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twodamnboard-blog · 8 years ago

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Paging Patterson, Party of Five

Planes by David Short published by Alderac Entertainment Group

Planes is a mancala-inspired game by the extremely talented David Short (we're both big fans!), published by Alderac Entertainment Group. It's one of thier "Destination Fun" trilogy of games along with "Trains" and "Automobiles" You and up to three other players are moving your party of five cubes around the airport, trying to get everyone onto the right plane and earn yourself victory points. Like real airports, you don’t start out near your gate and must navigate around other (annoying) travelers who are mucking up the corridors. In fact, if too many of them stop at a particular time (picture everyone standing there looking at the Departures board), a blockage happens and a cute little orange traffic cone halts all traffic temporarily. But, this airport is a modern, interesting airport, with dining experiences and gift shops, and you might also gain points by having your party members “visit” those locations before they jet off.

Leaving on a jet plane...

How we came to play this game: Susan was given this game by her AMNH board game collaborator, Barry Joseph, who snagged a couple of copies at the NY Toy Fair back in 2015.

This reminds us of: Susan: Because of the main mancala mechanic, I guess you could say “Five Tribes,” but it’s a rather unique game with how it blends that movement mechanic with goal achievement simultaneously. Mike: Yeah obviously it’s gonna give Five Tribes vibes BUT it also reminds me of a favorite aspect of "Tiny Epic Westerns" and Susan’s own "Gutsy" where key strategic moves can be made by sacrificing one benefit printed on a card for a benefit of another kind that is also represented on the same card. This positive take on a “Morton’s Fork” mechanic is gaining popularity in board game design lately, and I’m fan!

Game art: Susan: It’s classic AEG - simple, yet effective. This game has a bunch of symbols and the starter side of the board has some blank spaces - I feel like these could have been used to provide some legends. The player aids, which look like old-fashioned boarding passes (remember those? Before we had barcodes on our phones?) are very snazzy. Mike: The airport layout is inspired. It’s very cool thing to have built the game UI around and I dig the story it tells. It’s not incredibly detailed, it's functional, utilitarian even, but it gets the job done.

Snazzy!

Just get me to the gate!

Best part: Susan: I really like the way that players have to make strategic choices between using the cards as either, actions - to help them adjust their movement to their advantage - or to save them to use them as goals to score victory points. And I also really like the mechanic of having to balance out also moving the neutral cubes to try to get yourself more of those cards. Mike: Oh, I didn’t see that you mentioned this in my first read-through of your comments! Whoops! Oh well, as I have mentioned above I am also a fan of this but I get the most satisfaction in moving opponents pieces out of optimal boarding spaces. Soooo satisfying! Getting to move opponent’s pieces is something that’s not built in nearly enough to game design!

Worst part: Susan: I have no idea why the game includes so many traffic cones and I think the design is a little bland. Mike: I’ve always kind of felt this game missed an opportunity to have “plane meeples”, allowing me to fly around the board making jet sounds as I do it!! (This is a key point of fun in AEG’s Automobiles with the cars!) I mean the game is called PLANES after all!!

I don't know, maybe they shoulda called it...

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Mistakes we made: Susan: I’m pretty sure that the first time that we played, we didn’t quite get that if we were playing as red and blue, for example, that the other two colors were acting as neutral and so still needed to be moved and could be boarded onto their planes to get to draw cards. Mike: We may have played 3 times before we realized that you MUST have one of your own cubes in hand when you pick up at a gate! And if I’m being honest, it happens still at least once or twice a game (tho now we always catch it)

Play again? Susan: Absolutely. We got this game a while ago and just pulled it out again to show Susan’s fiancé. He picked it up pretty quickly and it was a good way to show someone how a mancala-based game works. It’s relatively quick. I think this will be a staple for years to come Mike: Well I guess Susan broke some news there! Yep, she’s off the market everybody! Our Susan’s getting hitched! Congrats Matt and Susan! (It’s still just TWO Damn Board though, but he can play with us every so often!).

That damn rock better not scratch any game boards!

#BoardGameHaiku

Now boarding zone 1

Where’s the rest of my party?

Stopped by an orange cone!

Times played: More than 10 less than 100

Game record – I mean, I’m not exactly keeping score but there is a rule of thumb that’s safe to bank on if you’re in any doubt:

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Outta the mouths of babes!

Is dope! So go buy one here:

#David Short #Board Games #BGG #Alderac Entertainment Group #AEG

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twodamnboard-blog · 8 years ago

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Once Upon a Time in the West

Tiny Epic Western

by: Scott Almes published by: Gamelyn Games It’s the wild west complete with gun-slingers, sheriffs, and hanging out on porches drinking moonshine - all in an exciting and very fun game. This version of Gamelyn Games designed by Scott Almes and illustrated by Adam P. McIver was Kickstarted in 2015 and arrived in fall of 2016. It’s a fun combo of a variety of game elements including worker placement and poker hands. Through a series of six rounds, you’re mobilizing your “posse” to visit various establishments in a western town in an effort to gain resources (law, force or gold) that you can later use to buy some other properties and secure victory points. Each round, you’re simultaneously playing a three-card poker hand that could let you cash in on other “pots” of resources if you win the game at that site. But this town ain’t big enough for everybody! If another player wants the same thing as you do, then a duel breaks out, using funky little bullet dice, leaving one player lying on the floor with nothing but his cards to keep him warm.

Mike and Susan: Not so tiny, plenty EPIC! (well in truth, she IS kinda tiny!)

How we came to play this game: Susan kickstarted this game after we really liked “Tiny Epic Galaxies.”

This reminds us of:

Susan: This game is a very clever mash-up of several game mechanics. You are doing meeple-placing to attempt to acquire resources and you’re playing a (simplified) version of poker. The point mechanism is similar to Tiny Epic Galaxies, but they threw in some twists to vary how bonus points might be acquired, which really adds to the strategy of this game. Mike: It has all the hallmarks of the Tiny Epic franchise. Multiple avenues to victory, miniaturization of a wide and familiar “real world” space, very cool representations of resources, but then adds POKER! For real!

..and a little gun play!

Game art:

Susan: I like the basic artistic themes of this game and the design of the playing surface with the location cards is well done, but the print is super tiny. It’s a “cheaters glasses” kind of game. Mike: The game art is wonderful. Conceptually is really compelling, the cards are designed to represent the buildings in your classic “western town” complete with porches! But the design does suffer from one of the other “tent poles” of the Tiny Epic franchise which is the sliding of cards under other placed cards that may or may not have pieces on top of them! It’s incredibly annoying. It’s almost always a mess, and even though the final outcome looks cool, the mechanic itself is ALMOST not worth the effect! And like Susan points out, you either need to be under 30 or super-sighted to read the damn text!

Full disclosure: YOU will NEVER be able to lay this game out as pristinely as this pic! Just so you know!

Best part:

Susan: I just love the replayability of this game - there are lots of different characters with different abilities and with the multitude of buildings that can come up and the stochasticity of the poker element, I don’t see us getting bored of this for a long time. Mike: As the member of this duo who suffers from analysis paralysis chronically, I am at my most engaged with this game when I am weighing choices. The game does a really excellent job of setting up scenarios that force you to do a fair amount of calculating to assess maximum reward. It feeds right into my psychosis!

Mike: "OK I'm almost ready! This game is awesome right Suze? ...Suze?? ...Susan!!??"

Worst part:

Susan: I think this game is fun for just two players, but it takes on a distinctly different feel when it’s three or more. That’s not all bad, though. Mike: I mean I don’t really have to repeat this right? It’s like I gotta be this dude to pull off a key (albeit pedestrian) component of the game without trashing the entire setup! UGH!!

Mistakes we made:

Susan: Frankly I’m amazed at how well we did in learning this game because I think both Mike and I were pretty hung-over after a holiday party when we broke this out. The “rival” element during poker matches can be a little tricky and I know it took me a while to get used to the powers of the Sheriff’s Office that let you change suits or values

Play again?

Susan: Absolutely. I think this will be a long-time favorite. It’s a small game so easy to travel with, but it does need a fair amount of surface to set up. Mike: Yeah, it’s a fantastic game all the way around, and will be even better when we evolve our hands to become spatulas so we can SLIDE ONE CARD UNDER ANOTHER! But seriously, I love this game, it’s deeply satisfying after a go. Leaves you with the “hey let’s do it again” or “man that was great, let’s have a ciggie” feeling!

You know, like fun, but messy... (to further extend this uncomfortable metaphor!)

Times played: Mike: We have been terrible at keeping track of this because we’ve both had some lifestyle changes in the last year so we are less diligent than we were, so let’s say more than 10 times, less than 20?

Game record – Mike: I’m gonna go on feel here and say I’m winning!

#BoardGameHaiku Saddle up, posse We need to get us some gold Straight flush beats 'em all Click on the movie to learn how to play, the drop some duckets on it! This is a lot of fun!

