Four Down - Twelve to Go Trivia Quiz

Bandido is a co-operative tile laying game. It is designed for one to four players, but I have played it with more. The bandit is trying to escape through a tunnel from underneath his prison cell. The object of the game is to try and stop him.

Each player is dealt a hand of three cards initially. The 'cell' with its possible escape routes is placed in the middle of the playing area. Players take turns to play one of their cards next to an existing card, and then draw another to replenish their stock. Some cards reduce the number of possible escape routes, or even block them completely; others increase the ways of getting out. The cards all need to have the escape routes joining up like a maze. The skill is in placing the cards to try and reduce, and eventually block all possible means of escape.

Bandido is the Spanish for bandit. The picture clue is of some jail cells, from one of which our bandit could be trying to escape.

Maori is a tile laying game for two to five players. Each player has a base board, and they take it in turns to pick up a tile from a four by four grid and place it on their base to create islands in the South Seas. Points are awarded at the end of the game for completed islands, with bonuses for islands with trees, huts or rings of flowers. Collecting shells and boats can be helpful for a wider choice of tiles, or for bonus points at the end of the game.

Although the picture is of islands in the Indian Ocean, it seemed appropriate for the game since it has a large island with buildings and trees, a smaller island, a bare atoll and some boats. I expect there will be shells somewhere if you look hard enough.

Bärenpark is a tile laying game for two to four players. The aim of the game is for the players to build a bear park which will be home to up to four different species - polar bears, brown bears, pandas and koalas. The comment which is attached to the last animal is that they are not bears, but they are too cute to leave out. The park also needs food stalls, toilets, playgrounds, and waterways.

Complications arise because the tiles are not square or rectangular; they are polyminoes of assorted sizes. Points can be lost for gaps in the arrangement of the tiles at the end of the game. Points are scored for the number of animal houses and amenities which have been built. The player with the most points at the end of the game is declared the winner.

Bärenpark means Bear Park in German. So the picture clue, of some bears enjoying a swim and lazing around, should have led you to the game title.

Hanabi is a co-operative card game in which between two and five players attempt to create an ideal firework display. The interest lies in the fact that you cannot see your own cards, and have to rely on hints and clues from the rest of the players to choose which card to play.

There are five colours of cards with values of 1 to 5 in each colour. The cards must be played in their colour groups in ascending order. In each turn a player may give either information to another player about their cards, or discard a card from their hand, replacing it with another from the draw pile, or they may play one of the cards in their hand to create the firework display.

Hanabi is the Japanese word for fireworks, which looks like this - 花火. It is composed of two characters, one for fire - 火 and one for flower - 花. Fireflower sounds like a lovely description of fireworks.

Castles of Mad King Ludwig is a one to four player tile laying game. Players are attempting to build a rambling castle such as might have pleased King Ludwig II of Bavaria, who commissioned Neuschwanstein.

The game is played over several rounds. Each player takes a turn at being the master builder and selling rooms to the other players, after which they take their pick of the leftovers for their own castle. Points are awarded for completing rooms, with all the entrances leading to another room, and also for creating special features for the mad king, whose tastes keep changing.

I hope the picture of a rambling castle led you straight to the title of the game - Castles of Mad King Ludwig.

Coloretto is a card game for two to five players. The object of the game is to collect up to three large groups of different coloured chameleons and score points for them. More than three different colored groups can be a problem, because the extra groups score negatively, not positively. Some of the chameleons are rainbow coloured, and they can be added to any group of chameleons for extra points. There are also simple '+2' cards which just score points.

Each player starts with one chameleon card in front of them; they are all different colours. Players take turns to play a card from the draw pile to a row in the centre of the playing area, or to take one of the rows of cards from the centre and place it in front of them. When each player has taken a row of cards, play starts again with a new set of rows. Scoring is done when only a few cards are left in the deck. Apart from the +2 cards, the chameleon card scoring is on a triangular number scheme, with 1 chameleon being worth ±1 point, 2 chameleons are worth ±3 points, up to six chameleons scoring ±21 points.

This picture clue, of a multi-coloured chameleon, seemed the most appropriate for the game, which is almost always referred to as 'Chameleons' by our family.

Cascadia is a tile laying game for one to four players. It is based on the landscapes of the northwest Pacific region of America. Players compete to create the most diverse environment playing habitat tiles and wildlife tokens.

The habitats are mountains, forests, prairies, wetlands, and rivers. The wildlife tokens have bears, elks, salmon, hawks, and foxes. Players take turns to place the hexagonal habitat tiles and build a terrain mosaic. The animals are placed on tiles with appropriate living conditions. Points are scored for contiguous areas of terrain. The wildlife scoring is different for each animal; for example bears sometimes like to be in small groups, but hawks can prefer to be well away from each other, while the elks may prefer to be in large herds.

Cascadia is a rural region of north-west America, so I hoped the picture clue, of a moose in rural Canada, would provide a good hint towards the game title.

