If you find yourself really needing to work on your relationship with one specific child, or you have two kids that need to work on their sibling relationship, Gnomes At Night could be just what you’re looking for. It’s a cooperative game specifically for just two people.
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How the game is set up
This is a really unique game, but I will start out right here that this is definitely NOT a game you want to bag! The box is a critical component of gameplay. There are four boards; A is the easiest and D is the hardest. The chosen board is held upright on the box. Each player can only see one side of the board.
The player pieces, the gnomes, are magnetic. Each goes on one side of the board, so their magnets keep them upright. While playing, you’re trying to get to each of 12 items, but only half are on each side of the board. The gnomes are not able to cross walls. But when the gnome on one side of the board runs into a wall, the gnome on the other side can probably find a way through.
Gnomes At Night builds relationships
Gnomes At Night demands excellent communication skills, patience, teamwork, and trust. Players have to take turns moving the gnomes. If you both have your hand on your gnome at the same time, you’ll likely break the magnetic bond. When this happens, you have to move your gnome to the next corner and start over trying to get to the item.
Since each player can only see their side of the board, but half the items are on each side, players have to communicate. “It’s in this upper corner,” “this direction” (with a hand signal), and “no, go back” are all commonly heard. My son and I have figured out that if we take turns showing where we can move the gnomes, we can more efficiently move them where we need them to be.
Using the timer
There is an hourglass timer. You’re supposed to see how many items you can get to before the timer runs out. Usually, we play without the timer, as timers honestly stress me out. (If you like timed activities, and want another timed cooperative game, definitely check out Mission Critical: Mars!) But once you get the hang of the game, adding the timer back in can be a good way to assess how well you’re communicating.
My recommendation would be for an adult or teenager to play it with one younger child. Once all younger children have gotten the hang of communicating and cooperating to be successful with the game, then have them play with each other. And definitely at least start without the timer!
There is a “teams” mechanic, but we really didn’t have good success with that. We prefer to keep it just as a two-player game. Even though we’re a family of four, we love having a good collection of two-player games. There are many times when only two people either want to, or are able to, play a game.
What do you think? Does Gnomes at Night deserve a spot on your shelf? Do you have any favorite two-player games? Do you have a favorite cooperative game? Bonus points if there’s another 2-player cooperative game that I don’t know about!