Captain Flip

Early Gamers is a frequent favorite category for both the Committee and for folks writ large. This category is often most devoted to games that expand the hobby either through novelty or approachability, and so we often see some real classics emerge that will be hitting the table for a long time. One such game is the first game coming from new publisher PlayPunk: Captain Flip! In it, players form their own pirate crew and sail the seas, trying to score points. The challenge is that the crew members are drawn randomly. You can flip a tile over before placing it, but once you flip, you’re stuck!

The committee particularly enjoyed the ease of setup and play, along with the low barrier to having fun from the jump. There’s always something charming about a game that’s relatively effortless to play, and even when you lose, you can just put the tiles back in the bag, choose a new map to play on, and start again. It’s the ease of experience combined with low complexity that makes Captain Flip such an approachable title, and with that approachability (and a colorful and pleasant art style), we were easily aligned that Captain Flip should be named this year’s Early Gamers winner.

What Our Committee Is Saying

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Photos courtesy of What’s Eric Playing?. All rights reserved.

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