First Look: Chili Island Games

We’ve featured a few titles by Queen Games over the years, most recently Kokopelli. The truth is, I have many, many more in my personal collection. The main reason is because they are the publisher of choice of my favorite game designer, Stefan Feld. It also doesn’t hurt that most of their line is of the type of game I enjoy playing the most – medium weight Euros.

Recently I discovered they have expanded their line to include lighter fares. Instead of rolling these new games into their standard beige-box line, Chili Island Games was formed to give a new, more family-friendly look to their titles. Their first three games are strong in the family and party game categories. Let’s look at them.

Color Code

Personally, I was very curious to find out about this game and how it gamified the use of color. Color code is a team challenge where one person assigns colors to pre-drawn word cards. The other players, as a team, try to determine which colors the “Color Coder” has selected. They discuss among themselves, with the player to the right of the Coder having the final say of which to pick.

When a player is certain they have submitted a correct guess, a bonus tile may be played to double the winnings. Special tiles are one-time use and may make guessing a color a little bit easier. You are trying to match as many colors as possible, thus earning the word cards as points. Each game uses a limited set of word cards from a pile of over 130, assuring the game will have some replayability.

Color Code supports two to six players, with special rules included if you need to support more. Ask for it at your favorite local game store or grab a copy on Amazon.

Top Ten Quiz

Top Ten Quiz is what you get when you mix a game of Family Feud with Name that Tune. Pitting two teams against each other, both sides are trying to name the most items from lists of top tens. Each team chooses a captain, who will submit the official answers and bid on how many items they believe their team will name. The team with the highest bid gets to prove their worth!

The captain of the other team keeps track of how many they have correct. Either they will succeed and earn the round’s tile, or they will fail to reach their goal, giving the other team one chance to give a correct answer and win all the points for the round.

Top Ten Quiz is played over seven rounds, each worth more points than the previous. Supporting four to fourteen players, expect a full game to last around thirty minutes. You’ll find Top Ten Quiz available at many local game stores or direct from Chili Island Games.

Soul Mates

I would best describe Soul Mates as part game, part social experiment. Winning is not a goal of the game. It’s more about finding out who amongst the players thinks most like you do. Soul Mates is designed for 2-5 players, but because of its nature, it might have been better suited as a party game.

Instead of guessing the Top Ten things in a category, this one asks you to pick one of four answers that you think the active player would choose. This is completely subjective and works better with friends than strangers. The active player answers a given question by submitting a card with a letter answer for themselves. Other players must also answer, but as how they think the active player will answer.

Tokens are awarded for positive matches. These are placed on a board which features the two colors of the matching players. For a round, each player will take a turn as the active player using the same question. Additional points are awarded if active players’ actual answers also match. Special rules for two players add joker chips which award bonuses when correctly used.

Soul Mates is a little harder to find at retail, but still worth asking your favorite local game store if they have it in stock. Otherwise, you can also order this one direct from Chili Island Games.

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the other mission of Chili Island Games. All three of these games are not only plastic-free, but they are also made with more than 70% recycled material. We love this undertaking and look forward to seeing more publishers adopt this type of policy. Follow them on social media (Facebook, Twitter) to find out more about their objectives!

Do you prefer games made from sustainable sources?