Just 4 Fun (game)
| Just 4 fun | |
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 Game material for the board game Just 4 Fun |
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| Game data | |
| author | Jürgen PK Grunau |
| graphic | Claus Stephan |
| publishing company | Cosmos games |
| Publishing year | 2005 |
| Art | Board game, card game |
| Teammates | 2-4 |
| Duration | 25 minutes |
| Age | from 9 years
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| Awards | |
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Just 4 Fun is an abstract card and board game by the German game designer Jürgen PK Grunau for two to four people. The game was published in 2005 by Kosmos Spiele , after it had been published a year earlier as a supplement to spielbox magazine under the name Mach 4 . In the following year it was nominated as Game of the Year and was awarded the Swiss Game Prize as the best strategy game and the Austrian Game of Games award as a “Games Hit for Families”.
Theme and equipment
The game is an abstract strategy game in which the players have to use cards to place pieces on a board on which card values are indicated. In terms of its objectives and strategy, it is similar to the game of four in a row and, as in this case, the player who first controls four adjacent spaces in a continuous row is the winner. Alternatively, the player who, after 20 rounds, has the highest number of points on fields he controls wins.
In addition to the game instructions, the game material consists of:
- a game board with number fields from 1 to 36
- 55 playing cards with numerical values (each four times the values 1 to 12, each once the values 13 to 19)
- 80 setting stones (20 each in four colors)
Style of play
To prepare for the game, the game board is placed in the middle of the game. Each player chooses a color and receives the corresponding set of game pieces. Then the number cards are shuffled and each player receives four cards in hand, the remaining cards are placed face down next to the playing field.
Beginning with a starting player, the players take turns in clockwise order. Each player plays one or more cards in his turn and places a piece on the field with the number that corresponds to the card value or the sum of the values. Then he draws as many cards as necessary until he has four cards in hand again. The token is always placed on the circles facing the player. The tokens can also be placed on fields that already have your own or other stones. However, the active player is not allowed to place his own piece on a field if another player already has at least two pieces more than him. If a player has two more stones than all players, he secures the field by placing his stones in the middle of the game and removing other stones in the field. If a player cannot form a total with his cards in hand with which he can place one of his pieces, he discards his four cards and receives four new cards; then he ends his turn.
The game ends when a player controls four fields with the majority of the game pieces on a horizontal, vertical or diagonal, uninterrupted line; that player won the game. Alternatively, the game ends after 20 rounds, when all players have used up their placing stones. In this case, the player with the highest total of numerical values on the fields he controls wins and, in the event of a tie, the player who owns the field with the highest number wins.
Development and reception
The game was developed by the German game designer Jürgen PK Grunau and published in 2004 as a game insert in the magazine spielbox under the name Mach 4 . In 2005 it appeared under the current name Just 4 Fun at Kosmos Spiele in German for the Nuremberg Toy Fair .
In 2006 it was nominated as Game of the Year and was awarded the Swiss Game Prize for the best strategy game and the Austrian Game of Games award as a “Games Hit for Families”. It was also nominated for the Japan Boardgame Prize as the best foreign game for beginners and in 2010 as the best family game at the Norwegian Årets Spill game award.
An online playable version of the game has been on the yucata.de platform since 2006. In 2010, a version of the game was also released as Just4Fun Colors , which played with colors instead of numbers.
supporting documents
- ↑ a b Just 4 Fun on the website of the Spiel des Jahres eV ; accessed on November 13, 2017.
- ↑ a b c d e f g Game instructions Just 4 Fun
- ↑ Versions of Just 4 Fun in the board game database BoardGameGeek (English); accessed on November 13, 2017.
- ↑ Just 4 Fun on yucata.de; accessed on November 13, 2017.
- ↑ Just4Fun Colors in the board game database BoardGameGeek (English); accessed on November 13, 2017.
Web links
- Just 4 Fun in the Luding games database
- Just 4 Fun in the game database BoardGameGeek (English)
- Harald Schrapers : Just 4 Fun , game review from Fairplay magazine, April – June 2006 issue
- Just 4 Fun at hall9000.de