It’s a good day for IGD donations! Thanks to the generosity of another sponsor, IGD libraries in the USA will be getting more games than we initially expected!
USAopoly has just informed us that they will be shipping US libraries a whole extra game! In addition to the promised copies of the fast-paced vocabulary game Tapple, each recipient will receive a copy of their spatial strategy game Crossways.
(Sorry for the spoilers! But we figured you’d rather have extra time to plan than the nice surprise when you open the box.)
Thanks USAopoly! Here’s a little info around the two games to whet your appetite:
Each round in Tapple, one player draws a topic card, then starts the timer. In the next ten seconds, that player must give a single word answer that fits within the topic, press down the letter key in a special electronic device that corresponds to the first letter of that word, and restart the timer. The next player must then think of a word for the topic that starts with a different letter, press down that starting letter, and restart the timer. If a player runs out of time, she’s out for the round. If only one player remains in a round, she collects the topic card. If players manage to press down all of the letters before knocking all but one player out of a round, the players reset the device, draw a new topic card, then start the timer again, this time having to give two answers for the topic – each starting with a different letter – within the allotted time. Whoever collects the most topic cards wins! If you want to learn more, there’s a quick how-to-play video on their site.
In CrossWays players want to be the first to build a path of their pieces from one side of the game board to the opposite side, but to build they need to use the cards they draw and have in hand.
On a turn, a player can lay down a single card (e.g., a red 9) and place one of their pieces on this space on the game board; she can also lay down a pair of cards with the same value and place two of her pieces in a stack on any space, including the white ones that are otherwise off-limits. If a player has two pieces in a row on a stack, no one else can play on top of that stack – but by playing a suited run of cards, a player can remove pieces already on the board, putting those spaces into play once again. The CrossWays site has more information if you want to learn more.