the-gateway-girl

[the-gateway-girl]

Quacks of Quedlinburg

[the-gateway-girl]

Awesome blog to follow!

I really like your blog! I see so many games I’d want to play :-)

Thank you so much! I still have so many games in shrink lol

[the-gateway-girl]

Survive: Escape from Atlantis

[the-gateway-girl]

Game Spotlight: Cockroach Poker Royal (2012) Designer: Jacques Zeimet Publisher: Drei Magier Spiele Player Count: 2-6 players Game Length: ~15 – 25 minutes Mechanisms: Party Game, Bluffing, Hand Management, Set Collection

Cockroach Poker Royal (or Kakerlaken Poker if you have the German version) has nothing in common with poker – except the bluffing element! Players work from a deck of cards containing various “ugly” insects: Bats, Cockroaches, Rats, Stink Bugs, Flies, Toads, Scorpions, and “Royal” cards (all of these various animals with a crown on their head).

There is no winner in Cockroach Poker Royal, only a loser – players are trying to make sure one person ends up with four of the same type of animal in front of them, thus causing that person to lose the game. To do this, players attempt to pass on as many cards as possible and bluff their opponents into taking cards.

How to Play: To start, the 55-card deck is shuffled and a “penalty pile” is created of 7 cards face down. The top card is then flipped face-up. The remaining cards are dealt out evenly among the players. If there are extra cards, the first player will receive an extra card and the rest are then added to the penalty pile (making sure to turn back over the current face-up card and turning the new top card of the deck face-up instead).

The starting player will choose a card from their hand and pass it face-down to another player of their choice and state what that card is: Stink Bug, Cockroach, Bat, Fly, Toad, Scorpion, Rat, or Royal. If the player says that the card is a Royal, this means that it is (or could be) any animal with a crown. The starting player can choose to be truthful in what he claims the card to be, or he can choose to bluff about what animal it is instead.

Example: Noah passes a card face-down to Ellie and says, “This is a Bat”.

The player who the card is being passed to then has two options:

Option 1 – Judge the claim and reveal the card. This means the player judges the other player’s claim and verbally decides whether or not they agree before revealing the card to see what it is. They will say “Correct” if they think the other player is being truthful, or they will say “Bluff” if they don’t believe the other player’s claim. When they reveal the card, if they guessed right, the other player must keep the card and place it face-up in front of them. If they guessed incorrectly, they must keep the card and place it face-up in front of themselves. The player who had to keep the card then takes the next turn.

Example: Ellie believes Noah and says, “Correct”. She flips the card over and it is a Toad. Since Ellie guessed incorrectly, she must keep the Toad face-up in front of her. If she had been right, and it was a Bat, then Noah would have had to take the Bat back and keep it face-up in front of him.

Option 2 – Pass the card on. If the player chooses to take this option, they must CLEARLY state “I choose to pass” before they view the card. They then look at the card secretly, place it back face-down, and pass it on to another player of their choice, making a claim about the card (either the same claim or a different one). That player then has the option to either judge the claim and reveal the card or pass it on. If the card continues to be passed on around the table, the final player to receive it cannot choose to pass it on – he or she has no choice but to judge the claim and reveal the card.

Example: Since she was forced to keep Noah’s Toad card because she guessed incorrectly, Ellie takes the next turn. She passes a face-down card to Laura and says, “This is a Stink Bug.” Laura then has the choice to either judge the claim and reveal the card or to pass it on. Laura says, “I choose to pass”, and views the card. She passes it face-down to Graham and says, “This is a Rat.” Graham then has the choice of judging the claim and revealing the card or passing it on, etc.

Royal cards have TWO correct claims: the pictured animal and the claim “Royal”. Every time a player has to place a Royal card face-up in front of them (from having judged a claim incorrectly), that player must also take the top card from the penalty pile and place it face-up in front of them. If that card is also Royal, they must draw another card from the penalty pile. Afterwards, the top card on the penalty pile is turned face-up (this way, all players can see the incoming consequences if they judge a potential Royal incorrectly!) For scoring purposes, the Royals turned face-up in front of a player are counted as one type: “Royal”. This means that if a player has 3 regular Rats in front of them and they must take a Royal Rat as well, they do not lose the game – the Royal Rat counts as a Royal and not as a fourth Rat. However, 4 Royal Rats would lose the game.

The game also includes two special cards. One is a picture of a crown with a big red “X” through it – this card is a joker for all animals without a crown. No matter what claim a person makes, this card is always “Correct” with one exception – “Royal” is wrong. There is also a blank card. No matter what claim a person makes, it is ALWAYS wrong. If a player is forced to take one of these two special cards, they do NOT place it in front of them. They instead add it to their hand and then they have two options: they can choose to place one of the cards from their hand face-up in front of them that matches the last claim made (ex: if the last claim made was “Fly”, the player could choose to place a Fly from their hand face-up in front of them), OR if they cannot or do not want to do this (such as if they already had 3 Flies in front of them and a fourth Fly would cause them to lose the game), they can instead choose to place two other cards from their hand face-up in front of them.

