Designed by: Rob Sparks
Tinderblox is a really sweet and simple stacking game, played more or less straight out of the tin it comes in.
The only thing you take out the tin are the cards and tweezers. One card shows the fireplace, and three wooden log pieces are placed on it before the game starts. Then turn by turn, players flip over new cards, which tell you what needs to be added to the ‘fire’ – a log or two, the fire pieces of red and yellow – and your job is to remove them from the tin and add them to the fire, using the tweezers provided.
Nothing is allowed to touch the card or table top. If you drop the pieces you’re adding, it’s okay to try again. But if you knock off any pieces previously-placed on the fire, then you’re out of the game! The last fire-builder standing wins.
Not a huge amount to speak of - although players can certainly try and place their own fire pieces in a ramshackle enough way to make the next player's task harder, often you're too focused on Not Messing Up to consider anything else.
Low
Very low
Tinderblox isn't really a game that offers variety beyond how the cards come out, but it plays breezily and quickly enough to invite 'one more go'
2-6
Players
6+
Years
5-15
Mins
Sam says
The good rating here reflects just how much play Tinderblox packs into a tiny tin. While I think there are dexterity games with more interesting dynamics, the beauty of Tinderblox is at least in part to its portability: that tin can survive trips to the campsite/pub/wherever, and if the gameplay itself feels a mite straightforward, it's still a diverting enough ten minutes that tends to build tension, and end in laughter. Sweet, funny, eminently playable, and easily teachable. As long as you're ok with tweezers.