''Qwirkle'' is a

tile-based game A tile-based game is a game that uses tiles as one of the fundamental elements of play. Traditional tile-based games use small tiles as playing pieces for gambling or entertainment games. Some board games use tiles to create their board, givin ...

for two to four players, designed by Susan McKinley Ross and published by

MindWare Oriental Trading Company is a direct merchant of value-priced party supplies, arts and crafts, toys, novelties, and school supplies. It was founded in 1932 as one of the United States' first wholesaling companies. Oriental Trading has been reco ...

. Qwirkle shares some characteristics with the games ''

Rummikub ''Rummikub'' () is a tile-based game for 2 to 4 players, combining elements of the card game rummy and mahjong. There are 106 tiles in the game, including 104 numbered tiles (valued 1 to 13 in four different colors, two copies of each) and two j ...

'' and ''

Scrabble ''Scrabble'' is a word game in which two to four players score points by placing tiles, each bearing a single letter, onto a game board divided into a 15×15 grid of squares. The tiles must form words that, in crossword fashion, read left t ...

''. It is distributed in Canada by game and puzzle company

Outset Media Outset Media Corporation is a Canadian company which develops and distributes family entertainment products, specializing in board games, party games, card games, and jigsaw puzzles. In addition to developing its own games, Outset Media also distr ...

. Qwirkle is considered by MindWare to be its most awarded game of all time. In 2011, Qwirkle won the

Spiel des Jahres The Spiel des Jahres (, ''Game of the Year'') is an award for board and card games, created in 1978 with the purpose of rewarding family-friendly game design, and promoting excellent games in the German market. It is thought that the existence ...

, widely considered the most prestigious award in the board and card game industry. A sequel, Qwirkle Cubes, was released by Mindware in 2009.

Equipment

''Qwirkle'' comes with 108 wooden tiles, and each tile is painted with one of six shapes (clover, four-point star, eight-point star, square, circle and diamond) in one of six colors (red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple). The box also contains a bag to store the tiles and a rule book.

Play

The game begins with all the tiles being placed in the bag and mixed thoroughly. Each player then randomly draws six tiles. During their turn, a player may either: * place one or several tiles on the table; or * instead of playing tiles, exchange one or more tiles in their hand for other random tiles. In general, any tiles that are placed in a row must share one attribute (either color or shape), and they must be played in one line, although they do not need to touch other tiles being placed in that turn. A player must always end a turn with six tiles, so, if they place tiles during a turn, they draw random tiles to build their hand back up to six. Play continues until one person uses all of their available tiles and there are no more tiles to be drawn.

Scoring

Players score one point for each tile placed within a line, including existing tiles within the line. The idea is to form lines that have each shape of a certain color, or each color of a certain shape. For example: if there are three stars placed down on the grid (one green, one blue, and one purple), then the player can put down another star that is red, orange or yellow. If a line is completed (this is called a "qwirkle"), then an additional six points is added to the player's score. At the end of the game, once there are no more tiles to be drawn to replenish one's hand, the first person to play all of their tiles gains an extra six point bonus, at which point the game ends, and the player who has the highest score wins.

Awards

*2011

*Parent's Choice Gold Award *

Mensa Select Mensa Select is an annual award given by American Mensa Mensa is the largest and oldest high-IQ society in the world. It is a non-profit organisation open to people who score at the 98th percentile or higher on a standardised, supervised I ...

Award *Major Fun Award

References

{{Spiel des Jahres Tile-laying board games Mensa Select winners Board games introduced in 2007 Spiel des Jahres winners