Qwirkle

Qwirkle

Qwirkle is my first "board game" - even though there's no board. Instead there's a set of 108 colorful wooden tiles. Each player has a hand of 6 tiles that they use to build connecting lines of colors and shapes. It's simple enough for 6 year olds to play. However, if you're playing with experienced gamers it turns into a much more strategic game.

MindWare published Qwirkle in late 2006. It has been extremely well received by both the public and press. This enthusiastic response includes several awards.

In April 2007, Qwirkle won a Mensa Select Award. This award means

that members of Mensa have chosen Qwirkle as one of the top 5 new games of the year. In May 2007, Qwirkle received a Parents' Choice Gold Award. This award is given to products that are judged to be the

highest quality and most appealing products in their genre. I'm delighted that both Mensa and the Parents' Choice Foundation have honored

Qwirkle. Listed below are links to awards, reviews and comments about the game.

Image © MindWare

Awards

Qwirkle has received awards and accolades from Mensa Select and Parents' Choice and Major Fun.

Games Magazine named it the 2008 Best Family Game Runner Up and Creative Child Magazine called it a Preferred Choice.

Qwirkle has also been declared one of "the best of the best" on Fun and Board Games and the top game of 2007 on Board Game News by its editor W. Eric Martin.

Reviews

Qwirkle has been reviewed by Games By James, twice on Board Game Geek, by Board Game News, on Gamers Alliance, on Funagain Games, on Callapidder Days, on Wei-Hwa's Mensa Mind Games, on Play This Thing and by customers on Fat Brain Toys and Amazon

Qwirkle has also been reviewed in the July 2007 issue of Games Magazine as well as the July 2007 issue of Knucklebones.

Newspapers

Qwirkle was mentioned as one of the cool new toys at Toy Fair 2007 by the Washington Post.

It has also been mentioned in articles in the Columbus Dispatch, Helena Independent Record, Deseret Morning News, Lafayette Journal & Courier and Baltimore Sun.

A nice article about Qwirkle and Idea Duck can also be found in the The Press Democrat and also on Petaluma 360.

Board Game Geek

If you are a fan of board games you should definitely check out Board Game Geek. It's a huge board game database and user community. There you can find a page for Qwirkle with ratings and comments and session reports as well as images and other information.

A similar site focused on kids is Kid Game Ratings and it also has a page for Qwirkle.

Podcasts

Qwirkle and Idea Duck were the subject of episode 60 of Garrett's Games & Geekiness.

Qwirkle has also been mentioned and talked about in many other podcasts such as episode 66 of Boardgames To Go (at 11 minutes), episode 6 of the Board Game Roundtable (at 41 minutes), episode 95 of the Dice Tower (at 45 minutes), episode 25 of 2d6 Feet in a Random Direction (at 52 minutes), episode 43 of The Spiel as part of their 2007 Holiday Gift Guide (at 76 minutes), volume 46 of Boardgame Babylon (at 29 minutes) and episode 95 of Garrett's Games & Geekiness (at 31 minutes).

Blogs & Other Websites

Qwirkle has appeared on various sites such as Game Ranch, My Crayon Box, Tiny E Ranch, Giantmonster TV, East Tennessee Gamers, Playing With Myself, Central Texas Boardgames Group, Gamer Chris, Sorensen Family, in an interview with game designer Stephen Glenn on Robot Martini and in a interview with game designer and poet Dave Grossman on Gamasutra.

Parties

And be sure to look at Qwirkle Party for pictures from the Qwirkle release party.