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