New year new gaming post

Hello dear readers. I know I haven’t posted in about a month and I’m sorry about that. The Christmas season didn’t leave a lot of opportunities for games or blogging. But the New Year may hold promise for some serious gaming.

Of course we did do some gaming: Christmas day was spent with the wife’s side of the family and we took time to play Cards Against Humanity and watched the Doctor who special together. I didn’t get anything board game related for Christmas but hopefully I will make it to the store sometime soon. We decided to nerd in the New Year at home this time around. Friends of ours got a stone raclette grill for Christmas so we pulled out our fondue pot and had a fantastic fondue dinner. Guess what we followed up with: board games. The two other couples from dinner and our international man of mystery friend dropped in later. We played some Cards Against Humanity, followed by The Resistance, and then we were introduced to Dixit. Honestly I will need to play Dixit again as I had imbibed in way too much New Years spirit to be able to give a decent review. We ended the night playing Monty Python Fluxx with the one couple who ended up crashing on our air mattress.

We have to do a fondue/game night again. Grilled meat, melted cheese and geekery all go so well together. But 8 people maximum will fit for that kind of night in our house.

For Christmas the wife and I got some gift cards for home improvement stores and we spent a little of it on book shelves for the game room. We organized it a little more down there and we think we are ready for Lazy Sunday gaming. Beginning in February we will have a list of friends and family that will come over on Sunday afternoons for some board game fun: whoever can show is in by 13:00 at the earliest and out by 18:00 at the latest kind of thing. I hope this will get more friends and family into board gaming and introduce us to more games my friends own. Which I will then review for you.

I’m also trying to start an RPG group: Pen and paper role playing. I could GM for the Palladium system as it’s the one I’m most familiar with. I have ideas for most of their lines but I think the Heroes Unlimited game would probably be the most accessible to new players and easiest to start since players could just pick up Century Station heroes and start playing.

I’m running a little low on games to review but once the holiday bills get under control I should be able to budget for some games. Money is a little tight so the game budget will probably only allow for me to move to a monthly post format, unless my lottery investment pays off of course.

In the mean time feel free to comment below on which games I should be looking in to for my board game budget.

Until next time, hope you have a fantastic New Year with more fun playing new games and old favorites!

King of Tokyo Expansions review

Last time I reviewed King of Tokyo; a fun Kaiju Monster battle royal style game. This week I will be talking about the two expansions for this game: King of Tokyo: Power up and King of Tokyo Halloween.

King of Tokyo: Power Up makes me very happy. In the original game each monster draws from the same power deck. So even though each monster has its own play piece and player board with cool artwork it didn’t matter. The monsters seemed too generic for the game. In the Power Up expansion this is resolved by adding special Evolution power decks for each monster. Now each monster is given its own style. These cards are gained at the end of a turn if a player has 3 or more hearts rolled even if they are in Tokyo. I like this because it’s a secondary way of building powers when you have trouble building energy. Also players who are struggling in the game tend to focus on getting hearts. This helps underdogs gain some power and possibly get back into the game with a great power.

The Power Up expansion includes another character called Pandakai: a giant panda monster. He does add some variety to the characters but he’s not my favorite as I prefer traditional Kaiju style. He can still be popular with the kids though. Adding this monster doesn’t do a lot because the maximum number of players for the game stays at 6. Still it’s nice to have variety and a new monster that could appeal to newer players.

The King of Tokyo Halloween expansion is a little smaller. It does include two new Halloween themed monsters: Pumpkin Jack and Boogey Woogey (A giant pumpkin monster and a giant blob monster respectively.) This expansion is my wife’s favorite as she seems to have fallen in love with Pumpkin Jack. Again these don’t add to the maximum number of players but they do add variety. They come with their own evolution decks as well.

