Kites: Time to Fly Fast-Paced Game Overview

It’s interesting to think of the things you physically do when playing a board game. Many games will have you move meeples, use cubes or other components to mark things on your player board or on the main board. Maybe you use cards to take actions. But most of the actions are done by playing on a board, or using cards. When watching people play board games, you mostly can’t tell what they are trying to do if you haven’t seen or heard of the game before. You might be able to guess some things if you have played many games, but it would also require more time to brainstorm all the possibilities. 

Kites: Time to Fly is not like most games that require a lot of explaining. If you watch someone playing this game, you already know exactly what they are trying to do. The game is unique as you are balancing sand timers, making sure none of them run out of sand. You are not performing anything you would consider a typical board game action. No dice rolls, no board to place pieces on, no player boards with bits and tokens. This game is all about balancing the sand timers, and keeping cards in your hand to use at the perfect time to flip a timer to the other side.

Kites might seem more appropriate to play in the spring when our minds are on things like playing with gel blasters or focusing on tips for running. But Floodgate Games sent us a copy to try out so that’s what we’re doing: Playing Kites: Time to Fly and then going outside to fly your own kite.

The game can be played with a different amount of timers depending on how difficult you want the game to be. Each sand timer has a different length until it runs out. Depending on how many players are playing the game, each will have a hand limit of a certain amount of cards. Each card lists one or two kites matching the same color of sand timer for the kites it represents. 

All timers are laid on their sides, and players take turns playing cards to control the flow of the sand. You do not want these sand timers to run out on either side, so you are constantly trying to play matching cards to keep the sand timers going. This is similar to flying a kite. You want to try to keep your kite in the sky and not have it hit the ground. Some cards will list one color kite, others will list two. Either way, you will flip over the timers that match the colors from what’s shown on your played out card. 

The game can end in two ways. Everyone wins if all the cards have been played. If one or more sand timers run out, then you can check to see what your score is by counting how many cards have been played by all players the game. The game rewards players when they work together and communicate well. This means telling players what color timer is about to run out, or informing them you plan to flip a specific one. 

To make things even more fun and exciting as well a more difficult, you can add different challenge cards. Storm cards will have you announce a storm is coming and when its your next turn, you must play the storm card to flip over every single sand timer. Some cards (like Crossed-lines and Airplane) are played your first turn after drawing them. With Crossed-lines, each player will swap one card from their hand to a player on their left and right. When you get Airplane cards, you can’t communicate until the airplane card is covered up!

There are a lot of different tempos that occur when playing Kites. Sometimes you might plan to play a little slower to let the sand timers even out. Other times, players are franticly trying to play cards to catch timers that are ending soon. If you don’t have a card matching a timer that needs flipped, you have to think quickly. Play another one so the next player can play the color that needs flipped over before that timer runs out. 

It’s a fast game the requires good communication and your complete attention. It will cause some adrenaline release for most players, but that’s part of the excitement. However, some might not like the pressure as it can become very heavy. You might feel like your team’s energy on top of your shoulders. If it’s too difficult, incorporate house rules to allow players time to catch their breath for a second. Plan a kite-themed day of games like Kites then show off your real life kite flying skills outside. Look for copies at your local game store, Barnes & Noble or direct from Floodgate Games . Of course, you can always toss a copy into your Amazon cart if that’s more your style.

When was the last time you flew a kite?