Time To Solve A Crime

Outfoxed is a co-operative game for 2-4 players in which you will be using your powers of deduction to work out which fox has stolen the pie! There are a number of suspects but can you work together to successfully identify the culprit. This is a game designed and aimed at children, teaching them to work together, apply simple strategies and use deduction so that you all collectively win or lose. This game is aimed at children 5 and over, although we’ve had a lot of success playing this numerous times with our 4-year-old.

Each player takes the role of an investigator working together to try and find out which of the possible suspect foxes has stolen the pie before the fox reaches the end of the board and skips town. Set up involved shuffling the possible thief cards and placing one into the special clue decoder, along with placing all the possible suspect cards around the board.

I Would Have Gotten Away With It if It Wasn’t For You Meddling Kids!

On your turn you will be rolling dice and before rolling deciding if you are going in search of more clues or revealing more suspects. You roll three dice, and these dice either show paw prints for clues or fox tails for suspects. After the first roll, keeping any dice that match your choice you get two further rolls to get a set of three matching symbols or the fox moves further along closer to their escape.

Going after clues, you will move your counter around the board and if you arrive in a clue box you will take a clue from the pile and place it in the handy decoder. The decoder is a really novel thing in this game, placing the clue in the box and moving the shutter along will reveal a green mark if the fox has that feature, possibly a top hat or a pocket watch, and be blank if the potential thief doesn’t have that feature. Once you know this information you can check it against any of the potential revealed suspects to see if they match the clues you have received.

If you choose to reveal suspects, two of the possible suspects are turned over for you to consider against the evidence you have accumulated so far. Once you think you have all the information you need, you can declare which fox you think is the thief, revealing them from within the clue decoder, if you are correct you win the game but fail and the pesky fox responsible for stealing the pie skips town.

A Future Classic

The art in this game is bright and colourful , and more importantly even if your child isn’t confident at reading, they can easily identify the visual aspects of the potential suspects meaning they are still able to fully participate with a bit of help on the names. The real star of the show is the clue decoder which is a really novel addition and adds a lot of excitement to the game.

As parents we’ve found Outfoxed to be a hit with both our son and his 4 and 7 year old cousins who we have also played it with. He loves making the decisions himself on whether he is going after more clues or suspects and delights when the clue decoder comes up green allowing him to eliminate some of the potential suspects. Although this game might not have huge staying power for older children, it’s been a brilliant hit so far and one we all really enjoy as a family. It’s really great winning or losing together, and encouraging younger board gamers into coming up with basic strategy, utilising deduction and learning to play together as a team. Outfoxed is a gem of a board game for younger children that parents will enjoy playing with them too.

This blog was written by Jacob Dunkley

Werewolves and Villagers and Troublemakers, Oh My! Turn the lights down and get ready to find that werewolf amongst you…

I See The Bad Moon A-Risen’

One Night Ultimate Werewolf is a classic social deduction game that is quick to play and full of fun. Firstly, you adjust the cards in play based on number of players (always 3 more cards than players). Then you shuffle and deal one card to each player, leaving the final three cards in the middle. Finally, all players secretly view their character card and replace it facedown in front of them.

I See Trouble On The Way

Now we move on to the Night phase of One Night Ultimate Werewolf. All players close their eyes and one player designated as the announcer calls out the instructions for all players. There is also a free app that you can download which will do the announcing for you, which I would suggest using just for ease. During the night phase, if you are a character that has a night time ability you will wake up when instructed and perform that action.

Don’t Go Around Tonight

As you go through the characters and perform the action related to you, you will be gathering information that will be useful during the next phase. For example the Seer gets to look at another player’s card or two of the centre cards. The robber gets to switch their card with another player (let’s hope you don’t become a werewolf!) and the Troublemaker can switch two other people’s cards. Once the announcer or the app is finished going through all the characters in play everyone will be told to wake up.

