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: We find out just how many Vikings can duke it out at once in OdinNext: We go for a stroll, then duck for cover in RefugeAnd lastly: We dart through the rain of the busy city streets in Umbrella







Odin







Designed by: Yohan Goh, Hope S. Hwang, Gary KimPublished by: Helvetiq (2024)Players: 2 – 6Ages: 7 & upPlaying time: 15 minutes







In Odin, you want to empty your hand as quickly as possible, sending all your Vikings out into the world. The game lasts several hands, with each hand consisting of one or more rounds. The deck contains cards in six suits, each numbered 1-9, and each player starts with a hand of nine cards.







The lead player for the hand lays a single card on the table. The next player either passes (but can play on a future turn) or plays the same number of cards (or one more than that number) with a higher value. When you play two or more cards, the cards must be the same number or color, and the value of these cards is created by placing their digits in order from high to low. For example, if you play a blue 3 and blue 6, their value is 63, not 36. When you play and are not the lead, you must take one of the cards from the previous play into your hand, then discard the rest.







Play continues around the table until either a player is out of cards, which ends the round immediately, or all players have passed in succession. In the latter case, discard the cards last played; whoever played these cards lays a single card to start a new round. Alternatively, if the lead player has cards in hand of a single suit or number, they play all of these cards at once to end the hand. When a hand ends, each player scores 1 point for each card they still hold.







If no player has at least 15 points, shuffle the deck and start a new hand. If someone does have 15 or more points, whoever has the fewest points wins.







Refuge







Designed by: Gérald CattiauxPublished by: Bombyx (2024)Players: 2 – 4Ages: 8 & upPlaying time: 30 – 45 minutes







Refuge is a press your luck tile placement game, where each player is going for a leisurely stroll outdoors in perfect weather. Until the weather turns, and you need to get home before the storm hits.







The goal of Refuge is to create a path by both drawing tiles from your bag and adding useful tiles to your bag to draw later. Your walk is made up of tiles drawn from your bag and placed in front of you. 







Players conduct five (5) walks during the game. Each walk consists of a variable number of turns. On each turn, players draw tiles from their bag to add to their path until they choose to go home, ending their walk, or encounter a storm. At the end of the fifth walk, the player with the most victory points is the winner.







If a player returns to the refuge, any remaining players continue playing until the walk is ended for all players. When returning to the refuge, tiles are scored according to the number of animals on them. If a player returns to the refuge, they may permanently discard one of their played tiles from the game. All other tiles are returned to their bag after returning to the refuge.







If a player is caught by the storm before returning to the refuge, they receive no points for animals on their tiles, and they must pay one step per tile in their path. If they have insufficient steps, they lose 1 victory point for each step they are short, to a minimum of zero. They then return all tiles to their bag.