Demos, Dice and Heists with Thames and Kosmos

The Chaos Cards team were very excited to attend a fun Demo Day hosted by Nik Neale from Thames and Kosmos.

You might have caught some of our stories over on the Chaos Cards socials as we travelled up to Eclectic Games in Reading. There we met up with Nik from Thames and Kosmos as he hosted a great selection of upcoming games. We got the chance to meet some other lovely people from across the tabletop community whilst having a great time gaming: sounds like a pretty perfect day right?

From cooperative bank heists and shifting temple mazes to beautiful blooming meadows, this fantastic lineup has something for everyone. We think you'll love them just as much as we did - read on to find out more about our fun Chaos Cards day out!

After introductions and favourite pizza toppings (olives ftw) we kicked things off with the quick thinking Oh My Word! The real time, word based party game is fast paced and  pretty easy to learn. There is even a ticking countdown and LOTS of fun to be had. It gets bonus points for being pretty simple to learn as well.

The aim of Oh My Word! is quite simple: players take it in turns to draw a random letter from a bag, shout out a word that begins with that letter and fits in with a category on the board. Sounds simple, right?

Well, not when you add in the pressure of a timer ticking away in the centre of the table. If the timer expires on your turn you end up picking up a random negative token; the person with the lowest score ends up losing. (You can’t even cheat the timer as it times down differently each round!)

We really enjoyed Oh My Word! even though it felt intense at times! It is surprisingly hard to think of a word with the timer in the background, but that is what makes the game fun. The categories on the board are quite random and great for making you think. A nice touch is that that boards are double sided so that it has a ton of replayability.

We would recommend Oh My Word! for fans of word games & puzzles. It would also be great for lively party nights with friends.

After the quick thinking that was Oh My Word! We moved onto a slightly slower paced game called Wildblooms. This game is beautiful and tactical, where all players must compete to create the prettiest looking meadow. Wildblooms would make a great gift for anyone who loves flowers and nature.

The central board features five flowers that players can pick from (which are replenished from the draw pile as they are taken). You then place a seed at the bottom to start the ‘Growth Phase.’

If you or the other players have flowers in this colour they can then grow those flowers by moving up one space on the stalk. In this phase you can resolve the special effects which can include ladybirds, bumblebees and ants. Once a flower is fully grown, you can stand it up in your meadow.

The player with the most flowers in their meadow at the end of the game wins. If you have a flower of each colour you also receive a rainbow token.

Wildblooms is an interactive game with some clever combo effects that keep players engaged throughout. We really liked the addition of the Wildflower Field guide in the instructions as it’s always fun to get a little background knowledge.

Wildblooms is a really great looking game and the detailed components makes the game feel super tactile and interactive. We think it would be perfect as a starter for a casual games night with friends or family.

The Chaos Cards social media team love a co-operative game so we were really excited to try out Temple Twist after the sneak peek we had at the Toy Fair earlier this year. Temple Twist is a game that requires teamwork and strategic thinking as you work together to move the dice around an ever moving board to reach various doors.

In Temple Twist, players work together on an expedition to an ancient temple filled with artifacts. Each player has a hand of cards that they utilise to move walls and navigate the dice through the maze. The game has so many fun elements to it and we particularly like how you have to physically move the board to reach the doors.

Everyone at the demo day begun with the starter mode version of the game, before moving on to different variations of the game. We particularly loved the addition of the ‘slime’ to the game, which adds another layer of obstacles to navigate around as you find the doors. (We think kids would love this aspect of the game!)

Temple Twist is a game that relies heavily on communication and we loved how this put everyone on a level playing field as we had to work together and communicate effectively in order to play.

The moving board is such a good idea and will appeal to people who like puzzles and strategy games as you really have to think ahead. Families will love this game and we can see this being a popular choice over the summer!

The Gang has been a popular game among the Chaos Cards team for a while, so it was fun to play it as the final game at the Thames and Kosmos demo day. You might already know The Gang as a clever, cooperative twist on the traditional game of Poker.

The Gang was a great game to finish with as it was a more tense game then the previous demos and and by this point in the day, we all felt much more confident reading each other's playstyles.

Players must work together as a gang trying to pull off a series of bank heists whilst playing a hand of cards similar to Texas Hold’em. Everyone playing the game must then take a poker chip indicating how good they think their Poker hand is in relation to the other players. You then reassess your hand over the following rounds. If everyone predicts their hand strength correctly you can open the vault, if not then the alarm sounds and you lost that round.

The Gang is a really accessible game and would be great for families with older children or a games night with friends.

From the look of the games on the Demo Day, Thames and Kosmos has a great line up coming up this year. One of our biggest takeaways from the day was just how versatile and accessible these games are, and as you know, these are important values to the Chaos Cards team!

Each game we tried out would be a great option for a game with the family or a more adult games night. Once more, if you head over to Chaos Cards now all games are currently under £20! If you enjoy the selection of games covered in this post, make sure you check out other exciting titles by Thames and Kosmos, such as The Exit range (we are big fans!) and The Crew series of games (a family classic!)

Have you tried out Wildblooms or Temple Twist yet? Will you be ordering Oh My Word!? Let us know your thoughts over on our socials, we love to hear from you!