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#Tabletop Games #Scott Almes #Games #Gamelyn Games #BGG

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twodamnboard-blog · 9 years ago

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Vacation Gaming on a Strip of Sand

Every year, along with a group of close friends, we rent a house for a week, out on Fire Island, a barrier island just off the south shore of Long Island. It’s a week of eating, drinking, music, sunning, and - of course with us in the house - board games! Not everyone joins in, but we had a great time this year playing with our friend Marcus, sibling friends Leigh and Michael as well as Leigh’s 5-year old son, Max. Here’s a recap of what was played last week on our holiday.

Our gaming, food, booze, sun, water and love getaway!!

Latice -In past years, we’ve played a lot of Qwerkle out on Fire Island, so this somewhat similar game, but one with an “island” theme, seemed like an obvious choice. We broke this out right away and played quite a few games of it. A big hit with Leigh, Michael, and Marcus alike.

Beach themed game at the beach!!! See what we did there???

Sutakku - We got this in a recent Board Game Bento box and it’s proven to be a simple, quick, warm-up kind of game. It’s a simple dice-rolling game where you must stack dice in ever-increasing quantities, pushing your luck to get the maximum points.

One day we will tell you all about the irony involved with playing a dice STACKING game that frequently brings you to the brink of knocking the stack over in frustration!

Sushi Go - Always a favorite beginner game, we had fun introducing this one to Leigh one morning. Though not without the usual hiccups that can sometimes happen when we’re picking and passing furiously, we played several rounds.

It's all about Sushi Go Party tho these days!! Still fun!

Tiny Epic Galaxies - Susan always wants to bring this one - it’s small, has a nice blend of luck and strategy and we get to say, “move it, move it” every time we launch one of our ships into space. We played a few games of this by ourselves throughout the week.

Always satisfying!!

Isle of Skye - Mike got this soon after it was named the Spiel des Jahres Best Game of the Year and we thought that the holiday week was a good time to break it out. We’ll write a full review soon, but suffice to say, the first few rounds were very fun. We pulled Marcus into a game and he adapted quickly. The best part is Mike’s hysterical Scottish accent while he plays.

In this case the word "hysterical" is standing in for the more commonly used "annoying"!

The Networks - This was a game we Kickstarted and had played once before we took it to the beach. We played it once more - this time pulling Leigh into the game - and it was fun, but already on the second go, the long-term replayability of this game is beginning to be questionable. We’ll review this one in more depth soon, too.

Lots of feels about this game, We'll talk more later!

Machi Koro: Bright Lights, Big City - We liked Machi Koro when we bought it last year, but it soon grew to be a little boring, so there was some anticipation that this new edition would add some spark. We taught it to Marcus and played several games of it. There’s only a few changes from the original game, however and it didn’t feel like really enough of a difference. It’s easy to learn and has a good flow, but it’s just not a deep game. (Oh, and Susan always won.)

That's Marcus not Mike... geez, we don't all look the same!!!!

Codenames: Deep Undercover - A recent Target exclusive, Mike nabbed this before our trip. This is the R-rated version of the top party game of last year, with many cards alluding to sex and drugs (though sadly not much rock and roll). We played several rounds of this with Marcus, who picked it up (mostly, see below) right away. The adult words didn’t necessarily make it any juicier or challenging, in my opinion. The best part, though, was Mike giving Marcus a clue of “kettle” and him guessing “monkey.” Turns out he thought he said “kennel.” Oh yeah, that explains it completely.

He he he, you said "booty"!

Uno - Leigh’s 5-year-old son Max brought out a few of his favorite card games and we spent a while playing with him, along with Marcus. Max turned out to be a ruthless Uno player, cackling wickedly every time he laid down a “Draw 2” card on anyone. When Marcus tried to play a “Wild, Draw 4” card with a fistful of cards, Mike happily educated Max in the challenge rule.

This dude learned to not let people sucker him into Drawing 4 when they are lying ass liars! Right Marcus????

Go Fish - This was one of Susan’s favorite games to play with her grandmother when she was little and turns out that Max does that, too. We were impressed with the whimsical art on a sturdy set of cards that apparently only cost $1. Mike proved to be the best fisherman in both games.

We didn't take any pics of us playing Go Fish, but here's a nice shot of Abe Vigoda as Sgt. Phillip K. Fish in the beloved 70s sitcom Barney Miller! See how you always win with Two Damn Board???

And so the sun sets on another summer of fun, but we won't stop! Though Susan's away for a little while, we'll be back playing and snarking at each other in November! We promise we'll go back to regular reviews then.

#Tabletop Games #Board Games #BGG #Uno #TinyEpicGlaxies #TheNetworks #Sutakku #SushiGo #MachiKoro #Latice #IsleOfSkye #GoFish #Codenames

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twodamnboard-blog · 9 years ago

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The Secret Agents Of Text

Codenames

by Vlaada Chvatil published by Czech Games Edition

Since it was picked as the Spiel des Jahres “Game of the Year” and since we just had a fun time introducing it to two newbies over the weekend, it seemed appropriate to choose Codenames for our latest review. In this game, two spy masters battle to get their teams to correctly guess the code names of their spies first. The way this transpires is via a simple 5 by 5 grid of cards, each with a word on it. The two spy masters have a ‘decoder’ card that provides them a key of the two teams of spies as well as a set of innocent bystanders and one nasty assassin. Taking turns, the spy masters look over the grid and try to come up with a single word (or a proper noun, as we just discovered!) that encompasses as many of their spies’ code names as possible. But, care must be taken as it’s easy to also find yourself describing an enemy spy - or worse yet, the assassin! - with your clue.

The tools of the spy trade.

How we came to play this game:

Susan- this game was getting a lot of buzz over the holiday season and we bought it around then to try out with family. (?? I can’t remember exactly!! I remember playing it a while back in Rhode island - might have been fall last year though)Mike- Funny, I don’t have a clear recollection of acquiring this one either! I think we sat on it for a little while after we got it. I don’t remember playing it in RI either. Could you be getting it mixed up with Name Game?

Susan: Well, we have played it in RI recently. We’re getting old, Mike. Maybe we should put notes in our game boxes to record this stuff.

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We don't recall!

This reminds us of:

Susan- I was obsessed with Password as a kid - my mom had this old table top version of the TV show where you slid cards into a little plastic holder and then the tinted green window revealed the hidden words for you to say to your partner. So, this brings back those memories for sure!Mike- It’s Battleship with words with teams!

Game art:

Susan- The art is really minimal, so not much to say. I like how they thought to put the words on the cards facing both directions to make it easier for everyone to see them.Mike- As Susan points out, there’s not too much “art” to speak of. While the idea of putting the words on both sides is a good one, it’s done in a manner that renders one side virtually impossible to read. It’s kinda weird. I always find myself reading the big bold white side no matter what side I’m sitting on. I’m sure they did play and design testing and concluded that this was beneficial in some way, and I’ve never had any difficulty reading any card, I just can’t figure out why they did it that way.

You feel me on this? It's kinda strange right??

Best part:

Susan- It’s a very easy entry game. The rules are simple, it’s quick, and thus it’s a very forgiving thing to ease tentative gamers into the fold. It’s also flexible for a fair number of people, but I think it’s probably best with 4 people total. We like to swap teams around, too.

Mike- The game is very welcoming. It’s design is familiar and unassuming enough that non-gamers are not scared away from giving it a go and it’s satisfying without being taxing. The “I don’t like games” people in your life will have no problems with this one. It’s the board game equivalent of catching flies with honey!

It's a "gather 'round" game!

Worst part:

Susan- It gets a little tiring after a while, but it’s a fun interlude for any party, I’d say.Mike- The flip side of it’s seemingly universal appeal is the fact that if you are a moderate to higher level gamer, you can lose interest in a relatively short time. It’s “easy to play” but leaves out the “hard to master” part of that equation. Oh and if your partner sucks, it’s really damned frustrating!

Mistakes we made:

Susan- We didn’t make any profound mistakes - the rules are pretty easy, but it’s also easy to make simple good-ups like not just saying “no” during the free guess when your opponent picks to a degree that they know that they just said another spy or the assassin. It’s also easy to say a word that contains one of the words - but luckily “Eagle Eye” Mike always catches me.Mike- We can get lax with the rules regarding preambles. You’re really not supposed to say stuff like “ok, I’m taking a chance here” or “this one’s a hard one”. We gotta crack down on that.

Play again?

Susan- Definitely!

Mike- Yeah but mostly because it gets other people in game mode. I definitely like it but game time is precious time and I'd rather get more out of it when I get to do it.

Susan- Looking forward to the pictures version - and maybe even combining them. Whoa.

Times played: About a dozen, but as we have made clear earlier in this review, our recollections are not exactly on point right now!

On The Grid! (photo courtesy: winkfun.net)

#BoardGameHaiku

In the War of WordsNever underestimateThe power of spies!

Learn to play below, then buy one, it's dope!

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#Vlaada Chvatil #Tabletop Games #Games #Czech Games Edition #Board Games #BGG

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twodamnboard-blog · 9 years ago

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It’s the Germs’ Turn.

