LURE Is Catchy

 LURE is a fun game of luck with pretty fish cards and lots of colored dice, enough for five players. This is a short, easy game for all ages.  It has very few rules so is easy to teach and learn quickly to play.  I am extremely happy with this purchase because it is a good filler game when we're looking for something fast to finish off the evening.  I played this with a couple kids (Maggie and Quil) who both were thrilled with the different fish pictures and liked catching them.

Here's how to play:

Everyone secretly picks how many dice they want to roll and how many lures they want to use.  

All the fish cards have requirements needed in order to catch them.  Some just need a certain number or more on the dice total.  Some need certain numbers on the dice, no matching dice or matching dice to show up.  

Each player reveals the number of dice they are rolling and the lowest total gets to fish first.  First player rolls their dice and takes all the fish they can catch.  

If players totals tie, they each roll their dice and lowest total goes first.

Each fish card has points shown on it which players total up at the end of the game.  Winner is the one with the highest total points.

PROS:

Quick to teach, learn & play. (15-20 min to play)                Comes in small box for under $20.

Pretty cards, dice and screens.                     Fun--people usually want to play again right away.

CONS:

Numbers on yellow dice are a bit hard to see.                        Lots of adding throughout the game.

I'd like to know your thoughts about this game in the comments below.  Let me know if you want to play!

Ticket To Ride - A Light Fun Game

 

Ticket to Ride is a game for kids and adults.  It is fun but fairly light.  Turns are simple.  You have one action per turn with 3 options:  either choose two cards and add them to your hand, lay some train tracks or get a destination card.   It takes about 2 hours with 5 people.

PROS:

It plays up to 5 people, all ages.

Rules are few so it's easy and quick to teach and learn.

It combines a little luck with some strategy.  Strategy options include: (1) go for the longest track to get the bonus points; (2) Build lots of tracks fast to block others and to go out before others can complete their destination cards; (3) Just build long track chunks for lots of points along the way; (4) Complete lots of destination cards.

CONS:

It can blog down if your color cards aren't coming up.

Can become frustrating when others block your route, but that's part of the strategy.

The orange and red cards are a little hard to tell which is which so I wrote "red" on my red ones.

If you played this, share your thoughts about it in the comments.  

A Place For All My Books Is Fun & Challenging

 

A Place For All My Books is a fairly light game that is easy to teach but yet challenging.  Each player starts in their apartment and tries to complete little projects that involve resorting their books.  Each action they take, read a book, sort, gather, rest, admire gets allows them to charge up their "social battery" to get enough energy to go to town to get more books and other neat stuff that gives end game points.  Every trip to town brings the game closer to the end.  There are also three major accomplishment projects that all players race to finish first for more points.  Each completed little project is two points and each book in the apartment is worth one point.

So far I have taught 5 people to play this game and all have liked it.  A few even wanted to play it again right away.  This game can be for gamers as well as casual board gamers.  It's theme of being a book nerd is very well done, and the mechanics are fairly simple.  Yet, there is strategy involved such as how can I complete more projects and a time to make my admire action most efficient?  Should I go to town now or wait a bit longer to get more social battery energy?  Should I make that last trip to town to get more books or neat stuff to end the game, or just stay home and do more little projects?  Which project should I do next?  Should I focus on the major accomplishments, or just my little projects?  Can I manage both somehow?  Is the neat stuff card showing worth the cost, or should I just pick one from off the pile sight unseen for less?

This game also has a solo mode that I enjoyed playing.  It's a good way to learn the game and there are 5 levels that each get a bit more difficult.  

I highly recommend this game.  I like the artwork, the ease of learning, the quick set up and the challenge in this game.  I also like the opportunity to collect board games for lots of points and get cats to help get extra end game points as well.

So, who wants to come play this with me?  If you have played it, what did you think of it?  

  

Today Is Parma Pink Day

In honor of Parma Pink day, I am wearing my bright pink shirt and making Ambrosia salad using strawberry Jello instead of the usual pistachio.  What an adventurer I am!  Ha!  I mixed in a whole tub of cool whip, a bunch of marshallows, crushed pineapple and even some cherries.  It's very pink--success.  Am considering adding some almonds to help cut down on the super sweetness.  What do you think?  Add them--yes?  No?

"Through the Desert" Is a Short, Fun, Strategic Game

For those who like games to be done in less than an hour that are easy to learn and play, Through the Desert would be a good one for you.  It plays up to 5 players, is a quick setup, easy to teach, easy to play.  All you have to do is take turns placing two camels on the board wherever you wish as long as they are next to your other camel of that color.  The object of the game is to get the most points by (1) having the longest caravan in a color; (2) Acquiring watering hole points; (3) by sealing off a territory from other players; and (4) getting 5 pts. for putting a different color camel next to a palm tree.  The game ends as soon as all the camels of one color have been placed on the board.

Here are a few tips for winning that I have picked up by playing the game:

1.    Have your caravans break off in different directions to avoid getting blocked in.

2.    Try to block out other players.

3.    Try to get at least one camel next to every tree.

4.    Try to get a few territories blocked off.

5.    Try to get the longest caravan for several colors.

Believe me, this game is harder than it looks!