With her comprehensive gaming expertise and knowledge, Kerrie Corrigan, our wonderful General Manager, shares her current top five games for this year.
Take it away, Kerrie!
Anomia is one of those games that has such a simple concept behind it. When your card symbol matches the symbol on an opponent’s card, you have to blurt out the person, place or thing that’s listed on their card before they do from yours. Sounds straightforward enough, right? Trust me when I say, that when you’re in the middle of a heated round with a group of friends or family, your mind can quite easily draw a complete blank – mine has many a time! What makes Anomia so great, is its ability to bring out the laughs from all players and being incredibly fun to play – it’s the perfect party game! It’s a game I’ll bring out time and time again, and up until recently, I was essentially unbeaten in the office…
Coming from a sales background, I’m naturally very competitive, so not to blow my own trumpet but I have won at Quacks of Quedlinburg quite a few times. Now, this sole reason isn’t why I’ve included this in my top five, as Quacks is a phenomenal game in its own right! The game focusses on brewing potions, and pushing your luck as far as you can, to try and score the most points. This then allows you to buy more and more ingredients. It’s a great game to watch, as you see friends get more and more competitive and keep drawing ingredients, only to find they push their luck too far and their potion explodes! We also popped coin capsules on our demo copy, which just makes the bag phase even more satisfying. And if you want more of a challenge, or to add another player to the game, The Herb Witches expansion does just that.
I have such fond memories of Pengoloo. I love demoing the game at trade shows and it was the first Coiledspring game I bought. I ended up playing it with my cousins and in the future, I’m really looking forward to playing it with my own son. The game has such cute art style and the penguin pieces are simply adorable! Like most great games, Pengoloo has a very simple concept – roll the dice (each side has a different colour) and then lift any penguin piece up to see whether the hidden egg underneath matches the colour you’ve rolled. The first player to collect six penguins wins the game!
When I came across Forbidden Island, I was surprised to find out that it was a co-operative game. I’d never played a game of its kind before and ever since then, co-op games have been my go-to for any type of game I play.
In Forbidden Island, you must capture the four sacred treasures and escape, before it’s lost to the deep waters! There’s so much nail-biting tension and strategy in Forbidden Island, which makes it a complete and utter joy to play. It’s one of our top-selling games, and it’s no wonder with the compelling gameplay it brings. Plus, once you escape the island, you then have the Desert and the Sky to deal with!
In Schotten Totten, nine boundary stones lie between you and your opponent, and to win you need to claim either five stones or three adjacent stones. It’s great because of its size, you can pop it in your bag and take it away with you, and it doesn’t take up much table space. It’s a very simple concept – you’re trying to build the best formation of hand to win the stone. Games are very quick and again it’s one I tend to win a lot, which again has completely nothing to do with it making it to my top five… I’m really excited about Schotten Totten 2 (coming very soon) and look forward to beating everyone in the office at it when it arrives… Oops, did I say that out loud?
If you’ve played any of these games before, please do let us know on our social media channels!