Solitaire review

Here I sit at work alone on Christmas eve. Everyone else got to go home early but I'm waiting for a final delivery that was supposed to have been here hours ago. What to do... solitaire.

I know I said I was taking a break over Christmas but I guess that this is my gift to my readers.

Solitaire is that time wasting game packaged into your windows basic games. It's so basic anyone could learn it quite easily. Actually I'm probably wasting my time reviewing it but that's kind of the point right now. I have nothing else to do right now.

In solitaire you use a basic poker deck of cards. Deal out 7 piles of cards. The first pile is one card high the second is two cards high and so on until the seventh is 7 cards high. All of the top cards of the piles are face up with the remainder of the piles being face down.

The point is to reveal all the cards. You do this by moving cards onto the next highest card of the opposite colour, red two on a black three, a black three on a red four etc. Make any moves you can after initial set up. After that the remaining cards in your hand are revealed by threes. These are piled on the side with only the top card of the pile being allowed to be moved.

Aces are a special card, these can be moved above the 7 piles and cards of the same suit may be moved up in sequential order. An ace of hearts gets the two of hearts etc.

Kings are special in that they are the only card that can be moved to a blanked pile. Once the last card of a pile is moved over it leaves an empty space. The king moves over and cards can be piled in order on it.

Solitaire is a great time wasting game to play by yourself. An old joke is that if you are ever lost you should pull out a deck of cards and play solitaire. When someone comes by to point out where to move cards you can ask them for directions. This is based on the fact that if you are playing solitaire someone almost always comes by to offer advice on how to play. Usually because they are looking to waste time too.

I recommend everyone should learn to play solitaire. It's a great exercise in problem solving and organizing. It could keep kids busy on a rainy day and kills time while waiting for a delivery.

Keep checking back. I don't intend to post next week but you never know. I might just have the oomph to do another.

Super Munchkin 2 review

Last week I reviewed Super Munchkin; a super fun superhero version of Munchkin. This week I will review the expansion Super Munchkin 2 The Narrow S Cape.

This expansion includes 112 cards. More monsters/villains, more superhero toys, new ways to help yourself and hurt your friends in the tried and true Munchkin way.

The first new thing this expansion introduces are Capes. With all the hype on the box I thought capes would feature more prominently in this expansion but there are only a small handful and the bonuses they provide are standard fare. Some of the names are funny but I was expecting a little more.

The new brain class is introduced and I like it. This class makes it so no foes have special powers or bonuses against the player. A really cool power to have in Munchkin. If you manage to have multiple classes it means that you ignore bonuses monsters have against those classes as well. This class pretty much makes the expansion worth getting.

For the remainder of the cards I got the feeling this expansion was rushed. Basically it comes across as if they made an expansion for the sake of making an expansion. Some cards are very clever and cool but a significant number of cards have a lack of creativity. This expansion could have used some more time on the drawing table.

I do have to say the expansion moved away from the somewhat tasteless humour about the rampant sexism and limited portrayal of women in comics. You won't need to PG up the expansion decks for your kids which is a plus.

So sum up I have to say I'm on the fence with this expansion. The select good cards it contains are amazing but the decks are packed with some really mediocre filler cards. If you really like Super Munchkin and feel the need to complete your collection then go ahead and pick it up. If you like the power of the brain class pick it up. If you are at all iffy about your game buying budget then I say save your money. If you want real variety grab another edition of Munchkin instead because you aren't getting as much bang for your buck with this expansion.

Check back in the new year for more updates. I will be taking the holidays off to spend with family and play testing the games I get this Christmas. I will try to take some time to go through my older posts to add photos and fix all the grammar and spelling errors people have pointed out. I will also be changing titles to make them more search engine friendly.

Enjoy whatever you celebrate and happy New Year!

Super Munchkin Review

The superhero genre has hit the mainstream. Marvels *ahem* ultimate alliance with Disney, DC hopping on the movie train and smaller/independent comic companies being mined for material have all created an era of superhero acceptance. There are even people walking the streets of modern cities in their own superhero persona's. So a superhero game is something people are looking for. Enter Super Munchkin.

Super Munchkin plays exactly like the base Munchkin game. Kick open a door, fight a monster (or villain) collect loot and attempt to reach level 10 before anyone else. Anyone familiar with the Munchkin line should be able to pick it up easily. If you aren't familiar with the line, read my post on the original for a better review of game play. As always the genre specific games are completely stand alone and can be played without any other addition or can be mixed and matched for weird combinations.

Super Munchkin stays with the "class" system. Inside you will find techno, mystic, mutant or exotic. As with other editions of Munchkin these classes give special abilities to the player. The class will also either allow or disallow the use of specific cards.

Instead of having "Race" cards Super Munchkin has origin stories. These cards give players differing levels of advantage. They can be as simple as "Stubbed Toe" or powerful as "Touched Ancient Idol." You may have any number of origins. Now what these origin stories effect is your power level. Your power level is usually equal to your current level (without any modifiers.) This power level allows you to play "Powers" cards. These cards will have a rank of 1 (such as flatness), 2 (such as flames), or 3 (such as teleportation.) You may only have powers equalling your current level. So a first level character can only have a single rank one power while a second level character could have a second level power or two level one powers and so on.

selection of cards

Of course what would a superhero be without sidekicks. In Super Munchkin sidekicks are found in both the door and treasure decks. Sidekicks sometimes grant you extra abilities such as the "Plucky Girl Reporter" who allows you to draw two and select one card when you loot the room. But any sidekick can be sacrificed if you fail to run away in order to avoid "bad stuff." Of course you may only have one sidekick... unless you cheat.

Superheroes need secret headquarters. These are located in the treasure deck. You may have any number of secret headquarters. Each headquarters you have allows you to keep one more card in your hand.

Some people are going to see a downside to this game. As with any Munchkin game it focuses heavily on satire and humorous jabs at the genre it represents. As the superhero genre has a lot of issues with sexism and a very specific portrayal of the female form some of the cards wander far into this area. Parents will want to exercise some discretion and players will need to figure out if the humour suits the personal tastes of everyone at the table. It is fun, and the cards are meant to be jabs at the tropes of the industry but some people might not appreciate them. As with any Munchkin game it does focus on "knee-capping" other players and is very competitive, which isn't for every group.

To sum up Super Munchkin is a great addition to the Munchkin line. Its funny, and really fits well with satire of the superhero genre. I would recommend Super Munchkin for groups who love superheroes, can put up with extremely harsh competition and have a slightly immature adult sense of humour. Definitely more for teens and groups of adults up for a night of laughs and frustrations.

Check back next week when I review the expansion to this game: Super Munchkin 2

Red Dragon Inn 2 Review

Earlier I wrote about a fantastic game called Red Dragon Inn from Slugfest Games. Today I will talk about the expansion/stand alone second game Red Dragon Inn 2.

