“Chess” is a prime example of a strategy game that will test not only your critical thinking skills but your ability to make the most out of a bad situation. Don’t simply take my word for it…a quick “Google-search” will tell you that the game dates back over 1,500 years (and yes, people are STILL playing it). Now, if “Chess” had a modern-day counterpart, I’d have to say that “The Duke” is a strong contender, even if it plays slightly different then what “Chess” players are used to. Before I get into specifics, I’d like to quickly thank Managing Developer Randall Bills from Catalyst Game Labs for providing me with a free press copy for review purposes.
Board Games
A lot of the tile-placement games I’ve played revolve around dungeon delving and/or city-building, though I’ve admittedly never thought of “racing” as one of the key ingredients. “Gondola”, a “Tile-Racing” game that’s currently looking for your help on Kickstarter, promises an interesting mix of tile-placing AND racing all the same time. It all reminds me of those racing games I used to play at the arcade when I was a kid (the ones with checkpoints and the like), but here, players will be able to create the course as they go…how awesome is that!?
For those of you who missed my “Eight-Minute Empire” review, let me save you a lot of trouble…it’s a fantastic game! Needless to say I was thrilled to receive a press copy of this stand-alone successor, courtesy of Ryan Laukat from Red Raven Games. “Eight-Minute Empire: Legends” is similar in play-style, but introduces some new rules and mechanics that gives the game a bit more depth.
If you were to look up “America’s favorite pastime” in the dictionary (assuming the entry existed in the first place), you’d probably discover that beer is right up there along with Baseball, barbeques, and taxes…okay, maybe that last one was a bit of a stretch. “Brewin’ USA”, a project that’ll be launching on Kickstarter February 18, 2015, will task players with launching beer (not literally, though that might be fun) in order to score victory points. Special thanks to Game Creator Adam Rehberg for reaching out and providing me with a prototype copy for preview purposes. It’s important to stress that prototypes are not often reflective of the final product, making the rules and components mentioned in this article subject to change.
I saw this game featured recently on “TableTop” and knew that I had to give it a go. In short, it’s a bluffing game with a Robin Hood theme. Each player will take turns being the Sheriff of Nottingham, whose job it is to either inspect or let pass the shipments submitted by the other players. If the Sheriff inspects a shipment with contraband, the submitting player receives a penalty…though if the shipment was legit, the Sheriff ends up paying. So, don your poker face and let’s start smuggling some…I mean, let’s get to the review!
“The Ship”, a video game that I had the pleasure of discovering last year, admittedly took me by surprise. I had no idea just how much I’d have with it, especially when playing against other live people. Essentially, it tasked players with assassinating a specific target without being caught by the authorities (whilst avoiding being killed themselves). “Hitman Holiday”, a game that’s currently seeking your help on Kickstarter, has a similar theme. In this case, there are ten assassins gathered at one resort and it’ll be your job to come out on top…sound familiar? Needless to say I’m excited for this project and can’t wait to see how it develops throughout the campaign.
In July of 2013 I had the pleasure of conversing with the folks at Tiltfactor and reviewed three of their games: “ZOMBIEPOX“, “Awkward Moment“, and “Buffalo“. All three received above-average review scores, the general consensus being that they were very easy to pick up and play. In “Monarch” (a game by Dr. Mary Flanagan, Founder of Tiltfactor), players will be assuming the roles of “sisters”, all of whom are competing to be the next Queen. By obtaining Court Cards that in turn award Crowns (points), players can achieve exactly that. The game will be seeking funding through the Kickstarter process on 2/9/15, so go check it out and support it if you like what you see here today (link below). Before we begin, I’d like to quickly thank Max Seidman from Tiltfactor for providing me with a prototype copy for preview purposes. It’s important to stress that prototypes aren’t often reflective of the final product, making the components and rules seen here subject to change.
Red dragons, blue dragons, gold dragons, green dragons…I’m not sure about you, but I’m thinking about relocating to some place a bit less hazardous. I mean, these insurance premiums are killer, especially the surcharge for “fiery death coverage”. Never mind the fact that I’ve um…”remodeled” my house three times this year…*sigh*. As the name implies, “Seven Dragons” features these mythical creatures in spades, tasking players with creating a set of a particular color in order to win the game. So grab yourself a fire extinguisher and join me in reviewing this game, won’t you?