Pandemic: Contagion by Carey Grayson published by Z-Man Games

With the release late last year of Pandemic Legacy, a year-long saga of battling four nasty diseases around the globe, the popularity of the cooperative game Pandemic has surged. The original game spawned several expansions and spin-offs, and Pandemic: Contagion is one such title. In Contagion, though, the tables are turned - instead of battling the nasty things, you *are* the diseases and your goal is to wipe out more cities than your opponents.

How We Came to Play:

Susan: We really liked Pandemic, but it's a tough game to play with just two people (unless you each play two roles, but there's no way we can ever keep that straight!) We saw this title and it definitely caught Susan's biological eye. Mike: I’m pretty sure we swiped this up in one of our famous brick and mortar binges at Modern Myths in Mamaroneck, NY. These take place quasi annually when there’s down time between weekend morning game paying and evening BBQing. As must be evident, we are pretty obsessively focused on gaming with our free time when we are together! (We DO make time for eating and drinking tho! Trying to play a game with Susan when she’s hungry is like playing pattycake with a caged lioness!)

...or 3 uncaged and angry lionesses!

This Reminds Us Of

Susan: There’s obviously a lot of similarities to Pandemic in terms of some of the basic design. It also of course reminds me a bit of Plague, Inc, the app game (whose board game version was just hugely successful on Kickstarter).

Mike: The lexicon is the same as Pandemic (same universe) and the goals are the same as Plague Inc, but the play mechanic of this title is fairly unique.

Infect me!

Game art:

Susan: The basic style mirrors a lot of what was created in Pandemic. The cards that you're drawing are simple colored ones that match the regions of the globe. What I love, though is the little Petri dishes where you hold your little disease cubes - it's like I took my lab supplies home to make a game...which would be pretty gross, come to think of it.

Mike: The art is nicely designed if not terribly interesting. Seems to me that you could do more with the art on the city cards, but it’s clear that they are intent on lining up with the look and feel of the original Pandemic so I can’t be mad at them. Additionally, Petri dish thing is pretty cool.

PUT A LID ON THAT DISH!!!!

Best part:

Susan: One of my favorite things about this game is how they crafted the 2-player experience for it. It involves a "neutral" player. Sometimes he beats us both. The scoring of the cities is dynamic and keeps the game very strategic.Mike: My favorite part of this game is the strategy involved with being the 2nd or 3rd virus to infect a city. Doing so puts pressure on your opponent in ways that can be advantageous to your game. If your virus is the one that “closes out” a city, you get an added advantage with is denoted on the card. Strategically closing out cities even though you may not be the player that get’s the most points for it, can really improve your lot with regard to the infections you have spread on other cities. It’s clever way to level the playing field against an aggressive opponent!

...as shown above.

Worst part:

Susan: This game wins the prize for having oodles of subtle rules that we screwed up multiple times (see below). I think we mostly have it now...I think.

Mike: The “end game” trigger (having two cities left in play) is inelegant. Seems that there should be a better way to do that. It’s a big part of an overarching feeling that the game is probably too short! Just as you start to get some momentum going the game suddenly ends. It’s abrupt and treads on my overall endgame satisfaction.

Mistakes we made:

Susan: So many! It became downright comical how many times we had to completely stop the game and start over. Let's see. We had screwed up the fact that as you advance your infection statuses that you need more cards every time. I think we screwed up the “New City” action on one of the early rounds. We even screwed up the way the 2-player game works in not using the neutral player. Just the other day we screwed up the end-of-game trigger.

Mike: Yeah all of that. Funny thing is we don’t seem to get better at not making the same mistakes each time we play. It’s embarrassing really.

So wait, how many cards do I need to infect a new city again??

Play again?

Susan:This is one that we've often pull out to play for the past year. It's relatively quick and it's strategic enough to be interesting but not overly heavy.

Mike: Yes. We will continue to play and screw up this game in perpetuity! It is our cross to bear. But honestly the game is really fun. I’m always asking to pull it out and play when we have a tight window. I’d like to see some expansions or rules changes to get a little more out of what is an excellent base game and mechanic but it’s still satisfying enough to bring out!

#BoardGameHaiku

Mutate my disease

To become more infectious

Taking down New York!

Click play on the video below to learn how to play, then pick up a freaking copy!

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#Z-Man Games #Tabletop Games #Games #Board Games #BGG

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twodamnboard-blog · 9 years ago

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Under The Dome

Tiny Epic Galaxies

by Scott Almes

published by Gamelyn Games

Tiny Epic Galaxies is a cute little title where players are rolling dice to launch ships onto distant planets, hoping to harness their cool abilities. You’re choosing whether you want to touch down for a “quick fix” of power, or invest in the long game, colonizing them and having access to their abilities into the future. Each player has a “secret mission” that they’re trying to achieve as well, which means that if players are close in terms of victory points, the win can easily be decided by a condition your opponent has met. It also has a nice mechanism of incrementalism, where you are making investments to help you unlock more ships and more dice, which also offers a nice pace to this title.

How we came to play this game:

This was in our very first Board Game Bento box, which had a space theme and was the first one we broke open. Susan was excited to try it, having backed Tiny Epic Westerns on Kickstarter not long before. And just a little plug here for Board Game Bento, we really love it! It's like Xmas comes every month! If you can afford to do it, DO IT!

This reminds us of:

Susan: The balancing of dice rolls is vaguely reminiscent of King of Tokyo, but it’s a pretty unique game nonetheless.

Mike: This game has familiar elements found in other games. As Susan points out the iconic dice are reminiscent of KoT, the “hidden mission” mechanic seems to be very popular in the New Golden Age of Board Gaming (Suburbia, CoMKL, etc..) resource management is virtually a game genre now, it ticks many boxes. However TEG is designed and plays out in an uncommon manner making for a fresh gameplay experience!

It's dice with PICTURES on them!

Game art:

Susan: I really like it! The planets have cute, quirky names and the tiny little player mats are really functional for their size.Mike: I like the art. The planet cards are nicely designed if not terribly interesting. The idea of outer space” is effectively communicated. The ship “meeples” are one of the coolest things about this title. LOVE those! While essentially utilitarian overall, the game sells its motif adequately enough to be engaging. I will add however, that I don't see the "cute" that Susan sees! To me this is a simulation of a domination of the cosmos! Susan: The little ship "meeples" are totally cute.

Final frontier-ish. Not cute!

Best part:

Susan: I love the balance between strategy and luck all wrapped into a quick portable little game - I mean, honestly, what’s NOT to love? It’s also forgiving in places. Mike: BALANCE! That is the beauty of this title it's fantastically tweaked to assure that each time you play there’s gonna be a satisfying battle of wits and luck. Some games can have a fatal loophole that can be exploited to insure a win if you take hold of that loophole. I’ve found no such loophole here. There is a play mechanic in this title that is fascinating and I think it is my favorite part of the game. Players may “follow” or in effect enable for themselves, an action that another player has taken if they have enough culture points to do so. It’s very effective at putting pressure on players that take the lead quickly to perhaps hold back on an aggressive action that may open the door for another player to take. Of course Susan rarely responds to my intimidation tactics and usually just keeps barreling along anyways like a bunch of Vikings with a battering ram! Still, as you play more and more you’ll find it a very useful tool!

Susan: What? Those were intimidation tactics?

I certainly though so!

Worst part:

Susan: It is a tiny game after all and thus one of those titles that we live in fear we’re going to knock off the table and lose everything.Mike: Ok, I suppose in the grand scheme of things, what I’m about to bitch about is less than consequential, but I gotta rant here…Once you have colonized a planet, you remove and return the ships to to the owners’ galaxies then slide the planet card underneath the galaxy card so that the special ability is showing. You continue to do this with all subsequent colonized planets to create a chain of special abilities that are then available to you.Sounds simple right? Try it… IT’S NEARLY IMPOSSIBLE TO DO!!! I mean, it’s a total s**t-show trying to add a planet to your galaxy without wrecking everything in your galaxy. It drives me absolutely crazy. It’s especially maddening because your galaxy card is used to track virtually all of your progress in the game. Lifting it up inevitably results in markers and ships sliding all over the place! It makes sense for what the game needs, but I just wish it were physically more forgiving. Maybe galaxy cards shouldn't be cards at all but rather a constructed plastic “scoreboard” of sorts that have slotted areas keeping the ships in markers in place and is slightly raised so that cards can fit beneath. I don’t know, I feel like I’m whining, but it does make me a bit wild.

We used the Teresa Giudice table flip in the last review, sooo...

Mistakes we made:

Susan: I remember us not doing the upgrades correctly the first time - they take cumulatively more energy or culture every time you do one, so we started way too easy on ourselves.Mike: The rules state that you are supposed to announce your score to the table every time it changes, we never do that! Because you can easily get lost in this game trying to achieve your goals, what inevitably happens is Susan reaches the end trigger threshold and announces it before I’ve realized we are even close! This is a rule breach on both of our parts but she uses it to her advantage almost always! Gotta get better at that. She seems all bubbly on the surface while plotting to kill!