When a player either has 4 animals of the same type face-up in front of them (e.g. four Toads or four Royal Bats, etc.) OR when it is a player’s turn and they have no more cards in their hand, that player loses the game. Everyone else has won!

Play Variants / Expansions: Technically, Cockroach Poker Royal is an alternate version itself. The original is simply titled Cockroach Poker, and you can choose to purchase that one instead if you’d like. The original Cockroach Poker, instead of including the Royal cards and the two special cards, contains a 6th animal set of spiders. The rest of the rules are the same as far as gameplay. However, if you’re going to get one, it’s usually better to go with Cockroach Poker Royal – that way you have the Royal and special cards and penalty pile rule if you want to play with them, and if you want to just play without those cards you can still play the original game with the 5 regular animal card types included. Plus, nobody likes spiders anyway.

There are also multiple games in this “ugly animals” series, and they’re all quick and light! If you and your gaming group like Cockroach Poker Royal, try checking out Cockroach Soup or Cockroach Salad, Schummel Hummel / Cheating Moth, or Assel Schlamassel / Woodlouse Chaos! (Many of the games are more readily available in the German versions, unfortunately. Also check out details on Schummel Hummel vs. Cheating Moth before you buy one - there are more differences between those two games than the other translations. Of the two, I personally prefer Schummel Hummel).

Who Will Like It? : Players who enjoy bluffing and pressing their luck will enjoy Cockroach Poker Royal immensely. It’s silly, quick, and lighthearted fun. It can also be sneaky and does have depth to it, if you really want to go all Princess Bride with it and try to psych people out and play mind games. People who don’t like the idea of being the one loser with everyone else winning may not have the most fun with this game.

Where to Buy: Both Cockroach Poker Royal and the original Cockroach Poker are available on Amazon. Also try searching your local game store or other online retailers (Cardhaus, Noble Knight Games, CoolStuffInc and Ebay are good sources for discount games). Each version usually retails for around $12 or $13. You can also buy the German version, Kakerlaken Poker, if it’s cheaper – none of the cards have text, so the only thing unreadable aspect would be the rulebook, and I’ve already gone over all of the rules right here on this post! (Except for the rule modifications for a two-player game, which don’t allow for passing cards and basically just make the game into Russian Roulette, so it’s not worth bothering with, to be honest).

Links and Resources: If you want to see more or would like other opinions, Quintin “Quinns” Smith of Shut Up & Sit Down has an amazing review here (and it has a dog in it!) : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1fGg-MKMVU . There’s also a live playthrough here so you can see how it’s done: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfQ-_nZzEOM

Tips and Strategies:

If you’re playing with first-time players, it may be helpful to leave the two special cards and the Royal cards out for the first game or two until they pick up the subtle strategy of the game. With the Royal version of the game, it’s possible to play a normal game of Cockroach Poker just using the Bats, Scorpions, Cockroaches, Rats, Stink Bugs, Flies, and Toads (and with the Royal and special cards excluded, there will be no penalty pile). Then try adding in the Royals and penalty pile rule, and once that’s mastered, give those two special cards a go.

Remember to keep an eye on that top card of the penalty pile. It’s helpful to know what you might end up having to take if you misjudge a Royal card, or what other players might be trying to PUSH you to take if it’s an animal you already have a lot of!

It’s also possible to do a little probability work to figure out whether claims are likely to be true or false. There are 8 of each regular animal and 7 royal cards in the deck, so if there are already 7 scorpions out on the table and someone passes you a “scorpion” -- while there is a small chance that it is a scorpion, it’d be more likely that it’s a bluff. If there are 8 scorpions out on the table... hopefully you get what your next move should be.

Don’t get too attached to your game plan. Since Cockroach Poker is full of bluffing and variance, just because James has three Bats and you pass a Bat card to Annie saying “THIS IS A FLY”, it doesn’t mean that she’ll take the hint and pass it on to Evelyn saying “THIS IS A FLY” until eventually it gets to James as the last player and he’s forced to make a terrifying decision. Some people are just chaotic and love the adrenaline rush of attempting to call others out on their claims. The best way to play Cockroach Poker is to appreciate its silliness and just have fun!

Happy playing!!

[the-gateway-girl]

Ticket to Ride: Europe

[the-gateway-girl]

Sushi Go Party!

[the-gateway-girl]

Game Spotlight: Love Letter (2012) Designer: Seiji Kanai Publisher: AEG (Alderac Entertainment Group) Player Count: 2-4 players Game Length: ~20 minutes Mechanisms: Deduction, Hand Management, Player Elimination

Love Letter is a card game focused on risk and deduction. The game takes place within the fictional city-state of Tempest in Renaissance-era Italy. The Queen has just been arrested on charges of treason, and Princess Annette is so upset that she has locked herself in her room. You and your fellow players represent suitors of the Princess who are trying to get love letters into her hands in order to cheer her up and win her affections. You do this by enlisting the help of members of her family, her friends, and the castle staff to make sure your letter reaches her first.

How to Play: The game is played with only 16 cards! The cards are shuffled to create a face-down deck, and the topmost card of the deck is set aside as a burn card to prevent card-counting. (For a 2-player game, you will take three more cards from the top of the deck and place them to the side, face up). Be sure to give each player a memory aid to help them keep track of which cards are in the game and how many copies of each card exist. Each player then draws one card from the top of the deck. Whoever was most recently on a date goes first.

