20 Express

By Blue Orange Games
Price $19.99
Age 8+

There are very few games to which we say 'Brilliant!' 20 Express is one of them. And by brilliant, we don't mean complicated. The game-play is easy to understand and simple to follow. It's the smoothness with which 20 Express works, the quick pace at which it moves, the perfection of how it's executed and scored, and the extreme gratification (translation: FUN) one gets from playing it that make the game ingenious. Each player receives a pencil and game sheet. The game sheet has 20 empty train cars (blank spaces) lined up behind a locomotive. Numbered tiles ranging in value from 1 to 30 are drawn, one at a time, from the tile bag. As each number tile is drawn, players simultaneously fill in any empty space on their sheet with that number, attempting to create as long an ascending series of numbers as possible. Players typically end up with several separate series on their sheet, each of which is worth points (Hint: the longer series earn the really big points). The game ends, and scoring begins, once the 20th tile has been drawn and each player's train is full. The decision-making that goes into where to write each number, combined with the luck of the draw, makes for a delicious balance of skill and luck that keeps players coming back for fun, again and again. Oh, and any number of players can play. Beat that!