It seems many of you are asking for new ways to welcome in the post lockdown world. Games are the thing and those that can bring us together, with excitement and entertainment at their hearts. Osprey games have helped us out and allowed us to find something that could fill this space. It’s a game called INKLING. It sounds compelling enough. Inkling means, well, you know. A sense of something right. Reading the rules, it also seems simple to digest. You get a subject card, associated words are on this card. You keep this secret from the other players. Then draft 8 letter cards from a deck and then over three rounds, try to spell out enough words for the opposite number to guess it all. In between you can do anything you wish to spell out words. Block letters, flip cards, write misspelt and upside down and side to side words. Then if none of that works, well drop cards at the end of a round and draw more to help complete your words. Just do as much as you can to make the other player understand what word you are making and what subject it is all about.

But as we know that is not it. It’s more complicated than that. This game has been designed by John Keyworth. He has enjoyed a distinguished decade long programming career, focussed mainly on computer game development. An enviable task. This is important. For John has locked on to two important traits for a number one game. Firstly, audience participation. Players are not just drawing and obscuring, no. They are moulding. Prodding. Examining. The 8 cards are like the heroes journey. Not linear or straight lined. More an arc for you to extract meaning and solutions from. You are on a discovery trail. Fastest thinker first. The second trait is playability. You will return to this again and again. Osprey describes INKLING as a fun, innovative game. It certainly is. It is also a family friendly one. I heartily agree with their suggestion of 3 – 6 players but despair at the aged 14 stamp. 10 year olds can grasp this game. 12 years olds can most definingly understand and enjoy its ebbs and flows. I suspect Keyworth garnered that from his programming sense. I am not sure why Osprey didn’t? The other thing about playability is time. A game can be played in about 20 minutes from card drawn to end of round three. This suits everyone.

Osprey see INKLING as their champion for the summer we are about to have. One of Freedom to see family. Joys of long hot nights and the hopefully spending of time in friends and families company. They are not wrong. This will be the game of the summer and no messing. Shame they didn’t say it was for everyone….