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Top 30 Anticipated at Essen Spiel 2019 (#10-1)

Now is the moment you’ve all been waiting for--the top 10! Don’t forget my usual disclaimer that any photos seen here were taken from www.boardgamegeek.com (BGG). Thanks to BGG users and publishers for posting their information and photos there.

10. Rune Stones - Published by Queen Games with artwork by Dennis Lohausen, this game caught my eye because of the well respected designer, Rüdiger Dorn. He previously brought us Istanbul, Karuba, Las Vegas, and Montana, just to name a few popular titles. This is a deck construction/ destruction game where 2-4 players age 10+ will spend approximately an hour building artifacts and rune stones to gain points. The first person to teach 65 points triggers end game, and whoever has the most points is the winner. 

The publisher calls this game a deck builder, but deck destruction is built right into the game. Whenever you choose to play cards, you have to play 2 together, and the higher numbered card is removed from your deck. This means you have to be careful about how you play your cards if you want to use its effect more than once per game. Your other options for action are to acquire new cards or forge artifacts/create stones. 

I'm confident in Rüdiger's ability to create engaging games, and I'm looking forward to eventually playing this one. My one hesitation is because of the publisher, Queen Games. I Kickstarted one of their games a few years ago and didn't have a positive experience.

9. Mystery House: Adventures in a Box - Cranio Creations offers a physical twist on "escape room" games with this design by Antonio Tinto and illustrations by Daniela Giubellini and Alessandro Paviolo. In this app-assisted game, 1-5 players age 14+ will spend an hour searching for clues to escape the labyrinth-like box.

The game box itself is broken into a grid of sections marked by letters and numbers. During setup, cards are inserted into specific sections in the grid. Players will look at the cards and box sides, looking for anything unusual in the scenes visible to them. As cards are removed from slots during gameplay, images that were previously blocked from view will become visible. You have to look inside the box at all angles in order to discover some of the hidden clues. This concept is definitely different, and I'm interested to experience it, myself. 

8. Ocean Crisis - Designed by Jhao-Ru Chen, Hsien Pu Jan, and Chi Wei Lin with artwork by Meng-Jung Yang, this game brings environmental conservation to the forefront. The publisher is Shepherd Kit, Inc. In this game, 2-5 players will work together to prevent trash from polluting rivers and oceans. If they can survive 6 rounds, which will take approximately 30-60 min., then all players win! Players can spend actions trying to move their meeples to certain spots on the board to unlock bonus powers that will help them with cleanup. This looks like a challenging and fun game with unique game mechanisms that distinguish it from being a Pandemic clone. I also like the theme. I'm happy to see more games tackling such an important subject.

7. Flotilla - Published by WizKids, designed by J.B. Howell and Michael Mihealsick, and illustrated by Bartek Fedyczak, this is a game for 3-5 players age 14+ that takes 1.5-2.5 hours to play. Be prepared to sit down and play for awhile. 

What's notable about this game is that there are two modes of play: Sinkside and Skyside. Everyone starts out on Sinkside as a fleet commander, exploring ocean tiles, collecting resources, and rescuing people from the sea. At any time, you can flip over to Skyside. You'll develop trade with players still on Sinkside, conduct research, and build sonar stations. It sounds to me like Sinkside is more focused on exploration and pick up & deliver, whereas Skyside might be more about trading and engine building, but I could be wrong about that. I need to watch some YouTube reviews of this game to get a better idea of how the game mechanisms work. 

6. Maracaibo - Published by Capstone Games, this is the big game of the year by popular designer, Alexander Pfister. The artists are Fiore GmbH, Aline Kirrmann, and Andreas Resch. The game supports 1-4 players age 12+ and takes 1-2.5 hours to play. Players sail around the Caribbean playing different actions, such as delivering goods. I don’t know much about this game, but I like Alexander Pfister as a designer, and I’m hoping for something that feels like Great Western Trail. 

5. Masters of Renaissance: Lorenzo Il Magnifico The Card Game - This game is published by Cranio Creations, designed by Simone Luciani and Nestore Mangone, and illustrated by Klemenss Franz and Roberto Grasso. Both Luciani and Franz worked on the predecessor, Lorenzo Il Magnifico. This card game is for 1-4 players age 14+ and takes about half an hour to play.

I'm interested for one reason alone. Taken from the BGG description, which likely comes from the publisher, this card game "recreates the atmosphere of Lorenzo il Magnifico with simple rules and a limited duration." 

Lorenzo the card game is a card drafting set collection game with some kind of marble dispenser track reminiscent of Potion Explosion. I’m not sure how this fits into the gameplay, but I’m really excited to find out! 

4. Fuji Koro - Published by Game Brewer, designed by Jerome Demeyere, and illustrated by Miguel Coimbra, this co-op is for 1-6 players age 12+ and takes 1-2 hours to play. The dragon miniatures that come with the Deluxe version look fantastic! I'm wondering why CMON didn't publish this beautiful game with minis (c'mon, Cool Mini or Not, pick up these cool projects). In this game, players are Samurai who are trying to rescue precious artifacts and monks from an active volcano before it erupts! 

As another reviewer (I think Tom Vasel) already said, why did these monks decide to build their sacred temples inside the volcano in the first place? Oh, well, whatever the reason, it's making me want to play this stunning looking board game. Hopefully, gameplay lives up to its looks.

3. Escape Tales: Low Memory (or Escape Tales: The Awakening) - Board&Dice published this "escape room" style card game from designers Jakub Caban and Bartosz Idzikowski. Two artists worked on this game, Jakub Fajtanowski and Magdalena Klepacz. It supports 1-4 players age 14+. I'm not listing the game time here because estimated game length listed on BGG seems unreasonable, unless the publisher meant for the times to indicate playing all three stories in the box back-to-back, as opposed to the average length of time to play a single story.

What I like about this escape room game is that players will get to experience the main plot from three different characters' perspectives. I think that's an interesting twist in this genre.

2. Merchants Cove - Published by Final Frontier Games and designed by Carl Van Ostrand with art by Mihajlo Dimitrievski, this asymmetrical game is for 1-4 players age 14+ and takes 45-75 min. to play. What's different about this game is that every player is playing their own mini game. It reminds me of Root in that way. 

From BGG, "Using a unique set of role specific components and gameplay mechanics, each merchant will compete to satisfy the demands of the bold adventurers who arrive each day to spend their hard earned coin at the famous market piers." This game includes a time track and rondel. Merchants (aka the players) must pay attention to how full boats are with customers, because once the boat is full, customers will arrive at the markets to buy goods that the players have spent time making. Which merchant will reign supreme?

1. Atlantis Rising, 2nd Ed. - This game is published by Elf Creek Games and designed by Galen Ciscell and Brent Dickman. The infamous Vincent Dutrait provided artwork, as well as Peter Gifford. This co-op game is for 1-7 players age 10+ and takes 1-2 hours to play. 

The board is a funky shape; it looks like a starfish. It reminds me of Forbidden Island in the way that the island is slowly sinking. In this game, the outer edges of the starfish will sink first. You have to be careful about where you deploy your meeples. Although the shoreline provides more rewards, if your meeple winds up on flooded land, all their actions will be for naught. 

I never heard of the original edition, but from what I've gathered, the second edition is more than just a prettier implementation of the original game. Some new rules are introduced, as well. 

This concludes my Top 30 of Essen list. I hope you enjoyed it! 

Stay tuned for my next blog post. I'm thinking about tackling big themes in boardgaming year over year. If any stand out to you, let me know in the comments.

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Top 30 Anticipated at Essen Spiel 2019 (#20-11)

This post picks up where my last one left off--continuing on with my #20-11 most anticipated games at Essen Spiel in Germany. Please note that all images were taken from www.boardgamegeek.com. Thanks to the people who post pictures of these games. 

20. Botanists - Agie Games published this tile-laying game designed by Violaine Malié and illustrated by Pedro Codeço. It supports 2-4 players in 30-60 min. There are some unique tile placement rules in this game that I haven't seen before. It looks interesting but hard. When I read about how you can rack up a ton of negative points, I thought I might not do well at this game. I'd still give it a try, though.

19. Pirate Map - This looks like a quick  family game for 2-6 players in 20 min. Probably a filler game. The publisher is Tranjis Games, the designer is Eugeni Castaño, and the artist is Pedro A. Alberto. This game sounds like a card game version of Tobago. You have to listen to the pirate captain's story, then as a group you play cards to build out the treasure map. I'm guessing that you have to play cards showing certain landmarks based on the pirate's story. This sounds like a game that might be fun for younger kids.