Susan: Oh stop. I just don’t pay attention. I’ve never schemed a day in my life.

See the schemer here in her natural habitat NOT scheming!

Play again?

Susan: I really like this game and often choose it to play. Would love to try with more than 2 players.Mike: YEAH we’ll definitely play again, it’s risen in our rankings of go-to titles when we really wanna get something in but don’t wanna start something new. TEG is in the family for sure!

...but, you would not BELIEVE how hard this is to do!

Times played: More than a little, less than a lot? Game record: OK, OK, I give up, this part is a bad idea. I reserve the right to pick it back up when we actually do better tallying of wins and losses! Dammit! Susan is right again!

#BoardGameHaiku

Launch a ship away

Touching down on a planet

Colonize this one!

Click play on the video below to learn how to play then immediately go forth and BUY IT!

youtube

#Tabletop Games #Scott Almes #Board Games #BGG BGGplay Gamelyn Games

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twodamnboard-blog · 9 years ago

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The Contests of Culture

7 Wonders Duel by Antoine Bauza and Bruno Cathala published by Repos Production

"7 Wonders Duel" is a card-based, 2-player optimized version of the very popular "7 Wonders". In it, you are competing to build a more robust civilization than your opponent over the course of three “ages”. Each age is represented by a set of 20-23 “building” cards that each player takes turns selecting to gain coins, develop sciences, form guilds or attack militarily. You prevail over your opposing society by either scientific or military dominance which can occur at any point during the 3 ages, or via a civilian victory which occurs by having collected the most victory points at the end of the 3rd age. Pick a path to ascendancy, ride it to victory and dance on the smoldering ashes of the rival city vanquished by your hand!

How we came to play this game:

Mike: As we have discussed in previous reviews, our attempt to keep up with the torrent of board games that are of interest is essentially an exercise in futility. We have willingly mounted a treadmill with a dangling carrot attached, just out of reach, in a foolhardy bid to obtain the carrot. This mindset applies the pressure on when you enter a game store or website and see ANOTHER tent-pole title that all the other gamers have and you do not! For a couple of years now I have felt this exact pressure because "7 Wonders" is not a part of our library. We’ve had it in online carts, we have fondled it in brick and mortar shops and even had it stacked at check-out time and for whatever reason it STILL is not in our collection! If I'm perfectly honest here, I think it has always been because of a lack of enthusiasm on Susan’s part. Not like she seemed to hate the idea of the game, but she never seemed to exhibit the requisite excitement when it came time to pay. Finally having seen 7 Wonders Duel in a list of lauded 2 player games, (we are ALWAYS looking for 2 player games, because most of our friends are too intimidated to play with us. They are getting better about that, though. AND we're adding better, more game-minded friends to the mix!) I found a window to get the 7 Wonders off the shelf and into the library and during another binge picked it up with some others!

Susan: Sorry I didn't express my "requisite excitement" well enough Mike. Next time I'll do this:

Yeah see, THIS I can work with!

This reminds us of:

Mike: I’m aware that there are many similarities to the original 7 Wonders. As I have not played it yet, I can’t say that it REMINDS me of it, but if you have maybe you can. Acquisition and manipulation of resources to build brings to mind Catan in its various forms, but not overly so. I can’t say that the game feels “unique” but it also cannot be derided as derivative.

Susan: Because the game was designed by Bruno Cathala, it reminds me a bit of “Five Tribes” in that there are so many different ways to rack up your civilian points.

Game art:

Mike: Majestic! The art on the “Wonders” cards specifically, is worthy of the wonders they represent! Sweeping images depicting considerable scope adorn each card. The same goes for the “building” cards that make up each age, but those cards are too small to get the full effect of the refinement. Still it’s great to see a title where such care has been taken to illustrate the story! Big points from me here!

Susan: It’s a really pretty game. The designers definitely chose the small card side and thus minimized game footprint here, but it still works. And as Mike can tell you, every time we put it away, I rave about how it’s the best-designed game box ever.

Best part:

Mike: Many times in games where resource management is key, a player can get hung up waiting for an opportunity to attain that resource. 7 Wonders Duel has a cleverly designed market mechanic where all resources are available at any time, but the cost is affected by how much access your opponent has to the resource you want. It makes for some really interesting strategy nuances. I relish that. Any chance I get to block Susan’s desire to purchase or diminish her selling prowess is aces with me! I’m a regular Unkar Plutt!

Susan: I tend to like games where there’s a good balance of strategy and luck and with different sets of cards picked for each game play’s ages, plus a proportion of hidden cards in each age, this game does that for me. And you can win by doing so much SCIENCE!

1/2 ration!

Worst part:

Mike: Every so often the buildings cards in the first age come out in a way that can all but prohibit one side from advancing the rest of the game. The first age is really where you acquire resources, and a clever opponent may be able to get in the way of your ability to get them. It means you have to adjust your strategy, but it can feel frustratingly defeatist in the moment.

Susan: Yes, for the reasons that Mike says, this game can quickly get out of balance and then it becomes fairly hopeless for one player. I’m about the best loser and uncompetitive person out there, but this is one game that has brought me to the point of “flipping the table.”

Artist's depiction. Not an actual case.

Mistakes we made:

Mike: Not many though I have exhibited a stubborn unwillingness to call the resources by the correct name! I call the stone resource “steel” and the glass resource “water” consistently. This is some sort of brain tic that I cannot shake much to Susan’s chagrin!

Susan: Oh my god, it drives me nuts. It’s stone and glass. Stone and glass. Repeat it after me, Mike. Anyway, it’s a pretty easy title to dive into, but the symbols on some of the cards definitely take many references back to the rule book.

Nah fam, steel and water!

Play again?

Mike: I LOVE this game. It’s easy to travel with; it’s a more than satisfyingly rich experience to play, and it’s head to head for maximum shit-talking! All things bright and beautiful! YES!

Susan: Yeah, I’m usually down for a round of this.

It's on!

#BoardGameHaiku

Building up nations

And drawing the lines between Civilizations Times played: 6 or 7? Game record: Either we need to get better at keeping these records or we gotta rethink this bit of the reviews! Full disclosure: Susan lobbied against this bit from the jump! I'm gonna say we're even 3 and 1/2 to 3 and 1/2! Click play on the video below to learn how to play then for heaven's sake GO BUY IT!!

youtube

#Tabletop Games #Repos Production #Bruno Cathala #Board Games #Antoine Bauza

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twodamnboard-blog · 9 years ago

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General Contracting in 19th Century Bavaria

Castles of Mad King Ludwig by Ted Alspach published by Bezier Games Castles of Mad King Ludwig is a tile-placing game in which the players compete to build the “best” castle, á la the fabulous King Ludwig II who oozed extravagance and lavish decor in his construction projects (and had enough closets installed to remain in one throughout his entire reign, if you know what we mean). We say “best” because it’s not just size that matters, but there are bonuses awarded for congruence! Build a piano room next to a food prep room, get a bonus (gotta feed the help right?) but build the same piano room next to a bedroom and LOSE points. (Hey enough with “Chopsticks” man!! I’m trying to get some rest!) The price of available rooms is set by a “Master Builder” that changes hands each round. The Master Builder attempts to strike a balance that will ensure the rooms he wants to build are cheap enough for him while not making them too attractive to the players who get to choose before him. Along the way, there are secret goals each player tries to achieve for MORE bonus points as well as two revealed goals for which all players are competing.

Observe as Susan unreasonably sets the market price in some weird attempt to retro-re-enact the great housing market bubble burst of 2007! Slumlord!

How we came to play this game: We are game junkies. Junkies need a fix. Attempting to satiate that which is insatiable brings certain realities to fore. For us, it means regularly reading great reviews in places like BGG and other blogs. It means perusing the fantastic content that guys like Tom Vassel’s “The Dice Tower” and Rodney Smith’s “Watch It Played” put together and it all inspires an ever expanding shrubbery of a wish list is never quite done growing and is instead periodically “pruned” during not insignificant retail therapy binges. This game was purchased in just such a binge inspired by this Dice Tower review. This reminds us of: Mike: The gameplay is, of course, similar to one of Ted Alspach and Bezier Games previous titles “Suburbia”. It shares many of the same mechanics and interface design. It’s difficult not to think of one when you are playing the other. Susan: Yes, definitely similar to Suburbia. Game art: Mike: This is where the greatest improvement has been made over Suburbia. “Castles” trades in the uniform hexagonal tiles that are the building blocks for your borough for wonderfully representative “room” tiles that are presented in a top-down architectural view. The change makes for a very satisfying experience as the game progresses in that you watch your castle take shape in a pretty realistic manner! You may wanna call a general contractor when you’re done! Susan: I agree - the various room sizes and shapes are really nice and it’s challenging and rewarding to try to fit them together in harmonious ways.

Estate sprawl!

