Rummoli is a card game invented in Canada. The play involves having certain cards or combination of cards that let you win the various chips that are deposited in each round. The standard game “board” or playing surface (that we played on) was a heavy paper material that showed each pot. See the complete rules here.
This is an economic game built around tin mining in Cornwall, England. Players buy plots of land at auction and then build and expand their mines, often having to deal with water in the mines. The ore is extracted and then sold for profit and the money invested in victory points.
An expansion is available that adds another mining element - arsenic, and worker emigration.
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| Tinners' Trail Expansion Box |
Here is a good video describing the game:
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| Click to view video |
Produced by Alley Cat Games.
The Pan Am game follows the development of Pan American airways in the twentieth century. The airline grows by expanding routes and buying up smaller airlines, and the play of this game follows that pattern. Players begin by developing their own airline routes and then selling them to Pan Am in exchange for Pan Am stock. The goal is to collect the most Pan Am stock. It is an ingenious combination of multi-element strategy with some luck, but is surprising easy to learn and play.
This instructional video explains the game:
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| Click to view video |
This video is a little quick on the explanation. There are a couple of review videos that are more well-paced that provide an overview and a play run-through. A video of a full game being played can be found here.
From the game box: “From island-hoppers of the '30s to glamorous jet-liners of the 1960s, Pan Am set the pace of the airline industry. Compete with Pan Am and other players as the head of your own fledgling airline. Expand your fleet of planes, build airports, outbid rivals for landing rights, and create your own globe-circling air system. Play through decades of air travel history alongside ever-growing Pan Am: make a fortune when they buy your routes, invest in Pan Am stock when it's cheap, and don't get pushed out of the skies by your competition!”
Produced by Funko Games.
Invented by Vlaada Chvátil, Codenames was the winner of the Spiel de Jahres award for best game of the year in 2016. This is a simple but clever discover game in which single word clues are given to teammates (similar to Password) to discover their agents, and to avoid discovering their opponent's agents or the dreaded assassin. There is a leader for each team (called the “Spymaster”) who gives the clues to their teammate(s). The leaders know the location of all the agents so they try to give a word clue which will lead their teammates to pick their agents without mistakenly discovering the opponents agents. They also have an online version.
There is also a two player co-operative version called Codenames Duet.
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| Codenames Duet |
A video that provides a good overview of Codenames can be found here. The videos below show a full play through:
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| Click to view videos | ||
This war game plays out the events of the French Revolution. Invented by historian John Welch, it follows the conflict between the revolutionaries and the established monarchical government, and the intervention of other European powers. It is highly rated at BoardGameGeek. and they also have a good video describing the game.
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| Original game with components |
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| New game board* |
There is an online version of the game though it is fairly low quality, but there is a video to explain the game play.
* - Long out of print, the game is being reproduced via a Kickstarter campaign, due out Oct, 2022.
This cricket board game has been around for many years and has been called, “The most authentic cricket board game ever” (at least by them!).
Produced by RDA Marketing, Wicketz is a cricket board game played on a standard square board with a circular cricket pitch divided into sections. There are two spinners, one for bowling and one to determine out/not out. The other components are a large pack of batting cards, the sight-screens and the player figurines which include the fielders, batsmen and umpires.
The basics of the game are easy to pick up. The bowling side places the fielders into sections of the field and then spins the bowling indicator to produce a delivery - some are good deliveries and some are poor. The batsmen then uses this information to decide which type of shot to play. There are nine attacking shots in various directions, or four defensive shots. Once he has announced his shot, the batsman turns over the top batting card, and reads the results. Depending on the type of ball, the type of shot, and the field placings, there is a chance of runs, or a wicket. If the player is called out, he still has a chance with the "out/not out" spinner. It is also possible to have a solo game.
See the full rules for Wicketz here.
RDA Marketing also sold deck chairs, rollers and a scoreboard.
Based on the extremely popular TV program, Would I Lie to You?, this is a fun bluffing (lying?) game for everyone but especially for fans of the show, as I am.
