Spiel 2015 Preview: Qwinto, or Qwixx But Not Qwite

Spiel 2015 Preview: Qwinto, or Qwixx But Not Qwite
Board Game: Qwixx
From gallery of W Eric Martin
In 2012, German publisher Nürnberger-Spielkarten-Verlag published Steffen Benndorf's dice game Qwixx — which was a bit odd given the "Spielkarten-Verlag" in the company name, but Qwixx garnered a Spiel des Jahres nomination and has since gone on to sell a half-million copies, so it seems like NSV made the right decision in the end.

In an effort to bottle lightning once again, NSV has been searching for another quick-playing dice game that features simultaneous play, and they've now found their candidate in Qwinto, a 2-6 player game from designers Bernhard Lach and Uwe Rapp that will debut at Spiel 2015 in October.

Here's a rundown of how to play:

Quote:
Players in Qwinto all play at the same time, with everyone trying to fill the rows on their scoresheets with numbers as quickly — and as highly — as possible in order to score the most points.

To set up, each player receives a scoresheet that contains three colored rows of shapes (mostly circles with a few pentagons); the rows don't completely overlap, but they do overlap enough to create five vertical columns of three shapes, with one pentagon being in each vertical row.

On a turn, a player rolls 1-3 dice, with the dice being the same colors as the rows: orange, yellow, purple. Each player can place whatever sum is rolled into an empty shape in a row that matches the color of one of the dice. Two rules must be followed when placing a sum in a row:

1. All numbers in a row must increase from left to right.
2. No number can be repeated in a vertical column.
Board Game: Qwinto

A scoresheet at midgame

Quote:
A player does not have to enter the number in a row, but if the active player, the one who rolled the dice, doesn't do so, then they must mark a misthrow box on their scoresheet.

The game continues until someone has filled two rows on their scoresheet or someone has tallied four misthrows. Players then tally their points: For each completed column on their scoresheet, a player scores points equal to the number in that column's pentagon. For each completed row on their scoresheet, a player scores points equal to the rightmost number in that row. For each incomplete row on their scoresheet, a player scores one point per number in that row. For each misthrow, a player loses five points. Whoever has the highest sum wins!
Board Game: Qwinto

Example of a final scoresheet

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