Qwirkle is an amazingly fun game to be played with those non-gamers in the family. My mom loves scrabble and my dad enjoys dominos... but don't like to learn new games especially thematic games. I told them this was dominos and scrabble without the pips or letters. they were unsure but tried and truly enjoyed playing it. They now want me to bring it out to play whenever we get together. We enjoy seeing who gets the title of Qwirkle-Killer after each game! plus, just like my mom with Scrabble - I still want to sit on her left when playing Qwirkle also... hehehe.
6 of each colour, 6 of each shape is 36.. According to Tom, there's 4 of each tile, but there's 108 total tiles. 36 x 4 is not 108. There's 3 of each tile, Tom.
Great review, and a great game. A simple game that I can play with my kids, with a surprising amount of strategy to play with adults. And it's fun either way.
This game is extremely similar to Ingenious. I don't know which one The Dice Tower recommends (because you really don't need both), but I prefer Ingenious. The hexagonal pieces/board and scoring difference being the main reasons I think it's better. Ingenious may be a tad bit of a 'heavier' game than Qwirkle, but is still a solid family-abstract game that plays well with 2-4 players.
hardyworld Thanks that is a helpful comment. 😊 We love Ingenious and recently bought Qwirkle at a great price. Still trying to figure out if we want to keep that too.
Why are there ANY glossy components in games? Nothing is more annoying (and player-non-friendly!) than a glossy surface on game boards and components. Am I the only one who sprays their board games with Testors Dullcote before the first play? :-)
Man, Tom hates Scrabble with a passion. Some people have studied Qwirkle strategies and play it more seriously than others. How is that different from someone who has studied words and plays Scrabble more seriously? They are both esoteric pursuits geared to winning a particular game. I have never heard Tom bring up Scrabble without bashing it and mentioning 'two-letter' words. He apparently has been badly beaten in Scrabble by someone who knows more two-letter words than him. By the way, I'm one of those Scrabble people. It's not that hard to remember that AA, XI, XU, QI and a few others are valid but odd words.
Re-stating my challenge to you ... explain how the skill of putting colors and numbers in rows that don't repeat and score maximum points is NOT "useless knowledge" -- in other words, knowledge that is used primarily to win a particular game, but has little or nothing to do with a skill you would need for real life. Knowing more words is a useful skill in many professions, even if those words are little used.
Seeing patters is a much more basic skill than knowing words and therefore applicable in more situations. Don't get me wrong, I think it's important to have a large vocabulary. But it's all syntax and no semantics. You don't need to know what the words mean, it suffices to know they exist. If you could memorize all the French words, you would do great at French Scrabble, but you would not really know anything.
Qwirkle is an amazingly fun game to be played with those non-gamers in the family. My mom loves scrabble and my dad enjoys dominos... but don't like to learn new games especially thematic games. I told them this was dominos and scrabble without the pips or letters. they were unsure but tried and truly enjoyed playing it. They now want me to bring it out to play whenever we get together. We enjoy seeing who gets the title of Qwirkle-Killer after each game! plus, just like my mom with Scrabble - I still want to sit on her left when playing Qwirkle also... hehehe.
Travel Qwirkle is the way to go. Cheaper, need a smaller table, has a nice bag.
I've got this one, super nice indeed!
6 of each colour, 6 of each shape is 36.. According to Tom, there's 4 of each tile, but there's 108 total tiles. 36 x 4 is not 108.
There's 3 of each tile, Tom.
i actually scrolled down to see if this comment had been made....
#maths
Best judgement shot to date! =)
Great review, and a great game.
A simple game that I can play with my kids, with a surprising amount of strategy to play with adults. And it's fun either way.
This game is extremely similar to Ingenious. I don't know which one The Dice Tower recommends (because you really don't need both), but I prefer Ingenious. The hexagonal pieces/board and scoring difference being the main reasons I think it's better. Ingenious may be a tad bit of a 'heavier' game than Qwirkle, but is still a solid family-abstract game that plays well with 2-4 players.
hardyworld Thanks that is a helpful comment. 😊 We love Ingenious and recently bought Qwirkle at a great price. Still trying to figure out if we want to keep that too.
Played this game on easter once my sister called me an idiot because I didn't do the optimal play. I'm not sure I've played it since then.
Fantastic tutorial :) Thanks!
Disappointed that they didn't solve the glossy green/blue/purple confusion problems.
Why are there ANY glossy components in games? Nothing is more annoying (and player-non-friendly!) than a glossy surface on game boards and components. Am I the only one who sprays their board games with Testors Dullcote before the first play? :-)
LMAO...I read that as Twerkle. Now THAT'd be a game theme!
Dice tower should have third seal for popular classic games, like Catan, Ticket to ride, Carcassonne, Scrabble or Qwirkle.
Lets not put something as boring as Qwirkle and Scrabble in this category, not that Carassone is interesting, but still
It has a seal, it's called Spield Des Jahres, Catan Ticket To Ride, Carcassinne, Qwirkle all received it,
Blue moons, Yellow Stars, Purple Horseshoes... Do we get a Leprechaun at the end of the game?
I love using phrases like "I;m going to Qwirkle" or "I just Qwirkled a little" something about that sounds inappropriate.
"I just Qwirkled all over the table" is my favorite
lol i just found this game last week new in shrink at a goodwill for $2!
Huh, looks like a more colorfull and easier version of rummy :)
Qwirkle is a good, fun game. It's not yet in my collection, but I am surprisingly good at it.
Herminio Village
Man, Tom hates Scrabble with a passion. Some people have studied Qwirkle strategies and play it more seriously than others. How is that different from someone who has studied words and plays Scrabble more seriously? They are both esoteric pursuits geared to winning a particular game. I have never heard Tom bring up Scrabble without bashing it and mentioning 'two-letter' words. He apparently has been badly beaten in Scrabble by someone who knows more two-letter words than him. By the way, I'm one of those Scrabble people. It's not that hard to remember that AA, XI, XU, QI and a few others are valid but odd words.
I think it's useless knowledge that only helps in Scrabble. But I'm glad you enjoy Scrabble!
Re-stating my challenge to you ... explain how the skill of putting colors and numbers in rows that don't repeat and score maximum points is NOT "useless knowledge" -- in other words, knowledge that is used primarily to win a particular game, but has little or nothing to do with a skill you would need for real life. Knowing more words is a useful skill in many professions, even if those words are little used.
Seeing patters is a much more basic skill than knowing words and therefore applicable in more situations. Don't get me wrong, I think it's important to have a large vocabulary. But it's all syntax and no semantics. You don't need to know what the words mean, it suffices to know they exist. If you could memorize all the French words, you would do great at French Scrabble, but you would not really know anything.