tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9278220037877770192024-03-18T12:04:43.340-07:00Board Game BarkerCheck out the updated version of the site here: www.boardgamebarker.comtodd barkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02371040733053627914noreply@blogger.comBlogger82125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-927822003787777019.post-73836365484765922342023-05-16T11:10:00.000-07:002023-05-16T20:42:56.075-07:00Three Little Pigs<blockquote class="tr_bq">
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The Three Little Pigs is the first in a series of Tales and Games from iello. With a recommended age of 7+ ,The Three Little Pigs looks like it is just a Children's game but after playing I found it scratches the dice gaming itch nice and quickly. Three Little Pigs sits 2 - 5 players and takes only 10-20 minutes to play even with the included Advanced Rules..<br />
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Objective:<br />
Players roll dice and attempt to get enough of the same icons to construct a sections and eventually build a house solid enough to protect them from the Big Bad Wolf. Your goal in The Three Little Pigs is to have the house or houses worth the most points by the time three piles of building sections run out.<br />
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How to Play<br />
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On your turn you get to roll all 5 dice, 3 times. After each roll you are allowed to set aside any number of dice to keep or to stop rolling and use your results.<br />
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The icons determine which section you are allowed to take; Roof, Window or Door. The number of dice showing that icon determine which material that section is made out of; Straw, Wood, Brick. The building sections also shows 1 pig icon for each face up die result needed to purchase them.<br />
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You can only buy 1 section per turn and you do not have to use all of your dice.<br />
Lastly houses without roofs are not worth any points.<br />
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Too easy? Here's the catch.<br />
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If at any point in time you roll 2 Wolf Icons then you must stop rolling and perform the Big Bad Wolf action.<br />
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Scoring<br />
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Scoring is pretty straight forward, even with the advanced rules so I will include them as well.<br />
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1 point for each pig icon displayed on your house sections.<br />
1 point for each flower pot displayed on your house sections.<br />
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Advanced Rules:<br />
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My Thoughts:<br />
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With the advanced rules there is more than just a kids game here and we actually had a few games end really quickly because someone thought it was so easy that they forgot about the ending conditions and didnt have any roofs on their houses. Despite the simple rules and heavy influence of luck, The Three Little Pigs manages to stay fun when playing with both young children (4yr old) and adults. After our first few play throughs I thought 2 Wolf icons did not get rolled nearly enough but after playing more I realized this was just the luck we were having and 2 wolf icons show up just the right amount of times. My only criticism is that as you add more players you end up waiting longer for your turn and there is nothing to really keep you engaged other than if someone happens to roll wolfs. Playing The Three Little Pigs has gotten me excited to check out more of the Tales and Games series from iello and try them with my family.<br />
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Who Would Enjoy The Three Little Pigs?<br />
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Family Gamers: Adjustable rules that make the game harder or easier, easy to learn rules, and colourful dice help make The Three Little Pigs a great family game but really it is pretending to be the big bad wolf that kids are going to love.<br />
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Casual Gamers: If you do not own a dice game yet Three Little Pigs might be right for you. If you ever play with family, younger kids, or non gamers the theme might be appealing. I swear there is a golden drinking game hidden in here, will update once I have the rules straight. Since Three Little Pigs has virtually no setup time and takes only 10 - 20 minutes to play I think it fits nicely in a casual gamer's collections.<br />
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<br />todd barkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02371040733053627914noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-927822003787777019.post-49246914675810977682023-05-06T13:41:00.000-07:002023-05-16T20:43:51.236-07:00Diamonsters<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
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<span style="background: white; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 160%;">Diamonsters is a trick taking card game
with Hand Management, Set Collection and Simultaneous Action Selection for 2-6
Players. Diamonsters is a light game that is played over multiple rounds and
takes 15-20 minutes to play. The rules take only a couple minutes to learn so
it makes an excellent warm up, introduction game, or family game. In my review
I will quickly cover how to play and then dive into how the game scales and
changes from 2-6 players. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-nwkRKyT_7vU/VvRMY6-jgLI/AAAAAAAAE5U/rD209Wk3NbkGuM-T9szSPRhAtb4jfbifw/s1600/diamonsters%2Bbox%2Bcandid.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Diamonsters Card Game IDW Games" border="0" height="300" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-nwkRKyT_7vU/VvRMY6-jgLI/AAAAAAAAE5U/rD209Wk3NbkGuM-T9szSPRhAtb4jfbifw/s400/diamonsters%2Bbox%2Bcandid.jpg" title="Diamonsters Card Game IDW Games" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-weight: normal;">Setup:</span></h2>
<span style="background: white; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Deal each player a
set of 1 of each card. (1-5)</span><br />
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_Ck0eiMeT8o/VvQbACDK_vI/AAAAAAAAE3M/o4RG35Dp-jEMkZhwRgq5cMzH8D2Y43Xrg/s1600/20160325_043902.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_Ck0eiMeT8o/VvQbACDK_vI/AAAAAAAAE3M/o4RG35Dp-jEMkZhwRgq5cMzH8D2Y43Xrg/s400/20160325_043902.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 160%;">Shuffle the remaining cards, form a central
draw pile, and turn the top card face up in the center of the table. </span><br />
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<span style="background: white; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 160%;">Place the pile of blue diamonds next to the draw
pile.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">How to Play:</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 160%;">Every round lasts until a player collects
monsters with a total of 5 Diamonds on their cards or 3 monsters of any kind.
The first player to do so gets to take 1 blue Diamond. </span><br />
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<span style="background: white; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 160%;">1. Each player selects a card from his or her
hand that they are going to play but does not show what the card is.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-6DmGxqHgzVg/VvQbBiBkS5I/AAAAAAAAE3M/mVDIRFVsHWwtgBXAiSqQVcSr0oXuj5ztA/s1600/20160325_043955.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-6DmGxqHgzVg/VvQbBiBkS5I/AAAAAAAAE3M/mVDIRFVsHWwtgBXAiSqQVcSr0oXuj5ztA/s400/20160325_043955.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="background: white; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 160%;">2. Once all players have chosen, everyone
reveals their card at the same time and you see who wins the card in the center
of the table.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mIfARxu5wOc/VvQbBrNFYpI/AAAAAAAAE3U/jKp6wmxEiawHFSdGlMncSp8reOrsLb1Dg/s1600/20160325_044005.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mIfARxu5wOc/VvQbBrNFYpI/AAAAAAAAE3U/jKp6wmxEiawHFSdGlMncSp8reOrsLb1Dg/s400/20160325_044005.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="background: white; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 160%;">3. a) Any players who played the same card must
return their card to their hand.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 160%;"> b) The player with the highest
value card remaining wins the face up card.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 160%;"> c) All other players return their
cards to their hands.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 160%;">4. The winner takes the prize card and the card
they used to win the prize and adds them both to their score pile. </span></div>
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-6Ys4fEHbKv8/VvQbCatlGII/AAAAAAAAE3M/5RBXAY-Qnacnb4D6Q_KSvhAD14huLTFKw/s1600/20160325_044022.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-6Ys4fEHbKv8/VvQbCatlGII/AAAAAAAAE3M/5RBXAY-Qnacnb4D6Q_KSvhAD14huLTFKw/s400/20160325_044022.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Winning the Game:</span><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 160%; margin-bottom: 18.0pt;">
<span style="background: white; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 160%;">When a player has 3 of a kind or 5 diamond
symbols showing on the cards in their scoring pile they win the round and gain
a blue Diamond.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 160%;">The first player to collect 3 blue
Diamonds wins the game.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-YwWPLxpIPDA/VvRMQG3ny6I/AAAAAAAAE5M/BzbzjU96PBMcsYnp93Y3WR4GMghuSzMsA/s1600/how%2Bto%2Bplay%2B6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-YwWPLxpIPDA/VvRMQG3ny6I/AAAAAAAAE5M/BzbzjU96PBMcsYnp93Y3WR4GMghuSzMsA/s400/how%2Bto%2Bplay%2B6.jpg" width="400" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFEhHGr93i1qhSygGNLwgur_rD5BRH8j08x1uTkR5VZUszmB2dN8rjMvrYRwdqd_xuVsfdGfnWvddHkfzeHQ82OcLE5ip2NyX199wIAfvDohsV69eGS3wYYW1vOKQzjpngIbnEL4dBLvM/s1600/diamonsters+diamond.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFEhHGr93i1qhSygGNLwgur_rD5BRH8j08x1uTkR5VZUszmB2dN8rjMvrYRwdqd_xuVsfdGfnWvddHkfzeHQ82OcLE5ip2NyX199wIAfvDohsV69eGS3wYYW1vOKQzjpngIbnEL4dBLvM/s320/diamonsters+diamond.jpg" width="180" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">How does it scale?</span><br />
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<b><span style="background: white; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 160%;">2
Players </span></b><span style="background: white; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 160%;">- Sure you can play
Diamonsters 2 player the same way you would with more players but I prefer to
play differently. With just 1 opponent you can use deduction to try and figure
out what card they are going to play. Pay attention to what card they usually try
to win each monster with. For example, when a number 4 is the card up for
grabs, you might try to win it with another 4 to already be on your way to
scoring three of a kind. Because you both start with the exact same cards, I
find there to be very little luck when playing Diamonsters with just 2 players
and because the rules are simple, you end up playing your opponent more than
the game.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="background: white; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 160%;">3/4 Players</span></b><span style="background: white; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 160%;">: This is the sweet spot where Diamonsters works
best. It's a good medium between the 2 player game and the 5/6 player game.
With 3 or 4 players, Diamonsters becomes a little more luck based than with 2
because it's hard to play multiple opponents at once. The mechanics work great
with 3 or 4 players and I usually manage to at least get 1 diamond. This is the
format where Tiny number 1 was able to have the most success. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="background: white; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 160%;">5/6 Players</span></b><span style="background: white; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 160%;"> - Expect a lot more taking your card back into your
hand, which in my opinion is a bit of a bad design. There is a whole pile of
cards available that you could draw a fresh one and looking at / using the
exact same hand of cards repeatedly gets boring fast. That being said, it makes
for a slightly different game play than with other number of players where you
are pretty much trying to play the card that no one else does instead of the
highest value card. Tiny was pretty useless because everyone usually assumed
someone would play a 5 so they never did - or there would be multiple 5's that
would cancel each other out and then you would have the lowest value card. This
makes the game slightly more challenging than with 3/4 players albeit slightly
frustrating. What is missing is the sense of accomplishment, it's disheartening
having 0 Diamonds when someone else already wins the game. The beauty of
Diamonsters with 5/6 players compared to other 5/6 player games is that because
if the simultaneous action selection, it doesn't take any longer until it
becomes your turn - which keeps you engaged even in a bigger group. Also, it
does not really take any longer with more players. Hypothetically it could if
every player got 2 Diamonds, but we never encountered that once, usually there
is at least 1 player with 0. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br />todd barkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02371040733053627914noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-927822003787777019.post-45122981419814915602023-04-28T08:27:00.000-07:002023-05-16T20:44:32.984-07:00New Haven<blockquote class="tr_bq">
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New Haven is a City Building and Tile Placement game from R&R Games for 2-4 players. The gameplay is fairly simple but keeps you engaged even on opponents turns and is lots of fun. By the end of the game I am always left with a strong sense of accomplishment and a desire to play again. One of my favourite parts of New Haven is how you feel like you can always improve your game / score. Despite the simple rule set I have found New Haven surprisingly hard to teach to new players but once everyone has the game down it uses a great mix of both tactics and strategy. My group has really been enjoying New Haven and I cant wait to get into the review so please continue reading for how to play and my thoughts.<br />
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-UyFDn80P8T8/Vuq7vvSgiCI/AAAAAAAAEzs/zx7bf1AlhTouOj90Lp-u374SFcqhrh2Zw/s1600/new%2Bhaven%2Bboard%2Bgame%2Band%2Bcomponents.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="321" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-UyFDn80P8T8/Vuq7vvSgiCI/AAAAAAAAEzs/zx7bf1AlhTouOj90Lp-u374SFcqhrh2Zw/s400/new%2Bhaven%2Bboard%2Bgame%2Band%2Bcomponents.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><u><br /></u></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><u>Objective:</u></span><br />
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Your objective in New Haven is to develop a settlement worth as many points as possible. Completing individual buildings are not worth any points, in order to score you will have to fill either entire columns or rows of your <i>Land Plot</i> with various buildings. There is a way to score double points on these rows or columns, but for the purpose of understanding the rules I will explain this at the very end when I cover final scoring.<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><u><br /></u></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><u>How to Play:</u></span><br />
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On every turn a player will perform the following actions:<br />
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1. Place one of your tiles on the board<br />
2. Collect the appropriate resources corresponding with the tile and where you placed it<br />
3. Spend those resources on building tiles<br />
4. Give other players a chance to use your left over resources<br />
5. Place Building Tiles on <i>Land Plot</i> while other players are using your leftovers<br />
6. After every player has had a chance at the leftover resources, replenish the available buildings and your resource tile<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><u>Resources and Placing Your Tiles:</u></span><br />
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<b>You use resources to building the buildings from the 6 available buildings you were given at the start of the game, at the end of a turn you will always replenish to 6.</b><br />
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When you place a tile it always gives you the 4 resources pictures on it, but it also rewards any resources that are connected from the tile you are actually placing. They have to be touching but the trail can go on as long as that resource is connected and your 1 sheep could suddenly be 15 sheep. Now keep in mind that any resources you don't use will be given away in turn order to your opponents. That means your goal should always be to get as close to the number of resources you need as possible.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-JfSCFAPAYUk/Vuq1VBQGYRI/AAAAAAAAExc/Tl3iBI3c6WMjdp6OdOLmDlOJMVS4Ao1-Q/s1600/new%2Bhaven%2Bresources%2Bpicture%2B1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="281" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-JfSCFAPAYUk/Vuq1VBQGYRI/AAAAAAAAExc/Tl3iBI3c6WMjdp6OdOLmDlOJMVS4Ao1-Q/s400/new%2Bhaven%2Bresources%2Bpicture%2B1.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Playing the tile on the right with 2 Stone and 2 Wheat would give you enough to purchase the 4 What building. You would then have 2 Stone leftover to either use or pass long to the next player.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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When placing a tile on the board there are no restrictions, meaning it does not have to touch previously laid tiles, there are no holes that cannot be filled because if no icons match up then the tile is simply worth its basic 4 resources.<br />
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You always have an option of two tiles to choose from but you also have one face down resource tile. This is your shipment from the mother country, they are going to send you 4 of any 1 type of resource that you choose. To use this tile treat it as any other tile, just imagine that all 4 resources are the tile of your choice, chaining them to resources already on the map works as normal. After using the resources simply turn the tile the resource side up and other players treat it as a regular tile.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_I1Vra1Y4nbP2O9ScR0R94bkspct59re2DXzSu3CtgXoGX0AUip2aagQYRo_Hwwhd0PM6t11oin4qCNQylYZLxRDnlKcsqtMSWG-4sC5j0P7Tgj2lc7aOuhCsDgp3WVymD_yCbZ3Lvm8/s1600/new+haven+board+game+resources+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="230" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_I1Vra1Y4nbP2O9ScR0R94bkspct59re2DXzSu3CtgXoGX0AUip2aagQYRo_Hwwhd0PM6t11oin4qCNQylYZLxRDnlKcsqtMSWG-4sC5j0P7Tgj2lc7aOuhCsDgp3WVymD_yCbZ3Lvm8/s400/new+haven+board+game+resources+2.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">1 Home Shipment, 2 Resource and 6 Building Tiles behind Player Screen</td></tr>
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<u><span style="font-size: large;">Constructing Buildings:</span></u><br />
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Players will begin the game with 6 building tiles and a plot of land with 36 available spots. Each building tile has a number on one side and comes in one of four colours / suits. The colours determine what type of resource you will spend to construct the building and the number tells you how many of that resource it costs. Once you have paid the cost for a building you get to place it on your <i>Land Plot</i>, see below.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHTAumdfr9Yrman5AaQyY1Fo07LNSlDCJuxf9zGxcI_o9q40mdbkc21KsE1gx_-cSpCE8INhxhBTj_svXThplJYfA6oiabGfcR4OBHc4dirAvyJ9CaDggpEi7Wg0tQjwWuS4yEEGEZPJw/s1600/new+haven+board+game+building+tiles.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="358" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHTAumdfr9Yrman5AaQyY1Fo07LNSlDCJuxf9zGxcI_o9q40mdbkc21KsE1gx_-cSpCE8INhxhBTj_svXThplJYfA6oiabGfcR4OBHc4dirAvyJ9CaDggpEi7Wg0tQjwWuS4yEEGEZPJw/s640/new+haven+board+game+building+tiles.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">6 Available Buildings To Choose From: Players Replenish At the End of Their Turns</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<u style="font-size: x-large;">Placing Buildings:</u><br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhb3CWR4HyAxdHd5v9xdVT0diEbf-k7QCV3v_2-IoQxsBfYTkJgI22KoVPt9aNBfuJI54Kuls39bfXRN9YBAUGfj_JJbW9VGpmMcMkHyZMmNWUgiXeEOKbPAVW_Qk6vnuXwXywpkH79634/s1600/new+haven+board+game+player+land+plot+stratford.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhb3CWR4HyAxdHd5v9xdVT0diEbf-k7QCV3v_2-IoQxsBfYTkJgI22KoVPt9aNBfuJI54Kuls39bfXRN9YBAUGfj_JJbW9VGpmMcMkHyZMmNWUgiXeEOKbPAVW_Qk6vnuXwXywpkH79634/s400/new+haven+board+game+player+land+plot+stratford.jpg" width="328" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Each Building must touch adjacent buildings of the same colour.<br />
In this example, double points would be awarded for Row # 3 (6pts)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
When placing a building the only restriction is that <b>if the colour building already exists on your land plot then you must place future buildings of that colour adjacent to the already existing buildings</b>. After paying the cost of appropriate resources, turn your building tile so the number is face down and place it wherever you want (keeping in mind the restriction of adjacent colours).<br />
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Now looking at the pictures of the land plots you may have seen that your 36 spaces all have numbers on them, and that these numbers correspond with the numbers on the building tiles. This is not a strange coincidence but rather a way to score double points. After paying the resources indicated on a building tile you can place it number side face up on any spot on your land plot that has a matching number. When placing buildings face up, you still have to follow the adjacent colour rule.<br />
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<u><span style="font-size: large;">Scoring Your Landplot:</span></u><br />
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At the edges of your landplot each row and column has a number of people ranging from 1-6. This indicates how much that row is worth, and it is only worth points if the entire row is completed. This means a full row of all the 6s at the top being covered is worth 6 points, not 36. Now if you managed to get every single building in a row or column placed number side face up then the row / column is worth double points. So far the most I have managed to get double is 1 row and 1 column in the same game. See below for scoring example.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-PEmaPsMDuTU/Vuq66klVZnI/AAAAAAAAEzg/jeY2UYUX3Q8NgKFYQtab0_6RUgBOPCb9g/s1600/new%2Bhaven%2Bboard%2Bgame%2Bplayer%2Bland%2Bplot%2Bstratford%2B2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-PEmaPsMDuTU/Vuq66klVZnI/AAAAAAAAEzg/jeY2UYUX3Q8NgKFYQtab0_6RUgBOPCb9g/s400/new%2Bhaven%2Bboard%2Bgame%2Bplayer%2Bland%2Bplot%2Bstratford%2B2.jpg" width="322" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Players score points only for completed rows or columns.<br />
Points are indicated by the number of people shown at the end<br />
of each row or coloumn. Double points would be awarded for row 3.<br />
The total score for this Land Plot would be 5+6 = 11.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<u><span style="font-size: large;">My Thoughts:</span></u><br />
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I really enjoy New Haven but I feel like it could have been much cooler. I am so tired of seeing wheat, wood, sheep and ore as resources and with the abstract gameplay you could really use any 4 icons / resources. This could be a game about colonizing space, or building a sanctuary for endangered species, or basic shapes or colonizing space or anything but wood sheep and ore. That being said New Haven has been hit our table approximately every other day for the first 3 weeks, its one of the first games I have purchased in a while that has really clicked with my group to the point where everyone has asked to play it at least once now. This was 3 months ago and we have still played at least once a week since.<br />
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I really enjoy how you place the resource tiles work mechanically and I love the fact that you get that once per game power move; the home shipment. I think that is a really cool mechanic to be in a game and would love to check out more games that give players a once per game power move. I like how you are never really out of the game and even when players have thought they got stomped, they turned out to lose by only a small margin. That being said I feel our entire group now scores much higher than our first 4 or 5 games when everyone was focusing on trying to get rows / columns to score double. You can use a lot of different strategies and play as aggressively or not in order to win New Haven. It is fun to watch players develop their land in a very sandbox way.<br />
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New Haven has been a struggle to teach (primarily because the numbers on the Land Plots confused new players) for me but also very rewarding seeing players "get it" and suddenly become very immersed in the game. I think it is cool that you always have two tiles to choose from, we sometimes play Carcassonne that way so this felt very natural to me.<br />
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I am not usually big on Tile Placement games because most of the ones I have played are not confined to a playing space and tend to run off the table or at least always to the other side of the table then I am sitting on. That being said I love efficiency and New Haven is all about rewarding efficiency. Giving other players the opportunity to use your leftover resources is not only a really cool mechanic and one I have not seen often but it takes New Haven from an okay game to a great game in my eyes by forcing every player to pay attention even when it is not their turn.<br />
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<b><br /></b>
<b>Family Gamers: </b>I think New Haven is great for families and younger players primarily because you can play without any "take that" and almost even work together until everyone learns the rules. New Haven is also a mathy game that still manages to be fun. This is the only part where I think the theme is appropriate since it is very family friendly but even then I think most kids would enjoy something cooler than wheat and sheep. New Haven provides a great sense of accomplishment which I think is important when you are playing with younger gamers if you want them to stay interested in our hobby. My last point here is that the way you place your buildings also involves a lot of patterns, careful planning and thinking in ways that will directly correlate to other parts of life. All in all I don't think Family Gamers can go wrong with New Haven.<br />
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<b>Casual Gamers: </b>New Haven does not take too long to play and has easy to learn rules. Before the first game is over everyone will have a hang of how to play and can focus on playing the game instead of getting bogged down with rules. New Haven is one of the most casual friendly games I own and that is because even when its not your turn it is usually your turn. The leftover resource mechanic is fantastic for encouraging player interaction, table talk and paying attention to what is happening even what it is not your turn which is great for keeping casual games on track and not taking longer than expected. I think another important part for casual gamers is how quickly New Haven can be set up and put away compared to other games with a similar length. I think New Haven can act as a great bridge if you are seeking to get into heavier games or simply enjoyed as a light social game. In my eyes this adaptability is what makes New Haven a great casual game.<br />
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<b>Gamer Gamers:</b> Just because I have said New Haven is great for families and casuals does not mean it would not be enjoyed by those who take their board games a little more serious. Now that the core of my gaming group has all played 10+ times, we have tried both sides of the game board multiple times, and both of the included variants designed to make the game more challenging New Haven has become one of the most intense games that hits the table. When you start watching which buildings your opponents are taking you can take some of their buildings or block their resources all while trying to keep progressing your own land plot New Haven becomes an entirely different ball game and definitely somewhere closer to a brain burner than a family friendly walk in the park.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqt72JdB_yaDzVg_I-Hoxtsjpx42CPkHKp5HYvekDFevqd6MvzWKmc8Mg7SsarhZQSAa490dBM7BA-5k829gidYGar-my5OJIZwOksgPMrUMltyJdryh2kL4iZt2klqp4LtNDsTp2xRYk/s1600/new+haven+game+board+both+sides.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="428" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqt72JdB_yaDzVg_I-Hoxtsjpx42CPkHKp5HYvekDFevqd6MvzWKmc8Mg7SsarhZQSAa490dBM7BA-5k829gidYGar-my5OJIZwOksgPMrUMltyJdryh2kL4iZt2klqp4LtNDsTp2xRYk/s640/new+haven+game+board+both+sides.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Both Sides of The New Haven Game Board</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<br />todd barkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02371040733053627914noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-927822003787777019.post-3097666998090589722023-04-04T17:39:00.000-07:002023-05-16T20:44:47.085-07:00Beasty Bar<blockquote class="tr_bq">
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<b>Beasty Bar</b> is a Hand Management card game focusing on take that mechanics from Zoch Verlag (the company that brought us Ghost Blitz). Your objective is to get as many of your animals as you can through the lineup and inside a bar called Heaven's Gate. You will have to make sure that your animals do not get tossed from line and are actually allowed in, to do this you will manipulate the bar lineup. The only similar game I have played is Guillotine but even that is a stretch. In this review I will quickly cover how to play, how well it scales from 2-4 players and what kind of gamers I think would enjoy Beasty Bar.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi49-LqnTqdZUqu6jXPgnmPnj13GTF3AjHaXtDryL2UIb5LkkChO-HECQ85rVMsOXpRPw3gpwwtFIcIBI9ZZ4HqdkU0u2-tNdhDPLtkNdkWlrbjHotA83meyMnpysXbFraN3YiY11MFcEQ/s1600/carter+phone+feb+18+board+game+pictures+174.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi49-LqnTqdZUqu6jXPgnmPnj13GTF3AjHaXtDryL2UIb5LkkChO-HECQ85rVMsOXpRPw3gpwwtFIcIBI9ZZ4HqdkU0u2-tNdhDPLtkNdkWlrbjHotA83meyMnpysXbFraN3YiY11MFcEQ/s400/carter+phone+feb+18+board+game+pictures+174.JPG" width="400" /></a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkr81iB3USMoDcU4IUm4iXdJCYyaCaO06aOBhgoYDTDxeXgoFoVQaKlhDvypmLc0GVUYbXGmqYBS9xWLgVGWzpXcRX9soBNNCNvALfcUvszDFxw9B9nN2j6jgDs_xBf8UO5MTrc8yOb8k/s1600/carter+phone+feb+18+board+game+pictures+176.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkr81iB3USMoDcU4IUm4iXdJCYyaCaO06aOBhgoYDTDxeXgoFoVQaKlhDvypmLc0GVUYbXGmqYBS9xWLgVGWzpXcRX9soBNNCNvALfcUvszDFxw9B9nN2j6jgDs_xBf8UO5MTrc8yOb8k/s200/carter+phone+feb+18+board+game+pictures+176.JPG" width="200" /></a><span style="font-size: large;">Goal / Objective:</span><br />
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The goal in Beasty Bar is to have the most animals inside the bar Heaven's Gate when all players have no cards remaining in their hands.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">How to Play:</span><br />
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Getting inside Heaven's Gate is not an easy task. First there have to be 5 animals in the lineup. Once the lineup is full the two animals in front (closest to Heaven's Gate) will be allowed inside the bar and the animal at the end of the line will be tossed into the get lost pile.<br />
