Clubhouse Games: 51 Worldwide Classics

Introduction/Conclusion:
Clubhouse Games is a title that you'll probably be able to decide on if it's "for you" long before purchase. It requires what can be a significant investment to get going–at its best, you need a collection of friends who would enjoy playing these games, each of which would have a Switch and if you want to play online as opposed to in-person, a copy of the game as well. However, with these circumstances fulfilled, the game shines as a near-endless amount of fun, something that can easily be picked back up and played whenever you're in the mood, whether that's for single-player fun against CPUs or playing the more multiplayer-friendly games with friends. With a $40 dollar price tag, I would recommend that it's likely best for either one friend to buy it so that everyone can play together using the free "guest pass" at a get-together, or for a group of friends to wait for a sale and grab it all at once. I've played over 50 hours of the game currently, and I still feel like there's a good amount of fun to dig out of it, especially because it's something that can easily be played "once-in-a-while" for an endless span of time (or, at least, until the Switch isn't a dominant console anymore).

It's a worthy game and purchase, but if you're on the edge if this is going to be a game you'd appreciate, I'd imagine looking through the selection of games, talking with friends about it, and checking out the rest of my review before you put money down.

Overview:
Of the full selection of games, I would say a bit less than half of them are some variation of recommended, with around a fourth of all the games being strongly or medium...ly recommended. This may sound like a low number considering the advertised 51, but I think it's worth noting that both a good number of the games I did not enjoy much have their place and are usually well-rendered and that many of the best games of the compilation are complex enough to be enjoyed for hours on end by their own. The ability to obtain games like Shogi, Riichi Mahjong, Chess, President, and others all at once easily is not one to be underestimated. Some of the games that I don't think are particularly great can still be enjoyed, especially if it's one that you may specifically want to play with a friend–for instance, while a game like "Checkers" isn't a personal favorite, I could certainly imagine wanting access to it for a quick game. The sheer variety of options is just generally useful, and the fact that half of them are fun to play on top of that is an added bonus.

Single-Player:
Single-player stands out as the only way where all of the 51+Piano games are actually available to play (not counting some special multiplayer variants, such as "1-on-1 Hit and Blow" and "Fishing," as well as specific maps only available on Mosaic mode). There are only four games that are specifically single-player only, which is a tense sliding puzzle game and three different versions of Solitaire. The rest all face you off against CPU opponents with four separate difficulty options that you unlock by beating the previous difficulty. There are some luck-based games that do not contain other difficulties, though even some which can be heavily luck-focused (such as Last Card, Sevens, and Hanafuda to some extent) allow you to face harder CPU.

Of course, the success of each game as a "single-player" experience can really depend. Some games work well, especially ones based on skill like Chess or Shogi. Others, however, feel entirely pointless in this mode, such as "party" games like Ludo and Last Card or luck-based games like War. The incentive to play games on single-player is mainly to unlock different medals to the extent where you "master a game," which can range from doing anything from beating the hardest difficulty CPU, beating different variants of the same game, beating the entire game once, or reaching a certain score or minimum time. As well, early matches in certain games can unlock fun options that stay in multiplayer, mainly Mario-based cards in Hanafuda, Matching, and other card games. Honestly, I wish there were more fun changes in design like this–though it's fun to get presents from people on your "Guide Globe," they dry up very quickly. While I did find collecting these different rewards fun at times, certain games really felt like a chore and the difficulty of collecting them really varied. Some games have a legitimate difficulty that I'd have to study for a long time before ever getting to master (Shogi, Chess, Riichi Mahjong), some required only a small bit of a learning curve before I managed to master them (Hex, Four-In-A-Row, Gomoku), while others were annoying to master, usually because of heavy reliance on luck (Last Card, Ludo, Spider Solitaire).

I know most people are just going to be buying this game for the multiplayer, but I do think there is some fun to be had for those without many friends to play with. Honestly, if you're just looking for a good way to learn and triumph in some of the more complicated games or relax with some of the easier ones, I'd recommend it. It's still a pretty enjoyable experience getting a good hand in Riichi Mahjong or blocking others from playing their final card in Sevens, even against a computer.

