BIG GAMES IN SMALL PACKAGES

Let's face it. Sometimes you don't want to haul around some big ole square box of cardboard and plastic. Sometimes you just want to enjoy a game that isn't going to take all afternoon. Sometimes you don't want the rules explanation to take longer than 5 minutes. Sometimes you need a fun little gift for someone (or yourself) and you don't want to pay $60 for it.
Well this is the list for you! Since the New Year, I have been learning and having fun with all sorts of little games- most of which come in really small boxes and most (if not all) are under $20 online. Here are a few that I think you should give a whirl.

No Thanks! is a fun little card game that is roughly about set collection and getting piles of numbers in order. The goal is to have the lowest score possible. If you don't want the face up card, put one of your chips on it. If it comes back around to you after everyone has put a chip on it themselves, either put on another one or take them all for yourself- because each chip will subtract 1 point from your total score when the game is over. Don't have any more chips? Well then, you're stuck and you have to take the card.

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Citadels is a "drafted roll selection" game where each turn you choose a roll that allows you to have an specific type of action. Then you either draw city cards or draw money. Then you build part of your city. The first person with 8 parts of their city built, triggers the end of the game. Each part of your city is worth as many points as the gold it took to build it. You've got the most points? You're the winner. Look for the edition with a little purple icon in the bottom left corner of the slim edition box. That edition comes prepackaged with an expansion inside.

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Bang! The Dice Game is built around the Yahtzee mechanism where you roll dice 3 times keeping what you want and rerolling what you don't. Each side has something different to offer, so choose wisely. Take a character at the beginning of the game and then you are given a secret roll- Sheriff (who isn't so secret), Deputy, Outlaw, or Renegade. Try to kill off the appropriate people while the indians attack to be the victor in this spin on a spaghetti western (there's even Italian printed on the cards)! With really nicely engraved and painted dice, this game passes up it's card game predecessor- Bang!

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Lifeboat is a game in which you are one of six people on a lifeboat. Not only are you trying to survive, but you also secretly love someone you hope and will help, to survive. At the same time, there is someone you secretly hate, who you are helping to their watery grave. You might chose to do nothing, you might chose to pick a fight by trying to swap places, you might mug someone, or you might chose to decide who gets thrown overboard. All the while, find things of value in your lifeboat such as money, jewels, art work, etc. and try to be the character at the end who has survived and has the most points.

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Guillotine has been a family favorite for years. At the beginning of a round, set up 12 nobles to have their heads cut off. Rearrange the order of the line using one of the action cards in your hand. Then collect the noble at the front of the line at the end of your turn. The person with the most points after 3 rounds wins.

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