Best part: Mike: I fancy titles that offer multiple and not-always-obvious paths to winning. There are not many feelings that can top vanquishing an opponent that believed they were wiping the floor with you for most of the game! The bonus point system designed into this game embraces this style in spades. There’s enough to do trying to make sure you are building up YOUR castle for maximum impact, but you MUST keep track of all of those same variables in your opponent’s construction. It’s just one of those titles where you come away from it with a sense of fulfillment after a win! I LOVE that feeling! Susan: I guess I should try to keep track of Mike’s variables in his castle, huh? Seriously, though, I really like all the different rooms. Though they have a set size or shape, there are so many different variations on them that you’ll never ever have the same castle twice. Mike: Wait, did I just reveal my strategy unnecessarily? Dammit!

OK, Chuck, I get it, man. Geez!

Worst part: Mike: I find the similarities to “Suburbia” disappointing. While marketed as an entirely new title, an argument can certainly be made that it’s merely a re-skinning. Despite what I believe to be a considerable improvement (especially concerning the art and design) I still feel as if there’s not enough here to call it a different game. It’s early on, though; the differences may become more apparent to me the more we play. Susan: I definitely like “Castles” better than “Suburbia” - it’s just a richer game (at least the base game). For me the worst part of this game is honestly its length - at least for the 2-player version. I feel like it stops short just a bit needs a couple more rounds. That would be an easy fix if I could get SOMEONE to agree to that.

Still, they're cousins,

Identical cousins and you'll find,

They laugh alike, they walk alike,

At times they even talk alike --

You can lose your mind,

When cousins are two of a kind.

Mistakes we made: Mike: So many!!! I think we had to scrap our first attempt, for not drawing tiles correctly. It's hard to score the "consequence" points correctly because there are so many variables, and I don't think we scored for square footage at all! Our usual comedy of errors when playing a new title. (I realize this butts up against my complaint that the game is too similar to another game, but it's true!) Susan: Yeah, in some ways, the similarity to “Suburbia” tripped us up. And by us, I mean me, since I’m usually the one responsible for reading the rules and distilling them. It shares some of the mechanics, but the differences are really important.

Protip: It's highly unlikely that you'll be able to complete those two tasks in the same single game!

Play again? Mike: As is typically the case when we play a game I like that has an iOS version, I immediately spend as much time as I can afford to play on my iPad. I have done so with this, and I am enjoying playing. I’ve no doubt we will play this game again, though I highly suspect that it will be an either/or deal between this game and “Suburbia”, and one will fall by the wayside. Susan: I’ll be voting for this over “Suburbia” most times, I think. I’m very excited to try this game with >2 players, too. The iOS version with four players is significantly different. #BoardGameHaiku To build a castle You, the spatially challenged Must use different skills! Times played: Combined with a pass and play session of the iOS app this weekend I think 4? Game record: Mike: I gotta admit I've been doing a shitty job keeping track. I do remember winning the iOS session this weekend. I'm less interested in tallying when I lose! I promise to do better and, we'll update these as we play more! Susan: Ummm I won the iOS game! Mike: See how bad I am at it?

So it's reasonable to assume that Susan is winning here.

Click on the vid below to learn how to play, then go on and buy it!

youtube

#Ted Alspach #Tabletop Games #Board Games #Beizer Games

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twodamnboard-blog · 9 years ago

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...through the desert on a horse with no name.

...it felt good to be out of the rain.

Targi by Andreas Steiger published by Z-Man Games Targi is a smart 2-player card-based strategy game, where you find yourself in the desert, amongst the Tuareg people. Throughout the game, you’re collecting three types of goods (dates, salt, and pepper) along with gold pieces to acquire the “loyalty” of tribes. All of this transpires via an elegant game mechanic where players take turns putting their three meeples on cards along the outer border of the game, planning their intersection carefully to get the goods or tribe cards of their choice in the center grid of the board. Tribe cards not only can give you an advantage through further rounds, but they also provide victory points, helping you to win the game.

Targi in full!

How we came to play this game:

Susan: We saw this in a Barnes and Noble in Rhode Island last year and decided to try it since we seem always to be looking for good 2-player games.

Mike: As I remember it, this title was on a list of recommended 2-player games we'd been consulting. It was on our wish list, and we were surprised to find it in Barnes & Noble. They have stepped up their "board game" game, so to speak!

This reminds us of:

Susan: To me, this game is pretty unique, so it’s hard to come up with something that it seems terribly similar to.

Mike: Uh... the x-axis/y-axis mechanic kinda recalls Battleship??

(That's all I got. Sorry!)

Susan: Oh, the “set” collection bit of the tribes is a little similar to “Garden Dice” - how about that?

Mike: Yeah! Not bad!

So NOT like this then!

Game art:

Susan: I really like the art of this game. My only complaint is that although the font on the cards is attractive, it is a little difficult to read. I do especially like that the border cards were designed to be 2-sided, one with minimal iconography and clear explanations of their actions and the other with just the pretty illustrations, for when you become familiar enough with the game that you know how each of them works. Someday we’ll get there, Mike. Someday.

Mike: Bland. I suppose with the backstory taking place in the desert; you're at a disadvantage out of the gate, but I feel like the overall "beige-ness" makes the look and feel essentially unappealing. Missed opportunity here, it could have been so much more.

...in the desert, you can't remember your name.

Best part:

Susan: I like that the game feels quite well balanced with almost equal parts strategy and “luck of the draw” as to what cards come up. It makes it possible to try to plan ahead, while still providing new opportunities to score points as the game progresses. The designers also did an excellent job of curtailing the propensity to “hoard” throughout this game. You’re not allowed to have too many goods but can make a move to exchange them for gold. You’re also not allowed to keep more than one tribe card in reserve at a time, which makes it necessary to forge a plan and try to stick to it.

Mike: The play design of Targi hits all the right notes strategically. All too often I find games that claim to be "strategy" games are too light on strategy. That is not the case here. Perhaps frustratingly to Susan, I am prone to analysis paralysis as a matter of course. I can easily fall into that mindset in this game, but man, I DO love that feeling! Being sensible about how you begin your campaign is essential to how this title plays out and trying to figure out the best path to success is damned satisfying.

Susan: Yeah, Mike takes freaking forever on his turns sometimes with this one. Zzzzzzzz.

Back off lady!!

Worst part:

Susan: The game needs just a few more tokens of each of the goods, because it’s not uncommon to run out of one of them at one point, which leaves you scrambling to find pennies - or tiny pieces of paper towel - for temporary substitutes.

Mike: I hate to continue to harp on this, but the art of Targi feels like a field goal attempt that falls 10 yards short of the end zone! While I appreciate and relish all of the care that went into the play design, it's just damned disappointing that the art could not follow suit! I could hope for a redesign, but the game has been wildly successful, so I'm probably just unnecessarily gasbagging! (which I am ALSO prone to!)

Susan: No, Mike, not you! :-)

...cause there ain't no one for to give you no pain.

Mistakes we made:

Susan: When we pulled this out after not playing in a few months, we slipped up on the fact that you’re only allowed to have 10 total goods at the end of your turn. We also had a total (collective) brain fart when the center cards were suddenly almost all tribes and reset them. We hadn’t done anything wrong, after all, but we thought we had and tried to correct it.

Mike: Hysterically, as Susan points out, we corrected something that didn't need to be corrected when we played over the Memorial Day weekend. We are so skittish because of our awful track record that we have now taken to messing up the things we do right!

Play again?

Susan: This is one of my favorite 2-player games. It’s relatively quick (not to mention somewhat defined in that the game has 16 clear rounds).

Mike: Absolutely will be playing again, but I wouldn't characterize the game as "quick"! It's 45 mins to an hour to play even WITHOUT my crippling analysis paralysis but I think it’s relatively unburdensome. I'd say it PLAYS quickly, but it's not a quick game.

Susan: Well, it could be a quick game if you wouldn’t think so much. Mike: No. No it wouldn’t!

Trust me!

#BoardGameHaiku

Pepper, salt and dates

Give me my fourth “camp” tribe card

Four victory points

Times played:

around 4 or 5 times

Game record -

Mike: I think I'm comfortable giving the edge in the record to Susan. I think I may have won once! Click play on the vid below to learn how to play! It's fun, so buy it, though it seems to be in short supply right now!

youtube

#Z-Man Games #Targi #Tabletop Games #Board Games

0 notes

twodamnboard-blog · 9 years ago

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We made a video!

youtube

Well, I think we've got all the bases covered! You can find us just about anywhere on the web. Blog: www.twodamnboard.com Facebook: www.facebook.com/TwoDamnBoard/ Twitter: @twodamnboard http://twitter.com/TwoDamnBoard Instagram: www.instagram.com/twodamnboard I suppose if you add "twodamnboard" to just about any social media prefix, you'll most likely find some representation of us. We are gonna do some serious gaming this weekend and we'll be back next week with more reviews! Have a great Memorial Day weekend all! Take a minute and remember our war dead, have a beer and a burger in the backyard, and break out a game or two!

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twodamnboard-blog · 9 years ago

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Six To Get Started (and one to IGNORE): A Beginners Guide to the new Golden Age of Board Games.

Board gaming is happening.

