Thoughts on GAMA Trade Show 2011 - Mayfair

This last week we had the opportunity to attend out first board game trade show, the GAMA Trade Show.  We attended several classes, covering a range of subjects...some valuable, some not so much.  Personally, my favorite was one put on by Mayfair Games.

The class was part of their Demo 2 Demo program.  For 2 1/2 hours, Mayfair taught us how to demo 4 of their games.  In the process, we played each game for about 25 minutes and then moved on to the next game.  The best part is we also got a demo copy of each game to take home with us.  Of the 3 games, I had only played 1 of them before, so it was a good way to get introduced to some new games.  Here are my quick thoughts on the 4 games we learned about.

Catan Geographies: Germany

Think Settlers of Catan based in Germany.  The board is fixed, so you don't have a lot of setup.  Game play is similar to Catan, you roll dice, collect commodities, build roads or town halls or landmarks.  You keep track of victory points and the first one to 10 points (4 player game) or 12 points (3 player game) wins.  Since we only played 25 minutes, I cannot give a full review, but I liked the game and I have already ordered some copies to sell in our store.


Domaine


This is the game I had played previously and I still like it.  Basically you are trying to gain control of as much land as possible.  Some land is more valuable than others, like mines and forests.  Your score dynamically changes as you expand your "domaine".   On your turn you can sell action cards to get money, or you can play an action card.  The action card lets you place boundary markers, add knights, or expand your domain.  In 25 minutes, we each only got about 3 turns each, but I am anxious to play it again.

Lords of Vegas


Your are a developer in the early days of Vegas.  Your start out owning real estate that is used as a parking lot, which you earn money for at the beginning of each players turn.  You eventually want to replace the parking lots to casinos, to earn bigger money.  You can take over other player's casinos and try to be the next "Lord of Vegas".  This is probably the most complicated game of the 4 we played.  Again, since we only played for about 25 minutes, we weren't able to get too deep.  However, I plan to introduce this to some of my gaming friends and give it a go.

Weinhandler


The last game we played was Weihandler.  It was the simplest game demoed.  Weinhandler is a card game where each card represents a bottle of wine.  Each bottle has a brand of wine, a type of wine, and a point value on it.  The basic theme is you are a wine collector trying to build up the most valuable wine cellar.  You do this by participating in auctions.  Each auction has 4 bottles of wine in it.  You bid wine cards out of your hand and try to be the highest bidder.  However, this game has an interesting dynamic in it where the winning bidder gets the auction bottles, but the next highest bidder gets the cards the highest bidder bids....the 3rd highest bidder gets the cards the 2nd highest bidder bid, and so on.  The cards the lowest bidder bid becomes the start of the next auction.  This mechanic ended up being the most interesting part of the game.  Do I just go for the auction, or do I go for a certain player's bid cards.  This game is much deeper than it looks on the surface.  This is another one I will be carrying soon.

Final Thoughts

I really liked this Demo 2 Demo program and if I go to future events where it is offered, I will definitely attend again.  If I had known how good it was going to be, I would have attended the 2nd session that demoed 4 additional games.  Mayfair has got a winning idea here....

I have more to tell you about the trade show, so watch for an update in the next few days....

Games To Play When Camping

It's amazing how fast the summer has been going.  I just realized it has been several weeks since my last post...so here is a multi-game entry for your reading pleasure.

My family likes to go camping.  Every trip, we end up playing some games, and we have found that some games work better than others.  Here is a list of our favorites to play in the great outdoors.

Guillotine:

This irreverent and humorous card game takes place during the French Revolution. Players represent rival guillotine operators vying for the best collection of noble heads over 3 rounds.  Each round, 12 nobles are worth varying points, depending on their notoriety. During your turn, play action cards to change the order of the line so you can collect the best nobles.

This is a nice quick game and comes in a small box that makes it easy to throw in with the camping supplies.



Travel Blokus:

This is the 2-player version of the award-winning classic game Blokus.  Each player has a set of Tetris shaped plastic pieces that you must place on the game board.  Each piece placed must touch another one of your pieces, but only at a corner...you cannot place them in any other way.  Play continues until neither player can place any of their pieces.  Count the squares on your unplayed pieces and player with lowest score wins.

This is an addicting game...the loser almost always calls for a rematch.