The Halloween expansion does include some new elements to game play as well. It adds 12 new cards to the power deck that are costume cards. Your giant monsters will be allowed to purchase costumes that grant a variety of abilities or effects. These costumes can be stolen by another monster that rolls 3 claw swipes against you. It rips off the costume and gets to keep the outfit for itself. The expansion also includes 6 black and orange dice to fit the theme. These dice work the same as the base game but allow for a second set at the table. I like this as you can just keep a set at each end of the table.

To sum up I like both expansions. I recommend the Power Up expansion if you would like to add some style to the monsters in the game. The Pandakai monster in this expansion is okay but he’s not the reason to buy it, the evolution powers are. The Halloween expansion adds two interesting characters: Pumpkin Jack and Boogey Woogey. The costumes cards this expansion adds in are fun and a bit weird. Also, the extra dice help game play moving. Unfortunately while this expansion does include evolution power cards for the two monsters in it these won’t be playable until you buy the Power Up expansion.

Until next time, Power Up your game night by Boogey Woogey-ing down to your local game store, grabbing King of Tokyo and these two expansions.

King of Tokyo board game review

I’m a bit of a Kaiju junkie. I was introduced to Godzilla a.k.a. “the King of Monsters” quite young, it was at a sleepover at a friends house early in my elementary years. The giant monster stomped into my imagination and his atomic breath seared away preconceived notions of what a monster could be. The actual memory of the party is fuzzy, I forget who the other kids where at that party, but I vividly remember the movie and my own atomic/technicolour breath from overeating candy.

When a game called King of Tokyo showed up on my suggested board game list I was more than interested. It took me a while to convince my wife to play it. The wife just doesn’t have the same love for city stomping killer Kaiju that I do. She finally played at this year’s GameALot and we both loved it.

In King of Tokyo each player selects a knock-off style Kaiju monster: Then they compete to become the King of Tokyo. A player wins when they reach a total of 20 points or if they knock out all other monsters.

Each player rolls 6 dice to determine their actions for a turn. They can keep as many as they want and re-roll the rest up to two more times. Claws deal damage, either to the monster in Tokyo or to all other players if you are in Tokyo. Hearts regenerate health but only if you are not in control of Tokyo. Lightning bolts build energy which can be used to build up powers. Or there are three point value numbers of 1, 2 or 3. Any roll of 3 or more of a single number can give you that victory point number, plus an additional point for each of that number above the triplet.

The rules are very simple so new players can pick up the game quickly. I find it is a great entry level game that can still be fun for more advanced gamers. There are several elements of strategy that make the game interesting. Staying longer in Tokyo allows you to build victory points faster and allows you to damage all players outside Tokyo, but staying out of Tokyo allows you the option to heal damage and makes you less of a target for other players. Knowing when to take over the city or when to leave is very important. The purchasing of powers will allow a player to customize their monster and make each game variable and dynamic. Finally there is a strategy in selecting which dice to keep and which to re-roll; do you want to build points, build energy, heal or attack?

Of course there are a couple of drawbacks. In the base game while the monsters are varied in creative artwork and look really cool, they don’t actually vary in play style. Each monster plays identically and only gains powers available to all players for purchase. Nothing is really monster specific. Also the dice rolling creates a very random game that sometimes makes it difficult to really get the strategy element you want going. The upside of that is it negates a little of the veteran player advantage.

The game is for 2 to 6 players but it loses a lot with fewer players. It just feels better with all 6 players to get the real dynamic Kaiju brawl going. It is still fun but the wild unpredictable nature of the game really comes out with more players. The play time is about 30 minutes. I find that the game moves quickly and keeps players involved nicely as each player’s choices can drastically change what is going on in the game.

To sum up I think King of Tokyo is an ideal game for any group. The rules are easy to learn allowing players to jump into play and get to fun quickly. The theme is fairly universally known so even players who aren’t as into the genre (like my wife) will still understand it and can still have an enjoyable game. King of Tokyo is great for kids and adults so I really think it should be on your shelf. There are expansions that I will get into next week.