18. Paranormal Detectives - If Greenville 1989 can be considered the horror version of Mysterium, then this appears to be the party game version. The publisher is Lucky Duck Games, who made a big splash with Chronicles of Crime earlier this year. The designers are Szymon Maliński, Adrian Orzechowski, and Marcin Łączyński. JocArt, Mateusz Komada, and Katarzyna Kosobucka provided the artwork. This cooperative game is for 2-6 players and takes 30-50 min. 

One player is the ghost, while all other players are detectives trying to figure out what happened to the ghost. The BGG describes some of the ways the ghost can interact with others: "arranging a hangman’s knot, playing chosen tarot cards, creating a word puzzle on a talking board, drawing by holding the hand of a detective…." It sounds fun, but party games tend to have a short shelf life in my household, as they can wear out their welcome quickly.

17. Gates of Delirium - Married duo Mandy and Jordan Goddard are the designers of this Cthulhu-esque game of horrors. George Cotronis is the artist and Renegade Game Studios is the publisher. In this game, 2-4 players age 14+ will spend 45 min. trying to save humanity from other-wordly monsters...or they'll help those monsters along instead, depending on how they're feeling.

This card game looks interesting to me because of the split decision making. Each round, a player will decide if everyone is sane or insane. If it's a sane round, you'll play actions on your cards to help beat the monsters. If it's an insane round, you'll play the actions on your card that directly undermine your sane side. It's a total Jekyll & Hyde! You can score points either way. I suspect the trick is knowing when to play which side to maximize victory points. 

Teri Litorco (well-known for painting board game figurines) excitedly talked about this game in a YouTube video at GenCon.

16. Monster Baby Rescue - Designed by Vladimír Suchý with art by Jana Kilianová, this looks like a cute, family-weight game about raising baby mythological creatures! It's being published by both Delicious Games and Rio Grande Games. Players take tiles and follow the instructions on the tile to care for their pets. It looks like a board game version of Tamagotchi. For those unfamiliar, Tamagotchi was a digital pet you had to care for by feeding, cleaning up animal waste, etc. that was all the race in the late '90s/early 2000s. I'm expecting some fun game play from the same designer who previously brought us Underwater Cities, Last Will, and its sequel, The Prodigals Club.

15. Detective Stories: Stillsee - This game is published by IDventure and is another "escape room" style game. It's for 1-5 players age 13+ and takes 1.5-2 hours to play. It says you can play it cooperatively or competitively to see who can find the criminal first, but I'd rather just play it cooperatively. This game is app assisted and is supposedly a realistic criminal investigation game. I'm excited to try out different brands of escape games, which is why this one made my list.

14. Coralia - Produced by Huch!, designed by Michael Rieneck, and illustrated by Miguel Coimbra, this game is all about underwater exploration--a hot theme this year. Miguel's cover art does a wonderful job enticing players to dive into this deep sea adventure made for 2-4 players age 10+. Estimated play time is half an hour. 

Players will roll and place dice, as well as use cards, to move their remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) through coral reefs, discovering sea animals and perhaps finding sunken treasure! The production of the components looks nice; the see-through colored dice with custom die faces and the octopus meeples help this game stand out from other aquatic themed games released this year.

13. Pocket Detective - Designed by Yury Yamshchikov, this game is brought to us by Russian publishers, Jet Games Studio and Lavka Games. It's a co-op detective game that takes 45-60 min. for 1-6 players age 10+. Based on the age group, you probably don't need to worry about a horror theme or anything too graphic. The goal is to solve the case in as few turns as possible, kind of like Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective. 

12. Escape from the Asylum - Here's another Huch! game that has made my list. The designers are Martin Nedergaard Andersen, Alexander Peshkov, and Ekaterina Pluzhnikova. A big team created the art: Anastasia Durova, Dmitry Krasnov, Nadezhda Mikhailova, Pavel Korobkov, Anastasia Stupak, Maxim Suleimanov, Victoria Kochkina, and Victoria Volina-Lukian. It's a cooperative game for 1-6 players age 12+ and takes an hour to play. 

As I previously mentioned, this year a few new brands of "escape room" style games were introduced. This is one of them. Based on the description at BGG, I think the twist here is that players see the events through different characters' eyes. I could be wrong about that, but the concept is intriguing. What if we all have the same goal of escaping, but every player's character has their own secret motivations for wanting to escape? 

11. Decipher - Welcome to the latest word party game! The publisher is HeidelBÄR Games, the designers are Bill Eberle, Peter Olotka, and Greg Olotka, and the artist is Kwanchai Moriya. From splashy '80s aesthetics like Dinosaur Island to cute abstract characters like Kodama, Moriya's box covers really pop! 

In this game, one person builds a word out of abstract letter pieces, while everyone else has to guess the word. The fewer pieces you need to guess the word, the higher your score will be. This is for 2-4 players and takes around half an hour to play.

Stay tuned for my Top 10 coming up in the next post!

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Top 30 Anticipated at Essen Spiel 2019 (#30-21)

Welcome to my Top 30 list for Essen Spiel! I wanted to do a shorter list than Gen Con, but what can I say? When there are over 1,100 games on the SPIEL ‘19 Preview List (found at www.boardgamegeek.com --thanks to W. Eric Martin for putting the list together!), then it’s no wonder that I couldn’t trim it down. However, since I had more time to put this list together than I did for Gen Con, I’m actually putting games in order from my least-to-most excited about. Keep in mind that I haven't played any of these games before. My impressions are based on information found on BGG and Youtube. All pictures found in this blog post were taken from BGG. Thanks to the people who posted photos of these games. Now, without further ado, let’s take a look at the list.

30. Pangea - Coming from Redimp Games, Aleksander Jagodziński is the designer/graphic artist, joined by Joanna Kwaśniak for the artwork. Speaking of which, the art looks fantastic! Player pieces look like fossils encapsulated in different colored rocks. The player boards feature realistic creatures that could easily pass as some long-forgotten evolutionary species that predate dinosaurs. 

In this game, 1-4 players will spend 1-1.5 hours evolving and migrating their creatures across Earth in an effort to survive the catastrophic event at the end of the game. I believe there are a few different catastrophes, such as a giant meteor, to give the game more variability from play to play. 

Although the game looks beautiful, I have reservations about how much I would enjoy gameplay. I like the sound of researching the time track to try to figure out where on the board the disaster will hit, but the main mechanism is area control. In general, area control isn't my favorite game mechanism. I also worry that the game might be too heavy for my tastes. Boardgamegeek (BGG) weights it at 3.5/5. In the past, I've found that my gaming group always acts interested in heavy games, but then they seldom hit the table. At the end of the day, I'm left wondering if this is a game with cool components but just so-so gameplay for my personal taste.

29. The Aquicorn Cove board game - Based on Katie O'Neill's graphic novel, she's listed as the artist for this board game, which I think is pretty cool. I like it when original content creators get involved with other iterations of their work. The publisher is Renegade Game Studios, and a team of designers worked on it: Ben Eisner, Tim Eisner, Steve Ellis II, and Tyler Tinsley. 

There isn't much information on BGG about this game (for instance, there's no estimated time length or age range listed), but what caught my eye is the environmental theme and the fact that it's co-op. I like that this game is about being good stewards of the earth, highlighting human interaction with an aquatic environment. The main question I have about this game is the audience--is it a family game geared toward younger kids, or is it challenging enough for adults to enjoy, too?

28. Greenville 1989 - Designed by Florian Fay with art by David Sitbon, this looks like a darker version of Mysterium. This game is for 3-6 players in 20-45 min. and is published by Sorry We Are French. I noticed the recommended age group is age 16+, and I believe this rating is due to some graphic game content.

In this cooperative game, players have experienced a supernatural event and must describe their location, so their friends can find them. The card art evokes horror/suspense. 

For example, a card might depict a creepy clown or zombie arms reaching out to grab you. 

Whenever players don't guess the correct location, that character gets pulled closer to the void on the game board. If a character is lost, all players lose because this is a co-op. Together you stand, divided, you fall.

27. Race for the Chinese Zodiac - Designed by Christina Ng Zhen Wei and Yeo Keng Leong with artwork by Ray Toh, this is a racing game for 3-5 players in 40-70 min. There are two publishers listed, Starting Player and Simply Complex. I'm not sure if it's because it's an Asian game and has to go through different distributors to reach a worldwide market. 

I dig the theme here. Players are animals of the Chinese zodiac, racing to be the first to reach the Heavenly Palace. Whoever comes in first will be honored as the first in the twelve-year zodiac cycle. Players simultaneously play 2 cards from their hand in order to make progress in the race. There are a couple of YouTube videos out there to help learn how the game plays (look up Heavy Cardboard and/or Jon Gets Games). 

The main reason this game doesn't rank higher on my list is because my main gaming partner and I have had bad-to-neutral experiences with other popular racing games. I suspect you need higher play counts to properly enjoy most racing games.

