Family Game Playing
As I mentioned in last week’s post, our family is big into games – board games, dice games, card games. At any one time we generally have 100 or so in the family collection. We’ve managed to contain all except our large supply of Monopoly games and a few variations on Risk in a large bookcase at the moment (pictured in last week’s post). At different times we’ve had a “game closet” or just taken over shelves and shelves of my library. I like having them generally in one place – it makes it easier for someone to dig through them. On Memorial Day there were six of us at home and my daughter-in-law just went in and grabbed a stack of games that said “six or more players.” We worked our way through several of the older games, before returning to the newest favorite game – Quixx.
New Favorite – Quixx
We encountered Quixx recently when a family friend introduced it to my youngest son. It is another simple (but addictive) game that the rest of us had never seen before. After a quick explanation (the rules can be read or explained in under five minutes), several of us were ready to play.
Playing the Game
And after only a few rounds, most of us were hooked! It is a relatively simple dice game that requires deciding if and when to mark off numbers on your personal board (4 rows of numbers, 2 going from 2 to 12 and 2 going from 12 down to 2). The most important rule is that you can only mark off numbers to the right of any that you’ve already marked off. (Making the “if” of marking numbers as critical a decision as the “where” of marking them.)
Basic and Deluxe Versions
There are several different variations of the game currently available, but I’ll just explain the two we have – the basic game and the deluxe game. There’s a pretty big price difference between the two, so if you’re getting it to check it out, you probably want to go with the basic game (under $8 at the time I’m writing this). But if your family enjoys it as much as ours does, you might find yourself buying the deluxe game pretty quickly (about $20 at this time). (And if you end up with two games that way – you can always share the first one, or keep it on hand for your travel pleasure!)
There are two major differences between the two versions – the deluxe version has larger dice and dry erase boards instead of the disposable paper ones. If you play the game very often, those reusable boards are what make the deluxe game worth the extra money. Oh, and the dry erase boards are actually double sided – so you also get a new variation on the game with the deluxe.
Reasons We Like Quixx
So, why so much excitement in our family about this game? Let me see if I can run through the reasons we like Quixx so much:
- It’s very quick to learn the rules and the game play itself is easy to figure out.
- Each turn someone roles the dice (you start with 1 each of 4 different colors and 2 white dice)
- And each turn everyone is deciding whether to mark off zero, one, or two numbers.
- As simple as the game is to play, it really is a thinking game, as you make each of those choices.
- The more you play, the more you work on your strategy, and the more fun it becomes.
- It’s fun with three people, or fun with more. (We haven’t played it with two, but would imagine it would be fun then, too.)
Quixx Mixx
The second side of the dry erase boards is the “Quixx Mixx” version of the game. As the name implies, it’s a mixed version of Quixx. The four rows of numbers are still in the same order, but the colors are mixed up. My biggest complaint about the Quixx Mixx version is that the rules on “locking” and scoring aren’t clear, which frustrates some of my family members. We’ve played it with at least three different variations on the rules, as we’ve tried to figure out which are the “right” ones. The biggest recommendation I have for that is that you make sure everyone understands which way those rules are being interpreted.
Game Recommendations
The box recommends the game for ages 8 and up, with up to eight people. We’ve only played it with adults thus far, but I can definitely see older kids enjoying it, too.
So, if you are looking for a new family-friendly game to play, we can certainly recommend Quixx!
Happy playing!
Cathy
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