All over the place people are having tabletop game nights. People are having board gaming meetups. Geek and Sundry’s Tabletop Day gathers more and more steam every year. Kickstarter’s biggest backings are now board games, by a long shot. You’ve seen all the articles and Facebook posts and tweets heralding this new age of board gaming.

“Board Games: It Ain’t Just Monopoly Anymore”

It’s a party!!

But how do YOU get in on it! What games should you try out that’ll expose you to this wild and newly invigorated world of board gaming? Well, Aunt Susan and Uncle Mike are gonna help you out and walk you through a few games that are sure to give you the board gaming bug. Fun, easy, and widely playable! You can even bring the kids in on the deal!

Most importantly, you can do something better with your nights than watching The Bachelorette!

Come along, we’ll show ya six of our favorite easy-to-learn but lots of fun games…

Ticket To Ride

2-5 players Ages 8 and up

Mike: This game is the gateway drug to the board gaming’s new golden age. It most closely resembles the games you remember playing as a kid while introducing several of the concepts that are key to many of the newer board games. You score points by securing train routes between cities. The farther the distance, the more points you win. The more routes you secure, the more points you win It’s really simple and lotsa fun. I can even get my wife to play this and she hates games! Go ahead and try it...you’ll like it, but be warned, you may eventually head to the “crystal meth” of Arkham Horror!

Susan: Something I like about Ticket to Ride is how awesome the iPad version is! If you play this game and get hooked and can't wait until the next game night, the mobile version will be a great fix - complete with fun sound effects. Choo choo!!

Sushi Go

2-5 players Ages 8 and up

Mike: In this card game, you and your opponents are competing to create the most sushi rolls, and sashimi dinners. Multiply your score with wasabi and stockpiled desserts! The artwork is hella cute and the gameplay is very kid friendly. As such, it makes for an excellent non-taxing but still satisfyingly competitive game to play when heavily drunk, or debilitatingly hung over!

Susan: It's a really cute game that everyone seems to like. It will introduce you to a nifty game style called “pass and play” where each round you choose a card to keep before passing the whole hand along. This strikes a nice balance of easy to play while also giving opportunities for plenty of strategy - or sabotage! My only complaint is that this game makes me hungry. Time for a snack!

Monopoly (played correctly)

2-5 players Ages 8 and up

Mike: Yeah I know, you’re all “MONOPOLY??? WTF is wrong with this dude!!” But bear with me.

The reason you don’t like Monopoly is because you’ve ruined it by not playing correctly. It takes you 5 hours to play because you’ve ignored the rules and have felt free to do whatever the hell you want when you play. Play by the rules. It’ll take 90 mins and you’ll understand what finely tuned game design is about. This will help you enter the new age with the right attitude. And you need that, because your attitude needs to change. Here’s a quick guide:

When you land on a property you must either purchase it or it goes up for auction. You’re not allowed to just leave it there!

You don’t get money for landing on Free Parking.

If you run out of houses, you can no longer build houses until more are available when they are turned in for motels! It’s called a housing shortage! Deal with it!

Those three things alone will change everything you feel about Monopoly! Learn to play by the rules, and you’ll be welcome with open arms in board gaming’s brave new world!

Susan: Mike is right - it's a much better-designed game than you think if you play by the original and correct rules. But that said, it's not one we pull out given our ginormous trove. BUT if you've got a copy (and who doesn't?) give it a try the way it's supposed to be played.

Tsuro Of The Seas

2-5 players Ages 8 and up

Susan: This game is quick, easy, and can handle up to 8 players easily so it's a great start to a game night. This game follows from the original game, Tsuro, but it's well worth it to just jump in the deep end (pun intended!) with the nautical version. Each player begins at the edge of the board and then play progresses with players laying tiles with twisted routes down to create paths for their ships to safely navigate, while hoping to send opponents’ ships careening off the ends of the Earth. This version adds the complexity of fearsome sea dragons who you're also maneuvering around.

Mike: Well there, Susan has put you on the flying trapeze without a net! Tsuro, the original, is elegant and simple. The classic “easy to learn but hard to master” title. The addition of the sea monsters in Tsuro Of The Seas however, is a pretty significant uptick in difficulty that might prove frustrating for younger players to start with. Don’t get me wrong, after you get to know the mechanic of the game, the changes in “seas” are great fun. I just think you start with the original, and that’s what we agreed on when we decided to write this piece, but my partner has gone rogue!

Susan: Argh, matey! They can handle it, me thinks! (And if they can't, you can take out the dragons and you're back to Tsuro while you get the hang of it.)

Codenames

2-8+ players Ages 14 and up

Susan: This game was voted Best Party Game of 2015 in many places and it's easy to see why. It's a simple, competitive backwards version of “Password” - with spies! Divide your group into 2 teams and assign a spymaster to each team. Lay down a 5x5 grid of cards, each with a simple word on it. The spymasters collectively draw a grid card, which tells them which words are the codenames for each side’s agents. The spymasters then give one-word clues that they hope inspire their team to guess as many spies in one go as possible. The twist is that some of the codenames are for innocent bystanders, which stop the turn and one in the grid is a dangerous assassin that will end the game for your team. It's quick and fun - good for drunks e and kids alike (but probably not at the same time or the kids will lose patience.)Mike: Perfect party game especially because the length of the rounds of play are conducive to changing team roles and teams altogether! You get the full range of interplay in a single sitting. So well designed you can use it out of the box as an gathering or even corporate icebreaker!

Forbidden Desert

2-5 players Ages 10 and up

Susan: As with Tsuro, my recommendation is that you jump over the lower bar - in this case Forbidden Island - and right into the slightly more challenging but also more interesting version that followed. These games are great examples of a really fun board game style - the cooperative game - which is perfect for newbies and kids alike as either you all beat the game or you all lose. In this version, you're all trying to uncover the pieces of a flying machine that will carry you out of the swirling, menacing desert sands before the scorching heat and dwindling water supply spell your doom. Like its big cousin, “Pandemic” (which is probably our #7!) this game allows each player to take on a special role while formulating the best group strategy. Mike: The fact that this game is a co-op game is great for newbies because it removes the humiliation of losing to a person. This also makes it great for kids who get to follow adult leads and use their own deductive abilities to beat the desert. Great fun, but I’m inclined to suggest starting with Forbidden Island. Forbidden Desert is definitely the better of the two games though! ...and one to ignore:

Cards Against Humanity

4-30 players Ages 17 and up

Mike: Oh you’ve heard sooo much about it “It’s so much fun”

“We laughed our asses off”

“It’s so raunchy”

It’s the party game that’s sweeping the nation.You and a bunch of other people are given some cards with insultingly provocative statements on them and missing words a la 70s game show “Match Game”. You fill in the missing word and then one your your dunderhead friend’s judges the answers. This game sucks. For one thing, your friends are awful at judging comedy (I promise you, they are) and in all honesty if this is what you’re gonna play, then you should go back to The Bachelorette, because it's essentially the same thing. Hollow titillation. No happy ending!

Susan: I couldn't agree more. It was fun at first - as in that first moment when you knew you had an awesome answer - but Mike is right, your friend had horrible humor and thought “Harry Potter erotica” was the perfect hysterical answer to a joke that only they get. Get The Metagame instead if this is the kind of thing you want - and you won't have to give the kids earplugs. Or, do what Mike says and just watch “The Bachelorette” but then hey, back to the earplugs.

So now you’re clued in. You’ve been given the information, now go out and join the revolution! We’ll see you there!

Good talk guys... NOW GET OUT THERE AND GAME!

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twodamnboard-blog · 9 years ago

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Floram & Gemsam

Latice by Brent Vincent published by Adacio

Latice is a simple, but elegant tile-placing game, where you’re matching tropically themed colors and images. The goal is to be the first player to use all of your tiles in your bag. Each turn, you are trying to choose a tile that matches in color and/or in pictures as many other tiles on adjacent spaces - the more connections that a placed tile makes, the better. Match your tile on two sides and generate a “half stone,” match it on three sides and receive a “sunstone." If you create a "latice,” by matching your tile on all four sides, that will give you two(!) sunstones. There are also several sun-filled spaces around the board that will get you a sunstone for free, just for placing a tile on them. These half stones and sunstones are important because they will allow you to take additional turns and you’re allowed to bank a limited number of them to strategically plan those extra turns. The other special mechanic in the game is the use of “wind” tiles that allow you to move pesky tiles out of the way (or into a better position so you can make more matches!)

How we came to play this game:

Susan backed this on Kickstarter last year (most likely it was the lizards that grabbed her attention) and received it just before Christmas. She was about to give it as a “shared” gift to the guy she’d been dating, but when he ended things the day she was set to give it to him, she didn’t have to share any longer. She learned to play it with her friend Katy (who got stuck in NYC after our huge snowstorm this year) and then recently introduced it to Mike. It’s now been produced in both a deluxe edition and a standard edition, with cardboard instead of plastic tiles and a quad-fold board for a smaller box.

