Review - Ohanami

 

Players: 2 - 4
Playing Time: 20 Minutes
Age: 8+

According to a quick Google search, Ohanami (Hanami) (花見, "flower viewing") is the Japanese traditional custom of enjoying the transient beauty of flowers.

In the game Ohanami, player try to grow the best garden! 

Cherry blossom season is about the blanket zen gardens with their resplendent wonder. Water, vegetation, stones, and sakura trees must be placed in perfect harmony in order to become a Master Gardener. 

Designed by the Spiel des Jahres nominated designer of The Game, Ohanami is a relaxing and competitive drafting game where players grow their gardens season after season.

The Goal:

Score the most points by building the best garden.

The Setup:

Shuffle the deck of cards numbered 1 to 120.  Deal 10 cards to each player.  Remaining cards will be used in future rounds.

The Play:

Each player looks at the 10 cards in their hand and chooses 2 cards.  Players pass the remaining cards to the next player face down.   Players must then play both cards either in their garden or by discarding.  

Players can have up to 3 columns of cards that represent their garden. To play on a garden, the card must have a higher value than the highest card in a column or be lower than the lowest number in a column.  If you cannot or choose not to play either of the cards, you may discard them face down.

After all players have played their cards, repeat choosing, passing and playing until card cards have been played (each player will have played/discarded 10 cards).  The round ends and you calculate your score for the round.

Round 1:  Only blue cards (3 points each) are scored.  

Round 2:  Only blue cards (3 points each) and green cards (4 points each) are scored.  

Round 3: All cards are scored...blue (3 points each), green (4 points each), gray (7 points each) and pink (sliding number of points based on how many pink cards you have in your garden.

You can read the complete rules here.

Review:

Fans of The Game will love Ohanami.  There are a lot of the same gameplay elements between the games, specifically making columns of cards in ascending/descending order.    We played it with both 2 and 4 players and it worked well with both, but we preferred 4 players because all 120 cards would be used.  With 2 players, only 60 of the cards are seen.

Overall, we give Ohanami an 8 out of 10.  It is a nice, fast game.  Would be a great filler game on game night  You can pick up a copy of Ohanami in our eBay Store or in our new web store at www.howlingfun.games. 
 
You can follow us on Twitter @HowlingFunGames and on Facebook.  

Review - "The Game": Are You Ready To Play?

The Game

Players: 1-5
Playing Time: 20 Minutes
Age: 8+
Suggested Retail: $19.99

Can you beat "The Game"?  Working together, players play cards from their hand to any of the 4 piles.  But be careful!  You might just mess up another player!  The Game is the 2015 winner of the Spiel Des Jahres.

The Goal:

Work together to play all the cards.

The Setup:

Shuffle the deck of cards numbered 2 to 98.  Create 4 piles, to ascending piles starting with the two "1" cards and two descending piles starting with the "100" cards.  Deal cards to each player.

The Play:

Each player MUST play at least 2 cards from their hand in any of the 4 piles.  Each card played must following the ascending or descending type of pile, with one important exception, if you can play a card that is EXACTLY 10 different than the card currently on the top of the pile, you can back the pile up.  This becomes a huge part of the game.  After playing, draw cards from the draw deck back up to your hand size.

When the draw deck is gone then players are only required to play 1 card from their hand.

During play, player may communicate, but they may not discuss specific card values.  For example, a player could say "I REALLY like that pile, please do not play on it."  However, the player could not say "I have the 28 and 29, please do not play on the pile."

Game End:

When the last card is played the players win.  If any cards cannot be played, then the game wins.

Review:

"The Game" is a fun, fast card game.  I was a bit surprised how hard it is to actually beat "The Game" without cheating on the communication rules.  It is really easy to say things you shouldn't.  We've played "The Game" with 2, 3, and 4 players and it works well with all these group sizes.

The only negative thing about "The Game" is it is next to impossible to find anything about it online.  Just try Googling "The Game Rules" and just try to find out anything about "The Game".  However, it is definitely worth searching out!

Overall, I give "The Game" a 7 out of 10.  This is not a game hard-core gamers will play more than a time or two, but fans of lighter games will love it!.  "The Game" is a game fans of Five Crowns, Quiddler, and TENZI would probaly love!

You can buy "The Game" in our eBayStore (www.howlingfungames.com) or by contacting us directly.


 
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Review - Blink - The World's Fastest Card Game

Players: 2
Playing Time: Less than 2 minutes
Age: 7+
Suggested Retail: $5.99

In this lightning-quick game, two players use sharp eyes and fast hands to match the shape, count, or color of their cards. The first player out of cards wins the game!



The Goal:

Be the first player to play all your cards.

The Setup:

Shuffle the cards and deal 30 cards face-down to each player. Each player takes the top card from their stack and places it face-down in the play area.  Each player then draws the top three cards to form their hand.

