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"5 Minute Dungeon": Defeat evil quickly together
The five-minute dungeon is not only explained in less than five minutes, but also played in a maximum of five minutes.
We only have one (common!) Goal: Defeat all opponents quickly before we run out of time.
In the middle of the table is a tableau with the villain, on top of which is a deck of cards that you have to process in five minutes in order not to lose.
There are five dungeons, the levels of difficulty can be adjusted.
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Kosmos 692889 - 5-Minute Dungeon - True heroes against time.
Fast-paced parlor game for realtime fans
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Each player has a 40-card stack on their character board.
It is first against small villains before the boss opponent can be attacked.
Each of the evil cards must be defeated individually and cooperatively: If it shows two blue and three red symbols, the players must jointly choose the appropriate cards from their hand and discard them, then the next card is turned over.
In addition, each character has a special ability that can be activated by discarding cards.
Some cards allow a smaller opponent to be flattened directly, cards to be swapped, drawn, or discarded cards to be picked up again.
The joke of the game is the tremendous time pressure under which this happens: "I can blue!" "I red, CONTINUE!".
Everyone is always on, there is no turn order;
an alarm clock or mobile phone timer is sufficient.
It's even more fun with the free 5-minute dungeon app (Google Play Store, App Store), which counts down eerily.
If the boss is defeated, everyone wins together;
if the time is up before that happens, or if nobody can draw any more cards, everyone has lost.
The only disadvantage: When playing, you don't have a chance to pay attention to the funny illustrations full of pop cultural references because you are running out of time.
You should take five quiet minutes to appreciate them.
They deserved it.
There are already some extensions for the game.
Two to five players, ages eight and up, five to about 30 minutes
Hand on it:
quick decision-makers and team players
Hands off:
hesitant procrastinators and individual optimizers
"Metro": Menno, you ruined everything for me!
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Ah, the Paris Metro!
It's wonderful to drive aimlessly through the city, make a lot of detours and not get anywhere for as long as possible - that is the somewhat absurd basic idea of this classic from 1997, which was even on the shortlist for the game of the year and has aged surprisingly well.
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Queen Games 10241 - "Metro" board game
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The game board shows a grid of squares that lie between train stations.
Each player has a certain number of train stations that he should connect with the longest possible routes, because short connections lead to defeat.
Alternately you draw tiles and you just don't want to arrive too quickly at another station of your own - and screw up the tour as effectively as possible for the other players with the same goal.
The route on which the other had so high hopes is completed quickly and with glee.
Sometimes there are dead straight rails, sometimes loops, sometimes curves or crossings on the tiles - every tile fits everywhere because they all have the same connection points on the edge, and every route can unexpectedly lead to its sudden end.
It counts twice if it connects your own train station with one of the train stations in the middle of the map.
When all fields are covered, the game is over.
Two to six players, ages eight and up, around 45 minutes
Hand on it:
malicious route workers
Hands off:
good-natured refusal to destroy
"Fantastic Realms": Where can I get a wizard for my dragon?
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A wand without a magician is worthless, the dragon is no good without a magician - unless you have a protective rune.
The rainstorm makes floods more powerful, but blocks flames.
Besides lightning, it makes it more valuable.
In the 53-card game "Fantastic Realms" everything depends on collecting certain cards and getting rid of others - and reacting flexibly to new opportunities and dangers.
The rule is explained in one sentence: Everyone receives seven cards in hand and draws a card from the draw pile or from the storage, then he puts one face up in the storage until the tenth card is there, then it is scored.
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Every card in hand has a bonus or a penalty, and some have both.
The point value depends on the other cards in your own hand, which can block each other, make them more valuable or even remove bonuses and penalties.
The evaluation can be used for early or late promotion of basic mathematical skills, because the card skills are so intertwined that there is a lot to calculate.
If you are too comfortable for this, you can use the free help app (Google Play Store, App Store), which calculates everything automatically - so you can go to the next round faster.
And that's what the losers will insist on, because next time everything is guaranteed to be different!
Two to six players, ages ten and up, around 20 minutes
Hand on it:
courageous collectors and combination puzzlers
Hands off:
long-distance gamers and people who never read the fine print
»Love Letter«: win the hearts of the princess
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It was a special offer from a printing company that gave the Japanese author Seiji Kanai the idea of developing a game with only 16 cards, because they fit on exactly one sheet.
How much tactical depth there is in »Love Letter« is amazing and brought the game several prizes.
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Pegasus Games 18214G - Love Letter Big Box
From € 15.99
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Each card represents a person at the court who helps to get to the princess - and allows a separate action, such as looking at a card from another player, comparing cards, swapping cards or forcing another player to discard them.
You only have one card in hand;
in your turn you draw a second and play one.
Bluffing is important, and so is reasoning.
Whoever can force the other players to drop out wins the round and receives a heart - whoever wins a certain number of hearts, depending on the number of players, is the winner.
If the topic of love letters is too sweet or in some constellations maybe embarrassing, choose the nightmare version Lovecraft Letter instead, which is based on the story universe of the horror author HP Lovecraft and offers nine other cards with menacing madness functions.
Two to four players, ages eight and up, up to 20 minutes. Good playable for two, but not optimal
Hand on it:
minimalists and analysts
Hands off:
heart haters and bad bluffers
"Bandido": Don't be an escape helper
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There's a jail in the middle of the table.
Bandido is sitting there, who has already shoveled six exits.
Bandido must not escape!
Everyone has three cards with tunnels and places one on their turn: This creates a labyrinth of paths out of the cell.
On some maps there are also dead ends - that's nice, because if you cultivate skillfully, you can close Bandido's tunnel;
if the players do this together before the draw pile is empty, they win together.
If they fail, they have lost.
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Helvetiq Verlag Bandido
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It's as easy to play as it reads, but a lot of fun.
It almost never stays in one round.
The task is simple but not trivial;
often you don't manage to fix bandido - and want to try again right away.
An ideal souvenir game that creates a happy community feeling.
If smaller children play along, you can turn the prison card: it then only has five exits.
If you like it a bit more complex, you can also buy the game Bandida;
this adds a few special cards and new winning options.
One to four players, ages five and up, playing time: five to 15 minutes
Hand on it:
all
Hands off:
nobody
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