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Each turn players are allowed to play 1 animal card from their hand. You add the animal to the end of the lineup and then perform the specific action that corresponds with the animal that was chosen. Each action will manipulate the lineup in some shape or form either by butting, scaring, eating and hopping over the other animals in line. You might make the other animals so grossed out they leave or snitch them out to the bouncer, and if all else fails just change the order of the lineup.<br />
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Here is a list of each animal and what the action they perform does:<br />
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Sdgq-r60hXw/Vt-J8lOXB1I/AAAAAAAAErk/j1IKsJHSXT8/s1600/beasty%2Bbar%2Banimals.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Sdgq-r60hXw/Vt-J8lOXB1I/AAAAAAAAErk/j1IKsJHSXT8/s640/beasty%2Bbar%2Banimals.jpg" width="480" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">My Thoughts:</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdukJarfpOATfMLsU5aYsEYq1KU8x-SBem8c3PN1LiY-y2YlLPoVj8NC4dRemNwsAWXkeurFywdpryvjw59nInAzB4bWftp5Wgc0gqCf6I6zitAFGNddSivVMFOC9oVjRB7_NYFJZ2lGM/s1600/carter+phone+feb+18+board+game+pictures+175.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdukJarfpOATfMLsU5aYsEYq1KU8x-SBem8c3PN1LiY-y2YlLPoVj8NC4dRemNwsAWXkeurFywdpryvjw59nInAzB4bWftp5Wgc0gqCf6I6zitAFGNddSivVMFOC9oVjRB7_NYFJZ2lGM/s200/carter+phone+feb+18+board+game+pictures+175.JPG" width="200" /></a>Beasty Bar is a ton of fun, you will need to use a mix of tactics, strategy and politics to win. Although there are no political mechanics, Beasty Bar gets pretty personal since almost every action you can perform is a take that action that screws with someone else's plans. Turns go around the table fast enough that you are still annoyed by the time you get to take a turn so expect revenge to come knocking. There is more strategy than Guillotine because you are using the same set of animals every game and everyone has the exact same cards however Guillotine supports more players. I wonder if the game would work with more players or if it would just be too crazy, there is an expansion already which can be played as a standalone but it doesn't increase the player count. Beasty Bar has been a hit with every person I have showed it to so far so I will definitely be picking up the expansion which comes with 12 new animals.<br />
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I think what makes Beasty Bar such a great card game is that you are not sure how many times the bouncer will let guests in (rounds there will be before the game's end), this means if you save your trump cards until the end of the game they might end up getting wasted. If you play them right away you make yourself an easy target to get ganged up on. To make matters worse, every card is very situational and might only be a trump card depending on which other animals are in the lineup already. The only real rule I play by is to save my parrot and chameleon for later on in the game.<br />
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My only criticism is that the iconography at the bottom of the cards that explains what each animal can do is really confusing the first couple times you look at them. I do not feel like they accurately show what they are trying to and you end up just memorizing what each animal does anyways. The box only comes with one cheater / help card explaining the actions because the other 3 help cards are in other languages and even the one they give you is small and crammed with tiny text. I think it would have been better to include 2-4 bigger cards or boards roughly the size of the small square box that explain what the cards do and then left the diagrams off the animal cards.<br />
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The art is humorous and a little dark which goes great with the take that mechanics of the game. Take a look at what I mean, meet the animals:<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">How Does it Scale?</span><br />
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<u><i>2 Players:</i></u> Two player games of Beasty Bar are intense and evil. You will want to plan carefully turns ahead but have to remain prepared to change those plans at any moment. Have a backup and a backup backup plan. There are a lot of things you can try in a two player game that you cant with 3 or 4 players. Playing with 2 is a lot quicker, your plans are not completely screwed by the time its your turn again like they usually are in a 4 player game. Best of all since the complexity of the game comes from playing your opponent and not mechanics it stays fresh and fun even after playing a ton.<br />
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<i><u>3 Players:</u></i> Three players is the sweet spot if you ask me. The perfect balance of strategy and tactics with just the right level of frustration. I find that 3 players suits the mechanics / theme better because treating Beasty Bar as a serious strategy game doesnt feel right when the skunk is winking its butthole at you. I prefer 3 players over 4 because you have a bit more control over the lineup.<br />
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<u><i>4 Players:</i></u> Prepare to have every plan you come up with screwed with. However there is a great aspect that comes with 4 players that doesn't with 2 or 3; It becomes hard to keep track of who's animals are inside Heaven's Gate. This makes things really interesting especially when you consider players taking your actions personally and seeking out revenge, and especially because with 4 players it becomes even easier to blend into the background, not piss anybody off and hope to not become a target yourself.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Who Will Enjoy Beasty Bar?</span><br />
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<i><u>New Gamers:</u></i> It really is a shame when icons add to confusion, the whole point of them is to aid in the explanation of or represent rules. Although the mechanics of Beasty Bar are really simple, I would not recommend showing it as someone's first game unless you have a fair amount of experience explaining board games.That being said just play your first game blindly and figure out what each animal does as you play it and everyone will know what they are doing by the second play through.<br />
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<i><u>Casual Gamers:</u></i> The first few times you play Beasty Bar it takes a bit longer than a typical filler which is okay because you will want to play again and a few games takes up the same length as a medium weight game. After players have familiarized themselves with the cards and no longer have to look at the helper card Beasty Bar actually becomes faster than more fillers which is great because its also a bit more intense. Although some of the artwork is not exactly PG13, I have played with my parents, relatives and other couples, I think the theme makes the game easy to approach and really does a good job drawing players in.<br />
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<u><i>Gamer Gamers:</i></u> If you are a collector you might be surprised by how unique Beasty Bar is, Not to say that the mechanics haven't been done before, (a couple cards do the exact same action as Guillotine cards) but I have not seen them combined in this way before. I feel like most serious gamers will be able to understand the icons no problem and will have an easy time memorizing what each card does making my only criticism of Beasty Bar irrelevant.<br />
<br />todd barkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02371040733053627914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-927822003787777019.post-71320349520427596002023-03-30T07:25:00.001-07:002023-05-16T20:45:05.957-07:00Just DessertsJust Desserts is a set collection and hand management card game from Looney Labs. 2 - 5 players can serve up Desserts and feel their stomachs grumble as they read the names of the cards. Similarly to other games from Looney Labs, Just Desserts has quick and easy to understand rules that let you jump right into actually playing the game. That also means that Just Desserts is a light card game that works best as a filler, intro or warmup game although there are some advanced rules that mix things up and make them more challenging.<br />
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Objective:<br />
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Your goal in Just Desserts is to satisfy the dessert cravings of various customers. To win you will need to serve:<br />
3 customers of 1 suit<br />
1 customer of 5 different suit.<br />
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How to Play:<br />
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At the start of every player's turn flip over the top card from the customer deck. If the customer is the same suit as one already in lineup, select which one you want to keep and discard the other. NOTE: The top customer card in the discard pile is still fair game, they are considered in the lobby and you can feed them desserts still.<br />
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Each turn you have the choice between feeding 1 or 2 customers, going back to the kitchen to get more dessert or dumping your tray.<br />
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Lets start with feeding customers.<br />
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Each customer has symbols on the top of their card. These represent their cravings. You can use any number of cards to satisfy a customer's cravings.You can even have extra icons as long as the customer is not allergic.<br />
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Select which customer you want to feed and play dessert cards until you have satisfied all of the customer's cravings, collect the customer card and add it to your personal score pile.<br />
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Each customer also has a favourite dessert written in small text below the symbols on their card. If you manage to serve a customer their favourite dessert then you get to collect the customer card and a tip! (bonus dessert card from the dessert deck)<br />
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<b>Going back to the Kitchen</b> simply means you get to draw a card from the dessert deck.<br />
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<b>Dumping your Tray</b> lets you choose how many cards from your hand to discard and then draw that many cards from the dessert deck.<br />
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My Thoughts:<br />
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Just Desserts fits nicely in my collection. The main draw for me is the accessibility. Desserts bridge the generation, race and age gaps, I mean who doesn't love Pineapple Upsidedown Cake? With 5 players you can finish a game in 30-40 minutes and turns go around the table fast. Combine these with easy to learn rules and that means you can show Just Desserts to pretty much anybody. That is exactly what I have been doing, playing Just Desserts with my non gamer friends, family and whatever other creatures I can convince to play. The 2 player game is great because it can be played in 10-15 minutes and you get some take that action if you use the advance rule: Poaching and Blocking.<br />
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My only real criticism lies in the customer card design. In a game centered around Desserts it seems only right that the customer's favourite dessert would be in big easy to read letters and their name would be in the small text. Especially when their names do nothing mechanically but their faovurite dessert does, sadly this is not the case and the favourite desserts appear in the smallest text on the card. Just Desserts can also overstay its welcome, not as long or often as Munchkin or Fluxx but it can drag occasionally at higher player counts (4,5).<br />
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The advanced rules really add to the basic rules to make a pretty ruthless set collection game. I will explain them each below so you can read for yourself.<br />
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Poaching and Blocking: Allows you to steal a guest from another player by serving them just like you would a guest in the center but only 1 per turn, You can still serve a second customers from the middle after. Blocking comes into play when someone tries to steal one of your customers, you can play dessert cards to match their craving symbols the same way you collected the customer in the first place to stop the theft from taking place. If blocked, you get to keep your dessert cards and you can still take 2 guests from the center but may not poach again until next turn.<br />
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Opening a Buffet: This extra rule adds another action you can choose to perform on your turn. If you have 4 single flavor desserts you can discard them all to force every other player to put one of their customers back in the middle, draw 3 more dessert cards and then serve 1 guest.<br />
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Surprise Party: When someone serves a customer either from the middle or when stealing from another player you can intercept the customer by throwing them a surprise party. You have to shout surprise, and you have to have the customer's favourite dessert. If the customer has 2 favourites you cannot surprise party a favourite and you can only block a favourite with another favourite. Lastly you do not get a tip for throwing a surprise party.<br />
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Family Gamers: You can easily take Just Desserts to family get togethers or vacations because it is essentially 2 decks of cards. There is also the Family friendly theme, rules that are easy to learn for younger and older players and practically no setup or cleanup time. Oh and when you master the game or get bored you can throw in the advanced rules 1 at a time.<br />
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Casual Gamers: This is a great game for playing with non gamers or trying to introduce people to the hobby with. You learn key mechanics (hand management, set collection, icons?) that will help learn other games. The theme might be a plus or a con depending on who you are playing with but I have had no problem getting friends and family to try. Being able to add additional rules is a big plus and at only 15$ Just Desserts is a great buy.<br />
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Gamer Gamers: The advanced rules bring different take that mechanics into the game that let you steal your opponents customers. Because you only need 3 of a customer suit this means the game can change much quicker and in my experience eliminated the problem of Just Desserts overstaying its welcome. Adding the advanced rules make it so you have to pay attention to what you opponents are doing, the number of cards in their hand, etc. There is more going on with the advanced rules, so there is more to keep you engaged. Its not a brain buster but there is a pretty intense card game hidden beneath the cheery dessert theme that makes it a great option if you are looking for a short, fast, easy to learn game.<br />
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<br />todd barkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02371040733053627914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-927822003787777019.post-31236066950631896022023-02-24T11:38:00.000-08:002023-05-16T20:45:47.402-07:00Loonacy: the maniacal matching card game<blockquote class="tr_bq">
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Loonacy is a fantastic, real time card game for 2-5 players from Looney Labs. There is absolutely 0 text and you can learn the rules in roughly 15 seconds. Even though it is just a short game, playing is highly addictive. On our first night playing Loonacy it ended up being our only game in play. Since then, it has become one of the greatest intro and filler games in my collection. Because learning how to play is really simple, I will focus on why I think Loonacy makes an exceptional intro game, how well it scales between 2-5 players, and who I think would enjoy the game.<br />
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<b><u>How to Play:</u></b><br />
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Playing is very simple. The goal of the game is to be the first player to discard all cards from your hand. In order to discard a card from your hand, you must match one of the two symbols on it to one of the two symbols on the top cards of one of the various discard piles.<br />
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It seems simple, but now for the catch: there are no turns. Like I said at the top, this is a real time card game. This means everyone is going to play at the same time and the top card of the discard piles can change at any moment. Loonacy will test your reflexes and ability to recognize patterns at a glance as you race to rid yourself of your hand of cards.<br />
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That if you cannot play a card? You simply wait for the top card of the discard piles to change and hope a symbol you can match with comes up. If you find yourselves suddenly staring at each other with no one able to take a turn, everyone must then draw a card. Make sure to keep the new cards face down until everyone has their new card; that way no one has an unfair advantage. </div>
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<b><u>Setup:</u></b><br />
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Shuffle the cards into 1 draw pile.<br />
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Turn over the top cards of the draw pile, creating a number of separate discard piles depending on the number of players.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-h_soCG6U4_8/VmM2oM2vt8I/AAAAAAAAEpA/XvE_-6uciMM/s1600/loonacy3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="236" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-h_soCG6U4_8/VmM2oM2vt8I/AAAAAAAAEpA/XvE_-6uciMM/s320/loonacy3.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">5 Player Setup: Loonacy</td></tr>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-6yC3VDWdKqk/VmM2nt9J7JI/AAAAAAAAEow/vtTyjcuuKi4/s1600/loonacy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="147" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-6yC3VDWdKqk/VmM2nt9J7JI/AAAAAAAAEow/vtTyjcuuKi4/s200/loonacy.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">4 Player Setup: Loonacy</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-riO3TpszF6c/VmM2nkr7SNI/AAAAAAAAEo4/kWBgUCXcDuE/s1600/loonacy2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="236" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-riO3TpszF6c/VmM2nkr7SNI/AAAAAAAAEo4/kWBgUCXcDuE/s320/loonacy2.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">2 Player Setup: Loonacy</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-6vtBByr9EsM/VmM2no7oItI/AAAAAAAAEoY/iktPqJdMGZ0/s1600/loonacy1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="148" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-6vtBByr9EsM/VmM2no7oItI/AAAAAAAAEoY/iktPqJdMGZ0/s200/loonacy1.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">3 Player Setup: Loonacy</td></tr>
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Deal each player a hand of 7 cards, players should not look at their cards until everyone is ready to start playing.<br />
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<b><u>Why is Loonacy an awesome intro game?</u></b><br />
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The board game scene has seen an influx of new gamers and general peaked interest in the past few years. Even so, when I try to introduce someone to the hobby or it comes up that I play board games, I am still often met with, 'What, like Monopoly?' Rather than try to explain what modern gaming consists of, with Loonacy you can say, 'It's easier if I show you and it will only take 4 minutes'.<br />
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Obviously you won't always have the opportunity to bust out Loonacy and show someone, but the combination of how fast it plays and how quick it is to explain are part of what makes it an awesome introduction game. Other than eliminating time constraints, this demonstrates that newer games don't always take as long as Monopoly or Risk. And if someone is upset by losing, Loonacy is fast enough that you can just play again.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Phl_tJMYHhc/VmM-HMq6HDI/AAAAAAAAEpc/lXIiBPx6QFc/s1600/loonacy%2Bimages.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; display: inline !important; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Phl_tJMYHhc/VmM-HMq6HDI/AAAAAAAAEpc/lXIiBPx6QFc/s400/loonacy%2Bimages.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Examples of Cards: Loonacy</td></tr>
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Loonacy has several other appealing intro features besides just being a quick play game. For example, there is no benefit to the person teaching so no one will feel as if you have an unfair advantage. Players will get used to matching various icons and quickly assessing/managing their hand of cards.<br />
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Another part of an intro game is the desire to play again. This is often coupled with a sense of accomplishment and desire to do better the next time you play. Loonacy almost always leaves me wanting to play again, especially when it was a close game and I only had a card or two left.<br />
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<b><u>Who would enjoy Loonacy?</u></b></div>
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Although I would love to say Loonacy is for everyone, it clearly is not. If you do not like speed/reaction games, this is a definite no - even though it is easier and quicker than some of the other similar games I have played. My second disclaimer: if you are not a fan of the standard randomness that comes with Looney Labs games, I would avoid picking up Loonacy. Let us now turn your attention to those who will enjoy Loonacy:<br />
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<b>New Gamers:</b> With a low price and small box, it is easy to add to your collection. It is also a fairly unique game and even if you own another reaction game, it is worth picking up this game specifically. It is easy to get your friends to play because there are no cumbersome rules and I always have an easier time getting non-gamers to try a card game than I do a game with a board and pieces. Lastly, a benefit to playing this game is that it gets you used to icon matching and hand management which are big parts of a lot of other games in the hobby, regardless of their complexity.<br />
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<b>Casual Gamers:</b> When you do not get to play board games every night or get to play with the same group of people and enjoy lengthy session, two of the most important things to me are setup time and explanation time. Loonacy takes longer to shuffle than it does to setup and explain. Another important aspect of casual games to me is how often they actually get played, since a casual board game budget might not support as many games. I have more than a couple light, filler games, but Loonacy has managed to dethrone them all and shows no signs of becoming a dust collector anytime soon. It's also physically light and small so you can easily bring it with you.<br />
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<b>Gamer Gamers: </b>You can never have enough games to introduce to new gamers and Loonacy does a great job filling this role. It can also help you even out your collection, as I think speed/reaction games are underrepresented in a lot of bigger collections. At the very least, Loonacy is a fast filler than you can play while waiting for other players to arrive or wrap up any games that they are already playing. </div>
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<b><u>How it Scales 2-5 Players</u></b><br />
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<b>2 Players: </b>The gameplay is fun but gets old a lot quicker with just 2 players. I find you end up drawing a lot more cards which slows down the pace of the game. It seems weird that with 4 discard pile options you would have to draw a card but for some reason with 4 options there always seem to be multiple piles with the same icon on top. Lastly I find 2 player Loonacy to just be less exciting, there is no shouting, cheering, fighting over who is putting their card down first. That does not mean I dislike 2 player Loonacy, it has its place like on a hike, hanging by the pool or when you are desperate to squeeze in even a couple minutes of gaming.<br />
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<b>3 Players: </b>The three player setup has my preferred number of discard piles. I find that they all change often enough to keep the pace of the game quick and give you lots of options. Occasionally two discard piles will have the same icon on top but not as often as in the 2 player setup. When we play with any number of players now we almost always use the 3 discard pile setup because it seems to work the best to keep the game flowing. We never timed any of our games but I feel like 3 player games were over the quickest.<br />
<b>4 Players: </b>The setup says to only use 2 discard piles which creates a more intense game than with 2 and 3 players. There is much more competition for the discard piles meaning if feels like someone is almost always going for the same icon as you. I found that with only 2 discard piles we ran into a lot more cases where everyone had to draw a card. Using the 2 pile setup and playing with 4 players felt like games would either be over really fast or really slow, this is why we now use 3 piles instead of 2.<br />
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<b>5 Players: </b>After reading my opinion on 4 players I am sure you can guess how I feel about 5 players all using 1 discard pile. The discard pile is a revolving door of icons and the game can finish before you even play a single card. Or you can get down to 1 or 2 cards and suddenly be back at 7 or 8. I don't think you have to draw cards as often as with 4 players because the icons are changing so often but sometimes you get stuck drawing 3 or 4 cards in a row because no one can make a match. 5 players is my favourite way to play Loonacy, I like the chaos, excitement and volume of playing with 5 players but disliked the 1 discard pile setup. We normally use 3 discard piles but still change it up and play around with different setups and I would definitely suggest doing the same. </div>
todd barkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02371040733053627914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-927822003787777019.post-83661710447947292922023-01-17T14:07:00.000-08:002023-05-16T20:46:15.234-07:00Magic Labyrinth <br />
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Magic Labyrinth is a great game for kids and families to play together. </span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">In my review of Magic Labyrinth I will
take a slightly different approach from normal. I will cover the rules and how
to play from two different angles. The first and most obvious is Magic
Labyrinth as a kids/family game but we recently discovered how it makes a fantastic
drinking game.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><u><b>Setup:</b></u><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Have someone build the wooden maze below
the game board, if it is someone not playing the game that happens to be around
the house or wherever you are playing that will make it even better.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">After it is constructed place the game
board ontop of the maze so that everything is sitting as 1 component inside the
game box.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Place all of the various token/markers in
the cloth bag and shake them about.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Each player takes a wooden magician,
places it on a corner of the board and connects the metal ball to the magnet so
that the game board is separating the two pieces.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><b><u>How to Play:</u></b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<u><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><i>How to Play Kids Version</i></span></u></div>
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</span></u><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Pull a token out of the
bag and place it onto the matching symbol on the game board.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Roll the die and move the number of spaces
indicated, you cannot move diagonal.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">If you bump into the Labyrinth your metal
ball will disconnect and roll back to the nearest corner, simply reconnect it
to your wooden magician at the same corner of the board you started at and end
your turn.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">If you touch the wall but do not bump it
you have committed and must push your magician the direction until your metal
ball falls from the magnet.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">If you manage to reach the space on the
board that contains the token, pick it up and create a scoring pile for
yourself containing all the tokens you have obtained.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Once a token is collected a new one is
placed on the board, if someone is under the space where the token would be
placed they get to collect it instantaneously and add it to their score pile.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Once all the tokens from the bag have been
collected the player with the most tokens is declared the winner and second
place is the player who has the second most tokens and so on.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<u><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><i>How to Play Drinking Version</i></span></u><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Pull a token out of the bag and place it
onto the matching symbol on the game board.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Roll the die and move the number of spaces
indicated, you cannot move diagonal.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">If you bump into the Labyrinth your metal
ball will disconnect and roll back to the nearest corner, simply reconnect it
to your wooden magician at the same corner of the board you started at and end
your turn.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>When you hit the
maze and lose your ball you must take 1 drink. </i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">If you touch the wall but do not bump it
you have committed and must push your magician the direction until your metal
ball falls from the magnet. <i>If you are sober enough to touch a wall
without disconnecting your ball and magnet you have to take 2 drinks.</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">If you manage to reach the space on the
board that contains the token, pick it up and create a scoring pile for
yourself containing all the tokens you have obtained.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>If you successfully collect a magic
token you get to give out drinks and all other players must take 1 drink. Then
before placing the new token the board must be spun to add to the
confusion. </i><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Once a token is collected a new one is
placed on the board, if someone is under the space where the token would be
placed they get to collect it instantaneously and add it to their score pile.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>No one gets freebies in Drunken
Labyrinth, if a token would be placed where someone is standing they must have
been too drunk to notice and it is lost forever. The master magician gives
everyone a drink and all players must take 1 drink. </i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Once all the tokens from the bag have been
collected the player with the most tokens is declared the winner and second
place is the player who has the second most tokens and so on.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><b><u>Components:</u></b></span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">It is very cool how the game board is
constructed and not many games make use of magnets. The wooden pieces are also
a great touch and feel very nice in your hands while you steer your magician
around the board. It is really very nice when the components are as much a
practical part of the gameplay as they are an aesthetics piece. After a couple
games is also gets really easy to quickly find the right spot where tokens go,
you will start to remember which ones are by which ones which speeds up the
game time without making it any easier to win.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><i>So is it a drinking game or a kids game,
who should buy Magic Labyrinth?</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><b>Family Gamers:</b> The main thing I love about