26. AVGhost: Paranormal Investigation - Published by Mystical Games, the designers are Beatriz Alvarez and Pablo Miras, and the artists are Henning Ludvigsen, Pablo Miras, Jarrod Owen, and Nicoleta Stavarache. This horror-themed game is for 1-4 cooperative players age 16+ and takes 1.5-3 hours to play. It's a move and explore game that seems similar to Mansions of Madness (2nd ed.), but darker. Again, note the age limit.

The twist is that every character pawn has a flashlight. This game is meant to be played with the lights off. There are different flashlight lenses that will change the light's color. I think to get rid of certain spooks or to find certain clues, you have to have the right colored flashlight equipped. It seems cool, but I worry it might be a gimmick game only to be played once for novelty. Also, I'm not really a fan of horror, despite how many horror/suspense games have made it onto my list this year. What can I say? I can't get enough of co-op, and horror seems to be the popular theme for cooperative games this year. Maybe it's the success of Stranger Things and the revival of It. Who knows? I'd say it's because Essen Spiel falls close to Halloween, but that's true every year.

25. Chakra - Published by Blam! and designed by Luka Krleza with art from Claire Conan, this is going to draw eyes to the table. The gems are so shiny, the player boards are colorful and pretty. This game supports 2-4 players and takes about half an hour to play.

I'm hesitant about this game because respected board game reviewer, Tom Vasel, posted a critical review of this game on YouTube. His main complaint is that you can spend the whole game getting chakras aligned on your player board (ie. getting 3 of the same gem color lined up in a row), just to find out after the fact that the particular chakras you aligned aren't as valuable as another color you could've pursued. This makes winning feel more luck-based than skill-driven. If your opponent happened to get lucky in completing higher-valued chakras than you, you have no way to mitigate that. Despite Tom's valid critique, I would try out this game if I had the opportunity. I'm always looking for eye-catching games with simple rules that I can play with friends who aren't yet familiar with modern board games.

24. 50 Clues: The Pendulum of the Dead - Next up is the first of many "escape room in a box" type of games that made my list. "Escape" puzzle games is a fairly new genre that has taken tabletop enthusiasts by storm! This one appears to be self-published by Jeppe Norsker under Norsker Games. It supports 1-5 players age 16+ and takes about an hour and a half to play. 

This is the first of a trilogy of games that should be played in order. It has adult content that can be very, very dark, so you if you're squeamish about violence, don't pick this one up. I have no experience with the game, but another reviewer on BGG who has played it warns that the content can be too heavy for some people. He wrote, "One of my co-players ended up leaving the table in the middle of playing the second story-box, and they did not want to return for the third. I have never seen this strong of an emotional reaction to a board game (not even playing This War of Mine)" (https://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/2273440/review-escape-room-enthusiast). In case you aren't familiar with it, This War of Mine is about living in a war-torn country, so that should give you an indication of how dark this game can get. I consider myself to be the type of person who doesn't prefer violent/dark/scary content, but because this is an escape game and it has a rich storyline, I'm curious about it. I realize I've been warned, yet I'm still drawn to it!

23. It's a Wonderful World - This card drafting game for 1-5 players is created by Frédéric Guérard, illustrated by Anthony Wolff, and published by La Boîte de Jeu. It takes about 30 min. to an hour to play. I'm guessing it only stretches to an hour with 5 people or one analysis paralysis (AP) prone player. I like card drafting and engine building, although my spouse tends to beat me at this style of gameplay. I like the sound of the campaign mode, but from the BGG description, it sounds like you would have to buy expansions to play it.

22. Skytopia: In the Circle of Time - Published by Cosmodrome Games, designed by Ivan Lashin, and illustrated by Timofey Mazurenk and Andrey Pervukhin, this game supports 2-4 players and takes 40-60 min. to play. 

Honestly, the only reason this game is on my list is because it has a big golem on the cover that reminds me of Century: Golem Edition. Kudos to the artists for grabbing my attention! 

As far as gameplay goes, I don't have enough details, but I know it's a worker placement card game with a clock/rondel that determines cost of the cards. It's hard for me to judge this game because there's so little information. Even in terms of images on BGG, there's only the cover art! I'd be cautious with this one due to lack of information.

21. Rolled West - This is a roll and write game set in the same universe as Gold West. One of the illustrators, Adam P. McIver, is the original artist for Gold West, but this time around he's joined by artist, Ariel Seoane. The publisher is the same, Tasty Minstrel Games (TMG). TMG is known for high production games, such as Orléans, Yokohama, and Chimera Station, but they've had misses, too. They were criticized for the artistic direction they took in the reprinting of Colosseum. The designer for this game is Daniel Newman, who didn't design Gold West. Originally, I was more excited about this game, but I saw mixed reviews from Tantrum House on YouTube (https://youtu.be/zGNnZ40om5s), so I've tempered my enthusiasm.

That concludes my bottom 30. Stay tuned for my next post as I count down to my #1 most anticipated game at Essen Spiel 2019!

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Top 30 to Look Forward to at GenCon 2019 (#21-30)

Here’s the continuation of the Top 30 with a look at #21-30, the end of the list.

Dungeon Academy - Have I mentioned lately how much I like games that play under an hour? This looks like a roll & write game published by Matagot and created by Julian Allain. It’s for 1-6 players and takes 20 min. to play. In the game, you roll dice and draw lines to chart your path from start to the dungeon, defeating monsters along the way. It looks like a fun implementation of a dungeon crawl.

City of the Big Shoulders - Published by Parallel Games and designed by Raymond Chandler III, this is a heavier game that supports 2-4 players and takes 2-3 hours to play. In this game, players work to build up the city of Chicago. It’s apparently a marriage of an 18xx style (ie. HEAVY) game of stock manipulation with the easy rules of a Euro-style game. Throughout the course of the game, players will run companies, trade stock shares, and produce/sell goods in order to become rich capitalists of industry.

Black Angel - Designed by Sébastien Dujardin, Xavier Georges, and Alain Orban and published by Pearl Games, this game for 1-4 players takes 1-2 hours to play. This is probably one of the biggest games to watch at the convention. This game is apparently a reimplementation of the popular board game, Troyes, but with a space theme. Honestly, that description should be reason enough for me to NOT be interested. However, I can’t help but be drawn into the theme. The game is described as existing in a post-apocalyptic world. Like in the Disney animated film, Wall-E, Earth’s resources have been depleted and humanity’s only hope is to board the ship, Black Angel, and seek life elsewhere. Different factions fight over who gets to control the ship and dictate the use of resources. The game has an interesting premise--exciting enough to pull me in, despite my hesitancy about gameplay mechanisms. I’ve played Troyes before, and I didn’t like the gameplay.

Undo: Blood in the Gutter - Designed by Michael Palm and Lukas Zach and published by Pegasus Spiele, this game supports 2-6 players in 45-90 min. I’m very excited about this one! It’s a cooperative game that involves storytelling and a murder mystery! Jump back in time to stop someone’s death, Quantum Leap style. From reading about this game, I get the impression that it’s a cross between Unlock! (escape room in a box) and Time Stories (escape room in a box before the Unlock! and Exit series came out, but with a sort of clunky time-loop, replay the same scenario over and over game mechanism instead of pure exploration). If the story is strong, then I think this game will be successful in adding a new twist to the popular escape-room-in-a-box genre.

Quirky Circuits- Designed by Nikki Valens and published by Plaid Hat Games, this quick playing game takes 15-30 min. for 2-4 players. The art on the box cover is irresistibly cute! Hats off to the artist, Danalyn Reyes. I should really be giving more kudos to board game artists, but this one in particular caught my eye because of the cute animals and robots. This is a cooperative game, my favorite type! Players simultaneously select programmable actions to set the course of their quirky robot in hopes it will complete its task before its battery runs out. I guess they should’ve invested in some Energizer batteries for that robot. The designer, Nikki Valens, is known for formerly working at Fantasy Flight Games on big projects like Mansions of Madness 2nd ed, Arkham Horror, Eldritch Horror, and Legacy of Dragonholt. While I would love to see another storytelling game from Nikki, this game piques my interest. Plaid Hat Games is well known for publishing games set in the zombie apocalypse, Dead of Winter, as well as the Evolution series of games. Considering the pedigree of both the designer and publisher, I expect great things.

Century Golem: Eastern Mountains- I didn’t think Plan B Games would actually create and publish this golem-themed sequel to Century: Golem edition (aka the golem version of Emerson Matsuuchi’s smash hit, Century: Spice Road). I’M SO EXCITED ABOUT THIS!!! They said they weren’t going to do it, and I fell for it, hook, line, and sinker. The artists for this one are Atha Kanaani and Chris Quilliams; Chris was also one of the artists of the original Century: Golem game. The art makes all the difference of this easy to play, easy to like goods conversion game. I might have to shell out extra money for the playmat, too. I just can’t get over how great the art is in this game! It’s also an easy game to teach to people who are new to boardgaming.