Multiplayer:
Multiplayer comes in multiple variants: Single-system multiplayer, Local with multiple consoles (using the Guest Pass or with full copies of the game), the "Mosaic" mode using multiple consoles, and the online mode (with requires a full copy of the game for all players).

If there's one thing I can warn potential buyers about, it's that you should definitely not buy the game if the only multiplayer you're hoping to get out of it is single-system play. The issue is one that's fairly obvious when you think of it, but can sneak up on you if you don't take a second–since each player will be using one console, that means all games where players have "hidden information" are unplayable. Though this isn't a big deal for most two-player games, party games are severely restricted, with some of my favorite games like Hanafuda, Riichi Mahjong, Texas Hold-Em, Last Card, President, and Sevens being unplayable. Unless your idea of four-player fun is composed purely of Ludo and Blackjack, single-console play is severely lacking. Of course, two-player games don't have this issue as much, as they are basically entirely "open information" games where both players are given the same info at the same time... but just be wary that Clubhouse Games completely fails as a "party" game when only one console is involved.

Of course, local with multiple consoles fully opens the board, and the fact that only one player needs to own the game for this to work (the others can download the demo of the game, called the "guest pass," and join freely) means that this is one of the best ways to play. This reopens all the best four-player games and still incorporates the best two-player games in friendlier ways. For instance, games like Chess will actually "flip" the board for both players so that they're each facing it like they're on either side of the board, while a single-console game will only have one static board position, causing the second player to have to play backward.

"Mosaic mode" is a variant of local play meant to take advantage of having multiple switches, with certain games being allowed such as Team Tanks, Fishing, and Slot Cars. Though I think this is an interesting feature at first (with Team Tanks benefitting the most from it, as can be seen in my review of that specific game), I don't see this being a mode that I'll come back to more than once or twice. Still, though, I can't deny this was interesting, but I don't think the things done with this concept are unique enough to demand the attention it feels like the mode got in some advertising.

Online mode works similarly to local but just... y'know, online! The only real differences I've noticed are that guest passes are disallowed from playing, and that the "undo" function is turned off (which is generally a blessing, as players can force a game to not finish when they lose by "undo-ing" bad turns, a constant problem in local games with unruly friends). I only noticed significant connection problems early on, and this turned out to be a problem with my router rather than the actual game–in reality, this basically just functions like local play, especially if you decide to use voice chat (of which I generally just did over Discord, playing round after round of Gomoku with a good friend).

A more detailed list of which games work best in multiplayer can be found below, but there's enough that local, mosaic, and online play all have their strengths (though, as mentioned, single-console can be lacking).

Graphics/Design:
Honestly, the thing the game succeeds in most is its design. Almost all games are portrayed in satisfying ways, from the slap of Hanafuda cards, the clack of Shogi pieces, and the roll of the dice. Games are presented incredibly sleekly, and even the ones that don't play well at least look pretty nice. This is one of the sleekest tabletop simulators I've ever seen, and it's clear a lot of work was put into this part of the game.

Especially good points:
• The more difficult and complex games (Shogi, Chess, and Riiichii Mahjong) come with short, built-in tutorials that go an extra step to get players comfortable with game mechanics. This is definitely appreciated, and even though they're rather simple, I honestly didn't expect them to be implemented at all.
• I appreciate that all of the large-scale sports games are specifically rendered as "toy" variants (except golf, for some reason), keeping the clubhouse/tabletop feel of the other games rather than just having a random Wii Sports-type game in the mix. They're all rather cute and small, and contain restrictions that make sense, as if they were actually playable in real life.

