May the fourth be with you! What better way to spend it than playing games brought you by your favorite galaxy far, far away. I’ve got my top three games I’ve checked out for just such an occasion, and each has been tested by myself and my three favorite Star Wars fans.
Spot It! The Mandalorian Card Game
Purchase: Amazon, $12
Ages:6 and up
Play Time: 15 mins or more
Number of Players: 2 to 8
What’s fun about it?
At first, I thought this was just going to be a little kids’ game. Boy was I WRONG. Don’t let the premise or the age range fool you. This can be an adult game with the right… beverages. One card goes in the middle and then everyone else gets a card of their own. The first person to shout out the name of something they have on their card that matches the card in the center wins. The person who won then takes the center card as their new card and the game continues until there are no more cards in the center. The person with the most cards at the end wins.
The way you can make this an adult game is quite simply by making anyone who wins a card take a drink. If you are not a died hard Star Wars fan, you will not know what the actual images are and will end up screaming something like, “BLUE CONTAINER WITH BOBA BEADS” or “GREEN BABY ALIEN.” The drinking will only add to the fun of what gets called what.
Star Wars: Jabba’s Palace – A Love Letter Game
Purchase: Amazon, $15
Ages:10 and up
Play Time: 20 minutes
Number of Players: 10 and up
What’s fun about it?
This one was the most confusing of the games I checked out. Thankfully, I have a gaming friend who served as rules and game master and he got us all through it. It’s one of those games that you really need a strategy and, the first time playing, you don’t realize it. This is a quick game that has a high replay value because the cards are shuffled each time and you never know who or what you are going to get. Each round is different in the objective, but in the end, you want to be the person with the most palace tokens to win.
Star Wars: UNLOCK! The Escape Game
Purchase: Amazon, $30
Ages:10 and up
Play Time: 60 minutes
Number of Players: 10 and up
What’s fun about it?
I’ve only ever done one escape room and it’s as fun, but kind of anxiety-inducing if you ask me. The whole timer thing made me nervous and knowing someone was watching me in another room added a whole other level of anxiety to it. Star Wars: UNLOCK! The Escape Game takes all the anxiety out of it because you play it at home. This game is a physical and app game. Meaning that you need someone in your group to have a smartphone that can download the app to play the game.
You don’t rely on the app for everything. The app allows you to get hints, learn about hidden objects (it randomly spits out things you may not have seen yet), work the machines indicated on the card in play, enter codes to access information, move to the next card, and as a timer. That sounds like a lot, but I promise you, it’s not as much as it sounds. My group learned about halfway through that it would be best if each one takes a task and supports the group that way. At first, we were all trying to do it all and that was a mess. We ended up finishing our game 10 or 15 minutes before the timer went off, but we got around 10 hints. At the end of the game, you get your overall score and specs on how you did.
The replay value on this is not high because each scenario can only be played once since the story and cards do not change. However, there are three scenarios in the box and if you don’t have a great memory or play with a new group, you should be ok if you take some time between playing.
Disclaimer: GeekMom was given review samples.
