I am wondering if anyone has suggestions that will fit my needs.
At work me and some work pals play a quick game or two of rummikub. This has been the reigning king of lunch for a while for a few reasons: it’s quick, easy to learn if someone wants to join in, suits varying amounts of players, there’s no scoring or need to write anything down, random enough that most people get a win every now and then, VERY quick set up, just grab tiles and go.
I like it but also like variety and am wondering if anyone has some suggestions that match some or all of these criteria. Just a quick replayable game that we can enjoy on our break and anyone can join in easily. I tried Azul but even that was a bit too much for most even though it’s the slightest bump up in terms of setup and scoring.
Thanks for any suggestions!
Edit: So many excellent suggestions to try, thanks everyone!
- Scout adds a clever twist to the shedding game formula, supports 3-5 players and thanks to tokens you don’t need to write anything down. But you could also just play individual hands without scoring (which I assume you’re doing in rummikub)
- eXplorers is a 20 minutes, 1-4 players, flip and write exploration game. If you don’t mind the waste and would prefer a faster setup you could print a specific arrangement on normal paper and just hand those sheets out.
- if noise isn’t an issue Ligretto Dice is a quick hoot for up to 4 players. You would need something to score unless you just play individual rounds which each will have a winner.
- Pickomino is a staple filler in our group. Funny push your luck Yhatzee style game.
- Cheating Moth would again be one that could be played in individual hands. Another shedding game but cheating is officially allowed! Getting caught is what gets you into trouble
- In a bind / yogi is a card based dexterity game for pretty much any number of players. you draw a card and follow a instruction like “one finger touching neck” or “hands touching”. Anyone who stops following even just one of their instructions is out. Last man standing wins.
Scout looks really cool, and yes, we just play single rounds of rummikub (with a bunch of house rules and extra pieces to make it a bit faster and fun)
I haven’t seen Skull mentioned yet.
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/92415/skull
Plays well at a variety of player counts. Easy to teach. The game has a nice tension to it.
There is the problem of players being eliminated. Some people just really hate that. I’ve found that the game is short enough and interesting enough that it never feels bad to be eliminated, but your crew might not agree.
Las Vegas or it’s (modified) rerelease Las Vegas Royals by Rüdiger Dorn.
Splendor by Marc André
In an entirely different direction, Just One is a great word-guessing game that very easily supports different people round-by-round.
Have a look at Qwixx perhaps.