I am wondering if anyone has suggestions that will fit my needs.
At work me and some work pals play a quick game or two of rummikub. This has been the reigning king of lunch for a while for a few reasons: it’s quick, easy to learn if someone wants to join in, suits varying amounts of players, there’s no scoring or need to write anything down, random enough that most people get a win every now and then, VERY quick set up, just grab tiles and go.
I like it but also like variety and am wondering if anyone has some suggestions that match some or all of these criteria. Just a quick replayable game that we can enjoy on our break and anyone can join in easily. I tried Azul but even that was a bit too much for most even though it’s the slightest bump up in terms of setup and scoring.
Thanks for any suggestions!
Edit: So many excellent suggestions to try, thanks everyone!
You’re looking for something often described as a filler game. I think a very good fit for your group would be The Crew: The Quest for Planet Nine. It’s fast, super easy to teach, has a ton of replayable missions, supports up to 5 players and is cooperative.
Check out my favorite filler games here if you want more recommendations. Additional suggestions are in the comments as well!
Thank you! I haven’t heard of filler games before, should make my search a bit easier. I’ll go through your list, too. I was wondering about the crew, I tried Cat in the Box but it didn’t take because of the scoring.
The Crew includes a log book where you track you progress in increasingly more complicated setups. We have played it through once for The Crew: Mission Deep Sea, but mostly we just ignore it and start at a reasonable difficulty level and increases the level once every time we win the game within a session.
I’m thinking games like Exploding Kittens or Fluxx. Neither requires lots of explanation and is easy to set up. For Fluxx it is even possible to join in the middle of a round, just grab three cards and look at the current rules.
Another option is The Crew, if you limit yourself to simple missions.
My suggestions are:
Cubirds A simple card game about collecting different types of birds. Easy to learn, quick setup, and simple scoring rules.
Fantasy Realms Another card game there you try to collect the best set of 7 cards. A little bit intimidating at first for some players because of the fantasy theme, I found that it works great with all kind of people. The scoring is quite complicated, but there is an app that can scan the cards and calculates the results for each player.
Las Vegas or it’s (modified) rerelease Las Vegas Royals by Rüdiger Dorn.
Splendor by Marc André
- Scout adds a clever twist to the shedding game formula, supports 3-5 players and thanks to tokens you don’t need to write anything down. But you could also just play individual hands without scoring (which I assume you’re doing in rummikub)
- eXplorers is a 20 minutes, 1-4 players, flip and write exploration game. If you don’t mind the waste and would prefer a faster setup you could print a specific arrangement on normal paper and just hand those sheets out.
- if noise isn’t an issue Ligretto Dice is a quick hoot for up to 4 players. You would need something to score unless you just play individual rounds which each will have a winner.
- Pickomino is a staple filler in our group. Funny push your luck Yhatzee style game.
- Cheating Moth would again be one that could be played in individual hands. Another shedding game but cheating is officially allowed! Getting caught is what gets you into trouble
- In a bind / yogi is a card based dexterity game for pretty much any number of players. you draw a card and follow a instruction like “one finger touching neck” or “hands touching”. Anyone who stops following even just one of their instructions is out. Last man standing wins.