Magic Labyrinth is how well it plays with just the kids. You do not need to
play with them and if you do there is no dumbing down your strategy or long
winded explanations, you just play and enjoy the moment. That is not to say
that Magic Labyrinth plays itself or there is no skill involved, you will
improve your memory and learn when it is best to push your luck. Magic Labyrinth is even a fun one
to play with the relatives or anyone who only observes and says your games look
too complex to try. I think Magic Labyrinth is a must own if you consider
yourself a family gamer.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><b>Casual Gamers:</b> Is your night more about
the socializing than the actual gameplay? Do you sometimes have a few beers or
other delights with your gaming sessions? Do you ever game with your kids or
older relatives? If you answer yes to any of those questions then I think Magic
Labyrinth is a no brainer, it s one of the best duel purpose games in my
collection and out of games that can be played more or less "by everyone"
I think Magic Labyrinth is king. I love the amount of table talk that
comes with the gameplay and if all else fails you can use ML as an excuse to
get shit faced.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><b>Gamer Gamers: </b>How many games do you own
with solid quality wooden pieces? Then how many do you own that make use of
magnets? Your list is probably shrinking fast, if you are serious about our
hobby then chances are you try to share your love with new members who may or
may not have played board games in the past. Magic Labyrinth will not only
serve as a unique game in your collection but will be a great way for you to
show some newbies what our hobby is all about, that social experience of
finding the time to sit down with family and friends. Magic Labyrinth is also a
great game to test the wits of you and your "hardcore" gaming
friends, just add alcohol.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />todd barkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02371040733053627914noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-927822003787777019.post-59527896309765181212014-07-25T07:22:00.000-07:002018-04-05T20:29:38.411-07:00Online Game Review - Stone Age<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
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</blockquote>
This is my first attempt at reviewing an online board game. I see a lot of people wondering where they can play board games online and I think there is a lot to be gained out of the experience. But this is not a post to try and convince you to get your gaming fix online, instead I am going to review Stone Age on BoardGameArena and talk about the pros and cons to playing Stone Age online vs in person.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4nSpWN2LvSRVsC_u4lkn3r03KzNZuJ8bg8fUHGmgYmOYBtISG3WguH4ekkHC-a9Ej3Se4AW2MOzW8BjqPYMIJMSxHOUl_2LueapTadoVljKBmLi0nDAETJby2XBM-1h-rH8YTrOxOpuM/s1600/stone+age.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4nSpWN2LvSRVsC_u4lkn3r03KzNZuJ8bg8fUHGmgYmOYBtISG3WguH4ekkHC-a9Ej3Se4AW2MOzW8BjqPYMIJMSxHOUl_2LueapTadoVljKBmLi0nDAETJby2XBM-1h-rH8YTrOxOpuM/s1600/stone+age.jpg" width="231" /></a></div>
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<b><u>Objective:</u></b><br />
Be the player with the most victory points at the end of the game. There are two main ways to score victory points:<br />
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Acquiring buildings during the game for either a fixed or variable amount<br />
Acquiring Civilization cards during the game that give extra points at the end of the game<br />
<b><u><br /></u></b>
<b><u>How to play:</u></b><br />
Stone age is played over a series of rounds, each round offers a set of buildings equal to the number of players and 4 civilization cards available for purchase. At the start of a new round any purchased cards/buildings are replaced with new ones from their respective draw piles.<br />
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On your turn you simply hover over the area you wish to send your workers to and click once for each person you wish to place.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRNgbtj7ZySfswx4gOcTyAEgah648Y8rDhaQ-wSC-R6wzxCtEVD1hemo-PctzowryBXaDvQrgsPtjASDyD5TcAEx_xHpjVbpwLz09dSKB_eY4fDsjA6ZCf9gVV47xXEiwVmxYZhbWQWiE/s1600/place+workers.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="stone age place a worker" border="0" height="442" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRNgbtj7ZySfswx4gOcTyAEgah648Y8rDhaQ-wSC-R6wzxCtEVD1hemo-PctzowryBXaDvQrgsPtjASDyD5TcAEx_xHpjVbpwLz09dSKB_eY4fDsjA6ZCf9gVV47xXEiwVmxYZhbWQWiE/s1600/place+workers.png" title="stone age place a worker" width="640" /></a></div>
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<br />
You can only place workers at one location per turn but you will have the chance to place all of your workers each round.<br />
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Once everyone has had the chance to place their workers you will take turns activating your workers at each location. You activate your workers by clicking on the location they were placed.<br />
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Once you have chosen a location you will see the results of your roll and then have the option to use any tools to increase the total value of your roll before gaining your resources.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Ean1YLv9BAU/U9AKXSWIdSI/AAAAAAAAEdQ/n4yB5SI35tw/s1600/use+tools.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="stone age tool mechanic" border="0" height="470" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Ean1YLv9BAU/U9AKXSWIdSI/AAAAAAAAEdQ/n4yB5SI35tw/s1600/use+tools.png" title="stone age tool mechanic" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Should have gotten a damm tool already</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<b><u>Pros to playing Stone Age online vs in person:</u></b><br />
<br />
Lots of the mathematical calculations are done for you allowing you to spend more time thinking about your overall strategy and what your best move is.<br />
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The time required to play is cut in half, on BGG Stone Age has a length of 60 minutes, and on BGA they list 27 minutes. This is mainly a result of no set up time, dice rolls done instantly and the resulting calculation is done automatically telling you how many resources you gain.<br />
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Your opponent's stock of supplies is listed clearly to save you from either not knowing, not caring and doing an uncomfortable lean over the table to count their wood / clay / food etc.<br />
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Less fiddly, in any game where you gain resources and then have to hand them back in in order to pay for things there is going to be a lot of fiddling. You won't have to reach across the table to grab from that pile of wood, instead all your resources are automatically counted and added to your supply.<br />
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Easy way to play an old favourite.<br />
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<b><u>Cons to playing Stone Age online vs in person:</u></b><br />
<b><br /></b>
Overall less satisfying feel, throwing dice is one of my favourite parts of board games mostly because of the touch/feel they give but also I appreciate the anticipation caused once they leave your hand.<br />
<br />
Also less satisfying to collect things online. Civilization Cards, Buildings, Resources are all collected in stone age and build towards your sense of accomplishment. I find this feeling doesn't translate well from most board games to their online counterparts but I find Stone Age translates even worse than other games.<br />
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Much easier to do things in the wrong order when playing online than it is when playing in person, partially because most people allow a take backs as long as it is still your turn, an online portal does not. I find myself activating workers in the wrong order, resources before tools and cards and have seen lots of people place on hunting (food) before other resources.<br />
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Whenever the card comes up that gives everyone the opportunity to gain something I find there is a fair amount of table talk and interaction, when playing online this is entirely lost and rarely does someone say "darn I really needed that gold" or "dam another free agriculture level you sure are lucky"<br />
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<b>Conclusion </b><br />
<b><br /></b>
I have found after playing Stone Age at least 10 times online that it is a solid substitute for playing the physical game with your friends around the table.<br />
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Most of the cons are also pros which to me means it still scratches mostly the same itch although it is a bit less satisfying. The main reason I can see to playing Stone Age online is it cuts the time in half. Considering the game gives mostly the same feel when played online, I find it is a great way to satisfy the itch to play this light euro in a time space where you might not usually be able to even fit in a game.<br />
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If you are a fan of Stone Age and have trouble talking people into playing, or if you were not apart of the hobby when Stone Age was more loved or any other reason you haven't tried Stone Age before I would recommend giving it a play on BoardGameArena.<br />
<br />todd barkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02371040733053627914noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-927822003787777019.post-49121811555688815832014-07-09T09:35:00.000-07:002016-04-01T11:18:30.535-07:00Guide to Teaching Board Games - Streamlined Explanation - Rialto<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
| April 4th 2016 | </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Thanks for checking out my blog. I have a new, much better looking version of this review here: http://www.boardgamebarker.com/blog/2015/12/21/guide-to-teaching-board-games-streamlined-explanation-rialto?</blockquote>
</blockquote>
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This is part two in a in a series I am writing to help people become better board game teachers in the hope that we can scare less people off and change the attitude that the games we play are "way too complex and have so much to remember". Below I will cover how to explain Rialto, a medium weight Area Control Game by Stefan Feld, in an easy to follow manner covering only the need to know information.<br />
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<br />
You can find the first part by taking this link where I explain my five steps to explaining any board game in detail. <a href="http://toddsboardgames.blogspot.ca/2014/05/guide-to-teaching-board-games-five-steps.html">Guide to Teaching Board Games = The Five Steps</a><br />
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<a name='more'></a><br />
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<h3>
Guide to Teaching Board Games - Streamlined Explanation - Rialto</h3>
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<b>1 .Objective/Goal: </b>Rialto is an area control and hand management game that awards players for having majority control in many different ways. We will be taking the role of noblemen in Venice trying to assert our influence and gain the most victory points. It is important to note that there is a second scoring track in Rialto named the doge track, this will be used to break all ties and determine the order in which you choose your cards for the round.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NFgcppe8HYg/U71m4PYn9oI/AAAAAAAAEbw/kRb8Nm3tvVM/s1600/doge+track.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NFgcppe8HYg/U71m4PYn9oI/AAAAAAAAEbw/kRb8Nm3tvVM/s1600/doge+track.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Doge Track</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b>2. Tools: </b>There are a few different ways to gain victory points, the most prominent is by seeding your councilmen into the various districts of Venice. The twist is the value of each district gets determined as the game unravels and will not award points until the end of the game. Then players will score points based off their number of councilmen awarding the most victory points to whoever has the most councilmen then half that value to whoever has second most and so on continuing to half the value.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_graymEAweB_PXT0ruyoOyOihEErOfF4RBoIjm9bYcy76rPZiWWuYjioi9ZROjp4DkYVeYxpbAqSiLbmBDNNvBbE25XKt4ro_KIktPcIhI9otDALr5O7jE5dSMm_cE5SEhRrr1cZVBug/s1600/district+scoring.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_graymEAweB_PXT0ruyoOyOihEErOfF4RBoIjm9bYcy76rPZiWWuYjioi9ZROjp4DkYVeYxpbAqSiLbmBDNNvBbE25XKt4ro_KIktPcIhI9otDALr5O7jE5dSMm_cE5SEhRrr1cZVBug/s1600/district+scoring.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It is always good to provide a visual example when explaining, it is good to set these up in advance so you don't have to fiddle around during the explanation.<br />
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White would score 12 points, yellow would score 6 and green would score 3 points.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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The other way you earn points is by constructing buildings, each building has a cost associated with it, this is the number of brick cards you will need to play in a turn to construct that building. This cost is also how many points they will be worth at the end of the game. In addition some buildings award you with victory points.<br />
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Finally playing bridge cards will award you with 1 point per card, and if you do not play any bridges you will lose 1 point.<br />
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<b>3. The Absolute Basics: </b>Now you know how to win, let me explain how to play. On a turn you will pick one of the available columns of cards to use during the round, once everyone has chosen you can activate any green buildings to draw more cards. Finally before using the cards everyone has to discard down to their maximum hand size which starts at 7.<br />
<br />
In order to choose your pile you should know what each card does, <b>red hats</b> advance you on the doge track allowing you to break ties and choose your column of cards first. <b>Coins</b> simply give you money which you will need to use the buildings that you have already constructed. <b>Bricks</b> let you construct new buildings based on the number of brick cards you play. <b>Bridges</b> score you 1 point each, in addition if you do not play any you lose a point. <b>Gondolas </b>let you take councilmen from your reserve and bring them into your personal supply so that they are available to seed onto the board. And finally <b>Councilmen</b> cards each allow you to play 1 of your wooden councilmen tokens onto the current district. If you played the most of a card type treat is as if you played 1 extra of that type, in addition the player who used the most bridges / gondolas gets to play the bridge / gondola tokens.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MdQia4EKddY/U71nHFfFA3I/AAAAAAAAEb4/R9XHKPyYJ0c/s1600/cardcolumns.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MdQia4EKddY/U71nHFfFA3I/AAAAAAAAEb4/R9XHKPyYJ0c/s1600/cardcolumns.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b>4. Recap: </b>Remember the gondolas and bridges determine how many points each district is worth. Whoever is higher on the doge track breaks ties and card columns are chosen in order of the doge track. Lastly remember it is brick cards to construct the buildings and you need coins to activate them but they give victory points just for owning them at the end of the game.<br />
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<b>5. Set the example:</b> I will go first but before we begin everyone has to choose one of the 1 value buildings to start the game with. The green ones allow you to keep more cards, the yellow one allows you to wait and not play your cards of the current type until last so you can see how many everyone else has played (useful if you have jokers) and the blue one allows you to upgrade your other buildings at the very end of a round.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-cIFBVCW7Ba4/U71pRcfAS0I/AAAAAAAAEcE/mfN_bMTCShA/s1600/startingbuildings.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-cIFBVCW7Ba4/U71pRcfAS0I/AAAAAAAAEcE/mfN_bMTCShA/s1600/startingbuildings.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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Rialto is a game with a lot going on, it is not the most complicated game but a lot of the available actions change if you play the majority of them. Because of the way choosing the card columns works you also need to know a lot more up front then a lot of games, players need to understand how 6 different cards work in addition to the majority effects of bridges and gondolas, the 3 main ways to score points and how the 3 basic buildings work. Hopefully this helps you understand the 5 steps I use to explain games to people a little better. As promised here are some important tips that will help any explanation go smoother even if you do not plan on following the above steps.<br />
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<ul>
<li>Set up the game and any examples you want to show ahead of time.</li>
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<ul>
<li>Plan out how you are going to explain it, run through the explanation once or twice in your head or out loud. Know what information you are going to cover and what you are going to leave out, this will help you stay on track during your explanation.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Check the files section on Board Game Geek and see if there are any useful player aids available for the game you are going to be introducing. If there is one or two you like print them and familiarize yourself with the aides. </li>
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<ul>
<li>Read or watch a couple reviews to make sure you are not getting any rules wrong.</li>
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<ul>
<li>Do not exploit any advantage that is a result of playing first to set the example of how to play, in Rialto this might look like purposefully not picking the best card column. </li>
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<ul>
<li>Remove distractions during the explanation, if you generally listen to music or socialize while you game be sure you have everyone's attention and the music / tv is paused. </li>
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<ul>
<li>Do not get frustrated when people ask you about things you have already explained.</li>
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<ul>
<li>If more than 1 person knows the game well, avoid having multiple people explain things as they may not have gone through the explanation in their head and usually just adds confusion to the explanation. </li>
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Thank you for reading my guide to streamlining board game explanations, if you wish to read my full review of Rialto go to <a href="http://toddsboardgames.blogspot.ca/2014/03/rialto.html">toddsboardgames.blogspot.ca/2014/03/rialto.html</a><br />
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<br />todd barkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02371040733053627914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-927822003787777019.post-848173290273065682014-06-18T09:36:00.000-07:002018-04-05T20:30:05.859-07:00Ghost Blitz 2.0<div>
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<span itemprop="itemreviewed">Ghost Blitz 2</span>
Reviewed by <span itemprop="reviewer">Todd Barker</span> on
<time datetime="2014/06/09" itemprop="dtreviewed">June 18th</time>:
<span itemprop="summary">Ghost Blitz 2 is a dexterity and shape recognition card game for 2-8 players ages 8 and up.</span>
<span itemprop="description"> In my review I will explain why it is not just a kids game and show Ghost Blitz 2 is played</span>
<span itemprop="rating 4"></span>
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Being a fan of the original Ghost Blitz it was only a matter of time before I added the second to my collection, why bother you might ask. Well the answer is quite simple, with 5 new pieces and another deck of cards you can add both games together to support more players or if you simply want a more challenging game. Of course Ghost Blitz 2 can also be played on its own and is just as exciting as the classic Ghost Blitz.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-lOdxmjTR_bs/U6CDFiAkmcI/AAAAAAAAEYU/rQz5zPW3pYU/s1600/Ghost+Blitz+2+Cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Ghost Blitz 2 by Zoch Verlag - Board Game Box" border="0" height="313" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-lOdxmjTR_bs/U6CDFiAkmcI/AAAAAAAAEYU/rQz5zPW3pYU/s1600/Ghost+Blitz+2+Cover.jpg" title="" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b><u>How to Play:</u></b><br />
The rules are the same as in the original Ghost Blitz, for anyone unfamiliar I will cover the basics. I will explain the variant with both games and who I think should pick up a copy of Ghost Blitz 2.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6Fn8RyAPOD8P_WGRfMvVIvIMnuuDwpV2y7ZuRP2GoYUqzA3izDOzMfU7hxUc8mC6ik8ZE8IMyjKopj40BlKAaW71tcmQb9jnIBvKpK36b_z86V_C4EhQflyj_kFZpD5kVoGkSB38JtjU/s1600/blitz2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Ghost Blitz 2 by Zoch Verlag - Board Game Components" border="0" height="246" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6Fn8RyAPOD8P_WGRfMvVIvIMnuuDwpV2y7ZuRP2GoYUqzA3izDOzMfU7hxUc8mC6ik8ZE8IMyjKopj40BlKAaW71tcmQb9jnIBvKpK36b_z86V_C4EhQflyj_kFZpD5kVoGkSB38JtjU/s1600/blitz2.jpg" title="" width="400" /></a></div>
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<u style="font-weight: bold;">Objective:</u><br />
Every turn a card is flipped face up, the person to grab the correct corresponding game piece scores the card. Once the deck has ran out, the player with the most cards will be declared the winner.<br />
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<u><b>Setup:</b></u><br />
Place the 5 pieces (Girl Ghost, Bath Tub, Frog, Brush and a Bath Mat) in the center of the table within arms reach of everyone. Shuffle all the cards and place them in a pile near the 5 playing pieces.<br />
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<u><b>Playing the Game:</b></u><br />
During a player's turn they will flip over a card from the deck, all players now race to recognize and physically grab the correct piece. Recognizing the correct piece is easy..or is it.<br />
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Each card depicts two objects, and each card will fall into one of two categories or situations. Which category the card belongs to will determine which piece you pick up but the end result will always be racing to pick up a game piece.<br />
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<b><u>Situation A:</u></b><br />
An object on the card is the same colour as its corresponding game piece. You must grab the matching piece before your opponents.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZr7Yb-mXOIVpXH2BwAQmjESxGOlCQeolNNlnVT7Z9GZuIOse-DoUbZLDWRT5Yptb5LMEYj-WGaYEvN3C2ANlV2SuQyd2xiExyTDQ1cXMYy_U4aqiiqjpw-0j7quiAkOp76hCJ4p46tLU/s1600/situation+a.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Ghost Blitz 2 by Zoch Verlag - Explanation" border="0" height="187" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZr7Yb-mXOIVpXH2BwAQmjESxGOlCQeolNNlnVT7Z9GZuIOse-DoUbZLDWRT5Yptb5LMEYj-WGaYEvN3C2ANlV2SuQyd2xiExyTDQ1cXMYy_U4aqiiqjpw-0j7quiAkOp76hCJ4p46tLU/s1600/situation+a.png" title="" width="400" /></a></div>
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<b><u>Situation B:</u></b><br />
All objects on the card are miscoloured. You must now grab the game piece that is unrepresented on the card both in shape and colour.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8sEfSI7kcqUadq-bxL638v_b6ZnSG5GL9C0eaFTrclROhKOxss2b-WU6KivNjHsYL5XaOL44fJQgRd8cLo8tku_hCQywx-91bvkT-WFTt27ai2Uyzdf_LeM1krVBNMbXDeG0H2WGlj5g/s1600/situation+b.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Ghost Blitz 2 by Zoch Verlag - Explanation" border="0" height="231" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8sEfSI7kcqUadq-bxL638v_b6ZnSG5GL9C0eaFTrclROhKOxss2b-WU6KivNjHsYL5XaOL44fJQgRd8cLo8tku_hCQywx-91bvkT-WFTt27ai2Uyzdf_LeM1krVBNMbXDeG0H2WGlj5g/s1600/situation+b.png" title="" width="400" /></a></div>
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<b><u>Scoring Points and Game End:</u></b><br />
Every time you correctly grab a piece that corresponds with the newly revealed card you 'take' the card into your own pile. Once the deck runs out the player with the most cards in their pile is the winner.<br />
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<b><u><span style="font-size: large;">Combining the Games:</span></u></b><br />
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<b><u>Set Up:</u> </b><br />
Set up the pieces from Ghost Blitz 1 in the regular circle, this will form the Castle Cellar.<br />
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Set up the pieces from Ghost Blitz 2 in a second circle, this will form the Castle Bathroom.<br />
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Take half of the cards from Ghost Blitz 1 and shuffle them together with half of the cards from Ghost Blitz 2 to form 1 deck the same size as a regular Ghost Blitz deck.<br />
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<b><u>Playing:</u></b><br />
Flip over a card, if it shows pieces from Ghost Blitz 1, you play in the Cellar and if it shows pieces from 2, you play inside the Bathroom. This adds another layer of recognition, you have to first see what room the card takes place in and then grab the appropriate piece. Scoring is done the same as in both regular games, grabbing the right piece gives you the card to count as a point but grabbing the wrong card forces you to give away one of your previously won cards.<br />
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<b><u>Additional Rules / Variants In Ghost Blitz 2:</u></b><br />
Each one of these rules can be added on its own or in combination with the other rules to mix you up even more and really put your memory and recognition skills to the test.<br />
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<i>Talking Frog: </i>When a card with the frog is turned face up players do not race to grab the correct item but simply shout it out instead.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwV2-udQltv7OwpoB0xsDEy3GBbkXzOwZDnoJFZGXQrQLDBVfQfEAJjCflXNnfUVcWy_J1gKLhdTac0PiveVnhB8G_qShNAwoJZcbzcVS1oznay1WFJLaFxCasup7G2la50Mt2N3xVaq4/s1600/bluetowel.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Ghost Blitz 2 by Zoch Verlag - Blue Towel - Extra Rules" border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwV2-udQltv7OwpoB0xsDEy3GBbkXzOwZDnoJFZGXQrQLDBVfQfEAJjCflXNnfUVcWy_J1gKLhdTac0PiveVnhB8G_qShNAwoJZcbzcVS1oznay1WFJLaFxCasup7G2la50Mt2N3xVaq4/s1600/bluetowel.png" title="" width="278" /></a></div>
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<i>The Frog Speaks Two Languages!: </i>When the card showing the frog <b>also </b>shows any item (including the frog) in its correct colour, you must shout that item's name in another language.<br />
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<i>What Did the Towel Dry Off?: </i>When a towel is revealed, you look for the item that is the colour the towel shows and grab it. If the towel green you shout frog instead of grabbing it.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TrIpKkDknvA/U6G4kbFk0BI/AAAAAAAAEYo/pfEKRA2wA2g/s1600/greentowel.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Ghost Blitz 2 by Zoch Verlag - Green Towel - Extra Rules" border="0" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TrIpKkDknvA/U6G4kbFk0BI/AAAAAAAAEYo/pfEKRA2wA2g/s1600/greentowel.png" title="" width="212" /></a></div>
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<b><u>Who would enjoy Ghost Blitz 2?</u></b><br />
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<i>Family Gamers:</i> The most obvious benefit of the Ghost Blitz games to me is that kids can play without needing adult help, even better adults can join in and not have to handicap themselves in anyway. Playing Ghost Blitz definitely gets your brain going and encourages quick thinking, and as if you needed another plus, Ghost Blitz 2 is language neutral just like the original game. Ghost Blitz 2 also gives you a ton of different variants and extra rules to try that will give you lots of control over the difficulty of the game and keep that fresh feeling that will leave everyone wanting to play again.<br />
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<i>Casual Gamers:</i> Ghost Blitz makes a great filler, warm up, in between or wind down game, its also great with beer. The dexterity mechanics and easy to learn rules make it super easy and enjoyable to teach to anyone regardless if they have any experience with boardgames or not. Where Ghost Blitz 2 really shines is combining it with the original game you can now support more players and more laughs. Casual Gamers will enjoy some of the extra rules and will find they make the social atmosphere very enjoyable, Ghost Blitz 2 is a great game to show non gamers.<br />
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<i>Gamer Gamers:</i> Great to show your non gamer friends, also great to bring to family gatherings. Even serious gamers will find it challenging to throw all the extra rules in and you will find yourself getting mixed up more than you would have thought. Great game for your collection because you can scale the difficulty depending on who you are playing with.todd barkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02371040733053627914noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-927822003787777019.post-47552388821835097822014-06-09T10:59:00.000-07:002018-04-05T22:40:33.305-07:00Templar The Secret Treasure<div>
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<span itemprop="itemreviewed">Templar</span>
Reviewed by <span itemprop="reviewer">Todd Barker</span> on
<time datetime="2014/06/09" itemprop="dtreviewed">June 9th</time>:
<span itemprop="summary">Templar: The Secret Treasure is a area control and role selection board game for 2-5 players from Queen Games.</span>
<span itemprop="description"> In my review I will cover how to play Templar, how well it scales up to 5 players and who I think should buy the boardgame.</span>
<span itemprop="rating 4"></span>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgivUkWBra4Oo-y4ZKkrk1uhmzg0VeyUJP8a6I4UswNRiXGRvO99oH-ZfTG1uAM4wd6j_2Hhm5oezDFID2qZ3vNPEAlYhIM3fYWn0YUdiMjWBi1K72zPLyWwhyphenhyphenQ9Blx990g0wtRM4nkBf4/s1600/templar.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgivUkWBra4Oo-y4ZKkrk1uhmzg0VeyUJP8a6I4UswNRiXGRvO99oH-ZfTG1uAM4wd6j_2Hhm5oezDFID2qZ3vNPEAlYhIM3fYWn0YUdiMjWBi1K72zPLyWwhyphenhyphenQ9Blx990g0wtRM4nkBf4/s1600/templar.jpg" width="352" /></a></div>
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<b>Objective:</b> Your goal is to gain the most victory points by hiding treasure inside of the Abbey and scoring them via the abbot Remigius. In addition at the end of the game you will gain victory points for the number of different rooms you have treasure hidden in, as well as any face up signet rings remaining hidden inside the abbey.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2nWgH675PWQ/U5HOYluCvnI/AAAAAAAAEQc/dZefR2yB-Yg/s1600/P1010268.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="End game look at Templar by Queen Games" border="0" height="480" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2nWgH675PWQ/U5HOYluCvnI/AAAAAAAAEQc/dZefR2yB-Yg/s1600/P1010268.JPG" title="" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Approaching end game, dreaded cell phone at the table.</td></tr>
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<b>How To Play:</b> Playing is relatively simple and Templar is actually labeled as a family game which I am still not sure is right. The rules are simple enough but the strategy can be hard to grasp and it took a few games before anyone scored near 80 (max on the score board). Templar could be considered an abstract strategy game in the sense that you could have any or no theme at all and everyone has the same starting pieces / position. Templar is also entirely language neutral with no required text and the game comes with rules in five different languages.<br />
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On their turn each player selects 1 card from their hand that is not currently face up in front of any other player and plays it on top of his discard pile. Each card represents a character that allows your to perform a specific action. With a selection of 10 available cards it can be a bit daunting to learn but luckily in order to introduce the concept of the game you only really need to know 5 cards and 3 of them function the same way.<br />
