Kites. DEVIR

Kites Board Game Contents

Kites is a real-time cooperative board game where players gather to fly kites and work together to keep them airborne for as long as possible. With the sun shining, the ocean breeze blowing, and the smell of salt in the air, your group must stay coordinated to make sure every kite stays in the sky.

Designed by Kevin Hamano and featuring vibrant artwork by Beth Sobel, Kites accommodates groups of 2 to 6 players, ages 10 and up, with fast-paced matches lasting approximately 10 minutes.

In Kites, players collaborate to keep all kites flying—each represented by a colorful sand timer. On your turn, you play a card, flip the matching sand timers, and draw a new card, constantly ensuring that no timer runs completely out of sand.

To win, your team must carefully coordinate to play every single card in the deck while staying ready to weather sudden storms.

How Do You Play?

Once the game begins, six sand timers are flipped and set in motion—there is no time to waste! The team's goal is to keep every timer running continuously until all cards have been played.

On your turn, you play a card from your hand and flip the corresponding sand timers matching the color symbol or symbols shown at the top. Players must keep a watchful eye on the timers running low on sand, even when they don't have the exact matching color cards in hand.

While turns move at a frantic pace, clear communication is essential to keeping all the kites soaring.

While no card features a white symbol, there is a central white sand timer on the table. Whenever a player plays a single-color card, they may choose to flip either the matching color timer or the white timer instead.

However, once the draw deck empties and the endgame triggers—where players are down to their final hand of cards—the white timer can no longer be flipped.

Gameplay Experience

Kites delivers a fast, chaotic, and cooperative experience where teamwork and split-second decisions are paramount. Every player must keep an eye on all sand timers simultaneously to decide which cards to play before time runs out.

Real-time clock management gives every turn immense weight. It isn't just about having the right cards in hand; you must play them at the precise right moment while maintaining constant verbal communication with your team.

Once your group masters the core game, you can introduce the 12 Challenge cards, which add wild new obstacles and crank up the difficulty.

The Challenge cards consist of three unique event types with four copies each: Storm, Crossed Lines, and Airplane.

When a player draws a Storm card, they must announce it immediately and play it on their very next turn, forcing the team to flip every single sand timer at once.

If a player draws a Crossed Lines card, they must keep it secret. On their next turn, they play it, and every player must physically swap a card with another player.

Finally, the Airplane card forces radio silence—no player may speak at the table until the Airplane card is covered by another played card.

Game Contents

• 6 sand timers (including the white timer).
• Color cards for the base game.
• 12 Challenge cards: Storm, Crossed Lines, and Airplane.
• Starting cards and main deck cards.
• Rulebook.

Why Buy Kites?

Kites is an outstanding pick for groups seeking a fast, easy-to-learn cooperative game loaded with real-time table interaction.

Its sand timer mechanic ensures every player stays fully engaged from start to finish, requiring rapid thinking under constant time pressure.

In addition, the included Challenge cards let you scale up the difficulty as your group gets better, offering fresh tactical hurdles and high replayability.

Its compact box makes it effortlessly portable, perfect for throwing into a bag for beach trips, family gatherings, or casual game nights.

Conclusion

Kites is a thrilling, fast-paced cooperative game where players must sync up to keep a fleet of colorful kites flying before the timers run out.

Combining communication, hand management, and real-time timer pressure, it turns every 10-minute session into an exhilarating table challenge.

Buying Kites is a fantastic decision if you want a portable, accessible, and high-energy cooperative card game to enjoy with friends and family.

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