I had a weakness for city builders ever since I laid my hands on SimCity for the SNES. There’s nothing more satisfying than getting a population of 500,000 people, saving, and then calling in every natural disaster the game has to offer. There aren’t any tornadoes in “Town Center”, nor will Godzilla show up to Hulk-Smash everything to tiny pieces. Still, players will be able to earn victory points for how well they manage their town through the process of drafting and placing cubes.
Board Games
I wasn’t around for the days of the “Old West”, but I think I have the general idea. You either died of dysentery, got punched in the face by John Wayne, or got bullied around by Buford “Mad Dog” Tannen (bonus points if you got all three references). Yes, things were sure tough back then. Anywho, “Gold West” puts players in the shoes of prospectors who must gather/sell resources, earn influence, and have the most points by the end of the game. Before we bust out the pick axes, I’d like to thank the folks at Tasty Minstrel Games for providing me with a press copy for review purposes.
I came across “Lightning Dice” and instantly had two thoughts. The first one involved lightning bolts shooting from the sky made of dice instead of electricity (wouldn’t that be fun?) while the second revolved around the idea of a fast and furious dice rolling game. Imagine my surprise when the latter turned out the be true…though while hazardous, bolts made of lightning would save me from ever having to buy dice again. In “Lightning Dice”, players will be furiously rolling dice to try and match the flipped card in order to score points, though they’ll be able to give themselves a bonus or their opponents a penalty if they roll particular combinations. Special thanks to Brian from Wild East Games for providing me with a press copy for review purposes.
I have to admit that I had a slight urge to go pull up some “Earth, Wind & Fire” on my MP3 player when I received this game in the mail. I suppose I have my “Reasons”, though some may chalk it up to “Devotion”. “Elements”, as you may have guessed, tasks players with using things like fire, water, air, earth, and other elements to create substances and earn points. It’ll be launching on Kickstarter some time in March of 2016 and supports up to four players. Before I give you a run down of how the game plays, I’d like to thank Chris Rossetti from Rampage Games LLC for 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 everything you see and read about here (including the rules) subject to change.
“Coal Baron” (“Glück Auf” in German) is primarily a worker placement game that tasks players with mining coal out of the ground and completing orders. While each player has their own elevator shaft, they’ll be competing over the other spaces and delivery cards via worker pieces. The more a space is used, the more workers you’ll need. That, of course, is an over-simplified version of the gameplay mechanics, so let’s jump right in and start digging!
Have you ever dreamed of taking over the USA and running things YOUR way? As patriotic as I am, there are admittedly some things I’d love to see change in order to make our great nation a better one. I’ve played both “SimCity” and “Tropico”, so I know what I’m talking about…people may hate me for the smoking and alcohol ban, but they’ll thank me when their body parts aren’t planning a mutiny when they turn forty. “Revenge of the Dictators”, a game that’ll be launching on Kickstarter in March of 2016, is a competitive game for 2-5 players to where each player is trying to overthrow the President of the USA and become its Dictator. Before we begin, I’d like to thank Bart from Black Box Adventures for providing me with a prototype for preview purposes. It’s important to stress that prototypes are not often reflective of the final product, making everything you see in this article (including the rules) subject to change.
Normally when I play a sci-fi themed game, I’m blowing up Klingons or launching proton torpedoes at some unsuspecting TIE Fighter. “Space Junk” takes a different approach and tasks players with collecting the most fame by collecting…you guessed it, junk. Junk can also be used to upgrade your ship across three stats: movement, attack, and search and can also be lost in battle. Hope you’re ready to think like Neelix from Star Trek: Voyager, but we’re about to scrounge!
If you’ve ever watched the television show “Merlin”, then you’ll know how difficult it can be to become a knight. Luckily, “Medieval Academy” is here to help you train to become one…well, sort of. You’ll have to do a number of tasks like complete quests, serve the king, and even show a sense of charity and gallantry. Only one player will be knighted, so it’s up to you to make sure you’re on top when the smoke clears.