Patchwork is a tile laying game for two players. The object of the game is to get as close as possible to filling a 9x9 square with the pieces of patchwork. The patchwork pieces have varied sizes and shapes, but all are based on squares.

At the start of the game, all the patchwork pieces are laid in a circle around a central board. The distance that players move their tokens around that board is dependent on the patchwork piece they acquire. Players take turns according to how close they are to the centre of that board.

On a player's turn they may acquire a piece of patchwork and place it onto their square. They may have another turn immediately, if they have not advanced very far around the central board, or they may have to wait for their opponent to take a turn. Some of the patchwork pieces award buttons, which can be used to purchase other pieces.

Play ends when both players have reached the centre of the board. Then the patchwork is scored. Points are awarded for buttons and for completeness; they are deducted for holes in the quilt. There are bonus points for the first player to complete a 7x7 square on their quilt, if either has managed it. The winner is the player with the highest score.

The picture clue, of a piece of patchwork, is quite straightforward this time, so I hope you manged to guess it even if you haven't met the game.

7 Wonders is a card game designed for three to seven players, but there is a variation for two people. Each player has a board with a picture of one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. Over the course of three rounds, with different cards each time, the players develop their civilisation and attempt to build their ancient wonder.

The cards, which are played one at a time in every turn, are placed face up in front of the player by their particular playing board. The cards might produce resources which are needed for building, or they can manufacture useful items. There are also cards which help develop a military force. Some cards concentrate on scientific achievements. Other cards enable the player to create civic amenities such as a well, a temple, a theatre, or gardens. There are also cards which enable a player to trade with one or both of his/her neighbours. In the final round, guild cards can add extra points to a players score.

The scoring is quite complicated. After each of the three rounds, there is a resolution of military conflicts with each player's neighbours, resulting in positive or negative points. At the end of the game points are awarded for military victories, civic amenities, scientific achievements, and completion of the ancient wonder. A player may also gain points from their trading cards, and from any treasure they have acquired during the game.

With the different scoring opportunities, a player may choose to try and develop in as many different spheres as possible, or to concentrate on fewer things. There is no obvious route to victory, and it can depend on how the cards are dealt and passed on to other players.

I hoped that the picture clue, of a pyramid at Giza in Egypt, which is one of the Seven Wonders of the ancient world, would lead you to the title of the game.

TransAmerica is a board game based on an America railroad system. It can be played by two to six people. The game is played over several rounds, with each player starting in turn.

Players are dealt a hand of five cards each indicating a place in the USA that they have to 'visit'; one place is in the east, one in the west, one in the north, one in the south, and one in the centre of the country. But first they need a railroad track to get there.

Players take it in turns to place pieces of track from their chosen starting point. If the designated terrain is level, they can lay two stretches of track on a turn; if they need to bridge a river, or tunnel through mountains, they can only lay one piece. There is a degree of co-operation involved, because the railroad becomes communal when players' tracks meet.

The first player to have all their towns linked by the railroad track is the winner of that round. The other players score points according to how many more pieces of track would be needed to complete their challenge. At the end of the game the player with the fewest points is the winner.

I thought that the picture, of an American locomotive pulling a train across a bridge, seemed to fit the game quite well.

Kariba is a card game for two to four players. Eight different types of animals are trying to drink at a waterhole in the African Savannah. They are elephants, rhinos, cheetahs, ostriches, giraffes, zebras, meerkats, and mice.

Players take turns to place one or more of their cards next to the waterhole, where larger animals scare away smaller ones. Also the elephants are scared of the mice. A player who scares away some animals collects them and places them in front of him/her. The player with most animals collected at the end is the winner.

The game, Kariba, shares its name with a town on the shores of Lake Kariba, which is one of the largest artificial lakes in the world. It was formed by damming the Zambezi River in Zimbabwe. So the picture clue, of various African animals gathered by a waterhole, seemed appropriate for the game.

Mamma Mia is a card game. The object of the exercise is to bake pizzas - as many as possible. The game is played by two to five players over three rounds; the winner is the person who has baked the most pizzas in that time.

Naturally all the pizzas have cheese and tomato. There are also five other optional toppings - pepperoni, pineapple, olives, mushrooms, and green peppers. There are eight different types of pizza to make.

Each player starts with a hand of one pizza and six toppings. They take it in turns to place some ingredients into the 'oven', and, optionally, a pizza to cook. Then they replenish the cards in their hand, either by drawing from a communal pile of ingredients, or by drawing from their pile of pizzas.

At the end of the round the pizza oven is opened, and the pizzas are checked for completeness. The cards are dealt out in the order they were played. If there are enough ingredients in the oven, or a player has the correct ones left in their hand to complete it, a pizza is deemed cooked. If not, the pizza card goes on the bottom of the player's pile to try again another time.

When I found the picture clue, with a pizza topped with olives, mushrooms, pepperoni and green pepper, it seemed quite appropriate for the game. I hope the game title led you to look for something Italian.