Camuflarte and Palabria: Sergio Ortiz's two new games arrive from Falomir Juegos
Spanish author Sergio Ortiz, best known for La Morada Maldita, returns to shelves after some time without publishing with two new games: Camuflarte and Palabria. Both titles are released by Falomir Juegos, the historic Valencian publisher that in recent years has been strongly committed to modern board games with original, mostly family-friendly and party-style proposals. At KLEFF, we declare ourselves fans of both Falomir's editorial line and Sergio Ortiz's games, so we're telling you what they're about, what makes them interesting, and how they can fit into our activities.
Sergio Ortiz and Falomir Juegos: who is behind these releases
Sergio Ortiz, the author behind La Morada Maldita
Sergio Ortiz is a creative director, teacher, and board game author. His name became linked to the gaming world thanks to La Morada Maldita, the speed and visual agility game that Mercurio published five years ago and which was born, according to the author himself, from a sleepless night and his love for board games. Before La Morada Maldita, Ortiz had already designed ¡Desplumados!, a game that went through two publishers: the defunct Venatus and Tranjis Games, and which, from our point of view, would be worth re-editing.
La Morada Maldita, originally called “Gobi” and presented as a prototype at the DAU festival in Barcelona, has sold over 100,000 copies, has an expansion (La Morada Maldita y los Tesoros de Pirita), and has received accolades such as the Best Game of the Year and Best Family Game awards from Análisis Parálisis, in addition to expanding into international markets such as Italy, Russia, South Korea, and the United States.
After several years focused on other projects, including the art direction of Zoogitives, winner of the Mensa National Game Award, Ortiz returns to board game design with not one, but three new signed games. Of these, two are already available: Camuflarte and Palabria, both with Falomir Juegos. You can see the announcement and initial impressions from the author himself on his Instagram and on TikTok. If you want to delve deeper into his career as a designer, you can check his author's profile on BoardGameGeek.
Falomir Juegos: toy tradition with a modern vision
Falomir is a Spanish family business dedicated since 1945 to the manufacture of educational and social board games, as well as the distribution of products in the toy sector, based in La Eliana (Valencia). With such a long history behind it, in recent years the publisher has clearly strengthened its commitment to modern board games, launching a catalog of very original titles, mostly family and party style: from drawing and observation games like Camuflarte to verbal ingenuity proposals like Palabria, as well as other recent releases like Cine Party, Asalto al Castillo or A buen entendedor.
That a publisher with such a trajectory signs an author like Sergio Ortiz for two new titles is good news for the hobby: it combines the production and distribution solidity of Falomir with the sensibility of a designer who has already demonstrated how to create accessible, visually appealing, and very playable games.
Camuflarte and Palabria, the latest releases from Sergio Ortiz (published by Falomir Juegos)
Camuflarte: the art of hiding in plain sight
Camuflarte is a game of creativity, observation, and visual deception designed for quick games, about 20 minutes, for 3 to 6 players aged 8 and up. You can check its full profile on BoardGameGeek.
How to play?
Each player receives a small whiteboard, a marker, and a card with an icon that they must keep secret. The challenge is to draw a scene or composition on the whiteboard and integrate their own icon into that drawing, so that it is camouflaged and difficult to locate before time runs out. When everyone has finished, you have to try to discover the icons hidden by the other players while protecting your own. The key is in the game's title: here, the winner is not the best artist, but the one who best knows how to hide icons.
What it brings to the table
Short, very visual games with improbable drawings, ideal for breaking the ice.
Engages creativity, observation, and a bit of strategic bluffing without needing to read or write much.
By relying on drawing more than text, it reduces the language barrier: it's understood and enjoyed equally in Spanish, Catalan, or English.
Highly replayable: each game changes according to the icons and the creativity of each player.
Its fit for Slow Friending Lúdico
In our Slow Friending Lúdico sessions, we always look for dynamics that help break the ice between people who don't know each other: locals, newcomers to Barcelona, or Erasmus students who want to expand their social circle. Camuflarte fits wonderfully for this purpose: being a predominantly visual game, anyone can join even if they don't master the group's language, the explanation is quick, and the dynamic of “guessing who hid what” naturally generates conversation, laughter, and comments among strangers. It's exactly the type of short, participatory game that allows us to move people from table to table during the event without anyone being left wanting to understand what the game they've played or are about to play in the next round is about.
Camuflarte icon card
Palabria: verbal ingenuity to squeeze vocabulary
Palabria is Sergio Ortiz's second release with Falomir Juegos, in this case a word game and linguistic ingenuity for games of about 20 minutes. It supports 1 to 8 players aged 14 and up, which also includes a complete solo mode. All information is available on BoardGameGeek and on the Falomir Juegos website itself.
How to play?
The game concept is simple to explain but allows for a lot of strategic depth: each player starts with an initial word and must transform it into new valid words using only the available letters. Sometimes letters are lost along the way, other times they are retained, and the final score depends on these decisions. The game is structured in three rounds, each with three phases and four simultaneous challenges that reward different aspects: word length, alphabetical order, letter matching, and number of syllables, so there are several ways to score points and no one is left out of the game for not mastering a single type of skill. In addition, there are no waiting turns: play is simultaneous until the whiteboards are completed, which keeps the pace high and eliminates the typical downtime of other word games.
What it brings to the table
Activates lexical memory, analytical thinking, and linguistic creativity in fast-paced games.
Frantic games in true race style to fit words into the corresponding squares to score the maximum number of possible points.
Several simultaneous challenges per round: there is always a different way to score.
Includes an individual mode with several variations, useful as vocabulary training outside of group sessions and reminiscent of those mobile word games that are so popular today.
Flexible format for 1 to 8 players, comfortable for both small tables and large groups.
Its potential for our international audience
At KLEFF we have a very multilingual community, with many foreign people who come, among other things, looking to practice Spanish in a relaxed environment. Palabria can become a wonderful tool for this: by forcing you to transform a word into new ones, it naturally encourages you to expand your vocabulary, pay attention to spelling, and risk trying new words out loud, all within a game with simple rules and without the pressure of making mistakes. Combined at the table with native speakers, it can function almost as a covert language exchange exercise in the form of an entertaining board game, in line with what we already seek with the multilingual atmosphere of our weekly game nights.
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Palabria rounds card