You and a few fellow spaceships have just been sucked through a black hole and miraculously, you’ve all survived. Before you can catch your bearings, you realize that you’ve entered a different dimension and your fuel supplies are dwindling. There’s a warp gate nearby that’ll take you home, though the laws of physics seem to be different here. Rather than simply going forwards or backwards with the appropriate thrust, you find that any sort of movement will automatically pull you towards the closest object. Now you’ll have to plan your thrusts and tactically outmaneuver your opponents as they attempt to pull ahead of you and back home. Sadly, only one of you will make it. Will YOU be the one to escape from the ninth dimension?
Board Games
Fancy a quick dungeon delve without having to spend days creating a character? “Dungeon Roll” will give you the opportunity to form a party as quickly as you can roll a set of dice, a concept that busy parents everywhere can appreciate. Each player will form a party, delve into a dungeon as deeply as they think they can go without having to flee, and compare their experience after three rounds to see who is the best adventurer among them. It sounds simple (and it partially is), but you’ll need a good bit of luck and skill to escape the dangers you’ll face unscathed.
Do you enjoy playing light strategy games? I do. My schedule tends to be so busy that I’m not often able to play games that last longer than twenty minutes…hence why I decided to give “Mine Shift” a go. The idea here is simple: get your pieces “home” before your opponents do. Is it worth the twenty bucks I paid for it at “Barnes and Noble”? Read on to find out…
“Rise of Augustus”, put simply, is “Bingo” pumped full of steroids. Like traditional “Bingo”, you’ll be placing markers (legions) onto your cards’ individual squares as symbols are called out. True the time period, these cards represent objectives to conquer and senators to sway. Unlike traditional “Bingo”, the game doesn’t end when someone’s card fills up. Further, most cards have some sort of special ability that comes into effect when they are completed. Sounds simple enough, and you’d be right to think so…though you’ll still need to think a little if you plan to claim the title of “Consul”.
Whether you’re playing “Ticket to Ride” or its video game adaptation, you’re in for a good time. It’s one of the most commonly played board games in my household and for good reason…it’s family-friendly and incredibly fun. This is one of the reasons I decided to splurge a bit and pick up the “USA 1910” expansion as it promised to introduce some new things to help give the base game a little oomph. Since I’ve already reviewed the base game, I’ll opt to simply go over what came in the expansion and what I thought of it as a whole. If you’re interested in learning more about “Ticket to Ride” in general, go check out my reviews linked above.
While many are familiar with the story of “The Tortoise and the Hare”, someone dared to ask the unthinkable…”who would win if you added a wolf, fox, and lamb to the mix?” Honestly, my money’s on the wolf…I mean come on, it would literally slaughter the lot of them and STILL have time to shave the hair off the Three Little Pigs’ chinny chin chins before devouring them whole. Of course, this being a kid’s game based around a children’s story, reality can afford to go out the window a little…
What crosses your mind when you think of your favorite “vintage board game”? “Fireball Island”? “Hero Quest”? “Mouse Trap”? Plain-Jane “Monopoly”? Well, it just so happens that I was browsing eBay one night for vintage board games and came across a few entries that I never expected…some were totally off the wall unbelievable that I had to post them here. I hope you enjoy discovering these entries as much as I did…at the very least, one of these ought to make you chuckle a bit.
Most game critics have one thing in common: the need for more cupboard space. While I too fall victim to such problems, I actually don’t own a lot of games that can support six or more players. What’s worse, the games that I do own that support six players aren’t all that casual…at least, according to the non-gamers in my household. So…I was at my local K-Mart and came across “Phase 10”, a Rummy-type game that I once played back in college but haven’t touched since. Now, my family can be pretty picky when we’re all together trying to figure out a game to play…though we can usually agree on a card game of some sort and “Phase 10” seemed like an easy way to fill the void for only five bucks. Enough about that though, let’s quickly take a look at how it plays.
