Bury St Edmunds Shuffle Board Game Café's list of the top 10 games you need to play
From quick fire entertainment to games you can lose hours playing, experts Tom Harrod and Chris Messenger at Shuffle Board Game Café in Bury St Edmunds have chosen their top 10 games you need to play.
All the games selected are available to be played at the café.
Dragomino
Dragomino is all about exploring lands in search of dragon eggs and whoever finds the most dragons is declared the winner.
This game is the winner of a Speil de Jahres award, given to outstanding board and card games.
"This is a genuinely lovely game for younger gamers," said Tom.
The game takes some familiar concepts from its big brother Kingdomino, while paring it down for a younger audience.
Average Price: £18.50
Players: 2-4
Difficulty: Easy
The Mind
The Mind is a co-operative card game with limited communication in which you're attempting to play cards in ascending order without sharing any information about your hands.
"The game is tense but its the best kind of tense, its definitely not one for a first date," said Tom.
There are a total of 12 levels to the game and the number of cards each player has is determined by the level they are playing.
Average Price: £9.99
Players: 2-4
Difficulty: Easy
Azul
In the game Azul, players take turns drafting coloured tiles from the shared supply to their player board.
"Those who like strategy based games will be a fan of Azul," said Tom.
Players gain points for each completed pattern on the board but wasted tiles can harm the player's score.
Average Price: £22.99
Players: 2-4
Difficulty:
Flamme Rouge
Flamme Rouge is a game of two strong and powerful cyclists propelling their bicycles around a racing circuit with the intention of proving that they are the best and fastest cyclists.
"This is one of my favourite games, it's the one I often take when visiting friends," said Chris.
The 'board' comes in parts and gamers can either make their own route or choose a suggested route.
Average Price: £32.42
Players: 2-4
Difficulty: Medium
Deep Sea Adventure
In Deep Sea Adventure players must push their luck as they follow a path of treasure trailing off into the depths of the ocean.
"This game is ideal for parties, it's not too heavy but it is engaging," said Tom.
The more treasure each player collects, the more oxygen is lost from the communal tank and players risk losing their treasure if they can't make it back to the submarine because they have depleted the oxygen supply.
Players only find out how much collected treasure is worth at the end of each round and the player with the highest treasure score wins.
Price: £12.99
Players: 2-6
Difficulty: Easy
Kluster
Kluster requires you to display dexterity with 24 magnets and one piece of string.
"I'm kind of envious of the designer of this game because it's so simple but so brilliant," said Tom.
The concept is very simple - place the magnets inside the string without them touching but the more magnets added the higher the chances are of them connecting. The first player to get rid of all their magnets wins.
Average Price: £21.00
Players: 1-4
Difficulty: Easy
Herd Mentality
The aim of this party game is simple, think like the herd and write down the same answers as everyone else.
"This is a fantastic party game, you know who's playing this game because they will be the loudest table in the café," said Tom.
If your answer is part of the majority you gain points but if everyone else gets a match and you are the odd one out. You then land the angry Pink Cow and your herd of cows is worthless until you can offload it onto someone else.
Average Price: £19
Players: 4-20
Difficulty: Easy
Ticket To Ride
Ticket To Ride is a cross-country train adventure game. Players collect train cards which enable them to claim railway routes connecting cities throughout North America - the longer the routes, the more points earned.
"A lot of people are pleasantly surprised by Ticket To Ride because when you tell them it's a game about train networks they are cautious but when the realise the cool strategies available as they play suddenly they really enjoy it," said Tom.
Due to its popularity, Ticket To Ride has has over 20 versions and expansion packs.
Price: £30
Players: 2-5
Difficulty: Medium
Crokinole
In a standard game, your goal is to be the first to get to 100 points by flicking wooden disks from the outer ring of the board aiming both for the centre disk as well as other players' pieces.
"Crokinole is a wonderfully simple game, people rarely only play one round of this one," said Chris.
The game was originally made in 1875.
Price: £150
Players: 2-4
Difficulty: Easy
The Adventures of Robin Hood
In The Adventures of Robin Hood, players are following a scenario in Sherwood Forest taking on the role of Robin Hood and his companions on a living game board with no set paths.
The game comes with a 200 page book, where players turn to pages depending on the decisions they have made within the game.
"This is one of the more complex games, but you can easily get absorbed in the adventure," said Tom.
Various actions and secrets are integrated into the game levels and are revealed only in the course of the story.
The game teaches players the rules as they play, letting them take ownership of the story and outcome.
Average Price: £37
Players: 2-4
Difficulty: Medium
