Thank you to Tryazon and The Op for sending these two cool and challenging board games for us to experience. The ‘Venn Game’ & ‘Hues and Cues’ are both now taking their place in our board game arsenal, to be enjoyed for years to come. I was excited to be selected as one of the 200 people to play them! Plus, it was supposed to be just the one – Venn, but it turned out to be double the fun with Hues & Cues as well!

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The Op Board Games

We made this into a family game night with my teens and I playing the games together, on our favorite game night spot – our living room carpet.. The unboxing pics are on our dining room table 🙂

Board Games With Cool Concepts: The Venn Game

Venn is a cool combination of things I love – art, math (the name of the game), and words as well! The concept is super cool indeed!

It takes a while to get this game, and it can definitely be challenging at first, especially for younger players. But once you play a couple of rounds, it gets better, and fun.

The Game Itself:

• Recommended Age: 10+ Great for parties!
• Number of Players: 2+
• Play Time: 20-30 min
• Includes: 6 VENN Circles, 100 Double-sided Art Cards, 50 Double-sided Word Cards, 100 Number Cards, 1 Scoreboard, 2 Team Scoring Markers, 2 Number Card Holders, Rules
• Description: Introducing VENN, a clever game where clues and art overlap! Race to find three secret words based on where a Clue Giver arranges unique Art Cards onto color circles. Set a timer or outguess
• the others to find the similarities, come to the right conclusions, and win! Go head-to-head as teams or work together through cooperative gameplay in this hands-on communication game that mixes friendly
• competition and fun.

How to Play: Draw a number card with three different numbers on it from 1-12. The numbers determine the words you need to give clues to by picking art cards to describe the three words and placing them within the Venn circles for others to try and guess. You can also check out this video on how to play the game.

The Components

The word (+ number) cards: Fun to try to guess three words at a time, but based on how the cards get laid out, sometimes, the words we need to guess can be really tough to do so at the same time using the clues (art cards) and the Venn. Whatever the reason for these closely related words that you might be dealt with, it certainly adds to the challenge (for example, right and left might end up being two of the three words you need to guess)

The art cards: It definitely has an interesting art deck, almost weird. Many look way too abstract and some seem like random images thrown together on one card, which I am not sure is intentional (again). If yes, then maybe it is to add to the challenge. If not, then hopefully, they add new card decks with better art cards in the future.

The rest of the components: The Venn cards sure add to the fun! And overall, all the components of the board game are well-made.

The Concept

As I mentioned already, truly love the concept of the game. I am thinking of ways to add to the cards myself, maybe create my own set of word and art cards to use for the game.

Our Attempt to Play

Oh, I am still figuring out how to give the clues, as you can see here. The number card of 11/1/9 corresponds to words – soft/white/monster – word cards set against the score board. We are not scoring here in this trial of the game as we simply wanted to play 🙂 My teen vetoed my attempts when I showed her the words and I was wondering why I picked the art cards I did later .. But I think I know now..

In Summary

Loved the concept most of all! Also loved that it has immense possibilities, and can be varied to adjust the difficulty based on who is playing. For this is one game that can easily challenge players. And it is wonderful that we can play this with as few as 2 players (co-operative mode) but the more the merrier is also true for this one, based on what I see. So will definitely be playing with a larger group next time around.

Plus Board Games That Add Color to Life: Hues and Cues

Hues and Cues comes with its own coolness as well. Colors have never been as fun and fascinating as when we tried this game out.

While this was an add-on surprise for the Venn Game Night, I think I (as well as my family) loved this one a lot more. On one hand, this is not a game we can replay continuously, since it can get repetitive. So it is better to space out times between playing this one. On the other, it offers so many options to make up your own ways of playing it, and totally inspires creativity in so many ways.

Quick: how many ways can you describe the color vermilion? Well, I am not actually sure which of the colors on the hue board is closest to vermilion actually, but if you are not aware of the color, it is kind of a bright red-orange color. Do let me know of how you would describe it!!

The Game Itself:

Recommended Age: 8+ Great for parties!
Number of Players: 3-10
Play Time: 30 min
Includes: 1 game board, 100 color cards, 30 player pieces, 1 rulebook, 1 scoring frame
Description: Test your color knowledge and guessing abilities with Hues and Cues – a vibrant group party game of colorful communication where players are challenged to make connections to colors with words. Using only one and two-word cues, players try to get others to guess a specific hue from the 480 colors squares on the unique game board . The player with the most points after several rounds wins the game!

How to Play: The game Is simple, a card is read and you have to guess on the board what color you think it is. You can also check out this video on how to play the game.

The Components

Not much to say here, except, vibrant and well-made!! Love, love, love that board 🙂 simply because.

The Concept

Colorfully cool!!

Our Attempt to Play

With the hue of O20, I ended up giving cues of ‘leafy’ and ‘like grass’ and none of the guys in the family came close to the color. My daughter was closest to it at the end. When I asked her, she said she might have picked ‘macha’ for the one-word clue 🙂 Well, I should remember to have her on my team for both these games when we decide to have a huge group playing…

In Summary

This one is definitely a game for all ages, and bound to have people expanding their vocabulary as they figure out new ways to describe the same things. It is fun to see how each of us perceives things so very differently.

Overall

The vibrant colors of these games are simply amazing!! This makes it so easy to have a fun night with friends and family over and jazz up the decor by simply putting these games out; or to be able to blend in these games for any event – be it a birthday party, a ‘hello spring’ thing, Christmas, or just about anything

They take us away from tech for a while!

They bring us closer together (well, depends on how competitive the teams can get!). Definitely gets creativity and conversations flowing all around!

Both games prove that perceptions matter, and perceptions differ as well. Each one shows how different people might provide widely different clues or cues for the same word or hue.

Plus, both games could be played over a Zoom call too, if you so choose. However, it does mean that all players should have their own copy of the game. While I am planning to figure out a way to play this with others who don’t have it yet – maybe, by playing their turn for them on my board – I know that many will enjoy either of these games even in remote mode!

Last but not least, those Op cups that came with the games!! Love them… and I know we will be using them for game night (or even otherwise)….

Related Reads and More Fun With Board Games

• The Op has a Ghoulish Giveaway going on with a chance to win one of three spooky board games. Open to the US only through Oct 23rd, 2022. You can enter through this link (giving me more chances to win too!)
• 10 Terrific Board Games for Book Lovers that are Perfect
• 13 Board Games For Those Days of Bored(om)

About Tryazon and The Op

Tryazon

To learn more about Tryazon, check out this video.

The Op (from their website here)

Based in Southern California, they had their start as a simple business idea that caught fire. Fueled by the fortitude of a dedicated team that put their heart and soul into every custom Monopoly game with a twist. Through the years, they expanded their portfolio to include other licensed favorites like Clue, Munchkin, Trivial Pursuit, Codenames and more. Today, the company has expanded even further to include original family, party, hobby games, and puzzles to became one of the most diverse game publishers around. They are committed to uphold their reputation for quality and authenticity through unique and immersive experiences that they hope will turn moments into memories

Venn: available to purchase at Target and Amazon.
Hues and Cue: available to purchase at Target; Barnes & Noble; and Amazon

And Now, the End of the Post

Dear reader, do you play board games often? What is your favorite? Have you heard of or played any of these featured games from the Op? They also have so many other wonderful games that I am now on the look out for.. And actually, I have played a couple now that I think of it, at friends’ places, including Telestrations.

After reading through these descriptions and looking at the games themselves here, which one would you pick for yourself or as a gift for someone? Do let me know.