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<b>The Cards:</b> Here is a list of each card and what they do in the order I think they should be explained.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2UmAYa1O21Y/U5HOoPGDZOI/AAAAAAAAESk/LCLr6wrSkpY/s1600/P1010344.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Monk cards Templar: Queen Games" border="0" height="480" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2UmAYa1O21Y/U5HOoPGDZOI/AAAAAAAAESk/LCLr6wrSkpY/s320/P1010344.JPG" title="" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Anselmus, Josua, Lucas: The Monks from fat to skinny.</td></tr>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lVDje7XTlmo/U5HOpoohPrI/AAAAAAAAES0/i6Xhv9rWdsE/s1600/P1010346.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lVDje7XTlmo/U5HOpoohPrI/AAAAAAAAES0/i6Xhv9rWdsE/s1600/P1010346.JPG" width="320" /></a>When each one of these monks is played you are able to take your personal treasure supply and stash it inside the abbey. The type of treasure depends on the type of spaces available in the room, the number of treasures you get to hide and how many spaces you can move depends on which monk you played. The fattest monk moves only 1 room but can hide 3 treasures, Josua is able to move up to 2 rooms and hide 2 treasures and Lucas can move up to 3 rooms but only hide 1 treasure.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wWGBgIYKH7Q/U5HOrnnSwTI/AAAAAAAAETQ/OTggs0Nsy3w/s1600/P1010349.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Remigius Templar: Queen Games" border="0" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wWGBgIYKH7Q/U5HOrnnSwTI/AAAAAAAAETQ/OTggs0Nsy3w/s1600/P1010349.JPG" title="" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Remigius the Abbot</td></tr>
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Playing Remigius, the white card allows you to move the Abbot meeple up to two rooms and then score all the treasure inside of the room which is your primary way of getting points.Signet Rings are worth 2 points,Books are worth 3 points and Grails are worth 5 points.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-fSYxvzjFy5Y/U5HOqVvhYHI/AAAAAAAAETA/FEzgDL63Mhs/s1600/P1010347.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-fSYxvzjFy5Y/U5HOqVvhYHI/AAAAAAAAETA/FEzgDL63Mhs/s1600/P1010347.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
Whenever Remigius scores a room players only turn one of their signet rings face down and leave the others to be scored if Remigius ever re enters that room or as extra points at the end of the game.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-wp_5-hxyJbA/U5HOqzr_A0I/AAAAAAAAETE/gwoozFQtkCo/s1600/P1010348.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Maria Templar: Queen Games" border="0" height="480" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-wp_5-hxyJbA/U5HOqzr_A0I/AAAAAAAAETE/gwoozFQtkCo/s1600/P1010348.JPG" title="" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Maria Your Sister</td></tr>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0pN_Fbh_dKU/U5HOYsm9EkI/AAAAAAAAEQg/cNAIFvoTekk/s1600/P1010269.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="Harbour Templar The Secret Treasure Queen Games" border="0" height="150" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0pN_Fbh_dKU/U5HOYsm9EkI/AAAAAAAAEQg/cNAIFvoTekk/s1600/P1010269.JPG" title="" width="200" /></a>Playing Maria allows you to take your choice of valuables from the Harbour. After playing Maria take your player token and place it on the section of the harbour which you wish to collect treasure from. Exchange the brown tokens from that harbour space for treasure of your colour and add them to your stash to be hidden in the room. At the start of your next turn you must leave the harbour and return to the abbey either through the front or the side entrance. </div>
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Once you have explained these 5 cards I believe you are ready to jump into a game as players are going to keep asking what each other card does repeatedly regardless so for now just stick to the basics. The rest of the cards are explained below.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8o4DzGCU_AA/U5HOsWWZUEI/AAAAAAAAETU/HJgnV5tmf7o/s1600/P1010350.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Severus, Porticus and the Bells cards. Templar: Queen Games" border="0" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8o4DzGCU_AA/U5HOsWWZUEI/AAAAAAAAETU/HJgnV5tmf7o/s1600/P1010350.JPG" title="" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Severus, Porticus and the Bells cards.</td></tr>
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These are the next most important cards as they control situations in the game other than hiding / scoring treasure.<br />
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<b>Severus</b> allows you to move Prior Severus who stops any actions which effect treasures from taking place in the same room (this includes hiding, moving and scoring).<br />
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<b>Porticus</b> allows you to move the door to anywhere on the board you wish, only the spy can pass through the door. Playing both of these cards awards you with 1 point.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwqadPX7NS6lRFO1u51y2DB40s5Nbmn2PSPTScpWipdGRQtU5CQDmNz7lN9koMavAuixDhnX8hmQE_qfkPKAIWHtKqXpKFwMWZuTtrpK1r_IYoYZ3szERyZwgoDKiLW4GWZYzlZ7g9o5o/s1600/bells.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwqadPX7NS6lRFO1u51y2DB40s5Nbmn2PSPTScpWipdGRQtU5CQDmNz7lN9koMavAuixDhnX8hmQE_qfkPKAIWHtKqXpKFwMWZuTtrpK1r_IYoYZ3szERyZwgoDKiLW4GWZYzlZ7g9o5o/s1600/bells.png" width="266" /></a><br />
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<b>Bells</b> is a bit more complicated card as it effects two parts of the game. First you refill the harbour. The number of treasure tokens that get added to the harbour depends on the number in the top right of the card you played previously. Next you get to pick up all of your previously played cards giving you a fresh selection to choose from (also pick up bells)<br />
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Note: There can never be two Grails on the same harbour space. This is nice because it helps minimize the luck / turn order factor.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0pN_Fbh_dKU/U5HOYsm9EkI/AAAAAAAAEQg/cNAIFvoTekk/s1600/P1010269.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0pN_Fbh_dKU/U5HOYsm9EkI/AAAAAAAAEQg/cNAIFvoTekk/s1600/P1010269.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bit tight on space, our harbour had to hang off the table. You can see by the end of the game no one cared to put the tokens on the board straight.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-XdAdS09Rrzk/U5HOs6aQ_XI/AAAAAAAAETc/A2J7gHrXn9c/s1600/P1010351.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Stephanus and Benjamin cards from Templar: Queen Games" border="0" height="480" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-XdAdS09Rrzk/U5HOs6aQ_XI/AAAAAAAAETc/A2J7gHrXn9c/s1600/P1010351.JPG" title="" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Stephanus and Benjamin</td></tr>
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Stephanus and Benjamin are both cards that will help players form their own strategy and often do not get played unless a player has few other choices. I do not think you should cover these cards until someone asks about them and what they do as you will just overload the players you are explaining to.<br />
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<b>Stephanus</b> moves your colour token up to two rooms away and then awards you 1 point for each other character in the room, this includes all player and non player controlled characters.<br />
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<b>Benjamin</b> allows you to move signet rings around the abbey. You can pick up a ring at any point during your 3 room movement but you must hide it in the room you end your turn in. You can move other players`rings except for on the final game turn after someone has already triggered the end of game.<br />
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<b>Important Notes:</b><br />
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When you play a card you are unable to re-enter a room you have been in during that turn with the exception of Benjamin.<br />
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<b>Spy Vitus:</b> does not have a card and instead moves to the last known location of Remigius every time Remigius changes rooms. Remigius cannot move into or through a room with Spy Vitus unless he has no other choice at which point you still only pass through and cannot end with both the spy and the abbot in the same room.<br />
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<b>Game End: </b><br />
The game ends one of two ways, if you cannot refill the harbour as there are no brown tokens left in the bag or once one player has succesfully placed treasure into each of the 13 rooms. In both cases all players including whoever caused the game end is allowed to have 1 more turn.<br />
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<b>End Game Scoring:</b><br />
Every player adds 2 points for each face up signet ring hidden inside the abbey to their current score.<br />
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Each player adds a number of points based on how many different rooms they have treasure hidden in to their total score.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_azCSOi6cQg/U5HOkQCm-rI/AAAAAAAAER4/j8KmEnIoA3I/s1600/P1010339.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Rooms to points score card. Templar: Queen Games" border="0" height="480" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_azCSOi6cQg/U5HOkQCm-rI/AAAAAAAAER4/j8KmEnIoA3I/s1600/P1010339.JPG" title="" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rooms to points score card</td></tr>
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<b>Components:</b><br />
I really enjoyed the way the components are in Templar, they included custom wooden meeples when generic ones of different colours would have worked. I also really like how the card backs match a players` colour so well and this is one of the few games where I really don`t care which colour I end up playing as.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-odqmQyV3mhc/U5HOYoKKP8I/AAAAAAAAEQY/41tH3Vn2WMI/s1600/P1010270.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-odqmQyV3mhc/U5HOYoKKP8I/AAAAAAAAEQY/41tH3Vn2WMI/s1600/P1010270.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Green`s Pieces, he has no treasure available to hide hence playing his Stephanus card.</td></tr>
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My main complaint about each player`s individual pieces is the mechanic or system of having access to only part of your pieces at a time. I understand this is a key part to the game`s mechanics and I have seen this system in more than a couple other games, I just find it to be fiddly. Our solution has been to use the scoring card with room to points ration on it as a barrier between your available treasure and those that you still have to claim from the harbour.<br />
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The game board is attractive although a bit hard to follow in some spots but I really like how Poriticus and the door interact with the game board.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EPBBebDc8sE/U5HOiae48cI/AAAAAAAAERg/pjU7iJIzknQ/s1600/P1010335.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Templar: The Secret Treasure by Queen Games = Board" border="0" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EPBBebDc8sE/U5HOiae48cI/AAAAAAAAERg/pjU7iJIzknQ/s1600/P1010335.JPG" title="" width="640" /></a></div>
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<b>How Does it Scale 2 - 5 players?</b><br />
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<i>Two Players: </i>Two player uses a dummy player acting as a third player, although only for the purpose of stopping roles from being selected. I find Templar to be a very tight two player game with a lot of meta / head game going on of trying to predict your opponent's next move. The dummy player adds a luck element that I find is not present with other player sizes because you usually have a pretty good idea of what someone is going to be played especially if you can keep track of what is in their discard. Two player Templar does end pretty quickly because turns go around very quickly and there is a shorter learning curve for introducing new players.<br />
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<i>Three Players: </i>Three players is okay, not my favourite format but I do enjoy it more than with the dummy. The games pace is still fairly quick and you will have an easier time forming a strategy than in the two player game. It is important to note that your location on the board matters more now that there are three players although I do not think it is worth stressing about yet.<br />
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<i>Four Players:</i> This is where Templar shines, with four players there is a lot going on. You really have to think ahead for what cards you are going to be able to play so you have to try to remember what cards everyone has used up. At the same time the door and severus move around a lot more and your location on the board is extremely important. Four player is where blocking and screwing your opponents shines the most and most importantly to me in a four player game you have the most options for strategy.<br />
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<i>Five Players: </i>Things start to get a bit chaotic and it can be hard to form a plan. Although if you are good at watching cards you can create amazing strategies and use your opponents moves in your favour. The main reason to why I dislike five players is sometimes you are very limited in what you can do and your strategy is forced to adjust instead of catering to your play style. In addition not being in full control of your strategy can cause the game to drag and we have debated packing in early on more than one occasion.<br />
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<b>Who is Templar: The Secret Treasure best suited for?</b><br />
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<i>Family Gamers: </i>On BGG you will see Templar fall into the family game category, although the rules are easy enough and there is no violence at all, I am not entirely sure this is where it best fits. My main issue is that I feel younger players will have a hard time developing a strategy and could likely lose interest as a result. The game also takes a little bit longer than what I would consider family game material. That being said I do not think Templar is any more challenging than say Carcassonne if you approach it the right way.<br />
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<i>Casual Gamers:</i> Because you are restricted to what cards you are allowed to play turns tend to go around quickly, instead of considering a plethora of moves players only have to consider a few options especially when you start playing with more players. It is also easy to not pay attention to other players' moves and still play Templar, you probably wont win but it gives you the option to play the board game in a more social atmosphere.<br />
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<i>Gamer Gamers:</i> I think Templar is much more suited for serious gamers than it is to family gamers. It is one of those games with easy to learn rules but takes a lot to master. I also feel that games with a meta / head game are much better suited towards avid gamers because they give an option to really get into the game. Having to track what your opponents played may seem just like card counting but once you get good at it you can not only use your opponents moves to your advantage but plan further ahead than most games without having to worry about something another player does screwing it up. The game has almost felt scripted on a few occasions where someone has set up a grand finale and if you are someone who likes trying to pull off that last turn jaw dropper Templar is a great game for you.<br />
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<br />todd barkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02371040733053627914noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-927822003787777019.post-4549948189595747942014-05-23T07:46:00.000-07:002016-04-01T11:22:14.102-07:00Guide to Teaching Board Games - Five Steps<blockquote class="tr_bq">
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| April 4th 2016 | </blockquote>
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Thanks for checking out my blog. I have a new, much better looking version of this review here: http://www.boardgamebarker.com/blog/2015/12/21/guide-to-teaching-board-games-five-steps</blockquote>
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You're holding it in your hands, that awesome cool looking game that you really want. What's holding you back? Maybe your group just isn't in to those type of games, maybe your group doesn't have enough players, or maybe you just suck at explaining how to play.<br />
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This is the first part in a series that will hopefully help you become a better board game teacher so that you can not only play any game with your friends / gaming group but you will also have no problem at all introducing new people to the wonderful world of board gaming.<br />
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Before diving into what you can do to make sure you are explaining the game to the best of your ability I will first cover the biggest mistake you can make.<br />
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<b>Avoid long winded explanations:</b> This is by far the biggest point, I have seen many explanations lose players entirely this way. So much wasted time when you go through a 25 minute explanation only to have players ask what to do or how this works or what that thingy is. Do not explain every little detail there is, keep things short and sweet. I will talk about this more below but for context it is important to understand that trying to explain too much at once, or in the wrong order, adding little irrelevant details will overload the people you are wanting to teach your game to. Instead you should keep them on a need to know basis.<br />
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<i><span style="font-size: large;">Steps to a good explanation</span></i><br />
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The following steps will explain what I think the best order to explain a game in is, one thing to keep in mind while you continue reading is to know your group. The key to teaching anything lies in explaining the concepts in a relatable way, if your group has played a similar game to not hesitate to draw upon similarities and make those connections.<br />
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<b>Objective/Goal:</b> The easiest way for someone to understand a new concept is by starting with the goal. Getting money, ore or fuel is fun and all but if I don't know what I am trying to accomplish none of it is really going to make sense. If the goal is something simple like having the most points then briefly touch on when the game ends. Next you are going to move into how you complete that objective. Avoid explaining any out of the ordinary game ending conditions, you can get back to them in the recap but for now just stick to what they need to know.<br />
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<b>Tools:</b> Now that players understand what they are trying to do you are going to want to explain what they can use to accomplish that goal. If you goal is to take over your opponent's base you are going to cover the most basic things you have in your arsenal. If the goal is to have the most victory points you might explain the different ways to get them; "travel to these towns, donate to the church, serve these customers, get on the village council, or hoard your coins." Once players have grasped what their goal is and the different ways they can achieve it you are going to move into the process.<br />
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<b>The Absolute Basics:</b> Now that everyone knows their goal, the options of tools they can use to complete that goal you are going to summarize the game flow in as little information as possible. "On your turn you place one of your people onto an open space to activate it. Once everyone is out of people to place we get them all back and can start placing them again. Instead of placing a person you can take just take coins or complete a building by paying the corresponding costs listed on the card"<br />
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<b>Recap: </b>This should have taken you somewhere around 1-3 minutes per topic depending on the game. Now you do a very short recap, something like "remember the game ends after the 8th turn, then there are some final scoring conditions and we each get points for unused adventurers and gold. Then we all get bonus points according to the hidden objective on the Lord Card I dealt you earlier.<br />
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<b>Set the example:</b> Telling everyone all this is great and wonderful but still you might get some deer in the headlights, that is just because everyone learns differently. I find that it always helps if the people knowing the game start even if it is just you that way everyone else gets a chance to see the game flow in action.<br />
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Thank you for reading my steps to explaining board games. In the upcoming part of the series I will give an example of a streamlined explanation of a complex game as well as cover a totally different angle than just worker placement games. I will also offer some great tips that will help you to explain a board game whether or not you decide to follow my 5 steps.<br />
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<a href="http://toddsboardgames.blogspot.ca/2014/07/guide-to-teaching-board-games.html">Part Two - Five Steps in Example - Streamlined Explanation of Rialto</a>todd barkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02371040733053627914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-927822003787777019.post-23443618818388096432014-05-21T09:59:00.000-07:002018-04-05T22:40:53.506-07:00Machi Koro<div>
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<span itemprop="itemreviewed">Machi Koro</span>
Reviewed by <span itemprop="reviewer">Todd Barker</span> on
<time datetime="2014-05-21" itemprop="dtreviewed">May 21st</time>:
<span itemprop="summary">Machi Koro is the next great boardgame craze coming out of Japan.</span>
<span itemprop="description"> A fast paced and light engine building card game for you and up to 3 friends.</span>
<span itemprop="rating 4"></span>
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You might have seen this game come up recently online, a lot of people are predicting it to be the next big craze and I will do my best to explain why. In my review of Machi Koro I will explain how to play as well as how I liked it with 2/3/4 players. I also consider the who should buy section much more important than usual and of course I will touch on my thoughts including why I think Machi Koro is a great replacement for monopoly and why I think some groups might ditch it unfairly.<br />
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<a name='more'></a><span style="font-size: large;">How to Play:</span><br />
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<b>Objective: </b><br />
The goal in Machi Koro is simple, the first player to complete his 4th starting landmark is the winner. To complete a landmark you must have the right amount of cash and importantly like regular buildings you can only build 1 per turn.<br />
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<b>Setup:</b><br />
To start deal each player 1 of each of the 4 landmarks face down. Next give everyone a wheat field and baker (make sure they are cards that do not have a coin cost on the bottom left) and finally give everyone 3 coins. Then lay out all the available buildings you can buy, we found arranging by colour works better than by price or die roll.<br />
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<b>On Your Turn:</b><br />
Your turn is simple, you roll 1 or 2 dice (if you have constructed your station) and then depending on the result all players get a chance to activate their appropriate buildings. It is important to remember what the colour coding of the cards means and when they will activate.<br />
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Note: If you have the station you can choose between rolling 1 and 2 dice, when you roll two dice the results are added together and not counted as 2 rolls (notice the cards that require higher than a 6 to activate).<br />
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<i>Green / Purple Cards</i> - Activate only if you roll the die<br />
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<i>Blue Cards</i> - Activate if anyone rolled the corresponding number<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUqmGKjNL845XLPkk1mK-m274TPa6tQe0edgy0Il9roRS0L7Snv7iwzjdD1z8bGV4Xm1SecXfIbV6noIL4MznclI9nvwFEPCtN5zew4TKrG9mv5gq7_Tt7jmds9jmqMY_PZlrTDuCifDw/s1600/blue+cards+.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="machi koro card example mine blue" border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUqmGKjNL845XLPkk1mK-m274TPa6tQe0edgy0Il9roRS0L7Snv7iwzjdD1z8bGV4Xm1SecXfIbV6noIL4MznclI9nvwFEPCtN5zew4TKrG9mv5gq7_Tt7jmds9jmqMY_PZlrTDuCifDw/s1600/blue+cards+.jpg" title="" width="216" /></a></div>
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<i>Red Cards </i>- Activate only if an opponent rolled the corresponding number<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aCb3bjOwBCo/U3zXc-llGWI/AAAAAAAAEMM/2qy-UhNJfAo/s1600/red+cards.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="machi koro card example cafe red" border="0" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aCb3bjOwBCo/U3zXc-llGWI/AAAAAAAAEMM/2qy-UhNJfAo/s1600/red+cards.jpg" title="" width="218" /></a></div>
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All the cards tell you when they activate but if you can remember the simple colour coding you will be able to quickly survey the table and see the strategies of your opponents. This will also ensure the game moves along a little quicker, and its easy to memorize the meaning of a few colours.<br />
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Next you get the chance to buy a building from any available stack or construct one of your starting landmark cards. This is how you build your engine, note that you can only buy once per turn. Then play passes to the next player who follows the same fast and simple process.<br />
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<b>Components:</b><br />
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As this is not the finished copy I will not spend too long on the components, I will note that they will have better currency in the finished version. We are currently working on an appealing solution to the plastic chips, so far we have used real coins a couple times and dice others but the plastic chips included simply wont do. I am in love with the Art which is actually what first intrigued me about Machi Koro. One thing I do like is Machi Koro gives us dice lovers a chance to break out some of our d6s, rather than pass the dice around we simply each had 2 of our own.<br />
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<b>My Thoughts:</b><br />
Before I delve into how it plays / scales with the different number of players I just want to touch on why this could be the next craze in the board game hobby.<br />
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It is very simple to teach. There is luck factor that stops people who are teaching from gaining a huge lead on the players still learning the game. This also stops you from having to hold back when teaching, which creates a much better intro experience.<br />
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<i>It plays fast and how it plays.</i> A turn can be related very well to Monopoly that I think any non gamer will pick up on it almost instantaneously. You roll a die see if you get money and then spend your money, this is actually a lot more fun than monopoly where you roll dice see if you owe money and then spend your cash. The action of rolling dice at the start of your turn, occasionally giving money to other players, spending your money and passing the dice / your turn to the next player keeps everyone interested even when its not their turn. All together playing a game has been taking us 5-20 minutes depending if players know the rules and how many people are playing and of course what numbers actually get rolled.<br />
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<i>Sense of accomplishment.</i> In monopoly you get to see your properties and you get to see your money making scheme develop as you add hotels and houses to your lots. In Machi Koro your accomplishment or sense of building towards something is amplified because each investment pays off so much easier and quicker. All someone needs to do is roll the right number instead of landing on the right space which yes is just rolling a number but each space cant come up on any given turn. At the end of the game when your landmarks are turned over and you can quickly see how many everyone else had turned over you get a much better sense of how everyone placed than in a game like Monopoly especially when you are not the winner.<br />
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Mechanically Machi Koro appeals to both non gamers as you can see from my examples above but it also appeals to board gamers by giving us a refreshing take on already well known mechanics. Something like Dominion without the shuffling/deck, the process of playing provides lots of interaction and room for table talk and of course there are those take that screw you mechanics, they are totally optional which brings me to my last point, that Machi Koro is a game where you get out of it what you put into it. If you want to just sit back have a beer buy some investments, roll a die and see what happens then Machi Koro works for you but if you want a nail biting take that race built up by the anticipation that "anything can happen" when the dice are rolled, where you need to count out every move and make sure every action counts, then you can do that with Machi Koro too.<br />
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My only criticism I have already seen elsewhere, there simply aren't enough cards to choose from but that can be combated by refusing to give in to Machi Koro's play me again attitude. This can be offset by future expansions, at the very least this is a very easy game to add some of your custom cards too if you aren't happy with the current selection. My only other complaint ties into the lack of card selection and that is how quickly you can burn out from Machi Koro. Even though it leaves you wanting to play again I do not believe it was intended for multiple plays in succession to each other although that is purely my perspective / speculation. I think that if you pace yourself with Machi Koro it will be a great addition to every group however I think that it has the potential to sit on someones shelf because they get tired of it and assume it is because of the lack of card selection meanwhile they played it 20 times in the week because it was new and shiny. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Building / Location Selection</td></tr>
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<b>How It Scales:</b><br />
<i>2 Players</i> - At first I did not enjoy playing two player, my first thoughts were this is kind of cool but you can see how it would get a lot better with more people. Now after playing 15 or so times with different number of players, I think the two player game is just fine. This builds off my last point above where I say you get what you put into it, this is important for my two player gaming because depending on how busy our day was sometimes we just want a minimum thinking game and other times we are ready for an all out war. Some things I like about 2 player Machi Koro over 3 / 4. The overall game length is shorter, your rolls benefit other people less and it feels more strategic even when not giving it a lot of thought because there are fewer rolls, more room to play around with your strategy because no buildings will ever run out. I enjoy 2 player Machi Koro because it provides better sense of accomplishment than lots of other 2 player games in my collection, my only criticism is its a lot to break out if you are only going to play 1 match for a 2 player game.<br />
