One of my very favorite pastimes is playing games! I love board games, card games, dice games, you name it! Game Salute is a great site for learning about new games and lets you buy games from a variety of publishers.
Eleminis Card Game
One of their fun, easy, and lighthearted card games is Eleminis. It can be played with 2-8 players and with children as young as 7. It plays a little bit like Rock-Paper-Scissors where each element can “trump” two other cards. Your goal is to try to collect all 5 of the different elements to win the game. On your turn you draw a single card and MUST play it but it can go on your own 5 slots or on any other player. The decision comes when you have to decided if you want to progress your own player or play more offensively and try to mess up the other player’s game as they get closer to winning. Sometimes, you may even have to hurt your own game if there is no where else to play a card.
The game is a light game that is really easy to learn which makes it fun for “non-gamers” that might not like heavier strategy games. I think this is one my boys will really LOVE to play as well as they get a bit older. I have only had the opportunity to play a 2 player game so far and it works okay as a two player game, but certainly not as fun as I think this game would play with 4 or more players. Here’s a quick overview video that can show you the components and basic rules of Eleminis:
Carnival – Deck & Dice Game
Carnival is a brand new game that combines both cards and dice for a fun game that can be played with 2-4 players. The game is based on the theme that you are building a carnival and racing to be the first player to complete 4 out of the 5 rides you are tasked to build. The game includes a fair amount of “chance” with the random draw of cards and roll of dice but the luck of the game is balanced out with a few aspects that let you affect your luck. One of the ways Carnival does this is by having you roll 3 dice and letting you pick 2 out of the 3 actions to complete. Another way you can change up your luck is with the use of tickets, but you are only given a limited amount to use in the game so you will have to use them wisely. Throughout the game you mostly are working towards your own goals but some of the actions allow you to steal or trade cards from the other players that may be able to let you delay them from winning.
We played this game as a two player game and thought it actually worked pretty well for a two player game. There are not many games that really work for only two players but this one did. I do think that it will be more fun with more players and I can’t wait to try the team play variant as I really enjoy games where you work with a partner, it always brings more interaction and competition. I really liked the theme of this game and felt like it was a pretty easy game to understand, though I did have to keep referring back to turn sequence and the dice actions cheat card throughout the game. This is a good “medium” weight card game, not too light but not too heavy and I think gamers and non-gamers alike will enjoy it! Here’s a quick overview video of Carnival that will show you the components and basic rules of Carnival.
You can find these games at Game Salute. Carnival retails for $20 and will be available in stores on 2/3/12. Eleminis retails for $15 and is available now.
Disclosure: I received a copy of Eliminis and Carnival in exchange for my honest review. I was not compensated in any other manner. The opinions expressed above are my own and any claims should be verified on the sponsor’s site.