Apr
11
Qwirkle
Designer: Susan McKinley Ross
Publisher: MindWare
Year Published: 2006
Price: $24.95
Playing Time: 30 minutes
Number of Players:
2
3
4
Age Range:
Teen
Family
Adult
6-up
Game Type:
Abstract
Tile placement
At first glance, Qwirkle seems like the easiest game in the world to have designed. The rules are so simple and intuitive that you feel this game must have existed for eons as a kind of urgame in the collective unconscious. You’re matching colors, matching shapes—using skills learned in preschool, if not the crib, so you’re not surprised to see the game labeled for players aged 6 and up. Didn’t this game already exist decades ago as a pedagogical tool? Apparently not, but don’t be surprised if you find it in kindergartens and rec rooms everywhere in a few years.
Enough lofty talk—here’s how to play: The box holds 108 chunky black wooden tiles, each with a colored symbol on one face; there are six symbols in six colors, and each of the 36 color/symbol combinations is repeated three times. Players shuffle the tiles face-down, draw six randomly, …
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