Rock!

We are always looking for games that can be learned very quickly, that take maybe a few minutes per round, and that are fun enough to play several many times with several many people. Rock! is exactly that kind of game. A card game. For two players. Based on Rock/Scissors/Paper.

It's not really Rock/Scissors/Paper. Actually, almost not at all. Players divide the deck between them, and then, in a War-like fashion, they simultaneously reveal the card that is on top of their pile. The winner is not necessarily the person who has the winning symbol. It's the first person to name the winning symbol. So what you get is this unexpectedly challenging game, where you have to think very fast in deed. First, you have to decide which symbol is the winning one. Then you have to remember that it doesn't matter whose card "actually" won - what matters is that you are the first to name it. Then, just to add to the mental agony of it all, there are 4 different cards for each symbol. Paper, for example, can either be the card showing an inbox filled with an enormous stack of paper, or a paper airplane, or paper swan or a string of paper dolls.

Designed by Anita James, Rock! is a great kids' game - perfect for starting or ending a rainy afternoon, easy enough to learn to get both players almost immediately involved, short enough to play almost any time - before or after dinner, right after homework, just before snack, maybe even instead of watching TV! Yes, of course, parents can play too. And I wouldn't be at all surprised to learn that you've figured out a way to play with three people, or that you've come up with some variation that makes the game as interesting for adults as it is engaging for kids. Because it's that kind of game - elegantly simple, significantly fun.