R&R Games is a small game company in Tampa, Fla., founded by Frank DiLorenzo in 1996. The company's mission is to produce high-quality family board games. One of its games, Hanabi, was the winner of the prestigious Game of the Year Award (Spiel des Jahres) in 2013. This review covers four of the company's games: Hanabi, 1st and Goal, Times Up! and Hey Waiter!
Hanabi is a cooperative card game for two to five people. Players work together to create the best fireworks show possible. This is done by playing cards to the table in a specific order. The deck consists of five sets of cards numbered 1 to 5 in five separate colors. The goal is to play the right color in the right pile in the right order from 1 to 5. The twist is that the players can’t see their own cards. They are held facing the other players. Using clues from other players, cards are played in attempt to build the right combinations without actually seeing what is being played. Teamwork is the key as players help each other play the right cards at the right time. Later, the firework show commences and scores are given. It’s a fun game of cooperative deduction for about $10.
First & Goal is one of the best football board games on the market. It balances fun, ease of play and strategy for two to four players and includes a multitude of colored custom dice. The dice help determine everything from field goal success to yards gained on running plays, and the dice are unique to each team.
Each down, players are given a corresponding deck of cards, either offensive or defensive. From a hand of eight cards, players secretly choose a card with a defensive or offensive play on it and reveal it to their opponent. Depending on how the plays match up against each other, certain colored dice are rolled to see what happens. Yards lost, interceptions, fumbles, first downs and pass completions are all here. The game replicates a frantic, competitive game of football. Trying to outguess an opponent is exciting. Choose the wrong play and an opponent might score. Highly recommended for football board game fans.
Boasting play for four to 18 people, Times Up! is a charades-type party game for teams of two. To begin, players form a deck of cards featuring real and fictional characters from history that will be used over a period of three rounds.
Rounds consist of a team member trying to get a teammate to guess the character on the card they've drawn. Players have 30 seconds to go through as many cards as possible. The twist is that the rules change each round and clues build on each other.
In round one, any kind of clue is allowed but the cluegiver can’t pass on any cards. In round two, only one word can be used in the clue, the cluegiver may pass and teammates give only one answer. In round three, the cluegiver uses no words, may pass and teammates are allowed a single guess. Even though only one audible clue can be given, the cluegiver can give an unlimited amount of body language clues.
It’s fun to watch friends make wild gestures and interesting sounds to help with clues. Remembering clues from previous rounds helps tackle the toughest cards. This is a fabulous party game for ages 12 and up, a worthy game for any collection.
Featuring cool game components and strategic play, Hey Waiter! challenges two to four players to take the role of waiters at a restaurant trying to deliver food and clear tables using a stack of colored chips, serving domes and a hand of cards. Play continues until one player serves all the dishes required by the customers. Each player begins with seven cards. Two cards are always played together — the left card determines the type of action taken and the right card determines what is being acted upon. Cards can be combined in multiple ways. Actions consist of moving food tokens from one stack to another, with the primary action being the ability to deliver food.
When you deliver a dish, however, everyone with that type of dish on top of his stack gets to deliver it. Choosing the right cards to play can help you and hinder your opponent. A serving dome can be placed on an opponent's dish to slow them down. Because a player can only play the dish on the top of a stack, stacks can be split into two or more for more options. Playing cards depletes a player's hand and gives fewer options, but delivering food helps a player win. With tough choices, this is a simple, quick game with a fun theme.