Wingspan - New designer Elizabeth Hargrave has created one of the most talked about games this year, which is surprising to me, given that this is a game about birds. Yes, you heard that right, this game is for the birds! Wingspan supports 1-5 players and takes 40-70 min. to play. Published by Stonemaier games, the game probably had some built-in trust that the game would be good. Stonemaier has been known to publish fun games with quality components. I can’t decide if it’s the tiny eggs that look like candy or the birdhouse that dispenses the dice that makes this game eye-catching. I like that this game has card drafting. I’m eager to play this one, myself!

Colors of Paris - Another newbie designer, Nicolas De Oliveira, has created this game about creating great works of art. The publisher is Super Meeple, and the game supports 2-4 players in 45-60 min. This game appears to feature a rondel mechanism. I think I’m generally pulled in by games about art, even though I fear Fresco might just be the best of them all. We’ll have to see what Colors of Paris brings to the table.

Crusaders: Thy Will Be Done - Created by Seth Jaffee and published by Tasty Minstrel Games, this game supports 2-4 players and plays in 40-60 min. This game uses both rondel and mancala mechanisms. As is to be expected from Tasty Minstrel, the wooden tokens are custom shaped pieces that look like knights, castles, and other buildings. There are also variable player powers in this game, which I’m not always a fan of because I think some player powers are more intuitive to employ than others, making gameplay feel uneven. At least, that has been my experience with variable powers in other games; it’s THE reason my gaming partner doesn’t like The Voyages of Marco Polo, and to this day I regret playing with the suggested player powers for a first game (she got whatever power is prescribed for third place, and the first player’s power was overwhelmingly strong). I’m intrigued to find out how the mancala and rondel interact with each other in this game.

Cartographers: A Roll Player Tale - Produced by Thunderworks and designed by Jordy Adan, this is yet another roll & write game that takes 30-45 min. and supports 1+ players. Like any good roll & write, the player count is really only limited by the number of papers/pencils you have. This game takes place in the Roll Player universe. Instead of rolling up the stats of a player character, this time you’re a map maker charting out distant lands for the queen.

That's a wrap on my Top 30 from GenCon. Stay tuned for my upcoming list on Essen Spiel, the biggest boardgaming convention in the world! This year’s Essen Spiel is from Oct. 24th-27th, so I need to get my preview list together quickly.

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Top 30 to Look Forward to at GenCon 2019 (#11-20)

Here’s the continuation of the Top 30 with a look at #11-20, the middle of the list.

Foundations of Rome - Published by Arcane Wonders and designed by Emerson Matsuuchi, this supports 2-4 players. I think this game might’ve only been available to play-test because there’s no play time listed for this one. Emerson really caught fire with his game, Century: Spice Road (and the Century: Golem art variant). The 3-D buildings caught my eye, and I trust Emerson to put together a fun game.

Planet - Published by Blue Orange and designed by Urtis Šulinskas, this game for 2-4 players takes 30-45 min. I've never seen a game like this one! The "board" is actually a hexagonal metal ball upon which you place different landscape tiles. I'm curious to know if the gameplay mechanism feels like a gimmick, or if it's really fun to play! I also wonder how this game compares to other nature/environmental world building games that have come out this year. It seems to be a hot theme of 2019. As our planet gets hotter, maybe we'll see even more games with a climate/nature based theme.

Sierra West - Published by Board & Dice and designed by Jonny Pac Cantin, this game for 1-4 players caught my eye with its cardplay. Also note that there must be a solo mode, which isn’t the case for all board games. I was interested in the mechanism of pulling cards from the mountain and then overlapping player cards on my personal game board. The game plays in 40-60 min., which is a good length for me. The theme sounded like a more interesting Oregon Trail. It will certainly appeal to anyone who likes the Old West.

On Tour - This entry is from another new board game designer, Chad DeShon. The publisher is Boardgametables.com. This is a roll & write game for 1-4 players in 20 minutes. Roll & write is another hot category in boardgaming this year (and last year). I'm always on the lookout for another roll & write that I will like.

Tiny Epic Mechs - The Tiny Epic series is a well known line by Gamelyn Games, created by Scott Almes for 1-4 players. This one is described as an arena style, PVP action programming game that plays in 30-60 min. What makes this one eye-catching is that you can snap suits of armor and weapons onto your meeples! I'm not sure if I'll enjoy gameplay because I don't tend to like PVP mode in digital games, but the meeples are so cute, I just want to try it!

Legendary Forests - This pretty, quick (15-20 min.) tile-laying game was designed for 2-5 players by Toshiki Sato and published by IELLO. This game had me at "similar to Karuba." I'm terrible at Karuba, actually, but I enjoy the challenge of everyone having the same pieces to see who can build the better mouse trap. In this case, each tile is a colorful landscape tile that may have multiple colors on it. Over the course of the game, it sounds like players want to build monuments or other pieces on their landscape tiles. It's just pretty. I'm pretty sure it's the type of game that my main gaming partner will crush me at, though.

Roll for Adventure - Matthew Dunstand and Brett J. Gilbert collaborated to create a cooperative game for 2-4 players that finishes in half an hour. Kosmos is the publisher. The BGG entry doesn't provide enough information on this game, but I'm interested because it's a quick-playing co-op, and I can't get enough of cooperative games in my life.

Tribes: Dawn of Humanity - This Kosmos entry was created for 2-4 players by Rustan Håkansson, who is best known as the designer of Nations and Nations dice game. This is a civilization game that claims there isn't much down time in between player turns, and it plays in 45 min. I'm actually feeling a little more reserved about this one because I heard of some negative reviews. However, a civ game under an hour sounds appealing, especially since my spouse always wanted to play Nations and we STILL haven't.

Empyreal: Spells & Steam - Designed for 2-6 players by Trey Chambers, who brought us Harvest, and published by Level 99 Games, this game is about route building in a world of magic and steampunk. It plays in 30-75 min. To be honest, I think this one caught my eye by aesthetics alone and I'm not sure it's really my cup of tea. It does, however, work for a larger number of players than most games, so that’s appealing for those times when you have more friends over.

Patchwork Doodle - Admittedly, I'm a fan of both Uwe Rosenberg and Patchwork. Patchwork Doodle is the roll & write version of the polyominoes game, Patchwork, that is designed for 1-6 players in 20 min. The publisher is Lookout Games. Definitely bring out multiple colored pencils/pens to really make this game shine!

That's it for my 11-20. Stay tuned for the last installment of ten games in the next post!

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Top 30 to Look Forward to at GenCon 2019 (#1-10)

This year’s GenCon was from Aug. 1-4, 2019. Here’s a look at the top 30 games I would’ve wanted to hunt down if I had been able to attend the convention. One game did come off my initial list because I got the chance to play it at my FLGS, and I didn’t enjoy it (Era: Medieval Age, sorry Matt Leacock, I’m still a fan; I just didn’t like this one).

This list was compiled using BGG’s GenCon Preview list provided by the wonderful W. Eric Martin. I sorted the games alphabetically by publisher, so the games are listed by publisher instead of the ones I’m looking forward to playing the most. Without further ado, here’s the list of my top 30!

Jurassic Parts - Published by 25th Century Games and designed by Kevin Lanzing, this appears to be a quick playing filler for 2-4 players. Kevin Lanzing previously designed Flash Point: Fire Rescue, which reminded me of a firefighting version of Pandemic (the core gameplay was clearly inspired by the cooperative game, Pandemic). In Jurassic Parts, players are archaeologists trying to place their chisels around hex tiles to chip off slabs of rock and collect fossils. The game plays in 15-30 min., which is why I wonder if it’s supposed to be a lightweight filler game. I like the theme--dinosaurs, which seems to be a hot theme since 2018-2019.  

Truck Off: The Food Truck Frenzy Roll & Write - Published by Adam’s Apple Games and designed by Adam Rehberg, this game is for 1+ players and takes about 30 minutes. It’s a roll & write about food--enough said! I’m interested in both the gaming mechanism and the theme.

Atelier: The Painter's Studio -  Published by AEG and designed by Nicholas Bongiu, this game is for 2-4 players and plays in 30-45 min. As far as I can tell using BGG, this appears to be the designer’s first published game. I like the art theme, and I like that the player’s board is shaped like a palette. I wonder how this game compares to Fresco, which is probably the most well-liked board game about art on the market currently.

Ecos: First Continent - Published by AEG and designed by John D. Clair, this is for 2-6 players in 45-75 min. In this game, “Players are forces of nature molding the planet, but with competing visions of its grandeur.“ I’m instantly intrigued by this world building game that has players competing to create their own vision of Earth!

