DragonStone Mine, created by sister and brother Ruby and Milo with their father Scott, provides an easy to play and fun challenge.
Basics:
Players: 2-4
Play Time: 15 to 30 minutes
Age: All Ages
Available in two-player and four-player configurations, the game comes with two to four stacking tower bases, 25 cards, 68 to 136 gems, a mine bag, and three levels of rules (smiley level, level 1, and level 2). To play, you simply pull a gem out of the mine bag, play it according to the gem rule, and, depending on the level, play an additional card. Your goal is to stack the jewels for maximum points.
I played all three levels with the creators, while my five-year-old daughter played an adaptation between the smiley level and level 1. The game provided a good time for all age levels. A perfect tower looks something like this, which my girl managed to play.
The game came with prototype jewels that we played with and a few sample jewels. In the words of my daughter, “These jewels look pretty, can we only play with them?”
What interests me beyond the gameplay is the story of its creation. When Rudy was not much older than my girl, she went to the hardware store one rainy day with her father, Scott, to create a game. With a $30 budget, she decided to do something with dowels. From there, she found the nuts that became the first jewels and some spray paint. This left no budget for a base. However, Ruby was a resourceful girl, and she repurposed a plane she had made in kindergarten from two pieces of wood. With her father’s help, Ruby came up with simple yet fun jewel rules, and the smiley level was up and running.
Milo brought his experience as a gamer to the table and introduced a deck of cards. These cards add another level to the game, with cards for games of two or more players and additional cards for games of three or more players. Milo and Ruby would like to add more cards to the game over time. Milo also helped in the construction of the initial game set, using the power tools his sister was too young to use to create the stacking towers.
This game provides fun gameplay for everyone in the game, which is reason enough to support their Kickstarter. For me, there is added value in showing my daughter that kids just like her can create a game with lasting value–that makes this an even better game.
There are just a few days left to support the Kickstarter, so act now or miss out.
