The week started off with a Memorial day BBQ at Angel island. Got in a couple games of Werewolf with a loud, somewhat inebriated group while what appeared to be a NarcAnon meeting took place at the picnic site right next to us. We were having more fun.
Later this week, my work had a picnic at a nearby park. After ultimate frisbee provided a quick and brutal lesson about how out of shape I am, some co-workers and I played Set, Dixit, and Pandemic on a park bench.
On Sunday, my friend Linda hosted an all-day gaming party; the highlight was two 9-player games of Ca$h 'n' Gun$. Linda handed out raffle tickets to game winners all day and at the end of the party she gave away a couple of prizes, and Hilary and I went home with Zombie Dice, a copy of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, and a tall can of Corona Extra (which I can only assume was included with the zombie stuff because it tastes like death).
Reviewlettes:
Ultimate Werewolf: Ultimate Edition
Plays this week: 3
Plays all time: 8
The ultimate (says so right there in the title) version of the classic hidden-role party game usually known as Werewolf or Mafia. Players are secretly assigned a secret role and a moderator leads the group through a Brechtian tale of suspicion, betrayal, revenge, and murder. This version of the game includes a huge number of roles that can be used to tweak the game a bit, though it is probably best to stick with the basic Werewolves-Villagers-Seer until everyone is fairly comfortable with the game. Some of the new roles are definitely better thought out than others, but it will take plenty of time just to work through all of the interesting looking ones, so I'm not really worried about it. Plus the Cult Leader looks like Steve Buschemi.
Thalatha
Plays this week: 1
Plays all time: 2
This game was taught to Erik, who owns my local game store Just Awesome Games by an Iraqi child with rocks in the dirt while Erik was stationed in Iraq. He put together a cloth board and stones and sells it in his store (and donates part of the proceeds to the Iraqi Children's Fund). It is a very simple abstract which I would highly encourage everyone to teach to their child as soon as they realize that they can force a tie in tic-tac-toe every single time. It uses a similar 3-in-a-row victory condition, but prevents ties with a bigger board the ability to move pieces around after you have placed them.
Dixit
Plays this week: 1
Plays all time: 3
The Apples-to-Apples for people who hate Apples-to-Apples. Dixit strips away the arbitrary matching that drives some people crazy ("What? Wheat isn't scary!") and replaces it with some truly strange card art. Players take turns acting as "storyteller", picking a card, providing a couple words, and trying to get some (but not all) of the other players to pick their card. A second set of cards with new art by the same artist is coming out soon.
Set
Plays this week: 2
Plays all time: 14
Players try to rapidly identify sets of 3 cards that are either all the same or all different across each of 4 different traits (shape, color, pattern, and number). Nearly impossible to describe in words (see?), watching the light go on as people begin to understand what a set is is really gratifying. Now I know how Annie Sullivan felt. Speaking of kids, 10 year olds absolutely dominate at this game once they get it. Malleable young minds or something like that...
Pandemic
Plays this week: 1
Plays all time: 22
A pure co-op, Pandemic blurs the line between game and multi-player puzzle. Designed by a user-interface expert, and it shows. Everything in this game happens very programmatically, and there is exactly enough information easily visible to allow players to take everything in at a glance. The design also wisely distances itself from its own theme, representing 4 deadly diseases with 4 cheerfully colored sets of cubes and not providing any mechanical representation of population (and the deaths thereof).
Lost Cities
Plays this week: 1
Plays all time: 23
Lost Cities is surprisingly vulnerable to 2-person group-think. If one player decides to start putting down cards in a lot of colors speculatively, the other player is almost obligated to do the same or just start handing their opponent big bunches of points. The result can be a much tighter, lower scoring game. This game *looks* like 2 people each playing their own game of solitaire, but playing against different strategies really reveals how incredibly interactive it is.
FITS
Plays this week: 1
Plays all time: 10
What you get when someone approaches Reiner Knizia in a bar and says "betcha you can't make an entertaining board game based on Tetris," and he responds "betcha I can!". I imagine Stephen King takes similar bar bets for writing novels containing vaguely Christian symbolism in less than 5 hours.
Incan Gold
Plays this week: 1
Plays all time: 7
An easy to teach push-your-luck game that plays legitimately well with as many as 8 players and isn't a variation of charades or Apples-to-Apples. Recently rereleased as part of the Gryphon Games Bookshelf Series, the new version contains some nicely upgraded components which was the only real knock on the previous edition. At some point some game-theory/psychology graduate student is going to have a field day with this one; the binary nature of the decision making and the fact that the "what will happen if..." could be really interesting viewed under the lens of statistical analysis.
Ca$h & Gun$
Plays this week: 2
Plays all time: 2
My only experience with this game so far is with the Yakuzas expansion, which turns the game from a hidden-role bluffing game into a 3-team standoff. While some of the tension of not knowing who might come gunning for you next is lost, the ability for teams to confer twice in the game, send secret signals, and split special abilities between them adds a fascinating dimension. Some people will always be a bit put off by the idea of pointing guns, however orange and foam-rubber they may be, at each other, but if you can put that behind you, this is the best game I've seen for embracing your "inner Tarantino".
Fearsome Floors
Plays this week: 1
Plays all time: 2
Players each control a number of characters trying to escape a haunted house before being eaten by a monster who moves programmatically. The game affords lots of chances to cleverly lead the monster into other players, but those opportunities seem a bit limited when playing with a lot of players (the game supports up to 7). The art walks a somewhat odd line between campy and gruesome, which may put off some folks with kids, which is kind of too bad, since the rules are quite easily within young kids' grasps and could be a nice transition from standard roll-and-move fare.
