My new favorite family game night game is a tile matching game called Qwirkle. The game is easy to understand, but still feels challenging and satisfying when you take home a victory. Good for a mix of young and experienced game players.
Game Play
You use square tiles in six shapes and six colors to form rows of six matching blocks in a move called a “qwirkle” which scores you 12 points. Otherwise, you receive one point for each tile played per round. The score is kept per move. Score sheets are not provided in the box, but you can use third party game score sheet, a blank piece of paper, or score keeper app. The first player to use all of their squares gets an extra 6 points for going out first. The game can be played with 2-4 players, but we regularly play with up to 6 or 7. I prefer playing with 4-6 players as the less people, the harder it is to use your tiles in the beginning of the game. I think any more and the game would go too fast. The typical game lasts around 30 minutes.
Cons of the Game
The colors on the tiles can be hard to see in certain light, or for people with color blindness. Also, it’s hard to remember the different shapes, especially the two star shapes. All the shapes in the game are symmetrical and look the same when viewed from all directions, which is why I assume the designers chose them, but I wish the starburst and 4 pointed “ninja” star and the square and the diamond had been a different shape. The game can get messy and needs to be played on a fairy large surface. You will want to keep the pieces aligned to keep track of dead spots and columns where pieces can be added on to different rows and columns.
Overall, I have enjoyed this game and played it multiple times over the last few months. It has quickly become one of my favorites. Mixing a feeling of dominoes with scrabble, in a simple yet fun game.
