Blue Orange Games

What Blue Orange Games makes

Blue Orange Games makes tabletop games, and in our data that covers five kinds: preschool games, family games, strategy games, card games and party games. There are no building sets or puzzles among the listings we work from here.

What stands out is the spread. One brand covers a 3+ stacking game, wooden two-player games, tile-laying family games, a 4–8 player social deduction game and a box with 36 dice in a travel bag. That makes it hard to say "a Blue Orange game is like this." It's easier to sort by who's playing.

So this page sorts the lineup into six groups:

1. Preschool games (3+ and 4+)
2. Two-player wooden and dexterity games
3. Family strategy and tile games
4. Party and word games
5. Small-box card and dice games
6. Expansions that need a base game

The grid above shows every listing with its age, players and play time where the listing states them.

Blue Orange Games by line

Preschool games: 3+ and 4+

Six listings in our data are preschool games:

• Zimbbos, 3+, 1–4 players, a dexterity game for fine motor practice
• Pengoloo, 4+, a memory game with no reading required
• Tongues Out, 4+, 2–4 players, matching and memory, no reading required
• Where's Squeaky, 4+, 2–10 players, electronic, no reading required
• Freeze Dance with Chilly, 4+, 1–4 players, electronic, no reading required
• Hoot or Toot, 4+, 2–4 players, electronic memory game

The common thread: no reading. A 4-year-old can play every one of these without a grown-up reading the cards. That's the single most useful fact for a first game, and the listings state it.

Where's Squeaky lists up to 10 players. That's rare for a preschool game. It suits a birthday party or a family with lots of cousins. Zimbbos starts at 1 player, so a kid can play it alone, which is useful on a rainy afternoon when nobody else is free.

Who should skip these: a family whose youngest is already 7 or 8. These are built for the start of the age range, and older kids outgrow them.

Two-player games: Gobblet, Fastrack and Trapball

Three listings are strictly 2-player:

• Gobblet, 7+, a strategy game
• Fastrack, 5+, a wooden dexterity game
• Trapball, 6+, a physical dexterity game

Gobblet is a thinking game for two. Fastrack and Trapball are hand-speed games for two. They suit very different moods, but they share a fixed seat count. If you live in a house of two, or you have one kid who always wants to play with you, a strict 2-player box gets used. In a house of five it gathers dust.

Lucho's take: "A two-player game is a wrench that fits one bolt. When it's the right bolt, nothing works better."

Family strategy and tile games

This is the largest group. These games ask players to plan a few moves ahead, usually by placing tiles, pieces or tokens on a board.

Start with the 7+ and 8+ games, the ones a younger player can join:

• Battle Sheep, 7+, 2–4 players
• Downtown Farmers' Market, 7+, 2–4 players, tile placement and drafting
• Planet, 8+, 2–4 players
• BlockNess, 8+, 2–4 players, a board and 4 monsters
• Wonder Woods, 8+, 2–5 players, 56 wooden mushroom tokens
• Next Station Tokyo, 8+, 1–4 players, with a solo mode

Then the 10+ games: Cloud City, Neoville and Mech A Dream, each listed for 2–4 players. These ask more of everyone at the table, so they suit a family whose youngest is at least 10, or a group of adults.

Two more strategy boxes don't state an age in our data. Scarabya lists 2–4 players and about 20 minutes, with four sets of 12 tiles, four boards and 72 scarab tokens. Blue Lagoon lists 2–4 players and 30–45 minutes, with area control and set collection, wooden villages and 120 settler tokens. Read the box for the age before you seat a younger player.

Drafting means players take turns choosing from a shared pool, so what you take is what the next person can't. Tile placement means you build a map or a pattern as you play. Area control means you score for holding parts of the board.

If your family already plays one or two modern board games on the Sunday table, this group is the main reason to look at the brand. The 7+ and 8+ games bring a younger player in. The 10+ games ask more of everyone.

Blue Lagoon is the one with a play time in our data that goes past half an hour. Scarabya lists about 20 minutes. For the rest, the listings in our data don't state a time, so check the box.