Alhambra: “Palace of the Moorish monarchs of Granada, Spain, built (1238–1358) on a plateau above the city” (Merriam Webster). Sounds exciting, right? Well, it just may very well be for those of you puzzle geeks who love to build stuff. “Alhambra” will task players with buying & placing various building tiles, though there’s a catch: each builder you hire wants paid in their native currency. Don’t worry, this mechanic doesn’t turn the game into an exchange rate nightmare from hell as getting this money is easier than it sounds. Still, I suppose I should explain it all a bit more and let you be the judge.
It’s easy to look at the box cover of this game and think, “Whoa, look at all of those colors and shapes…it looks complicated!” In reality, it’s not…though it will make you think a bit. “Qwirkle” is a game about matching colors and shapes, but not both at the same time. One row or column might contain tiles of different shapes that have the same color, for example, while another might contain tiles of the same shape but have different colors. It won a number of different awards and seems to be fairly popular, so I figured I’d splurge a little and pick this up for the family. To that end, let’s take a brief look at the components and the gameplay before heading into the review.
I wish I had more time for pen and paper RPGs as they can really be a blast to play, especially when you have a bunch of silly and imaginative friends with you. I myself participated in my first RPG just last year and unsurprisingly, my character was best known for the ability to shoot arcane missiles out of his gluteus maximus. That’s the beauty of pen and paper RPGs…anything can happen. Speaking of which, I’d like to quickly introduce ““Millennium Adventures”, a new RPG that’ll be seeking your support on Kickstarter on April 10, 2014.
I don’t often see party games that utilize the practice of psychotherapy as its primary selling point, but that’s the beauty of sites like Kickstarter: any idea has a chance to come to light with the right amount of support. The best part is that a lot of these creative ideas turn out to be very good ones! Speaking of support, “Psycho!Therapist” has about 22 days left in the campaign and needs your help to reach its funding goal. The gameplay seems reminiscent of “Apples to Apples”, only here you’ll be attempting to use a variety of tool cards to treat some really wacky clients.
“Höyük”, a tile placement game published by MAGE Company back in 2006, is back with a new expansion on Kickstarter. “Höyük: Anatolia” will still task players with doing roughly the same thing: building the best settlement and scoring the most victory points…only in this expansion, players will also be tasked with completing certain achievements.
I’m not even going to try to count the number of Monopoly variants out on the market. While I admit it would be really awesome to play on a “Mario” or “Zelda” themed board, most play roughly the same way. As such, I tend to see these things as cash-grabs, reserved mainly for loyal collectors who have OCD tendencies. While I tend to be a bit obsessive in my hobbies, “Monopoly” doesn’t rank high up on my “need to own” list. With that said, I’ve enjoyed playing “Monopoly: Electronic Banking Edition“, “Monopoly Deal“, “Monopoly Empire“, and “Monopoly Millionaire” because they break the mold and do something different. It was for this reason that I decided to give “U-Build Monopoly” a spin.
I’ve admittedly gone a little “Ticket to Ride” happy as of late…apologies, though this should be the last entry for a while. “Europa 1912” is the expansion to “Ticket to Ride: Europe” and like “USA 1910” (the expansion to the original “Ticket to Ride”), you’ll need the base game in order to play it. Since I’ve already covered the game’s rules in my reviews of the original and “Europe” versions, I’ll opt to simply go over what this expansion has to offer.
Our family has been on a “Ticket to Ride” craze as of late. You’d think one would get tired of matching colors and claiming routes, but there’s just something magical about it that keeps us coming back for more. In addition to picking up the “USA 1910” expansion for the original version, I figured I’d give “Ticket to Ride: Europe” a spin as well. What really interested me were the new mechanics that the USA version didn’t offer…what’s more I was curious to see how the family reacted to them. For the record, I did pick up the “Europa 1912” expansion (which goes with this particular version) and I’ll be covering that in a separate article later.