The game itself plays exactly like the original so I'm not going to re-review game play. It's still exactly as much fun and if you've played the original you won't have a learning curve. Of course if you haven't played the original it's just as much fun of a way to start into the game series
.

First I need to mention that the components of the game such as gold, player boards and attribute gems are completely compatible with the original game so mixing and matching characters between versions is easy. Getting Red Dragon Inn 2 along with the original will provide a much greater variety to your game as well as allow for more players. Adding the two editions together will allow for up to 8 players which is a wild party. This is by far the best way to expand upon your original game as it's components and characters are closest to the base game.

While the name of this sequel/expansion isn't all that creative the writing behind the new characters is. So I will definitely talk about them:




Eve the Illusionist
Eve is a fun take on the illusionist character, her cards reflect those powers in a very funny way. You have cards like "It's the disappearing coin trick, not the reappearing coin trick." Which causes one player to give you a coin. Most of her cards have a very entertaining title to go with the usual actions. She seems geared towards avoidance of damage and alcohol and is a blast to play. Of course the artwork on the cards will appeal to some players. Yowzers.

Fleck the Bard
This character is geared towards gaining coins and avoiding paying coins. I haven't had a chance to play him yet as most players seem to want a chance. His cards are funny. Take "How about a rowdy drinking song?" Each player loses 1 fortitude and each player (including you) gains one alcohol content, and you pay one gold to the inn (... to pay for damages) His cards seem to be the most creative and different from normal play.

Dimli the Dwarf
A fantasy setting needs it's token dwarf and that's Dimli. His cards for the most part are standard fare but he does have some gems. "Best two out of three?" causes a round of gambling to continue after it is resolved. It can be a lot of fun to play on someone who really wanted to win that round. He is geared towards avoiding alcohol gain and spiking others drinks with firewater. A fun character if you like to play a dwarf.

Gog the Half-Ogre

I've saved the best character for last, at least from my opinion. While most of Gog's cards are standard for every player they are given very entertaining titles. Mostly Gog is for those in the mood to get into character as every card just begs to be role played as you lay it down. "Dance with Gog" is a fun card to play. Especially since it deals 4 fortitude damage. If you are up for goofy fun and some easy role play you want to pick Gog as your character.

The drink deck has a better variety of cards than the first edition. Dwarven firewater, mead and orcish rotgut to name a few. This deck can be swapped out for the original drink deck. There are also different drink events giving an alternate flair to the events in the game. Are you up for "The Challenge!?" You take two cards off the top of the drink deck and drink them. If these don't knock you out every player pays you one gold.

There are some minor nitpicks I don't like about this edition. First off is most of the new drink event cards are optional. The player who draws them can choose not to use them. It makes drawing the drink cards a little less of a gamble and takes the punch out of them. The backing on the drink deck cards is different from the original making it difficult to make a mixed deck. You really don't want players knowing that special cards are coming up. Finally I wish some of the creativity for Gog spilled over to Dimli. While Dimli is an interesting character I wish he was just a little more... more. Of course there are players who love him so I think this is a matter of preference.

To sum up I think Red Dragon Inn 2 is a great game to pick up. You can grab it as a stand alone game or use it to expand your Red Dragon Inn original game. The character writing in this game is brilliant and aside from a few minor nitpicks I think it's a really great addition to your shelf. Of course as with the original game the theme of drinking/gambling/roughhousing is really geared for an older crowd. I recommend Red Dragon Inn for any game group up for a rowdy fantasy based game with a minor role play element. I really recommend this edition to people who already love the original game. This is the first expansion you should grab if you plan on expanding your game.

Check back next week when I review SuperMunchkin

Clue board game review

Growing up my Mom and I got into cop dramas. Our favourite was Homicide Life on the Street. We used to place bets on how many murders each week. So a good murder mystery game was something we liked. Clue is one of those murder mystery games.

In Clue you take on a role of one of the detectives. Mrs White, Professor Plum, Miss Scarlet, Colonel Mustard, Mr Green or Mrs Peacock. You are in the mansion of Mr Boddy, who is the victim of foul play. Your job is to collect the clues to figure out who murdered Mr Boddy with what weapon in which room.

At the start of the game three clue cards are selected at random. One weapon, one
suspect and one room. These are put into the case file envelope. This is the answer to the riddle for the game. The remainder of the clue cards are shuffled together and dealt to each player. This will be your starting clues.

Now players have to collect the clues of the other players. This is done by moving around the board and once you enter a room you may make a suggestion like "Colonel Mustard in the kitchen with the wrench!" Proceeding clockwise around the table each player determines if they have a clue. The first player to have one of those clues secretly shows it to the suggester. Only one card must be shown. So if I have both Colonel Mustard and the wrench I would decide between the two to show.

Proceed play until a player figures out the clues. On their turn they make an accusation in the same way as a suggestion but must be clear they are making an accusation. They then secretly check the case file envelope. If they are right they win, if not they lose and play proceeds without them. Make sure you have the clues right. People do lose by getting the clues wrong.

Weapons, from wikipedia because it's easier this way.

As a detective game Clue is very basic in play. The rules are simple and don't really reflect true detective work. However it does teach that there is a process of collecting clues and that criminals do get caught eventually. Good lessons for kids.

Some tips for upping your game are, say one or more of the clues in your hand. If you make an a suggestion and it goes the entire way around the board you don't want the next person to be able to win. If you have Colonel Mustard and the wrench in your hand and nobody shows a clue you now know that the kitchen is the correct room. You no longer need to figure out the room but nobody else can win on your work. Once people know you use your own clues then you can occasionally make wild suggestions without the risk of another player winning on your effort. Next is to mark your note pad as to who has which clue. If you know I showed both the Colonel Mustard and Wrench Cards and the Mr Green player is showing a card, process of elimination means it's the kitchen card. This means to also pay attention to everyone else's turn. If you weren't watching another player make the same suggestion then you could miss simple clue gains.

Some people think that murder should not be in a kids game, but I can tell you that murder children learn about these things without you if you don't find a responsible way to teach them about it. Clue is actually a great structured way to teach them that crime and murder are wrong and that there is a detective process for catching the culprits.

A bonus is that after playing the game you can watch the movie. It's cheesy and weird. Of course Tim Curry is in it so that's a given, but that also means that its a fantastic movie too.

To sum up I love this simple detective game. The randomness of the clues does change the game play up enough to make it replayable. It's fun for all ages and can be great for family night. It's light on strategy while still being challenging. I would recommend this game to families or game groups who want some lightweight process of elimination type challenge.

Check back next week when I review Red Dragon Inn 2

Red Dragon Inn Game Review

It’s not often my wife gets to introduce me to a new game. I’m usually the one scouring the net looking at games and I am the one who led the board game nerd childhood. However while I was playing Twilight Imperium at GameALot she tried out Red Dragon Inn. She fell in love with it. In fact she ran over to my table to interrupt and demand my credit card so we could get a copy. She was so sure I would love it, and as usual she was so very right.