Walking in Burano - This is the last title by AEG, designed by Wei Min-Ling. This is a quick playing game for 1-4 players in 20-40 min. This designer previously produced familiar titles, Hanamikoji (2016) and Burano (2015). Burano is a beautiful game in which you and competing players build up the island of Burano, giving the finished game board an eye-popping 3-D look. Walking in Burano appears to be a faster playing (Burano plays in 1.5-2 hrs) card based game. I think I’m drawn in by the colorful houses of Burano. It’s so picturesque--definitely a place I’d like to visit someday, if I can ever make it to Venice, Italy.

Tiny Towns - Published by AEG and designed by new designer, Peter McPherson, this game admittedly hit my list thanks to my friendly local game store (FLGS). I got to play it during my gaming store’s GenCan’t event, for all those who can’t make it to GenCon. The game is thinky and more challenging than what’s on the surface. I realized halfway through that I had placed a few early pieces poorly and wouldn’t be able to fill all spots on my board with buildings. I’m looking forward to the next time I get to play this game in hopes to redeem myself!

Welcome to Dino World - Published by Alley Cat Games and designed by a trio: James O'Connor, Nick Shaw, and Dávid Turczi. This looks like a roll & write game about building a dinosaur park (remember that theme from last year?). It’s for 1+ players in 40-70 min. I don’t understand why it takes so long to play this game, but I’m still interested in the theme!

Arkeis - Published by Ankama and designed by a quartet: Antoine Bauza, Corentin Lebrat, Ludovic Maublanc, and Théo Rivière.  Antoine Bauza is a well established designer in the industry, designing games such as 7 Wonders, Ghost Stories, Takenoko, Hanabi, Conan, Tokaido, Terror in Meeple City, Oceanos, Victorian Masterminds...I could go on and on. He made card drafting fun with 7 Wonders and Oceanos. He’s experimented with different game mechanisms and has experience working with other designers. Ludovic Maublanc is also an impressive designer, having worked on games such as Cyclades, Mr. Jack, Conan, Cash ‘n Guns, Dice Town, and Kingdomino Duel. The other two designers appear to be lesser known, although it’s worth noting that Théo also designed Nagaraja, a quick playing 2-player game that seems to have gotten some buzz this year. Enough about the designers’ pedigrees, let’s talk about the game! Arkeis caught my eye because it appears to be a legacy style, cooperative, Egyptian themed adventure game. From the publisher, Arkeis is “a story-driven, cooperative miniatures game in which players explore ancient Egyptian ruins... Each scenario comes with objectives the players may accomplish during the game. Completing these will reward them with new key items or upgrades that will influence later scenarios.” If all of that doesn’t make you intrigued, I don’t know what will.

Draftosaurus - Published by Ankama and designed by the same group above: Antoine Bauza, Corentin Lebrat, Ludovic Maublanc, and Théo Rivière. This little game is for 2-5 players and plays in 15 min. I think it’s a dino-themed “Sushi Go” type of drafting game that includes dino meeples! You draft uniquely shaped dinosaurs! What’s not to love? Did I mention that dinosaurs seems to be a hot theme this year?

The Stygian Society - Published by APE Games and designed by Kevin Wilson, this co-op is for 1-4 players and takes 1-2 hours. From the publisher, “Players drop cubes into the tower based on which skills they select but also cubes for the enemies. Both players and the enemies act based on what drops out the bottom.” I love co-op games, and the cube tower sounds interesting. I haven’t played many cube tower games (I’ve never played Amerigo), but I have experience with Mord Im A Rosa.

Ok, now that I’ve written up the first ten, I think I’ll break up this post in chunks of ten to make the list more manageable. Stay tuned for 11-20 in the next post!

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Ulm Review

5/15/19

Last week was productive in getting new games/expansions played.  On Monday I played Ulm with two others.  It was the first time I had ever played it, myself, so I was a little nervous about teaching it.  I watched Rahdo’s Runthrough for what seemed like the millionth time.  I also tried to find other YouTube game reviewers who have played it (specifically Rodney because he’s really good at explaining rules), but alas, I couldn’t find anything.  I watched half a YouTube video of two people playing the game and voicing their moves aloud, but I didn’t find it very helpful.  They weren’t explaining the reasoning behind making their moves, which would’ve been useful information to me.  For that reason, I solely relied on Rahdo as my video supplement to the rulebook.  

The rules weren’t that bad, but again, I think it’s because I made sure to rewatch Rahdo’s Runthrough first.  I had watched the video before ever acquiring the game.  I think repeat viewing can be helpful when learning a new game.  I had seen the rulebook before playing at home.  I had been to a couple of conventions where I had read through the rulebook before and either started a game or didn’t get to play it before having to turn the game in.  Setup in the past seemed intimidating, but on Monday night, it wasn’t bad at all.  I don’t know if part of the difference was that at one of the conventions, it was a brand new game, so I was having to punch everything out and start totally from scratch, whereas the copy I had at home was acquired secondhand, so pieces had already been punched.  I would say minor organization had been applied to the game.  One of the tricky parts is that the game comes with enough pieces to play in 2 or 3 different languages, so you need to be mindful of that during setup.  My main issue with the rulebook was having to dig through to the English rules section, which isn’t in front.  I know I’m spoiled by most other games catering to an English-speaking audience.

I played the red player, whose coat of arms is a weird unicorn.  I say weird because the horn lies flat on the horse’s head, parallel with the ground, instead of pointing up at an angle.  I played against blue and yellow.  Yellow has the best coat of arms by far -- 3 lions on a yellow field.  In the game, players race to increase their influence across the city.  The city is like a little Venice.  I say this mainly because each player’s prestige is tracked by a little boat, like Venice’s famous gondolas gliding along city canals.  A player’s actions are dictated by a sliding tile puzzle.  First, the active player draws a square tile from an opaque bag.  Each tile has a symbol on it, and the different symbols represent different actions you can take.  There is a small learning curve to learning the symbols, but it is easy enough.  There aren’t too many symbols, and after playing a few rounds, it’s not hard to remember what they mean.  The active player takes actions in the column/row that the player chooses to move in the sliding puzzle.  The active player will always take the action of the tile they drew, along with the actions on the other tiles still in the 3x3 grid (the last tile is considered to be “pushed out” of the grid).  If the active player doesn’t like the tile they drew, they can swap it with another tile on the loading docks section of the game board, after paying a sparrow.  Sparrows held until the end of the game are worth 1 point each.  More points are gained by moving your boat up your personal prestige track, completing card objectives (cards can be acquired during the game), and by placing your tokens on various parts of the board during the game, which represents your growing influence around parts of town.  As with most games, the player with the most points wins.  

I think explaining this game is harder than actually playing it.  Part of my opinion on this point might be based on my failure to actually get the game played in the past.  Reading through the rules for the very first time at a convention felt more stressful than when I watched YouTube videos and then read through the rules at home.  I think part of what makes the game difficult to describe is that the sliding puzzle mechanism is unique, or at least I haven’t encountered it in other modern board games I’ve played.  Also, the rules around how to play cards in the game differ from other games I’ve played.  You have the option to play cards for their immediate one time effect (not a new concept), or play them face up in front of you in hopes of completing a set collection for boatloads of points.  I think what makes this card play different is that you have to make that decision in advance, playing cards face up and letting your opponents see your long-term goals (as opposed to keeping those cards a secret and scoring massively at the end of the game).  I think technically you could hold some cards in hand and still score at the end of the game, but there are specific rules around how you can play cards, which would limit your ability to play many cards at a time.  For instance, I believe the rules are that you can play one card in hand for free on your turn, but in order to play more than 1 card, you’d have to activate the card action in the sliding puzzle.  I think this limits players’ ability to spring surprise points at the end of the game, although as I’ve said, theoretically a player could get multiple card actions on their last turn via the sliding puzzle.  In my one and only full gameplay, it wouldn’t have been possible because I think there was only 1 card action tile available in the sliding puzzle during the final round and none available for swapping on the loading docks.  

I fear I’m doing this game no justice by attempting to describe it.  What I can say is that it’s easier to play than to describe, and gameplay was unique and fun!  I liked the idea of hopping over players along the prestige/river track (if you need to move up a space, but there’s a player ahead of you, you get to leapfrog, essentially gaining 2 spaces for the price of one!), although for most of the game I was out front, so I didn’t get the benefits of leapfrogging.  I look forward to playing this game more and hopefully being a bit craftier in my cardplay against my opponents.

Beer Pairing

For this game, it makes sense to go with a German style beer.  For this one, I’m selecting Weihenstephan Dunkel Hefe, mainly because I’m feeling nostalgic about the first time I ever tried a Dunkelheizen, or dark German wheat beer.  At 5.3% ABV, it won’t dull your wits as you learn a new game mechanism.  The light foamy head, deep brown color, and roasted malt flavor will remind you of German beer gardens as you compete against your fellow players to become the most influential member of Ulm.

