by Ben Bruckart

Designers: Dennis K Chan, Adam Hill, Ben Pinchback, Matt Riddle

Artists: Agnieszka Dabrowiecka, Klemens Franz

Publishers: Cranio and then Asmodee and Capstone and a bunch of others picked it up

No. of Players: 2-4

I didn’t come home with a lot of Essen games, but I did come home with this one. Why, you ask? Simone Luciani is credited on the development and God knows I love my Luciani… (GAH, Lorenzo, Nucleum, Grand Austria Hotel). I get this game to my home and punch it and immediately realize I am missing a corrected tile. I emailed Cranio support and received a corrected tile within a few weeks. Cranio gets a lot of bad press from its Kickstarter fulfillment, but I think we should also highlight their successes.

What is this game?

This is a twist on and addition to the Beyond the Sun’s (BtS henceforth) technology tree. This game takes away the area control planet board and replaces it with a hexagonal civilization style set of tiles. I have played BtS and enjoyed it, but I eventually tired of the title. I will endeavor to describe the turns and set-up for someone who has never played BtS.

Fruit Fight

• Designer: Reiner Knizia
• Publisher: CMYK Games
• Players: 2-5
• Age: 8+
• Time: 15 minutes
• Amazon affiliate link: https://amzn.to/3QESpqm
• Played with review copy provided by publisher

Fruit Fight is a social, push your luck game from Reiner Knizia, where you steal your friends and family’s fruits. If you draw fruit cards that match what other players are about to score, you get to steal them all. But be careful: if you draw a fruit you already have, you bust!

Fruit Fight  is part of the new Magenta line of games from CMYK – per their press release… CMYK is thrilled to announce the launch of Magenta: a striking new collection of card games. In a world of increasing digital distractions, Magenta is set to revive a classic way we gather and play – making face-to-face connections through card game nights with family, friends, and new faces around the table. “The idea behind Magenta is simple: to bring people together through the world’s best card games,” says Alex Hague, founder of CMYK. “To do that, we’ve created a line of games that are both fun to play and beautifully designed.”

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Figment

• Designer: Wolfgang Warsch
• Publisher: CMYK
• Players: 1-6
• Age: 8+
• Time: 15-30 minutes
• Amazon Affiliate link: https://amzn.to/4ik8xte
• Played with review copy provided by publisher

Figment is a mind-bending visual experience from Wolfgang Warsch. Figment is a game of visual perception, where everyone cooperates to line up a row of cards with unique art, so each has more of one color than the card before it. (Figment was previously known as Illusion)

Figment is part of the new Magenta line of games from CMYK – per their press release… CMYK is thrilled to announce the launch of Magenta: a striking new collection of card games. In a world of increasing digital distractions, Magenta is set to revive a classic way we gather and play – making face-to-face connections through card game nights with family, friends, and new faces around the table. “The idea behind Magenta is simple: to bring people together through the world’s best card games,” says Alex Hague, founder of CMYK. “To do that, we’ve created a line of games that are both fun to play and beautifully designed.”

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Fives

Designer: Taiki Shinzawa 

Publisher: CMYK

Players: 3-4

Age: 8+

Time: 30 minutes

Amazon affiliate link: https://amzn.to/4hXER5p

Played with review copy provided by publisher

Fives is a smart and tense trick taking game from Taiki Shinzawa. Fives is a modern twist on classic trick-taking games like Hearts and Spades. Instead of playing a card face up, you can play it face down as a 5! You’re trying to get all your winning cards to add up to 25: can you play your cards right without busting?

Fives is part of the new Magenta line of games from CMYK – per their press release… CMYK is thrilled to announce the launch of Magenta: a striking new collection of card games. In a world of increasing digital distractions, Magenta is set to revive a classic way we gather and play – making face-to-face connections through card game nights with family, friends, and new faces around the table. “The idea behind Magenta is simple: to bring people together through the world’s best card games,” says Alex Hague, founder of CMYK. “To do that, we’ve created a line of games that are both fun to play and beautifully designed.”

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Duos

• Designer: Johannes Schimdauer-Koenig 
• Publisher: CMYK
• Players: 4 or 6
• Age: 8+
• Time: 30 minutes
• Amazon affiliate link: https://amzn.to/43gI4bB 
• Played with review copy provided by publisher

Duos is a cozy and collaborative team game from Johannes Schmidauer-König. Work together to create unique hands of cards. You might need a flush one round and all odd numbers the next. Your secret weapon is that your teammate can slip you cards at the perfect time to complete your goals!

Duos is part of the new Magenta line of games from CMYK – per their press release… CMYK is thrilled to announce the launch of Magenta: a striking new collection of card games. In a world of increasing digital distractions, Magenta is set to revive a classic way we gather and play – making face-to-face connections through card game nights with family, friends, and new faces around the table. “The idea behind Magenta is simple: to bring people together through the world’s best card games,” says Alex Hague, founder of CMYK. “To do that, we’ve created a line of games that are both fun to play and beautifully designed.”

Continue reading →