The Play:

At the same time, the players flip over their card in the play area and the game begins...

Players are allowed to play a card from their hand on either pile.  The card they play MUST match one of the attributes on the card: Shape, Color, or Count.  For example, an card with three red stars can be played on a card with stars on it, or a card with any red shape on it, or a card with any three symbols on it.  You can see some examples of this in the picture above.

Once a card has been played, the player draws another card from their draw deck to bring their hand back to three cards.

If neither player can play a card from their hand, then they each flip over the next card in their draw pile and play continues.

Game End:

First person to play all the cards in their draw deck is the winner!


Review:

Blink is one of my favorite fast play games....if you like War, you'll love Blink.  Blink is truly as fast as a game can get...my personal best is 27 seconds to get through the deck...can you beat it?

When I was A Boy Scout Leader, the scouts LOVED to play this game...in fact, I've yet to meet a kid (and most adults) who don't love this game.

I do have one minor gripe about Blink.  It was originally published by Out Of The Box Games and it came in a neat tin box, perfect for throwing in your travel bag or 72-hour kit.  The latest version from Mattel comes in a regular, plain, boring cardboard box...a step in the wrong direction in my opinion.  Even so, Blink gets a 9 out of 10 rating from me.

You can buy Blink in our eBay store (www.howlingfungames.com) or in our Amazon Store or by contacting us directly.

Review - S'Quarrels - A Game Of Absolute Nuts!

Players: 2-6
Playing Time: 20+ Minutes
Age: 7+
Suggested Retail: $12.95

Under a nearby oak tree, embark upon the rigorous task of collecting and storing acorns efore winter sets in.  Your opponents are trying to take them all before you do.  Whirlwinds, Ambushing, Quarreling, and Hoarding are all part of the fun.  Get the coveted Golden Acorn, but watch out for the dreaded Rotten Acorn.  The more Acorns you get, the better chance you have of surviving Winter!  The player to store the most Acorns before Winter arrives WINS! 

I was introduced to S'Quarrels shortly before Christmas and I also got a chance to play S'Quarrels at the recent SaltCON game convention.  We had 6 players, including the game inventor. After a brief introduction to the game, we got to playing.

The Goal:

To Store the most Acorns before WINTER hits. Players select a predetermined score (such as 50) to play to. After playing multiple rounds, the first player to reach the determined number wins the game!

The Setup:

Shuffle the cards and deal 7 cards to each player.  Each player discards any Action cards and draws cards to get their hand back to 7 cards...in other words, your hand starts with NO action cards.

The Play:

The play is easy...draw, store, discard.

Draw - The player MUST draw at least one card and can choose to draw as many cards as they need to get to a maximum of 7 cards in their hand.  If an action card is drawn, it must be resolved immediately...the different action cards are:

• QUARREL
  ALL players select a card from their hand, and at the same time turn their cards over. The highest card wins all the cards. 
• HOARD
  All other players race to smack the ‘Hoard Pile.’ First one to have their hand on top of the deck wins! The WINNER takes the entire hoard pile and play continues from the winner immediately. 
• AMBUSH
  Player randomly takes one card from each player’s hand then stores and discards.\
• WHIRLWIND
  Collect ALL players hands, shuffle them together, and then deal the cards out to everyone starting with the player that drew this card and going clockwise. 
• WINTER
  This card ends the round...time to count up your points.

Store - The player may store any Acorn Cards in their hand, but they must be stored in groups of three...for example, there must be 3 cards showing 1 Acorn.  Once a player starts storing, they CANNOT draw any more cards.

Discard - After they are done storing Acorn Cards, they MUST discard an Acorn Card face-down to the Hoard Pile.


Round End and Scoring:

When the Winter Card is drawn, the round ends and each player counts up their score.  Each set of three cards count for their face value...for example, 3 Acorn Cards with 4 acorns on each counts as 4 points.  There are also 2 special Acorn Cards, The Golden Acorn and The Rotten Acorn.  If you end up with the Golden Acorn, you score +5 points.  If you end up with the Rotten Acorn, your score -5 points.


Keep track of the points scored and play as many rounds as it takes to get to the goal score.

Review:

S'Quarrels is a fun and very simple card game.  It is easy to understand and easy to teach to new players.  I really like the randomness of the end of the round...after all, you never really know when Winter is going to hit.  The theme is fun and kids seems to love it.  It is a great game for younger kids, but older kids will enjoy it as well...overall, it is a great game for the whole family!  I give S'Quarrels an 8 out of 10.

You can buy S'Quarrles in our eBay store (www.howlingfungames.com) or in our Amazon Store or by contacting me directly.

Review - Spies & Spooks: Cold War Edition

Players: 2-6
Playing Time: 10 - 25 Minutes
Age: 10+
Suggested Retail: $24.95


Set in the early 1980’s, Spies&Spooks™ is a deliberately paced, conversational role-playing card game of international strategy and intrigue. The colorful cards bring to life the players, the methods, the dangers and the madness associated with spy craft… involving you in the Great Game.

