A light game most suited for children, Sneeze is a quick card game that can learned in minutes.
Vital Stats
Players: 2 to 6
Time: 15 to 20 minutes
Designer: Carl Chudyk
Publisher: Cambridge Games Factory
Components: Play mat, wind direction card, large deck of small brightly-colored allergy cards, small deck of large tissue cards.
Gameplay Summary
Shuffle the allergy cards into a large deck. Each player is given a starting allergy, and the wind is placed one one side of the draw deck. On your turn, you choose which side of the deck you will flip into. You then flip the top card of the deck onto the chosen side. If the windy side ever matches the full set of allergies someone has (which, at the beginning of the game, is one allergy), that player sneezes.
When a player sneezes, they draw a tissue card, as does the player who made them sneeze. The sneezing player then draws an additional allergy card from the top of the deck, and all cards on the windy side are discarded. Play then continues.
Tissue cards may be played for various special effects, or to flip multiple allergy cards at once.
When a player draws a "Windy Day" card, the wind switches to the opposite side of the deck, and players must all check their allergies against the pile there to see if anyone sneezes. Once a player has four allergy cards, they can give one to another player if they cause that player to sneeze.
Once every player but one has four allergy cards, the last remaining player without four allergies wins.
NOTE: This is only a brief summary, with many details omitted.
The Good And Bad
Good Stuff
The allergy cards are brightly colored and very differently illustrated. This makes the game easy enough to play with anyone, even if they are colorblind.
A simple game for children. Aside from playing the tissue cards, which you only get rarely, your turn consists of choosing which side of the pile to flip on. It's not at all difficult, and the game really can be played with anyone.
Prevents a runaway leader (or loser) by making it harder and harder to sneeze as you collect more allergy cards. Everyone is bound to take their first sneeze fairly early on, but someone who suffers a quick two in a row shouldn't suffer a third for a while.
Bad Stuff
Bright colors and overly cutesy illustrations drive home the point that in spite of the label of "family game," this one is mainly for the kids.
Very little in the way of real choices. Until you get a tissue card, you are only choosing which side of the pile to flip onto, which will be whatever one is more likely to make others sneeze than you. And it's mostly a matter of luck anyway.
Conclusion
Adults may quickly tire of this game, but in the realm of kids' games, Sneeze still involves more volition and interesting choices than either The Game of Life or Candy Land, and plays faster as well.