Balanko

Balanko is touted as a "new classic from the very first turn" by its designer. It is a straightforward manual dexterity game created by Canadian designer Jamie MacKinnon.

The game is mounted upon the box it is packaged in and consists of a rail upon which a steel ball rolls, a second tethered steel ball, ten scoring bins (50, 100, 150, 200 respectively), and two scoring tracks.

One player begins by releasing the steel ball from its holster, allowing it to roll along the rail. The other player then attempts to knock said ball into one of the various scoring bins using the tethered ball; if that player misses, the other player may catch the swinging, tethered ball and immediately try their hand at knocking the rolling ball into a bin.

Play continues until one of the two players succeeds in scoring. The object is to accumulate 1500 points (though any total works nicely). It's harder than it sounds!

Balanko is wonderfully simple and accessible to almost anyone regardless of age (a suggested age of 3+ is more because of reasonably small pieces than anything else). As it mounts directly onto its packaging, it's easily stored when not in use.