As a player you assume one of eight Secret Identities, moving in a world of unknown opponents. Your Secret Mission, decoded before your eyes, is to obtain and smuggle assigned Secrets out of each round.

Here is your chance to experience the life of a Secret Agent! With a bit of luck, a well-laid plan and some clever deception you may even survive to win the game by being the first spy to complete his Secret Mission. Never the same twice Spies&Spooks is a game that you’ll want to play over and over again.

I got a chance to play Spies And Spooks at the recent SaltCON game convention.  We had 6 players, including the game inventor and illustrator. After a brief introduction to the game, we got to playing.

The Goal:

Earn the most money by completing spy missions.

The Setup:

Each player is given a secret spy identity and a secret mission. The mission cards are "encoded" with red and blue text, so you have to put them in your passport that has a blue filter on it so you mission is revealed.

The Play:

Missions are completed by smuggling out "Secret" cards (i.e. Trade Secret, Political Secret, Computer Secret, etc). Each mission is also worth a dollar amount...the harder the mission, the more it is worth. You smuggle a Secret by playing it in front of you with some form of Smuggle Card (Dead Drop, Transmission, Diplomatic Pouch). When you complete a mission, you turn in the completed mission and your identity for new ones.

There are cards that allow your opponents to steals cards from your hand or from your smuggled secrets. This can help you thwart opponents from completing their mission.

There are also a few ways to kill an opponent...daggers and bombs. Daggers are a direct attack that requires 2 daggers for male spies and one dagger for female spies. Bombs are more sneaky, you can hide them under smuggle cards waiting to be stolen by an unlucky player or players can draw them out of your hand...either way, they are blown up. When a player dies, they hand over their cards to the assassin who gets to pick what cards they want to keep. The eliminated player will get a new identity and mission at the beginning of their next turn.

Game End and Scoring:

The game continues until 3 missions have been completed. The player with the most $ earned wins.

Review:

Overall, it is a fun game. It definitely has expansion opportunities with new missions and spy identities being able to be added...in fact, the designer is already working some out. Our game lasted longer than most, about 60 minutes. We had a bit of a cut-throat group, so killing happened more frequently than completing missions. The designer told us that a game would normally last 30 minutes.  I give Spies & Spooks an 8 out of 10.

You can buy Spies & Spooks in our eBay store (www.howlingfungames.com) or in our Amazon Store or by contacting me directly.

Review - Nay Jay!

Players: 1-3 (base game) and add expansions to have up to 6 players
Playing Time: 20 Minutes
Age: 8+ (younger players are possible...fairly easy concept to grasp)
Suggested Retail: $19.99 for base game and $9.99 for expansion

Nay Jay! is a new card game from a new game company located in my hometown of Springville, Utah - Brand New Games.  Nay Jay! is a FAST card game that combines elements of Nertz, Speed, and Ligretto (aka Dutch Blitz).  I recently had the opportunity to play Nay Jay! at SaltCON, a small gaming convention in Salt Lake City.

The Goal:

Play more cards than any other player.

The Setup:

Each player has a deck of 63 cards, numbered 1 to 10, each with a different color back.  Start the game by shuffling your deck and dealing 20 cards face down in a pile.  Flip 1 more card face up on top of this pile.  This pile becomes your draw pile.  Then deal 4 more cards face up in a row so you have 5 cards face up.  The remaining cards are your flip pile.

The Play:

The game starts any 1 cards that are visible get moved to the center of the table.  Any time you remove one of the face up cards in the row in front of you, take the top card from the draw pile to replace it and flip over the top card on the draw pile to replace it. You then play cards on any pile that is one higher or one lower than the card that is currently showing on the pile...but it MUST be the same color  For example, if a yellow 2 is showing on a pile, y ou can play a yellow one or yellow 3 on it.  If you cannot play from the row of cards in front of you, then start flipping cards from your flip pile one at a time, playing any card that is on top...no digging through your flip pile.


Round End and Scoring:

When a player plays all 21 cards from their draw pile, the round ends.  All players sort through the cards played in the center of the table and counts how many cards of their color were played.  Cards played score 1 point each and any cards left in your draw pile scores -2 points each.  Play 6 rounds and person with highest score wins!


Review:

I really enjoy fast card games - Blink, Qwitch, Speed, etc.  I really like this game.  I have not played Ligretto yet, so I cannot compare the two.  It is not a deep game, but it is easy to play and teach.  There were a couple of kids that stayed at the table all day...it appeared to be their favorite.  I give this one 7 out of 10.  I liked enough to place an order on the spot for my eBay store.

You can buy Nay Jay! in my eBay store (www.howlingfungames.com) or in our Amazon Store or by contacting me directly.