Quirk!

Game 56 of the “Bailey Family Summer 2023 Board Game Bonanza” featured “Quirk!”, played by Jack (.8.), Toby (5), and myself.

“Quirk!” is a set collection game where you aim to collect as many quirks (sets of 3 characters) as possible. The game begins by shuffling all the cards and placing them face-down in the centre to form a deck. Each player then draws three cards.

On your turn, you can either play a green character card or use a red Steel card to collect a set that has already been completed by someone else.

To play a character card, you turn to another player and select a card from your hand, mimicking or making sounds like the character on the card. This adds a fun and silly element to the game that we all enjoyed.

If the player you ask has the card you’re looking for, they must give it to you. When you collect three of the same card, you place them face up in front of you as a completed quirk. This straightforward concept works well because you can only ask for cards you currently have in your hand. Once a card is taken from you, you can’t request it back if you no longer possess it.

Initially, I was concerned that the boys might try to cheat by pretending not to understand my descriptions, but the images on the cards are quite distinctive, making it easy to identify the character you want. There is however nothing in the rules as far as I can tell to stop someone saying they do not have a card and pretending they did not understand your action and I could see that being a problem.

Another type of card you can play is a red Steal card, which allows you to steal an already completed quirk set from another player. If you don’t have a playable card in your hand, you must draw one at the beginning of your turn.

There are also other cards, such as orange Block cards that prevent players from stealing your quirks and blue Stop cards that block players from asking you for characters. Finally, there are optional Mystery cards that we played with, adding another layer of randomness, such as everyone passing their deck to the right and players imitating sounds that round.

The game continues until all the cards have been played, and all the quirks are in front of the players. The player with the most quirks wins. The game comes with a white deck and a grey deck that can be used independently or combined for a larger game. Since you clear the entire deck, the game takes about half an hour to complete.

The production quality is good, with a nice slip box and well-organized decks. The artwork is charming, which is a welcome improvement considering my past issues with Gibson’s Games packaging.

We enjoyed “Quirk!” Despite initial uncertainties about the rules, my boys had fun with the silliness of the game. It’s worth noting that if someone doesn’t want to act out, they can simply ask for the specific animal. The strategic element of the game is relatively light, but it’s beneficial to try and deduce what cards other players have in their hands, so you know who to ask on your turn and don’t waste your chances.

In conclusion, “Quirk!” is a fun card game that isn’t essential but we enjoyed it and will definitely play it again. My biggest criticism actually is that for such a simple game it takes a long time to play and I think in the time we would rather have a few games of various other shorter card games.

Disclaimer: A copy of “Quirk!” was generously provided by Gibsons Games (https://gibsonsgames.co.uk/collections/family) for the purpose of this review and as a donation to the school where I work. All our thoughts and opinions are our own, and it’s no small task to convince an eight and five-year-old to give anything other than an honest answer.