This reminds us of:

Susan: It’s a bit of a twist on Qwerkle with maybe a touch of a dominoes. Mike: It’s a slightly inferior version of Qwerkle’s iconographical Scrabble.

Game art:

Susan: Of course, I love the tropical images - lizards, dolphins, flowers and more. The board is simple, but pretty. I’d be curious to see how the new deluxe edition looks and feels. Mike: The island breeziness that Susan opines about so lovingly above is like nails on a chalkboard to me. I can’t shake the Jimmy Buffet Parrothead-ness of it. This is not to imply that the approach is unsuccessful, it is! It’s clearly what the designers were aiming for and they hit it right on the head! Even the style used to depict the tropical icons, done in what could be described as a “well-manicured stencil” bring to mind what may be adorned on crates coming off of an island supply vessel! I get it, and well done, but this design does not sit well with my sensibilities. Of course, she’s a little bit country, and I’m a little bit rock and roll!

Susan: Having worked on 15 Caribbean islands in my career as a tropical biologist/parasitologist, I think the island thing is just part of my psyche.

Changes in attitudes changes in Latice-tudes nothing rema-... Sorry.

Best part:

Susan: It’s really, really easy to learn this game and we’ve even gotten some of our other friends to play it! Also, this game has to win the prize for rules in the most languages - 11! It’s a great game for kids and serious gamers alike. "I just got back from Florida and all I could think of is that this could be the next Mexican Trains or Bunco Dice game to sweep through retirement villages (though currently they all seem obsessed with cribbage.)"

Mike: The compound sigh of frustration and disappointment from your opponent is the prize you get when you exploit the mechanic of getting sunstones and use them to get extra moves in a manner that allows you to clear out your tile rack in a single turn! Whenever we play, I try to set myself up to be able to to this. It’s what I love more than anything in this game. Even when she attempts to muffle the sigh or otherwise hide the disappointment, I know it’s there, and it feels wonderful! Don’t hide your feelings Susan. It’s unhealthy!

Susan: Which one of us has regular therapy? Not the cute blonde one of us.

Word??

Worst part: Mike: I don’t have a crippling case of it, but my OCD kicks in a bit when I play this game. Unlike Scrabble and Qwerkle, the end result of the game is not a fine network of interconnected pieces, it’s a frustrating semi-network of MOSTLY interconnected pieces because of this agent in the game called the “wind” tile. This tile allows a user to “blow” a previously placed tile onto an adjacent open space on the board. This screws up the matching color/icon motif that you’d been building to and while you must lay new tiles according to the matching rules, the tile that was “blown” doesn’t need to! So you might end up with say, a green feather next to a yellow dolphin. And have your brain explode as a result! If you’re anything like me.

Susan: This doesn't bother me, but then I also spend more time in the tropics and things don't always line up nicely there. It does drive me a little crazy that they spell lattice as “latice” - this has prompted us to pronounce the game "la-teece". Also, if I have to hear Mike say “What? You blew a dolphin?!” one more time, I might scream.

Somewhere, Tony Shalhoub is LOSING IT!

Mistakes we made:

Susan: We initially missed the rule that only full sunstones count against the imposed limit. Mike: There’s this thing in my brain the precludes me from calculating the correct half stones/sunstones that I should be awarded when I lay a tile! I know! It’s not exactly rocket science, but I have to think hard every time! I’m broken!

Susan: And this proves I don't cheat because I always help you out.

Play again?

Susan: Absolutely. And it’s definitely going out to Fire Island with us this summer. Mike: Yeah, for sure. Though it strikes me looking over this review that it may not seem as if I’m keen on this title. That is not the case; I do like playing it. I think it will be a good title for our non-gaming friends. Low bar for entry! That’s a nice plus. Cuz honestly, your Aunt Latice ain’t playing Arkham Horror with you after dinner next Thanksgiving, but she just might play this!

Boy, what in the lord's name is a "meeple"???

#BoardGameHaiku

There’s a perfect spot

For me to lay this green bird

Give me a sunstone!

Times played:

Maybe 4?

Game record -

Mike- 3 Susan- 1 Click on the vid below to learn how to play, then go buy it!

youtube

#Tabletop Games #Latice #Brent Vincent #Board Games #Adacio

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twodamnboard-blog · 9 years ago

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Feeling the draft.

Automobiles by David Short published by Alderac Entertainment Group Automobiles is the third in AEG's “trilogy” of transportation games and in some ways, combines the two (see below). It’s a clever twist on the basic deck-building mechanic, but instead of cards, you’re buying and collecting cubes that can help you “shift” up a gear and advance more quickly, but also colorful cubes, each of which can trigger an action that you will use to help race your little car around the track. Going faster isn’t free, though - all that extra speed adds to “wear” on your car, represented by brown cubes which will gunk up your next turn (for “Trains” fans, these are analogous to the Waste cards that you pick up as you develop). Each game is different because the specific actions that are linked to each color will vary depending on which cards are drawn during set-up.

How we came to play this game:

We got “Trains” as part of the 2014 AEG Black Box and really liked that (of course immediately rushing out to buy the expansion board, as we’re so prone to do). Soon after that, Susan’s colleague (and Gutsy co-developer, Barry Joseph) was given a few copies of “Planes” at the NYC Toy Fair and gave one to us. Well, we loved that game, too. So, as soon as Automobiles was announced, we pre-ordered it.

This reminds us of:

Susan: In a few ways, it has elements of both “Trains” and “Planes.” It’s a “deck-building” kind of game like “Trains,” but with the little cubes that are the mancala-based core of “Planes.” But, really, it’s a pretty unique game.

Mike: Imagine if a classic old school “around the track” car racing board game like “Race-A-Way” used a deck building mechanic like "Dominion" to get you around the track, except that the “deck” you’re crafting isn’t card based, it’s “count and capture”! That’s what’s happening here. A beautiful amalgam of tried and true game styles seamlessly sewn together. As Susan points out “Trains” and “Planes” were steps along the way leading up to “Automobiles” so if you’ve played either of those, some aspects will seem familiar, but somehow David Short manages to create a fresh experience with his alchemy!

Game art:

Susan: The art here is pretty basic. Like “Planes” and “Trains”, “Automobiles” has a double-sided board, which adds to the replayability. The cards are well-designed, though, and I like the balance of gray-scale for the gears and colorful cubes for the “extras.”

Mike: Hmmm… I’m not in the same room as Susan right now, but I’m reading the above as tepid on this subject. I disagree! The art is THE BOMB in this game! Seriously! I love it! I love the tracks; I especially love the cars. There is something about the art of this game the brings me back to being a little kid and racing matchbox cars around a track you’d drawn on construction paper that you absconded with from the school supply closet! There is a simplicity to the art that sparks the imagination and puts me right in the middle of a loud live raceway!

Susan: Maybe that’s it. Never played car racing games as a little girl and never been to a live raceway.

Way better than my construction paper creations!

Smell the fumes! Hear the engines roar!

Best part:

Susan: Like David Short’s other games, it’ very well-balanced and at least for me, has a nice blend of strategy and fun. This one goes pretty quick so easy to play a couple of rounds.

Mike: What makes this is title stand out for me is how different the gameplay is each time. There are 5 action cards (Garage, Engine, Handling, Performance, and Pit) that serve as purchasable abilities and essentially dictate what each player can do throughout the race. There are 4 of each type, so if you randomly select each of the five abilities, your plan for success can vary wildly from the last time you played. It makes the game so satisfyingly replayable. You’re never left with the feeling that you need to exploit a particular playstyle to win because the playstyle is impossible to set. This is especially significant when you play most of the games in your life against a particular opponent! One who tends to size you up and find your weakness and then regularly prey on that weakness. You guys know what I mean? Do you guys play with someone like that? Someone who does that all the time??? Especially in Ascension??? Making you look like a big dumb jerk EVERY TIME?!?!?!?

Well, that doesn’t happen here.

Susan: I can’t help it that I’m good at Ascension, Mike.

Yeah. This. Like, far too often!

Worst part:

Susan: We live in fear every time we play this that we’re going to hit the tray of cubes and send them all flying. This paranoia was especially acute when we took “Automobiles” down to Uncommons one night.

Mike: It's slightly frustrating that a game that has been otherwise so lovingly crafted, is unwieldy with regard to how the gear box cards and cubes and the ability cards and cubes sit in the gameplay space. The size of the cards does not line up well with the containers that hold the cubes. It just makes that whole area look messy, and it’s not always easy to read the relevant information on the cards because the containers might block them. I'm sure if I wasn’t a lazy wanker I could come up with a reasonable fix for this, but I am, so I haven’t and frankly I shouldn’t HAVE to!

Sure, it looks pretty neat here, but trust me, it's kind of a pain in the ass!

Mistakes we made:

Susan: Not sure that we made any significant mistakes with this one, but it’s important to pay attention to how moves can be made and when and how you can draft. We definitely encourage players to follow the game’s advice and use the cubes to mark your planned moves before advancing your car (but then must note that it can then be easy to scoop up a car when you do this - and I know once we had to restart because we couldn’t remember where the car was!)