The game box

Red Dragon Inn, from Slugfest games, is about a group of fantasy adventurers after their adventure is complete. They are flush with loot and are at the Inn for a bit of celebration. They drink, gamble and roughhouse. Of course you need to keep an eye on your gold. If you run out then the inn tosses you out and you spend the rest of the night in the stables. And try not to get too drunk or beaten up. If you black out your friends continue the party without you… after looting your gold.

To start the game each player selects a character. In the base game there is Zot the Wizard, Dierdre the Priestess, Fionna the fighter, and Gerki the thief. Each deck has a slightly different advantage. Gerki is great at gambling and backstabbing, Dierdre is excellent at avoiding drinks and healing damage, Fionna is good at dealing damage and Zot is an all around interesting character.

Each player gets a player board. There are glass “gems” for keeping track of your alcohol level and fortitude. If your alcohol level rises above your fortitude or your fortitude drops below your alcohol level you pass out and are out of the game. The player board also has space for your player deck, the discards from the player deck and your drink deck.

Player set up, I seem to be drunk with my drink gem placement

Once each player is set up they each draw a seven card hand and get a single face down drink card on their drink deck. Now you are ready to play.

To start a turn discard as many cards as you want then draw up to your seven cards. Review your new cards and choose a single card to play as your action for this turn. Once this is resolved “buy” drinks for the other players; which is take one face down drink card from the drink pile and add it to a player card drink pile. Finally take one drink card from your drink pile and do what it says. If you have no drink cards you sober up. Congrats you lose one alcohol!

For player cards there are different types: Action- which can only be played during the action phase of your turn, Sometimes – these cards can only be played under certain circumstances such as when a player attempts to damage your fortitude, and Anytime – which can be played at any time you feel like.

What I like most about the player cards is the humour. Most have in jokes about the fantasy and role playing genre. Little pokes at the tropes and idioms of the character and player archetypes. I have to say, while I was playing Fionna the “no more jokes about chain mail bikinis” and “are you saying I’m not a lady” cards were rather funny to play. Thinking of chubby and hairy me in a chainmail bikini made most players shudder (including myself.)

Of the player cards the most different are the gambling cards. A player can start a round of gambling during the action phase of their turn. Once this happens all players must ante up one gold. Of course there are cards you can play to avoid gambling or paying the ante. Once everyone has anted up play proceeds clockwise with each player either playing a gambling card or passing. Eventually someone plays an “I win” or “cheat” card and they win the pot. But be careful sometimes the waitress thinks the pot was her tip and all the money goes to the inn.

Some drink cards

The drink cards are interesting. They range from simple 1 drink ale cards, to the 4 drink dragons breath card. There are also water cards with no drinks or “cut off” cards that help sober up a player and many more special drink cards. There is the dreaded “with a chaser” effect that makes a player draw another drink card and add the cumulative alcohol. Then there are drink event cards, such as “drinking game” or “on the house” which cause all players to drink. It’s these mini-games within the game that really add to the charm.

The game plays rather quickly and the rules are easy to learn. For most players Red Dragon Inn rules are picked up in one or two games. Remembering what each card does may take time but eventually players will learn and it makes the game run a little smoother. Game time runs around half hour to an hour so it’s a great light game.

Some small drawbacks: There is an exclusion factor to the game as the point is to eliminate other players, but due to the rather short play time this isn’t much of an issue. Of course due to the more adult nature of the theme it probably won’t be great for young players. There is a lot of “luck of the draw” in how the game plays out. Watching the Dierdre player constantly get water cards and passing on the strong drinks can get a little frustrating... unless you are playing her.

Being able to play a different character each game keeps up the replayability and the randomness of the draw ensures each game is played differently. There are expansions to the core game (which I will review after I collect them all) which will allow for more than four players and add greater variety to the characters at the table.

Of course there are many house rules out there for adding in actual drinking and gambling which we have yet to try. If you attempt these please do so responsibly. I like my readers; I want you to stay safe and having fun.

To sum up Red Dragon Inn is a fun and easy to learn game based in a fantasy setting. It’s full of humour and good natured competition. I would recommend this to any group of teens to adults who appreciate some immature adult gaming. Trust me, once you play a round you will be coming back for more.

Check back next week when I review the classic game Clue.

Twilight Imperium Third Edition Review

I’m a big fan of large scale combat games, and sci-fi games. There’s one game that seems to stand out  somewhere on the shelf of every board game store. Its box is massive. I think you could fit my torso in this box. That game I am talking about is Twilight Imperium.

Ever since I noticed the game I routinely pick it up just to look it over. I oooh and aaah about all the details it has. It looks big, it looks complicated and it looks fun. Of course I stand there thinking about buying it but then my wallet starts to whimper a little in my pocket and I force myself to put it down and walk away. I could never justify buying a game I wasn’t certain I would enjoy. Thankfully GameALot came along and I was able to test it out.

Opening the box is like opening a treasure chest of game pieces. There are so many things: ships, cards, units, map tiles, player cards… oh my! I got a little giddy not knowing what to grab out first.

Of course before playing I had to familiarize myself with the rules. At 44 pages long it almost classifies as an actual book. For an experienced strategy gamer most of the rules are quite familiar in style. Picture a mash-up of all the various styles of strategy games. Political, space combat, resource management, tech development, and map exploration. If you have played games with these elements the rules should actually feel straight forward. I like the layout of the rule book. Charts and specific rules are easy to find for clarification. Several helpful images give clear visual aids to explain various rules and actions excellently. Fantasy Flight seems have put out a thoroughly planned out product. Of course this was a Third edition so most of the kinks seem to be ironed out.

Map layout is done with octagonal tiles much like those found in German style games such as Settlers of Catan. Each player is dealt a number of tiles and lays them out in rings around the central planet of Mecatol Rex. Eventually each player has their home world placed in the outer ring. This random map generation is always popular with me as it reduces map memory advantage for veteran players and increases the replayability factor.

Resource control is fairly simple. Each planet has two values, resource and influence. “Resource” value is used for building units or researching tech. Influence is used for political actions. A planet can only be tapped for one or the other so budget planning is a big part of the game. There are also trade goods which can be acquired through various means. These can be used for purchases you cannot afford with planetary resources.

Victory is awarded to whoever attains the most victory points. These are gained through attaining game goals. There are public goals which anyone can achieve but there are also secret goals assigned to each player. Once a player has achieved 10 victory points they win the game.

Turn play is rather innovative as each player selects a strategy at the beginning of each turn in what is called the strategy phase. The players selected strategy determines order of play. A player who selects initiative gets to go first as it is assigned “1.” Trade strategy is a “5” while imperial is ranked “8” or last. Each card allows a specific primary strategy to be engaged on the players turn. For instance the Technology strategy allows one free technology to be obtained. However once a strategy is activated all other players can use the secondary strategy on the card. In the case of the Technology card each player may pay 8 resources to obtain a technology card.

