Around the World in 10-15 Minutes is a game that, as the title suggests, can be played in just 10 to 15 minutes. It’s a game that you won’t be able to find in a local store and it won’t take up any of your shelf space. That’s because this is a game you print at home and you only need a pen to play it.
Rating: | 8 |
Playing time: | 10 to 15 minutes |
Number of players: | 1 to 6 |
Age: | 8+ |
Complexity: | Light game |
Genre: | Roll and write |
Release date: | 2024 |
Publisher: | No Box Games |
Pros
- Affordable, small footprint game
- No dull turns
- Cute illustrations
Cons
- Solo mode is not as great as the main multiplayer variant
This is a print & play game coming from (appropriately named) No Box Games, a small studio dedicated to making affordable board games that you print at home. They previously made a spy game and a pirate game and now it’s time for a quick trek around the world.
Your globetrotting adventures start at one of the big cities and you even get to pick your starting location. From there, you’ll either travel along routes across the world, explore the city you’re in, or pick up some souvenirs. The game ends once a player has traveled all around the world, visiting at least one city on each continent, and returned to their starting city. You then tally up the points and see who had had the best time during their travels.
As mentioned earlier, the game only uses a sheet of paper and a pen per player. One player (each turn) will be designated a Navigator, and they’ll pick which action everybody takes that turn. Traveling is simply marking an unexplored route from your current location to the neighboring city. If you explore, choose one of the sights of your current city and mark the box below. The same goes for collecting souvenirs, except you look at what’s on sale on the current continent. Navigator not only picks the action, but they get to do it twice.
The game is incredibly easy to teach and play – I just taught you the whole game! But, the trick is in choosing the actions and planning the route so you maximize the score. Souvenirs are scored per completed row and column, so you want all the different stuff. On the other hand, sights grant you more points the more time you explore the same sight, but you also get a set bonus for each column. Your travels get you bonus points if you visit every city on a continent, too (there are 3 cities on each continent).
Although pretty simple in its rules, Around the World in 10-15 Minutes looks really nice, and, what’s even better, its sheet is easily readable at a glance. You’re even encouraged to look at what your opponents are doing and, potentially, pick actions that won’t benefit them much.
It’s also a game that shines with more people around the table. I’ve also tried the solo mode, which works more like a roll-and-write game where the sum of two dice decides your actions, and I felt like there’s not enough time to do anything as you’re limited to just 10 turns. I’ve barely managed to score over 30 points after more than a few retries. But I don’t doubt there will be players that can crack the 50+ barrier playing this as a solo board game and win the “Perfect Vacation” title.
Around the World in 10-15 Minutes is a nice, pleasant experience with a very small footprint so it can easily travel with you. You can support it through Kickstarter and get a few more maps (North America and Europe, alongside the world map we played). If you’ve got access to a printer, we recommend backing this nice little beginner game.
Bojan Jovanovic
Bojan is an experienced gaming journalist with more than 15 years in the gaming industry. He’s also the first person we would raid for his board game shelves in the event of a zombie apocalypse. His ideal vacation destination is Essen Spiel and finding new gems for his collection.