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.