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Barenpark review

5.8.19

I finally had the opportunity to get a copy of Barenpark, which I was eager to play.  Many gamers consider it to be the best among polyomino board games.  I know that “polyominoes” is the correct term for this style of game, but I think of them as Tetris games.  I wonder if I’m the only one, or if Tetris has joined the ranks of other brands who have fallen from trademarked name to common term, like Kleenex or velcro.  Anyway, enough about philosophizing on the morphing of language -- let’s talk about the actual game!

In Barenpark, players build their own bear-centric zoos (or bear park) by fitting geometric tiles together on their personal player board.  The tiles represent bear habitats, toilets, rivers, food stalls, playgrounds, and bear statues.  The bear statues are worth more points in the beginning of the game but steadily decrease as the game goes on.  In order to obtain a bear statue, the player must first cover up all the spaces surrounding the pit where the statue is to be placed with their polyomino tiles.  Players can only do one action at a time - place a tile or select a new one.  Covering up certain symbols on the board will provide bonuses, such as selecting certain types of tiles or adding another section of grid to their bear zoo.  Once a player has finished 4 sections of zoo, the end game is triggered.  All other players get one more turn, then points are tallied.  The player with the most points wins.  In case of a tie, players total up the values of tiles in their personal supply, which weren’t used in their zoo, and the highest total wins.  

To add a little complexity to the game, you can also add in achievement tiles that can be claimed during a player’s turn.  I don’t think it makes the game more complicated.  I think it provides a way to get more points.  

I really liked the bear houses, although for some reason, I rarely end up adding polar bears to my zoo.  I’ve only played the game a handful of times, though, so I’m not sure if it’s a reflection of the shape of those tiles, or if it’s just random chance.  I think the artwork is fun, although I’m not a fan of the park ranger on the cover.  The proportions seem off to me.  The artwork on the actual game pieces is nice.  

The game feels peaceful to play.  I’d probably put it on my “relaxing games” list if I ever created one.  I know this was a Top 10 list on an episode of The Dice Tower podcast.  In general, though, I don’t think of playing games as peaceful or relaxing.  Only one other game comes to mind for this category, and that’s Tokaido.  There’s just something about the lovely artwork of that game that lulls you into serenity.  

I think Barenpark is popular because of these strengths.

Game Simplicity:  You’re really only making one decision per turn.  Pick a piece or place a piece.  Placing a piece may trigger other actions, like selecting a specific tile type or expanding your zoo with another grid board.

Easy to Teach:  There isn’t a ton of iconography.  The game feels simple enough to teach to younger players, so it can be enjoyed by families with children and older adults who aren’t familiar with modern board games.

Colorful Artwork:  I think art standards in modern game boards has been quite high for the past 5-6 years.  Most modern games must look appealing to stand out from the crowd.  Barenpark makes nice use of color and topic (who doesn’t like bears?), and it’s satisfying to look at your bear park at the end.

In comparison to other polyomino games, I like Barenpark quite a lot, but I do find it lacking in complexity.  It’s a good and bad thing.  On the positive side, as I already noted, it’s a good family weight game that can be played with both young and elderly.  On the other hand, I tend to like a bit more complexity in my games.  For comparison, I liked the puzzle of managing the 2 scoring tracks in Cottage Garden, which is another polyominoes game.  If I want to bump up the complexity by a lot and add in more factors than just combining shapes, I’ll go for A Feast for Odin, but that game suffers from long play time.  Other players may disagree about length of time needed to play, but every time I’ve played A Feast for Odin with my friends, the game lasts several hours and leaves no time for playing other games.

Beer Pairing

Now that we’ve covered the game, let’s get to our beer pairing.

I recommend Burnt Hickory’s Big Shanty Graham Cracker Stout.  Don’t be scared by the 9% ABV.  Since Barenpark is an easygoing game, you can afford to drink a higher gravity beer.  The reason I chose this beer is because when I think of beers, I think of honey.  This beer makes me think of Teddy Grahams crackers, or sitting around a campfire making s’mores.  The cinnamon graham cracker paired with sweet honey comes through in this beer.  Its rich brown color will remind you of the Sun bears in the game.  The flavor will make you happier than Winnie the Pooh holding a honeycomb!

That’s it for this review.  If you know of any good honey beers or beers with a bear label that you think would pair nicely with this game, let me know in the comments.

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Boardgaming Abroad in the UK

Recently, I went to London on a one week vacation, April 1-5, 2019.  It was nice to get away from my day job, but I wasn’t expecting the opportunity to play new games overseas (well, except for the small card game, Oh My Goods! that I brought with me).  As it turned out, I ended up spending one night at a board games cafe called Draughts.  It was pretty cool!  The locals there don’t know how good they’ve got it.

The first cool thing about this place was the location.  We arrived at night, and there were rainbow lights on the ceiling of the tunnel where this place was located.  I was curious to know what other kinds of establishments were in there, but we came for the games, so we didn’t have time to explore.

Once inside, we found seating right away.  The employees were really helpful in explaining how the cafe worked.  They said we could eat food, drink beer, and take a look at the games.  There was a small fee to play games, but if we didn’t end up playing anything, then we wouldn’t be charged the extra fee.  I thought the tables were cleverly designed because they had a shelf underneath the top for storing games.  It was easy to keep the game boxes underneath while setting the games up on the tabletop.  

We also ordered dinner and drinks while we were there, but we ate before grabbing a game because we didn’t want to get the game all messy.  We also thought it would be difficult to set up and learn a new game while dining.  Speaking of the food, I thought it was delicious!  The Korean sticky chicken, also known as “sticky chicky” back home in Atlanta, was better here than at the place that first introduced me to this sweet & spicy chicken dish (shh, don’t tell Takorea I said that)!  I also enjoyed my burger with caramelized onions, even though they only cook burger patties well done instead of mid-rare in London.  For drinks, we tried out the Punk IPA and Low Voltage IPA; I preferred the latter because I thought it was more flavorful.  I’ve decided that in general, I prefer the rich flavors of American style beers over British brews.  

Now, on to the games!  Since we arrived for a late dinner, we only had time to learn and play one game.  We played Bunny Kingdom.  I had been wanting to play this game, even though I heard it was cutthroat.  The art is just so adorable!  Who doesn’t love bunnies made to look like Napoleon or Indiana Jones?  Don’t just take my word for it.  See for yourself!  

I like card drafting, so I was intrigued by the gameplay here.  Although the rules are simple, we managed to make a rules error during play.  We made a mistake in how to build new towers.  We were supposed to place it on a spot where we already had a bunny, instead of picking any spot we wanted on the board to add a new tower and a bunny.  This became evident when the card for the chosen board space was actually drawn during the game.  We were confused about how to handle it, and realized we couldn’t have been playing correctly.  Once we realized the mistake, we course corrected.  I’m glad I got the chance to play, but ultimately I don’t think I’ll add it to my personal games collection.  I think it’s meant to be played with more than 2.  If I get the opportunity, I’d be happy to try out this game again at a higher player count.

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Going Back in Time to 2009

3/8/19

I decided to take a look back at the top board games from 10 years ago.  I was surprised to see that I’ve actually played some of these games, since I didn’t really get into the hobby until 5 or 6 years ago.  I’ve owned a handful of modern board games since around 2006, but it took much longer for the gaming bug to fully incubate.

This list is based on rankings at boardgamegeek.com.  I went to BGG and filtered games for the year 2009, then sorted by board game rank.  I will compare the games I’ve played that debuted in 2009, and I will also mention a few games that I feel should’ve made it on the list. 

Without further ado, let’s look at the...

Top 10 Board Games from 2009

10.  Small World  9.  Dungeon Lords  8.  The Resistance  7.  Imperial 2030  6.  Cyclades  5.  Steam  4.  Hansa Teutonica  3.  Jaipur  2.  Chaos in the Old World  1.  Dominion: Intrigue

Of the games on the list, I’ve only played 3: Small World, The Resistance, and Jaipur.  I think Small World is a good game that I haven’t played in a long time.  Jaipur I like a lot, and it now has sentimental value to me because I can play it with my dad, who finds it hard to remember more complex rules now that he’s in his eighties.  

I took a look at games that I’ve ranked that came out in 2009, and I only have 9--not even enough to make a top 10!  I wouldn’t put all those games in a Top 10 list, either.  Some games that I think worth mentioning that aren’t on the list above are:

Telestrations - This is a purely fun party game that works well even with younger kids.  We played with one of my friend’s kids, who was only around 5 at the time, and it was still fun to play.  Admittedly, I wasn’t keen on playing at first because my friend is actually an artist, but she persuaded me.  I’m glad she did.