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<i>3 Players </i>- This is my favourite size for Machi Koro, I feel like there is just the right amount of everything, play time, strategy, dice rolled etc. I do not have a single complaint about 3 player Machi Koro and if your gaming group consists of 3 players often, you definitely need to buy this game.<br />
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<i>4 Players </i>- Alright, this is my least favourite way to play that is not to say that I think Machi Koro is bad with 4 players but let me explain why. Some of the cards can run out, in a game that doesn't give you a ton of different strategies to begin with, it is annoying when someone takes the cards for the strategy you want although you can argue that is part of the meta game that comes with playing 4 players (watching what cards your opponents buy more carefully). I do not like how the odds can landslide in someone's favour, in 2 player it is easy enough to make a comeback but I never managed or saw it happen in a 4 player game because you get 1 buy / 4 rolls as opposed to 1 buy every 2 rolls. That means that if the person in the lead is utilizing blue buildings they are likely to remain in the lead. Also as engaging as Machi Koro is on other players turns sometimes it takes a little too long for it to be your turn again, I am generally impatient but I wasn't the only one feeling this way. 4 Players is also a tight fit on our table once everyone gets an engine going we start running out of room and have to shuffle things around or risk our cities sprawling into our neighbours.<br />
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<b>Who Should Buy Machi Koro?</b><br />
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<i>Family Gamers</i> - This is one you can play with any of your relatives or family from kids to grandparents. The theme I think is great and accessible to anyone, who doesn't want to develop their own city? I think that Machi Koro actually teaches you some cool concepts as you are playing you learn some basics about investing, probability and definitely makes it easy for non gamers to think strategically. You can explain that it is sort of like Monopoly but much quicker and without a board and I think you will get your family interested, for that reason I cant wait to show my sister (total non gamer).<br />
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<i>Casual Gamers</i> - You own Ticket to Ride, King of Tokyo and Pandemic, your next buy should be Machi Koro. I would say this really depends on the number of games you own and what they are, if you only own 3 games and one of them is a deckbuilder I would not buy Machi Koro, if you only have 1 or 2 games then I would also not buy Machi Koro as its very easy to burn out on especially since it leaves you wanting to play again and is short enough that there is always enough time for one more game. If you play a lot with non gaming friends or people who aren't entirely sold on the hobby yet, definitely get this one, this is where I think it will shine the most, brining people into our hobby.<br />
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<i>Gamer Gamers </i>- Great for in between games, great for showing friends and family that aren't as enthusiastic about the hobby as you are. Smaller size makes it easy to justify adding to your already huge collection. Machi Koro is a game I think everyone should have in their collection and since you have more games to choose from it is likely that you will ever burn out from Machi Koro.<br />
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<br />todd barkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02371040733053627914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-927822003787777019.post-9233889061503260782014-05-12T07:43:00.003-07:002016-04-01T11:23:43.609-07:00Online Board Gaming Pros and Cons<blockquote class="tr_bq">
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| April 4th 2016 | </blockquote>
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Thanks for checking out my blog. I have a new, much better looking version of this review here: http://www.boardgamebarker.com/blog/2015/12/28/online-board-gaming-pros-and-cons</blockquote>
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Often when I see "Online Board Games" brought up they are talked about as if they are inferior to playing their physical counterparts. I am going to try and highlight some of the pros and cons I have noticed while gaming online. Personally I do not feel that one way of playing is superior to another I think it is entirely situational and dependent on what mood you are in and how much time/money/friends are at your disposal.<br />
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<u><b>The Social Experience</b></u><br />
The number one argument against gaming online is that the social aspect of board gaming almost disappears entirely. While for the most part this is true and it was actually quite off putting when I tried my first couple games of Jaipur and Stone Age. But then I realized if I did any of the following things at a meetup or games night people would be talking about how strange I was for days.<br />
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Sit down at a table without knowing anyone or introducing yourself at all.<br />
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Not talk about anything happening inside or outside of the game at any point while the game was actually being played.<br />
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Some people don't do this but I like to have a conversation about the game after, not so much what happened during the session but the game itself, I also didn't do this in my first few online board game matches. What I am trying to say is lots of people may seem closed at first but all it takes is one person to start a conversation. Just like sitting around the table you can talk about anything you wish and people are friendly because after all they are still board gamers.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-q6W1cra358I/U3DbnndJY6I/AAAAAAAAEJc/iHreNnqHOOk/s1600/tabletalk.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="454" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-q6W1cra358I/U3DbnndJY6I/AAAAAAAAEJc/iHreNnqHOOk/s1600/tabletalk.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Friendly advice from another player, ended up playing two games with these guys and getting last both times, I suck at Tzolk'in</td></tr>
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<u><b>Rules Discrepancies</b></u><br />
One thing I like about getting your board gaming in online is there is no gray area, it doesn't matter what platform you are using there is one thing that is universal and that is that the games properly follow the rules and don't allow cheating. Although there aren't many cases of either cheating or rules bending in my group this impossible to cheat does make it appealing to learn a new game this way.<br />
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I will admit I have jumped right into a game before without even reading the rules, I would not recommend this. Not because its hard to learn the game this way, I guarantee you will know how to play by the time its over, the problem is you spoil the game for people who are trying to play a game. And who knows maybe the reason they are gaming online is they don't have much time for gaming that day, maybe that is their only game and you gave them no competition at all. Which brings me to my pros and cons of gaming online, note that a lot of the points can be seen from both sides as both a pro and a con.<br />
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<u>Pros:</u></h3>
You can play whatever game you want provided its available online somewhere<br />
You can play with the number of players you prefer<br />
Cheating is impossible<br />
You don't have to travel anywhere<br />
You don't have to invest in the game<br />
You can try a game before you buy it<br />
Games can go quicker because fiddly things are automated<br />
You can multitask better on other peoples turns because you are not being "rude"<br />
Can listen to loud music because you don't have to hear anyone talk<br />
You can play with people you regularly discuss board gaming with online<br />
Easier access to your opponent's resources / playing field<br />
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Math and Calculations are done for you<br />
You don't have to fiddle with little pieces that require constant taking and putting back<br />
No set up / pack up time<br />
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<u>Cons:</u></h3>
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<b>You do not get to play with the physical components, I find much more satisfying holding a hand of cards than looking at pictures of cards on a screen. (Bolded because this is the most important point to me)</b></div>
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You can get stuck with someone who has absolutely no idea how to play (they didn't even get the rundown you would before starting the tabletop version)<br />
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Less table talk and chit chat<br />
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Your internet and or power can go out and same with your opponents<br />
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People can go pee/smoke/get side tracked without saying anything leaving you to pick your nose while you wait<br />
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Math and calculations are done for you (some people enjoy doing this)<br />
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You definitely lose a lot of the theme<br />
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Easier to get sucked into AP since you can see all your opponent's stuff without having to lean over the table<br />
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<h3>
<u>Conclusion</u></h3>
So overall the list of Pros in longer but the Cons might be more important, a bigger chance of your game being interrupted or not being able to finish or just a generally crappy game session. That being said you do have more options for what and when you play when gaming online and by getting regular online gaming friends you aren't going to have a bad time. Both can be an equally satisfying experience, and similar to various board games, both experiences satisfy very different itches. If you have never played a game online I would highly suggest giving it a try.<br />
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<br />todd barkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02371040733053627914noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-927822003787777019.post-19684063747818769072014-05-01T09:39:00.001-07:002018-04-05T22:39:56.284-07:00Fairy Tale<blockquote class="tr_bq">
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Fairy Tale is a card drafting game that plays very quickly and seats 2-5 players. I don't have a lot of experience with drafting games but out of the ones I have played this is one of my favourites. Fairy Tale has been knocking all our other filler games off the table since we picked it up. What I like best about it compared to other drafting games other than the play / setup time is how the gameplay encourages you to draft to hinder your opponents. Read below for a quick explanation of how to play and my thoughts on how it scales between 2 and 5 players.<br />
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<b>Objective / Goal:</b><br />
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The game is played in 4 rounds, at the end of the 4th round each player will have played 12 cards to create their own Fairy Tale. Players then score points depending on what cards each player has in their story<br />
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<b>How To Play:</b><br />
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The game is broken into 2 phases, players will go through both phases in all 4 rounds. The first phase is the drafting phase and the later being the activation phase.<br />
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<u>Drafting Phase:</u><br />
In the drafting phase players will start with a hand of 5 cards, select 1 to keep for their hand and then pass the remaining cards to the player on their left. Continue to do this until you are each passed 1 card that you are forced to keep thus completing your hand of 5 drafted cards.<br />
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<u>Activation Phase: </u><br />
Players choose 1 of their 5 cards to play and wait until everyone else has selected their card. Then, at the same time everyone turns over their card revealing what they played.<br />
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Depending on the cards played, players may have the opportunity to perform actions that cause their own or their opponents cards to turn over (either face down so they are worth 0 points or face up to restore the loss of a face down card.)<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">After players have selected cards they both reveal them simultaneously.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/--JXu_PzJFjk/U2Jjg_eDaoI/AAAAAAAAEEs/_VnrUTaPnxQ/s1600/P1010041.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/--JXu_PzJFjk/U2Jjg_eDaoI/AAAAAAAAEEs/_VnrUTaPnxQ/s1600/P1010041.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Since this is the first card played, and the player has no other leaf cards they must turn the Fairy Ring face down.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-lC7lbDyFvVs/U2Jjhwd_mDI/AAAAAAAAEFA/t6UDqLWe4Z4/s1600/P1010042.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-lC7lbDyFvVs/U2Jjhwd_mDI/AAAAAAAAEFA/t6UDqLWe4Z4/s1600/P1010042.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Face down cards score 0 points at the end of the game.</td></tr>
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During each activation phase players will only get to play 3 of their 5 cards, this is where I say Fairy Tale encourages you to screw with your opponents plans, the extra 2 cards you have should either be situationally better than the 3 cards you are planning on playing or simply taken to stop your opponents from gaining more of a set they are collecting.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-IywH0I0Qcfc/U2JjkKGPqAI/AAAAAAAAEFc/zyMvJ8ufu4c/s1600/P1010045.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-IywH0I0Qcfc/U2JjkKGPqAI/AAAAAAAAEFc/zyMvJ8ufu4c/s1600/P1010045.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Some cards allow you to turn a face down card face up, they have a green flip symbol.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Ro2trgP4Bfw/U2JjFWq5F6I/AAAAAAAAEAM/8Rvaj7GuVKQ/s1600/P1010005.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Ro2trgP4Bfw/U2JjFWq5F6I/AAAAAAAAEAM/8Rvaj7GuVKQ/s1600/P1010005.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The top row of shadow cards all allow you to turn one of your opponent's cards face down.</td></tr>
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<u>Games End (Scoring):</u><br />
After everyone has turned over their ninth card and executed any resulting actions, players get to total their points. Only cards remaining face up will count towards a players total points. I found the scoring simple, but a couple people I have shown it to find the scoring a bit confusing and there is definitely 1 icon that adds to the confusion (the ally).<br />
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Any card that has a number in the top left corner is worth that many points unless it has conditions that need met on the bottom.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vlod5-DziIA/U2JjSTqZrBI/AAAAAAAAECM/L_z9q53koRo/s1600/P1010021.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vlod5-DziIA/U2JjSTqZrBI/AAAAAAAAECM/L_z9q53koRo/s1600/P1010021.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">All of these cards have conditions that need met, the leftmost needs you to have the most cards with statues on the top.<br />
The red leaf card requires you to have the Fairy Queen. The leftmost green card requires you to have 2 yellow and 2 red leaf cards. And the rightmost card requires you to have the most Green cards at the end of the game.<br />
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Note: For cards that require majority a tie is good enough to score the points.</td></tr>
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Any card with a star is worth a variable amount of points depending on the other cards you have face up at the end of the game. There are two types of variable scoring (star) cards.<br />
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The first work as multipliers for each other, if you have 1 it is worth 1 point each, if you have 2 they are worth 2 points each and so on. The most I have ever been able to get is 5 of these kind.<br />
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The other work with your Ally cards and are worth 3 points for each of the corresponding Ally card you have (who are worth a base 3 points themselves).<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ehKmQP-tGXc/U2koGmm6G8I/AAAAAAAAEIk/aPwdPkavK-4/s1600/P1010191.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ehKmQP-tGXc/U2koGmm6G8I/AAAAAAAAEIk/aPwdPkavK-4/s1600/P1010191.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">At final scoring, assuming this player had or was tied for the most books, they would score 33 points.<br />
Homesteader's are multipliers of themselves 3x3 = 9 points.<br />
0 Points for the Leaf Fairy Tale Chapter since they did not have at least 2 green cards.<br />
The dwarven warriors give 3x # of bronze dragons (1) = 3 points<br />
And the remaining cards all score their face value = 21</td></tr>
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<i>How does it scale between 2 - 5 players?</i><br />
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<b>Two Players:</b> Surprisingly fun, I like drafting with just 2 players because its more of a head game, you have to think of what cards will make it back to you and weigh that as you consider which cards to take yourself and which to make sure your opponent will not get. 2 player Fairy Tale is a tense game but turns still go around quickly and the whole thing can be done in 5-10 minutes, definitely leaves you with a want to play again feel.<br />
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<b>Three Players:</b> For a lot of the reasons said above 3 player Fairy Tale is just as good as two player, I like it because each round you will have more options for strategy than in a two player game. The other major difference is there is there will simply be more cards to cycle through meaning the ones you want might turn up more often, still not enough for me to choose the King and Matching story cards as there are only 1 copy of each out of 100 cards. In a three player game 60 cards will be seen.<br />
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<b>Four Players:</b> This is where I start to consider using some of the more chancy cards, if you start with the King or Queen and not the story card I will take them every time as they are guaranteed points with a shot at very high points. I like how quickly turns the game plays with 4 players and I like how different your strategy needs to be from a 2 player game. In a four player game 80 cards will be seen.<br />
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<b>Five Players:</b> This is my least favourite number of players to play with, that being said I would still rather play fairy tale than a lot of other 5 player games. My reasoning is that turns go around quick but because it is played over 4 rounds and the cards you chose greatly effect the next round, you really feel like you are building towards / creating something. With 5 players I find people tend to focus more on their own Stories than screwing with other peoples because enough grey cards will come up that screwing with other people's plans just kind of happens. 5 player is fun because you can come up with some really good strategies since the probability of seeing the cards you want / need is much higher than with any other number of players since every card in the deck will be used..<br />
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<i>Who Would Enjoy Fairy Tale?</i><br />
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<b>Family Gamers:</b> There is no violence and once you have learned the iconography the game play is surprisingly simple. There is no long setup or explanation needed so you wont lose anyone's attention. The game is over and done with in less than 15 - 20 minutes and there is no text that you need to read. Fairy Tale is really accessible while still having a cool theme, if fantasy doesn't appeal to you then this is a game that you can very easily retheme and is worth doing so because it is a lot of fun to play.<br />
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<b>Casual Gamers: </b>Quick game play, easy to learn rules, no reading required and no long boring turns make this ideal to play with non gaming friends. That being said there is a lot of meta game involved in Fairy Tale which makes it easy to get into as more than just a filler and will leave your friends / group wanting to play again. Also because its a relatively inexpensive game its easy to justify adding a copy to your collection especially seeing as it is easy to bring with you somewhere.<br />
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<b>Gamer Gamers:</b> This is one I would encourage getting to play with your less serious friends. Even with the meta game there just isn't enough meat for someone wanting to play a serious drafting game or even a game rich in fantasy theme. That being said it is really easy to teach and quick to jump right into and a fun game to bring to your local meetup and definitely satisfies the drafting itch.<br />
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<br />todd barkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02371040733053627914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-927822003787777019.post-87946729220781484642014-04-10T10:41:00.001-07:002018-04-05T22:39:24.615-07:00Smash Up<blockquote class="tr_bq">
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Smash Up is perhaps one of the most misunderstood board games I have had the opportunity to play lately. I picked it up about a month ago based off a recommendation in /r/boardgames, it was pointed out to me that Smash Up is by the same designer as Guillotine which has become our go to filler for quite some time. Even after doing some research and discovering they had little to nothing in common, I was sold by the artwork/theme and stopped by my flgs to grab a copy of Smash Up the next day.<br />
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Objective:</div>
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Your objective is to mass 15 Victory Points primarily from destroying locations but some factions have other options to gain points. </div>
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<i>Destroying Locations?</i></div>
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During the game you will place Minions at locations in order to try and have majority control when the location "breaks". Each location has a break value in the top left corner, once the combined power of every players' minions reaches the break point, the location awards victory points based on majority control, the player with the most power gets the value on the left, the 2nd highest power total gets the value in the middle and so on. </div>
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How to play:</div>
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On your turn you will play 1 action and 1 minion in any order, provided that you do not get bonus actions or minions from those cards, you will then draw 2 cards and your turn is over. </div>
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Similarly to Guillotine all the important text is on the cards, that means when you first crack it open there is some reading but eventually the pace will pick up, although the same draw your cards at the end of the turn mechanic is present to help offset the text heavy cards.</div>
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Here is a example 2 turn example of how Smash Up is played.</div>
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My Thoughts:</div>
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I really like the theory behind Smash Up, bang two premade faction decks together to get some wacky combo and battle to the death for random locations. The artwork on the cards is fantastic, and I really like some of the faction choices although I feel like others are a bit too generic in the base game. </div>
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I do not like how unbalanced some of the combos are, Robots win almost every time unless the other person has a good combo to counter them (ninja gnome works great for this) you can offset this by giving Robots to the new player or by not choosing them or even by selecting factions 1 at a time. </div>
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I do not like how in a 4 player game there are no factions left over, base games usually support more than what is required to play in games like this and give you some options even at max players. Having at least 1 expansion feels mandatory but I am unsure as of now if the game is good enough to justify buying an expansion. </div>
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I also do not enjoy Smash Up because of the extreme variance in playtime. I like being able to judge how long a game is going to last, sometimes we finish a game of Smash Up in 10 minutes and think we have time to play another only for it to go past 45 minutes. This is because there is no rule to end the game if someone else happens other than hitting 15 points, if your deck runs out you simply reshuffle it so you can end up in a stalemate easily especially when all the factions are in play. </div>
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That all being said there are things I enjoy about Smash Up, the game is quite fun once everyone playing has had a chance to play 3 or 4 times and knows what to expect from some factions so they don't have to spend every turn reading text. I do like how Smash Up implements the draw at the end of your turn that way on your turn you aren't having to read new cards that you draw and can try to come up with a bit of a strategy. But usually by the time its your turn again what you wanted to do before isn't an option anymore, Smash Up changes often and it is actually pretty easy to catch up and pull a win from behind unless someone is playing robots or another overpowered combination. I like how intense Smash Up feels like all these random factions are just throwing down yet it still maintains some comical theme although I think lots of that is lost in the gameplay especially when you are first being introduced. Like most games Smash Up is a ton more enjoyable if you call things by the right names, don't just say you are going for this location or that, send your Grave Digger to the Tar Pits to dig up your Supreme Alien Overlord. </div>
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Overall I think Smash Up is a misunderstood game, people expect it to be fun, light and easy based on the artwork and theme and then don't have any fun as they get lost in all the text. It actually doesn't take long to get the hang of the game and you will know cards by name before long and the terminology all makes sense. Actually in my opinion the learning curve is not as stepe as a lot of people claim simply because each card tells you exactly what it does on it, there aren't keywords to learn and remember or anything to memorize really. At the same time that does slow things down, so I would say Smash Up takes time to learn and get into but is worth the commitment as long as everyone understands what they are getting into. </div>
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How does it scale?</div>
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Two Players: I like two player Smash Up, 3 locations feels like the right number to be fighting over, you can plan a few turns ahead, it feels more strategic and is a pretty fun game to play if you want to duke it out with a friend using some funny factions. The game length varies the most in a 2 player game but similar to Guillotine there is a really fun game hidden in the two player game that is heavier in strategy than at first glance. </div>
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Three Players: Hands down my favourite way to play, 4 locations is manageable and you can still plan a turn ahead. Our three player games also seem to last roughly the same amount of time each game, the focus seems to be on scoring points rather than prohibiting other players which means that game keeps progressing towards an end. There is just the right balance of tactics, strategy and luck in a 3 player game.</div>
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Four Players: This is where the theme fits best, shit is chaotic and things could change in any direction at any given time. People seem to focus on screwing each other over a lot more which means unless someone is sneaking points in the game will drag. I do like how quickly turns move around the table in a 4 player game and I also like seeing more than 1 base score at a time but that can happen just as easily in a 3 player game. I did not like 4 player Smash Up because the turn order seems to have a lot to do with who wins, there are a few things you can do to offset this but only if you have factions that combo well together, which in a 4 player game where they don't include any extra options and they aren't all balanced together, this is unlikely to happen. </div>
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Who should buy Smash Up?</div>
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Casual Gamers: I would only buy Smash Up if your game pool to choose from is small, there is a lot of replay value in Smash Up and you will need to play more than the average game to really get into it. The learning curve is slower than most games I would recommend to a casual gamer, but the rules are not challenging and the theme should appeal to a wide variety of people. The playing time and setup / cleanup time are also very casual friendly and take almost no time. </div>
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Gamer Gamers: I think there are a lot of things appealing about Smash Up although I think it may be a little too random for the typical serious gamer. It can also be frustrating to be unable to get your plan / strategy rolling and that happens quite a bit in Smash Up. Keeping that in mind there is a ton of room for backstabbing and elaborate combos / turns, avid gamers will have a much easier time learning how to play and should be able to pick it up after 1 play and Smash Up is a good game to have around if your friends want to start moving into harder games. </div>
todd barkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02371040733053627914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-927822003787777019.post-43255433823389264022014-03-18T09:39:00.000-07:002018-04-05T22:38:12.349-07:00Rialto<blockquote class="tr_bq">
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Rialto is a medium area control game by the well known board game designer Stefan Feld. Although I have wanted to try one of his games for a while this is my first run in with one of his titles. I really enjoyed it, there are multiple layers to the gameplay and you have tons of options when you develop your strategy, yet it still is over quickly as long as no one playing is AP prone.<br />
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<b>Objective:</b> You are trying to gain control of Venice by developing buildings and seeding your councilmen into the various districts of Venice. The player with the most victory points at the end of the game will be determined the winner.<br />
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<b>Gameflow:</b> Rialto is played over 6 rounds and each round consists of 2 phases. In the first phase players will gain cards to use during the second phase. In the second phase players go through a series of stages where they will play as many of a particular card type as they wish.<br />
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It is important to keep in mind that the game focuses a lot on having majority control. Each stage in the 2nd phase will give an effect for each card you play and then an additional award to player who played the most of each card type. And at the end of the game each district awards points based on who has the most councilmen there.<br />
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In addition to the score track Rialto has a second track on the board called the doge track. This score board is used to break ties during phase 2 and at the end of the game scoring, decide who chooses cards first during phase 1.<br />