Five Crowns:

Five Crowns is a card game for the whole family. It has original game play, but uses skills that you have obtained from playing your old favorites like hearts, spades and rummy. Because Five Crowns has five Royal Families - the Stars, the Clubs, the Hearts, the Spades and the Diamonds - yes, five suits in the old usage, it allows a more equal chance of making a book or a run, effectively giving each player more possibilities to readjust their hand so as to go out. Good players are able to take advantage of this and win more than an average number of games.
The play starts with three cards and 3s are wild; next hand has four cards and 4s are wild....working up to the last hand when Kings are wild. Each of the royal families is portrayed in original art and has its own colors. The Renaissance designs result in cards that are beautiful to hold in your hand and give a "collector" feel to the game. Five Crowns is a fast paced, ingenious new game in eleven rounds. 

This is a game we have played for years...I especially like it because it is one of the few games we have that I can regularly win against my wife...and that is a big deal. 





Quiddler:

Quiddler, is a beautiful word game with naturally smooth game play that plays fast. These are essentials for a successful game that few word games have. Using special cards, Quiddler draws on one's ability to combine letters into words. Players must combine their entire hand into words trying to use the highest point value letters. Quiddler challenges you to do this first with three cards (round one), then with four, on up to ten cards in the last round. A bonus is given for both the longest word, and the most words made by a player in each round. The average game takes 20-40 minutes. 

The great thing about Quiddler is players of all skills and ages can play.  The bonus points given for either longest work or most words levels the playing field for the Scrabble-Gods and the younger players.  Love this game!!



Here is a pack with Quiddler, Five Crowns, SET, and Xactika all togtehr for a greta low price:


Review:
All of these games are compact enough to pack in the camping supplies.  The whole family can enjoy them...especially since they are all very easy to learn.

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

Review - Tsuro: The Game Of The Path

Players: 2-8
Playing Time: 10 - 20 Minutes
Age: 8+
Suggested Retail: $29.99

Create your own journey with Tsuro, the Game of the Path.  Prevent your opponents from steering you in the wrong direction—or off the board! Tsuro is the quick-playing game in which directions can change as easily as the game plays.

The rules are simple: You place your stones, select your tiles, and attempt to build a safe Path for your journey. The Paths of other players cross and connect, so the choices you make affect all the journeys across the board. Stay on the right Path -- your journey begins here.

The Goal:

Be the last player with a marker on the board.

The Setup:

Each player chooses a marker stone, shuffle the tiles, and deal three tiles to each player.  Place remaining tiles in a draw pile.

The Play:

The game board is made up of a 6x6 grid where the game tiles are played.

First, each player chooses a starting point along the outside of the playing area on the board.  Each turn involes three steps:

1. Play A Tile - The player chooses a tile from his hand and plays it in the vacant space next to their marker
2. Move Markers - All players whose marker touches the newly played tiles moves their marker along the new path segment.
3. Draw a New Tile - Player draws a new tile from the draw pile.

As the game progresses the markers will move all over the board.  You are trying to place tiles that will force your opponent's markers off the board while keeping you marker on the board.  You are not allowed to play a tile that forces your own marker off the board, unless there is no other choice.

Game End:

When only one marker is left on the board, that player wins!


Review:

Tsuro is another fun, short game to play.  I think this is a very good filler game and I really like that it supports up to 8 players.  I tried a 2 player game and it went a little long before it got interesting towards the end of the game.  We also tried making the play area smaller (3x3 and 4x4) which was an interesting variation...the game is better with 4 or more players.

Considering this is the first published game from Calliope Games, it is a very pretty game.  I was surprised at the small touches that made opening the game fun.  The rules booklet is a tri-fold booklet that looks more like an invitation than a rules booklet. 

Overall, I give it a 8 out of 10...it will still be just a filler game, but it is a very good one.

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

Review - Zombie Dice

 

Players: 2+
Playing Time: 10 - 20 Minutes
Age: 10+
Suggested Retail: $13.13

Eat brains. Don't get shotgunned.

You are a zombie. You want braaains. More brains than any of your zombie buddies.

Zombie Dice is fast and easy for any zombie fan (or the whole zombie family). The 13 custom dice are your victims. Push your luck to eat their brains, but stop rolling before the shotgun blasts end your turn!


The Goal:

Eat more brains than your opponents!

The Setup:

Put the 13 dice in the cup and get paper to keep track of scores.

