Category: Small Games

Crew, the: The Quest for Planet Nine

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

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

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

Cover Your Kingdom

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

In Cover Your Assetsyou 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

Coup: Deluxe Edition

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

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

Cockroach Poker

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

Clever Cubed

Clever Cubed is a fun dice rolling game, where you’ll carefully choose dice to place them in matching colored areas to hopefully create chain-scoring opportunities! But be careful when you go big – your opponents can use your discarded dice if their value is lower than your chosen dice. May the cleverest player win!

Game Mechanics:

  • Dice Rolling
  • Paper and Pencil
  • Re-rolling and Locking
  • Solo / Solitaire Game

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 4 Players
  • ~30 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.38