On your turn, you will draw the top card from the deck and add it to your hand. You will choose one of the two cards in your hand to discard face-up in front of you. You will then apply any effect it has written on it (even if that effect is bad for you!). All discarded cards are kept face-up in front of the players as open knowledge during the game; this is to help players figure out which card others might be holding and which cards are left in the game. The discards should also be overlapped so the order in which they were discarded is clear. The player on your left will then take a turn. If a player is knocked out of a round due to a card effect, that player discards the card remaining in their hand face-up (without applying its effect) and waits for the next round of play.

Play continues in this manner until there is only one person left in the round, or until the deck is empty – in this case, all players still in the round reveal their hands and the person holding the card with the highest numerical value is the winner of the round. The cards will then be set up and shuffled again, and a new round will begin. The player who won the last round goes first, because the Princess spoke kindly of them at breakfast. Each time you win a round, you will also gain a red “token of affection” (the Princess read your letter and is starting to feel affection towards you). In a 2-player game, once a player has 7 tokens, they win. For a 3-player game it takes 5 tokens to win, and it takes 4 tokens for a 4-player game.  

Your goal is to have the highest value card in your hand at the end of the round. The higher value cards are considered to be people who are the closest to the Princess and these people have the best chance of safely delivering your letter to her.

The cards/characters consist of…

The Guard, Odette (5 copies in deck, card value of 1): Charged with seeing to the security of the royal family, Odette follows her orders with persistence and diligence… even though her mentor is said to have drowned while fleeing arrest for complicity in the Queen’s treason. When you discard the Guard, you will choose one other player and name a card. If that player has that card in their hand, they are knocked out of the round. If all other players are protected by the Handmaid, this card does nothing. You are NOT allowed to use the Guard to guess another Guard card – you must name a different card.

The Priest, Tomas (2 copies in deck, card value of 2): Open, honest, and uplifting, Father Tomas always seeks out the opportunity to do good. With the arrest of the Queen, he is often seen about the palace, acting as confessor, counselor, and friend. When you discard the Priest, you get to look at one other player’s hand. You must keep this knowledge secret – do not reveal that card’s identity to the other players. If all other players are protected by the Handmaid, this card does nothing.

The Baron Talus (2 copies in deck, card value of 3): The scion of an esteemed house that has long been a close ally of the royal family, Baron Talus has a quiet and gentle demeanor that conceals a man used to being obeyed. His suggestions are treated as if they came from the king himself. When you discard the Baron, you pick one other player and the two of you secretly compare hands. The player with the lower value card in hand is knocked out of the round. If there is a tie, nothing happens. If all other players are protected by the Handmaid, this card does nothing.

The Handmaid, Susannah (2 copies in deck, card value of 4): Few would trust a handmaid with a letter of importance. Fewer still understand Susannah’s cleverness, or her skilled ability at playing the foolish handmaid. That the Queen’s confidante and loyal servant escaped any attention after the Queen’s arrest is a testament to her clever mind. When you discard the Handmaid, you are immune to all card effects until the start of your next turn. If all players other than the player whose turn it is are protected by the Handmaid, that player must choose him or herself for their card effect if possible.

The Prince, Arnaud (2 copies in deck, card value of 5): As a social gadfly, Prince Arnaud was not as distressed over his mother’s arrest as one would suppose. Since many women clamor for his attention, he hopes to help his sister find some banal happiness by playing the matchmaker. When you discard the Prince, choose one player to discard their hand and draw a new card (do not apply the card effect of that discarded card unless it is the Princess). If the deck is empty, that player receives the burn card set aside at the beginning of the game. You can choose yourself to discard your hand and draw a new card as well. If all other players are protected by the Handmaid, you must choose yourself.

The King, Arnaud IV (1 copy in deck, card value of 6): The undisputed ruler of Tempest… for the moment. Because of his role in the arrest of Queen Marianna, he does not rate as highly with Princess Annette as a father should. He hopes to work himself back into her graces. When you discard the King, you pick another player and trade hands with them. You cannot trade with a player who is out of the round, and you cannot trade with someone who is protected by the Handmaid. If all other players still in the round are protected by the Handmaid, this card does nothing.

The Countess, Wilhelmina (1 copy in deck, card value of 7): Always on the prowl for a handsome man or juicy gossip, Wilhelmina’s age and noble blood make her one of Princess Annette’s friends. While she has great influence over the Princess, she makes herself scarce whenever the King or the Prince are around. The Countess has no effect when you discard her – her text applies while you have her card in hand. If at any time you have the Countess and either the King or the Prince in your hand, you MUST discard the Countess. However, she likes to play mind games, and you can also choose to discard her when you DON’T have the King or the Prince to make other players think you do…

The Princess, Annette (1 copy in deck, card value of 8): Hampered only by the naivete of youth, Princess Annette is elegant, charming, and beautiful. Obviously, you want the Princess to carry your letter. However, she is self-conscious about matters of the heart, and if confronted, will toss your letter in the fire and deny ever seeing it. If you discard the Princess – no matter how or why – she has tossed your letter into the fire and you are knocked out of the round.