At the Gates of Loyang - I really like this game, and it would’ve made my personal Top 5 for 2009 (since I don’t have enough games for a Top 10). 

Tobago - This is a fun treasure hunting game with cool pieces!

Finca - The fruit pieces (fruit meeples? fruiples?) in this game are great to play with and would make my list of “coolest components” of a board game.  Unfortunately, this game is out of print, so if you’re new to the hobby, you might have a hard time playing it.  This game features a classic rondel, or wheel, used to determine your actions.  It’s a simple game and I was a little underwhelmed when I got to play a copy of it at a boardgaming convention.  However, I think that the rarity of this game combined with some fans’ enthusiasm for it simply built it up too much in my mind before I got to play it.  I still think it deserves mentioning as a notable game from 2009.

Dice Town - This is a FUN game!  This is easily the best game I’ve ever acquired in trade.  My wife’s side of the family has really taken to this crazy, dice rolling party of a game!  This would make my Top 5 from 2009, maybe even #1 (this or Jaipur--again, sentimental reasons).

Tanto Cuore - I’ve only ever played the app version of this game.  I know some people (like Rahdo) take issue with the gratuitous art (think anime style “sexy” ladies), but I find this game fun despite that.  I don’t know why.  Similar card playing mechanisms can be found in games like Dominion or Ascension.  

That wraps up this blast from the past!  Share your favorite board games from 2009 in the comments below.

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Top 10 Beer Themed Games

 These are the top 10 beer themed games that I want to play.  Some of the games I've actually played before, but many I haven’t.

  10.  Brewin’ USA     9.  Red Dragon Inn     8.  Dice Brewing      7.  Braggart     6.  Bang! The Dice Game     5.  Tavern Masters     4.  Dragon Brew     3.  Village Inn*     2.  Brew Crafters     1.  Heaven & Ale

Village Inn gets an asterisk because it’s actually an expansion to the main board game, Village.  Village Inn allows players to send their meeples to brew beer, as well as spend time at the inn.  It’s the only game on the list that is an expansion instead of being a standalone game.

The games I’ve played before are Red Dragon Inn and Bang! The Dice Game (I’ve also played the original, Bang!).  Bang! is very loosely related to beer, in that drinking beer refills your health points. 

I own Brew Crafters but haven’t gotten it to the table yet.  Village Inn is on my wish list.  I own the base game as well as a different expansion for it, Village Port.  I would love the opportunity to play Heaven & Ale.  I have a feeling I might want to own it.

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May 2018 Game & Beer Pairing

This probably won’t come as a big surprise to anyone who read my last blog post, but this month’s spotlight goes to... <drum roll, please> Meeple Circus!  I can’t give this game enough praise.  I’m not even a dexterity games fan normally!  I feel clumsy, uncoordinated, and ill-suited to win a game that requires hand-eye coordination.  However, the gameplay here is compelling.  It’s just so much fun trying to balance your meeples with animal meeples (animeeples?) and other random shaped objects, like balls and balance beams.  

As for the beer pairing, Hi-Wire Brewing located in Asheville, NC have several appropriately themed offerings.  Death Defying Spring Ale is currently in season and its balancing act is perfect for this theme.  For more information on their beers, go to their website: https://hiwirebrewing.com/seasonals/. The artwork for their labels is excellent. I look forward to touring this brewery in person sometime soon.  

Another pick is Chocolate Sombrero from Clown Shoes.  As a Massachusetts beer company, they’re a little harder to find down here in the south, but good local brewpubs have some Clown Shoes offerings available.  Check out their fun label below.  Head over to Beer Advocate for topline stats and reviews on this beer. 

That’s a wrap for this week.  Happy boardgaming and cheers, everyone!

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International TableTop Day on Sat., April 28, 2018

This year felt more low-key than previous years.  I’m not sure if it’s because we didn’t have our usual group at Meeple Madness, or if it was something else.  All I know is that I didn’t feel the magic this year.  I think the buzz around International TableTop Day (ITTD) died down not long after Legendary Entertainment acquired Geek & Sundry (G&S) back in August 2014.  Maybe the acquisition has nothing to do with it, but it feels like the quality of promo kits has gone down in recent years.  I will say that 2015 was still a very good year for promos, despite the big company takeover the prior year; I remember desperately wanting to win the Dead of Winter: Felicia Day standee.  I gamed until midnight, hoping my raffle ticket would get called.  Fast forward three years, and I find myself not caring about any of the promos.  The G&S promo kits have been noticeably pared down.  I think the idea behind the smaller promo offerings was to give stores more flexibility in how to promote their products, but as a consumer, it’s been disappointing.  Not to say that ITTD should be all about promos, but it doesn’t hurt to have something shiny to look forward to when you enter the store!

I did get excited over one thing—Harry Potter Hogwarts Battle (HPHB) promo cards!  I know the cards have been available for awhile, but they are still new to me.  HPHB has become a household favorite.  I introduced it to my niece and nephew, and they liked it so much, they ended up buying their own copy.  That’s a good endorsement, if I do say so, myself.  I think it’s good the kids got their own copy, since we live far enough away that I wouldn’t be able to game with them regularly.  We only had time to get through the first couple of years while they were visiting, and I know my nephew was eager to play through it all. 

Games Played

Getting back to ITTD, we didn’t stay until closing, as we’ve done in previous years.  Because of that, we didn’t get to play as many games.  The first one we tried was Meeple Circus, a dexterity game that was all the rage last year.  I’m not usually one for dexterity games, but I had a lot of fun with this one!  I played twice, losing the first and winning the second.  The first time I had to get a feel for the game.  I was doing well until the third and final act, where the pressure got to me and I wasn’t able to successfully keep my meeples standing.  In my second game, I learned from my previous mistakes but still had third act stress.  I don’t know why it always feels harder than the first two acts, but somehow my meeple structures always ended up tumbling down.

After Meeple Circus, we tried out Santorini and played it with the basic god powers.  The first playthrough was over much too quickly, so we played a few more times.  My goal was to at least build some blue domes.  While it’s a pretty game, it’s not one for me and my gaming partner.  It’s a little too abstract for our tastes.

Finally, we played SubTerra, a cooperative cave exploration game.  I’d be very interested in hearing how this game compares to The Cave, designed by Adam Kaluza.  I believe the latter is out of print but not impossible to find in trade.  I’ve never played it.  It’s an older title, and I’m wondering if SubTerra replaces it with more streamlined gameplay.  The themes are different, with The Cave focusing on actual cave-exploring techniques and SubTerra being a horror themed cave exploration game.  I wasn’t sure about it at first, but I ended up enjoying the game.  My wife gave it high praise, saying it’s the most fun she’s had trying out a new game at our FLGS in awhile!  The price tag is more than what I want to pay, though, hovering around $50.  If it cools, I could see myself grabbing a copy.

Before we left, we managed to win a copy of Imhotep in raffle.  I’m not sure if it will stay in our collection or not.  We played once or twice before, and though I remember losing those games, I still thought it was fun.  She thought it was a bit mean in gameplay.  However, after winning it, she said she liked it, so I’m not sure if she’s just forgotten how it played or if she’s more comfortable with the game design in retrospect.  Time will tell.  

That’s a wrap on ITTD 2018.  

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Get Ready, Gumshoes!

 There are two new board games coming out this year with a detective theme that I’m excited to talk about.  Both games made my “Most Anticipated” list for the year.  Both attempt to blend cardboard with modern technology, although they go about it in different ways.  Both are cooperative play.  Both are rated for ages 14+ according to boardgamegeek.com (BGG), but that’s where the similarities end.

Of the two, right now I’m more interested in Chronicles of Crime.  This is reflected in where the two games landed on my initial “Most Anticipated” list (spoilers: #3 vs. #7).  Unlike the other game I’m going to discuss, this one doesn’t come from a veteran board game designer, nor from a well-known publisher, as far as I can tell.  Designer David Cicurel has primarily worked with video games in the past.  Although board games and video games are different, both require solid mechanisms to be enjoyable, so I have high expectations for this game.  The publisher is Lucky Duck Games, which previously released Vikings Gone Wildand a card game version of the digital app, Fruit Ninja (Fruit Ninja card game was also co-designed by David Cicurel).  This game supports 1-4 players with an estimated play time of 1 hour to an hour and a half.  In this game, players are investigators trying to catch the criminal in the shortest time possible.  The game involves using an app and virtual reality glasses.  The game doesn’t require you to use VR, but I think it’s the most exciting part!  Players will look at scenes in the app looking for clues.  It reminds me of a hidden objects game mashed up with an escape room.  Finding the right objects to further investigate in each scene in the app reminds me of Mask of Anubis or Mask of Moai; if you haven’t heard of these games, don’t worry about it.  They’re virtually impossible to get in the U.S. (pun intended).  The time pressure reminds me of real-time escape games, such as the Unlock series.  I don’t know why this one intrigues me more than the other crime themed game.  Maybe it’s because there’s more information out on it already, including a Rahdo Runs Through YouTube video.  The VR just looks so cool!  I also like the shorter playing time.  It’s difficult to get longer games to the table, even if they’re fun to play.          

