ASTRA 2014: A Virtual Tour for the Casual Gamer: Page 3 of 9

Knowledge and Trivia Games from Asmodee, Tactic, and Goldbrick Games

There were many different trivia games at the show, ranging from Disney trivia to geek trivia. But there were three of these types of games that I developed a particular fondness of.

Concept, a title published by Repos Production and distributed in the U.S. by Asmodee, is a game we have covered in the past that recently was nominated for the 2014 Spiel des Jahres award. While I was familiar with the game, it was at ASTRA that I finally had the opportunity to give it a try.

The goal of the game is to get other players to guess a particular word or phrase by breaking it down into various concepts that are indicated on the board. First, you place a marker by the primary concept — similar to a game of 20 Questions, players would want to know if this is a person, place, animal, gadget, etc. You can then place cubes next to other spaces to further describe the key concept — it flies, it is small, it is black and yellow, etc. In this case, if it were an animal, players would hopefully guess a bumblebee.

You can further break down the concept by adding supporting descriptions with different colored markers. So, for instance, if the primary concept is a little green man that fights, a secondary concept might be that he appeared in a movie about space. Perhaps an additional concept is that his speech is backwards. After all of these clues, it would hopefully become obvious that you are representing Yoda on the board. It's really a fascinating game that makes you think in a whole different way.

Next up is a game called iKNOW, published by Tactic, a Finnish company who recently entered the U.S. market. iKNOW is a trivia game in which players not only try to determine the correct answer, but they also bet on whether or not their opponents will get it right.

During each round, a card is selected and the category is read aloud. Players then have the opportunity to predict how many clues (up to 3 total) they will need to get the correct answer. Players who are more confident place their pawns at the top of the board with the potential to earn 3 points. Less confident players place their pawns closer to the bottom of the board, with the potential to earn only 2 points or 1 point. Then, each player also places a bet next to another player's pawn as to whether that player will guess correctly or incorrectly with the selected number of clues.

Players are given clues in the order of pawns on the board and each player makes a guess. The correct answer is not revealed until the end of the round, when points are scored. A correct guess earns the amount of points shown on the space occupied by the pawn (1, 2, or 3 points, depending on the player's initial prediction). Players also earn points for betting correctly on whether or not an opponent gave the correct response.

Skōsh is a numeric trivia game to be released by Goldbrick Games later this year. It offers a tug-of-war style mechanic in which two players or teams compete against each other to pull the puck to their side of the board. Each trivia question has a numeric answer, which players try to guess as closely as possible. The back of each card has a target that shows the numeric ranges at which various point values are earned. An answer that is very close might earn 3 points, while answers that aren't as accurate will earn fewer points. The first team to pull the puck fully to their side of the board wins.

Next Page: Dice Games from Gamewright, Gryphon, and Griddly Games