Mike: No major screw-ups that I can remember, though on more than one occasion we have been unclear on the “drafting” rule. Is it considered drafting if you’re behind a player on the same track section as opposed to being in the space BEHIND them? I think so, but I’m not always sure!

Drafting not the issue here!

Play again?

Susan: Absolutely. Think that this one will long be one of our favorites that we will pull off the shelf regularly.

Mike: This is a forever title for us. I can feel it. It’s unquestionably fun to play and it’s a new adventure each time out!

#BoardGameHaiku

Draw cubes from your bag,

Hoping to shift up a gear.

Pass on outside. Vroom.

Times played:

Susan: ?? We’ve lost track I think - but if I had to guess I’d say about 10.

Mike: That’s probably about right

Game record -

Susan: Also lost track of this, but I think we’re about even.

Mike: THAT’S probably WRONG! I’m reasonably confident that I have the edge on this one. Pretty solidly I might add! We did actually play this once or twice with other players and on at least one of those occasions the outsider won. But I’m pretty sure that if there have been ten games between us, the record is

Mike- 7

Susan- 3

Susan: Well, I’m still better at Ascension

The eagle-eyed among you have recognized that Automobiles is the game in our official ID pic! I can't fathom why Susan is smiling, though. She is almost assuredly losing!

Click play on the vid below to learn how to play, then go buy it.

youtube

#Tabletop Games #Games #David Short #Board Games #Automobiles Game #Automobiles #Alderac Entertainment Group #AEG

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twodamnboard-blog · 9 years ago

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The fine art of competitive quilting.

Patchwork

by Uwe Rosenberg

published by Mayfair Games Patchwork is a 2-player tile placement game. Each player has a quilting board that they are trying to fill up with various “scraps” of cloth by purchasing them from a central market using buttons, which is the cute little currency of Patchwork. The game is a careful balance of filling up your board with the quilt pieces, trying to make the biggest quilt while also making things fit together perfectly (who wants a holey quilt?!), while also yielding some button income back to you as you progress around the scoring board.

How we came to play this game:

We saw this on a list of recommended two-player games (which we’re always looking for since no one ever seems to want to play with us.) Finally, Mike bought it in his big binge a few weeks ago. It has a relatively easy entry, so we broke this one out the morning of Table Top Day while having coffee.

This reminds us of:

Susan: To me, it’s Tetris meets Tokaido. I always stunk at Tetris, being a very verbal person, so this one is a bit challenging to me.Mike: Yeah, it’s basically two-player Tabletop Tetris.

Game art:

Susan: I mostly like the art, though the colors are a bit dull for me (for a real quilt!) The scoreboard has two sides and the simpler one was definitely easier on the eyes. The pieces have two values on them, their cost and the number of spaces they cause you to advance and those are easy to confuse at first.Mike: The art conveys the quilt theme adequately enough. By the end of a game you have the feeling you’ve been working on a nice little bedspread. That’s if you haven’t left too many stray holes along the way!

Couple of holes! I know!

Best part:

Susan: I really like the way they designed the circular market such that players have to really plan ahead by paying attention to what pieces might be coming up. It makes it a more challenging game than it seems at first glance.Mike: Along those same lines, the ability to sabotage your opponent by limiting their choices is the most satisfying thing about the game. Determining the manner in which your nemesis is building their quilt and then laying booby traps for them is the key. Deeply satisfying evil gameplay! That’s everything I want in a game!

Susan: You know, sometimes you suck, Mike.

Sure, it's pretty, but in the immortal words of Admiral Ackbar: "Its a trap!!!"

Worst part:

Susan: The final scoring example in the rules made me feel like a real dunce, given how many empty spaces I had left at the end of my first game!

Mike: While the game is nicely designed for quick and satisfying play, I can’t shake the feeling that it might benefit from an expansion or two. Something is missing. I’m not sure what! Susan: I agree - maybe bees. Get it?

Actual IM conversation between friends....

Mike:...still don't get it. Mistakes we made:

Susan: I think we mostly got this one right from the get-go, though it’s easy to forget to move the neutral pawn after a cloth piece is purchased, so you need to keep on top of that.Mike: Well, I got one thing wrong. I thought, for some ridiculous reason, that the player could only set the piece in the quilt with its face up as it was presented in the circle. (basically I thought the pieces were one sided, they are not!) It limited my options for the entire first game and some of the 2nd. Scroll below to see how that advantage worked out for Susan! (hint: Not too well!)

Susan: Did I mention that you can be a meanie?

Play again?

Susan: I’m sure we’ll definitely crack this one out more, especially given that it’s a relatively fast 2-player game. But, I foresee me getting frustrated that I never win at it! Mike: Definitely a good coffee game. Easy setup, easy clean up, short time spend. I anticipate several Sunday hangover mornings with this one!

Artist's rendition of an actual quilting bee. ...and there was much rejoicing!

#BoardGameHaiku

I build my nice quilt

Choosing “cloth” scraps, but I am

Spatially challenged.

Times played: 2

Game record Mike- 2

Susan- 0 (but proud that I wasn’t in the negative on the 2nd round!)

Click play on the vid below to learn how to play! It's a good game so buy it!

Oh, and if you wanna come out of this learning what the hell a quiliting bee is, here's a short history!

youtube

#uwe rosenberg #Tabletop Games #Patchwork Game #Patchwork #Mayfair Games #Games #Board Games

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twodamnboard-blog · 9 years ago

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Build a city, beat a friend!

Suburbia

by Ted Alspach published by Bezier Games

Suburbia is a tile-placement game in which up to 4 players compete to build the infrastructure for a new suburban paradise. The goal of the game is to attract the most residents by skillfully purchasing and situating tiles that represent civic, residential, commercial and Industrial developments in a manner that will ensure population growth and income. They key to success is, it’s all about balance! Focus on commerce and residential desirability falls off. Build only housing and parks and your people can’t find work! Not too much of any one thing at any time, too quickly!

How we came to play this game: Mike: I bought this one, primarily because I felt like it was a tentpole title in any decent collection and we'd kept overlooking it. I can think of at least 3 different times I've picked it up from the shelf at Modern Myths in Mamaroneck and left without it! After watching a Tom Vasel review of "Castles of King Ludwig" that he starts by lauding this game, I finally caved and went on a retail therapy binge that included both games and a couple of others. This reminds us of:

Mike: Think competitive board game version of Sim City!

Susan: Machi Koro but less noisy.

Game art: Mike: The art is representationally utilitarian. As the tiles get placed, there is a slight feeling of a city planning map coming together but that’s as far as it goes visually. Most of the art is used to convey development type, income earned, city reputation and so on. Text and icons that serve as vital game information. Not a lot of room for beauty, unfortunately.

Susan: Very plain Jane, but Mike’s right - there’s a lot of info to convey on a relatively small tile. The scoring board is simple, too, but also easy to forget which way you’re going. We’re always happy with games where Mike can be black and I can be purple, too, so a win there as well.

Damn, that's a lotta info on those tiles!

Best part:

Mike: The game designers have very cleverly worked out very realistic cause and effects of certain building developments. I’m most impressed by that balance (build a factory next to a housing project and feel the pain!)

Susan: Feels quite balanced as a game overall. I liked the three sets or tiers of development aspect and I liked the goals.

Reasons to be cheerful... A, B, C!

Worst part:

Mike: I’m a 47-year-old man whose sight is not what it once was. There so much information written on the game pieces and it’s so small that I started to get a headache. I imagine that with time, I’ll be able to recognize different development types at a glance, but for now, the tiny text is killing me!

You know, like this dude!

Susan: The rules were a little confusing at first. The player guides help and the scenarios did, too - but some things were still a little unclear.

Mistakes we made:

Mike: We were initially confused about how adjacent tile benefits are awarded. Make sure you don’t extend the benefits of one tile to EVERY tile surrounding it (despite what the language says on the tile.

There are personal goals that each player secretly tries to achieve and public goals that all players compete to achieve. Susan messed up and forgot to make the public goals available. Her fault!

Susan: True…but it did make the first time playing a little more straightforward to only have the one goal we were going for.

Play again? Mike: Absolutely! I think I’ve only scratched the surface of what this title has to offer. The idea of building a sprawling city is attractive on its own. Trying to do it better than Susan does just makes it that much better! I’ve already downloaded the iOS version and hope to make pro very soon!

Susan: Oh great, another one you’re going to play endlessly on your iPad until you master it and trounce me every time. But, until then, yes, definitely. The goals change and the tiles change somewhat for every game, so you have a different experience every time. Hope we can try this one with 3 or 4 players soon, too.

#BoardGameHaiku

Play Suburbia And highlight your shortcomings In city planning!

Times played: 2 Game record: Mike- 1 (It was the first game, which we played fairly incorrectly! I’m still calling it a win though) Susan- 1 Click play on the vid to learn how to play! Then go buy it! It's fun. You may need these too if you are of a certain age!

youtube

#Ted Alspach #Tabletop Games #Suburbia #Games #Board Games #Beizer Games

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