Quicksand

Picture this: an old mechanism of gears and sand that could go off at any moment. You cannot act too quickly, but you cannot wait too long either. In Quicksand you work with your team to disarm this dangerous trap, and you will only manage it if you are perfectly in tune with each other. This is a cooperative game played in real time, so the tension is there right from the start. On your turn you play cards that flip and move hourglasses. Each hourglass sits on a tile with its own shape and colour. Your card shows one shape or one colour, and the moment you play it, every matching hourglass is flipped, whether that suits you or not. Flip one too early and you are in trouble yourself. Wait too long and the sand runs out and the game is over. The lovely thing is that you really do this together. Talking things through, planning and striking at exactly the right moment, that is what it is all about. If you manage to stop the Quicksand before time runs out, it feels like a victory you have won as a team. An exciting game for two to four players aged 8 and up, finished in about half an hour.