Game night, any night

Hearts

4 players · 25 min

Four players, thirteen tricks. Hearts cost a point each and the Queen of spades costs thirteen — unless you take them all.

Crazy Eights

2–6 players · 10 min

Match the suit or the number, and play an eight to change the suit. Empty your hand first.

Euchre

4 players · 20 min

Four players, two teams, a short deck and two jacks that rule the trump suit. First team to ten wins.

Spades

4 players · 30 min

Four players in two teams. Bid your tricks, spades are always trump, and make your contract without collecting bags.

Four in a Row

2 players · 5 min

A Connect Four alternative

Drop discs into the rack. Four in a line — across, up or slanted — wins.

Reversi

2 players · 10 min

An Othello alternative

Place a disc to outflank a line of the other colour and flip it to yours. Most discs at the end wins.

Burrowmere

2 players · 15 min

A Hive alternative

Two players, no board. Place and move carved tiles of the lake shore until one Elder is surrounded.

Moonsway

2 players · 60 min

A Twilight Struggle alternative

Two courts, one realm. Play cards to spread your sway over five reaches, and keep the Truce from breaking.

Storm the Camp

2 players · 15 min

A Toy Battle alternative

Send your party through one dungeon floor. Take rooms with stronger heroes, seal wings for relics, and storm the rival camp.

Wickwise

2–6 players · 5 min

A 6 nimmt! alternative

Everyone plays a candle at once. Place the fifth on a shelf and you take the wax.

Yacht

1–6 players · 10 min

A Yahtzee alternative

Roll five dice up to three times, keep what you like, and fill thirteen boxes.

Cairnreach

2–4 players · 20 min

A Can't Stop alternative

Throw four dice, pair them, and climb the trails. Push your luck or make camp; three cairns win.

Backgammon

2 players · 20 min

The two-player race on an inlaid board: throw, move your fifteen checkers home, and bear them off first.

Ludo

2–4 players · 25 min

Race your four pawns around the board and home. Throw a six to come out, land on others to send them back.

Brimwick

3–7 players · 20 min

Draw cards into your row and stop before a repeat spills your jar. Seven numbers fill it to the brim.

Dashwick

2–6 players · 20 min

A Magical Athlete alternative

Draft comic racers, then race them one at a time. Every racer has one silly power, and only the first two home score.

Emberwick

2–6 players · 10–45 min

A Heat: Pedal to the Metal alternative

Race steam carts on a moorland lane. Play fast cards, but a bend at high speed costs embers, and embers make your hand slow.

Quillery

2–4 players · 30 min

A Scrabble alternative

Lay letter tiles on the paper to make words that cross. Stamped squares multiply; using all seven tiles earns 50.

Tilbrook

2–5 players · 35 min

A Carcassonne alternative

Lay tiles to build a valley of lanes, walled villages, mills and pastures, and set your wardens where the points will be.

Glazewick

2–4 players · 15 min

An Azul alternative

Take glaze tiles from the kilns, fill your drying rows and set the fired tiles in your panel.

Larkhollow

1–4 players · 20 min

A Harmonies alternative

Take three wooden tokens. Grow trees, mountains and a river on your valley board. Bring the animals home.

Mexican Train Dominoes

2–8 players · 25–45 min

Lay dominoes on your own train, the Mexican Train or an open train. Cover every double, and keep the lowest total of pips.

Heathmere

1–4 players · 15 min

A Cascadia alternative

Take a land tile and an animal each turn. Grow heath, wood and brook. Give each animal the home it likes.

Tollwick

3–4 players · 30 min

A Catan alternative

Build roads across the island, raise stalls into inns, and trade for the goods you need.

Spireford

2 players · 30 min

A 7 Wonders Duel alternative

Take cards from the season spread, build your river town and raise marvels. Win on points, by lore, or at the boundary stone.

Reedholm

2–4 players · 60 min

A Castles of Burgundy alternative

Roll two dice each day, take tiles from the lake’s jetties and grow your island of halls, cottages, boats and meadows.

Leafmarch

2–4 players · 75 min

A Great Western Trail alternative

Walk your tea caravan down the Leaf Road, build waystations, and ship your finest chests downriver.

Kilnworth

2–4 players · 60–100 min

A Brass: Birmingham alternative

Set up guild works around a lake, link the towns by ferry and then by road, and sell cloth, tools and stoneware at the market gates.

Satchelford

2–4 players · 75 min

An Orléans alternative

Draw townsfolk from your satchel, set them to work, roll your cart through the valley and raise guild posts.

Lumenreach

2–4 players · 75 min

A Gaia Project alternative

Settle glowing isles on a night sea, move glow through three jars, and link your lanterns into leagues.

Tallfield

2–5 players · 75 min

A Scythe alternative

Steer wind-sleds across a storm coast of salt flats and tide channels, rake and build, and win six pennants.

Fernmark

2–5 players · 60 min

A Concordia alternative

Play one guild-folk card a turn: send boats and carts through the Fernmark, build houses, trade goods, and let the seven stars count.

Tilthmere

2–5 players · 90 min

A Terra Mystica alternative

Reshape the soils of a green valley, build next to your neighbours, and let the sap rise through six years.

Quaymoor

2–5 players · 90 min

A Puerto Rico alternative

Pick a role each round: every player acts, and you get the bonus. Grow goods, build the high street and ship by barge.

Lanternfell

2–4 players · 60 min

A Lost Ruins of Arnak alternative

Lead an expedition into the fog of the Fell: build your deck, find the old lantern towers, calm the wardens and light the Beacon.

Cogsmere

1–4 players · 75 min

A Kanban EV alternative

Build fine clocks in a lakeside guild hall. Fetch the parts, refine the drawings, prove the clocks, and keep the Guildmaster pleased.

Milehollow

2–5 players · 20 min

A Ticket to Ride alternative

Pave the post roads of the Milehollow with your waystones and carry sealed letters from town to town.

Fabulary

1–5 players · 45 min

A Wingspan alternative

Fill your bestiary with creatures of legend: each creature makes its row stronger, and the best bestiary wins.

After the Ash

1–5 players · 60–120 min

A Terraforming Mars alternative

Wake a kingdom under ash. Play cards to raise warmth, bloom and springs, and build groves and towns on the Vale.

Questhall

1–4 players · 40–75 min

A Dune: Imperium – Uprising alternative

Hire heroes, send envoys into a free city and win each season's monster hunt. The first company to 10 renown wins.

Fernglass

1–4 players · 75–100 min

An Ark Nova alternative

Build beds and glasshouses on your garden plan and grow rare plants. Visitors and care race toward each other, and the game ends when they meet.

Throneholm

1–4 players · 30–60 min

An Old King's Crown alternative

Bid in secret for favours, lay hidden cards in three lands and win the contests. After five years the house with the most prestige takes the Stone Seat.

Pinholm

2–5 players · 15 min

A Bomb Busters alternative

Read your own rack, name a number and set the lock pins as a team, before the bell rings.

Candlecrown

1–4 players · 20–45 min

Explore a barrow as one team, beat its monsters, lift the crown and carry it out before the candle burns down.

Wherrymere

2 players · 15 min

A Sky Team alternative

Two players, one barge. Place your hidden dice on the deck and bring her to the berth before the tide runs out.

Vale Wardens

1–4 players · 90–120 min

A Spirit Island alternative

Wake as the old wardens of a green valley. Play charms together and drive the cold Gloom back before the land withers.