Well It’s Bound To Take Your Life

Now begins the day phase of the game. Here players will discuss the information they have and try to work out which players are werewolves. Of course the werewolves won’t just admit to being werewolves as their goal is to remain undetected so not all of the information you’ll be sharing will be entirely accurate. You must also bear in mind then you may not be the character that you started as anymore and may need to switch your allegiance quickly if you think your card has been swapped! Using your powers of deduction you must work out who to trust and who is spending their nights howling at the moon! Once the discussion is over one player counts down 3, 2, 1, Vote! All players must then point at the player they would like to kill. All players on the village team will be voting for who they think is a werewolf, werewolves will be voting for a villager. The player with the most fingers pointing at them dies and reveals their card. If there are an equal number of votes for more than one player they both die and reveal their cards. The village team wins if at least one werewolf dies. The werewolf team wins if no werewolves die.

There’s A Bad Moon On The Rise

One Night Ultimate Werewolf is so quick to play and very easy to teach and pick up. It’s an entry level social deduction and certainly one to be played before moving on to something like Blood on the Clocktower. It’s simple enough that the whole family can get involved, the kids love it! We had lots of laughs playing this late last Christmas Day and the shrieks of laughter as you realise that your sister and brother were just lying right to your face and you had no idea, will ring long in my ears!

This blog was written by Alana Wren

Climb Every Mountain Fjord Every Stream

Fjords Is a beautiful looking, mid-weight game where chunky, wooden, pitchfork-wielding Norsemen claim their territories in the majestic Norwegian landscape. Designed by Franz-Benno Delonge with stunning artwork by renowned artist Beth Sobel for Grail games, Fjords brings to table a very pleasant tile-laying and worker placement game that can be enjoyed in under an hour.

Fjords is played in two halves. In the first half of the game, the Exploration Phase, the, from 2 to 4, players take it in turn to lay the 64 hexagonal tiles, spreading out from the 3 starting tiles. They choose one tile from a choice of four laid out and match it to the existing tableau. They must follow a few simple rules when doing this. First the tile must be placed so that it touches two or more tiles that are already in play. Secondly all of the terrain types on the new tile must match the terrain on the tiles it is laying against on the edges. There are just three types of terrain: Mountains, Plains and Oceans (the eponymous Fjords) so this is not too difficult. Finally you are not allowed to create a second landmass divided by water from the mainland.

Your other action, on your turn, after laying a tile you may place one of your four Longhouses on it. These Longhouses are vital for the subsequent Settlement phase as the springboard for your Viking meeple placement. The Longhouses can not be moved once placed. In the Exploration phase it is a good idea to build long narrow valleys of Plains flanked by the Mountains and Ocean as these will be easier to close off and claim for yourself in the Settlement Phase.

The Hills Are Alive

Once no more tiles can be legally placed, the second phase, the Settlement phase, now begins. Thus, each player takes it in turn to place one of their 20 Viking meeples. These plucky pioneers are placed either adjacent to one of their Longhouses or next to another of their kin. Once placed it can not be moved or removed. You try to block entrance to territory you regard as yours by strategically placing your settlers to block off narrow passes between Mountains and other blocking terrain (hence the attempt to create narrow valleys in the first phase).

When you have reached a point where you can not legally place another of your Vikings your turn is skipped until all players can not go. Then the number of territories you own with your meeples are added up to determine a winner.

Born To Rune

There is one further development to this simple but elegant game in the form of the Seven Rune stones. Each of these counters contains an ancient Norse Rune named for a Viking god. At the start of the game the players will agree which of the Runes, if any, will be in play. Each player gets one copy of each Rune that is being played and they can play that, according to given rules, during the course of their turn.

These Runes will either give extra scoring opportunities at game end or will allow additional placement options for Vikings in the Settlement phase.

Fjord Fiesta

Fjords is a very pleasing little game to play. It is quick to learn, set-up and play and yet there are some good, tricky decisions to be made in both phases. Visually attractive with well-made components it is had to fault it.

This blog was written by Pete Bartlam

I am a village person. No, I don’t mean I have joined a 70s revival band. I mean, I love living in a small village. Technically we aren’t even in the village – we are nestled in a hamlet on the edge of an un-bustling, anti-metropolis in the wilds of County Durham. But rural life is most definitely for me. So Dorfromantik, which means nostaligia or a longing for the countryside is right up my farm track!

I should make clear that this is the board game version though. There’s a cool videogame of the same name which was the inspiration behind this tile laying wonder. But I haven’t played that, so will leave you to find out more from the console kings and queens here at Toy Street!

