Clubhouse Games review: The Nintendo version of a ‘90s CD-ROM compilation
Not all 51 mini-games inside of Clubhouse Games, the latest first-party Nintendo game for Switch, are worth recommending. But if you like the idea of old, public-domain board and card games on Nintendo Switch in polished, easy-to-play format, a majority of them are.
The series, which last appeared on Nintendo DS in 2006, revolves around digital translations of timeless tabletop games. A list of the included games does a lot to narrow the usual "who is this for" conversation. I'll start by listing everything in this package that I'd recommend as a good two- or four-player game for a diverse audience of ages and experience levels:
| Air Hockey | Backgammon |
| Battle Tanks / Team Tanks | Bowling |
| Carrom | Chess |
| Chinese Checkers | Darts |
| Dominoes * | Hanafuda * |
| Hex | Mancala |
| Nine Men's Morris | Renegade (Othello) |
| Shogi / Mini Shogi | Six-Ball Puzzle |
| Slot Cars | Toy Boxing |
| Toy Curling | Toy Soccer |
The above list is specific to mini-games that impress as digital translations. There's an additional selection of good-enough games that are, with some exceptions, ideal for children sharing a Nintendo Switch during a long trip:
| Checkers | Dots and Boxes |
| Fishing | Four-in-a-Row (Connect Four) |
| Gomoku | Hare and Hounds |
| Last Card (Uno) * | Matching |
| President * | Sevens * |
| Shooting Gallery | Sliding Puzzle |
| Solitaire (Mahjong, Klondike, Spider) | Speed (card game) |
| Yacht Dice (Yahtzee) |
In all, that's 35 good-enough games (with some grouped together as similar variants) in a $40 package. The asterisks in those lists indicate which games require more than one Switch console to work in versus mode, but thanks to a clever "guest pass" system, they only require one paid copy of the game. (Solitaire isn't marked because it's inherently single-player.) Even with that issue, that's 30 decent classics for a single Switch console, and they all benefit from repeat-play scrutiny, robust production values, and family-friendly explanations for kids and newcomers. (They also save you the trouble of packing cards, dice, and other easy-to-lose pieces.)
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