A Couple of Couples - Top 10 - No. 8 & No. 7

Our Top 10 series on Couple of Couples series continues; to see the last entries you can click here. To review, this series focuses on games that work well with four players. These are not necessarily the best 4 player games, but these are games that work well with two couples. Most of them have lots of interaction and are fairly easy to learn, or they work very well with four gamers. Both of the games this week are older games, but have recently been revitalized in reprints in some fashion.

Number Eight - Survive: Escape from Atlantis!

Survive was recently reprinted by Stronghold Games. This game has tons of player interaction and works great with four players. The game has tons of interaction as you try to get your meeples off a sinking island. As the island sinks, you can have sea monsters, sharks, and whales attack your fellow players. The interaction has a take that feel that is light and fun. The light feel to the game makes great for a great evening for gamers and non-gamers alike. I think the constant back-and-forth is especially fun with couples as sleep-on-the-couch jokes start to come out as you send a shark after your spouse. I am really glad that Stronghold brought this one back, and that I was able to pick it up. They have recently released a 30th anniversary edition to the game with some updated components and an update price point. This no doubt makes the game more accessible. Finally, if you have a couple kids, this one also works great for those family game nights. I've played this one with a 6 year old and he was getting the concept of the game. He never wanted to attack me, but we still had a great time, and when I see him, he still talks about the game, and how much fun it was.

Number Seven - Can't Stop

Photo via BGG from user myadestes

This game has quickly become one of Mrs. Games with Two's favorite games. It is so quick and so easy to play, that after a day of taking care of the kids and house, this is an easy distraction. No brain burning here, which is what we tend to like, since we have burned our brains all day. In Can't Stop, each player rolls four dice on their turn and they are trying to come up with two dice combos that make numbers between 2 and 12. The first three numbers they get start their runners. They try to get these runners as far up the track as they can. You can stop at any point, but sometimes you feel like you just "can't stop." When you do stop your pieces, move to where the runners were and you start from there on your next turn. The first player to get 3 pieces "home" is the winner.

This is great press your luck game. It originally came out in the early 1980s, but it has stood the test of time, which is rare for board games these days. I enjoy the pressure of the game, and you can get a real rush from rolling those dice, and hoping that your numbers come up (don't take this feeling to the casino; just get your adrenaline rush here). It's also a lot of fun to pressure your opponents into rolling more and more when they have gone a long way. This one is just a lot of fun, and the more players you have the more people you have encouraging one another to go for it, when they should really be stopping. Now your avid gamers may not enjoy this one as much, as it is mostly just pushing your luck, there is some decision making to be made, but that is limited to deciding to stop or keep rolling. If you are playing with non-gamers, this is a great choice, but those friends of yours who also love games, you may want to go another route.

We have done full reviews of both of these games. You can click on their titles to see them. We should have numbers six and five out next week, where we will be talking about shapes, colors, and monsters oh my!