The Play:

The first player shakes the cup and then randomly takes 3 dice and rolls them.  Any die with a brain is kept to one side, shotgun blasts are kept to the other side.  If you decide to keep going, any die with footprints are keep to be rolled again.  When you decide to roll again, you randomly take more dice from the cup so you always roll 3 dice.  Once you take dice from the cup, you MUST roll them.

Brains are good, shotgun blasts are bad.  You want to get as many brains as you can while pressing your luck and avoid the shotgun blast...if you get 3 blasts, then your turn is over and you score NO points.  If you decide to stop, you score 1 point for each brain in front of you.

The dice come in 3 colors and they are not created equal.  Red dice are shotgun blast heavy...3 blasts, 2 footprints, and only 1 brain.  Yellow dice have 2 of each symbol.  Green dice are brain heavy...3 brains, 2 footprints, and only 1 blast.  But, remember you have to decide if you will press your luck before you know what dice you will have to roll.

Game End:

When 1 player has scored 13 or more brains, then the round is finished and the player with the most brains wins...it might not be the 1st one to 13 brains.


Review:

I like this game better than the Cthulhu Dice that I reviewed last time.  There is a bit of strategy needed for the press your luck aspect of the game.  I played with 3 players and the games took 10 minutes.

One negative, the dice cup is a cardboard tube with a label stuck on it and plastic end stuck in the tube.  If you have a vigorous shaker, the bottom will fall out.  Easily fixed with some glue.  The label also takes a beating fairly quickly.

Overall, it was quite fun, but it is still just a filler game...which is really what it is intended to be.  Overall, I give it a 7 out of 10. 

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

Review - Cthulhu Dice

 

Players: 2 - 6
Playing Time: 5 - 10 Minutes
Age: 8+
Suggested Retail: $4.99

Serving Cthulhu is fun . . . except for all those other cultists out to get you. So get them first!
Cthulhu Dice lets you drive your rivals mad . . . very, very quickly. Players take turns rolling the big, beautiful, custom 12-sided die, embossed with tentacles, Elder Signs, and more. Destroy your opponents' sanity! Better yet, steal it. But watch out for Cthulhu – when he comes up, he takes sanity from everyone! 18 glass Sanity marbles are included. Lose all your marbles and you're mad. 

The last sane cultist wins . . . unless everyone goes mad together. Then Cthulhu wins!


The Goal:

Be the only play that has not lost their marbles!

The Setup:

Give each cultist (player) 3 of the sanity marbles.

The Play:

The first player chooses a target player and rolls the die.  The proper action is taken.  The targeted player gets to roll a counter attack and the proper action is taken.  The player to the attacker's left goes next and chooses a target

Based on the symbol rolled, these are the possible actions:

• Yellow Sign (squiggly symbol) - Target loses 1 Sanity to Cthulhu (put a marble in the center of the table)
• Tentacle - Target Loses 1 sanity to attacking player...whether or not the attacker or the target is rolling.  The tentacle is bad for the target ALWAYS.
• Elder Sign (The Star) - Take 1 sanity from Cthulhu, if one is available (take a marble from the center of the table)
• Cthulhu - Everyone loses a sanity marble to Cthulhu
• Eye - Roller chooses which action to take.

If you lose all your sanity marbles, you go mad...but you are not out of the game.  You cannot be attacked, but you can attack.  You might get lucky and roll the Elder Sign and get sanity back from Cthulhu, but you cannot get sanity back from another player by rolling a Tentacle...that sanity goes to Cthulhu instead.

Game End:

When only 1 player has sanity marbles left, the game is over and that player wins...unless all players have gone mad, then Cthulhu wins!


Review:

This is not a deep game...it is COMPLETELY luck based.  I played it with 2 players, which was not much fun...there was too much thinking about what kind of roll is being taken.  "This is my counter attack to your attack"  then "Now I am attacking".  We did however, try the Rival Cults varient where each of us played 3 Cultists.  That was a much more interesting game...seems like more players is better.

There are several color options for the die, which makes it collectable if you are into collecting dice.  The components are nice an compact, they give you a plastic Ziploc bag to keep everything together.

Overall, it was fun, but I don't think this will ever be more than a filler game...which is really what it is intended to be.  It is a good way to spend some time if you are waiting for a spot to open at a gaming table.  Overall, I would give Cthulhu Dice a 6 out of 10.

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

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.