Czech Games Edition Games

What Czech Games Edition makes

Czech Games Edition makes board and card games. In our data, every CGE listing is a game, filed as party games, strategy games or general games. No building sets, no puzzles.

The publisher's About page says it was founded in 2007, with Galaxy Trucker and League of Six as its first titles. It says the team first worked together in 2006 on the first edition of Through the Ages, and that it has published over 40 games and expansions. Those are the facts from the maker's own page. We haven't added any others.

The 17 listings in our data fall into four groups:

1. Codenames boxes and expansion packs (8 listings)
2. Lost Ruins of Arnak expansions (3 listings)
3. Through the Ages and its expansion (2 listings)
4. Stand-alone strategy and word games: Tzolk'in, Pulsar 2849, Little Alchemists and Letter Jam

The grid above shows each one with its player count, age and play time where the listing states them.

Czech Games Edition by line

Codenames: the party side

Codenames is a word game for two teams. One player on each team, the spymaster, gives one-word clues to point teammates at their own words on a grid, while steering them away from the other team's words and one word that loses the game outright.

Eight listings in our data carry the name:

• Codenames (2nd Edition), 4+ players
• Codenames: XXL (2nd Edition), 4+ players
• Codenames: Pictures (2nd Edition), 4+ players
• Codenames: Back to Hogwarts, 4+ players
• Codenames: Critical Role Adventures, no player count in our data
• Codenames: Sci-Fi, Cute Critters and Fairy Tales Expansion Packs, each 10+, 4–8 players, about 15 minutes

The 2nd Edition box is the plain base game. XXL is listed as an edition of its own. Pictures swaps words for pictures. Back to Hogwarts and Critical Role Adventures are themed boxes, named here as the listings name them, and both are listed as stand-alone games, not expansions.

The three expansion packs are a different case. The listings mark them as expansions. Read each listing for exactly which box it works with before you buy one as a gift.

Who Codenames suits: a group of 4 or more that likes talking, guessing and arguing about what a word "obviously" meant. Who should skip it: a house of two or three. Two teams of at least two is the real floor. Our Codenames page covers the game itself in more depth, editions included.

Lost Ruins of Arnak expansions

Three listings in our data are Arnak expansions, and all three name Lost Ruins of Arnak as the base game required:

• Expedition Leaders, listed with worker placement and deck-building
• The Missing Expedition, 1–2 players, solo mode, a legacy-style campaign
• Twisted Paths, solo mode, with a double-sided map, guardians, sites, assistants and solo tiles

Worker placement means you send your pieces to spots on the board to take actions, and a spot one player takes is often closed to the others. Deck-building means you start with a small deck and add cards to it as you play. A legacy or campaign game changes over a series of plays, so what happens in one game carries into the next.

The base game isn't among the CGE listings in our data right now. So these three are for someone who already owns Arnak. That's the most important line on this page for a gift buyer.

Through the Ages

Two listings:

• Through the Ages, 2–4 players
• Through the Ages: New Leaders and Wonders, 14+, 2–4 players, an expansion that lists Through the Ages as the base game

Through the Ages is the game the publisher's About page names as the team's first project together. In our data, the base listing doesn't state an age or play time, and the expansion lists 14+. Read the box for time before planning an evening around it.

Stand-alone strategy and word games

Four more games round out the lineup:

• Tzolk'in: The Mayan Calendar, 2–4 players, 90 minutes
• Pulsar 2849, 14+, 2–4 players, 60–100 minutes
• Little Alchemists, 2–4 players
• Letter Jam, a cooperative word game

Tzolk'in lists one of the longest fixed play times in our data for this publisher. Pulsar 2849 lists the widest range: 60 to 100 minutes. Both are 2–4 players. If your group meets for a whole evening, these are the boxes that fill it.

Letter Jam is cooperative: everyone wins or loses together. Our data doesn't list its player count or age. Little Alchemists lists 2–4 players and no age. For both, the box is your source for the rest.

Get the base game to the table first

My one opinion for this page: get the base game to the table a few times before buying expansions. An expansion adds rules to a game you haven't learned yet.