Play Variants / Expansions: While the original Love Letter game is for 2-4 players, an edition called Love Letter Premium now exists that allows for up to 8 players. There are also 8 new additional character cards with all-new effects included in that edition, as well as having bigger cards and wooden hearts instead of wooden tokens. Love Letter has also been reskinned with many, many different themes: You can buy Batman Love Letter, Archer Love Letter, Star Wars Love Letter, Lord of the Rings Love Letter, and more.

Love Letter is the fourth game set in the shared-world of Tempest, and there are other Tempest games if you are interested in checking those out. In order, they are: Canalis, Courtier, Dominare, Love Letter, Mercante, and Patronize.

Who Will Like It? : I have never met a person who doesn’t like Love Letter. It is absolutely astounding how much of a GAME can be contained in only 16 cards! It is simple yet thought and strategy are still required. Non-confrontational gamers will be glad to know that this is not a hidden role game in which you lie to other players, although there is the option to bluff when holding the Countess or the Guard. The reasoning behind the creation of the cards is extremely clever as well – the Countess must hide from the Prince and the King because they feel she is a bad influence on the Princess, the King is a lower value card because the Princess is currently upset with him, etc. The game also plays extremely quickly – it is a great filler game for a refresher between longer games or just for a fun light experience.

Where to Buy: If you are interested in getting a copy of Love Letter for yourself, both the original and premium editions are available on Amazon, as well as many of the specialty theme editions. Also try searching your local game store or other online retailers (Cardhaus, Noble Knight Games, CoolStuffInc and Ebay are good sources for discount games). It usually retails for around $15 for the original edition, and around $28 for the premium edition.

Links and Resources: If you want to see more or would like other opinions, Tom Vasel of The Dice Tower has a review here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JbD9-GCV-8w . Matt Lees of Shut Up & Sit Down has a hilarious review here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZCOBQFSEW4 . Although they do misrepresent the theming of the game, Wil Wheaton’s Tabletop series has a great playthrough of the game here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2YUYPDq7gQ . Board Game Geek’s “Game Night!” web series has a playthrough here as well: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hX-Du4P_FME

Tips and Strategies:

Although there can be no perfect information with the existence of the burn card, do your best to keep track of what has been played on the table as well as how many copies of each card are in the deck. You can maximize your effectiveness with your Guards in this way.

The Guard can be used to knock other players out of the round by guessing what card they have in their hand – but you can also use the Guard as a bluff! If you hold the Princess, you can use a Guard to guess that someone else has the Princess. They sometimes then end up trying to use the Baron on you when they have the Countess – only to lose and be knocked out themselves! The downside here is that everyone will then immediately know you must have the Princess, so you’d better have a backup plan in mind!

Knowing when to keep the Princess and when to trade her away can be crucial. Getting the Princess early on is much tougher than gaining her later on near the end of the round. Using the Prince to make a player discard the Princess is great, as well as using the King to gain the Princess near the end!

Use the Handmaid wisely – there are only 2 in the deck and you may need her at a critical moment.

Using the Countess as a bluff can be fun, but it’s important to know when she may be useful as well. As long as you don’t hold the King or the Prince, she is the highest value card in the game at a 7 – excepting the Princess herself, that is – and she can be important to hold in the case of a tie-breaking end to the round.

This doesn’t work EVERY time as situations can vary, but a good rule of thumb if you’re not sure what to do is to discard the lowest value card in your hand. See what happens and go from there.

Happy playing!!

[the-gateway-girl]

Cytosis was super thematic and and I loved that it was about Biology! Fun fact: the Mitochondria is my favourite part of the cell. 😁 #boardgames #gamergeek #gamerlife #games #gamer #gamergirl #tabletop #fun #gamenight #weekend #instafun #geek #todieforgames #thedicetower #dicetowerwest #mitochondria https://www.instagram.com/p/Bux-RCRjeSD/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=y1o8dy3fyf4c

[the-gateway-girl]

Takenoko

[the-gateway-girl]

Give this blog a follow -- extremely pretty pictures of many great games!

Hi! I LOVE your blog, the pictures are so beautiful! I just started mine, it's focused on gateway games and many of your pictures are games I'd like to blog about. Just wanted to let you know I'm a fan!

Thanks! :)

[the-gateway-girl]

Sakura

[the-gateway-girl]

Game Spotlight: One Night Ultimate Werewolf (2014)

Designer: Ted Alspach & Akihisa Okui Publisher: Bezier Games Player Count: 3-10 players Game Length: ~10 minutes Mechanisms: Party Game, Bluffing, Deduction, Hidden Traitor, Role Playing, Variable Player Powers, Voting

One Night Ultimate Werewolf is a revamp of the classic game Werewolf, where players were Villagers who had to search out and expose the hidden Werewolf. This game is the exact same except for a few key things -- no moderator, no player elimination, no downtime. One Night. Ultimate Werewolf.

