Category: Small Games

Deep Dive

| OTSG Staff

Deep Dive is a press-your-luck set-collection game in which you use your waddle of penguins to dive deep into the ocean to amass the most bountiful collection of food!

Turns are simple: Flip over an ocean tile, and see what you reveal. You can take what you reveal in the shallows or dive deeper, hoping for a larger catch — but the deeper you go, the more plentiful the predators become. As you surface with food, you build sets of three colors. Target the colors you need to complete sets and score the maximum number of points.

When one of the depths of the ocean has been fully explored, the game ends and the penguin waddle with the best sets of food wins!

—description from publisher

Game Mechanics:

  • Memory
  • Push Your Luck
  • Set Collection

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 6 Players
  • 15 – 20 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.13

Cat Between Us

| OTSG Staff

Do you understand what the cat wants? Try to get as close to the cat as possible without passing it by.

Each round in Cat Between Us, you first draw a card from the deck, then place the cat token on the numbered space on the track matching the tiny number on the card. Shuffle the deck, then deal all players their current hand size.

Starting with the player who won the previous round, players take turns playing one card at a time under the six items laid out on the table until each item has two cards below it. The sum of these two cards is the value of this item. Each player sums the value of each item remaining in their hand to determine where they should place their token on the track. Whoever is closest to the cat without passing it has won the round; multiple winners are possible. (If all players have passed the cat, whoever passed it least wins.)

Winners move their personal token forward on their playing card, which indicates how many rounds they have won and how many cards they receive. Each time you win, you start the round with one more card in hand, making your next victory harder! Whoever first wins three rounds wins the game.

Game Mechanics:

  •  Hand Management

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 6 Players
  • 15 – 40 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.67

All Aboard!

| OTSG Staff

“We sink!” shouts the elephant, “That mouse is too heavy!” “Don’t worry!” whispers the lion, “If I eat the giraffe, we can lose a little weight.”

In All Aboard! you must get your gang of animals to safety in the different boats, but be careful not to exceed their capacity, or else they will sink. Designed by Paco Yánez and illustrated by Monsuros, this fun card game can be played as a couple or in groups of up to 5 players, from 7 years old, in games lasting about 20 minutes.

Before starting, each player receives a set of 12 cards with the 12 different animals in the game (mouse, peacock, fox, octopus, monkey, sloth, elk, zebra, giraffe, lion, bear and elephant). The game is played over 4 rounds and each one consists of two phases: boarding the boats and setting sail. In the boarding phase, players will place one of the animals face up in any of the boats, taking into account that there can be no more than 3 animals in each one. In the second turn, they will place a new animal in any of the available boats, but this time face down; Finally, in the third turn a third animal will board the available boats, again face up.

At the beginning of the setting sail phase, all animal cards that have been played face down are revealed and then a check is made to see if there are two or more animals of the same species. If there are 2, they both fall in love (and the players will receive points for it). If there are 3, they fight and the boat sinks. Next, the animals activate their effects and finally the sum of the weight of the animals on board the boat is checked. If the weight of the animals is equal to or less than the weight that the boat can withstand, the animals manage to set sail and will score at the end of the game. Each player takes their animals and places them in a pile of saved animals in their playing area. If, on the other hand, the boat sinks, the animals are discarded.

Knowing when to play each animal is one of the keys to the game. However, depending on how your rivals play the cards, unforeseen situations can arise on the ships. Each animal has its own power, which can unleash chaos or balance the scales. Will you be able to save as many animals as possible?

Game Mechanics:

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 5 Players
  • ~20 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.60

Cryptozoology for Beginners

| OTSG Staff

Hop aboard the bus on a field trip to the legendary Hidden Valley of the Cryptids, where adventure awaits! Will you capture the best photos of mythical creatures to complete the most daring class assignments, or will you be laughed off the trip?

Each round, you’ll draft and play Cryptid cards with unnatural powers to warp the game and bring you closer to victory. Collect matching cards to complete assignments and earn points towards your ultimate goal – becoming a full-fledged supernatural photographer!

