Category: Small Games

Deep Dreams

Little Bruno has gone to sleep and will travel during the night between dreams. Our mission as dream guardians is to keep him immersed in the most pleasant dreams and assure us that he wakes up as little as possible during the night.

The goal in Deep Dreams is to score points playing and connecting dream cards, that show the four colors of the dream. You will need to create the largest color groups connected to score victory points, while making sure Bruno doesn’t wake up by drawing a continuous path with the white lines and arrows through the cards. Some dream cards got powerful effects that will help players to get better combinations. And at the end, the longest path will have the greatest reward. Get ready to enter the world of dreams and ensure that Bruno has a quiet and peaceful night.

Game Mechanics:

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 5 Players
  • 10 – 15 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.00

Fiction

Fiction is a Wordle-inspired game of deception. One player is the Lie-brarian and will choose a secret word from a classic work of literature. The other players will, as a team, use logic and literacy to deduce the secret word as quickly as possible.

Players have ten guesses and two ten-minute time periods to deduce the secret word, but beware! The Lie-brarian’s clues will always contain exactly one lie. The Guessers win if they figure out the word; the Lie-brarian wins if the time or number of guesses runs out.

Game Mechanics:

  • Spelling

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 8 Players
  • 20 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.69

Faraway

Welcome to Alula, a mysterious continent with ever-changing geography, shaped after the rhythm of the seasons. Beyond the Sea of Mists lies the mysterious continent of Alula. Roam across the land in search of its secrets, meet its inhabitants, and list its wonders in order to gain more fame than your opponents.

Throughout a game of Faraway, you will play a row of 8 cards in front of you, from left to right. These cards represent the regions you will come across while exploring the lands. Characters on these cards will grant you victory points if you later fulfill the conditions they demand. At the end of the game, you walk back the same way, scoring cards in the opposite order you played them. There lies the heart of the gameplay. Throughout the game, the cards you play will serve both to set new objectives, and to meet the ones you played previously.

Each turn, you play a card from a hand of 3. Then you pick a new card from a face-up river. As play is simultaneous in Faraway, you must take into account a clever priority system in all of your choices – being last to pick a card leaves you with fewer options and often less profitable choices for the next turns.

—description from the publisher

Game Mechanics:

  • Constrained Bidding
  • End Game Bonuses
  • Hand Management
  • Open Drafting
  • Selection Order Bid
  • Set Collection
  • Simultaneous Action Selection

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 6 Players
  • 15 – 30 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.91

Fantasy Realms: Deluxe Edition

Bruce Glassco’s Fantasy Realms is a modern classic, and this new Deluxe Edition has updated every card with a sleek, intuitive graphic design. The base game cards have also been updated to include new art from Anthony Cournoyer to match his beloved work on The Cursed Hoard expansion, giving the entire game a fresh look!

It includes:

The original base game with all new art and graphic design!
The Cursed Hoard, which includes two expansion modules, also with new graphic design!
The Jester and Phoenix cards, previously only available as promo cards!
100+ art sleeves to protect all the included cards, plus some extras!
In Fantasy Realms, you build your Realm, one card at a time, as you collect Beasts, Armies, Wizards, and more! Each card is unique and scores points based on the other cards in your hand. You start with seven cards, and each turn you’ll draw a new card from the deck or discard, and discard one card from your hand, always trying to improve your Realm! Whoever’s realm scores the most points is the winner!

—description from the publisher

Game Mechanics:

  • End Game Bonuses
  • Hand Management
  • Open Drafting
  • Set Collection

Game Specifications:

  • 3 – 6 Players
  • 20 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.05

Fantasy Fluxx

Fluxx is a card game in which the cards themselves determine the current rules of the game. By playing cards, you change numerous aspects of the game: how to draw cards, how to play cards, and even how to win.

At the start of the game, each player holds three cards and on a turn a player draws one card, then plays one card. By playing cards, you can put new rules into play that change numerous aspects of the game: how many cards to draw or play, how many cards you can hold in hand or keep on the table in front of you, and (most importantly) how to win the game.

