Well, it’s summer, which means our beautiful white mountains are white no longer and snow skiing is a distant memory, but we’re bringing the snow to summer with a family strategy board game!
It’s Ski Fest at Skull Canyon and the skiers are in for a solid 4 days of powder and sunshine. The goal is to win the title of ULTIMATE SKIER game is played through 3 days of skiing with two phases each day.
- Phase 1: Skiing – TAKE TWO ACTIONS: Take slope cards, ride a lift, or ski a run.
- Phase 2: Apres-Ski – Players take bonus actions and get gear from the village.
Slope Cards: You want to collect slope cards in the same color or style because in order to ski a run, you have to play a matching (color or style) set of cards. More difficult runs require more cards in a set but also earn more points and fame for the skier.
Ride a Lift: Use one action to move your skier from one waypoint/lodge to another.
Ski a Run: Play a set of 2 for easy runs, 4 for advanced runs, or 7 for expert runs.
The first player to ski a run gets to put a market on the run scoreboard, but other players can steal it from you by playing one extra card in a set. It’s tricky to maintain the position of Run Leader, but the more runs you have markers on at the end of the game, the more points you get!
Pro Tip: WATCH OUT FOR THE YETI! Yeti cards are included in the slope deck and can be used as wild cards. If a player plays a set to ski a run that contains 1 Yeti card, that player gets to place the Yeti on any run to block that run from all players. If a set contains 2 or more Yeti cards, an avalanche is triggered which means every player must slide one run down.
Each player gets to take 2 actions 4 times per day as the daylight marker moves through the day. When the daylight marker moves onto the “end” space, it’s time for Apres Ski!
Players take turns depending on their position on the board paying costs and taking actions to earn fame, bonus tokens, extra slope cards, and/or a free lift ticket. Players can buy as much extra loot here as they are able to. When everyone has exhausted all their Apres-Ski options, the board is reset for another day of skiing!
At the end of the 3rd day, the game is over and the player with the most victory points wins!
Skull Canyon is the perfect mid-level strategy game for kids who are ready for more challenging mechanisms, longer play time, and more intense decision making and problem solving. With so many options each turn, kids get to practice making quick decisions and setting strategy, trying new things and failing sometimes! A great lesson that my kids have learned from board games is that failure is a great learning experience. A failing strategy usually teaches you more about good strategy than anything else could.
Pandasaurus is one of our go-to game makers for educational family strategy board games. They have awesome themes, amazing artwork, and really fun play mechanisms. If you’re looking for other awesome games for your family, here are some of our favorites:
Thanks to Pandasaurus for sharing Skull Canyon with us – we love it and you will to!