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<b>Phase 1</b><br />
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During this phase each player (In order of the doge track) will choose one of the card piles available, then draw 2 cards at random and finally everyone gets to activate any green buildings they wish to. It may be helpful to now know what the heck I am talking about.<br />
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Lay out a number of rows equal to 1 more than the number of players each containing 6 face up cards.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Card rows available in a two player game.</td></tr>
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<i>Here is what each card does:</i><br />
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Doge<br />
Each Card Played: +1 space on the Doge Track<br />
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Whoever played the most: +1 extra space on the Doge Track<br />
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Coin:<br />
Each Card Played: <complete id="goog_152200467">+1 coin</complete><br />
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Whoever played the most: +1 extra coin<br />
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Building:<br />
Each Card Played: +1 building value for the turn<br />
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Whoever played the most: +1 extra building value<br />
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Bridges:<br />
Each Card Played: +1 victory point, in addition if you do not play a bridge on any turn you lose 1 victory point<br />
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Whoever played the most: +1 extra victory point and you get to place the bridge tile it can go between any open connection and you decide which way to orient the bridge.<br />
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Gondola:<br />
Each Card Played: Move 1 of your councilmen from your general supply to your personal supply<br />
Whoever played the most: Place a Gondola tile anywhere on the board then place 1 councilman from your general supply and place him on either side of the Gondola.<br />
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Councilmen:<br />
Each Card Played: Place 1 councilman onto the board into the current district, if you do not have any councilmen you may instead move a councilman one space on the game board.<br />
Whoever played the most: Place 1 extra councilman into the current district<br />
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Joker:<br />
1 joker: play with a card from any stage to increase the number of cards played by 1<br />
2 jokers: play in place of a card you do not currently possess<br />
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<b>Phase 2:</b><br />
Players proceed through the following stages, you have 1 chance during each stage to play cards and activate buildings, you cannot later add a joker or activate a yellow building to get more than the number of cards someone played after you.<br />
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Stage A: Doge<br />
Who Plays First: The first played on the Doge track<br />
Stage B: Coin<br />
Who Plays First: Whoever played the most doge cards<br />
Stage C: Building<br />
Who Plays First: Whoever played the most coin cards<br />
Stage D: Bridge<br />
Who Plays First: Whoever played the most Building cards<br />
Stage E: Gondola<br />
Who Plays First: Whoever played the most Bridge cards<br />
Stage F: Councilmen<br />
Who Plays First: Whoever played the most Gondola cards<br />
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Any cards you chose not to use are carried over to the next round, however you must include them in your maximum hand size.<br />
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<b>Phase 3:</b><br />
Players may activate any blue buildings. Cleanup all discarded cards as well as the remaining pile that players could have chosen.<br />
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<i>What does all this mean, how do you score points?</i><br />
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<b>At the end of the game:</b><br />
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The player who claimed the district bonus is awarded 5 victory points. To claim the district bonus you must be the first player to have councilmen in either all 3 orange or all 3 blue districts of the board.<br />
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Each building is worth its building value in victory points.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The yellow player would score 16 points for their buildings and 5 for having the district bonus.</td></tr>
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Every coin and councilman in your personal supply at the end of the game is worth 1/2 of a victory point. Be sure to round up.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yellow scores 1 point for having 1 councilman in their personal supply.</td></tr>
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Each district is scored based on the value of all connections touching it. The player with the most councilmen will score the full value of the district, the player with the second most councilmen will score half that and the player with the third most councilmen will score half of the previous value. Make sure to round down.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">White player will score 12 points for having majority control, for having the second most yellow will score 6 and green will score 3 points.</td></tr>
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<b>My Thoughts:</b><br />
I have really been enjoying Rialto because of its many different viable strategies. More than any game I have tried in a while you are able to tweak the game's mechanics to fit your play style and come up with a strategy that is totally your own. That is because seemingly every action you take awards you with points in one way or another with the exception of the Doge which allows you to break all ties.<br />
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Start with <i>coins,</i> each coin card played is worth 1/2 a point with the opportunity to gain an extra 1/2 if you played the most cards. How you spend your coins either converts to direct points or to actions that give you more points. Take blue buildings for example (with the exception of the doge building) the 2 value gives you 1/2 point and a substitute for a card action, if you cannot take that action you instead gain 1 1/2 points. The 4 point building allows you to gain 2 1/2 victory points and even the smallest 1 value building allows you to upgrade a building netting you 1/2 point and giving you access to a higher value building. The green buildings for example let you keep more cards to play during phase 2, well cards = actions which = points (with the exception of doge cards). Yellow buildings give you the ability to turn cards into cards of any type giving you an action of your choice essentially, keeping in mind that using any building = - 1/2 points.<br />
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<i>Building cards:</i> each card played = 1 point with the ability to spend points to get more points and the chance of gaining 1 extra point if you played the most building cards.<br />
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<i>Bridges:</i> bridge cards are 1 point each with a chance of a bonus point, but mainly they let you change the value of each district you will always be increasing the value of any two districts as long as 1 side of the bridge is connected to the current district.<br />
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<i>Gondolas:</i> each gondola card is 1/2 a point unless you have no councilmen in your general supply in which case each gondola is worth 1 point. If you play the most gondolas first place a gondola token between any two districts, you now have the chance to place a councilman into the district on either side making it easy for you to snag the district bonus, break or cause ties. This can mean that winning the Gondola can give you 7 or 8 points if it causes you to gain majority control of a high valued district.<br />
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<i>Councilmen: </i>Each councilman you place onto the board costs you 1/2 a victory point but will gain you victory points based off the end value of the district you are in, With careful planning you are able to maneuver your councilmen around the board to maximize these points.<br />
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<u>I</u> have tried a few different strategies and have come to the conclusion that which strategy you use depends on your starting hand, how many people are playing and what their strategies are.<br />
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<b>How does Rialto scale?</b><br />
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2 Players: The rules come with additional rules if you are playing with just 2 or you can use the regular rule set, the rules claim to be advanced but really they don't add any complexity to the game. I really like Rialto as a 2 player but I enjoy playing much better with the regular rule set. The game can be a bit more unforgiving and have a larger gap in points so I would definitely consider the advanced version a tighter game and probably more balanced but I still have more fun without adding a dummy player.<br />
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3 Players: Gameplay is balanced well with 3 players and because placing bridges and gondolas will benefit more than 1 district you will almost never see pointless feuds or kingmaking situations arise. I enjoy 3 players because you are able to keep a good eye on what other players are up to and it is easier to tell if you will win a stage in phase 2 and adjust your plans accordingly. I also really enjoy how easy it is to manipulate the bridges in a 3 player game, I think this is subjective to who you are playing with but often our 3 player games feel almost rushed along and most people I play with skip bridges entirely some of the rounds.<br />
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4 Players: Voted most popular on bgg, 4 player Rialto is considered the sweet spot for number of players. Adding more players definitely adds more depth to the gameplay and more decision making but also more thinking. This is my main criticism of 4 player Rialto, every single decision matters a lot, even more than usual. For whatever reason our 4 player games bog down the most, think hard but please keep in mind the other players.<br />
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5 Players: 5 and 2 player are my favourite ways to play Rialto. I enjoy 5 more than 4 because players do not suffer from AP as much, its harder to keep an eye on everyone's cards making it hard to guess who will win which stage in phase 2, 2 players will not score any points for a district so everyone has an easier time saying no to getting councilment into a district. This also encourages some of the more straightforward strategies such as going heavy into buildings but keep in mind in a 5 player game the limited supply of each building matters a lot more. This also encourages some thinking outside of the box and you will see people try things that you didn't / wouldn't think of yourself or wouldn't try in a smaller game. There are some very interesting ways to score points in Rialto and you will have fun figuring out which way works best. Often one or two people simply dominate the board in our 5 player game ranking first in all of the districts between them.<br />
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Criticisms<br />
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Mainly, it is fiddly / clunky. There are a few buildings that almost never get used, the game setup / first turn can give 1 player a huge advantage or severely cripple someone. and one very strong strategy is to completely ignore a key part of the game. I will give some examples, the yellow 1 cost building that lets you wait until all other players have played in stage 2, this is an alright benefit but it gets better if you get more card selection and buildings on your turns, definitely not the building you want to start with. When you activate your blue buildings at the end of the round you put a coin on them just to remove it 15 seconds later (fiddly). The player who gets the green building has a significant advantage, the player who got the blue building needs to get building cards in their opening cards in order for their building to be useful and the player who gets the yellow building needs to get joker cards in their hand or enough building cards and coin cards to gain access to a higher value yellow building and pay for the rank 1 yellow building, although if you manage to get jokers the yellow building can be crucial to taking and maintaining doge control.<br />
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todd barkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02371040733053627914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-927822003787777019.post-39842848889341034852014-03-06T07:45:00.001-08:002018-04-05T22:37:04.442-07:00Alien Frontiers: Factions<blockquote class="tr_bq">
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Alien Frontiers has long been one of my favourite 3 player games, its alright with 4 I just have a few other games I would rather play. Playing Alien Frontiers requires a great balance of tactics and strategy, you will need to plan a few turns ahead but not really be concerned about the order or timing of your plans. Of course, Alien Frontiers gives you the opportunity to screw your friends over and over. Even though my group tends to avoid conflict, we seem to all enjoy blocking each other from expanding our space colonies. The Factions expansion makes the 4 player game considerably more enjoyable as well as adding a 5th player, keep reading for more information and my thoughts on if it is worth buying or not.<br />
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<a href="http://toddsboardgames.blogspot.ca/2012/12/alien-frontiers.html">To read my review of the base game click here:</a><br />
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<i><span style="font-size: large;">What Comes in the Expansion?</span></i><br />
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<b>Faction Boards:</b><br />
By far the coolest part of the expansion, at the beginning of the game each player will select a Faction, take the corresponding mini board and place it in front of them. The awesome part is that each faction gives that player an extra ability and each board also serves as another location where players can dock their ships (place their dice). These work like the rest of the locations on the board except that any resources spent are paid to the faction's controller.<br />
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<b>Faction Owner:</b> At the beginning of your turn receive one fuel plus one fuel for each territory that you control.<br />
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<b>Other Players:</b> Dock at the Corex Conglomerated and pay two fuel to the stock to receive one ore for each territory they control at the time of docking.<br />
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<b>Faction Owner:</b> Use the territory bonus of one contested territory, whether or not the player has any colonies in that territory. Use of the territory bonus lasts for the duration of the player’s turn. The only territory bonus that the Uranian Syndicate may not access in this way is the Burroughs Desert bonus.<br />
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<b>Other Players:</b> Docking at Uranian Syndicate allows you to pays one ore to move one of their own colony tokens from one territory to another territory or pays two ore to move one an opponent’s colony token from one territory to another territory.<br />
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<b>Faction Owner:</b> You may discard up to two Alien Tech cards instead of just one. (Discarding a techcard gives you a different benefit than using it, usually you can only ditch one a turn)<br />
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<b>Other Players:</b> Dock at Dark Space Explorers to pay one fuel to gain the top card from the Alien Tech deck. If the card is a duplicate of one they already have, the new card is discarded without effect.<br />
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<b>Faction Owner:</b> Launch their colonies from the sixth circle of the Colonist Hub instead of the seventh.<br />
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<b>Other Players: </b>Dock at the Homesteader’s Union to advance your colony token one circle at the Colonist Hub.<br />
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<b>Faction Owner:</b> may use any sequence of three ships to bump ships already docked on the Raiders’ Outpost. Higher value is not required for this faction’s owner.</div>
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<b>Other Players:</b> Docking at the Smuggler’s Alliance requires players to simultaneously dock at the Raiders’ Outpost. Then the player may raid four resources AND one Alien Tech card from any combination of opponents.<br />
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<b>Faction Owner:</b> Building a new ship at the Shipyard or acquiring the Relic Ship from Burroughs<br />
Desert, allows you to immediately roll it and use it along with their other unplaced ships.<br />
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<b>Other Players:</b> Dock at the Scavenger Fleet to dock two unequal ships at the Shipyard and pay the usual costs to build a new ship.<br />
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<b>Faction Owner:</b> Pay two fuel to place one field generator token on the planet or remove one field generator token from the planet. The faction owner may not use this benefit to move a field generator from one territory to another. The faction owner may not place or remove more than one field generator per turn with this faction benefit.<br />
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<b>Other Players:</b> Dock at Proxima Centauri Scholars and pay one fuel to move a field generator token from one territory to another territory.<br />
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<b>Faction Owner:</b> When another player uses the Terraforming Station, their one fuel and one ore payment is given to the faction owner instead of the stocks. If the faction owner uses the Terraforming Station, their payment goes to the stocks as usual.<br />
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<b>Other Players:</b> To dock at New Gaia Engineers, a player must already be docked at the Terraforming Station. The player gets to re-roll the terraformed ship and place it back on the Terraforming Station. The result of the roll determines where the ship will go when it leaves the Terraforming Station, either on the player’s next turn or if blasted by the Plasma Cannon. If it is a 1, 2, or 3, the ship will go to the Maintenance Bay. If it is a 4, 5, or 6, the ship will go to the stocks.<br />
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<b>Agenda Cards:</b><br />
Agenda cards bring a new scoring element to Alien Frontiers. Each Agenda card has two conditional<br />
situations. The condition on the left is an in-game situation that a player may reveal at the time they satisfy the condition to score 1VP. The condition on the right is an end-game situation that a player may reveal at the end of the game if they have satisfied the condition to score 1VP. Only one side of each Agenda can be scored.<br />
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Each player starts the game with two Agenda cards that they keep hidden until completed.<br />
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A player may have up to three total Agenda cards.<br />
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A player may dock a pair of ships at the Orbital Market to draw two new Agenda cards.<br />
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A player may keep or discard any of their new or hidden Agenda cards.<br />
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With one exception a player may never have more than three total Agenda cards.<br />
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When a player meets the condition on the Agenda card they may reveal it (flip it face-up) to score the VP.<br />
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Revealed Agenda cards may not be discarded and still count towards your limit of 3.<br />
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Ships docked at the Orbital Market may be used for trading <b>or</b> for obtaining new Agenda cards, but not both.<br />
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Agenda cards cannot be stolen via the Raiders’ Outpost.<br />
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Agenda cards may not be discarded by using the discard power of the Oscillation Capacitor.<br />
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If the Agenda deck is exhausted, reshuffle the discarded cards to form a new draw deck<br />
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<b>New Alien Tech Cards:</b><br />
Alien Tech was always my favourite strategy in the base game, sadly the Factions expansion only adds 8 cards. Most of the new cards all involve using fuel which makes solar energy a bit more valuable than in the base game, a bit of a disappointment was that only 1 of the new tech cards involves the new expansion components. However I do like how they give you more options to gain from your opponents' ships, diminishing the strategy to rush to construct more ships resulting in a bit more variance in strategy than the base game.<br />
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<i><span style="font-size: large;">Should you buy this expansion?</span></i><br />
I think Factions is a must for any fan of Alien Frontiers. If you enjoyed AF but felt something was missing, or it lost a bit of its flair then Factions has what you are looking for. I actually like using Alien Frontiers as an intro game because the rules are simple to learn but between bad rolls and player blocking you have to be very tactical but still have an overlaying strategy. Are the additional Factions expansion components enough to make AF an intense heavy game, no but definitely makes the game more fun and interesting without feeling like too much of the same. The agendas build on the feel that the game can change on the last turn and that anyone could come out on top. Also Factions gives you the option to add a 5th player which is good because you now have a lot more options to dock your ships at but at the same time bad because only 4 of the factions are equally balanced in my opinion. Ultimitely being able to give yourself one of the handicap factions that appear to benefit other players more than the faction owner might make AF a better intro experience. todd barkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02371040733053627914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-927822003787777019.post-90923853689467895202014-02-27T09:54:00.003-08:002018-04-05T22:36:44.805-07:00Guillotine<blockquote class="tr_bq">
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What could be more exciting than harvesting the heads of nobles and scoring points for pleasing the crowd. Not much, Guillotine is a fast paced card game where 2-5 players take on the role of executioners and must compete to collect the most valuable heads. The game is played over 3 rounds, below I will walk you through 1 of these rounds as well as give my thoughts on Guillotine as a filler and as a 2 player game.<br />
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The game is played over three days (rounds), each day 12 nobles are randomly lined up to be executed. Playing is simple, on your turn you play 1 action card from your hand, then you execute and take the head of the noble closest to the chopping block and finally you draw a card.<br />
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Below is an example game day in a 4 player game: Click to Enlarge<br />
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My Thoughts:<br />
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Playing was surprisingly fun, I didn't have high expectations but ended up really enjoying Guillotine. It not only works as a light filler or warm up game for your regular game nights but it is a fantastic 2 player game. In a 4 or 5 player game you end up playing some of the most powerful cards just to snag a couple extra points, the turns aren't that exciting but the game progresses quickly and without a lot of downtime. But as a two player game you can plan a few turns in advance and with the right cards score some huge points or really punish the other player. The two player game also builds on your sense of accomplishment, giving you the opportunity to get more Palace Guards, and more of a specific colour noble in order to score extra points. I also found Guillotine to be a strong 2 player game because there is not a lot of AP something that is really common in my 2 player gaming sessions. It is definitely on the lighter end of my 2 player selection but sometimes you don't want to work your brains and just want to have fun, Guillotine is kind of goofy and laidback but still has enough going on that you won't be bored. The more times I play Guillotine the more I find myself enjoying it and it has been hitting the table a lot lately.<br />
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Casual Gamers: Light, easy and fun, I prefer Guillotine over most games that fit the same bill mostly because of how quickly turns move around the table. I enjoy games without downtime and that setup / cleanup quickly and Guillotine is very accessible in these aspects. It is great to play with people who aren't into board games or as a break from more intense games.<br />
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Gamer Gamers: If you are unfamiliar with Guillotine or have given it a pass I would suggest giving it a shot as a 2 player it really surprised me and is better than a lot of 2 player only games I have tried. Guillotine is also a great addition to your collection because you can play with your non gamer friends<br />
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<br />todd barkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02371040733053627914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-927822003787777019.post-63295453576461281662014-02-03T12:09:00.000-08:002018-04-05T22:36:29.877-07:00Alhambra <blockquote class="tr_bq">
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Recently my regular group of 3-4 has been 5 or even 6, as so some of my favourite games have not seen a lot of action of late. Instead we have been playing a lot of games that support 6, my issue is that most of them are too light. So I decided to bust out Alhambra since even if it is just as light it feels like you are accomplishing more to me. Below you will learn how to play basic Alhambra, and since I now have more experience with more players I will spell out my feelings on how well it scales with 2-6 players.<br />
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<b><u>Objective:</u></b><br />
Your goal is to construct the most valuable Alhambra, you do this by collecting and constructing different types of buildings and walls. Scoring cards will come up semi randomly at which point players score points based off majority control of the different colours/types of buildings. At this time each player will also score points for the longest section of wall they have built.<br />
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<b><u>How to play:</u></b><br />
Playing Alhambra is very easy but winning and "doing good" is actually quite challenging. On your turn you will have your choice of the following three options.<br />
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<b>Take Money: </b>On your turn you may take 1 face up money card from the available market of 4. Alternatively if there are two money cards available that total 5 or less you may take both of them. Which money you take will determine which section of the game board you are allowed to buy buildings from.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">You could take the Green Two and the Yellow Three or Any 1 single card. </td></tr>
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<b>Buy Buildings: </b>On your turn you may buy one of the available 4 buildings. The colour of the building is the determining factor for how many points it will be worth, which section of the board you are buying the building from will determine which type of currency you use. Now this is the mechanic that makes Alhambra fun, you do not get change when you buy buildings however, if you use exact change you are allowed to take another choice of the three actions.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7bW8HDr2yc8/UNHYJej6F4I/AAAAAAAAAls/GBqH9Ivb9XE/s1600/games+157.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7bW8HDr2yc8/UNHYJej6F4I/AAAAAAAAAls/GBqH9Ivb9XE/s1600/games+157.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The player buys the Green building from the yellow section, the exact value of the building (8) is paid so the paying player may now take another action.</td></tr>
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**New Buildings do not become available for your extra actions, they are not replenished until the very end of your turn<br />
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When you buy a building you are given the option to construct it right away or place it in your reserve.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-YDxvOGzX0dU/UNHXAjEleAI/AAAAAAAAAlM/EAQy1yiwcvI/s1600/games+155.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-YDxvOGzX0dU/UNHXAjEleAI/AAAAAAAAAlM/EAQy1yiwcvI/s1600/games+155.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Your reserve also doubles as a scoring reminder letting you know how much each type of building is worth in the respected rounds.</td></tr>
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If you wish to place the tile there are two basic rules that must be followed. The first is you must be able to reach your newly placed building tile from your starting tile (cannot cross walls). The second is you cannot create holes.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2mL4_IfQ3eA/UNHU0LNuGYI/AAAAAAAAAj0/UZikEXgae7E/s1600/games+150.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2mL4_IfQ3eA/UNHU0LNuGYI/AAAAAAAAAj0/UZikEXgae7E/s1600/games+150.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This shows a hole/void above the starting tile as well as a wall that cannot be crossed, none of these buildings are legal placements.</td></tr>
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<b>Rearrange Your Alhambra: </b>You might be adding buildings from your reserve or just rearranging the ones already built, either way you want to do this to get the most points you can out of your walls. When a scoring round comes up, buildings in your reserve do not count to your total number of buildings and you will only score points for the longest section of wall around your Alhambra.<br />
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<b><u>Scoring Rounds:</u></b><br />
Before you begin you will add the two scoring rounds to the deck of money cards. When one of these cards if turned face up as you are replenishing the available money, immediately stop and players are awarded points based on the layout of their Alhambra.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Mk8s8ogBVw4/UNHYU03x06I/AAAAAAAAAl8/C3SnplJwJuk/s1600/games+158.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="424" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Mk8s8ogBVw4/UNHYU03x06I/AAAAAAAAAl8/C3SnplJwJuk/s1600/games+158.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">In the first round of scoring, only the player with the majority number of each building type will score points. </td></tr>
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If players tie for a majority then the all of the points are added together and split among the tied players rounded down.<br />
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Next players will score points based off only their longest section of wall.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5iJoXV5vbj_22E0BIW9-TpubrJuhJRIhwZ759HczQHTL8fdsE2zR9N3PVUw0BnEtT3Ng4pK7VV5L-AiXcRjAuM7YqJtUAoIDm0fnppUAjbsG-WqGr-U-JnvqWAHMYQs3X1mf2g2RSZQo/s1600/alhambra+walls.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="350" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5iJoXV5vbj_22E0BIW9-TpubrJuhJRIhwZ759HczQHTL8fdsE2zR9N3PVUw0BnEtT3Ng4pK7VV5L-AiXcRjAuM7YqJtUAoIDm0fnppUAjbsG-WqGr-U-JnvqWAHMYQs3X1mf2g2RSZQo/s1600/alhambra+walls.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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You then continue with play as usual picking up where you left off by refilling the available money cards.<br />
