Based Game

Game Specifications:

  • 3 – 8 Players
  • 15 – 45 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.83

Deadwood 1876

| OTSG Staff

There’s gold in the Black Hills of South Dakota, and you’ve come to find (or steal) your share. You’re staying at one of the three major establishments in Deadwood where you and your associates are working together to steal some of the gold-filled safes floating around town. But you suspect that the “friends” you’re working with are secretly plotting to keep all the gold for themselves. Will you be ready to turn on them before they shoot you in the back?

In Deadwood 1876, you use cards from your hand to try to win Safes from other players. Safes contain Badges, Gold, or Showdown Guns. Near the end of the game, players with Badges get extra turns. After the final turn, the team with the most Gold will advance to the Final Showdown. There, teammates will have to fight each other to the death using Showdown Guns. The last person alive is the winner!

The game is a balance between teamwork and selfishness. If a player uses all of their best cards to hunt down Gold for their team, they’ll be defenseless to fight against their teammates if they go to the Final Showdown. But if a player only goes after Guns and saves all of their best cards, their team might not have enough Gold to actually reach the Final Showdown. If someone on your team doesn’t seem to be pulling their weight, they might be plotting to steal your gold after using you to get to the Finals! There may come a point where you need to gather Showdown Guns instead of Gold, or attack, mislead, frame, abandon, or banish your own teammates.

Deadwood 1876, volume 3 in the “Dark Cities” series from Facade Games, can have 2-9 players. Learn in 20 minutes, play in 20-40 minutes.

—description from the publisher

Game Mechanics:

  • Dice Rolling
  • Hand Management
  • Open Drafting
  • Team-Based Game

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 9 Players
  • 20 – 40 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.90

Danger the Game

| OTSG Staff

The World is a Dangerous Place!

Disappointed fathers, depressed giant squids, dynamite on train tracks, and so much more! It’s up to you to rescue those in need. Use your skills, tools, and imagination to devise foolproof plans and save the day!

The first victim is the person who lives the most dangerously. Each of the other players is called a rescuer. The victim draws and reveals a danger card containing the perilous situation they are caught in. The rescuers then place one skill card and one tool card from their hands which they will utilize to tell a story of how they will save the victim. While a Rescuerer presents their rescue story another can play a plot twist on their cards tripping them up and changing the story for more engaging play. the Victim awards the Danger card to the Rescuer with the best Rescue.

All cards are written for embellishment and lateral thinking. “Able to transform into a rock” well what kind of rock are you?!

Game Mechanics:

  • Card Game
  • Storytelling

Game Specifications:

  • 3 – 12 Players
  • ~30 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.20

Commit to the Bit

| OTSG Staff

Commit to the Bit is a fast-paced game designed to engage your creative spark. Random cards set the scene and even more random cards will disrupt it! Stay in character and elicit crowd reactions, in this exciting game of improvisation and imagination. Plays best with 4 or more players.

Game Mechanics:

  •  Improv

Game Specifications:

  • 4+ Players
  • ~30 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.00

Cover Your Kingdom

| OTSG Staff

Cover Your Kingdom is an insanely fun, fast-paced, ruthless game based off of Cover Your Assets. In this game, each player will take on the role of a ruler to their own kingdom which, through some unfortunate accident, has lost all of its legendary creatures and therefore all of its magic. Your job is to recruit clans of these legendary creatures back to your kingdom, either in the Valley or the Mountains, by playing sets of the same creature. However, your rival rulers can lure your clans away from your kingdom by playing a matching creature, triggering a back-and-forth match battle until one person cannot or does not want to play another card. You can protect your existing clans by playing a new one on top of them, rotated 90 degrees from the previous one, as only the top clan in the stack can be recruited. 

Cover Your Kingdom also introduces Free Creatures, which do not join kingdoms but can be played to utilize their special abilities, giving you an edge over the other kingdoms. Whoever ends up with the most magic from the creatures in their kingdom wins the game!

Game Mechanics:

  • Hand Management
  • Set Collection
  • Take That

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 8 Players
  • 25 – 40 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.83

Cover Your Assets

| OTSG Staff

In Cover Your Assets, you have one simple goal: be the first to become a millionaire. You will do this by stacking sets of valuables such as jewels or piggy banks. But be warned, your assets are very vulnerable! On their turn, other players can play a matching asset to steal your stack. You can play another matching asset card to prevent the thievery, sparking a back and forth battle until someone runs out of cards. Alternatively, you could cover your assets by playing a new set which always goes on top of your previous one (or stealing one yourself). Now, people have to steal your new assets before they can get to your true valuables. Be clever, be careful, and be sure to cover your assets!

Game Mechanics:

  • Hand Management
  • Set Collection
  • Take That

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 6 Players
  • 20 – 40 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.20

Cockroach Poker

| OTSG Staff

Cockroach Poker is a game filled with filthy critters that has nothing to do with poker – but everything to do with bluffing. The goal of the game is to force one player to have a set of 4 cards of one type of the 8 total critters – ranging from roaches to rats to bats to stinkbugs – making them the sole loser. This is done by a player passing a card face down to another player, claiming it as one type of card. The receiving player can either 1) flip it over, declaring whether or not they believe the first player or 2) peek at it and pass it to the next player, either saying what it is or bluffing. If you’re right in your accusation, the original player keeps the card. If you’re wrong, you keep the card. Keep the critters out of your play space, and don’t be the only loser!

Game Mechanics:

  • Hand Management
  • Set Collection

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 6 Players
  • ~20 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.10