Nitpicks:
• Some of the games feel like they should be available for more players than they are. For instance, "Bowling" is restricted to two players, despite obviously being a game that can, theoretically, have as many players as you need.
• Some of the "assist modes" feel like incredibly powerful bonuses (such as Shogi and Chess), while others feel terribly useless (such as Backgammon and Mancala), and there's no way to turn them off for both players when playing online, meaning that someone who uses them may have a powerful advantage.
• Speaking of that, there are no "settings" at all. Anywhere. There are, of course, game-specific settings which allow for rule changes, but there are no global settings, which means a lot of things which would be useful (for instance, turning off assist modes, setting all games to "random" for who gets first player, etc.) just aren't available.
• The intro videos for each game always need to be skipped. Every time. As well, they're usually not very useful–for some games, they work well as semi-tutorials, but usually just reading the "how to play" section allows for a quicker and clearer understanding of game mechanics.
• No retry/replay button after a game finishes. You always get booted back to the game's menu, which usually leads me to start a losing match against a CPU over rather than let them beat me and have to suffer loading screens.
• The "Guide Globe" is just... exceptionally strange. It feels like it took rather simple features (seeing your friends profiles, seeing your own stats, gaining new card designs for games, etc.) and over-complicated it. Having "guides" that invite you to play different games feels superfluous and nonsensical, as does the process of "inviting" them. At most, the globe looks pretty... but that's about it.

And Now, an Exceptionally Overwrought Review of Each of the 51 Games (+ Piano):

1. Mancala - Slightly Recommended
Quick and fun. Honestly, the best part of the game is just how pretty the little... gem... pieces are. There's some definite strategy here, but honestly, this is a game that's kinda more fun to "experience" than it is to play, if that makes sense. It just feels kinda nice to play mancala, y'know?

2. Dots and Boxes - Avoid
It almost hurts me to mark this game as "Avoid," but in my experience, this just isn't a very fun game to play, even though I may have loved it as a kid. Games are essentially stalemates until the very end, at which point the winner becomes decided based entirely on turn order and you have to watch as each box is scribbled in, one after the other, very slowly. It's just not a very fun game when it gets down to it.

3. Yacht Dice (aka Yahtzee) - Recommended
You can't really go down with Yahtzee. It's a game all about managing your luck and trying to move towards specific combinations for points scoring. It's a good, simple one-on-one game that still manages to feel fairly complex when you're playing it, doing your best to make a good set of combinations that'll outscore your opponent. And, of course, when you finally score that "Yacht"... there's no better feeling.

4. Four in a Row (aka Connect 4) - Slightly Recommended
This is a similar type of strategic game as Gomoku, where you're trying to trap your opponent into either making a simple mistake or trapping them into a loss that they can't get out of. It works fair enough, but honestly, the smallness of the board makes the game come to a head way too quickly, and it's rather easy to end the game in a tie. Still, it works most of the time, so I'd call this a light recommendation. Good for a quick game or two in-between more substantive games.

5. Hit and Blow - Slightly Recommended
Hit and Blow definitely benefits from being nice looking–I tend to like any game better if it has nice colors and details to look at. It's essentially just a progressive guessing game and makes for something easy to try out in between others. The two-player mode is a bit strange... it's meant to be competitive where the first person to guess the final result wins, but because of how the game functions it ends up being cooperative as you help each other solve the puzzle. It's fun enough, but I can't say I'm in love with it.

6. Nine Men's Morris - Slightly Recommended
This is an interesting game... the concept of forming the board to prevent opponent's mills and form your own is cool once you get used to it, and the game is always changing around... not paying attention to the board state can easily turn a surefire victory into a sudden loss. Weirdly, I think I had more fun playing the CPU in this than with friends.

7. Hex - It's Fine...
This one is interesting to learn, but the main issue is that when both players actually know how to play, the games feel like they're decided rather early on, with the rest just based on the "winning" player not making a mistake. I keep trying this one, but I really don't think it has much staying power.

8. Checkers - It's Fine...
One thing that playing checkers in 51 Games with friends and against the CPU made me realize is that, as it turns out, I kinda hate checkers. I don't like the awkward early game, where pieces are just traded between players. And I don't like the extended late game, where players just move around towards each other until one of them finally traps the other into a loss. I don't like the "threefold repetition" rule, which sometimes triggers on accident and ends a game early. I straight up just don't like checkers and don't really have any fun playing it, despite the inherent fun in jumping tons of pieces. Maybe this game is more fun if you know more (or less) of the strategies for victory, but I'm stuck in the middle and end up finding the game rather torturous.

