USD ($)
EUR (€)
When I was younger I always heard the phrase ‘busman’s holiday’ and never could quite grasp what it meant, this wasn’t helped by the game show on TV by the same name (yes, that’s how old I am!) This year I found a gem of a place while on holiday and totally indulged in a busman’s holiday for a board gamer… well sort of, as I wish playing board games was my actual Job!
We’d heard about Sticks & Bones before we embarked on our jaunt down to Dorset, so on what promised to be a bit of a drizzly day we decided to head on in to see what they had on the shelves.
Shut the box up!
Whilst not the largest selection of what I’d consider modern board games, we did find a very tall, wide book shelf with a good range of games past and present. All your classics such as monopoly, scrabble and connect four were there as well as your modern stalwarts such as codenames and exploding kittens, not to mention quite a few more unusual games from when I was younger! I’m looking at you blockbusters and taboo! It was like someone had taken a spoonful of games from my childhood, a scoop of more modern classics and added a pinch of the old faithfuls!
Always eager to play something we don’t own I heartlessly ignored the kid’s cries for Carcassonne and opted to start with cobra paw, which turned out to be an excellent pub game choice! A game of quick reflexes where you must swiftly grab for the correct domino that matches the dice rolled. A quick and easy game to learn with short and sweet instructions, the only thing my children didn’t enjoy was being beaten to the correct domino by anyone else.
Another winner was the giant four player shut the box, which we were able to play with my youngest when my eldest two pulled out another classic in Klask. Both very chonky tactile wooden games but in very different ways!
Beer and board games
Well I say beer and board games, but it was the middle of the day and we were in charge of three children and although they’re perhaps no longer small that just means the fights are bigger and consequently need more refereeing! So we opted for cheesy chips all round instead - *chefs kiss*
Said cheesy chips arrived as we were nearing the end of our game of Sounds Fishy. A nifty little party style game from big potato all about bluffing your way to the most points. Basically you each take turns to ask an (often bizarre) question, one of the other players will give the correct answer and the others will try to fool you! Points are dished out based on who successfully told the best fibs and who was best at garnering the truth from the myriad of responses. My fella won by miles… not sure if that should concern me?
More than board games
Obviously I was there for the board games, but much to the kids delight sticks and bones offers an array of video arcade games and games consoles for use. This came in handy when we picked up Azul to play with my eldest and the younger two wandered off to one of the consoles as they’d clearly had their fill of board games for now.
Both I and my other half had played Azul before but this was a first for my eldest who really took to it. Azul is a tile laying game (with an oh so satisfying clackety clink), where you’re trying to lay as many adjacent tiles as possible to gain higher points but without triggering the game end too soon for you to win. But if you take more tiles than you can hold, they fall to the floor and end up deducting points from your tally, theres also bonus points to be had for certain formations of tiles too.
You may think Azul is on the larger side for a pub game, but there was certainly enough space to accommodate it, lots of big dark chunky wooden tables – it was very much a vibe!
