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In »Feed the Kraken«, the players have to compete to see where the ship is going
Photo: Maren Hoffmann / DER SPIEGEL
Let's face it, game night can be hell.
Someone opens a promising box, there is a lot of stuff in it: wooden pawns, player boards, dice, tons of cards.
The first find the game too complicated, one would rather go get something to drink and never come back, and the rest bites through endless instructions until it can finally start.
With good preparation, however, this can be completely different - and a game night can be a great event.
1. Nobody wants to read rules
With good reason, you can buy t-shirts in specialist nerd stores that say: "I read the rules so you don't have to." forget.
Sure, there are great party games like "Just One" or "Top Ten" that can be learned in no time, but if you want to try something bigger, you have to read up beforehand.
One must be in charge.
There are now good rules videos for most games, either from the publishers themselves or from freelance YouTubers.
2. Don't get bored
"Everyone is dealt three cards, but you can't turn them over just yet..." Yawn.
It will not work like that.
The brain switches to slack, the game becomes torture. Whoever explains should also have a declared goal: provide the group with good reasons why and for what they should now sacrifice part of their lifetime.
This can be done by creating atmosphere, tension and context: »We are on a ship that is ›unstable‹.
We're going to Bluewater Bay to drop off our cargo.
OK so far?
Oh, by the way, we have a few pirates on board who want to lead us to our doom - and then there's the giant octopus... but hey, what's supposed to happen!« Tell stories, create atmosphere, take the players on a journey.
3. Atmosphere
Speaking of atmosphere.
If you cook well, you set the table beautifully.
For a game night you should also drive a bit of effort.
On Spotify and YouTube you can find thematically appropriate music - or a few background noises: gloomy whistling for the vampire castle, screeching seagulls and the roar of the surf for the pirate barge.
Good light is essential: everyone must be able to read the cards and game plans easily, otherwise it becomes exhausting.
Good, ideally thematically appropriate drinks are also something fine: rum cocktails, Bloody Mary, there are also all alcohol-free.
4. Start fast
Don't remain abstract when explaining, but prepare a few sample moves and show specifically what you would do next as a player, give the other players material and let them participate.
Sketch the big picture, get started and only go into special rules and special cases during the game, otherwise it will be too much at once.
And, importantly, clarify beforehand when there will be something to eat, prepare it - and if the game is not over yet, take a break together between rounds.
Hungry game rounds are dissatisfied game rounds.
(The phenomenon has been scientifically researched.)
Ready to go?
Here are four games that offer an intense community experience.
Sailing to Doom: »Feed the Kraken«
What a crew!
The brave sailors want to steer our ship, the "Unstabil ,
"
eastward to Bluewater Bay.
The pirates who have been secretly smuggled on board, on the other hand, want to go west to Crimson Cove to rob everyone.
And then there's the insane cultist who only wants one thing: to be thrown overboard in order to sacrifice himself to the great Kraken that lurks midway between the two goals.
This is how the »Unstable
« sails
zigzag towards their uncertain fate.
If you are a captain, you can choose a lieutenant and a navigator.
The captain and lieutenant each place one of two navigation cards face down in the logbook box and hand it over to the navigator, who chooses one from them and thus determines the route.
Blue cards lead to the sailor's destination, red ones to the pirates and yellow ones to the octopus.
Each round, the lieutenant and navigator are reassigned - and then the captain asks if the crew is loyal.
If she doesn't agree with the leadership, she can mutiny.
This happens all the time, and so the journey becomes extremely turbulent.
The game ends as soon as one of the groups has reached its goal.
On some fields the captain has to throw a crew member overboard, on others he can find out which faction one of the fellow passengers belongs to.
The game is great fun, especially in large groups - everyone mistrusts everyone else, everyone bluffs, everyone tries to see through the others.
The great appeal lies in the asymmetry of the factions: in the beginning everyone knows which group he or she belongs to.
Only the pirates know each other (but don't know who the cultist is either).
Sailors have yet to figure out who to trust.
Is this captain a pirate after all?
Should I mutiny?
And who is safe to throw overboard?
»Feed the Kraken« is very communicative – you can discuss all the decisions and insights you have made with one another.
But of course: the rough fellows on board are less committed to the truth than driven by their own interests.
If you're good at bluffing, you can go far.
The game principle »social deduction«,
Authors: Hans Joachim Höh, Maikel Cheney, Tobias Immich, five to eleven people aged ten and up (preferably eight or nine), playing time 45 to 60 minutes.
Hand on it:
Logic tinkerers, bluffers and people judges
Hands off:
trusting people and game-and-life mixers ("But I believed you!")