9. Hare and Hounds - It's Fine...
It seems a bit too simple and awkward to really be any fun. Games either end pretty quickly or just go on a loop, and both players need a pretty firm grasp on the game for it not to just end default hare win. That being said, I don't know the game well enough to just call it "avoid"... maybe you'll get more out of it.

10. Gomoku - Strongly Recommended
I'm not sure what it is about Gomoku that's made it so continuously fun to play with a good friend. I've done so many matches of this... it's really easy to start up, tense but interesting to play, and wins mostly feel pretty deserved for the winner. This is like, the "deluxe" version of Connect 4, in a sense... I dunno, this one's just been a lot of one-on-one fun. Find someone who'll enjoy it as much as you do and do match after match.

11. Dominoes - It's Fine...
I.. I guess it's okay? I'm sure there's some strategy to be had here, but it really comes across as random tile placing until someone wins. Even at games with maximum points, they still end really quickly. It's honestly similar to Last Card in some senses, but without all the fun of... y'know... UNO. It's not bad, but... there's just not much reason to play this one.

12. Chinese Checkers - Slightly Recommended
I think the main issue with Chinese Checkers in its implementation here is that you can see all your possible moves before you make any. Maybe it's just because I'm not a professional, but the idea of being able to "miss" good moves is what makes many board games work since that's part of your skill and part of the match. This is still a good implementation, but I feel like I do a lot better than I should just because I see all the possible moves.

13. Ludo (aka Sorry!) - Slightly Recommended
Ludo is a game that kinda feels designed for you to be a dick to your friends. It's nice enough–the ability to choose which pieces you move lends a bit of strategy, as you try and run away from pieces behind you that might jump on you, and run towards pieces in front of you that you might be able to jump on. My biggest complaint here is that a game of Ludo always takes way too long, from both the number of pieces that need to reach the goal and the need to roll a 6 to get any of your pieces out. It's an alright game, but it really pales in comparison to some of the other 4-player games on offer.

14. Backgammon - Slightly Recommended
I was going to start this section off by saying that Backgammon was a strange game, but I only recently realized how much this game's mechanics has in common with Ludo. It's basically a version of that game designed to be more strategic (due to how you block pieces and can prevent your own by being "captured" through stacking) and more competitive. It's a one-on-one strategy game as opposed to a four-player party game, but the roll of the dice still reveals the game to be pretty random at times. It's interesting and worth checking out, but something about it ends up feeling kinda dull as the game drags on (rather similar to Ludo in that regard).

15. Renegade aka Othello, Reversi - It's Fine...
Maybe I just need to get good, but Renegade is just not fun for me to play. Moves always feel like they're rather random, as does who ends up winning by the end of the game. Hell, Wikipedia even states that the game is particularly difficult for humans to play well due to how hard it is to "look-ahead" at future moves. I don't know, I just never have fun playing this one. Maybe you'll fare better.

16. Chess - Recommended
I don't think I really need to tell you anything about chess. It's.... chess. This is a perfectly good emulation of chess, and that's all you really need to know if you're someone who likes chess.

17. Shogi - Recommended
While Riichi Mahjong stands out as the hardest game of this compilation to learn, I think Shogi is likely the hardest to master. Because of this, It's difficult to give an exact ranking–my rating of "Recommended" is based more on the idea that this is, as far as I can tell, a perfectly suitably designed version of Shogi... and the clacking of the pieces is very fun and satisfying. If you have the time to spare, I think learning Shogi would be a really enriching experience, and I'd imagine it's both fun to play against CPU and with friends.

18. Mini Shogi - Recommended
Mini Shogi stands as pretty great evidence that Shogi is a really complicated game, because even Mini Shogi, which is rather obviously significantly less complicated, still feels incredibly complex. This one's definitely better for quicker games, and I think that learning some of the set-ups you can do with your pieces on a smaller board will help your mind adjust to the larger one.