In Fantasy Fluxx, you want to gather your friends for a party — an adventuring party, that is! Pack up your Second Breakfasts, and set off on a classic quest with your faithful companions: the Helpful Elf, the Dwarven Warrior, the Gallant Swordsman, the Wise Old Wizard, and of course, the Humble Young Hero! Learn from the Cranky Magic Teacher how to use your Wand to cast spells like Invisibility or Fireball! You may need them as you encounter the Dreaded Pirate, or when you find out that Captured Princess is actually the Mother of Dragons! Will you and your fantasy favorites survive the Final Showdown with the Dark Lord?

Game Mechanics:

  • Hand Management
  • Set Collection

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 6 Players
  • 10 – 40 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.50

Family Plot

In Family Plot, each player strives to build their perfect family while keeping other players by killing them off one by one.
Gameplay begins by a player laying out any “Family Members” in their hand that match their Family Tree. Afterwards a player can launch an assault using REAPERS and ACTION CARDS that could unleash anything from a Zombie Apocalypse to a Psycho Killer, sending their opponents family members to the graveyard! The chosen victim can block the attack on their “Family” by using ANGELS, WEAPONIZED FOOD, or even TEARS OF A UNICORN that they have in their hand. That way when it gets to your turn simply complete your unique Family Tree and YOU WIN!

Game Mechanics:

  • Hand Management
  • Push Your Luck
  • Take That

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 6 Players
  • 20 – 30 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.13

Fallout Shelter: The Board Game

Build a better future underground in Fallout Shelter: The Board Game, a post-nuclear worker-placement board game for two to four players. Based on the hit mobile game from Bethesda Softworks, Fallout Shelter sees you take on the role of a vault officer fostering happiness among the citizens of your vault. With the election of a new Overseer looming, the officer who can gain the most happiness among the dwellers is sure to lock up the election and attain victory.

As an officer, you’ll have to direct your dwellers to where they’ll spend their time in the vault, whether it’s spending some time relaxing in the lounge, gathering vital resources like food in the community gardens, or battling a radroach infestation in the game room. The choice is always yours, but remember, you’ll have to balance happiness and efficiency to lead your people to a brighter future underground!

—description from the publisher

Game Mechanics:

  • Dice Rolling
  • End Game Bonuses
  • Layering
  • Modular Board
  • Turn Order: Claim Action
  • Worker Placement

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 4 Players
  • 60 – 90 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.03

Fairy Tale

Players use card drafting and simultaneous action selection to score points while interfering with other players’ ability to do so. The game consists of four rounds. In each of them, players are dealt five cards. They simultaneously select one each and pass the remainder, repeating until done. Then, they start playing cards simultaneously, playing three and discarding two. When the cards are revealed after each selection, card abilities turn other cards face-up or face-down. At the end of the four rounds there are 12 cards in front of each player. The players each score based on their face-up cards.

Game Mechanics:

  • Closed Drafting
  • Hand Management
  • Set Collection
  • Simultaneous Action Selection

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 5 Players
  • 30 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.77

Fairy

Every round, reveal a new card. Simultaneously, all players choose a hand gesture to guess how the card relates to the previous one.

Guess the correct value relation and get two points. Guess same suit correctly and get four points. Call one of the three fairies in the deck? That’s seven points!

Any wrong guess loses you a point. First player to fifteen wins!

-description from publisher

Game Mechanics:

  • Betting and Bluffing
  • Push Your Luck
  • Simultaneous Action Selection

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 10 Players
  • 5 – 10 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.00

Fado: Duetos e Desgarradas

“The Great Day of Fado” is coming.

There is no memory of such an event, thousands of tourists and fado lovers from all corners of the world are expected. Managers from all over the country are working on the organization of the event. From north to south of Portugal, one, two and even three shows are planned simultaneously. It will be days, nights and, sometimes, even early morning parties!
Failure is out of the question, and to organize the perfect show, it is necessary to choose the best artist, the right alignment, the perfect melody and the most appropriate of the scenarios. It is the ideal time for some managers, hitherto unknown, to show how much they are worth.

No one will miss and this is your moment to shine!

—description from the publisher

Game Mechanics:

  • Hand Management
  • Open Drafting
  • Set Collection

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 4 Players
  • 20 – 30 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.75