I’m admittedly not all that fond of sushi, nor do I understand the point of all-you-can-eat sushi buffets. I mean seriously, how much raw fish can one person eat? Blech! Luckily, you don’t need to like or even know sushi in order to play “Sushi Go!”, a fast-paced card collecting game that will task you with earning as many points as you can. Before we take a look at this little gem, I’d like to thank Nora Meiners, the Marketing Coordinator at Ceaco/Gamewright, for providing me with a free press copy. For those of you connoisseurs out there, the pictures and content featured below are representative of the English second edition.
Board Games
You folks have NO idea how long I tried to NOT watch “The Walking Dead” series. I have this funny quirk where I prefer not to watch a show until it is over, just so that I don’t have to wait in-between seasons. After playing the video games (by Telltale) and really liking them, curiosity eventually won out and I watched all four seasons of “The Walking Dead” on Netflix in one weekend. While I’m waiting for Season Five to play out, I figured I’d try my hand at “The Walking Dead Board Game I was able to get at the Board Game Shop: The Best Defense” (which will be known henceforth as “TWD:TBD” to save space and appease my aching fingers). In short, it’s a cooperative game that tasks players with surviving a certain number of rounds whilst safeguarding assets across four key locations.
“Machi Koro” strokes my ego like any other city builder in that it lets me be the mayor of my own city. Luckily, this one isn’t the type that takes hours to play. Competing against other players/mayors, your task will be to develop all of the landmarks in your city before your opponents can do the same in their own cities. In addition to building landmarks, players will be able to purchase establishments that give them the funds they’ll need to expand their city and win the game. The question remains, did I enjoy it as much as “Sunrise City” and “Suburbia”?
Three more “Early Access” games have blessed my library and it’s time to weigh in and see how they look. Like the other articles in this series, it’s important to note that my opinions are subject to change as the games aren’t out of the development phase (yet). As such, the below are not reviews, but merely first impressions based upon the build I played at the time.
I would more than likely be stating the obvious if I told you that “Munchkin Panic” was a cross between “Munchkin” and “Castle Panic”, so I won’t. Erm, yeah. What I will tell you (because I totally didn’t tell you that other thing that I said I wouldn’t mention) is that “Munchkin Panic” is a bit more reminiscent of the latter. If you know how to play “Castle Panic”, you’ll be able to jump right into this so as long as you remember a few key differences. Those who have only played “Munchkin” may feel out of their element, especially if they’ve never played a cooperative or tower defense game before. Before we dive into that realm however, I’d like to thank Kris McCardel, the Marketing and Sales Manager at Fireside Games, for providing me with a free review copy.
I don’t remember much about my early childhood, but I do recall a game that featured both cards and a board with matching card spaces. It was one of those games you found in your grandmother’s closet that never saw the light of day (as far as you knew anyway), but looked like a lot of fun. Unfortunately, I wasn’t one for reading directions back then…I just sort of made it up as I went. I had an active imagination, what can I say? At any rate, I was browsing Amazon the other day and came across “Sequence”…needless to say something clicked inside my head when I saw the product pictures. It was only about fifteen bucks to boot so I took a chance. Was I disappointed? Keep on reading to find out!
Being the host of a party can be a lot of work, especially if your interests don’t jive well with everyone elses. For example, let’s say that you’re a respectable and hardworking dad who happens to love board games. It’s a stretch, I know…just bear with me. Imagine that you are having a huge family gathering at your place and need a few ways to keep everyone entertained. Most of them happen to be nongamers, so pulling “Agricola” or “Power Grid” out of your closet will probably be met by blank stares. At best, you’ll only succeed in entertaining the toddlers who have no qualms about throwing the pieces of your treasured games all over the place. “Knee Jerk”, a game that will be launching on Kickstarter on September 16, 2014, may very well be the solution. Before we get into the nitty-gritty details, I’d like to thank Game Creator Andrew Federspiel for reaching out and providing me with a prototype copy. It’s important to stress that prototypes are not often representative of the final product, making everything featured here subject to change.
“The Agents“, a card game I previewed for game designer Saar Shai about a year ago, boasted one of the most successful Kickstarter campaign I had ever seen. That campaign raised over a quarter of a million dollars, if you can believe it. This kind of success is certainly a strong testament to what a great game and a strong fan base can accomplish. “King Down”, the latest creation by Saar, is now alive and kicking on Kickstarter. It’s a bit like “Chess”, making it easy to jump into if you know what you’re doing. With that said, it introduces some new rules and mechanics that make it a completely different game. You can read my full preview here: King Down Preview.