19. Hanafuda aka Koi-Koi Hanafuda - Recommended
Once players get used to Koi-Koi Hanafuda, I think this game ends up as a lot of fun. The cards are colorful, making sets is engaging, slapping down cards is inherently fun, and the option to continue a game for more points with "koi-koi" is a great touch (especially because it adds a risk that your opponent may get extra points instead). I'd recommend playing the longest, 12-match version of the game, as shorter variants usually mean the entire game is decided in one, high-scoring round.

20. Riichi Mahjong - Recommended
I think, once you get a handle on how this game plays, you can start having a pretty good amount of fun. The process of making hands is pretty nice and the game seems like it translates pretty well onto the Switch. Obviously it's a bit of a strange learning curve, but playing a couple of games started to get me more used to what the different hands looked like and what I should be aiming for. The only major complaint is how calling works–by creating an option that pauses the game for calls, you give away information on what calls you could've made if you don't end up calling, which technically shouldn't happen, and could cause some issues with players who know the game extremely well and can read others' hands. Of course, I think players who knew the game that well probably wouldn't be playing it on the Nintendo Switch, but whatever...

21. Last Card aka UNO - Recommended
It's UNO. Obviously, it has its faults (usually when games end up turning into incredibly long, one-on-one bouts for third place) but it's also just a really easy, enjoyable card game. Nothing feels better than chaining +3 card draws in a circle until someone has to draw 9 cards. Unless you're that someone...

22. Blackjack - Avoid
Blackjack is already a rather dull, luck-based game, that's really only fun to play when there are money and real stakes on the line. This doesn't have any stakes, so it's just managing your luck in really simple ways. I would have given this an "It's Fine..." rating, but the fact that you can't lose all your money and leave the game early (instead, you just go into "negative points" and can still bet as much as you want) removes one of the small points of strategy that could've made this game a bit more interesting. As it is now, it's just no fun.

23. Texas Hold'em - Slightly Recommended
This is an... alright implementation of Poker. As opposed to Blackjack, I do appreciate that when you run out of tokens, you actually lose and can't play further rounds (in Blackjack, you can just go negative). However, a major issue for me is not being allowed to decide how much you bet or raise at any given time. You can only bet or raise the specific given amounts, which loses a lot of strategy (i.e. if you have more chips than another player, you can't force them to fold or go all in like you can in real life Poker). This is a pretty small thing, but I think it goes a long way to weaken this from the "Recommended" ranking I'd like to give it.

24. President - Strongly Recommended
President has really surprised me as one of the best games in the entire package–at the least, the greatest card game. It's a game that's so fun to play and feels so tightly designed that it astounds me that it's possible to play it with just a deck of cards. Playing with all the special rules on is what makes this. Using restricted cards, holding onto 3 of spades in case a joker comes out, deciding which cards to play first to ensure victory, trying to avoid "downfall" as the president... it's so engaging and really fits well as a competitive, ever-shifting game when played with three friends. The worst I can say about "President" is the intro video for the game is exceptionally confusing and doesn't show how to actually play the game, leading me and my friends to write it off at first. Don't miss this one.

25. Sevens - Recommended
I think, if I had written these reviews on Day 1 of my purchase, Sevens would be listed as strongly recommended. There's just a lot of inherent fun that comes with the early stages of figuring out Sevens with friends, where each player slowly realizes which cards not to play, when to use passes, and how to force a loss out of your opponents. The more I played it, however, the more automatic playing became, so now this game starts to feel less "strategic" and more "comforting." Whether the cards wrap around or not, this is a quick game I can play multiple times with friends in between the more demanding games, while still requiring enough strategy to be interesting on its own.

26. Speed - It's Fine...
This one's really not that bad, and can be fun with a friend... but it just ends way too quickly and it's really easy to win or lose based on sheer luck because of how selecting cards works (if you select a card that is a match, it automatically goes to the matching pile, means you can essentially mash on your cards and succeed half the time). It's... alright.

27. Matching - It's Fine...
It's a matching game. I suppose it's not bad, but it's basically just a mix of memory and luck. Probably the most "it's fine" game possible.