-description from publisher

Game Mechanics:

  • Closed Drafting
  • Set Collection

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 4 Players
  • 20 – 45 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.50

Crew, the: The Quest for Planet Nine

| OTSG Staff

In The Crew: The Quest for Planet Nine, you and your friends embark on a perilous journey as astronauts investigating an unknown planet. Each astronaut will have a specific mission to complete, portrayed through a classic trick-taking game. However, communication is difficult in space, and while you are all on the same team, not everyone knows your specific mission. It will take trust and a good sense of timing to successfully complete all 50 missions!

Game Mechanics:

  • Communication Limits
  • Cooperative Game
  • Hand Management
  • Scenario / Mission / Campaign Game
  • Trick Taking

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 5 Players
  • ~20 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.96

Crew, the: Mission Deep Sea

| OTSG Staff

The sequel to The Crew: The Quest for Planet Nine, this trick-taking game builds onto the original with more missions, more flexibility, and an improved scalability system for different player counts. 

In The Crew: Mission Deep Sea, you and your friends are assuming the roles of deep-sea explorers in a classic trick-taking game. Unlike most games, you all must work together to accomplish unique tasks – without being able to tell each other what that is. Some players will need to win specific card while others will need to avoid it entirely! With 32 missions, each game is sure to offer a new challenge representing the immense pressure of the depths of the ocean.

Game Mechanics:

  • Communication Limits
  • Cooperative Game
  • Hand Management
  • Scenario / Mission / Campaign Game
  • Trick Taking

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 5 Players
  • ~20 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.05

Coyote

| OTSG Staff

One day Coyote crossed the river with his friends, but he was carrying too many things and almost drowned before Bear pulled him out of the water. Poor Coyote had lost everything.

They sat down by a fire to dry off and rest. Coyote became jealous of the other animals because they still had all their things, so he challenged them to a bluffing game to win their belongings. The other animals agreed to the challenge as they thought Coyote would never win. After all, he is known to never tell the truth — but in this game everybody has to lie because no one knows the truth…

In the bluffing game Coyote, you always see the cards of the other players, but never your own. When it’s your turn, you must announce a number that is less than the total of all the cards in the game, yet higher than the previous number given. Alternatively, you can challenge the number previously announced. Finally, when all the cards are revealed, you’ll see who has the cunning Coyote on their side.

Coyote is in the same game line as Spicy, with the game box and card backs being decorated with a special metallic print in copper. As in the tradition of the Northwest Coast Tribes, copper is a symbol of prosperity and cultural wealth.

The artist Zona Evon Shroyer (Yupik Alaskan Native) is a master of the traditional Northwest Coastal art, whose richness of detail and complexity requires years of study and practice. For the cover illustration of Coyote, she designed a modern silhouette for the coyote, which she then filled in a classical manner with other animal motifs: turtle, beaver, and bear — the animals that he is sitting around the fire with and playing a game, in our little story.

Game Mechanics:

  • Betting & Bluffing
  • Player Elimination

Game Specifications:

  • 3 – 6 Players
  • 15 – 25 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.27

Coup: Deluxe Edition

| OTSG Staff

Coup is all about who you know and how you use them. The game revolves around your “influence” – the face-down cards in front of you. Each card depicts a different character with their own powers that you can use. Each turn, a player will use their influence to perform various actions, all working towards removing other player’s influences. However, since no one knows what influences you have, you can lie to your hearts content – unless someone challenges you, making you lose an influence. Plan accordingly, avoid any coups, and be the last one remaining with influence left!

Game Mechanics:

  • Bluffing
  • Hidden Roles
  • Memory
  • Player Elimination
  • Take That
  • Variable Player Powers

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 8 Players
  • ~15 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.38

Codex Naturalis

| OTSG Staff

In Codex Naturalis, you are competing with your opponents to create the best manuscript of living species in primary forests. You’ll do this by placing down cards, overlapping them to assemble an overall manuscript, providing yourself with resources or points! You’ll have to plan carefully to maximize your points, and you’ll have to be willing to make sacrifices to get the best possible outcome.

Game Mechanics:

  • Hand Management
  • Layering
  • Open Drafting
  • Pattern Building

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 4 Players
  • 20 – 30 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.76