Blogger Board Game Club: Codenames Pictures

I am part of the Asmodee UK Blogger Board Game Club run by Playtime PR. Each month 50 bloggers are sent a board game to play and put to the test. This month we were sent Codenames Pictures card game to play.

Last month we struck Blogger Board Game Club gold with the Timeline British History Card Game. It was easy to set up, the rules were simple, everything fit into a little tin so you could take it anywhere easily. This month we were sent the much more complicated Codenames Pictures game which comes with a 12 page set of rules and instructions.

Ideally you need a minimum of four people to play this game, we tried with just two and it wasn’t as exciting as we suspect it could be. In teams of at least two people, one of you plays the role of Spy Master, the others, are Field Operatives. The spy master has to give cryptic clues and the field operatives have to guess the answer correctly. Innocent bystanders can get hurt or your rival spy team could get the upper hand. Either way, it’s complicated.

Blogger Board Game Club: Codenames Pictures

Codenames Pictures is described as a simple guessing game, but it’s harder than that. The spy master has to give the field operatives a codeword relating to one of more of the picture cards on the board. For example there might be a fish in a glass of water. The spy master might give the clue “gills”; the field operatives then have to touch the card or cards they think they relate to. If this is guessed correctly then the picture card is covered with a red or blue spy card. This depends on what the pattern on the key card is, see, it’s complicated.

I’m not even going to try to explain how the game fully works, there’s a 12 page booklet you can read if you want the full rundown.

Blogger Board Game Club: Codenames Pictures

Codenames Pictures is aimed at people aged 10+. I think once you’ve got a small group of players together and everyone has read the rule book several times, then it could be quite fun. But it is quite complicated and the kind of thing you need to absorb yourself in for a few hours. Each game is quite quick really, it should take around 15 minutes per game. But if you’re going to go to the trouble of mastering the rules, then it’s worth playing a few games in one sitting.

I probably sound quite down on Codenames Pictures, but I’m not really. It’s not the kind of game I would normally go for. I like quick to set up games with simple rules. This is fairly quick to set up, but all the rules are a bit much for me.

Would I play Codenames Pictures again? Probably, but only with a group of friends and with a bottle of wine.

Find Codename Pictures on Amazon today, rrp £15.99.

We were sent the Codenames Pictures card game for review for the Asmodee UK Blogger Board Game Club. All images and opinions are our own.

Find other board game and toy reviews here.

Board Games: Timeline British History Card Game

I am part of the Asmodee UK Blogger Board Game Club run by Playtime PR. Each month 50 bloggers are sent a board game to play and put to the test. This month we were sent Timeline British History Card Game to play.

Board Games: Timeline British History Card Game

We took the Timeline British History Card Game on holiday with us over half term. We were staying with some friends in a cottage with no TV; so I packed a few things to help the evenings fly by. We’d not yet played the Timeline British History Card Game, but we are all trivia fans so it felt like it would be a hit with us all.

The card game is pretty simple. It comes in a tin which makes it perfect for taking on holidays. There are 110 cards in the pack, on one side of the card is an historical event, on the other is the date of the event. Each player starts off with four cards. Taking it in turns, each player lays down a card in what they think is the right date order. If you get it wrong then you have to take another card from the pile and keep playing until someone has played all of the cards.

Board Games: Timeline British History Card Game

It can be a really quick game, or it can go on and on, depending on your knowledge of British history. I found I was pretty good with 20th Century history, but a bit wishy-washy before then.

This is absolutely my kind of game. I love a bit of historical geekery and we did get a bit competitive. The Timeline British History Card Game is suitable for ages 8+. Unless younger players have a pretty good knowledge of British history then it’s not going to be much fun for them. For four adults sharing a bottle of wine and a competitive nature, this is excellent fun.

Board Games: Timeline British History Card Game
The Timeline British History Card Game costs around £13.99 and is widely available in toy shops and online.

We were sent the Timeline British History Card Game for review for the Asmodee UK Blogger Board Game Club. All images and opinions are our own.

Find other board game and toy reviews here.

Board Game Club Review: Ticket to Ride First Journey

I am part of the Asmodee UK Blogger Board Game Club run by Playtime PR. Each month 50 bloggers are sent a board game to play and put to the test. This month we were sent Ticket to Ride First Journey to play.

Board Game Club Review: Ticket to Ride First Journey

Ticket to Ride First Journey is a board game designed for 2-4 players aged 6+. I played it with my 7 year old son. My son loves maps and geography, so we were really excited when we were setting the game up. The rules take a couple of reads throughs to understand, but it’s actually quite simple to play.

The game consists of a board with a map of Europe on it with key train stations such as Amsterdam, Berlin and Athens. The box contains a set of 72 train cards, 32 ticket cards, 4 coast-to-coast cards and 1 golden ticket. There are also four different sets of coloured trains.

Each player chooses a colour of train to be; I was red, he was green. The aim of the game is to be the first player to complete 6 tickets, or the first person to place all twenty of their trains on the train tracks.

Each player starts with four coloured train cards and two tickets. Each ticket shows two cities, and you need to connect those two cities with your trains in order to complete the ticket. Taking turns, you have a ticket, say from London to Athens and using the coloured train cards you have to plot a route between them using your trains across the coloured paths.

Board Game Club Review: Ticket to Ride First Journey

If you complete a track which crosses the board entirely from east to west, or west to east, then you pick up the East-to-West bonus card, which counts as one completed ticket.