Now let’s take a look at Detective: A Modern Crime Boardgame.  This game has pedigree behind it.  Ignacy Trzewiczek (known for Robinson Crusoe: Adventures on the Cursed Island, Imperial Settlers, and First Martians: Adventures on the Red Planet) has teamed up with an unfamiliar designer, Przemyslaw Rymer.  The game publisher is Portal Games.  The game supports 1-5 players and the estimated playing time ranges from 90 minutes to 3 hours.  This game blends traditional board game elements with an online component.  Players act as investigators working for government agency, ANTERES, and are given login credentials to access an online database that holds case file information.  Data includes a list of suspects, witness details, and documentation pertaining to arrests and trials linked to the current crime being investigated.  To me, the game’s description hints that some of the clues may point to other websites, or at least information that can be looked up online.  I might be reading too much into it, but my suspicions come from this line, “Players are free to use the investigation manual, ANTERES database, and any other online resources they may find to help them solve the case.”  This game currently has a price advantage over Chronicles of Crime, costing only $35 for pre-order via Miniature Market vs. $49 for CoC with the VR glasses (and if you’re going to buy the game, surely you’ll want the VR glasses).

The BGG forum is already blowing up with a debate about whether or not this should be considered a board game, due to the heavily integrated online content.  I will say that I don’t have a problem with integrating board games with modern technology.  In fact, I feel that app versions of certain board games are more fun to play.  Apps can cut out the not-so-fun aspects of gaming, such as tedious upkeep, as well as enhance games.  Some examples where app functionality can improve games include, but are not limited to: randomizing card draw (instead of players constantly reshuffling their decks), keeping track of scoring across multiple categories, adding thematic music, and acting as a timer for real-time games.  Apps can also allow all players to actually play a game, as was the case with Alchemists; without the app, one player had to be the reference manual for looking up which potion type resulted from mixing two ingredients.  This tangential rant is my way of saying that I’m a supporter of physical board games mixing with online/technological components, as long as it makes sense and is done well.  That point is probably obvious, since I’m excited about the two games mentioned in this post.

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Scythe Showdown at My Friendly Local Game Shop (FLGS)

Last month’s highlight was a Scythe tournament at Meeple Madness.  I was excited about the chance to win metal coins for the game.  All I had to do was survive the first game and advance to the second (final) round of play.  Unfortunately, I didn’t realize how tough the competition would be!  As someone who had only ever played the game once before, the odds weren’t in my favor.  My poor performance made me wonder how I managed to have such great beginner’s luck the first time I played.  Oh, well, at least I still managed to have fun while losing.

There were fifteen total players split into three games.  The final round would be the three winners, plus the two highest scorers among the rest.  My table ended up being the slowest group of players.  I was surprised by who won at my table.  It was the player to my left who started out slowly, but I guess it was to build a better engine.  I played as the red faction (randomly selected) with engineering as the paired power.  I managed to place the first star on the scoreboard, but that didn’t get me far in the long run.  I think my downfall was eschewing long-term planning for quick achievements that didn’t necessarily build off each other.  In all honesty, I found looking at the board intimidating and felt self-conscious about taking too long to think about my turn, so as soon as I saw something viable to chase after, I would jump on it.

As we played, the tournament host gave us some random stats, such as in each of the starting three games, the red faction was the first to score.  Two of the red teams scored by completing the same objective.  I’m not sure how the other red team players ended up at the end of the tournament.  I’m guessing the one from the quickest group might have either won or won a place at the table by being a high scorer.  Skill level distribution amongst players seemed pretty wide-ranging.  Another random fact is that I have only ever played the red faction; I happened to randomly get the red faction in my first ever play of the game, as well.

I heard talk that they may do another Scythe tournament in the future.  I should try to get in a few plays, so that I’m better prepared to match wits next time!

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March 2018 Game of the Month & Drink Pairing

Today I’d like to highlight escape room board games this month.  This lumps the Exit/Unlock/Deckscape series together.  However, I’d particularly like to highlight one of the games from Unlock’s second round of releases, The Tonipal’s Treasure.  This particular escape game had everything you could hope for based on the title and cover artwork: swashbuckling buccaneers, a talking parrot, secret maps promising hidden treasure, yo ho ho and a bottle of rum!  I hope anyone reading this won’t feel like I’ve given too much away.  I’m not going to specify any of the puzzles, but I will say that I particularly enjoyed one of them.

In the Dice Tower’s podcast with Tom Vasel and Eric Summerer, Tom described The Tonipal’s Treasure as being his favorite of the Unlock series so far, as well as being the most similar in feel to a T.I.M.E. Stories adventure.  I’m not really sure why he made the comparison.  When I think of T.I.M.E. Stories, I think of the way that game forces you to repeat a loop over and over until you find the right path.  I’d say it’s nearly impossible to make all the right moves on your first trip through, unless you get incredibly lucky at guessing.  There’s simply not enough time to explore every avenue in T.I.M.E. Stories, and I feel like the game is structured so that you pick up necessary information in the first round that you can apply to a repeat round.  I don’t feel like that was the case in Unlock: The Tonipal’s Treasure.

I suspect Tom’s comparison might be due to the ability of players to make different choices, leading them down divergent paths that ultimately lead back to one correct path forward.  If this is the situation, then making the “right” decisions all along would lead to a more efficient route to the end goal, while other roads may meander before getting to the end.  However, since I didn’t look at all the cards after I finished playing, I can’t say if this is the case.  Ultimately, though, I was pleased with how the game drew me in, allowing me to become immersed in the pirate theme and have fun hunting down the clues.

As for pairings, there’s more than one good option, especially for The Tonipal’s Treasure.  Here’s someone else’s list of pirate beers: http://bit.ly/2G1TCFx.  From beer aged in rum barrels to beers with pirate-themed names, the choices range from IPAs to Porters.  However, I like to drink local craft beers when I can, so my recommendations reflect that regional bias.  Specifically, I’d like to highlight Burnt Hickory Cannon Dragger, an IPA having 8% ABV, and Monday Night Blind Pirate, another IPA at 7.4% ABV.

According to other reviewers on beeradvocate.com, Cannon Dragger has a “dank” or “earthy” flavor along with mild hops and a bit of spice on the back end.  To me, Cannon Dragger’s flavor profile is that of a typical IPA, so I wouldn’t necessarily agree with other reviewers.  As an IPA fan, this is a solid choice.  I will note that I don’t typically like mild-flavored IPAs and tend to go for ones with bigger flavor, including ones that--as my friends would say, “punch you in the mouth”.  Cannon Dragger isn’t a “punch you in the mouth” type of beer, but its combination of flavors keeps me happy.

Blind Pirate has a bold citrus flavor, which should come as no surprise, since Monday Night has tinkered with this recipe to create what is currently known as Blind Pirate Blood Orange.  I think using blood oranges was just to increase the foodie/cool factor, or perhaps to evoke mental imagery with “blood” and “pirate” in the same title.  I enjoyed Blind Pirate’s citric tanginess even before they added blood oranges.  Although blood orange fruit has a pretty color that is even richer than a ruby red grapefruit, I’m not convinced anyone would be able to taste the difference between a blood orange and a regular orange.  At any rate, this beer’s clear, copper/amber color evokes feelings of home for me.  I grew up in Florida near citrus groves and have always loved the bite of citrus fruit—the best ones are sweet with a bit of bitter bite.

I don’t have a good suggestion for non-IPA fans, but let’s face it, a piratey game like The Tonipal’s Treasure really should be paired with a citrus beer, so you don’t get scurrrvy, mate!

Finally, a good beer to pair with any escape room game is Wild Heaven Emergency Drinking beer.  This Pilsener style beer has a low 4% ABV, which makes it perfect for drinking when you want to keep your head in the game.

That’s all for this post.  I’d like to hear other people’s recommendations; what pirate themed beer do you enjoy?

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Top 15 Most Anticipated Games of 2018

 15.  The City of Kings  14.  Debtzilla  13.  Dragon Keepers  12.  Spy Club  11.  Victoriana  10.  Endangered    9.  Wayward    8.  Who Goes There?     7.  Detective: A Modern Crime boardgame    6.  The Rise of Queensdale    5.  Hardback    4. Arydia: The Paths We Dare Tread    3.  Chronicles of Crime    2.  CO2: 2nd Chance    1.  Western Legends