Players will take on the roles of Villagers (AKA good guys on the Village team), Werewolves (AKA bad guys on the Werewolf team), or a special character whose allegiances can be to either team depending on the character in question. The goal of the Villager team is to find and kill at least one Werewolf. If they do so, they win. The goal of the Werewolf team is to not have any Werewolves die. If they manage this, they win instead.

The trick (and the most fun part) is that many of the roles have powers that activate during a night phase in which most of the players will have their eyes closed. The players with these special roles will be able to switch cards, create chaos, and otherwise mess with the game so that no one is able to have perfect information!

How to Play: You will include or exclude certain roles in your game depending upon the number of players (see the manual for this), plus three more cards than the number of players. The role cards will be shuffled, and everyone will take one, secretly view it, and keep it facedown in front of them. There will be three cards in the middle of the table as well.

Make sure to download the free app for the game, as the app completely moderates the game’s night phase as well as provides its own timer. It also accounts for any wonky things that may get confusing with including various roles together in a game.

In the night phase, everyone will close their eyes. The app will instruct any Werewolves to open their eyes and look for other Werewolves -- the Werewolves know who the other Werewolves are. They will close their eyes, and the app will instruct any various special roles to open their eyes one at a time and perform any and all actions allotted to them. Villagers keep their eyes closed the entire time, as they have no night abilities. At the end of this, everyone will “wake up” for the day phase.

At the end of the night phase, a day phase with a timed discussion will begin (usually 3 minutes, but you can be your own judge of this depending upon how big your group is or how much time you feel you need to discuss so that everyone can be heard). Players are allowed to discuss what they think happened, volunteering as much or as little information as they please. They are allowed to bluff and lie, and you especially need to do this if you know you are a Werewolf! Role tokens are also available to use that players can place on each other’s cards to try to keep track of which role they believe everyone to be. Players will try to ferret out the truth, lie to cover their tracks, or spread confusion at all turns. At the end of the discussion, everyone must vote for who to kill by pointing at someone else. The person with the most votes dies and everyone’s character card is then revealed. If a Werewolf was killed, the Village team wins no matter who else may also have died. The Village team also wins if no one is a Werewolf (if all the Werewolves were the cards in the center) and no one dies (i.e. everyone chose to vote in a circle so that everyone received one vote). If no Werewolves were killed, the Werewolf team wins in most cases. There are a few special cases with certain roles where other special characters can win if they fulfill their victory conditions too.

The Character Roles include.......

The Villagers (3): Villagers have no special abilities and they do not wake up at night. Players may often claim to be a Villager. Villagers are on the Village team.

The Werewolves (2): Werewolves open their eyes at night and see all other Werewolves. This way, they always know who is on their team. If only one Werewolf opens their eyes (i.e. one person is a lone Werewolf without teammates), that person is allowed to view one card from the center so that he or she has some information to help them during the discussion (or a role to pretend to be!). Werewolves are on the Werewolf team.

The Seer (1): During the night phase, the Seer is allowed to either: look at the card of one player, OR view two of the center cards. The Seer is on the Village team.

The Minion (1): The Minion wakes up at night and sees who the Werewolves are, but the Werewolves do not know who he is (the Werewolves will keep their eyes closed but stick up their thumbs so the Minion may know them). The Minion’s job is to protect the Werewolves by seeming suspicious so that he might be killed rather than the true Werewolves. The Minion is on the Werewolf team.

The Robber (1): At night, the Robber may choose to “rob” a card from another player, i.e. switch his character card with theirs. He then views his new role and closes his eyes again. The Robber is on the Village team, however once he switches cards he is then on the team of whichever card he takes.

The Troublemaker (1): The Troublemaker wakes up at night and switches two players’ role cards, but does not look at them at all, either before or after switching. The Troublemaker can also choose to switch their own card with the card of another player (still not looking at their new card). The Troublemaker’s sole purpose is to create chaos. The Troublemaker is on the Village team.

The Masons (2): The Masons wake up at night and see each other. This allows them to know the information that they are both on the GOOD team (unless, of course, something gets switched afterwards!). The Masons are on the Village team, and if a Mason is included in your game, they must BOTH be included. 

The Drunk (1): The Drunk is so drunk that he doesn’t remember what role he is. During the night, he switches his card for one of the center cards, but does not view his new role. The Drunk is now the new role he took and is on that team (even though he doesn’t know what it is!).

The Hunter (1): The Hunter does not wake up at night. He has no special night abilities, although when it is time for the voting phase, if he dies -- i.e. if a majority of fingers are pointed at him to be killed -- he “shoots his gun” and kills whoever he is pointing at as well. The Hunter is on the Village team.

The Insomniac (1): The Insomniac is the last of the roles to wake up at night, and her power is being able to view her card (to see if it has been switched or not) before going back to sleep. Because of this, the Insomniac is the only player who will know exactly who they are and what team they are now on in the day phase. The Insomniac is on the Village team.

The Tanner (1): The Tanner does not wake up at night. He hates his job and his life, and his only goal is to die. The Tanner only wins if he dies. For this reason, the Tanner might often be seen pretending to be an incompetent Werewolf. If the Tanner dies and no Werewolves die, the Werewolves do NOT win -- the Tanner does. If the Tanner dies and a Werewolf also dies, the Village team wins along with the Tanner. If the Tanner dies when all Werewolves are in the center, the Village team loses -- this is because the Tanner is technically a member of the village, although he is not on their team. The Tanner is on his own team.