28. War - Avoid
War is a game that only works when you're bored as fuck, have nothing to do, have a friend, and happen to be holding a deck of card. There is no reason to play such a boring game like this when you have so many other options, especially when the results always just come down to luck.

29. Takoyaki - Avoid
I guess if you had to pick a pure luck game, do this one. The rules are abstracted enough that you might forget it's a luck game. It is, though.

30. Pig's Tail - Avoid
Not actually luck-based. You win more if you think about pigs as you play.

31. Golf - Slightly Recommend
Honestly, a pretty nice version of golf. The different golf clubs are there, the wind effects are there, the different terrain are there... there's really not much to complain about. Worth playing with a friend if you're interested in... y'know, golf.

32. Billiards - It's Fine...
This one's really close to being lightly recommended. There's really nothing that wrong with billiards, and it even has the benefit of essentially being three games in one (8-ball, 9-ball, and simple rules) but... look, when you get the guideline, there's really not much difficult in playing billiards. The only real difficulty in the game is seeing how good you are with following a line to one of the holes. It's a fine simulation, but it's not really worth your time.

33. Bowling - It's Fine...
Bowling is... a really strange addition to this game compilation. There are two ways to play, and both are exceptionally strange. Playing with a touch screen allows for extreme accuracy, but is also very strange to play, especially considering how the perspective of a bowling alley is. Playing with motion controls is weird as well, as you decide the angle of your shot beforehand, and all your motion determines is the spin and speed. Neither of them can tackle "challenge bowling," which seems outright impossible to get the medal for without extreme precision. Not sure why they bothered doing something like this when it doesn't feel like it fits well with the Switch's strengths.

34. Darts - It's Fine...
Just like Bowling, Darts is a strange addition. Both control systems feel both way too accurate and yet incredibly touchy, and playing it just doesn't feel very good. This one also has the issue of the CPU being way too good at the game–I can't even beat hard mode (which is the second of four potential difficulties) because the CPU gets 20 after bullseye after double bullseye after triple 20...

35. Carrom - Avoid
This just feels like an excessively awkward and stilted version of 8-ball. It's possible a real-life version of this game is more fun (especially since, from my understanding, you actually shoot the pieces with your finger...) but as it is now, the game is just incredibly awkward and unfun.

36. Toy Tennis - Recommended
Probably the best of these toy-based sports games. It's just a rather fun version of tennis, with just enough strategy (lob, normal, and speed shots) and different positioning that it feels like a fun one-on-one competition with a friend. Probably better than Wii Tennis, at the least.

37. Toy Soccer - Avoid
Foosball (known as Table Football outside of NA, and what this game is obviously trying to emulate) is already a fairly random, hectic game where points come out of nowhere. However, what makes the game so fun is having to run around your side of the table, moving tons of different things at once and getting tons of feedback from the different "players."
This game... has none of that feedback. It just feels like a ton of random button mashing until someone manages to score. As well, since all players are controlled all at once, the game loses a lot of its fun from frantic switching between players, and the screen becomes a total mess of spinning and moving pieces. It feels like garbage to play, solo and with friends.

38. Toy Curling - It's Fine...
The main issue with Toy Curling is that there's like, a 90% chance that the second player will always win. Being able to throw the last stone is such a powerful move, and almost always guarantees you'll be able to get rid of your opponent's most recent throw or move your final stone right into the center. Besides that, I do think this one is just fun like... to play. It feels nice. But it's not a good competitive game.

39. Toy Boxing - Avoid
I think they tried to do something here with the punch/block/counter gameplay here, but overall it kinda just ends up as a button masher. Maybe it would've worked with some form of "stamina"? I dunno. Not worth it as it is now.

40. Toy Baseball - Avoid
I almost feel bad about saying this, because it seems like the developers put a ton of work into toy baseball. There are tons of different pitching options, there's small movements you can make to adjust where you hit with the bat, the game looks really nice... but there's just no way around this game being complete garbage. Whether or not you hit feels completely random, and when you do hit there's always a large chance that it happens to be an out. If it's not an out, it ends up being a double or triple... but there's no way to tell what you'll get, and no way to improve. It's just a complete crapshoot and is incredibly frustrating to play.

