#game profile

[fluffingtonfern]

Finished the story of the Hidden Treasure of Area Zero. So Good. Here's the real reward. (For me at least).

[alexversenaberrie]

[notiara]

Feel free to add me in A3! (Active players only)

[iheartgod175]

Started Priconne about two weeks ago...

I named the MC Falco because...well, my mind couldn't come up with anything else. Plus, I thought it was kinda funny.

The story is actually pretty decent. Some chapters do take a while, but it's never boring, and it usually leaves me with a big smile on my face.

The animation is also top notch. I especially love the little cutscenes for the Union Bursts.

I don't rely have a favorite yet, but so far, I like Akino, Kaori, Saren and Anna. Oh, and Arisa and Hatsune

This game is heavy on the fanservice, though. Then again, I play Vanillaware games and Honkai Impact, so I'm not terribly bothered by it.

Unlike what happened with Love Live! All Stars, I'm going to work on increasing the ranks of each character I have. Leveling them up to three stars is going to be tricky, though, since I'm going to need a lot of Amulet Crystals for that.

[bonusroundcafe]

Science and cats, what could go wrong!?!

Unfortunately in this world we live in it might not always be convenient to play a five hour game of Arkham Horror. Whether you're looking for something to play in between other games, while you're waiting for more to arrive or even just something to rope your non-gamer friends into it is nice to have a few quick play games handy. That's where this week's game profile comes in, Schrodinger's Cats (Kickstarted in 2015 by 9th Level Games)  is a fast-paced deduction game that anyone can enjoy.

Thematics

Erwin Schrodinger was an extremely accomplished noble prize winning physicist who among many other things has a thought experiment attributed to his name. Schrodinger's cat (the thought experiment) involves a cat that is trapped inside of a closed box which also contains a vial of poison. At some arbitrary point in time the vial will break and poison the cat, killing it. However, as outside  observers we have no idea whether the cat is alive or dead unless we open the box. The thought experiment claims that the cat is simultaneously both alive and dead up until the moment the box is opened.

Surely my understanding of quantum physics is severely lacking and I have in some way butchered the works of Mr. Schrodinger. Luckily Schrodinger's Cats (the game) puts me firmly on comfortable ground. The players are cat-physicists performing experiments, guessing and bluffing what the contents of various boxes may be.

Gameplay

Schrodinger's Cats bears many similarity to pub games like Liar's Dice or Skulls & Roses. Each player secretly has a number of cards which can be either Dead Cats, Alive Cats, Empty Boxes or The Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle (wild card). Additionally each player receives a cat physicist card that will give them a unique one time use ability. Players take turns one-upping each other hypothesizing about the distribution of cards at the table until at some point someone is called out on their bluff and the truth is revealed.

What sets Schrodinger's Cats apart is that players are able to optionally reveal some of their cards in order to lend credibility to their claims. By doing so they are also given the opportunity to exchange some of their remaining cards with the ones still in the deck. This creates an interesting twist to a pretty classic style of game.

Final Thoughts

Schrodinger's Cats aims to keep itself simple while remaining fun and it definitely accomplishes this well. The art keeps the game very approachable and I've gotta say that the theme is pretty darn clever! That said, without adding any variant rules, the game does involve a layer of player elimination. One player will always be eliminated fairly early on and must wait while the game continues. Luckily as players are eliminated the game will accelerate towards its conclusion. Additionally the game lends itself well to coming up with house rules and some of the player elimination issues can be alleviated in fairly interesting ways. Despite the player elimination element the game isn't very cutthroat so it is very easy to play another quick round after the first has ended.

We have definitely enjoyed playing Schrodinger's Cats and if it sounds interesting to you I highly recommend picking it up. The game works perfectly as a small box game and lends itself well to just about any social setting.

#of players: 2-6 (best with 4 or 5) playtime: ~20 minutes Bonus points for: Clever cat-physicist names... Albert Felinestein would like to have a word with you!

[bonusroundcafe]

Don't tell anyone else this, but I'm a sucker for trashy reality television & there was definitely a point a few years back where I wound up binge watching Storage Wars. Maybe it was because I had been working at a record store at the time and always found it hilarious that on the show they would claim that obviously worthless junk actually had some sort of value. There was no way that those records weren't moldy!

Vault Wars by Floodgate Games was one of my favorite games of last year and it captures the haggling, auctioning and guessing in the television show so well. In Vault Wars the players act as novice adventurers who need some loot in order to jump start their career. Coincidentally there are a bunch of vaults whose owners have gone delinquent on their payments. Maybe the past owners were eaten by a dragon or maybe they just settled down and gave up on the life of peril and intrigue. Their vaults of treasure are about to be auctioned off and that's where you come in!

The vaults each contain various numbers of items, represented by a deck of cards, which range from the completely worthless “Junk” to invaluable gems or armor. The contents of each individual vault go up for auction and players need to pay storage fees between rounds on anything they decide to keep. What makes Vault Wars great is that each vault has its own special rules and usually some players will have more information about what might be inside than others.

The auctioning and bidding mechanisms fit perfectly with the theme of the game. Additionally it is extremely easy to teach and at this point I practically have it down to a science when it comes to introducing it to new players. The game plays with 3-5 players but I feel like it really shines when played with 4.  Much of the fun comes down to figuring out who might know more about the contents and whether they're trying to bluff that the vault is valuable or not. Because of this, typically more experienced players will have an advantage over those who've never played but it isn't to the point where it takes away from the game. So far I've had this game work for just about any audience and I highly recommend checking it out!

Bonus points for: Having a magnetic clasp on its box!