Is a game that does not have a board a Board Game?

THE GAME by Pandasaurus Games – A card game for 1 to 5 players. Each player begins with 6 to 8 cards with a number of them ranging from 2 to 99. On your turn you discard at least two cards onto one or more piles of cards, two of them starting at 1 and going higher and two starting at 100 and going lower. The goal is for all the players to play all 98 cards having none left and making sure that the rules are not violated and have played on the piles correctly. Sound Simple? Sure does! Did I mention that you cannot table talk and check with each other which cards they have in their hands? It’s only grunts and groans when someone plays cards on a pile you want to put yours on! It’s everyone wins or no one wins in THE GAME!

QWIXX by Gamewright – A fun and clever dice game that has no downtime during others’ turn. The concept is simple and similar to THE GAME. You have four rows of numbers, each a different color, two – going from 12 down to 2 and two going from 2 up to 12. On your turn, you roll six dice, one of each color and two white. You then mark off numbers based on the color die and one of the white die. BUT watch out! If you are on the red row which is going up and you mark off the red 7 you cannot go back later and mark off a lower red number. Also, when others are taking a turn you can use their wild dice to help you on your score sheet. In the end, whoever crossed out the most numbers is the winner. It is quick, fun and easy to teach and to play. Often used in-game groups as an appetizer for the main course of gaming or as a dessert winding down from the heavy game the group just finished!

Games need not have boards to have fun and be challenging as well!