Chaos in the kitchen: »Kosmopol:it«
Table three would like an "a-asskwit", table one a "dijang bohe" and the guest on the terrace a "uortaha ßurha le sine", but pronto!
In the Kosmopol:it restaurant, we work closely together against the clock under time pressure: the waitress takes the order, which only she can hear – you need a companion app and a headset to play the game.
What she hears are names of dishes in a total of 60 possible languages from all over the world, spoken by native speakers.
She passes their orders on to the head waiter, who in turn instructs the cooks (all other players).
Each of the chefs has cards with phonetic translations of the possible orders and also manages a food segment - vegetables, fish or side dishes.
And now the chefs have to quickly understand what the head waiter wants from them, find the right language card and thus determine which dish is in demand.
So a bit of silent mail and a lot of communication - and in six minutes the waitress in the app must have delivered to as many tables as possible.
Ambition quickly develops at the table, paired with a desire to try out and pass on the new words.
All-round successful fun with some depth, because the game was developed in close cooperation with the "Dynamique Du Langage" laboratory at the University of Lyon, which also included a background booklet worth reading with information on the languages used and worldwide linguistic developments.
You should only read this if you already know the game well - in the companion app you can then listen to reports, for example about the Navajo kitchen.
Authors: Julien Prothière & Florent Toscano, four to eight players aged ten and up, playing time six minutes per game.
Hand on it:
teams who enjoy communication, those interested in languages, word gourmets
Hands off:
people with hearing problems, very introverted people, app haters
Quickly back to the vampire castle: »The Hunger«
On the hunt and then back to the castle before the sun kills us: In »The Hunger« we are vampires.
In just 15 rounds we have to manage to hunt down people with as many victory points as possible.
However, if you don't make it back home in time, you lose.
Everything stands and falls with the selection of one's own cards;
at the beginning we all have an identical set, but this changes as the game progresses as we get new cards.
Each player draws from their own draw pile and thus receives cards in their hand that they have hunted down in the course of the game
.
This can be very rewarding, but also problematic - because: too much loot inhibits progress.
But that's important, because the further away from the castle, the fatter the rewards.
Anyone who just follows the blood thirst with vampire greed, instead of securing movement helpers, will soon be stuck - and in the end will crumble to ashes.
Under certain circumstances, unfortunately, you realize early on that you can no longer make it.
Then the game is over before it's over, and that's very frustrating.
Tactically it can be an advantage to forego the more distant targets and be a somewhat fearful vampire.
But it's more fun if you take a risk and manage to get hold of treasures and maybe even one of the mighty roses.
Author: Richard Garfield, two to six people aged ten and up, playing time 45 to 90 minutes.
Hand on it:
soldiers of fortune with foresight, competitive strategists
Hands off:
risk-averse all-weighers, less frustration-tolerant
Cunning Sky Pirates: »Libertalia – On the Winds of Galecrest«
Gold!
jewels!
Rum!
The air pirate robber life is rich with rewards for evil deeds.
But also full of dangers - and coincidences that can thwart or promote your own plans.
Each of us commands a colorful troop of bandits, smugglers, helmswomen, kitchen boys - 40 different characters with very different skills are available to choose from.
At the beginning of each round, six airshipmen are drawn at random, and each player takes them from their own supply and puts them in their hand.
In each round one of them is played and sorted by number in ascending order.
From left to right, everyone first activates the tag abilities of the characters, then it goes back in the opposite direction - and finally, in your turn, you can take one of the loot markers on display.
Now comes the night phase, when some characters become active again.
After four rounds the first journey is over, after five more rounds the second, the third journey lasts six - and whoever has now collected the most doubloons wins.
»Libertalia« thrives on the rough interaction with the other players - that's more fun in a large group than in a small one.
You keep teasing each other.
You can control how much - you can play the loot markers with either "calm" or with meaner "stormy" abilities.
With cards and loot markers you send enemy crew members to the graveyard, steal, move and snatch the other coveted marker from under your nose.
The key motivator is glee - if you have a problem with that, stay away from the Winds of Galecrest.
Author: Paolo Mori, one to six people aged 14 and over, playing time 45 to 60 minutes (revised edition of the original game from 2012, now out of print, revised by Jamey Stegmaier)
Hand on it:
dispensers and inserts (preferably both and)
Hands off:
Long-distance strategists, those in need of harmony, team players
Bonus Tip: Sidereal Confluence
If you want to try something bigger (and have found a suitable group of up to nine people for a full-length game), we recommend another classic: the great trading game »Sideric Confluence«, in which up to nine players can happily interact.
Nobody has to wait, everyone's turn at the same time, the larger the group, the better - but since each people has its own rules, which can be quite complex, it's a tough one.
There is a small review here.
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