Back to the innovative turn play. The next phase is the action phase. Each player takes a single action in their numerical order. This can be anything as simple as moving a fleet or activating a strategy etc. This then repeats for the remainder of the turn in order with each player making single actions until all players elect to pass. Once finished this action phase you move to the Status Phase.

Basically the Status Phase is resetting the player boards. Players claim completed objectives and their associated victory points. They also draw new cards, reorganize their player board/area and return their strategy cards. Basically this is the upkeep phase. Once this is completed go back to the strategy phase for the next turn.

So each turn is basically a series of rounds of single actions until players decide they cannot play any more. At the end of these rounds everything is reset and you start again. With this format a single turn can last for over an hour especially late in the game. However since each turn is broken up by single actions it keeps all players involved nicely.

As you can probably guess space combat is a big part of the game. However this combat isn’t normally part of the victory conditions. So it is a means to an end. You do not need to defeat all other players militarily. In fact you can win the game without ever engaging in a single battle. This is something I didn’t truly understand on my first play though. I amassed a big fleet and conquered a sizeable portion of the map. However I didn’t claim all that many victory points. So I lost. But the space battles were fun all the same.

The game is listed for up to 6 players. To really get the full playability I would recommend getting the full 6. It really allows for a complex game with political swaying and dealing. The board placement also makes the most sense with 6 players.

I really like the complexity of the game. There is so much you can do strategy wise. It is really a thinking player’s game. You need to keep an eye on all opponents. Your neighbours can threaten your planets. Players on the other side of the map can find wormholes to your territory and any player can be politically manoeuvring against you.

The play through time is long… VERY long. The first play through took about 5 hours. I think it would have been longer but the only experienced player at the table was able to amass victory points while the rest of us were building armadas and fighting over territory.

Twilight Imperium includes a variety of optional pieces and rules for making more complex games. There are also two expansions out, called Shattered Empires and Shards of the Throne, if you choose to make the game more complicated or even add up to eight players. I haven’t touched the expansions yet as I still feel the core game is highly replayable and am still trying to master it.

To sum up Twilight Imperium is an amazing big box game. It is complex in nature but with a rule system that is rather intuitive for strategy game enthusiasts. I would recommend this game for an experienced group of strategy gamers who have the time and sheer force of will to play the game. While it may be difficult for you to find enough players to set aside the time and are willing to delve into this geeky of a game, I think you will find that Twilight Imperium is a truly rewarding game experience.

Check back next time when I review Red Dragon Inn.

Magic the Gathering Review, or why I stopped playing Magic the Gathering

Magic the Gathering is one of those games pretty much everyone has heard about. It seems every high school has that one table in the lunch room with the guys who play it. Well, back in the day I sat at that table sometimes. I played recreationally with friends. I thought “hey it’s just a game of collectible cards, some harmless fun.” How naïve I was. What follows should only be taken as one mans opinion on the game.

At the core of the game the concept is actually really interesting. Gather out resource cards called “land.” When you have enough of these they can be “tapped” for the energy they produce in order to cast spells or summon creatures to fight for you.

Sounds pretty simple yet nerdy eh? Well I was in school in the 90’s when there was still a stigma around nerds. Some people thought we believed we could actually cast spells with these cards. “It’s just a game” really didn’t register. So my friends had a hard time with teachers, schoolmates and parents. But that’s not why I quit playing. It actually added to the allure. I thought “these troglodytes didn’t know what they were missing out on!”

I have to say the game is really fun at the core of it. However there is so much wrong with the game and the community that plays it. Hey I can criticize I was a member of that community.

My biggest problem is that you must develop a deck to play. A decent deck is hard to acquire unless you spend significant amounts of money collecting cards. You can buy packs hoping for the best or you can spend big money buying individual cards from the game store or those lucky enough to find them. The game win usually goes to the player who spent the most on their deck. Yay for poor kids!

Of course that isn’t always true. The first draw can actually make or break the game for you. If you don’t draw up a combination of land cards and cards you can play with those cards you are usually doomed to lose to a player who can start building their playing field.

Getting back to the player who spends the most: Time is also a big factor in who wins. Players who can devote time to researching cards and deck planning will usually win over other players. I’ve encountered many players who build several specialty decks to counter other players specially designed decks. It boils down to a collectible card arms race. Whoever devotes the most time wins.

Tournaments became another nail in the coffin for my playing days. When my friends and I finally decided to enter a tournament we were told we couldn’t play. I didn’t have the most recent edition of cards and several of my friends had “illegal” cards they built their decks around. The fact that the company printed cards then decided they weren’t allowed to be used spoke volumes about the poor planning behind the game. It also spoke about a distinct lack of respect for the players, who devoted large sums of money only to essentially be told it wasn’t good enough or done in the right way.

Power creep became the end for me. If you didn’t buy cards from the current edition you weren’t even at the right power level to play for fun anymore. This is on top of the fact you couldn’t play in tournaments. Each new edition or line of cards that come out have a raised power level. If you are two editions out of touch you are probably an easy target.

Even with all of these issues it was hard to break from the game. It’s what my friends did and if I didn’t play I wasn’t included. For a socially awkward geek it meant a whole new level of exclusion. If I didn’t pay I couldn’t play, I couldn’t fit in with yet another crowd.

If you think about it it’s actually a great business model. Force players to continually pay more to play your game. Since they are socially addicted to actually fitting in for once they will continue to pay as much as they can. I wish I thought of this first.

My most recent encounter with a Magic the Gathering player was at my local game store. We were trying out a non-collectible card game. Each player gets a deck, but it’s always the same deck. The teen MtG player had been beaten out of his game and looked over at it confused. The host explained the game to him. He stared blankly around the table and said “but why not play Magic?” We explained it was because we felt this game was more fun. It seemed completely baffling to him that other games existed. We coaxed him to play and he seemed to enjoy himself, but when he got knocked out he scurried back to his Magic friends; eager to be back to his group.

Maybe we won a player back to the other table top games. Games you don’t need to stress over how to build the deck, games that don’t require investment strategies. You know… fun games.

To sum up Magic the Gathering is fun at the core, but for me it became to stressful to keep up. The cost in time and money required to keep playing the game became too much work and killed the fun for me. This happened LONG before I stopped playing. In my own humble opinion I would recommend not even picking up a deck. Honestly I feel like a recovering addict when it comes to this game. I’m often surprised my addiction to keep up the game didn’t end up with me living in a cardboard box protected by layers of “common” cards, tin cup in hand “hey man got any rares? How ‘bout an artifact? Come on I got blue and red decks to feed.” This is the game that pushed me away from the Collectible game market entirely. I gave away my deck and walked away forever. It feels to me that the corporate engine behind this game has taken away from what could be a really fun experience.

Check back next week when I review Twilight Imperium.

Munchkin Booty Review

I’m a fan of the game Munchkin, and I’m a fan of pirates. So when they came together in one little package and called it Munchkin Booty I was all over it.

