Board Games Are No Longer A Geeky Thing.
Czech Games Edition reflects upon the growing interest in this form of entertainment.
According to the people selling, playing, collecting, and also those creating & publishing them, board games have been on the rise for the last decade. And the people who are playing board games is growing. Board games are expanding into new areas: business icebreakers, education, streaming, and many psychologists are also fans, and no wonder, because once you find the right game for you, it becomes a pleasant and healthy escape.
Humanity has cooperation wired into its DNA, but also competitiveness.
In addition to fun, board games give people the experience, and the excitement, of figuring out better strategies than your rivals. Or, on the contrary, they allow you to collaborate with each other against the game itself.
Board games can draw you into other themed worlds, allow you to build entire empires in a few hours, become a Galaxy Trucker, or a secret agent.
In just a couple of minutes, you can gain insight into the unsuspected creativity of your teammates, and get to know them better, and even learn things about yourself. And not to be overlooked, sportsmanship, learning to lose with grace while continuing to keep the ambition to win is a very important quality in life.
Czech out these games!
Czech Games Edition, also known as CGE, represents a group of people who love board games and creating entertainment for others to enjoy. 14 years ago, they decided that this is the work they wanted to do for a living.
Founded in 2007, Czech Games Edition released their board game titles: Galaxy Trucker by Vlaada Chvátil, and League of Six by Vladimír Suchý.
Since then, CGE has published over 40 games and expansions, in various genres such as Party and Family games, as well as complex Strategy games where you plan your moves ahead, manage resources, and anticipate your opponents’ moves.
CGE has also expanded into the realm of digital board games. First with a digital app for their humorous game Galaxy Trucker, followed by their second app, a complex civilization-building game, Through the Ages . Czech Games Edition’s digital games can be found on Android, iOS, Steam, and GoG.
Though a small company, with the help of partners and fans worldwide, you will find CGE games in over forty languages.
Code- What?
Czech Games Edition won the hearts of players around the world with the game Codenames, released in 2015.
The author, Vlaada Chvátil, came up with the idea for Codenames during a game event. A quick mock-up was created in a few minutes… and the rest is history. The responses from people interested in playing the game, again and again, indicated that we had a hit.
The game has a simple premise but is a great challenge when playing. Anyone who has encountered this small box game can confirm this for you.
The teams compete to see who can make contact with all of their agents first. Spymasters give one-word clues that can point to multiple words on the board. Their teammates try to guess words of the right color while avoiding those that belong to the opposing team. And everyone wants to avoid the assassin.
Since then, Codenames has been translated into 41 languages. Adapted for cooperative versions and even versions with pictures instead of words. Simpsons, Marvel, Harry Potter, Disney licenses were made. Recently more than 8,000,000 versions of the game have been sold worldwide.
Codenames boasts many awards, including the most prestigious in the industry, the Spiel des Jahres (Game of the Year), and ranks at the top of party games in the ranking of the world’s largest game database.
You’re standing in a crowd of people hiding behind strange images. Who’s a friend and who is a foe? Lucky for you, you’ve just received a secret message that can help you find three of your own. What do they have in common? You know only one word!
The fun starts where silly meets smart!
Unleash your imagination with this exciting twist on classic Codenames – the board game that is currently rated as the top party game of all time!
Form two teams of rival spies. Look at the crazy symbols before you – connect those that belong to your team with a one-word association, and watch your friends and family try to decode the message! Can lizards go to space? Is snow connected to disco balls? That’s up to you to figure out!
Avoid pointing to the images that belong to the other team, never engage with the assassin, and be the first to find all your agents. Everyone will have fun, but only one team can win!
Do you already own basic Codenames or maybe Codenames: Duet? You can level up your game by combining pictures together with words!
Codenames: Pictures received the highest recognition of the Best Family Game and the Best Party Game of 2016.
Codenames in the COVID era
Since the spring of turbulent year 2020, many families have remained locked at home. As such, the demand for at-home activities, such as board games has naturally grown.
Since many people have been left without the opportunity to meet with their friends and families as they have in the past, Czech Games Edition started worked on a variant of Codenames in response to this unique situation.
The result is Codenames Online, a free browser-based version of the game that people can connect remotely to using videochat software (such as Zoom, Skype, etc.) and experience the fun associated with Codenames. Anytime, anywhere.
Just be careful. You probably won’t be able to play only one game!
Party goes on…the tabletop!
Bringing a clever and entertaining board game to the party as your “Plus One” might be a welcome change. If you are looking for games that are easy to learn, and full of fun, Party games are the best way to go. You might be surprised how creative you and your fellow players can be. How about an example?
Can you explain what an “AXE” is to a friend using your own words? We’re sure you can. Now, can you explain what it is if you can’t say AXE-related words? It might be a bit tricker if you can’t use words such as blade, cut, or hold, isn’t it?
Now imagine, you have to explain what an “AXE” is to your friend, there are certain words you cannot say, BUT you have no clue what the banned words are! What approach would you choose, hm?
Maybe the conversation would look like this…
You: “This thing is used by a man with a beard, in a checkered shirt….”
One of your teammates: “A coffee maker?”
You: “He uses it for work in nature.”
Another teammate: “A chainsaw!”
You: “He hacks with it.”
You’ve been just introduced to the concept of the game Trapwords.
Two teams, one player explains a word, the others guess, and there are secret worlds that you cannot say, otherwise you’ll lose the round. In Trapwords, there is no fixed list of forbidden words that you cannot guess, the opposing team makes the list up.
“This interaction makes Trapwords incredibly satisfying for both teams. Correctly anticipating how the clue-giver would explain a word is just as awesome as artfully evading the other team’s traps. I’ve never played another word guessing game where I’d applaud the other team’s clue-giver.” – Kai from Meople’s Magazine
A Picture is worth 1000 words
Actually, would you be able to draw this statement above? Drawing-guessing games are another category of board games that ensure almost an infinite amount of fun.
It doesn’t matter if you excelled in art class or you just scribbled on the tabletop. Pictomania is a party game even for those who can’t draw, and a rough sketch can be good enough.
Pictomania is the drawing game with no teams and no waiting. Everyone gets to draw, and everyone gets to guess, all at the same time! There isn’t enough time to draw a complex masterpiece, and the player who can sketch the essence of a word quickly will have more time to figure out the other players’ drawings…
And more time to laugh at them.
Check out Trapwords, Pictomania, Codenames, and more of CGE’s games when you have the chance.
You can try Codenames Online for FREE with your family or with friends remotely.