No Thanks!
Plays this week: 1
Plays all time: 2
No Thanks passed the wife test this week. Even through she was pretty much ready to leave, Hilary still enjoyed No Thanks! enough to demand that we buy it. Like Incan Gold, a game with entirely binary decisions that would probably provide interesting fodder to a game-theory academic. Bonnie and Clyde are *so* 1920s.
Later this week, my work had a picnic at a nearby park. After ultimate frisbee provided a quick and brutal lesson about how out of shape I am, some co-workers and I played Set, Dixit, and Pandemic on a park bench.
On Sunday, my friend Linda hosted an all-day gaming party; the highlight was two 9-player games of Ca$h 'n' Gun$. Linda handed out raffle tickets to game winners all day and at the end of the party she gave away a couple of prizes, and Hilary and I went home with Zombie Dice, a copy of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, and a tall can of Corona Extra (which I can only assume was included with the zombie stuff because it tastes like death).
Reviewlettes:
Ultimate Werewolf: Ultimate Edition
Plays all time: 8
The ultimate (says so right there in the title) version of the classic hidden-role party game usually known as Werewolf or Mafia. Players are secretly assigned a secret role and a moderator leads the group through a Brechtian tale of suspicion, betrayal, revenge, and murder. This version of the game includes a huge number of roles that can be used to tweak the game a bit, though it is probably best to stick with the basic Werewolves-Villagers-Seer until everyone is fairly comfortable with the game. Some of the new roles are definitely better thought out than others, but it will take plenty of time just to work through all of the interesting looking ones, so I'm not really worried about it. Plus the Cult Leader looks like Steve Buschemi.
Thalatha
Plays all time: 2
This game was taught to Erik, who owns my local game store Just Awesome Games by an Iraqi child with rocks in the dirt while Erik was stationed in Iraq. He put together a cloth board and stones and sells it in his store (and donates part of the proceeds to the Iraqi Children's Fund). It is a very simple abstract which I would highly encourage everyone to teach to their child as soon as they realize that they can force a tie in tic-tac-toe every single time. It uses a similar 3-in-a-row victory condition, but prevents ties with a bigger board the ability to move pieces around after you have placed them.
Dixit
Plays all time: 3
The Apples-to-Apples for people who hate Apples-to-Apples. Dixit strips away the arbitrary matching that drives some people crazy ("What? Wheat isn't scary!") and replaces it with some truly strange card art. Players take turns acting as "storyteller", picking a card, providing a couple words, and trying to get some (but not all) of the other players to pick their card. A second set of cards with new art by the same artist is coming out soon.
Set
Plays all time: 14
Players try to rapidly identify sets of 3 cards that are either all the same or all different across each of 4 different traits (shape, color, pattern, and number). Nearly impossible to describe in words (see?), watching the light go on as people begin to understand what a set is is really gratifying. Now I know how Annie Sullivan felt. Speaking of kids, 10 year olds absolutely dominate at this game once they get it. Malleable young minds or something like that...
Pandemic
Plays all time: 22
A pure co-op, Pandemic blurs the line between game and multi-player puzzle. Designed by a user-interface expert, and it shows. Everything in this game happens very programmatically, and there is exactly enough information easily visible to allow players to take everything in at a glance. The design also wisely distances itself from its own theme, representing 4 deadly diseases with 4 cheerfully colored sets of cubes and not providing any mechanical representation of population (and the deaths thereof).
Lost Cities
Plays all time: 23
Lost Cities is surprisingly vulnerable to 2-person group-think. If one player decides to start putting down cards in a lot of colors speculatively, the other player is almost obligated to do the same or just start handing their opponent big bunches of points. The result can be a much tighter, lower scoring game. This game *looks* like 2 people each playing their own game of solitaire, but playing against different strategies really reveals how incredibly interactive it is.
FITS
Plays all time: 10
What you get when someone approaches Reiner Knizia in a bar and says "betcha you can't make an entertaining board game based on Tetris," and he responds "betcha I can!". I imagine Stephen King takes similar bar bets for writing novels containing vaguely Christian symbolism in less than 5 hours.
Incan Gold
Plays all time: 7
An easy to teach push-your-luck game that plays legitimately well with as many as 8 players and isn't a variation of charades or Apples-to-Apples. Recently rereleased as part of the Gryphon Games Bookshelf Series, the new version contains some nicely upgraded components which was the only real knock on the previous edition. At some point some game-theory/psychology graduate student is going to have a field day with this one; the binary nature of the decision making and the fact that the "what will happen if..." could be really interesting viewed under the lens of statistical analysis.
Ca$h & Gun$
Plays all time: 2
My only experience with this game so far is with the Yakuzas expansion, which turns the game from a hidden-role bluffing game into a 3-team standoff. While some of the tension of not knowing who might come gunning for you next is lost, the ability for teams to confer twice in the game, send secret signals, and split special abilities between them adds a fascinating dimension. Some people will always be a bit put off by the idea of pointing guns, however orange and foam-rubber they may be, at each other, but if you can put that behind you, this is the best game I've seen for embracing your "inner Tarantino".
Fearsome Floors
Plays all time: 2
Players each control a number of characters trying to escape a haunted house before being eaten by a monster who moves programmatically. The game affords lots of chances to cleverly lead the monster into other players, but those opportunities seem a bit limited when playing with a lot of players (the game supports up to 7). The art walks a somewhat odd line between campy and gruesome, which may put off some folks with kids, which is kind of too bad, since the rules are quite easily within young kids' grasps and could be a nice transition from standard roll-and-move fare.
No Thanks!
Plays this week: 1
Plays all time: 2
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