Munchkin booty is fairly similar to the main game. In fact you can combine them if you would like. There are some small differences and rule add-ons that I really like. Instead of races there are accents. Each accent has a different power such as the French with their “Charm Ze Rival” ability. “Any Munchkin of the opposite sex must help ye, if asked, in exchange for first pick of the treasures” In a combined game these can be used in conjunction with races. So you can get British Orcs or Dutch Dwarves (am I the only one to giggle at the thought?)

Another difference is the addition of sharks. The simple added rule for sharks is that if a player is fighting a shark any player may add another shark to the battle from their hand. A simple rule that I really enjoy as earlier versions required a wandering monster card to add more monsters to a battle. I don’t know about other players but I never seem to have both a wandering monster card and a monster card at the same time. It’s either one or the other.

Finally ships are added in. What’s a pirate game without ships? Ships are big items that are typically found in the door deck. There are also ship enhancers which you can get to modify your ships. I was disappointed that the ships are typical historical ships. Not much humour is injected into these cards in the base game. However there are some funny ship types in the expansions.

The first expansion to Munchkin booty is Jump the Shark. I recommend getting this as the base game cards get played through rather quickly. Also the expansion seems to have more humour built into the cards. Cards like “Ship in a Bottle” “Phillips Head Shark” or “Find Nemo” add in some quirkiness to the game.

The second expansion “Fish and Ships” adds in 15 cards. For the most part it adds in some much needed sharks and ships. I found the cards in this deck to be the most useful and humerous. I highly recommend getting this supplement for this reason alone.

To sum up Munchkin Booty is a great addition to any Munchkin Players collection. Whether you add it in to other decks or play it stand alone this game is sure to please. I recommend this to players who enjoy the Munchkin game mechanic. The game does include some vague adult humour so it’s better suited for teens to adult crowd. When you do decide to pick up Munchkin booty I’d recommend grabbing the two expansions as well. The extra cards increase the variety of the game and make the game even more enjoyable.

Check back next week when I review the collectable card game I love to hate Magic the Gathering.

Zombie Dice game review

I love the zombie genre, so when a novel game comes out in the genre that is both quick and simple to learn I have to run out and get it. Zombie Dice is one of those games.

Small game for your shelf, big fun for the game

Zombie dice is a simple press your luck style cup and dice game. The components are the cup, the rules and 13 dice. During each turn the player blindly takes 3 dice from the cup and rolls them. As a zombie you are hoping to get brains. The other results are shotgun blasts, which hurt you, or runners. After you roll separate out the brains and shotgun blasts. Once you get three shotgun blasts you lose everything you rolled this turn. You can choose to roll again, topping up the dice rolled to three, include any runners you rolled as these people got away.

So if on the first roll I got one brain one zombie and one runner I would probably chose to roll again. The brain would go to my winning dice side, the shotgun blast to my damage side and I would select 2 new dice blindly to add to the runner. Roll again and repeat until a) you decide to pass to the next player (keeping track of the brains you won) b) you take three blasts and die (don't worry your undead again on your next turn) or c) you run out of dice to roll.

Oooh Dice with brains

The first player to collect a total of 13 brains is winning. All other players then have one turn to collect more brains to be declared the winner. The dice in the game are colour coded. The six green dice have the most brains (3) 2 runners and only 1 shotgun blast. The four yellow dice have 2 of each result, and the three red dice have the most shotgun blasts (3) 2 runners and a single brain. It is a very good idea to keep a count of which dice are available before rolling again.

A couple of minor issues with the game. You will need to get some counters or a pen and paper to keep track of the brains players collect as these are not included. The lids on the cup tend to come off if you travel with this game so expect to be hunting for dice often.

The game is usually over in 10 to 20 minutes, so it’s a great time killer game. It works really well when you just feel like a simple game, or as the “appetizer” for a night of gaming.

To sum up I would recommend Zombie dice for any gaming group. The game is simple and short while still being entertaining. The zombie genre doesn’t always please everyone but the simple mechanic and theme should make the game accessible to all players.


Check back next week when I review Munchkin Booty, the pirate version of Munchkin.

Munchkin Deluxe game review

In my post about Game A Lot I mentioned how my wife won a door prize. That prize was Munchkin Deluxe. A bit of kismet as we were playing that game at the time. It's a game we have played often but had yet to pick up a copy.

Game box

The rule book for Munchkin states that the game "brings you the essence of the dungeon-crawling experience... without all that messy roleplaying!" The game is a comedic poke at the trope of "munchkin" style of roleplaying. Players are considered munchkin when they want the best of everything, only want to roll dice and better their character with treasure and equipment. In the game your goal is to fight the monsters, get the loot, and back stab your friends in order to be the first to reach 10th level.

The game includes two decks of cards: door cards and treasure cards. Each player is dealt 4 from each deck. The player then checks their cards and decides which to put into play for character creation. This is what your character has/looks like at the beginning of the game.

Starting the game you roll the dice then argue about why you rolled the dice and what the results mean. Seriously. This is how the first to play is chosen. Turn progression is fairly standard. First "Kick open the door" which means draw a door card. If it's a monster fight it, if it's a curse do what it tells you to do. If it's anything else it goes into your hand. If you didn't fight a monster you can "look for trouble" (fight one monster from your hand) or" Loot the Room" (draw another door card for your hand.) If you have more than 5 cards in your hand you must play down to 5 or give charity to the player with the lowest level.

Fighting monsters is where it gets interesting. In order to beat the monster your level plus bonuses from cards in play must be above the level of the monster. If you tie or are below you are losing. Other players may help you or the monster with their cards. If you are losing one other player can help you for a cost. A choice of treasure(s) given by the monster. If you win gain a level and take the listed number of treasure cards. If you lose "Run Away." Roll the 6 sided die and if you get a 5 or higher you ran away. Discard the monster and your turn ends. If you don't make the roll "bad stuff" happens. This will be listed on the card. It can be something as simple as discarding armour or the monster could kill you.

In the event of character death your turn ends. Keep your class, race, curses, and level. Lay down your cards in hand with everything else you had in play. Every other player, starting with highest level going down, gets to take one card. The rest are discarded. You cannot do anything until you revive on the start of your next turn.

A very simple board

So lets get back to the point of the game, reaching level 10. Gaining levels can be done by beating monsters, playing "gain level cards" if you are lucky enough to get them, or trading 1000 gold worth of stuff for a level. 10th level can only be reached by beating a monster. When a player beats a monster and gets level 10 they win.

Cards are humorous and often anachronistic such as a "chainsaw of awesome" in a dungeon crawling game. Monsters range from a level one "potted plant" to a level 20 "Plutonium Dragon." You will have laughs, arguments and fun with each flip of a card.