Until next time, I recommend you roar into your local gameshop, smash some cash onto the counter and stomp on out with King of Tokyo in hand.

Citadels Game Review

I like a game of political intrigue, where the ability to analyze and predict the other player is an asset. Citadels is one such game.

In the game Citadels you are a group of nobles amassing gold in order to be the one to build the best districts in a new medieval city. When a player has completed 8 districts the game ends and whoever has the most points from their district wins. Each turn players select roles then proceed in numerical order of roles to play special abilities and spend gold. The basic rules are beautifully simple but the roles make the game much more complicated and fun.

There are eight roles to choose from. For example: you have the King who gets to select his role first next turn, the merchant who earns extra gold, the assassin who can kill a character for a round (forcing them to miss a turn) and others. However role selection is done without other players seeing what you selected. Starting with the King each player selects a role, then passes the deck clockwise around the table. This way you only know your own selection, which cards have been drawn before your selection, and which were passed along. It is up to you to read the other players and deduce who drew which role.

This brings in some serious intrigue into the game. Do I select the thief in order to rob a player with stacks of much needed gold? If so which role would that player select? Or would he figure out that was my goal and select another role to avoid me? Or do I select the merchant to earn gold on my own? If I did that would another person select the thief thinking the player with stacks of gold selected the merchant causing me to be robbed instead?

It is these player choices in the game that decide the outcome. There are no dice. The only luck comes from what districts are drawn and available for purchase. The fun of the game comes from the ability to analyze, bluff, outmanoeuvre, intimidate and strategize. The joy of outwitting an opponent and the surprise of opponents’ cunning plays all work together to provide a medieval and intellectually stimulating game.

Unfortunately Citadels can be overcome with analysis paralysis. Players can sit during the role selection phase for a painfully long time frustrating themselves and everyone else trying to figure out which role to select. Players overanalyze the situation and become afraid of taking any action. This can bog the game down and take everyone out of the fun.

To sum up Citadels is a good game for people looking for a little political backstabbing and strategy. I would recommend Citadels for players who want to do away with luck to totally rely on their cunning, instinct, and insight into their fellow players. This is a great game for outwitting and bluffing. It can be bogged down by analysis paralysis so if you aren’t willing to gamble with your fate and make snap decisions this might not be the game for you.

Make sure to buy the most recent edition which has that purple icon in the bottom left corner. It includes expansions which allow for different roles to be included.

Lunch Money game review

I had heard whispers in gaming groups of a game of childhood fights. Having been in a few schoolyard scraps I needed to find out how this translated to a game. Today I’m going to review the card game Lunch Money.

I gave this game a try back at GameALot this year. I have to admit the game did look intriguing. The artwork on the cards is darkly beautiful. Images of the creators own children coupled with odd quotes really sell the idea of a schoolyard fight.

Game play is supposed to be quick and dirty as a schoolyard fight should be. But new players all had an issue with knowing what their cards could do. Card type is determined by colour and you have to remember the colour scale to understand your cards. There are also no descriptions on the cards on what exactly the cards do. Players were constantly referring back to the rules in order to understand the special abilities or requirements of cards. For instance certain cards require you to play a “Grab” card first while others are specialized attacks. This kept bringing players out of the game causing play to grind to a halt. Gameplay would flow considerably faster if more information was included on the cards.

I managed to have some fun but the theme of the game won’t be fun for everyone. It’s a bit immature and people sensitive to bullying aren’t going to be happy with it.

To sum up I don’t recommend the game for two reasons. First is the theme isn’t fun for everyone and game night shouldn’t be about triggering childhood trauma memories. My other issue is with the lack of information on the cards causing players to repeatedly refer to the rules. I wouldn’t be playing the game often enough to memorize all of the cards and this completely ruins the flow of the game. If this issue was fixed in a future edition I could recommend this game to players who survived schoolyard scraps rather unscathed. I  definitely recommend keeping this game away from kids.

