Spotlight on Games > Ludographies > Essen 2010
Essen 2010 Game by Game

Action Games

Atlantis Treasure
LEGO; 2-4; 20-30
We're using submarines to collect treasures under the sea. A square LEGO board is divided up into a grid on which there are also seaweed figures. A roll of a special die tells if you place a piece to either put you in the right direction or an opponent in the wrong one or whether to fire at another submarine in order to take one of its treasures. [more]

4 Monkeys
Toni Serradesanferm; Homo Ludicus; 2-4; 25
Players represent monkeys competing to be chosen by scientists as the smartest, who will be sent on the first space flight to Mars. Cards are revealed (representing projecting images on a screen) and the monkeys need to reproduce these combinations as quickly as possible. A timer regulates the amount of time the player has to duplicate tile combinations using his cards. [more]

Geistesblitz
Jacques Zeimet; Zoch Verlag; 2-8; 20; 8+
"Ghost Blitz". Items there are five: ghost, bottle, mouse, book and chair. Now a card is turned up showing four of these objects in the wrong color. Only one is in the right color. The first player to grab this wins the card. [more]

Hinkel & Stein
Klaus Zoch; Chili Spiele; 4; 30
The current chief declares whether the goal is to be on the lighter or heavier side and then the players place four kinds of fake stones onto the four spaces on a seesaw, trying to be on the winning end. Some stones have special abilities. [more]

Kaiten Sushi
Daniele P. Correale; Yokagames; 2-4; 30; 8+
Players use chopsticks to pick up wooden sushi, losing points if they fail, gaining the piece for their own board upon success. Beyond that the goal is to form combinations of particular colors. A cross between Sodoku and dexterity.
[more]

Meteor Strike
Bastiaan Brederode & Cephas Howard; LEGO; 2; 10-20; 7+
Here we're using satellites to catch meteors bombarding the moon; first to get ten wins. A rectangular LEGO board is situated at a tilt with a blaster positioned at the bottom, straddling the boundary between two bases. A roll of a special die tells if you place a satellite, use a laser to blast an opposing satellite, move a space station or drop a meteor. The intent of the satellites is to try to guide the meteors to your base. [more]

Quirrly
Karin Bruker & Karsten Adlung; Adlung; 2-4; 5-10; 4+
There are 65 cards in five colors and five symbols, numbered 1 to 13. Players decide whether to search for symbols or colors and then try to locate all cards with that color or symbol in the correct order. Two stacks rest before each player. When the gun goes off they each grabs any stck of cards looking for the first one needed. Finally finding it in some stack he claims it and places it face down. In trying to find it he may have encountered the second card he needs and with any luck can remember where that was. The first to complete his series ends play and the one with the most cards collected wins. [more]

Safranito
Marco Teubner; Zoch Verlag; 2-4; 30
About buying and selling at an Indian spice booth. Players throw round cardboard coins onto the board hoping to land in different areas such as "purchase" and "sell". These afford opportunities for buying and selling spice cards, which come in 9 different spice varieties. Some spaces enable not just the player with the coin in the area, but all players. There is also the chance to score points by achieving spice blends (combinations of cards).
[more]

Shake 'n Take
Keith Meyers; Out of the Box; 2-10; 20; 8+
Real-time game of snatching aliens. Only two capture markers are available so try to to capture as many aliens as possible before the next player snatches the capture marker from your hand. [more]

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