The differences of the Deluxe edition from the regular edition are: A game board, this helps keep things organized and is a good way for tracking levels (no such counter is included in the basic version but can be purchased separately) Coloured character pieces (for keeping track of where everyone is in level) and double sided colour coded gender cards (for when your gender gets changed in game-yes this can happen).

my wife is always green

Some strategy tips I found useful: Trade up for levels when you can, but make sure you have a decent array of items with high bonuses in order to beat the high level monsters. (They can give massive amounts of treasure and sometimes multiple levels.) Make sure you reserve some cards in your hand for when another player reaches level 8 or 9. At this point they are close to winning so they should be your target for those mean cards. (wandering monsters are very helpful at this point) Help out low level characters to gain some loot. Choose those who help you carefully (make sure they get you enough bonuses to make it worth your while, yet have them far enough behind you in order to not give your main competition extra treasure)

This is not a CCG game and all players play from a central deck. Every deck sold has the same cards and every expansion has set cards. You only need to buy each deck/expansion once. And there are numerous expansions and editions of Munchkin. These can be combined to make ultra-huge game decks or they can be kept separate. It is perfectly okay to mix any editions but always get the base versions before the smaller expansion decks. If you want a superhero-space-fantasy-super spy mix that's perfectly acceptable.

To sum up you don't need to get the Deluxe version of Munchkin but I do advise it as the extra pieces do help with keeping track of everything. The game is funny and highly competitive. It's dumbed down RPG theme is fun for roleplayers who want a simpler night and is a great way to wet the toes of non RPG players into the culture. I would recommend this game for groups looking for a wacky night of simple non-role-play. Some of the humour does tend to the adult variety so look through the cards before you decide whether to include the younger players. Teens and adults will have a blast with the game.

Check back next week when I review Zombie Dice

Edmonton Comic and Entertainment Expo 2013 review

Edmonton's second annual Comic and Entertainment Expo has come and gone. Two days of whirlwind activity left me a little breathless and in geek overload. As you could probably guess I loved it. As a warning there is no board game information in this post as there was no board gaming to be had at this con. Something of a disappointment I know but it was still a great weekend.

We purchased our tickets way back at in the middle of summer, it's been a lean year so we went with regular weekend passes hoping to save up some money for the show. Well fate decided to kick us a little and we were left with doing the show on a budget.

During the week before the show it was announced that tickets could be traded in on Friday night for the passes in order to save time in lineup in the morning. It took about an hour of waiting in order to get the passes. There was a slight hic-up as the two staff pre-scanning tickets so the trade would go faster turned out to be two older gentlemen who had serious issues with the "scanner dohickeys." They allowed a gap to form in line and several people snuck in the gap as they were trying to fix things. Other than that things moved nicely.

Saturday morning rolled around and we got up early. A quick breakfast of a doughnut and tea and we were off to the show. Parking rang it at $12 per day and we got quite close as we arrived at 8:30. There were several lines as you entered, a staff member at the door helped you select the right one. The line for those who already had passes was about 200 people long so we joined in.

The show started at 10:00, as we were let in we made a b-line for the Exterminatus Now booth to say hi to our friend, artist Alan Graham. After that we were off to browse the various vendor and artist booths. At over 200 booths to see it took us a while. We had become so engrossed in the booths that when I finally checked the time to see when we should go to the Carl Urban panel we were already 10 minutes too late. So we decided to break for lunch. The food booths are located outside the hall and getting to them was quite easy. We felt the lines for food were too long and just sat for a quick water and fibre one bar. Then it was back to the vendor booths.

It was reported that over 25000 were in attendance. The crowd consisted of families, cosplayers, gamers, fanboys/fangirls, film fanatics, comic lovers, rig pig or biker geeks looking to meet the guys of Sons of Anarchy or Robert Englund, LGBT nerds getting signature tattoos of John Barrowman, full on geeks and nerds (like the wife and I), or just everyday people looking to let their inner geek out for a bit. Really a microcosm of Edmonton looking to have a fun weekend.

The Back to the Future Panel started at 4 so we lined up to check that out. The panel was on the history of the DeLorean that was on display and was quite interesting. It involved a powerpoint presentation of buying the car, rebuilding it, where it has been and various charity events it was involved in.

Robert Englund talking to HIS boys and girls

After that panel we immediately went over to the Robert Englund panel. I'm a fan of commentaries so these panels are something I love. Robert Englund answered questions on a wide range of topics, related stories of his time on set. A tale about sitting in a hot tub as Freddy with Jason and their "victims" between shots was a funny anecdote. He covered everything from how he got into acting, to his various comedic roles, from V to Nightmare on Elm Street, where he is now to where he is going in his career. I really connected with him when he answered the question about how people seem to connect with Freddy and how he might be a negative influence. I forgot a recording device but he answered along the lines that people don't want to be Freddy. They like the emotion he brings out in them. He brings out the primal fear in us and the feeling that we survived the horror of the movie. He is truly and deeply connected with his fans. There was one thing that bothered my wife, he kept walking to the very edge of the stage and leaning out. She felt he would fall off. It wasn't until later that we learned there was an echo on the stage area and he and everyone else on that stage had issues hearing questions. They all naturally gravitated to the edge in an attempt to hear.

Once the panel was over we stood in line for a signature from Ron Perlman of whom I am a huge fanboy. We then returned to the vendor booths and didn't see that last until the 5 minutes to show closing warning.

To end the day we decided on the Comedy Extravaganza which started after the show floor closed. The show was introduced, and a musical interlude started in order to allow for setup. Unfortunately the band seemed to be a teenage garage band who we assumed were friends of someone in the show. The singer was off key and the guitarist was all over the place with overly confident cheesy rock out moves. The first comedy routine was some sort of punishment game. It involved a coffee taste test. It was an unfunny confusing manboy junior high prank game that made the audience uncomfortable. They kept referencing some inside joke about Vancouver that wasn't explained even when the audience shouted for them to do so. This was followed by another bad musical interlude. The comedy group "The 404's" saved the show with an improv session that was actually quite entertaining. They engaged the audience and laughs were had. It was at this point my wife and I had to leave. The fact that we had only a doughnut and a granola bar to eat all day coupled with facing another musical interlude forced us out the door. We should have went to the costume contest.

Saturday started with a proper breakfast and we arrived at the show around 9. The line was shorter as there were quite a few people there for Saturday only. We started the day with an autograph session with John Barrowman to my Whovian wife's delight.

Ron Perlman had money waved at him

Next we started our panel day with Ron Perlman. One of the guys from Rue Morgue started the panel with some questions and then it turned to the audience Q&A. There were some references to Mr. Perlman being naked that some audience members seemed to enjoy and Ron Perlman's sense of humour really came out. He is an extremely funny guy and kept the audience begging for more. He seemed to relish the questions from his younger fans and ensured they left starstruck. I felt connected with him when he talked about his early career and how he felt low self esteem. How he used prosthetics and make-up to hide himself. His feeling of being monstrous and different. His relation of Hellboy to Quasimodo was insightful and helped me reshape my view of the character. Finally his talking about his characters in Sons of Anarchy and Archer helped get my wife interested in these shows.