Until next time, save your Lunch Money… er that is game money, for a game with better card/rule design.

My top 5 board games for halloween

Halloween is approaching and here in Edmonton it’s snowing outside. So you could bundle into something warm and stretch a costume over it to trudge around getting a bag of random “fun size” candy. Or you could get friends together in a warm house where their costumes fit they way they should, with some good food and play some board games. Here’s my list of board games to play this Halloween.

Gloom – Each player selects a dysfunctional family and proceeds to weave a tale of misery and death. Gloom is game where you actually want terrible things to happen to your characters and you despise your friends for making good things that happen to your “family.” This is a fantastic Gothic story telling game perfect for Halloween.

Zombies!!! - This game from twilight inc. is a hardcore competitive zombie slay-fest. Explore a town as each player adds map tiles on their turn. Gather items, kill zombies, and play cards to mess with your opponents. Be the first to slay 25 zombies or make it to the helipad and escape to win the game.

Zombie Dice – Simple, fast and fun. This is an easy to learn dice game. Be the zombie to collect 13 or more brains to win the game. Beware three shotgun blasts and you end your rolling streak without collecting your braiiinss! So do you go after the runners or stop to enjoy the brains you collected?

The Haunting House – A basic shifting maze game that’s great for people who want a Halloween themed game without scares. Make your way through the haunted mansion to the exit before the other players. Just don’t question to hard as to why the house is all corridors and no rooms.

Betrayal at House on the Hill – So far the best horror game I have played. This game is played in two stages. In the first the adventurous players explore a spooky old house on a hill, adding rooms from the room tile deck as they go. Players collect items, trigger events or find omens of horror. Eventually one of the omens triggers one of 50 haunts for the game. This haunt is the second phase where you discover which horror story you are in and which person in your group is the one who betrayed you to this horror. The randomness and story elements of Betrayal at House on the Hill make for a night of thrills, chills, and player kills.  If you are getting one game off of my list this is the game to buy.

So what do you think of my list? This list only covers games I have played so are there any reader recommendations for me to try out for next Halloween?

All of these are available from Mission Fun and Games.

The Haunting House Game Review

The inlaws picked up a game called The Haunting House quite some time ago because we were all looking for a horror game. It received mixed reviews at the table.

In The Haunting House players are competing to exit an ever shifting house of horror. Each turn players have two phases. First select 4 actions from their deck of cards to move through the maze of corridors. Players proceed through this phase in turn order. The second phase is similar but the 4 actions are selected randomly from their deck of cards; proceeding again in turn order.

The random move phase seems a little jarring. It does bring in the theme of how some characters in horror movies do inexplicably dumb things but it can be quite frustrating in how randomly it can botch strategy.

The game board and pieces are incredibly thematic. Upon setting up the board I was excited to play because this looked like an exciting and dynamic dungeon crawl style haunted house. However I was disappointed in the game play. For something that looks dynamic and thematic there is little theme or change in the play-style. The haunted house has no rooms, its only square of random corridors. While the box suggested exploring a haunted house it was actually laid out at the beginning of the game. There is no exploration, no haunted story element, nothing to really fit the theme. The Haunting House came off as a childish maze romp of frustration.

The frustration came from the constantly moving exit. The basic strategy of the game would be to work your piece to a corner and attempt to move the exit to your tile while preventing other players from getting to the exit.

The game play is rather uncomplicated with little interaction between players other than screwing over your other players by moving or rotating tiles in their path. This can be fun if that is what you are expecting of the game. Honestly I did have a little fun after I realized what the game was about, but everything about the game box led me to believe it was a more thematic game. It really disappointed me on that fact.

To sum up The Haunting House is an okay game. It does very little with the horror theme it is based upon. Game play is quirky yet uncomplicated. I would recommend this game mostly for kids or adults looking for a basic shifting maze game. Be warned the only thing that haunts The Haunting House is the spirit of more thematic games out there.