Category: Small Games

1961 🟢

| OTSG Staff

In 1961, you can invest in your space program, establish diplomatic relationships, and, most importantly, launch missiles as you and your components strive to win the Cold War. You can play cards in three different ways – as an action, a building, or a supply. But in a Cold War world, nothing is safe for long, and you have to balance internal development with defensive (and offensive) strategies.

There are three ways to win the game: win the Space Race, achieve diplomatic world peace, or be the sole survivor in a nuclear Armageddon. Do you have what it takes to come out on top in 1961?

Game Mechanics:

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 6 Players
  • 5 – 20 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.67

Broken and Beautiful: A Game About Kintsugi

| OTSG Staff

“Kintsugi” is the Japanese art of using golden lacquer to repair broken pottery.

In Broken and Beautiful, players draft cards like bowls, cups, and tea jars to create high-scoring sets. As some pieces inevitably break, players must judiciously repair what has been shattered.

Whole pottery is valuable. Broken dishes are worthless. That which has broken and been repaired is uniquely precious.

Game Mechanics:

  • Open Drafting
  • Set Collection

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 4 Players
  • ~15 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.36

Biblios TAGS

| OTSG Staff

THE GAME CONCEPT
You are an abbot of a medieval monastery competing with other abbots to amass the greatest library of sacred books. To do so, you need to have both the workers and resources to run a well-functioning scriptorium. To acquire workers and resources, you use a limited supply of donated gold. In addition, you must be on good terms with the powerful bishop, who can help you in your quest.

OUTLINE OF GAME PLAY
The object of the game is to score the most Victory Points. You win Victory Points by winning any of the 5 categories: Illuminators, Scribes, Manuscripts, Scrolls, and Supplies. You win a category by having the highest total number of workers (Scribes, Illuminators) or resources (Manuscripts, Scrolls, Supplies) in that category. This is determined by the numbers in the upper left corner on the cards. At the start of the game, each category is worth 3 Victory Points. As the game progresses, the values on the Value Board will change and some categories will become worth more or fewer Victory Points than others. The game is divided into 2 stages: a Donation stage and an Auction stage. During the Donation stage, players acquire free cards according to an established plan. In the Auction stage, players purchase cards in auction rounds. After the two stages, winners of each category are determined and Victory Points awarded. The player with the most Victory Points wins.

GAME CHARACTERISTICS
The game involves a good deal of strategic planning, some bluffing, and a little bit of luck. The rules are easy to understand, but you have to play it a few times to develop a playing strategy. It plays differently from 2-4 players, but each game is equally fun and challenging.

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 4 Players
  • ~30 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.69

Bananagrams

| OTSG Staff

Bananagrams is a fast and fun word game that requires no pencil, paper or board, and the tiles come in a fabric banana-shaped carrying pouch. One hand can be played in as little as five minutes. Much like Pick Two!, but without the letter values.

Using a selection of 144 plastic letter tiles in the English edition, each player works independently to create their own ‘crossword’ faster than one’s opponents. When a player uses up all their letters, all players take a new tile from the pool. The object of the game is to be the first to complete a word grid after the “bunch” of tiles has been depleted.

There are variants included in the instructions, such as Banana Smoothie and Banana Cafe for limited set skills or space-deprived places, and the game is suitable for solo play.

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 8 Players
  • ~15 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.30

Agatha Christie’s Death on the Cards 🔵

| OTSG Staff

In Agatha Christie’s: Death on the Cards, which consists of a deck of eighty cards, players work co-operatively to solve a murder, using their detective skills to unmask the culprit and prevent their escape. The twist is that one of the players is the murderer and must work against the group to keep themselves hidden. Players also have dark secrets from their past they want to keep hidden from the other players. Who can you trust?

Game Mechanics:

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 6 Players
  • 20 – 40 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.25

Abandon all Artichokes 🔵

| OTSG Staff

Abandon All Artichokes isn’t your garden-variety card game!

A bumper-crop of prickly produce has overtaken your patch, and there’s only one choice: abandon all artichokes! Prune your deck by harvesting fresh vegetables, each with a special power that lets you swap, discard, or compost cards. You need luck, strategy, and a green thumb to grow a winning hand!

Game Mechanics:

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 4 Players
  • ~20 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.32

5211 Azul 🔵

| OTSG Staff

5211 is a fast-playing card game with a unique scoring method that rewards clever play!

This game has cards 1-6 in five colors. Each player starts with a hand of five cards. Players play two cards face-down, then simultaneously reveal them. They refill their hand, then repeat this process two more times, but only with one card.

The cards of the majority color will score — unless too many are present, in which case the color busts and the second most color scores. In case of a tie for majority, the tied colors are also out. These rounds are repeated until the deck runs out. The player with the most points wins.

5211 is a new edition of 5 COLORS that has all new art.

Game Mechanics:

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 5 Players
  • 20 – 30 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.22

Cindr

| OTSG Staff

Date Dragons, Without Getting Burned!

Are you a dragon looking for companionship?
Or just the adventurous type, looking to join the exciting dragon dating scene? Cindr is a ‘push your luck’ dice and card game that allows players to set up a dating profile and then thumb through potential matches, seeing if a given dragon sounds compatible.

If so, Meet Up and say hello – and if that goes well, push your luck, and take the Next Step. You never know, before the date is over you may just take things to the Next Level! The better the dates go, the more Love points you earn – but watch out, just 3 Flames will leave you burned, scoreless and searching for love all over again. Will you be the first of your friends to find love and fulfillment?

  • A 30-minute, push your luck dice game for 1-5 players, where the more compatible you are, the better the odds get of not getting burned.
  • A fun, light-hearted send-up of dating apps like Tinder, with tarot-sized cards as the app deck and date locations with special bonuses provided by the “Whelp” app deck.

Game Mechanics:

  • Dice Rolling
  • Push Your Luck
  • Re-rolling and Locking

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 5 Players
  • 30 – 40 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 1.33