Back in the day (presumably when the dinosaurs roamed the Earth), I was big on deep and in-depth PC strategy games like “Medieval: Total War” and “Galactic Civilizations”. I still play them from time to time, mainly due to how convenient it is to have the computer do all the number crunching for you. I couldn’t imagine finding the time I’d need to play something complex like the aforementioned games on my dining room table. Luckily, “Age of War” arrived to save the day, courtesy of Scott Youmans via Battle Born Games. It advertises itself as a “grand-strategic war game” that is “easy-to-learn and quick to play” and to that end, we’re here today to see if that is truly the case.
“Star Realms” is advertised as a “space combat card game” that “pits players against each other in a fight for dominance over the entire galaxy.” In all honestly, they had me at “space”…I’m a dreamer, what I can say? At any rate, “Star Realms” is like “Dominion” in the sense that it is a deck-builder…that is, start with a few crappy cards and build your deck until you have the powerhouse that YOU yourself designed. Its play time of twenty minutes attracted me too, especially with the holiday season right around the corner. No time for “Stone Age” or “Lords of Waterdeep“, no sir…there are presents to wrap and cookies to make. Before I go off on some mad holiday-related tangent, let’s quickly get a look at what came in the box and how the game is played.
I have a rather unhealthy fascination with all things “medieval” and I’m not exactly sure why. Games like “The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim” that feature swords, bows, and magic are much more appealing to me than a modern-day shooter like “Call of Duty“. “The Builders: Middle Ages” attracted me for that very reason, though the fact that it was a microgame (small package & easy to play) also had something to do with it. It reminded me of “Splendor” in the sense that you’ll be using money to buy cards, which in turn can sometimes be used to buy more cards…though obviously there are a few differences. Let’s quickly take a look, shall we?
The expansions for “12 Realms” seem to keep on coming, though I have yet to hear anyone complain. After all, who wouldn’t want to vanquish a dark lord or two after a hard day’s work? “12 Realms: Ghost Town” is the latest of the expansions and is currently seeking your support on Kickstarter. Amazingly (but unsurprisingly), the project has already more than quadrupled its goal of $4,000 in less than ten days time…though there’s still time to buy into the project now to get some nice bonus content via the various pledge levels.
It’s not often that an “abstract” game comes across my desk, but the ones I do own, I really enjoy. Most of the abstract games in my collection really spark the synapses and encourage critical thinking, a skill that any parent worth his/her two cents should often strive to develop in their kids. We’re here today to take a look at “Quorsum”, a game that is advertised as abstract (I’ll get to that) and hit virtual shelves just recently. In short, it’s a two player racing/strategy combo game that features both dice and a randomized board layout. Before I get too far ahead of myself however, I’d like to quickly thank game co-designer Steve Erickson for reaching out and introducing me to the game.
“Splendor” puts you in the role of a merchant during the Renaissance period. Your goal will be to increase your prestige by purchasing cards (mines, shops, etc.) with differently colored chips (gems) that you can collect on a regular basis. Since all cards have varying costs and require different gem colors, it’ll be a race to see who can best manage their resources and make the most logical purchases based on the situation as it presents itself. In other words, there’s a heavy focus on chip collecting and card development. This might sound a bit complicated to some but it has a play time of only thirty minutes…meaning you won’t spend hours scratching your head and yearning for the game to “just be over already”. Quite the contrary, in fact.
Deck Building games like “Dominion” are popular for a reason: they allow players to define how their deck will take shape throughout the course of the game. “The Guardians: Explore”, a game seeking your help on Kickstarter, seems to be somewhat similar in that regard. In this case, you’ll be not only drafting and redefining your deck, but working with others at times to fight off some really nasty foes. I’ve always wondered what a cooperative deck builder would play like as all of the ones I own are competitive in nature. It’s great to see new ideas like this come to light and change the way we think about the games we all know and love.
While the box art doesn’t indicate it as such, this game is also known as “Beat The Parents Family Challenge”. This may clue you in as to what you’re in for, especially if you’ve played “Beat The Parents“. As you might have guessed, this game will allow parents and their children to face off over a series a mini games across four different events…sort of like the Olympics in that once a team wins one medal, everyone will move on to the next category. The aforementioned “Beat The Parents” received above average marks (at least from me) so I was anxious to give this one a try when it arrived on my doorstep, courtesy of the folks at Spin Master Games.