We exited the panel to complete chaos. People attempting to get in line for the John Barrowman line were attempting to enter the panel room hallway as the people from the Ron Perlman panel were attempting to exit. The result was a milling crush of people. This is something that the organisers will need to work on for next year as it was madness. We merely stepped onto one of the artistic rock garden side displays and waited it out. Suddenly they announced that they panel for John Barrowman was opening so we dove into the surge. I lost my wife and chose a seat near the back so she could find me easily.\

Sorry Mr Barrowman I'm a terrible photographer

Once my wife found me we settled in for the panel. John Barrowman is flamboyantly entertaining. He is super hilarious and a king of the double entendre. He pleased the crowd with stories and kept in constant
motion. My wife and I always love to hear more about Doctor Who so this panel was a definite highlight.

After the panel we went for lunch. The shortest line was for "Hole in the Wall" asian fusion food. My wife's butter chicken was bland and my yellow curry chicken was heavy handed on the spice. I regretted it for the rest of the day.

Christopher Lloyd joins the crowd

To finish the day we hopped in line for the Spotlight on Christopher Lloyd panel. Happily they had organised the crowd better than the mornings debacle. Unfortunately we had to line up outside. We managed to get some really great seats next to a friend of mine and his fiance. I was happy to be able to talk about the con prior to the panel. Christopher Lloyd talked about back to the future, Adams Family, Taxi, Piranha, his voice work and the people he worked with. Unfortunately the sound issues were never resolved so he just wandered out into the room to hear the fans questions. I felt bad that he needed to do that but it was great that he went the extra mile to engage his fans. As with the other celebrities this weekend the questions from children really seemed to bring out the best in Christopher Lloyd. He even related a tale of another event where a child asked if it was good that he no longer had to wear makeup to look old. He really lit up at the humour in it.

As the panel ended I ran to the washroom to regret lunch a little and that was when we decided the show was over for us. We were spent on funds and spent on energy.

To sum up the Edmonton expo was a fantastic event with some minor hurdles for us to overcome. I would recommend coming out next year as it is only going to grow and get better. I recommend buying tickets early and coming for the whole weekend. There is so much to see and do for the whole family. You can wet your toes in the geek pool or dive right in. You will enjoy it no matter what as there is always a little something for everyone.

Check back next week when I review Munchkin Deluxe

Smallworld expansions comparison and review

Today I am comparing the various expansions for Smallworld. These include "Be not afraid" "Grand Dames of Smallworld" "Cursed" "Tales and Legends" and finally"Smallworld Realms." I'm not going to compare Smallworld Underground today because a) it's a stand alone game and b) I still don't own it.

The expansion Be Not Afraid was the first expansion we picked up. The rationale for us was that it included a tray to hold the all the expansion races. There are a lot of extra pieces in the expansions so you will need to get this if you plan on carting around your game to game nights or purely for ease of storage. In terms of races the most interesting for me are the Homunculi who's special power is if they are bypassed in selection add a coin and an extra race token for when they are eventually picked. I also like the barbarians and the pixies for their high numbers. The pygmies have an awesome racial ability where if a token is returned to the tray roll the die and take as many tokens back as rolled. So one killed Pygmy could become three returned to you. For special powers everyone loves to get corrupt. Whenever someone successfully conquers your region they pay you one victory coin. The other powers are fairly standard and fit well in to play with the exception of catapult. The description seems to confuse a lot of players and leads to arguments over it's use. The expansion also includes one blank each of race and power badges. Great for making up home brewed additions. I would recommend this expansion for the interesting races and if you are wanting to purchase multiple expansions, as you will need the storage tray.

The Grand Dames of Smallworld expansion is one of the popular expansions at our table. Smallworld is rather male dominated with the Amazons being the only female depicted race in the core game and the ladies are represented well in this expansion. There are three female races included. The most popular race are the gypsies, who gain victory points for each region they abandon on a turn. The white ladies power of being immune to attack and other races powers while in decline is fantastic for various tactical reasons. The priestesses are also great for their in decline power of creating a powerful white tower in a single region. The two powers are interesting. Peace-Loving who gain more coins for not attacking active races can  blend strangely with certain races (I'm thinking Orcs here.) Historian is fun for later turns when races start to go in decline as this power collects victory coins for declining races. This pack also includes one blank power badge for more home brewed creations. I wish this one included some less "pretty" races like harpies or some such and the gypsies tokens are a little too close to the Amazon tokens in colour and art making them hard to distinguish at times. Still I recommend this expansion for the cool racial powers and three solid races.

Cursed is on of my favourite expansions. This expansion is highlighted by the 5 amazing powers. Cursed, which this expansion is named for is such an interesting power. It gives zero extra units however when it gets passed over a player must pay three victory coins. The sheer volume of coinage eventually becomes irresistible. Marauding is a game changing power that lets you expand twice in one turn. Hordes of is a neat power that adds two extra hordes tokens to your racial tokens. "Were-" changes the power level on even numbered turns. My brother got Were-Pixies once and conquered half the board on turn two. Ransacking forces players to pay you when you conquer their active races. The two races included are Goblins which attack in decline races with one less token (very useful later in the game) and Kobolds who are numerous but need to keep two tokens in any region they occupy. Defensively great but rather mediocre in my opinion. The expansion includes one each of power and race badges for yet more home brewed fun. This is my favourite expansion and I think it gives the most expansion for dollar value among the smaller expansions. I recommend Cursed to all player groups.

Tales and Legends is a game changing expansion. There are no races or powers. This expansion adds a new rule set. Before the game starts chose one of 6 themes (or mix and match) and shuffle those cards. Each turn after the first a new tales card is drawn. This card changes a game for that turn.  These cards vary in effect from "little lore" such as "tremor" which causes each invasion to require one more token, to "tall tales" such as "Ice age" which prevents mountains from being conquered, to the most game changing "lordly legends" such as "handle with care" which causes 2 race tokens to be discarded (elves one) when conquered instead of the usual 1. While I do really like the game changing nature of this expansion it can make the game more confusing for novice players. I suggest only getting this once every player is completely comfortable with the core game. It's fun and definitely increases the challenge factor for Smallworld. I recommend this expansion for veteran players who would like to increase their challenge level.

Smallworld realms is the biggest (and most expensive) expansion to the game. This expansion works with both the regular core Smallworld and the Smallworld Underground game. In fact it includes Tunnel pieces to incorporate the two. This expansion is a scenario set up and map creating dream. It is full of double sided tiles, one side for core Smallworld map art and the other side is Underground art. With these tiles you can decide what the map should look like. There is a book with pre-made scenarios and maps to use or you can create your own. There are 8 miscellaneous tokens such as a rusted throne or a crystal skull which can be assigned some form of significant role in the scenarios. For example: the player who holds the rusted throne receives one victory coin of tribute from each player on their turn. There are victory coin mines which increase a territories value by +1. There are also peaks tiles which are taller than mountains and need +2 units to conquer or chasms which cannot be conquered. This expansion does increase setup time but it also changes the game enough to keep it interesting for your players. I really enjoy this expansion. I recommend Realms to any group who would like some variation to the map or enjoy creating their own scenarios to play through.