CGE's listings make the point by sheer count. Of 17 listings, six are expansions: three Arnak boxes, one Through the Ages box and three Codenames packs. Not one of the Arnak expansions works without a base game that isn't in this listing set. A new player who opens The Missing Expedition first has a campaign and no game to run it on.

Even when you own the base, play it as printed for a few nights. Keep the rulebook on the table for the appeals court. Once everyone agrees on how the plain game works, an expansion is something new to try instead of something new to argue about.

Marisol's take, after I explained what a legacy campaign is: "So the game keeps its own field notes. Good. Somebody should."

How to pick a Czech Games Edition game

Four questions:

1. How many players do you usually have? Four or more: Codenames. Two to four: the strategy games.
2. How long can you sit? About 15 minutes per Codenames pack round, by the listing. Up to 90 for Tzolk'in and up to 100 for Pulsar 2849.
3. Do you already own the base game? If not, skip every listing marked as an expansion.
4. How old is the youngest player? Where a listing states an age, it's 10+ for the Codenames packs and 14+ for Pulsar 2849 and the Through the Ages expansion. Where it doesn't, check the box.

Party night or strategy night

These are two different kinds of evening, so it helps to compare them side by side using only the listed facts.

Codenames boxes list 4 players as the minimum, and the packs list 4–8 players and about 15 minutes. That means many short rounds, lots of talking, and players who can drop in and out between games.

The strategy boxes list 2–4 players and, where stated, 60 to 100 minutes. That means one long game with the same people the whole way. Nobody joins halfway.

If you're hosting a mixed crowd that arrives at different times, Codenames fits the night. If you've got the same three friends every Thursday, a strategy box fits better.

Which Codenames box to start with

If nobody in the house owns Codenames yet, the choice is between the base boxes, not the packs. Here's what the listings tell you:

• Codenames (2nd Edition) is the plain word game, listed for 4 or more.
• Codenames: XXL (2nd Edition) is listed as its own edition. The name suggests bigger cards; check the listing for what changes, since our data doesn't record card size.
• Codenames: Pictures (2nd Edition) uses pictures in place of words, by its name. For a group with a weaker reader, that can be the easier way in.
• Back to Hogwarts and Critical Role Adventures are themed stand-alone boxes. They suit a group that already knows the theme by name.

After that, the three expansion packs add new card sets in a theme: sci-fi, cute critters, fairy tales. They come later, once the group has played enough to want new words.

Two long evenings: Tzolk'in and Pulsar 2849

Both are 2–4 player strategy games, and both fill an evening. The listed facts separate them:

• Tzolk'in: The Mayan Calendar lists 90 minutes and no age in our data.
• Pulsar 2849 lists 60–100 minutes and 14+.

So Pulsar has a stated age floor and a wider time range. Tzolk'in has a single fixed time on the listing. Neither listing in our data names its mechanics, so the box back is where to read how each one plays. If your group includes a 12- or 13-year-old, Pulsar's 14+ label rules it out by the box. Tzolk'in needs the box checked first.

Czech Games Edition as a gift

A gift checklist built from the data:

1. Know what they own. Six of 17 listings are expansions. A wrong guess is a box they can't open.
2. Know their group size. Codenames is a 4+ gift. The strategy games are a 2–4 gift.
3. Know their patience. A 15-minute pack and a 100-minute strategy game are not the same present.

A plain Codenames (2nd Edition) box is the safest guess when you know only that the person likes games and has friends. Everything else on this page asks you to know a little more about them.

Who should skip Czech Games Edition games

• A household of two or three looking for a party game. Codenames needs two teams.
• Anyone without the base game, if they're looking at an Arnak, Through the Ages or Codenames expansion.
• A family with young kids. The youngest stated age in our CGE data is 10+.

For a wider look at games by type, see strategy board games and party games.

Notes for the game shelf

Strategy boxes with lots of components need a home where the lid closes flat. Stack them flat, heaviest on the bottom. A big box stored on its side spills its insert the first time somebody pulls it out, and you'll be sorting tokens before you've set up a single one.

Codenames boxes are small. They travel. They also tend to end up at whoever's house hosted last, so put your name inside the lid.

Count the players, check for the base game, then deal the grid.