Ticket to Ride seems quite complicated, but it’s really not. Once we had played it once, my 7 year old had really got the hang of it. We’ve played it over and over, which is always a sign he likes playing something. It’s good fun for adults too, I quite enjoyed trying to plot my route from A to B. It can be quite a quick game to play if you don’t have very long, and it’s great for short attention spans.

Ticket to Ride First Journey is fairly widely available and costs around £28. It’s a well made, quality board game. The board is longer than your standard Monopoly style board. The size of the board is why completing the East-to West route is so coveted. I would say that you get 20 trains of each colour and we have never completed six tickets; we have always run out of trains after two or three tickets worth of travel.

Board Game Club Review: Ticket to Ride First Journey

Overall, we really liked Ticket to Ride First Journey. It’s a really appealing game, especially for train and map enthusiasts. My son really enjoyed playing it, and I really liked that it’s got a nice geography element to it, so you can really start to learn where the major cities of Europe are. It’s a thumbs up from us!

We were sent the Ticket to Ride First Journey game for review for the Asmodee UK Blogger Board Game Club. All images and opinions are our own.

Find other board game and toy reviews here.

Board Game Club Review: Rory’s Story Cubes

I am part of the Blogger Board Game Club run by Playtime PR. Each month 50 bloggers are sent a new (or new-ish, or at least new to them) board game to play and put to the test. This month we were sent Rory’s Story Cubes, a game I am familiar with but have never played.

Board Game Club Review: Rory’s Story Cubes

Rory’s Story Cubes is a simple set of nine dice. Each dice is different and has a different image on each of its six sides. The idea is simple, roll the dice and make up a story based upon the nine images. It’s small, it’s simple and you can play it anywhere.

The game comes in a small magnetic box which contains the nine dice and a set of simple instructions. The only thing you need to supply is your imagination. The instructions are very easy to understand and include suggestions for developing your stories.

I’ve been waiting and waiting for my son (who has just turned seven) to be old enough to enjoy and understand this game. I was a little concerned he would think it was boring, but actually he loved it. He’s an imaginative little soul, so piecing together a story based on the roll of nine dice really floats his boat.

Board Game Club Review: Rory’s Story Cubes

Rory’s Story Cubes are the kind of game that could spark off a whole raft of really lovely developmental activity. The storytelling can help to develop creative ideas and improve communication skills; as well as give their confidence a boost too.

We really loved Rory’s Story Cubes. This is the basic set, but if you really get into it there are a variety of expansion packs to help you grow your stories. This is such a big hit for us, it’s going straight into the activity bag we take with us when we go out.

Rory’s Story Cubes is widely available from a range of retailers and costs around £12.99. It’s suitable for ages 6+ and would make an excellent after dinner game on Christmas Day!

We were sent the Rory’s Story Cube game for review purposes. All images and opinions are our own.

Find other board game and toy reviews here.

Board Game Club Review: Hey that’s my Fish!

This month we have joined the Blogger Board Game Club run by Playtime PR. Each month 50 bloggers are sent a new (or new-ish, or at least new to them) board game to play and put to the test. We were asked some questions about how old we all were and what our favourite and least favourite games were, then we waited for our first specially picked board game. We got Hey that’s my fish!

Hey that's my Fish! Board Game Club Review: Hey that's my Fish!

I have seen Hey that’s my fish! before in the shops, but hadn’t really looked at it too closely as my son is 6 years old and it’s advertised as suitable for ages 8+. We had planned to meet my brother, his wife and my seven year old nephew for lunch, so I threw Hey that’s my fish! in my bag to keep the boys entertained.

The game is really quite simple to set up and play. Put the fish cards in eight rows. The fish cards have one, two or three fish printed on them, and you need to mix them right up so they’re fairly well distributed across the board. Hey that’s my Fish! is suitable for 2 to 4 players. Each player takes two of the coloured penguins (choose from red, blue, yellow or green) and you place them randomly on the board. When laid out the “board” of fish cards isn’t huge, maybe around A4 size, which means it’s good for playing on small tables in restaurants or even on trains.

Hey that's my Fish! Board Game Club Review: Hey that's my Fish!

Starting with the youngest player first, you can move one penguin in a straight line in any direction, landing on a fish card and collecting it. You can’t move over any penguins which might be in your way, nor can your penguin paddle through the gaps in the ice where other players have collected their cards.

The aim of the game is to collect the most fish, so strategically it makes sense to try to land on and collect as many of the two and three fish cards as you can, then the one fish cards, but it’s not always that simple. Once all the cards have gone, or a penguin impasse has been reached, then you count your fish. The player with the most fish wins.

Hey that's my Fish! Board Game Club Review: Hey that's my Fish!

The verdict on Hey that’s my Fish!

Hey that’s my Fish! is a good introduction to strategy games. The key to success is thinking two or three moves ahead and trying to block your rival penguins in if you can. The boys, aged six and seven got the hang of the rules really quickly and enjoyed the game. It’s fairly quick to play and was a perfect for playing while we waited for our meals to arrive.

It entertained the adults and children equally well, and it’s the kind of game you can really get seriously strategic about if you want. We kept things light and fun for the boys and it’s something I know they will want to play again and again.

It’s a small game in a small box, so it’s the kind of thing we would take on holiday or keep in our activity bag which I have ready for when we go out with the boy.

Hey that’s my Fish! costs around £10 and is suitable for ages 8+ (though my six year old had no trouble at all with it). It’s available from a wide range of retailers and online.

We were sent the Hey that’s my Fish! board game for review purposes. All images and opinions are our own. This blog post contains affiliate links.

Find other board game and toy reviews here.