41. Air Hockey - Slightly Recommended
As opposed to "toy soccer," I think the version of air hockey here does a much better job of emulating the chaos of the original game. The game is much more focused on quick reactions and doing your best to not accidentally knock the puck into your own goal (which, as any air hockey player would know, happens a lot more than you'd think). It obviously doesn't have the same frenetic energy as the real thing, but it does a fine job, and being able to choose between a touch screen and normal controls provides extra options for the player.

42. Slot Cars - It's Fine...
This isn't the worst game or anything, but I think it's way too easy to just put the control stick at just the right spot on the Joy-Con and win easily... and then when everyone figures that out, it becomes pretty boring.

43. Fishing - Slightly Recommended
I'm honestly amazed at how fun the "fishing" game can be here. Most fun when you get to use the Mosaic mode with a few friends, as you move between different fishing spots to try and catch a fish and score points before your friends. It's not an astounding game or anything, but I think it's surprisingly fun for what it is.

44. Battle Tanks - It's Fine...
There's *some* strategy here, and I think the bouncing bullets can allow for some fun, but I think playing this competitively just leads to a lot of cheesing. Especially because the game just allows you to spawn kill after you get the first victory...

45. Team Tanks - Recommended
This one is best in Mosaic mode. Fighting against enemies as tanks with friends is fun enough, but the idea that the pre-game setup of the Switch consoles actually leads to strategizing to kill enemies efficiently is honestly rather impressive. Losing a match and then immediately moving Switches around to rethink a map's strategy is satisfying, and I think the most unique thing the game did with its "Mosaic" gimmick.

46. Shooting Gallery - It's Fine...
It's... a shooting gallery. Do you like shooting galleries? Have fun, then. Definitely limited by their only being one potential map to shoot on, but I guess it could be fun if you want to try and memorize the movements and get a perfect score.

47. 6-Ball Puzzle - It's Fine...
I think it's pretty obvious why "6-Ball Puzzle" is being sold as part of a 51 game compilation rather than as its own, full-fledged puzzle game. Though the idea of making 6-piece shapes for victory is interesting, the field of play is so small and the consequences for making one are so powerful that games end rather quickly once someone manages to actually make one. You basically either steamroll to victory or fall behind and lose.

48. Sliding Puzzle - Gives Me a Goddamn Anxiety Attack
Sliding puzzle seems like a perfectly fine game, mechanically, and I'm sure some people will enjoy it. For me, however, it is absurdly stressful. I cannot take more than a minute of this game without my heart rate racing and wanting to scream. Please... please be careful playing sliding puzzle. It is so goddamn tense.

49. Mahjong Solitaire - It's Fine...
I'm not entirely sure what's not clicking about Mahjong Solitaire in this game. I appreciate the effort put in, with 60 different formations to play with but playing mahjong solitaire here turned exhausting rather quickly. Honestly, I think the biggest issue is not being able to use a mouse, which is by far the superior way to remove tiles. Using the gamepad is way too slow to get good rankings while using the touchpad starts to be a pain on the hands after multiple games–especially when it feels like many of the losses were decided before you even started matching tiles.

50. Klondike Solitaire - Slightly Recommended
Klondike solitaire is a rather sweet, easy, and quick way to spend a couple of minutes. I appreciate they allowed for both the draw 1 and draw 3 variants here, as the difficulty of draw 1 is minuscule but still appreciated if I ever just want an easy time stacking up cards.

51. Spider Solitaire - Slightly Recommended at low difficulties
I always used to like spider solitaire more than the Klondike variant as a kid, but playing both of these in this game made me change my mind. On the hardest difficulty, spider solitaire becomes near impossible and is incredibly annoying to have to retry over and over again (online sources calculated a 4-5% chance of victory with perfect play). On the lower two difficulties, though, it's fun enough and is a simple distraction for a solo player.

52. Piano - Avoid
Not worth anything. On switch, it's only an octave long, and on multiple Switches the borders between switches will mess up any playing. The bonus instruments (like the synth and percussion) are incredibly minor and don't help this from being anything more than a small novelty.