The Doppelganger (1): The Doppelganger is the most complicated role and should be introduced only with people who have a firm grasp of the game and the other roles. The Doppelganger wakes up at night and takes on the role and team of whichever card she views and does that action immediately. She also wakes up before the other roles, so that most likely another person will wake up later in the night to perform that same action. If a player receives the Doppelganger card during the night, she is the role the Doppelganger originally viewed.

Play Variants / Expansions: The variants in this game come from including and excluding various roles, so games will all be unique and different. Gameplay will also change depending upon the people you play with each time! There are many other versions of the One Night games if you like this one -- One Night Ultimate Alien, One Night Ultimate Vampire, One Night Ultimate Werewolf Daybreak, etc. -- their gameplay is similar but with different roles.

Who Will Like It? : One Night Ultimate Werewolf is an amazing social deduction and bluffing game. I have seen it work with so many different play groups. Each game can also be affected depending on how players behaved in previous games! Like most bluffing games, it works best with more outgoing groups and with people who aren’t uncomfortable with lying or fibbing to other players. It is also a learning curve game -- you will get better at understanding the various roles and deducing who everyone is (if you are on the side of good) or covering your tracks with a good story (if you are a Werewolf) the more times you play. The good thing about this game as compared to the original Werewolf is that it only lasts “one night”, or the basic equivalent of 10 minutes -- quick and fast to replay many times, and no sitting out and watching because of getting eliminated!

Where to Buy: If you are interested in getting a copy of One Night Ultimate Werewolf for yourself, you can get it from Amazon (they are out of stock at this exact moment on 4/1/19, but they WILL get more, trust me. This game is wayyy too popular not to restock). Also try searching your local game store or other online retailers (Cardhaus, Noble Knight Games, CoolStuffInc and Ebay are good sources for discount games). It usually retails for around $15-20.

Links and Resources: If you want to see more or would like other opinions, Tom Vasel of The Dice Tower has a review here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQcG1mOa5fY . Board Game Geek’s “Game Night!” web series has a playthrough here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOKrHxURskw. Here is another liveplay of a sample game that also attempts to explain some of the strategies behind what the players are claiming and why they are doing so: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4uDuH4xXLg

Tips and Strategies:

You definitely want to GET THE APP! It saves the trouble of having to have a moderator who has to then remember all the roles in the game and who wakes up before who. Plus, it is narrated by Eric Summerer of The Dice Tower, AKA the man with the golden voice.

Be sure to make some noise by either tapping the table or drumming your fingers on the table during the night phase. This muffles noise that can be made when players are switching cards, so that it’s harder to tell who’s doing what and prevents metagaming. If you get the fabulous app, it can provide music or background noise for this purpose too.

Make sure everyone has a good handle on the roles and what they do before you start your game, or else be prepared to have a few dud rounds for learning purposes before things start getting good. It can be intimidating for first-time players who are Werewolves to have to come up with a convincing lie on the fly, especially if they do not understand the other roles’ powers and cannot come up with a possible role to claim or examples of what they did or didn’t do during the night.

If people aren’t sure what to say to get things started, try offering up what role you were and what you did, or saying something leading like “I was the Seer, but I’ll tell you whose card I viewed once I hear from some other people.” Eventually people will start talking!

If you are a Werewolf, saying you are a Villager can be a good lie if you can’t come up with anything else. It does tend to telegraph to more experienced players that you might be a Werewolf, however (the sucky end of this is when you really ARE a Villager, and everyone goes “Suuuuure you are...”!). It is often more effective as a Werewolf to claim to be another role before the real person with that role starts talking. If you are a Werewolf but you say you were the Robber, then when the real Robber says “Hey! He’s lying!”, this can cause people to doubt that person for not speaking first. Along with that, if you choose to wait as the Werewolf until more information is revealed about who may be what role, you can claim a role that hasn’t been heard from (which means it may be in the center), or you can also try to do the opposite from the first example and claim a role after someone else has already claimed it, trying to make them look like a liar! You don’t want to wait too long either, or people may get suspicious of you. Every game is different and every group of people is different, so experiment and have fun! I have won games as almost every Village team role as well as multiple times as a lone Werewolf and a Werewolf team. Anything is possible if you think quickly and have a convincing story!

If you are a Werewolf with a teammate, try your best to provide evidence to whatever story they are coming up with, or come up with a story yourself that gives your partner a cover too (especially if they are in danger of being outed). My favorite cover story from my games: I was a Werewolf and my Werewolf partner was outed as a Werewolf at the start of the game by a Seer who happened to look at his card. The Troublemaker then said he switched our cards (making my partner and myself still both Werewolves, but as the Troublemaker doesn’t view the cards they switch, he was unaware of that). I told everybody I had been the Drunk and switched my card for a center card. This caused them to believe that I had switched my Werewolf card with a new center card which they didn’t think was a Werewolf, and that my partner was now the Drunk). We won that game.