For those of you who may not be aware, I am a former member of the United States Chess Federation. I’ve won many tournaments and was once rated second best in Western Pennsylvania for my age group. I’m not the best player out there mind you, but I know my “Chess”. “King Down”, a game currently seeking your help on Kickstarter, takes “Chess” to a completely new level. Some of the ideas in “King Down” are borrowed from “Chess”, but new mechanics serve to keep things fresh and interesting. Before we delve too deeply into this, I’d like to thank game designer Saar Shai for reaching out and providing me with a prototype copy. It’s important to stress that prototypes are not often representative of the final product, making the rules, pictures, and content featured below subject to change. If the name “Saar Shai” sounds familiar, it’s because he’s the same guy who successfully Kickstarted “The Agents” about a year ago.
I don’t know about you, but I’ve always wanted to lead armies of livestock against people that I didn’t like. Some might argue that there are more effective & non-violent methods for dealing with such people, but nothing says “in your face” more than letting a herd of cows run rampant on someone’s property. The smell from the droppings alone would almost certainly guarantee that the victim in question would have a rather crappy day (ba dump ch!). Thank you, thank you…no autographs please! At any rate, we’re here today to take a look at “Livestock Uprising”, a strategy/war game that involves…you guessed it, livestock. Don’t worry, there’s no manure involved. Rather, you’ll be collecting resources and recruiting livestock in an attempt to create a “super army” and wipe out all who oppose you. Before we get started, I’d like to thank Game Designer Mike Cameron from Dog Might Games for reaching out and providing me with a free press copy.
“Roller Coaster Tycoon” meets “Zooloretto“…at least, that’s the impression I got a few minutes into playing “Steam Park”. It’s like “RCT” in the sense that you’re attempting to build a successful theme park, but like “Zooloretto” in the sense that you’re placing structures down inside a small grid and maximizing spatial efficiency in the process. Theme park simulators and management games have always been up my alley, so dropping thirty bucks to try it out seemed like a good investment. The question remains, “is it any good?”
If you’re concerned that this game is a horse racing betting simulator, you needn’t worry. “Trifecta” comes off as a more complex version of “Blackjack” (at least to me) in that you’ll be endeavoring to form rows with cards that total between twenty-one and twenty-six points. Each player will have their own grid with which to work and must obey specific rules that govern each row. Before I delve too deeply into that, I’d like to thank Karen Wolterman from Victory Point Games for reaching out and sending me a press copy.
The life of a pirate can be an appealing one at times…no responsibility, no one to answer to, and all the gold & adventure you can handle! “Dead Men Tell No Tales”, a cooperative board game seeking your help on Kickstarter, promises the latter in spades. Like the ever popular “Pandemic”, “Flash Point: Fire Rescue” and “Forbidden Island”, players will be racing to complete particular objectives while up against a ticking clock. In this case, you and your friends have already done the hard work of catching up to and shredding a ship full of the undead. It’s up to you to board it, take the treasure, and get out lest ye share a locker with Davy Jones.
I generally shy away from tactical card games nowadays…not because I don’t find them appealing, but because I’m usually too busy to devote many hours to a single game. “Ruckus” breaks with that tradition, offering a tactical card game experience in under forty minutes, max. To sum this bad boy up, you and your opponents will be preparing a goblin army in an attempt to win skirmishes and earn victory points. Before we get started, I’d like to thank Michael Lubbers from Goblin Army Games for providing me with a free press copy. If the name sounds familiar, it’s because they are the same folks who developed “Monolith“.
My fourteen-year-old stepdaughter Carolyn introduced me to this game via an app for her mobile device. Don’t ask me if it was an iPhone, iPad, iTablet, iNook, or iCarly, because I couldn’t tell you. I’m getting too old for all that crap. All I know is that one night, my family was taking turns holding an electronic device up to their heads while everyone else shouted at them in strange accents. Being a gamer who enjoys a wide variety of genres helped me to determine that they weren’t all in need of a straight jacket. Rather, they were playing “Heads Up!”, a game featured on The Ellen DeGeneres Show. As I’m wont to do, I got curious and reached out to the developer for a press copy of the board game. Along those lines, I’d like to quickly thank Maria Aguilar from Spin Master Ltd. for providing me with one.
Like “Scrabble”? How about “Dominoes”? If you said yes to either question, then you may want to pay attention as “Double Double Dominoes” is a blending of both games. Players will be tasked with placing their dominoes in “Domino” fashion on a game board reminiscent of “Scrabble”. Placing dominoes on point squares will net you a path up the victory point track, though you may also inadvertently cause your opponents to do the same…more on that later. Before we dive into this particular game, I’d like to thank both Ray Wehrs and Cassidy Werner from Calliope Games for providing me with a free press copy. Calliope Games are the same people who brought you “Tsuro“, “Tsuro of the Seas“, “Roll For It!“, “Got ‘Em!“, and “Ugh!“, for those of you who recognize the name.