Mars seems to be all the rage these days (and it’s about time). This might be my inner-geek talking, but space exploration and awareness seem to have taken a back seat as of late, at least here in the US. That’s a real shame, mainly because there’s so much out there that we haven’t discovered yet. “Mission to Mars 2049” doesn’t exactly get us on a shuttle to outer space, but it does envision a day where man begins to colonize Mars. Of course, they’ll need a steady supply of water, which is where the North Pole comes in. Here, players will be racing to the get to the North Pole first by building structures and managing resources. Before we begin, I’d like to thank Designer and CEO Dagnis Skurbe for reaching out and providing a press copy for review purposes.
This game gave me an odd sense of Déjà vu…I mean, it seemed like I had just left Jaipur having traded all my gems and acquiring a good deal of camels in the process. For those of you familiar with the two player game “Jaipur“, then you’ll know what I’m talking about. “Johari” happens to be a world famous jewelry market situated in, you guessed it, Jaipur. Your goal will be to buy and sell gems with the intent on gaining the most prestige by the end of the game. Watch out though…some of those gems are counterfeit and could land you in a bit of trouble!
Think you have what it takes to beat, “The Game”? It’s a cooperative card laying game that tasks players with getting rid of as many cards as possible by laying them across four piles. Two piles start at “1” and any future cards must be higher in value, while the other two piles start at “100” and any future cards must be lower in value. The exception is that you can play a card that goes in the opposite direction, but only if it’s “10” more/less than what’s showing. The pile still maintains the original direction, but it’s a way to get your pile back to where it originally started. Each player also has to play a minimum of two cards per turn, so there’s sure to be a lot of wincing when you’re forced to play some bad cards. What’s worse, communication between players is quite limited.
In the mood to beat the snot out of a fearsome Lich, but don’t have three hours to spend building up a character to do it? Perhaps you should take a look at “Epic Roll”, a game that supports two to three players. Each player will choose a character (Wizard, Warrior, or Elf) and battle for their lives by rolling dice against enemy mobs like skeletons and ghouls in order to gain the items they’ll need to defeat the Lich. Before we get started, I’d like to thank Matt Nord, the Co-Founder of Summon Entertainment, for providing me with a press copy for review purposes.
Things aren’t looking too good for the hostages. Not only is the captor pissed off, but you’re running out of time in meeting their demands. In this single player game, you’re exactly what the name of the game suggests, a hostage negotiator. Through buying cards and by rolling dice, you’ll attempt to defuse the situation and hopefully bring everyone out alive. Are you up to the challenge? Only time (and some luck with the dice) will tell.
I don’t drink beer. It’s foul, nasty, and leads to all sorts of problems…physical and legally, to name a few. Have a mixed berry smoothie with a scoop of whey protein instead. I’m having one right now, in fact. It’s okay to be jealous, I won’t hold it against you. “Brew Crafters: The Travel Card Game” is a lighter version of the board game “Brew Crafters” (which I admittedly haven’t played) that tasks players with earning reputation points by brewing beer. I’m okay with that, seeing as how I don’t have to drink any of it after the fact. Blech.
Fancy yourself as a person who is good with numbers? Can you look at a nearby jumble of numbers and quickly come up with the best way to organize a grid? Then you may want to give “Lucky Numbers” a go. Essentially, you’re trying to be the first player to completely fill up your grid…though the columns and rows have to go from low to high starting from the top left to the bottom right, respectively. Due to time constraints and medical issues, I’ll opt to let the below video do the talking. In summary, it’s a pretty cool family game that’s relatively cheap to boot.
“Deep Sea Adventure” is a semi-cooperative push-your-luck diving game that tasks players with collecting as many treasures/points as possible in order to win the game. It’s semi-cooperative in the sense that players share an oxygen supply and the more treasures a player has, the more oxygen that depletes from the shared pool on their turn. Due to time constraints and medical reasons, I’m opting to simply let the video below do the talking. I will say however that we really enjoyed this one and will most likely play it again on family game night.