Party and word games

Party games in our data cover a wide age range and some high player counts:

The word, drawing and guessing games:

• Detective Club, 4–8 players, 30–45 minutes, social deduction
• Cross Clues, 7+, 2–6 players, word guessing
• Starlink, 8+, 3–6 players, drawing
• Disc Cover, 7+, 3–8 players, a music game that needs an app or device
• Do You Know Your Peeps?, 3–10 players, a prediction game, not adults-only
• Pear Shaped, 7+, with no player count in our data

The fast ones, played with quick hands:

• Burger ASAP, 7+, 2–5 players
• Bag of Chips, 8+, 2–5 players
• Beat The 8 Ball, 6+, 2–4 players, physical dexterity

The split matters for a mixed group. Word and drawing games reward reading and vocabulary, so the youngest player at a 7+ word game may need a teammate. Quick-hands games reward speed, and a quick 8-year-old can beat a slow adult fair and square. I know this from experience. My experience is mostly losing.

Social deduction means some players have hidden information and the table tries to figure out who. Detective Club has the highest minimum here at 4. With three people, it isn't the game.

Small-box card and dice games

These are the boxes that fit in a coat pocket or a carry-on:

The card and dice boxes:

• Who did it?, 6+, 3–6 players, matching and speed
• Beagle Or Bagel, 7+, 2–6 players
• Snip Snap, 7+, 2–6 players, 36 dice and a travel bag
• Picnic Twist, 8+, 1–9 players, set collection
• WuzzIts, 2–4 players
• What's The Point? The Cactus Card Game, with no age or player count in our data

The small games with pieces on the table:

• Slam Cup, 6+, 2–4 players, a base and 24 cups
• Cake Race, 6+, 2+ players, two cardboard cakes, four rolling candles and six obstacle disks
• Cupcake Academy, 8+, 2–4 players, cooperative

Cooperative means everyone wins or loses together against the game. Cupcake Academy is the only listing in this group our data marks as cooperative. For a family where losing to a sibling ends the evening, that's worth knowing.

Snip Snap packs 36 dice into a travel bag. That's more dice than I own, and I teach probability.

Expansions that need a base game

Two listings are expansions:

• Kingdomino: Age of Giants, 8+, 2–5 players. The listing says it needs Kingdomino or Queendomino.
• Photosynthesis: Under the Moonlight, 10+, 2–4 players. The listing says it needs Photosynthesis.

Neither base game is in our brief's list here. Don't buy either expansion as a stand-alone gift.

Buy for the group you actually have

My one opinion on this page: buy for your usual group size, not the biggest number on the box.

Blue Orange's lineup makes the case. Gobblet, Fastrack and Trapball are exactly 2. Detective Club starts at 4. Do You Know Your Peeps? runs up to 10, and Where's Squeaky too. Picnic Twist goes from 1 to 9. A game with a high top number may still play best near the middle, and play time on many boxes grows with every extra player.

So before you shop, count who's at your table on a normal night. Then filter the grid by that number. If that's three people, cross off the strict two-player games and Detective Club. If it's two, the two-player games and the 1–4 or 2–4 games are your list.

How to pick a Blue Orange game

Here's the order:

1. Count the players. Your usual number, not your holiday number.
2. Check the youngest player's age. Pick only games whose listed age includes them.
3. Decide on the kind of game. Hands (dexterity), heads (strategy), words, drawing or memory.
4. Check for extras. Disc Cover needs an app or device. Three preschool games are electronic. The two expansions need base games.
5. Check the play time. Where the listing states one, it's in the grid. Where it doesn't, the box will.

Three tables, three short lists

A few examples of how the filter works, using only the listed ages and player counts:

• A 4-year-old and two parents. The preschool group is the list: Pengoloo, Tongues Out, Hoot or Toot, Freeze Dance with Chilly and Where's Squeaky all start at 4 and need no reading where the listing says so.
• Two adults on a weeknight. Gobblet for a thinking game, Fastrack or Trapball for a quick hands game. Next Station Tokyo also works for two, and alone.
• A family of five with kids 8 and 11. Wonder Woods (2–5, 8+), Picnic Twist (1–9, 8+), Bag of Chips (2–5, 8+) and Beagle Or Bagel (2–6, 7+) all seat five by the box.

None of this tells you which game your family will reach for twice. It tells you which ones fit the people and the ages before you spend anything.

Who should skip Blue Orange games

• A child under 3. No listing in our data starts lower.
• A group that only plays one big game a month and wants a two-hour box. The play times in our data top out at 45 minutes.
• Anyone buying an expansion without the base game.

For more games sorted by type, see family board games, party games and strategy board games.

Small parts

Check the age label on the listing. Toys with small parts are a choking hazard for children under 3. Wooden tokens, dice and small pieces belong back in the box after the game, and out of reach of a baby or toddler in the house.

Count the chairs, read the age line, then open the box.