121: Twinkle | Trekking the World | Off the Rails

Welcome to Which Game First where we boldly explore the hilariously huge world of board games. Did we unearth any hidden treasures you’ve been missing out on? Let’s find out! First up this week: We’re all made of stars but did you know that stars are made of dice?  Well they are when we play TwinkleNext up: Globetrotting becomes a cutthroat race to see who can get to the most beautiful monuments first in Trekking the World And lastly: So what if the mines about to collapse we’re not letting the other goblins get the last of the treasure inside without us as we go Off the Rails Twinkle Designed by: Theodore KarvounisPublished by: V GamesPlayers: 2 – 4Ages: 8 & upPlaying time: 15 – 30 min In Twinkle, the boundless universe comes to your table as you build your own constellation using colorful dice as stars. On a turn, a player will choose any three dice to roll. There are d4s, d6s, d8s, d10s, and d12s, each in six different colors. They will select one die to place in their section of the constellation. The two unused dice go back to the pool. Each color has a card which tells you how to score when you use dice of that color.  Any die placed must have a lower number than the die it is played off of. To earn a Twinkle bonus, place a die with more sides than the preceding die. A d8 played after a d6 scores the Twinkle bonus. There are seven rounds, and every player will place 7 dice. All scoring takes place at the end of the game, and the player with the most victory points becomes the real Twinkle in everyone’s eye. Trekking the World Designed by: Charlie BinkPublished by: Underdog Games (2020)Players:  2 – 5Ages: 10 & upPlaying time: 30 – 60 min Trekking the World is a card game in which players compete to be the ultimate globe trotter by racing to visit world-renowned locations and collect rare souvenirs along the way.  Player’s cards have 2 functions: numbers indicate the number of spaces to move. Colors indicate the type of card needed to score victory points.  There is also a deck of location cards.  4 are turned up, and these are the destinations the players are vying to reach.  Players must land exactly on the space, and have the correct color combinations to collect the location card, and score the victory points. Another way to score points is to collect colored cubes, located at points along the travel routes. Cubes are accumulated for additional bonus victory points. The game ends when a player suddenly collects 5 location cards or 5 bonus tiles have been collected. Add up the points and the winner is the trekkiest trek in all of trekdom. Off the Rails Designed by: Andrew Platt, Stuart PlattPublished by: Rotten Games (2018)Players: 1 – 4Ages: 12 & upPlaying time: 30 – 60 min Off the Rails is a tile placement and resource collection board game. Players control a team of gem-hungry goblins racing uncontrollable mine carts underground to retrieve the most jewels before the earth collapses into the deadly chasm below! Each player controls 2 mine carts. Players also lay down the track before them. Players have 4 action points per turn that may be used to place a track, upgrade a track, or change the speed of their cart, each at the cost of 1 action point. But be careful not to move more spaces than there are rails. Otherwise you go … off the rails. Collect 1 gem as you pass them,