Preview: 51 Worldwide Games on Switch already has us hooked

It might be weird to admit, but this is one of the most anticipated games of the year for me personally.

For those who have never heard of it, 51 Worldwide Games, as the name suggests, is a new video game from Nintendo that has a lot of board, card, whatever type of games you can think of, ranging from chess to the obscure, like Dots and Boxes. Each can be played with between 2 and 4 players depending on the game you choose.

I was specifically excited to get my hands on the title after playing its DS predecessor Clubhouse Games, or 42-All Time Classics as it was known throughout different parts of the world, for a large part of my childhood. It was a game that bought me and my family together as well as supporting online play for people to have fun.

The offerings in both these titles are drastically different, but the aura of fun and replayability remains the same. Some of the new titles on offer, such as Tanks and Toy Baseball, are great additions, while other heavy-thinking titles such as Shoji are always a welcome sight. And while we have not had the chance to sample every game (or everything in the game we should say) as well as the vast online play that this game seems to be made for, we have still had quite a bit of fun.

Without going into review territory, 51 Worldwide Games is an absolute treat. With the world as it is right now, games of any kind are a welcome sight, and the ability to load it up and play anything from chess with my partner to a game of Ludo with the family has kept us all smiling in the current world climate.

We found ourselves going from a simple game of Solitaire to loading up a hockey match. That’s one of this game’s strengths, after all—the ability to jump from game to game on the fly and just pick up what you fancy at the time.

Its strengths lie in the obvious, that it is a game about games that already exist, and that a lot of people across the world know how to play. (Though if you shouldn’t, there is a pretty easy tutorial on how to play each game built into the title, which was a welcome surprise.) It’s a title that anyone can pick up, play, and have a good time with. 

That’s not all, as we haven’t even begun to talk about the achievements for each game and the number of secret unlockables that you have to find and unlock simply by enjoying yourself. We have yet to find out how to unlock the Mario cards for the Hanafuda set and will continue to play until we do so.

Honestly, there isn’t really much else we can tell you. The game is fun! Now excuse us, we have a few more games to play and enjoy before our full review hits the site in a few weeks.