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<b><u>Game End:</u> </b><br />
The game ends immediately when you must refill the available buildings but cannot (the bag of buildings is empty). At this point the remaining buildings are given to the player who has the most corresponding currency. These final buildings can be constructed as if they were just purchased regularly. The final round of scoring now beings.<br />
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* If players tie for most currency neither is awarded the building.<br />
* If you can replace part of the building market you must even if you cannot fill all 4 spaces<br />
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<b><u>My Thoughts on Alhambra:</u></b><br />
Although it is not my first choice of game to play Alhambra hits the table more than a few times a month. It comes out often as a burnout game or recently as a 5/6 player since my group has grown a couple people. My single favourite part of Alhambra is that is gives you the accomplishing / doing something feeling even when you are not. This is both a blessing and a curse and I will go into detail about that below when I talk about Alhambra with different numbers of players. I am a sucker for simple games with a second layer or deeper strategy and Alhambra definitely fits that bill although not as deep as it presents itself.<br />
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What do I mean by that? Alhambra is a good intro or light game mechanically, but not so much visually. If you know nothing about Alhambra and took a look at a game in progress or even at the pieces and you might start to get that overwhelmed feeling. But as you can see from reading the above that you could jump in a game of Alhambra and play without really even knowing how. Alhambra is probably the best example of learn by playing in my collection, not only is it easier to explain the actions as you play but Alhambra is fast and broken into rounds so you could very easily play an entire game or just one round so new players get a feel. What I enjoy about showing Alhambra to new players is that even before the end of the first game they are already starting to develop their own strategy. A lot of games, even ones that I tend to like that tend to have simple rules to learn don't really let you develop your strategy until your second play through. I really enjoy the theme in Alhambra although I dislike how the theme is generally portrayed in the board game market, I mean that other games with similar themes are also presented as over complicated, see Kairo also by Queen Games. If I could change one thing to make Alhambra easier to understand and it seems like such an obvious oversight but I would make it so at the very least no money or buildings share colours, I would take it one step further and make the colours used for each be grouped such as primary for money secondary colours for buildings but definitely no green for both as it is visually distracting and confusing at a glance.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ruWOpK_hOAM/Uu_0cKPGv_I/AAAAAAAADlc/g2lBd6YnoRM/s1600/alhambra+sidebox.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="140" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ruWOpK_hOAM/Uu_0cKPGv_I/AAAAAAAADlc/g2lBd6YnoRM/s1600/alhambra+sidebox.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<i>Alhambra says 2-6 players, how well does it scale between those? </i><br />
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<b>As a two player game:</b> Alhambra is an excellent two player game although sometimes you will see an argument that because it uses a "dummy" player it is really a 3 player game. Personally I hate this argument, especially in Alhambra where the dummy player doesn't follow regular rules. What I mean is a 3rd player would change the game in a way vastly different than using "Dirk" the game's dummy player. My favourite part of 2 player Alhambra is the size your palace becomes. There is more emphasis on walls and sometimes you will take a building based off its layout rather than its colour, you can do this because you will have more turns and a better chance to acquire the other colours before a scoring round comes up. This to me makes 2 player Alhambra not only a very different game from 5/6 player but more fun as it builds off of the satisfaction feeling that Alhambra leaves you with by constructing your palace. I do a lot of 2 player gaming, and I like what Alhambra offers in this aspect, it combines some mechanics from other games I enjoy but has enough that makes it different.<br />
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<b>As a three player game: </b>Three player Alhambra is often said to be the best, how could it not be if two player is so great and 3 players doesn't use the dummy well how could 3 not be better? Three player Alhambra is dubbed the best for a reason it most certainly does shine with 3 but it is not simply 2 player without the dummy. You get the good parts of two player Alhambra, the ability to control what is going on better than with more players, your palace will still be grand and give you that feeling of satisfaction what I like best about 3 player is the need to play your opponents. You have to keep a close eye on what they are both doing and formulate a plan to score more points than them, you can clearly see who has the advantage and you have the ability to impact them. I especially like the speed at which the money market circulates with 3 players. The reasons this is an improvement from 2 player is simple and easy to summarize, in 2 player Dirk will never win but will still collect game pieces. You still get some of the AP that comes with 2 player although its not as bad, three player is still a deep game.<br />
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<b>As a four player game: </b>This is the tipping point, with 4 players I find Alhambra starts to lean towards the social/light side. The buildings you were wanting to buy have a good chance of not being there by the time its your turn again. It doesn't happen often but you can totally get screwed by the money market in a 4 player game, what I mean is sometimes there is just no good option. I find 1 person tends to get a lot more double actions than the rest of the table in a 4 player game. We have probably only played 4 player Alhambra around 10 times mostly because for the time / thinking commitment required there are endless options of better games. I have found that our 4 player games have the largest gap between 1st and 2nd place. My main problem is that 1 player is almost always able to go by unnoticed while the others battle over the expensive buildings. I find that with 4 players there is a lot of unnecessary AP, people still feel like they have a lot of control over the decisions you are making but really you can't execute turn long plans without a little luck.<br />
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<b>As a five player game:</b> This is the one player amount that I do not have a lot of experience with. This is because on most nights that we have 5 people we also have 6 people. I have not played enough to tell you what I like and don't like specifically but I can say that 5 players is a light game for a lot of the reasons 4 players is. There are some main differences, mainly your Alhambra will be small and not very satisfying but that at least gets rid of some of the AP. That being said I have played 5 players enough to tell you that I like it better than six players that is because 5 players captures the "light" aspects the best, I can't really describe what I like without describing what I don't like about six players so see below. In one sentence 5 player Alhambra is a great light/social game.<br />
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<b>As a six player game: </b>I do not like six player Alhambra. I find it to be random and luck based and it takes a lot for me to say that about a game. I believe that you can always mitigate luck in games by changing up your strategy, maybe I am missing something but I say you are pretty much left to the draw with six players. Prepare to be frustrated as any of the buildings or money you wanted will not be there on your turn. It leaves a feeling of getting constantly screwed over with me while playing. That being said I have played Alhambra with six players more than any other number than 3, this is because other members of my group do enjoy it. The same person places first more often than not so I am convinced there is a game hidden in 6 player Alhambra but my track record speaks otherwise. Even as someone who doesn't win often or play to win it is frustrating to never place second but it is more furstrating to feel like you have no control over what place you come in, I am now in the business of avoiding six player Alhambra.<br />
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<b>Who would enjoy Alhambra the best?</b><br />
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<b>Family Gamers:</b> The rules in Alhambra are easy to grasp, there are some problems with how it is laid out but seeing as you are playing with your family one person (whoever does the most gaming) is probably going to do the indepth explaining anyways. Keep in mind this is not one kids can play on their own but is definitely one you can play with them or with other relatives. The satisfaction feeling that I've talked about above works great with families and makes playing feel rewarding.<br />
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<b>Casual Gamers: </b>Easy to learn rules, fun theme, and lots of replay value. These are the things that make Alhambra casual friendly, it also scales well from most peoples perspective. Also very important to mention that the setup / cleanup time in Alhambra is next to non existent. Although not as good to hook new players on as the "addicting" feel some games give, the satisfaction feel is a strong second and I think an important factor when trying to sell someone on board games as a hobby. <b> </b><br />
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<b>Gamer Gamers: </b>You will want Alhambra in your collection to play with non gamers, in my opinion Alhambra is aimed at a specific audience and if you consider yourself an avid gamer you should have no problem deciding who will enjoy playing before it hits the table. As long as you play with the right number of players I think you will also find yourself enjoying Alhambra when playing against other serious gamers.todd barkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02371040733053627914noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-927822003787777019.post-49033988945474712292014-01-30T10:03:00.002-08:002016-04-01T11:32:01.255-07:00Lords of Waterdeep: Scoundrels of Skullport<blockquote class="tr_bq">
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| April 4th 2016 | </blockquote>
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Thanks for checking out my blog. I have a new, much better looking version of this review here: http://www.boardgamebarker.com/blog/2015/12/28/lords-of-waterdeep-scoundrels-of-skullport</blockquote>
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By this time most people have played, seen or at least heard about Lords of Waterdeep, the long overdrawn debate about whether or not the theme is pasted on or how many players it is best with, or if the mandatory quests were too powerful. All the complaints aside Lords of Waterdeep has become an everyday suggestion when recommending a starting point for worker placement games. Scoundrels of Skullport adds more of everything that existed in the base game, more options for strategy, room for a 6th player and an entirely new mechanic; corruption.<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigWZI7vlqcVsdVKze0ZGxuTOOsu_aFpsyQk_-YSCvemxR58ETiYHbpmi5CksEpYzUMZFNP8WbszbOofeQUVfweRn97TINJz57l1aCQNroXeknI4b8MF7z-aLme_UkNSSOrIn2UaXdQaLE/s1600/scoundrels+box.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigWZI7vlqcVsdVKze0ZGxuTOOsu_aFpsyQk_-YSCvemxR58ETiYHbpmi5CksEpYzUMZFNP8WbszbOofeQUVfweRn97TINJz57l1aCQNroXeknI4b8MF7z-aLme_UkNSSOrIn2UaXdQaLE/s1600/scoundrels+box.jpg" title="Scoundrels of Skullport Box" width="320" /></a><br />
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For the purpose of this review I will assume you know <a href="http://toddsboardgames.blogspot.ca/2013/02/lords-of-waterdeep.html">how to play Lords of Waterdeep the base game</a>. Continue reading if you wish to know more about the expansion. This Expansion is actually quite great, it is two expansions in one. You can play them separately or together, I will explain the pros and cons about using them separately vs together.<br />
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<b>The Undermountain Expansion: </b><br />
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Undermountain adds 3 new action spaces and room for a 6th player, at first glance it is boring and much more of the same but look deeper and you will see reason to play it on its own.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCZSPPy_0ySGCKOX9cO60Jco7hyphenhyphen9JUUyxw8VOc377tZUpHXjw3MrS6fkx1JPfzAX5oCPlS8XkPgbDYbmOfNkd6obxIGO_arUlD4vWcBH0QEbZjGtv-yzYA2Cgu1V2NO-fNKqRXrZZ6PeU/s1600/undermountain.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Scoundrels of Skullport Undermountain Board" border="0" height="455" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCZSPPy_0ySGCKOX9cO60Jco7hyphenhyphen9JUUyxw8VOc377tZUpHXjw3MrS6fkx1JPfzAX5oCPlS8XkPgbDYbmOfNkd6obxIGO_arUlD4vWcBH0QEbZjGtv-yzYA2Cgu1V2NO-fNKqRXrZZ6PeU/s1600/undermountain.jpg" title="Scoundrels of Skullport Undermountain Board" width="640" /></a></div>
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They made things more interesting by adding a third tier of quest cards, you now have really big quests worth 40 points and the previous big/long quests become medium. There is now more flexibility to individual strategy as players have more choices to make.<br />
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The Undermountain also puts more attention on the Waterdeep Harbor by providing players with an action that yields 2 Intrigue cards. You also have another way to play intrigue cards although you wont get your man back.<br />
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Out of the 15 new buildings in Undermountain many of them allow you to play intrigue cards making the game have more player interaction. This also means that everyone will get a chance to play Intrigue cards even if you are playing with 6 players. They eliminated the chance that there would be no available action space as well.<br />
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All in all Undermountain is a good expansion and anyone experienced with the base game will be able to jump right in. In my opinion you should never play LoW without Undermountain, even when introducing new players it provides a lot more options and interaction and I think does a better job of selling the experience than the base game.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-k5s3zlyt7SY/UuqDnMKvpGI/AAAAAAAADh4/j96PtCJSSU8/s1600/play+intrigue.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="161" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-k5s3zlyt7SY/UuqDnMKvpGI/AAAAAAAADh4/j96PtCJSSU8/s1600/play+intrigue.jpg" title="Scoundrels of Skullport Undermountain Buildings" width="640" /></a></div>
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<b>Skullport Expansion:</b><br />
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Skullport is the expansion you want to use if you want to really change things up. You will be introduced to a new type of "currency" <i>Corruption</i> which award players with negative points at the end of the game. The value of each Skull (currency of corruption) is determined by how many total skulls are missing from the shared Corruption board. Players will gain corruption for using buildings that provide above average benefit when used.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mqp3G5d5BBU/UuqHJnfYozI/AAAAAAAADiE/Een2VXYKGEg/s1600/skullport.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Scoundrels of Skullport: Skullport Board" border="0" height="454" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mqp3G5d5BBU/UuqHJnfYozI/AAAAAAAADiE/Een2VXYKGEg/s1600/skullport.jpg" title="Scoundrels of Skullport: Skullport Board" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The 3 new action spaces provided by the Skullport Expansion all force players to take a Corruption skull.</td></tr>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-56alUfqnKvY/UuqHXDL6P-I/AAAAAAAADiM/qHy-ZP9xpoM/s1600/corruption.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="245" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-56alUfqnKvY/UuqHXDL6P-I/AAAAAAAADiM/qHy-ZP9xpoM/s1600/corruption.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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It is possible to return corruption but remember that could be also helping out your opponents by making each skull less harmful.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicQs7FIo-w-1fdS9TcpB_B4MHxb7CUln8i63KBxLHyMFYpohpSBJVmKT87JSfSIV8JHFXLrcJO07q29NZX2Y8Fe1h70CU372yZhpFUGOTGt2wCCYEK17r7QxeZQz1sqYGCRfQC-54Kybk/s1600/corruption+buildings.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Scoundrels of Skullport: Skullport Buildings" border="0" height="190" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicQs7FIo-w-1fdS9TcpB_B4MHxb7CUln8i63KBxLHyMFYpohpSBJVmKT87JSfSIV8JHFXLrcJO07q29NZX2Y8Fe1h70CU372yZhpFUGOTGt2wCCYEK17r7QxeZQz1sqYGCRfQC-54Kybk/s1600/corruption+buildings.jpg" title="Scoundrels of Skullport: Skullport Buildings" width="640" /></a></div>
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I enjoyed the corruption mechanic because it lowers the chances that your last turn will be next to worthless, it also leaves you with a bit tougher decisions to make throughout the game. Ultimately the Skullport Expansion adds a lot of variability to your strategy as well and gives players the option to tailor the game towards their play style. However I would not recommend playing this without experienced LoW players as with greater risk comes greater score and bigger gaps between player scores unless everyone knows what they are doing.<br />
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<b>Both Expansions:</b><br />
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Using either expansion on their own is a nice addition to LoW but still leaves it feeling kind of light or not different enough from the base game. When combined they make Lords of Waterdeep a game that I constantly want to play, using both expansions adds a ton of table talk and expands the social feeling of the game while at the same time increasing the options and complexity of the game, in my eyes it is hard for a game to accomplish both of those at the same time and Scoundrels of Skullport is a fantastic expansion to the base game.<br />
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Regardless of which expansion you use you will have access to 6 new Lord of Waterdeep cards.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-DjzyxUfOCVs/UuqNeq92cPI/AAAAAAAADik/0u7NrBdcTw4/s1600/new+lords.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Scoundrels of Skullport: New Lord Cards" border="0" height="550" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-DjzyxUfOCVs/UuqNeq92cPI/AAAAAAAADik/0u7NrBdcTw4/s1600/new+lords.png" title="Scoundrels of Skullport: New Lord Cards" width="640" /></a></div>
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Final Verdict: If you are looking for something more out of your Lords of Waterdeep and don't mind a bit of extra playing time then pick up Scoundrels of Skullport for sure. However the basics all stay the same and if you weren't able to see the coloured cubes as more than cubes before then you wont be able to now, not that theme is important to everyone. From a Worker Placement standpoint, adding both expansions definitely brings it up out of intro/light but there is still really only 1 route to victory, finishing quests but now you have more flexibility about which quests and when you will complete them, with both expansions you also have more options to mess with your opponents as playing also adds 50 new Intrigue cards. I will leave you with some example Intrigue cards.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-iW5zn4g4z4g/UuqQ6pGt6-I/AAAAAAAADiw/KhZGDs68X3Y/s1600/intrigue+examples.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Scoundrels of Skullport: New Intrigue Cards" border="0" height="224" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-iW5zn4g4z4g/UuqQ6pGt6-I/AAAAAAAADiw/KhZGDs68X3Y/s1600/intrigue+examples.png" title="Scoundrels of Skullport: New Intrigue Cards" width="640" /></a></div>
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Oh one last thing, if you are playing with both expansions as a way to combat the added time and keep things balanced/not too up to luck, there is a list of cards and buildings you must take out of the base game. You can find this list <a href="http://boardgamegeek.com/filepage/96813/cards-to-remove-when-playing-with-both-expansions">here on Board Game Geek</a><br />
<br />todd barkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02371040733053627914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-927822003787777019.post-26290798675928218692014-01-27T13:13:00.001-08:002018-04-05T22:33:20.899-07:00Jaipur<blockquote class="tr_bq">
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I do a lot of two player gaming and the biggest problem I have is that games get boring. You can help this by getting games that scale well with more than 2 players, my problem is that usually involves a longer setup and cleanup time and honestly games meant for 2 players tend to be better 2 player games. Jaipur doesn't just back that statement up, it is the reason it exists. If there is a two player game I can't get bored of it is Jaipur. Below I will cover how to play Jaipur, my thoughts on it and why it is my favourite two player.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-HxeRTovfkww/UubEms1S1fI/AAAAAAAADgg/RUOolCyP4FY/s1600/jaipur+box.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="390" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-HxeRTovfkww/UubEms1S1fI/AAAAAAAADgg/RUOolCyP4FY/s1600/jaipur+box.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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<b>How To Play:</b></div>
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<b>Objective:</b><br />
Your goal in Jaipur is to get the most points through selling various goods. Depending on how many times each particular good has been sold that round it is worth a decreasing amount of points. At the end of the round, the player with the most points wins and the first player to win two rounds is declared the winner.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-z_UWHrSCSfE/UubEmQZmrDI/AAAAAAAADgY/a2C5f6GLgmk/s1600/good+cards.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="142" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-z_UWHrSCSfE/UubEmQZmrDI/AAAAAAAADgY/a2C5f6GLgmk/s1600/good+cards.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Goods</td></tr>
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<b>Setup:</b><br />
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First take 3 camels out of the deck<br />
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Then shuffle the deck deal 5 cards to each player and 2 cards to the 3 set aside pile containing the 3 camels<br />
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Turn the 5 set aside cards (3 camels, 2 randoms) face up in a line between the players, this creates the 'Market'<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-uOplt-iU2o0/UubGNcuxeQI/AAAAAAAADhU/7HaEdtH7mLk/s1600/setup0.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="134" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-uOplt-iU2o0/UubGNcuxeQI/AAAAAAAADhU/7HaEdtH7mLk/s1600/setup0.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Market</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Each player sets any camels drawn this way to create their personal camel pile, refereed to as their 'herd'<br />
<br />
Sort all of the tokens by type and create a stack of each product in descending order of value<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cu9iBp2WVo8/UubEmbVxnSI/AAAAAAAADhg/DzFVr8F5DvY/s1600/good+tokens.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="342" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cu9iBp2WVo8/UubEmbVxnSI/AAAAAAAADhg/DzFVr8F5DvY/s1600/good+tokens.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
You are now ready to begin.<br />
<br />
<b>Playing:</b><br />
On your turn you will select only one of the following actions<br />
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<b>Take Card</b> - This allows you to take one product of your choice from the available 5 face up cards in the middle of the table, alternatively you may take all of the camel cards that are currently face up. Before the next player takes his turn you must refill the Market back up to 5 cards.<br />
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<b>Swap Cards</b> - This allows you to swap a minimum of two cards from your hand (any combination of products and camels from your camel pile is allowed) with an equal number of cards face up in the middle of the table. You are not allowed to swap a card for the same type of card and you can never have more than 7 cards in your hand.<br />
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<b>Sell Product</b> - This action allows you to sell product, selling multiples of 3,4 or 5 will earn you a bonus token (explained below), you may sell any number of cards at a time unless they are Rubies / Gold or Silver, you must sell a minimum of 2 of these products. Each card you sell earns you the top token of the corresponding product.<br />
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<b>Bonus Tokens:</b><br />
<br />
Selling 3, 4 or 5 of a product will award you with a bonus token. The value of your bonus token is somewhat random, 3 of a kind will net you 1,2 or 3 points. Selling 4 of a kind will award you with 4,5 or 6 bonus points and selling 5 of a kind will give you a 8,9 or 10 point token.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-e6KkYQbFV4s/UubElokfYfI/AAAAAAAADgI/skmCpj2pJ_8/s1600/bonus+tokens.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="108" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-e6KkYQbFV4s/UubElokfYfI/AAAAAAAADgI/skmCpj2pJ_8/s1600/bonus+tokens.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<b>End of Round Scoring:</b><br />
<br />
The round ends once 3 goods have been entirely depleted or you are unable to fill the set of 5 face up cards in the middle of the table. (Market)<br />
<br />
Players add up the value of all their goods tokens and their bonus tokens then the player with the most camels is awarded the camel token worth 5 points, the player with the higher total wins the round, the first player to win two rounds is declared the winner.<br />
<br />
<b>My Thoughts:</b><br />
<br />
Okay, this might not seem like a masterpiece but you will only discover how great Jaipur is if you try it. Jaipur is not only my favourite 2 player game, but one of my favourite games overall. This is because I love games that take 5 minutes to learn but a lot longer to master, the rules in Jaipur present a pretty straightforward game heavily laced with luck. In fact one of the few criticizes I hear of Jaipur is that it is too luck dependent. Well I call bullshit, sure there is a lot of luck involved in Jaipur, but really the game is about minimizing the effects luck will have on you through clever timing.<br />
<br />
You will do this by keeping a close eye on your opponent, paying as much attention to what cards they are collecting as what cards you are collecting. You will have to perfectly balance scoring points and screwing up your opponent, the only problem is that every decision you make will benefit your opponent or hinder yourself in some way shape or form. This is intensified by the fact that you can only do 1 action on your turn. You have to plan a few turns in advance but by that time so many things could have changed, your opponent could have sold some of that good, there could be better goods for sale, you could have acquired a better product in a move that was too good to pass up. Since each game is technically 2 or 3 plays I have probably played 100ish times and I can say that no more than 5 of those games have been lost outright due to luck. It can happen, but most likely you will lose to being outplayed or making a couple mistakes. Timing is the most important aspect of Jaipur, when you decide to do which action will determine who wins or loses.<br />
<br />
<b>Here is what I mean by benefiting your opponent or hindering yourself:</b><br />
<br />
<i>Taking: </i>If you take just 1 card, a better card could be turned up for your opponent, you are also spending your entire turn to take just 1 card, good if its a high value card not so much if its a low value. Taking 1 low value card might be better than taking multiple camels in some cases.<br />
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<i>Swapping: </i>If you swap a cheap good such as leather for a better good you are making it easier for your opponent to get a bonus token and you are not gaining new cards this turn but rather upgrading in value or getting your own bonus token, this means that if your opponent spends less total actions swapping, they will have more cards than you.<br />
<br />
<i>Swapping: </i>If you swap a medium priced good for a better good, you are making a decent option available for your opponent that might not have been before, this can really suck if there are still high value tokens of that good or they already have a couple of that particular good. Just like above, you are losing out on gaining more cards.<br />
<br />
<i>Taking Camels: </i>If you take camels you must take them all, taking 1 or 2 camels is not really worth it in terms of getting the camel token or having significant trading power but taking 4 or 5 gives your opponents lots of new card options, keep in mind that they can trade a combination of their goods AND camels in order to get these newly available cards at the market. You are also taking something that is not worth physical points (you cant sell camels)<br />
<br />
<i>Using Camels: </i>When you use your camels, you are lowering your chance of getting the camel token, you are giving up some of your ability to adapt and in the long run replenish your hand after you sell most of your cards. Make sure you have a few goods in your hand or you will not be able to take advantage of a fresh market if your opponent takes the camels after you use them.<br />
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<i>Selling just 1 card: </i>You are stopping your opponent from getting the higher valued token but giving up the opportunity for a bonus token yourself, you will never score double digit points this way and you are giving your opponent free pick of the market. This can either encourage your opponent to collect a set of that good or ditch any they had making it easier for you to collect a set, this can also force your opponent to take a card or camels leaving the market open for you. This becomes a significantly less "good" option later in the game unless lots of the expensive goods have already been sold.<br />
<br />
<i>Selling Multiple Cards:</i> You have probably gained a sizable balance of points and maybe even a bonus token, but how many turns did it take total to gather and collect the store of goods, if you focus one collecting one type at a time you are vulnerable to your opponent sniping the high valued or gaining better cards themselves, they can also score lots of points while you are trying to collect a set, if you focus on two types you could be stuck in a situation where you have to make a set available at the market in order to finish your other set. When and how you decide to collect a set is very important.<br />
<br />
Two things to keep in mind, one of them I mentioned before:<br />
<br />
You can swap a combination of Camels AND Goods when acquiring new goods from the market.<br />
You MUST swap 2 cards, you cannot swap 1 for 1.<br />
<br />
<u>Who would enjoy Jaipur?</u><br />
<br />
Casual Gamers: The rules are simple enough to learn in a couple minutes and you can jump right into playing, because it is played out of 3 rounds it has an addicting feel. Jaipur is not too heavy and not too light and a must have two player, playing doesn't take long and most importantly Jaipur is fun. You can teach Jaipur to just about anyone and the theme is fun, trading in gold and rubies is far more exciting than what most people do on the average day.<br />
<br />