The board game is a very simple operation, but that doesn’t mean it is going to be easy to crack the countryside! Each turn, you and your buddies are drafting and deciding where to lay a single hexagon tile into your playing area. It must be adjacent to existing tiles and the objective is to create a lovely, point prolific village!

Tiles are either (a) landscape tiles or (b) task tiles. Task tiles are still landscape tiles, but they have an extra icon on them. They are the scoring objectives for the tiles adjacent to them. For example, a task tile with a 4 water droplet on it means that once placed, by end game, it must be connected such that it makes up a river composed of four tiles (including itself). But you won’t want to wait until end game to achieve it because, once a task is achieved, the token is immediately removed and added to your score pile. You must always have 3 active tasks in your village. So if you complete a task and remove the token, you will need to draft and place a new task tile (adding a randomly selected matching token), before resuming picking and placing regular landscape tiles.

There are a few placement restrictions, but overall the game flow is draft, place, (hopefully score), repeat! When there are no more tiles to add to your village, the game ends and then it’s time to see what goodies you get to open! Oh wait, sorry. Didn’t I mention that earlier?!

Yes, in Dorfromantik, every game is a precursor to new and exciting ways in which to score points! Because, whilst you play each game in its own right, your end game score will send you crossing off boxes on a separate but linked campaign trail! And box crossing means being entitled to open up sealed boxes that contain new tiles and even more tasks! But what is even cooler is that there isn’t just one way to complete the campaign. There are multiple paths that weave and wend so each opportunity presents another fun decision and direction!

Final Thoughts

I have a big confession. I know this game is a co-op, and it was my intention to share the experience with my husband. But I haven’t. I’m a #greedgamer and I have kept all the fun for myself! It’s so chill and thinky and lovely that I want agency over every move. I want to be the architect of my own success (or more likely demise!). That’s not to say that he can’t play a campaign himself, or even invite me to co-op a campaign with him. There are lots of sheets and truly I’d love to get stuck in with him! But my campaign is my campaign, and nobody’s muscling in! Plus he has a tendency to take charge (not that I am usually complaining) as his programming mind shifts into planning and plotting future moves whilst I’m still organising my player pieces. So for now I am keeping this game for myself.

Dorfromantik has romanced me. It has wined and dined me without a drop or a crumb passing between us. Placing tiles for immediate scoring and trying to set up satisfying multiple tasks simultaneously is key. And most turns it feels tantalisingly close. But as more and more scoring opportunities and tasks are added, you have to prioritise what you think you will realistically achieve in a single game. After all, your campaign progress depends upon it! I’m smitten for this box of tiles, and I can’t wait to finish the campaign so that I can start all over again!

This blog was written by Favouritefoe

What is more fun than having fun? Absolutely nothing is the right response to that question. Do you remember the craze of bottle flipping that happened a few years ago. Chicken vs Hotdog is a game based on bottle flips. You are flipping sling’ems which are chicken and hotdog shaped. They look pretty similar to dog toys but with a suction cup on the bottom that will help them stick to the table.

How Do You Play?

This is similar to bottle flipping but using the special Big Potato sling’ems. The blue chicken and red hot dog will be flying through your living room air with the greatest of ease to the sound of squeals of delight, laughter and disappointed face slaps as another sling’em falls sideways onto the table.

This game has you split into two teams, and each round one player from each will go head-to-head. You flip over the challenge card and then you decide to bid for how long you think it will take you to complete the challenge. These challenges can be things like flipping with your eyes closed, or flipping both sling’ems at the same time.The person who bids the lowest is challenged to make good their claim. If they achieve it then they get to turn over their teams score chart, if they don’t make it then their team will get to flip theirs and they should by rights be shamed for their misplaced bravado. The score chart is five cards which are greyscale on one side and colour on the other and make up the picture of the chicken or the hotdog.

Who Is It For?

This is for those who want to have fun. You want silly party fun with kids or hilarious drinking games with adults, then this is a perfect idea for a game for your household.

Round Up

This is a game that is not pretending to be something else. It is both ridiculous and hilarious in equal measures. There is no time to take this game seriously, it is perfect for a party and will be a constant on my shelves to be pulled off when there is a need for complete fun. If you too want to find yourself shouting at your friends to stick a sling’em with their eyes shut then pick this one up (Chicken vs Hotdog).