To start the game, you place one row card for each person playing in the centre of the table and give each person a summary card which describes the pointing mechanism. Next each player receives a chameleon of one color. This will start you off with a color to aim to collect.

On your turn you can either flip a card and place it by one of the row cards (this is your opportunity to stick a random color in the pile you think an opponent might want), or claim a row and its cards. This brings me to one part of the game I really enjoy. You are constantly trying to set up the rows to make them appealing for you to take by placing the colors you want together. But you also need to make sure you aren't letting your opponents plan their perfect rows out.

Each row can have a max of three cards placed in it, but you can also claim a row with only one or two cards if you want. Sometimes when everything is going south you just need to take the row with one card and jump ship! You won't get the extra points you could if you stayed in, but you also won't receive negative points for colors you don't want.

You are trying to collect cards of up to 3 different colors but not any more than that. If you have more than 3 colors, all the others will count against you. There are a few wild cards and extra points cards that will help you out, but everyone else wants those cards too.

Coloretto comes in a nice and small box that would be great to travel with. Another bonus is that there are no extra pieces that can you could possibly use if you did travel with it.

I always appreciate games that have a card for each player that lets you know how the points are tallied. The summary cards in Coloretto give you an easy break down of how the points will count for or against you. This is especially helpful in a fast paced game such as this so that one player doesn't pull away with points because someone else wasn't quite sure how they add up.

There should be a spot in every gamers collections for games such as these. We love quick games either to start a night off and get your brains working. Or to give said hard working brains a break at the end of a night when you just aren't quite ready to end the gaming session. Other quick games we highly recommend are Coup, Bang, and Pit.

The low price tag makes Coloretto an easy addition. It isn’t a game we play every weekend but there are definitely times when we are eager for a few rounds.

One of the reasons I say it's not a strategy heavy game is because each player lays the cards they are collecting face up on the table so you know how many points each player has at all times. This makes the game easier because you don't have to remember what cards your opponents have previously collected.

You could up the difficulty by keeping your cards a secret. We do play this way sometimes and it's fun as well. There's an extra challenge that is added when you have to try to remember, but the games are so short that it doesn't really make too much of a difference.

Conclusion

Coloretto is a faced paced short game that I would highly recommend for new gamers. It is approachable and a great game to play with anyone. It doesn't top my list of my favorite micro games, but it is a fun and reliable option. One of the reasons I was so drawn to it is that it always has good reviews, be sure to check it out for the gamer in your life!