EXIT: The Circus Mystery

• Designers: Emely, Inka and Markus Brand
• Publisher: Kosmos
• Players: 1-4
• Age: 12+
• Time: 1-2 hours
• Amazon affiliate link: https://amzn.to/4bnp8vb

The EXIT series was one of the original puzzle-game franchises to hit the market when the escape room game craze took off a few years ago. To date, my family and I have been able to play all of the ones released here in the US, and this is a series that we continue to look forward to future installments. While there are many worthy competitors in the genre, the EXIT series is possibly the best known of the bunch – due in part to the initial set of games being awarded the 2017 Kennerspiel des Jahres award.

This most recent installment in the series places you under the big top: 

“The circus is in town! But something’s amiss under the big top. A series of high-profile burglaries have occurred in each of the cities where the circus performed. Coincidence? Or can you find a connection? ”

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Hell of a Deal

• Designer: Cameron Reid
• Publisher: Smirk & Dagger
• Players: 1-4
• Age: 14+
• Time: 90 minutes
• Amazon affiliate link: 
• Played with review copy provided by publisher

Hell of a Deal is a cooperative poker game against The Devil Himself & all the minions of Hell. Of course, they all cheat! To compete, you’ll have to cheat like Hell… and the more you do, the more doomed you all become. Welcome to The Last Resort & Casino… and winning IS your last resort. To get to the Big Table, you’ll face off against diabolical bosses like Dedly Aloor, Jack Potts, The Brothers Dreadful, & Roul-ette, each of whom twists the game in unique ways.

It’s real poker – as far as playing poker in Hell goes, with you all trying individually to beat the house. Every Boss changes how you will approach the hand and has a bare minimum hand to beat, should their dealt cards not pan out. It’s a Texas Hold’em style game – and players get not two but three cards dealt to them (one up their sleeve for more options). You may earn powerful Favor cards that let you cheat, like making a four-card Flush, but at the cost of a Curse or suffering Temptation.

Your chips will earn you Souls (the coin of the realm) which you’ll need at the Big Table against The Devil Himself – or betting one of your five Power chips will gain you immediate abilities, like revealing one of the Boss’s cards, or taking a face-up discard into your hand. But lose the hand and your wagered chips flip over to deliver harsh penalties. Suffer too much Temptation and the game ends in a loss. Manage to win against The Devil Himself and you might just earn your way back to the living.  It has the feel of high stakes poker, with no cash on the table. And delivers a whole Poker Night in just 90 minutes.

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Oracle: Predict Your Tricks

• Designer: Marni Abramowitz
• Publisher: Indie Boards & Cards
• Players: 2-6
• Age: 14+
• Time: 20 minutes
• Played with review copy provided by publisher

In this fresh new spin on trick taking, the tricks don’t matter—only your ability to foresee the future! Gaze into the future and predict your results to win!  Each round, roll the scrying dice to determine the rules for this round. Then, based on your hand and a single card from each of your opponents, you’ll predict both the number of tricks you’ll take and bet on how an opponent’s round is going to go. Winning or losing a trick means nothing, you only score through correctly divining the future. Push your trick taking skills to the limit. Become the one true Oracle!

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Blancat

• Designer: Nutgoo Lee 
• Publisher: Korea Board Games
• Players: 2-4
• Age: 8+
• Time: 20 minutes
• Played with review copy provided by publisher

You’ve made new blankets for your cats, but they want their old ones back! Remake the original patterns quickly before the yowling begins! Each round, a goal card is revealed for everyone to see. All players try to recreate that pattern as quickly as possible by weaving threads on their personal player boards. Players grab a cat token as soon as they finish. The player who fails to complete their blanket before the tokens run out receives a penalty, unless another player wrongfully claimed a token with an incorrect pattern. It’s a unique, pattern-matching puzzle game for friends and families alike.

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