My favorite pro tip for Werewolves: It’s easy to claim to be the Drunk, as in my anecdote above (assuming the Drunk is in your game), as this explains why you don’t have a good story for what role you actually are. People also don’t tend to dispute the Drunk much as there isn’t really a logical way to uncover what actually happened during their night turn. Try it!

Happy playing!!

[the-gateway-girl]

Game Spotlight: Hanabi (2010)

Designer: Antoine Bauza Publisher: R&R Games, Inc. Player Count: 2-5 players Game Length: ~25 minutes Mechanisms: Cooperative Play, Hand Management, Memory, Set Collection

Hanabi is a cooperative game where players represent absent-minded fireworks pyrotechnicians. They have mixed up all their fuses, rockets, and powders and the fireworks show is about to start! Working together, they have to reorder all their fireworks to put on a dazzling show no one will ever forget.

In Hanabi, players are working together to create ascending sets of fireworks of five distinct colors: red, white, yellow, blue, and green. The number 1 of each color must be played first, followed by the number 2, then 3, etc. Sounds easy, right? Everyone knows how to count! But what if I told you… you are NOT allowed to look at any of the cards in your hand at any point in the game??

How to Play: Players will hold a hand of 4 cards (5 if there are 2-3 players) turned backwards – the player holding the cards will only be able to see a gray background, while the other players around the table will be able to see the color and number of the cards that person is holding. Players need to give clues in order to help everyone play the appropriate cards at the appropriate time.

On your turn, you can do one of three things:

1.       Give information about a card. Players are limited in the clues they can give!! You will point at/touch a card in someone else’s hand and give them information about the color OR the number of the card. NO OTHER INFORMATION/TALKING IS ALLOWED. For example, “This card is blue”, or “This card is a 2”. You also have to provide information for ALL matching cards for that clue: if the person is holding two blue cards, you will point to both: “This card and this card are blue”. If the person is holding three 3 value cards, you will say “This card, this card, and this card are 3s”. The player is then able to rearrange the cards in their hand if they want to, to possibly put cards in positions that are easier for them to remember. You CANNOT give information about both color and number in a clue – it must be one or the other. You also may NOT give information about negatives, such as “You don’t have any green cards”. You have to be able to point to a card for it to be a valid clue.

But be careful! For each piece of information you give, a blue clock token must be spent for the clue and put into the lid of the box. There are 8 blue clock tokens, and if they have all been spent, then you are not allowed to give any information that turn! However, for each correct card that is played down, a clock token will be returned to the inventory, so hopefully the other players are remembering your clues and acting accordingly!

2.       Discard a card. If you have no idea what cards are in your hand, either because you have forgotten the clues your fellow players have given or because they have not given you very helpful clues, you are allowed to discard a card from your hand. You must CLEARLY ANNOUNCE that you are discarding, and then put the card down in a discard pile away from your sets of fireworks. Luckily, for most of the cards in the game, there are multiples – there are three 1s in each color, two 2s, two 3s, and two 4s. HOWEVER – there is only one 5 card of each color. If you discard a 5, that firework is immediately unable to be completed.

3.       Play a card. If players have successfully given clues that help a player decide which card to play, the player can choose to play that card to the set. If it’s correct – congratulations! You are one card closer to completing a set and you will gain a clock token back into the fold. If it is incorrect – either because it is the wrong color or because it is out of numerical order – you will lose a fuse token. These are 4 black tokens that are stacked – the top one is a long fuse, the second one is a shorter fuse, the third one is an even shorter fuse, and the final one is a firework explosion. These represent the number of mistakes you are allowed to make within the game and still continue. You essentially have two strikes, and on the third strike, the explosion token is revealed and the powders explode in your face – the game ends immediately and you have all lost!

If the player chose to discard a card or play a card (or was forced to do so because of a lack of available clue tokens), they will draw a new card from the deck afterwards (again, making sure not to look at it). Other players are NOT allowed to comment or try to influence the main player on their turn – they must just watch silently (possibly wincing on the inside) as the player takes their action. They are also not allowed to nod or shake their head “no”, and must do everything they can to not show dismay or disappointment (or happiness or approval) that could influence or provide feedback for what the player is about to do. This is especially hard when you see someone about to discard a needed card or play an incorrect one – but it’s part of the game! Try your best not to allow facial expressions or vocal inflections to spoil the answers either – Do your best to say calmly “This card is blue” (even if you have told them this clue twice already and they still haven’t played the card) rather than “THIS card is BLUUUUUUUUE”, which would essentially tell them what to do even if they still aren’t aware this is the correct card to play.

When (if) you have successfully created sets of all five colors of fireworks 1-5, you win the game! There is a scoring chart to let you see how well you have done in the game / how impressive your fireworks show was. The game is also over if a player takes the last card from the pile – if you and your fellow players have not “exploded” yet, then every player gets one more turn and the group is only able to get as high of a score as you were able to complete.

