CUNO Review

CUNO is a game that can be as casual or as strategic as players want it to be. In this tile-placement game, players are adding a single tile each turn to a central display, making as many connections as possible. This small box game from Smidgen Games is a great filler that you should know more about.

Your Perfect Match

Players will always have access to three tiles in their hand as the central display is built out. Each turn, players will add a tile to the display, connecting the half circles on their tile to a tile that matches the adjoining edge. For each matching side, you’ll place point tokens based on the number of completed circles that are created. Players can score a single circle (one point), double circle (two points), triple circle (three points), or filled in circle (five points).

As the central display in CUNO is built out, more opportunities to make connections appear. Each tile has to match connecting tiles exactly in order to be a legal placement. After playing a tile, you’ll draw back up to three tiles in your hand to end your turn. Players score points for every token of their color on the central board once all the tiles are played.

It’s important to note that the player who goes first will also take the last turn of the game.

Maximizing Points

Point tokens are how players mark the circles they connect on their turn. Strategic players are looking to place their tiles in locations that maximize their points, while leaving the other players with limited scoring options.

CUNO is a game that will be as challenging as the players that are around the table. It’s a casual game that is accessible and a great introduction for non-gamers or younger gamers. The small box and quick gameplay makes CUNO an excellent game to take on the go. The central display doesn’t have boundaries and can be built out in any direction that the players choose.

The game supports two to four players by adding and removing specifically marked tiles. I slightly prefer the gameplay with three to four players, even though playing the game at two players still works well.

CUNO is simple and casual but strategic enough that it’s become a go-to filler game before or after game night. It’s the game that we immediately grab before going to dinner with friends.

We’ve got a full How To Play video that you can check out to learn the rules of the game to see if it would make a good addition for your game collection.