Spring 2014 Parents' Choice Award Winners

Niya (published by Blue Orange Games, designed by Bruno Cathala) – A two player strategy game in which players vie for the favor of the emperor by gaining control of the imperial garden. 16 tiles are laid out on the board, and players take turns removing a tile and replacing it with one of their tokens. Each tile has an image of one of four plants as well as an image of one of four poetic symbols from Japanese writing. A player may only remove a tile from the garden if one of its images matches an image on the tile just removed by their opponent. A player wins the game by forming a line with four of their tokens, forming a 2x2 square with their tokens, or if their opponent cannot move.

Last Letter (published by ThinkFun, designed by Joe Herbert and Dave Herbert) – In Last Letter, players are dealt five cards illustrated with items, people and activities. The dealer goes first and plays a card, naming something they see on it. Players then take the last letter from that word and attempt to be the first to find an object on one of their cards that begins with that letter. Once an object has been called out and the card played, players use the last letter of the new word to find another object. The first player to discard all five of their cards wins the game.

Over/Under (published by Gamewright, designed by Reiner Knizia) – Over/Under is a party game in which a player reads a question and the remaining players decide on a numerical answer for it. The player who read the question must then say whether their answer was over the correct number, under it, or exactly right. If the player guesses correctly, he gets to keep the card. Players take turns reading and answering the questions and the player with the most cards at the end of the game wins.

Karma (published by Set Enterprises, Inc., designed by Marsha J. Falco) – Players are dealt three cards face down and choose three cards to place face up on top of them. These cards cannot be played until the draw pile has been depleted. Cards are played into a discard pile, and must have a value greater than or equal to the previously played card. If a player doesn't have a card with the correct value, he or she takes the discard pile into their hand. The game only has one loser, whoever is the last player to discard all their cards. Special karma cards can help you when you’re stuck or allow you to mess with other players.

Dodge Dice (published by Gamewright, designed by Eric Messersmith) – Each round, players take turns rolling dice, until all dice match the colors on the penalty die. The player who ends the round earns points, and the player with the least points at the end of the game, wins. An action die adds possibilities, giving players the chance to take extra points, lose points, pass points to other players, end the round early, or earn a skip chip. Players may use skip chips to pass a turn, but have to use them wisely. Do you want to use one now, or hold onto it in case a really bad roll comes along later?

Long Story Short (published by The Game Chef, designed by Matthew Nuccio) – A new take on the story-telling game genre. In Long Story Short players take turns being the storyteller. The storyteller uses story starter cards to tell the group a story. A die is then rolled to determine how the story will be retold, and the other players must shorten the story into a headline, drawing, text, or tweet.