Play Variants: If you feel the game was too easy, there is also a set of rainbow multicolor fireworks that can be used either as a sixth set to complete, or as a “wild set” if you really hate yourselves – in this variant, a rainbow card counts as every color. For example, if a player was holding two red 4 cards and a multicolor 4 card, the cluegiver would need to either say “These three cards are 4s” or “These three cards are red” and hope that somehow everything gets played to the correct location! You can also choose to play each firework to completion rather than utilizing the scoring table – my group plays in such a way that if we cannot complete a firework, either due to discarding too many 1-4s or discarding a 5, the game is immediately lost.

Who Will Like It? : Hanabi is a great little filler game for a refresher in-between longer games, while waiting for other game group members to show up, or if players want to play something challenging yet not as time-investing as a big box game. It also won the 2013 Spiel des Jahres prize, so you know it’s critically acclaimed! Players will have to do a lot of thinking though, so Hanabi is probably best as a beginning or middle game night game rather than at the end when everyone is tired or drunk (although as someone who has played a game of drunk Hanabi, you don’t usually do well but it IS pretty hilarious!). If members of your game group have bad memories or find it hard to focus, Hanabi may be frustrating for those players.

Where to Buy: If you are interested in getting a copy of Hanabi for yourself, it is available on Amazon. Also try searching your local game store or other online retailers (Cardhaus, Noble Knight Games, CoolStuffInc and Ebay are good sources for discount games). It usually retails for around $10.

Links and Resources: If you want to see more or would like other opinions, Tom Vasel of The Dice Tower has a review here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZlk3rHbPcI . Board Game Geek’s “Game Night!” web series also has a playthrough here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=McXXYbUULXE

There have been reprints and different designs on the game through the years, so the versions of Hanabi in these links may look different design-wise, but gameplay is the same.

Tips and Strategies:

Before you give a clue on a turn, you ARE allowed to ask a player “What do you know about your hand?” in order to hear what they think they remember. You are NOT allowed to comment on whether they are remembering correctly or incorrectly, but this can help guide you in which clues you may need to give or repeat. You are also allowed to state “I still don’t know anything about my hand” on another player’s turn, to guide them in giving you information.

It is a GOOD idea to give players information about any possible 5s in their hands as one of the first clues given. I’ll never forget playing with a group of friends and on the very first turn, a player confidently slapped down… a 5, losing the game instantly! (Usually if a 5 is discarded you are just unable to complete that firework and score lower on the scoring table at the end, but we play with the variant that if you cannot complete all 5 fireworks, you lose the game). If players know they have 5s, they may be able to reorganize the cards in their hand where they can remember where the 5s are. They also may think more carefully about which cards might be where if they are forced to play or discard on their turn due to lack of clue tokens.

If you see that a player is unable to play any cards in their first few turns, due to possibly having a hand filled with 3s, 4s, and 5s and no 1s (it happens), it’s a good idea to be judicious about not using up all the clue tokens immediately – you want to create a good balance between giving them clues so they KNOW they shouldn’t play and should instead discard or give clues, and leaving enough clue tokens for them to be able to use on their turn to give information to players who CAN play 1s.

Players are allowed to look through the discard pile to see if they can gain information about which cards have already been discarded – for example, if two red 1s have already been discarded, a player would not want to discard the last red 1 (or they would not be able to complete the red firework).

If you know you are unable to complete a firework, it is still a good idea to give clues/remember clues about cards for that firework – these cards can be easy discards in order to gain back clue tokens. For example, if the yellow 5 has been discarded, you know the yellow firework cannot be completed. However, if you are low on clue tokens and a player tells you one of your cards is yellow, you know that card can be discarded without penalty to gain a clue token back.

Remember that players are allowed to adjust the order of their cards at any time if it will make it easier for them to remember where things are. Also remember that although turn order goes in a clockwise pattern, you do not have to give a clue to the person directly after you. You can give a clue to anyone at the table. You are also not limited by having to finish one color firework before starting another -- you can work on two, three, four, or even all five of them simultaneously if you like.

If you are teaching the game to people who are entirely new to it, occasionally on their turn you may see people look at you helplessly or blankly, unsure of what is best to do. While technically this is against the rules, I find it helpful in these situations to simply remind players of the goal. You may WANT to say “Heather has a red 1 she has a RED 1 WHY have you been giving people clues about their 4s when there is a RED 1 JUST TELL HER SHE HAS A 1 JUST DO IT DO IT DO IT”, but instead you can say something like, “Remember we are trying to lay cards in ascending order. What clue would be helpful to give right now?” This will hopefully give them a hint of which direction to go in, yet it does not spoil anything as Heather still has no idea the hint refers to her or which card exactly she has. You also haven’t TOLD the player exactly what to do with their turn, and are instead allowing them to figure out the game.

Always do your best to be nice. While it can be super frustrating if a player never remembers a clue they’ve heard multiple times already, or when a clue giver is giving unhelpful clues at the particular moment in time rather than a clue that needs to be given now, try not to show frustration. Hanabi, while fun, is a game that will turn people off if it is obvious that all other players are frustrated with them during gameplay, and that’s never a fun experience. It can also be a game that takes a few plays before the strategy really “clicks” with people. Focus on making the most optimal move you can during your turn, and give others a chance to watch and learn.

Happy playing!!