There was nothing quick about buying my house. It was a time-consuming, stressful experience that I don’t really care to repeat. Luckily, in the land of video games, there lies real estate games that allow you to buy, sell, upgrade, and customize property to meet certain goals. The Build-a-lot series is no stranger to these features.
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I can’t count how many times I considered purchasing this game when I passed by it in the store. I was always intrigued by its general premise, but wasn’t sure how much fun placing pieces on a flat playing surface would be. Granted, I got a lot of mileage out of playing Tetris on the Game Boy, but I was skeptical that a lot of its charm would be lost in the conversion. I quickly learned however that Blokus isn’t Tetris, but something far, far better, in my opinion.
I played a lot of Tetris as a kid. I specifically remember being in the back seat of one of my parent’s cars, holding my Game Boy up over my head so that the headlights of the car behind us would allow me to see what I was doing. Those of you who grew up in the XBox / PS2 era might be smirking, but that’s how we rolled in the early 90’s.
Ever fight a big floating nose or a gazebo? Neither had I…that is, until I played Munchkin for the first time a few nights ago. I first saw the game when browsing the “TableTop” videos, which are hosted by Wil Wheaton on Geek and Sundry. I enjoyed watching Felicia Day, Sandeep Parikh, Steve Jackson (Munchkin’s creator), and Mister Wesley Crusher himself backstab their way to victory. As someone who is a fan of lighter dungeon games, it didn’t take much arm twisting for me to buckle down and order it.
Tycoon games are probably my favorite games to play, mainly because I have a crippling need to control everything. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve obsessed over my theme park in Roller Coaster Tycoon. I would sit there for hours changing colors, making the prices just right…it got so bad that even the park guests began waving at me as if to remind me to take a shower. Hotel Samoa reminds me a little of Hotel Giant, another tycoon game, but dumbed down and simplified to make for a quick fix on family game night.
The title is true…there are indeed no cows in Diablo III. However, there are unicorns, smiling clouds, rainbows, flowers, muffins…everything you’d expect from a game that encourages the slaughtering of millions of hellspawn.
I’ve never owned a game where I got to activate an actual laser to kill enemy pieces. You can imagine my surprise when I heard that such a game existed. I first discovered it a few years ago on ThinkGeek and later ordered it on Amazon…I wasn’t disappointed.
I was fortunate to grow up playing games like Monopoly, Scrabble, and Battleship…just to name a few. I’ve recently realized however that a lot of those classic board games would look relatively new to an eleven year old. I looked in stores to try and find a newer print of the board game Clue, but the version I tended to find had revamped the weapons and characters…it was almost as if I had come across a Clue: 90210 variant. I’m not going to knock it since I haven’t played it, but I instead chose to order the classic edition from Amazon and keep with the characters and weapons that I remember.
I was on the fence when I discovered this game for the first time on Board Game Geek. I enjoy a good city builder game but the reviews were fairly mixed. I also had to consider that the name, “Alan R. Moon” was on the box…the same person who designed Airlines Europe and Ticket to Ride, both of which I own and love playing. I then discovered the game on sale on Tanga* for $12.99 and I figured I’d take the plunge and see what it was all about. It’s…interesting to say the least.
I’ve played a lot of video games that involved zombies (Resident Evil, Left 4 Dead, etc.), but I never actually played a zombie themed board game until a few nights ago. This was actually one of the first board games that I ever purchased online, which led me to a lot of others that I didn’t even know existed. Chalk one up for Amazon’s “Customers who bought this also bought” section…it’s how I found out about new games (in regards to what I’ve heard of) before I discovered Board Game Geek.
It’s always been a dream of mine to at least see the day where mankind reaches beyond their own backyard and is able to settle down into the great unknown. Having been born in 1981, I can only imagine how the hopefuls and dreamers felt when they watched Neil Armstrong take his first steps on the moon surface in 1969. As such, I’ve always been interested in watching or playing anything science fiction themed…and I was equally excited when “Alien Frontiers” arrived unexpectedly in the mail a few days ago.
Spaceships? Check. Lots of alien races with individual powers? Check. Deal making? Check. Technology to research? Check. Sci-fi themed battles? Check. Worlds to colonize and conquer? Check. Attractive visuals? Check. Fun? Keep reading to find out.
We’re back from the Final Frontier to take a gander at season two of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Like the previous article, I’d like to briefly touch on the episodes I liked the most, and why.
I need to take a step away from board games for a minute to get some things off of my chest. There comes a point in a person’s life where they’ve put up with inconsiderate jerks long enough. It is very possible that I am being too overly critical of other people, and it is also very possible that I just expect too much from the general public.
I mentioned in a recent review that Carcassonne was the first tile laying game that I’ve ever played. It just so happens that I’m now writing about a game that was my first deck building game. A deck building game, to put it simply, is a game where players start off with a small amount of cards and use said cards to acquire more from a pool of purchasable cards. Each player’s deck is constantly growing in size throughout the game until a specific condition forces the game’s end.
Carcassonne, named after a well fortified town in southern France, is a tile laying game that is a lot more strategic than I initially gave it credit for. I have to admit that this was the first tile laying game that I ever played…in fact…this game is what inspired me to take a look into the board game, Acquire.