Gamer Gamers: For anyone that does serious two player gaming this is the perfect game for you, every turn matters and you can easily mess with someones plan. Jaipur is a great game if you are the type of person who enjoys keeping a close eye on your opponent and making tactical decisions. After a few plays you will start to really have fun with Jaipur, I am very impressed with the amount of different strategies compared to most other 2 player games.todd barkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02371040733053627914noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-927822003787777019.post-67655941388583108612014-01-15T10:25:00.000-08:002018-04-05T22:32:48.774-07:00Trains<blockquote class="tr_bq">
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For a long time Dominion was one of my go to games, when it first came out we played a lot but without expansions it simply loses its charm after a lot of plays. Then I got into Thunderstone and instantly took to it because of the way more exciting theme and less solitaire gameplay. However owning Thunderstone and 2 expansions put me off from reinvesting into Advance and for some reason classic Thunderstone takes a few plays to understand the strategy / rules. Where is all this going? Well the next stop was my discovery of deckbuilding / board hybrids and let me tell you they blow old deckbuilding games right off the table. Trains from AEG is simply fantastic and although I've burned two different groups out on it I would gladly play Trains any time of the day. What makes it so great / addicting? I will go over how to play Trains, then explain my thoughts on how it plays with 2, 3 and 4 players.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-qLzUSKNZfs0/Uta5MItyTnI/AAAAAAAADcE/4uM_dvFsmQI/s1600/trains.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Trains AEG" border="0" height="400" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-qLzUSKNZfs0/Uta5MItyTnI/AAAAAAAADcE/4uM_dvFsmQI/s400/trains.jpg" title="Trains AEG" width="400" /></a></div>
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Objective: Similar to Dominion and most other games your goal is to have the most Victory Points when the game ends. Trains gives you more options than a traditional deckbuilder, you can score points via cards, or two different ways on the gameboard. This immediately gives you room to experiment with different strategies and my first few games I spent trying out your options to see what gives you the biggest edge.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-y78F6CHIoUo/UtangGBLz5I/AAAAAAAADYM/FPzW9SsI3yM/s1600/P1150317.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-y78F6CHIoUo/UtangGBLz5I/AAAAAAAADYM/FPzW9SsI3yM/s320/P1150317.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Victory Point Cards</td></tr>
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Deckbuilding Portion: There are two things to keep in mind when playing Trains vs other deckbuilders.<br />
<br />
First there are no limitations to the number of cards you can play in a turn, instead you must collect a <i>waste card </i>(explained in detail later) when you play any card with the recycle symbol, these are typically found on cards that let you place pieces onto the game board.<br />
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Secondly there are no limitations to the number of cards you can buy/play on your turn (other than their cost) if you can afford to buy 6 cards you can buy 6 cards.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MwtXNHUB-jM/UtbKuCXqJhI/AAAAAAAADcg/fiSGW_hJBp0/s1600/costs.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="232" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MwtXNHUB-jM/UtbKuCXqJhI/AAAAAAAADcg/fiSGW_hJBp0/s640/costs.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cost is located in the top right corner of all cards in a red circle. </td></tr>
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Let's cover the different types of cards starting with the unfamiliar ones.<br />
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Station Expansion Cards: These cards allow you to place train stations onto any city on the game board, you do not have to have a railway constructed in the city. There is no $ cost associated with the construction of a Train Station, however you do have to collect one waste card.<br />
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Train Stations Explained: If Railways are your bread then Stations are your butter, your railways are worth no points if they are not in a city that has 0 Train Stations. Each city depicts a specific number of skyscrapers, these indicate the number of Stations allowed to be built inside that city. At the end of the game, 1 station is worth 2 VP, 2 stations are worth 4 VP and 3 stations are worth 8 VP. Any Station that has your railway marker in it will score you points regardless of who constructed the Station.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-EjUbisHRp_c/UtanvSU_rcI/AAAAAAAADbI/4oPp_MDh4wk/s1600/P1150341.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-EjUbisHRp_c/UtanvSU_rcI/AAAAAAAADbI/4oPp_MDh4wk/s320/P1150341.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">In this example Green would score 10 Victory Points.<br />
Blue and Yellow would both score 4 Victory Points.</td></tr>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-fYOxygOa14s/UtbKuBeokqI/AAAAAAAADck/XqVg9g8mscE/s1600/layrail.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="Lay Rails Trains Starting Card AEG" border="0" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-fYOxygOa14s/UtbKuBeokqI/AAAAAAAADck/XqVg9g8mscE/s320/layrail.jpg" title="Lay Rails Trains Starting Card AEG" width="290" /></a>That sounds like a pretty sweet deal how can I get my trains to go through cities occupied by opponents? Its actually quite a simple process but I will need to cover the basics of laying rails.<br />
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The green cards allow you to place your Railway tokens (cubes) onto the gameboard on any space adjacent to one of your other Railways, some of them will give you discounts based on where you are constructing your Railway for example the Tunnel card makes it cheaper to build through mountains. Each time you play a green card you will be required to take a <i>waste card</i>. Playing the green card is not enough to build a network of railroads though and you will need to bring financial support depending on where you wish to place your cubes. Here is a breakdown of the costs:<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xPPYJDQIPR8/UtbKvG8aMFI/AAAAAAAADdA/C1rQDzowaLM/s1600/special+rail+cards.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="158" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xPPYJDQIPR8/UtbKvG8aMFI/AAAAAAAADdA/C1rQDzowaLM/s640/special+rail+cards.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Hpb3qFTLQ6w/UtbKuiVpl6I/AAAAAAAADc4/zVA650YfpvQ/s1600/layrailscost.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Hpb3qFTLQ6w/UtbKuiVpl6I/AAAAAAAADc4/zVA650YfpvQ/s320/layrailscost.jpg" width="305" /></a><br />
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River = 1$<br />
Mountain = 2$<br />
City = 1 + # of Stations<br />
Remote Location = $ = to the number inside the star<br />
Opponents' Railroads = $ = number of railroad tokens + gain 1 waste.<br />
Field = Free<br />
The Yellow and Black striped lines may never be crossed.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-BilZsa46XVc/Utanv8gNxWI/AAAAAAAADbQ/IpiLVBn4nWc/s1600/P1150343.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-BilZsa46XVc/Utanv8gNxWI/AAAAAAAADbQ/IpiLVBn4nWc/s640/P1150343.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">If the Yellow player was starting their turn in Amagasaki and they wanted to connect to Umeda they would need:<br />
Two Green cards allowing the Yellow player to place two railway cubes on the board, and a total of 4$.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhwcGYDJt_tMsJ50OEM_6zIK8Qw17nZoN6vCOSCX8YqKbyOUeZE24MOb0BDbeAE6iu4ARLYLLi4ajlsPhrtwIf0GVEYY4SCWSXgNgi6x5Zuj9rdIit42NW6MGLq64s_MhVRe15baejyoo/s1600/rail+laying+combo+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhwcGYDJt_tMsJ50OEM_6zIK8Qw17nZoN6vCOSCX8YqKbyOUeZE24MOb0BDbeAE6iu4ARLYLLi4ajlsPhrtwIf0GVEYY4SCWSXgNgi6x5Zuj9rdIit42NW6MGLq64s_MhVRe15baejyoo/s400/rail+laying+combo+1.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">These would be the two Rail Laying cards Yellow wants on their turn. <br />
Their only cost would be gaining two waste.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-zjyNsP7XCWM/UtanvYaM8xI/AAAAAAAADbM/rAZixYLpDek/s1600/P1150342.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-zjyNsP7XCWM/UtanvYaM8xI/AAAAAAAADbM/rAZixYLpDek/s640/P1150342.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The mountains sort of look like forests, they cost an additional 2$ to place a railway.<br />
Assuming the Blue Player started in Oji and wanted to connect to Kashiwara in 1 turn they would need to play:<br />
Two green cards that allow the Blue player to place railway onto the board and a total of 4$.</td></tr>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BB7Ev0w2qsk/UtbOW-ccYAI/AAAAAAAADdo/YcMMrN8FqWk/s1600/tunnel.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BB7Ev0w2qsk/UtbOW-ccYAI/AAAAAAAADdo/YcMMrN8FqWk/s320/tunnel.png" width="262" /></a></div>
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Looks like laying railways can get expensive pretty fast, how do you get money? By playing Train cards of course! Each Train Card has a numbered value inside a golden circle in the top left corner, these work like copper/silver/gold in Dominion but lots of them also come with a special text ability that range from gaining additional money if conditions are met to removing waste cards from your hand. I especially like this because it gets rid of that boring startegy from Dominion where you just continue to buy and upgrade your copper-gold cards.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-hczRyRLk1Sc/UtbKvFaaVZI/AAAAAAAADdE/zZfi_gx6UbU/s1600/train+cards.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="224" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-hczRyRLk1Sc/UtbKvFaaVZI/AAAAAAAADdE/zZfi_gx6UbU/s640/train+cards.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The symbol choice is a bit strange and doesn't match up thematically, I want to call them dollars but usually end up paying for my railways in gold coins.</td></tr>
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Then we add action cards to the mix, these are the red cards. They allow you to do cool things ranging from drawing more cards to gaining additional money or removing waste. Remember there are no limits to the number of action cards you can play on a turn, this lets you create some pretty cool combos. More than having the ability to play numerous action cards, I prefer the way they are designed in Trains versus any other deckbuilder I have tried. How are they different? I think they are much more interesting, a lot of them offering you choice or the ability to combo with other cards of other types.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-SI64My58p3s/UtbKuNRiGZI/AAAAAAAADcs/TNbG4k2cjtg/s1600/action+cards.jpg">Click Here For Example Action Cards.</a><br />
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Waste Cards: Think of these as victory point cards in Dominion, except that they are worth no points. When you draw them you simply get screwed and have 1(or more) less usable card that hand. Lots of cards force you to take waste and fewer allow you to get rid of it but you can always skip an entire turn to remove all the waste in your hand from your deck.<br />
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Game End: The game ends when one of the following conditions is met.<br />
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One player entirely depletes their supply of Railway Tokens.<br />
The stock of Train Stations runs out.<br />
4 different stacks of cards available for purchase have no cards left.<br />
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If any of these conditions are met the game ends immediately and players count score.<br />
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My Thoughts:<br />
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In case you still need it spelled out, Trains is far superior to most games I own, it takes a lot of known mechanics and intertwine them in a way that hasn't been done before. I have played well over 50 games now and tried many times with each # of players. Here are my thoughts and observations on how Trains plays with 2/3/4.<br />
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Two Player: At first two player trains seems a lot like Dominion or other deckbuilders, just a Race to get the most points. However with only 2 players I found that you get to build your routes more and place more pieces onto the board, I also found that there are more than a few different approaches you can take to the 2 player game. My go to 2 player strategy is to focus on building lots of $ at first and then lots of Railway card once the other player has built up some stations, you can piggy back off their points and use your high $ value to pick up a couple Skyscrapers before the game ends. I found that more often than not, a players supply of Railways will be the reason for the game's end.<br />
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Three Player: Three player was not very fun when we first started playing. It is very easy to end up with a Kingmaker situation where two players will be investing in stealing each other's points while one player can simply construct an extremely well thought out efficient route that scores a lot of points. After about 10 plays though three player Trains became my favourite, if everyone knows what they are doing it is really intense, trying to piggyback points and get an edge over your opponents, with three players I like how there is variance in each player's strategy and I like the length that the game ends. With three players you have the ability to speed up the game and bring it to an end quickly if you are in the lead, you are also easily able to prolong the game a bit to catch up, most importantly when your game ends you will want to play again. You get to see your strategy come to life but not entirely flourish and while playing you got to see the magnitude of other strategies at your disposal.<br />
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Four Player: At first I hated 4 player Trains, I thought wow this ends way too fast, then I really enjoyed it for a few plays thinking wow these are the closest games points wise and therefore must be the best way to play. My opinion is close to where it was at the start now, with 4 players unless someone is using a strictly card strategy it always ends too quickly. I think the reason the scores are close together is not because the 4 player game is balanced but because no one really gets to develop their plans. Instead you are left with what could have been and to me 4 player trains seems very anticlimactic.<br />
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The combination of deckbuilder and physical board to do stuff on has captured my attention in a way that no game has been able to in a while. Even if my friends won't play Trains anymore I have my eye on a couple more of these deckbuilder / board hybrids.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-MumgIvqSh84/UtantBX-GlI/AAAAAAAADa4/9XZbKniTsdw/s1600/P1150338.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Tokyo Trains Game Board" border="0" height="480" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-MumgIvqSh84/UtantBX-GlI/AAAAAAAADa4/9XZbKniTsdw/s640/P1150338.JPG" title="Tokyo Trains Game Board" width="640" /></a></div>
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Who Will Enjoy Trains?<br />
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Family Gamers: The rules are simple to learn especially for someone who has played Dominion, the strategy is a bit harder to come up with on your own but definitely allows for more creativity. The theme is neutral and I think there is a lot that can be learned from playing Trains. Obviously not one that kids can play on their own but for a board game oriented family Trains would be a hit.<br />
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Casual Gamers: Trains has a very fast setup time and the cleanup isn't bad either, the rules are easy to explain and turns whip around the table. Even though it is a "train game" the typical train theme is almost non existent, I think this makes it more accessible since I know a few people who have been turned off by train games or just simply not excited by them. I think what makes Trains great is it has that addicting feel of wanting to play again and again, this is great to show more casual and newer gamers because it really lets players develop their strategy and a lot of mechanics cross over into other games.<br />
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Gamer Gamers: Like I said, its great for showing non gamer friends, plays well with 2,3 or 4. Easy to explain but difficult to master, and multiple routes to victory. I think more serious gamers will appreciate how much you are able to manipulate the playing time and the level of interaction. And of course if you are someone who enjoys numbers you will like trying to figure out which strategy provides the most points and how to play more efficiently.<br />
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<br />todd barkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02371040733053627914noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-927822003787777019.post-63288452531508755072013-12-23T07:21:00.000-08:002018-04-05T22:35:57.382-07:00Ticket to Ride Europe<blockquote class="tr_bq">
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<i>Trains</i>, some people love them and other people hate them, where do you sit? Personally ever since I played the original Ticket to Ride I have been against train games. A few things changed that, first I picked up <b>Trains </b>from AEG, its a Deck/Route Building Game which let me play a "Train Game" without all the focus being on the trains, and even better they just used cubes instead of plastic trains. Trains as a theme has always been a big turnoff for me and why I have had a hard time getting into train games, but lately I have been asking to play one. Next a friend that I got into board gaming discovered TTR on his own and brought it over, having a new tolerance for trains I could not say no and found myself enjoying Ticket to Ride much more than when I tried it previously. Then I discovered TTR Europe, there are a few differences between Europe and the original Ticket to Ride that make it a much more enjoyable game for me, below I will highlight the basics and then the differences between the Europe and the original game, then I will give my thoughts and explain why why it doesn't see much table action.<br />
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<u><b>Objective:</b></u> In Ticket To Ride Europe your goal is the same as in the original TTR, gather train cards, complete routes between cities corresponding to your Destination Tickets to score points.<br />
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<b><u>Gameplay</u>:</b> On a turn each player will perform one of the following actions:<br />
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1. Place Trains: You must complete a route in 1 action (1 turn). In order to complete a route you must play one train card of the corresponding colour for each train you will place on the board.<br />
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2. Draw Tickets: You draw 3 destination cards and must keep one of them, you can keep any number of them but keep in mind incomplete tickets count as minus points at the end of the game. Tickets that are not kept are placed on the bottom of the deck.<br />
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3. Draw Train Cards: You may take 2 train cards at random or one face up train card of your choice from the 5 face up cards, if you take a face up train card it is immediately replenished.<br />
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4. Place Train Station: A train station may be placed in order to use an opponent's route as your own. The first train station you play will cost 1 train card, the second will cost 2 and your last train station will cost 3 train cards, the train cards used to pay for a train station must be of matching colour.<br />
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<u><b>End of Game:</b></u> When one player gets down to two trains left every player gets 1 final turn and then scores are calculated.<br />
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Scoring: Through the game players are awarded points for each route they finish according to the number of trains in the route. At the end of the game players will score points for any destination tickets they managed to complete, in addition players are awarded 4 points for every Train Station they did not use and the player with the longest route is awarded 10 extra points.<br />
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<u><b>Differences:</b></u><br />
A lot of people get the wrong impression that TTR Europe is just a new map, well it is not! In fact I don't really enjoy the original Ticket to Ride so let me explain the key differences and why I prefer Europe.<br />
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<b>Train Stations:</b> For me this is the big one, not because I dislike getting blocked but because I enjoy the added level of strategy, without them there is only so much planning you can do but with Train Stations Ticket to Ride feels like an entirely different game. With 4 players I feel like they add to the urgent/rushed feeling that TTR creates, at the beginning of the game do you take those valuable routes or stash train cards, you will have to make similar decisions with your train stations.<br />
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<b>Destination Cards:</b> In TTR Europe you seperate the long routes from the short routes and players are each given only 1 long route at the start of the game, during gameplay you can only draw short routes. This helps make the game more balanced and strategy based instead of luck dependent, however I feel like it is a bit counterintuitive to introduce this mechanic after adding Train Stations to the game (which fix the long vs short route problem for me).<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3pk1NC_yQ-k/UrN8WP5J6nI/AAAAAAAADUE/QqMZj0cMOPo/s1600/ticket-to-ride-europe-route-cards.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3pk1NC_yQ-k/UrN8WP5J6nI/AAAAAAAADUE/QqMZj0cMOPo/s1600/ticket-to-ride-europe-route-cards.jpg" title="Ticket to Ride Europe long route card" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQI9YC8JAfKhjWYSr1VpamP4nKpeqkuHfEHmWVYWAc7IrDxKCato3QNfSHhYk6bB7WY5L-TfG7G_R5815J3xZIHMDiMGaVhV9munxI9eUhD5YOH818NvUBzb_cbd8Na0bhIlIw1J9actQ/s1600/locomotives.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQI9YC8JAfKhjWYSr1VpamP4nKpeqkuHfEHmWVYWAc7IrDxKCato3QNfSHhYk6bB7WY5L-TfG7G_R5815J3xZIHMDiMGaVhV9munxI9eUhD5YOH818NvUBzb_cbd8Na0bhIlIw1J9actQ/s1600/locomotives.jpg" title="Ticket to Ride Europe locomotive wild card" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheAZBBVtDuBeB9o4zE2sbOoN3BOD-UhiNIElSHv6kvQlm2sW7ElzPUDYWNAotX2gVm3OV9mK67SePjTmhzBmQK-0xJGcRbxygT4xPDD2Fdb4QSCEnD0ufKTTPWPEZYTY3OWmZxfSxbxeU/s1600/locomotive+map.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheAZBBVtDuBeB9o4zE2sbOoN3BOD-UhiNIElSHv6kvQlm2sW7ElzPUDYWNAotX2gVm3OV9mK67SePjTmhzBmQK-0xJGcRbxygT4xPDD2Fdb4QSCEnD0ufKTTPWPEZYTY3OWmZxfSxbxeU/s320/locomotive+map.png" title="Ticket to Ride Europe locomotive ferry ferries" width="156" /></a><b>Locomotives:</b> Locomotives serve two purposes, first they are a wild card that allows you to help construct routes easier, secondly they allow you to use ferries. To build a route over water you will need to play a number of Locomotive Cards equal to the number of Locomotive symbols on corresponding on the route. To me adding new water routes and wild cards are great because they help speed up the game as well as give more options.<br />
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<b>Tunnels:</b> These are a special route that <i>may </i>require additional train cards. Tunnels are noted by their dark black border on the game board. When a player wishes to claim a tunnel route they first turn over the top 3 train cards from the deck, for each card corresponding with the colour of the route, you must pay 1 additional train card to complete your route. Note that locomotives always count against you. The way tunnels work also seems counterintuitive to me because they slow the game down while Locomotives seem to be put in place to speed the game up, they also make things more random while Locomotives allow for more in depth strategies.<br />
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<b>My Thoughts: </b>Although I enjoy Ticket to Ride Europe it does not get played much, mostly because my main group is starting to get into less light games. I think where TTR Europe sits best is as a family game, it is not nearly as frustrating as the original game and has some fantastic mechanics that make it easy for non gamers to really "get into the game". That being said my personal bias has always been that trains are too boring to hook anyone on our hobby which leaves me with an easy to learn, somewhat addicting, G rated boardgame perfect for families to enjoy together.<br />
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<i>Who Would Enjoy Ticket to Ride Europe?</i><br />
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<b>Family Gamers:</b> Ticket to Ride Europe is a great game for families, it has a family friendly theme and the rules are easy to grasp, the box recommends 8 plus. The rules are still deep enough that they allow you to develop a strategy. Also you can learn some geography while playing and playing doesnt take long at all.<br />
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<b>Casual Gamers:</b> Ticket to Ride Europe is still every bit as accessible as the original Ticket to Ride and a great way to introduce friends, I like it because it allows room for a bit more long term strategy which is in my opinion a very important aspect when trying to hook new gamers on the hobby. I enjoy TTR as a casual game because of the very fast setup / packup time, and more importantly because turns go around the table at a quick pace.<br />
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<b>Gamer Gamers:</b> Although not first choice, many serious gamers I know do enjoy TTR but as a much more cutthroat game where the focus seems to be blocking and keeping hidden the route you are working on is much more important. Although the original Ticket to Ride is better for this, TTR Europe can still be fun and I find makes a much better game to play with your non gamer friends.todd barkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02371040733053627914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-927822003787777019.post-91239959582842709602013-11-25T13:49:00.000-08:002018-04-05T22:29:31.235-07:00S'Quarrels<blockquote class="tr_bq">
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Are you looking for a fast, easy card game to play with your family over the holidays? A game for the kids or to play with them perhaps? Then look no further, S'Quarrels is fun and takes only a few minutes to learn, players become Squirrels racing to collect and store the most nuts before winter.<br />
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Objective:<br />
Before dealing the first hand players will decide on a total score. After each round players will add their score to that of their previous rounds and if they reach the total score, for example: 50 first, that player is the winner. Every time the card <i>Winter </i>is drawn, players total the value of any <i>Stored</i> 'Acorn Cards' to get their score for the round.<br />
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Setup:<br />
Shuffle the deck and deal each player 7 cards. Players must discard any 'Action Cards' drawn and replace them until their entire hand is made up of 'Numbered Acorn Cards' or 'Special Cards'.<br />
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*If <i>Winter</i> is drawn during setup, any discarded Action Cards along with Winter are reshuffled back into the deck.<br />
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Playing:<br />
Each turn it is your goal to Store Acorn cards, in order to do this you must have 3 of a kind. At the start of your turn you must draw 1 card but can then continue drawing until you have 7, stopping at any point in between. Regardless of how many cards you draw, you must discard 1 at the end of your turn to the <i>Hoard Pile</i>.<br />
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*You can only store in sets of 3, you cannot play 4,5,6,etc of a kind.<br />
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Why would you want to stop drawing early? Well some 'Action Cards' are harmful to yourself if you draw them and can cause you to lose a set of acorns you already had in your hand, in some cases it is best to just Store the acorns.<br />
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Here are the different <i>Action Cards</i><br />
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Ambush: Randomly take 1 card from each player's hand.<br />
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Hoard: Everyone except the player who draws the Hoard Card races to touch the Hoard Pile, the first player to do so claims the entire Hoard Pile for themselves!<br />
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Whirlwind: Collect all cards from all players' hands and shuffle them, then redistribute the cards starting with yourself, if you do not have 7 cards at the end of the Whirlwind draw until you do and then proceed with your regular turn.<br />
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Quarrel: All players select cards from their hand and reveal once every one has selected, the highest card takes all. If there is a tie, all tying players select a new card and Quarrel again! The Winner takes all cards played during the Quarrel, discards a card to the Hoard Pile and ends their turn.<br />
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<i>Special Cards</i><br />
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Winter - The game ends immediately. Everyone totals their points and then adds them to their previous rounds' total, check to see if anyone reached the goal/limit. If no one has reached the goal all cards are shuffled together and players are dealt new hands.<br />
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Golden Acorn - If you have in your hand when <i>Winter </i>is played you score +5 points. It trumps all other Number Cards during a Quarrel. However once played, it must be discarded after it is played and is lost for the rest of the game, you may not discard the Golden Acorn unless it is the last card in your hand when discarding.<br />
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Rotten Acorn - If you have in your hand when <i>Winter</i> is played you score -5 points. It can only be passed during a Quarrel, Cycle, or Ambush. You may not discard the Lead Acorn into the ‘Hoard Pile’ unless it is the last card in your hand when discarding.<br />
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*If you have only the Golden Acorn and the Rotten Acorn, you may discard the Rotten Acorn over the Gold Acorn at the end of your turn.<br />
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Why do I enjoy S'Quarrels? Well not only is it a great game to play with my younger cousins but we have come up with pretty great drinking rules:<br />
1. Each time you store acorns you give out drinks equal to the number of the set you stored.<br />
2. When you get the Rotten Acorn you have to chug your drink whether you draw it or are given it by an Action Card.<br />
3. Before slapping the Hoard Pile when a Hoard Card is played you must chug your drink.<br />
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<b>Who Would Enjoy S'Quarrels?</b><br />
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Family Gamers - One of the problems of keeping games entirely PG is the lack of interaction or at least the lack of exciting interaction. In S'Quarrels each Action Card effects every player so there is always something happening that keeps all players involved. The rules are simple enough that you can teach anyone in your family and they will all have a good time. I think where S'Quarrels shines brightest is its ability to be played by kids without outside assistance.<br />
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Casual Gamers - Something to play with beer and pretzels or with your friends who "don't play games", I always need more games to play while we wait for the last person to show up for our game night. You decide the time limit by setting the goal to play to and most importantly you can teach it quickly to anybody you know.<br />
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<br />todd barkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02371040733053627914noreply@blogger.com0