I have a tendency to purchase (or back on Kickstarter – my guilty habit…) very nice but somewhat complicated board games. The games are great but a little more complicated than what my kids want to deal with on a regular game night.

So I am always looking for games that are a little quicker to master and easier to play for even my youngest child, who is 8 years old.

Qwirkle has become a family favorite around here. Game play isn’t too long, and the rules are quick to pick up. Perfect for a family with kids.

Qwirkle is a tile-setting game that you play on a flat surface (think Scrabble but without a game board). The game contains 108 wood tiles, with six different shapes and six different colors. Qwirkle is playable with 2 – 4 people.

The goal of the game is to score the highest number of points by making tile matches. There are two ways to make a match – by matching tiles by color, and matching tiles by shape.

Each play starts out with 6 randomly selected tiles, and one player starts by laying down any matches they have. As game play goes around the table, each player then has to play their matches on the growing number of tiles that have already been placed.

Ways to score – you score points based on how many tiles you put down that match, and if you add your tiles to previously-laid tiles to make your match, these tiles are included in your point count for that round. For example, if player one starts the game with four squares of different colors, they would get four points for that round. If the next player then put down three tiles of different shapes but the same color as one of these previously played tiles, their point count includes their three tiles plus the already present tile that is included in their match. Beware – players cannot lay down a duplicate – whether a duplicate shape or color.

One thing to note – if the tiles a player lays during a round results in a match going in a different direction as well, points are awarded for that those matched tiles as well.

The name of the game, Qwirkle, is the signature match that gets a player the highest score for a set of tiles for a round – six points for six tiles (of all the shapes or all the colors). Play your tiles to make this full set and yell Qwirkle!

After each player lays down tiles, they draw enough tiles to bring their tile hand back up to six.

Game play goes until everyone is out of tiles.