Looking for a small dexterity game that you can easily take with you when heading out with your gaming buddy (or buddies)? That sounds like a match made in heaven for Dice Daniel. My ideal holiday is a beautiful natural area, a well-packed backpack filled with games and books, and time for long walks—plus plenty of downtime left to play those games and read the books I brought along. Tinderblox fits perfectly into that ideal image. It’s the ideal on-the-go dexterity game and comes in the perfect package: a little tin box.

How to Play

In Tinderblox, players gather cozily around a table (or a campfire, picnic blanket, beach towel, forest floor, or any other spot) to work together building a tiny 3D campfire using nimble fingers. The campfire is built with small wooden blocks shaped like kindling, flames, and glowing embers. Be careful not to knock over the fire by bumping the blocks, as that will cost you the game.

Building the campfire is trickier than you might think. It’s not just a simple stacking game—Tinderblox has a twist. Players must stack the blocks using a plastic tweezers, and you have to carefully select the correct blocks. When it’s your turn, you draw a card from the deck; the card shows exactly which pieces (log, ember, flame, or a combination) you must add to the growing fire. Sometimes you’re required to add several pieces at once; in that case, you must first stack them together and then place the entire stack onto the campfire.

Armed only with the tweezers (yes, even if your fingers are itching, you may not use your bare hands!), players try to carefully place the indicated blocks on the fire. Some cards add extra challenge: if a card has a special symbol, you must use your “non-dominant” hand! For lefties, this is your moment for revenge after all those years using right-handed scissors or mice.

The Goal

The goal of Tinderblox is simple: keep the fire burning by feeding it blocks, without letting the fire go out by knocking over the carefully built campfire. If you drop only the blocks you’re trying to add, you get to try again. But if you knock off any existing blocks, you might be a “fire master,” but you’ve let the fire go out and you’re out of the game. Naturally, you can try to place blocks as awkwardly as possible to make it tougher for the others—but beware: you might burn yourself. Remember: if you play with fire, you must be willing to get burned.

Players take turns drawing cards and piling up the campfire, dropping out if they fail, until only one pyromaniac remains, who can be fiercely proud of their victory. And when it’s over? You can easily play another five (or ten) rounds in a row.

Impression

Regular readers know that my partner and I love taking games along when we travel. I am absolutely charmed by small games with a big impact, and I am a huge fan of dexterity games. I’ve written before about my favorite dexterity games, and Tinderblox is now part of that list. It’s a fast-paced, easy-to-carry game (unlike many other dexterity games) and it guarantees fireworks at the table: lots of laughter and fiercely competitive fun! Whether you’re a tough lumberjack or a trembling marshmallow, Tinderblox will test your dexterity and nerves of steel—anywhere you play!

Storm-edition

Tinderblox already has several releases and editions. For example, there is a version where players will quite appropriately roast marshmallows. What if you want to play Tinderblox even in the harshest conditions and wild locations? If you’re not afraid of getting a little wet (you’re not made out of sugar we would say in the Netherlands, i.e. you wont melt) then Tinderblox Storm Edition is perfect for you.

In fact, all game components in the storm edition are somewhat water resistant. That doesn’t necessarily mean you have to play Tinderblox at the bottom of the ocean – after all, the wooden cubes will float which creates a unnecessary challenge – but it does mean they can withstand some drops of water. Bit of rain? No problem.

In addition to the components, the Storm Edition contains another twist. Namely, the deck of cards also contains a certain amount of storm cards. When you draw such a card, you must place water drops on the campfire. You must not drop these or you extinguish the fire (and lose). These cubes are a lot slicker and have a different size, so you have to be even more deft.