To sum up there are quite a few expansions to Smallworld and each has it's merit for players. "Realms" for any group wishing to change up the map and create custom scenarios, "Tales and Legends" for veteran groups looking to increase the challenge level of the game, "Dames" for a handful of interesting new races and powers, "Cursed" for any group looking to add variety to the races and powers in the game, and "Be Not Afraid" for more storage and a host of powers and races to include in your Smallworld.

Check back next week when I review the Edmonton Entertainment and Comic Expo (EECE) or join me as tickets are still available here

Smallworld board game review

I really like a good competitive board game with a novel mechanic that can be simple to play. Smallworld is one of those games. Thankfully this game has nothing to do with the Disney ride.
When I say that Smallworld is competitive I really mean it. When you play through the first turn the board seems to be deceptively empty. Once everyone starts to march their chosen civilizations onto the board it quickly becomes apparent why this is called Smallworld. Suddenly there isn't room to expand, if you want to claim your golden victory points you are going to need to start taking what your neighbours have.

To start every player selects a from a line-up of randomly drawn fantasy race/power combinations. Don't worry about picking a bad combination as each race and power can be used strategically to gain points. There can be some hilarious combinations such as diplomatic orcs or heroic ratmen.

Combat is resolved quite easily. To claim any territory you need 2 units plus one unit for everything on that space. So if there is a mountain you need three units. If there is a mountain and an enemy unit then four units are needed to conquer it. No dice needed, just a simple numbers game. Although a die does come into effect if you have leftover units you cannot use to claim a region. Say you only have one unit, you can use the gamble die to see if you can claim more. Choose a region and if the number on the die is equal to or greater than the difference needed you claim the region. If not the unit is just replaced on one of your territories.

Eventually your chosen race has spread as far as you think it can or it is beaten down so hard that you need to chose a new race. You then chose to have your race go into decline. Flip over your race tokens and card. You spend one turn declining the race and on the next turn chose a new one and expand again. You can collect money for both your active and in decline races. Once races begin to decline and new ones become active is when it really becomes a Smallworld. This is the reason you really don't need to worry about a bad combination. If for whatever reason you have issues with your chosen group you can decline it and start over.

The situation on the board is always changing as each players expansion is running into other players, each time a race declines leaves other players guessing at the next race to become active and build strategies on what to do.

The game comes with two double sided boards. Each has a number in the top corner stating how many players that board is designed for. Ensuring there is a balance of regions for the number of players. I like this because the game flow and mechanic doesn't change if there is a different number of players.

The victor is decided after the allotted number of turns has been completed. Whoever has the most victory points wins.

The drawback to this game is that it is very competitive. Play tends to get very aggressive so some players will not enjoy this, however if you are like me the competition will be part of the fun.

To sum up Smallworld is a highly competitive and fun game that is always changing. The game will keep you interested whether it is your turn or not. I would recommend this game to groups with players who relish competition and enjoy strategy.

Check back next week when I review the Smallworld Expansions.

GameALot '13 -a board game event- review.

This past weekend was GameALot. The hosts describe it best on their site: “Gamealot is 3 days of board games, card games, role playing games, miniatures, and anything else that you want to run. You, the gamers, get to decide what games you want to host and possibly teach people.”

GameALot was located at the new location for Mission Fun and Games out in St. Albert. The registration fee was a donation to the food bank of at least $20 per person for the weekend. The wife used her store discount to get a very large volume of baby formula for about $55 for our entry.

We arrived late on Friday due to both of us having some not so fun days at work. Because of our crankiness and being newbs to the GameALot experience I don’t think we made the best players the first night. However after getting some food, rolling some dice and slapping down some cards we both started feeling better and got into a much better mood. It really helped that there were so many people there willing to give new people the chance to play. I have to say most of the game organizers were patient with us and really got us to open up a little. I played Legendary: A Marvel deck building game, followed by the Pathfinder deck building game and finally some Ticket to ride. My wife separated from me for a bit and played Pandemic.

Saturday was a completely different day. My wife and I slept in a little and went for breakfast. We brought along some of our own games as there were still open tables where we could host some pickup games. We arrived late so the first games had already started. We decided to break out Poo! and hosted that for a bit until my Smallworld tournament qualifier game. At this point my wife wandered off for some Munchkin and we spent most of the day apart. She played several new games or hosted the ones we brought. I tried out Age of Empires: The Age of discovery which I enjoyed then we had some dinner. My wife’s qualifier for the Smallworld tourney led into the final match. I was hoping for her to qualify but she was beat out. In the final game I started out strong so I basically painted a target on my back. I was thoroughly trounced. That’s okay it merely stoked the fires of my fury for the win next time! While I didn’t get the trophy (seriously there was a trophy) I did get a door prize: Munchkin: Cthulhu.

Sunday started off with some Munchkin. My wife won a door prize of Munchkin Deluxe, while we were playing the exact same game. It was meant to be. After that I went for the big game of the weekend: Twilight Imperium. I wish I had spent some time with the rule book as it was my first attempt at the game. I basically tooled around and just tried to figure it out. I lost of course but had a great time playing. At one point my single fighter ended up defending Mecatol Rex against an invading fleet. Complete Luke Skywalker moment when I played the “Direct hit” action card against a Dreadnaught. At about 5 hours of game time it killed the rest of the day, so my wife spent her day playing new games or hosting them.

As this was hosted in a board game store everything being played was available for purchase. You could even buy a game and host it then and there. My wife picked up Red Dragon Inn which she played on Sunday. She also picked up some expansions for the various editions of munchkin we already own or won copies of.

One of the organizers asked my wife to help host next year. I think she might have fun doing that but I also think she would like to just show up and play. She spent the car ride home debating ideas she had for improvement, so I think she’s excited to try but hesitant as she’s never helped organize a large event before. In the mean time I think we are definitely going to start going out on Sundays for open board game days at Mission Fun and Games. The variety of players available definitely made board games more interesting.

To sum up GameALot was a fun weekend of meeting board gamers of all ages and trying out new games. The cost was reasonable and went to a worthy cause. The myriad of games played meant that I was able to play whatever style of game I was in the mood for. I could share my favorite games with new people and was introduced to new games I’ve always wanted to try or never even heard of before. All I had to do was walk up to a table and ask if there was room for one more. There was no pressure to play anything I didn’t want to play and if I felt like it I could just hang around and watch people play. I would highly recommend coming out for the next GameALot to anyone who is up for some table top fun.

Check back next week when I review Smallworld.