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Favouritefoe
60 minutes and under is our ideal game playing time. Life is full to bursting every day, but we still need our gaming fix. Luckily, Devir have heard our plight and have published a series of games which give that big game feel in a smaller game timeframe. They also come in a more diminutive sized box which doesn’t impact the play time, but is appreciated none the less!
And so, hot on the heels of the brilliant The Red Cathedral comes The White Castle. This is euro style worker placement, dice placement and resource management set in the Japanese Himeji Castle. Three rounds of just three turns each doesn’t sound like it would (or should) take an hour. And whist the box says 80 mins, our games have never gone beyond an hour. But what a jam packed hour it is! These 9 events contain a cornucopia of options, thinking, bonuses, and delicious dilemmas. The goal is to trigger a cascade of actions with each of those turns, converting one move into multiple goodies. And knowing that each thing you do receive means that you do not get to do the other things that would otherwise be available brings a brilliant internal tension to the gameplay.
The components are also top notch – 3D bridges hold the dice, but I defy you not to pick them up mid game! Working perfectly at every player count (the solo mode is tantalisingly tricky!), this is one of our favourite games to play in under an hour. And if you enjoy The White Castle, check out its predecessor, The Red Cathedral, which is another brilliant box full of fun to enjoy in less than 60 minutes!
David Ireland:
On its 10th anniversary year, Splendor is an absolute board game classic now in the modern era and the perfect choice for players with less than an hour.
It is a highly popular game within our home and regularly features on the table top. One, because it gets played in a relatively short amount of time and two, because it is just familiar to us now.
The mechanics are ever so simple. On any player's turn you have the choice of either gathering precious gems, reserving a card on the table top and claiming a gold coin (which could be used as any precious gem later) or purchase a card from the middle utilising the cards you have already bought and/or gems gathered.
The cards in the middle are broken into 3 tiers. The first tier are typically the cheapest to purchase with the 3rd tier being the most expensive. You will not be able to get to the top tier just utilising gathered gems alone. Every card also has a gem printed on that is an ever present for purchasing going forward. You are capped at 10 gathered gems so need to purchase some of the lower tier first.
Why do you want to buy these cards? Victory is achieved at 15 points. Typically the first tier don’t have many points to earn, but tier 2 and 3 do, with the top tier having the most points available. Then there are the nobles available to earn at 3 points each.
There is plenty to consider in this game. The mechanics are simple but the strategy deep. Which gems will you target for purchase? Which may your opponents be looking to pick up. When every player can see the pool of gems to purchase from and all gather from this same pool, you can quickly get a feel for what your opponents are up to and take actions to potentially prevent, particularly if it aids your own goals.
There is a reason this game is so popular with thousands of copies sold globally. It’s awesome and highly recommended for players that don’t want long games and enjoy fast, strategic play.
Lorna F:
It’s a Wonderful World (IAWW) is fantastic if you like easy to learn games with plenty of strategy. In this 1-5 player (1-7 with expansions) game of drafting and engine building, each player builds their utopian civilization. With fast set up, and only 4 rounds of two phases, you can comfortably play this game within an hour.
In the first phase of a round each player will select 7 cards to either recycle for an immediate resource ‘cube’ or select to build. In the second phase, each player’s civilization will produce resources (different coloured cubes per resource type) to allocate to the cards they have chosen to build. Each card when built gives a combination of points, point multipliers, resources or resource multipliers.
The beauty of IAWW is the replayability. There are loads of unique cards, and in each game players will make different decisions on which cards to keep, recycle and build and see the knock on effect of those decisions in the next rounds. If you like 7 wonders, this game will give you the same vibes and more. It is a seamlessly designed, well balanced, medium to lightweight civilisation builder with great artwork. That said, this game may not appeal to those that like a lot of player interaction.
There are three additional expansions to IAWW pictured. Two are small, replayable competitive campaigns “War or Peace'' and “Leisure & Decadence”. These have unique game mechanics, and add additional components to the core game. If you don’t like campaign games, there is the “Corruption and Ascension” expansion which gives you more complex cards for big scoring.
Also akin to 7 wonders, this game has a 2 player counterpart; It’s a Wonderful Kingdom. This game is for 1-2 players, is more complex, and adds a bluffing mechanic within the first phase. This version replaces the utopian theme with classic historic civilisation, with similar quality of components.
In short, It’s a Wonderful World, with and without its many modular additions is a fantastic way to spend 60 minutes with one to seven of your friends. With its simple mechanics and in depth strategy, it suits any level of board game experience
John Hunt:
Hive is a real go-to for so many different situations: portable… check, outdoor… check, versatile for audience… check, quick… check (at least normally – see below).
Hive is an abstract chess-a-like. You both have the same set of pieces depicting insects, each of which has individual move rules and powers. You take it in turns to place or move a piece to the commonly constructed hive. The loser is the player whose queen bee is completely surrounded by pieces – theirs/their opponent’s, it doesn’t matter.
The rule set is simple, and there’s only a small overhead of learning how the individual pieces work. There are five in the base game: bee, beetle, spider, ant and grasshopper, and they are quick to pick up. The boardless structure where the pieces build the play space, makes for interesting tactics and strategy. Pieces move round the perimeter, jump over and even climb onto the hive and this interaction creates a great puzzle. The tension between pushing to surround your opponent’s queen and trying to defend your own creates some interesting decision space. And in all of this the hive is not allowed to be broken, and that adds another dimension to positioning, placing and blocking other pieces from moving.
Once you have a grip on the five starting pieces then there are the mosquito and ladybug/bird to add, and if you really into it, then you can buy a pillbug/woodlouse expansion. Again, more move and power rules which are increasingly sophisticated in their impact on gameplay.
But in all of this there is a game which is really accessible: fun for my 8-year-old but also over a coffee with a gaming buddy. The bakerlite pieces are simple, stylish and beautifully tactile. I have the pocket version which is just that – so it comes out to the garden and the beach. And as per the article theme, it plays in much less than an hour. More like 15 minutes….unless. One game I played with a mate who has a maths PhD where we hit somewhat of a stalemate, got every piece in play and had a 2 hour positioning to and fro until one of us made a mistake. Made for a great afternoon, as Hive always does, so I’d recommend giving it a try.
Rachael:
You’d have to be a total quack not to push your luck in Quedlinburg, where you’ll summon your inner potion maker, pulling out ingredients and placing them in your potion pot, venturing as far as you dare risk.
Quacks of Quedlinburg is a fantastic 2 to 4 player game, easy to teach and learn, which can be completed in under an hour. Variety is the spice of life and this is offered up in abundance during this game. Played over 9 days, or rounds, at the start of each day a fortune teller card is drawn which gives special rules for that day. The effects of these cards could happen immediately, during game play or at the end of the day. There are also a selection of ingredient books which add different conditions to the game, such as give you extra rubies if you finish with a particular coloured chip.
During the potions phase everyone can play together, aiding the speed of the game and reducing downtime between turns. Here you will blindly pull out chips, one by one from your potion bag to place into your pot. But be careful! If you pull out white cherry bombs exceeding the value of 7 your pot explodes… kaboom! All of these different conditions and rewards really enhance the push your luck experience. Do you choose to end here and get some extra rubies or do you continue pushing your luck because the higher up your potion pot you go the better rewards you reap at the end of the day.
Quacks of Quedlingburg is a great light weight game with a cool apothecary theme, simple yet appealing artwork and is loads of fun to play.
