There’s something to be said about the flexibility of playing with a deck of plain, old-fashioned cards. Sure, certain tabletop games can become the buzz word of the month, but they are often restricted by the rules set forth in the manual. “MYnd Kraft”, an upcoming Kickstarter project (8/27/18), is an example of the former…but these cards are anything but old-fashioned. One deck will give you access to seven (possibly more) unique games to play with your friends. Special thanks go to Game Creator Tharini Rajamohan for providing me with a prototype for preview purposes. It’s important to stress that prototypes are not often reflective of the final product, making everything you see and read about here subject to change. Per FCC Regulations I’m required to note that this article is sponsored, however my opinions are my own.
Board Games
I love music. It’s gotten me through some pretty tough times and is my go-to when I’m feeling depressed. Believe it or not I was in my elementary school’s choir as I equally enjoy singing, but I can’t read a musical scale to save my life. Sure, certain key concepts like FACE and EGBDF (every good boy does fine) has stuck with me, but I’m one of those people who labeled the keys on his electric piano and wrote down the letter sequence as I attempted to recreate songs I liked. Luckily, you (supposedly) don’t need to have any musical experience whatsoever to play “Rumix”, a musical card game that’s retailing on Amazon right now for $14.95. Before we untangle this unique treble clef (my favorite musical term even if I don’t know what it means), I’d like to thank Game Designer Maxim Levy for providing me with a press copy for review purposes. Per FCC Regulations I must also inform you that this article was sponsored, but my opinions are my own.
“Havenfall” is absolutely gorgeous and the 8-bit theme really hits me in all the feels. This deck builder acts like your typical deck builder up to a point and then introduces mana which lets you play spell cards and activate card abilities for extra effect. I decided to publish a video as opposed to writing out a review because A) I bought it and B) time, but I can’t stress enough how wonderful this game turned out to be. You can watch it played below, just be sure you reserve some extra play time to learn the nitty-gritties. Continue Reading
“Set phasers to phun!” Ugh…let’s try that again. “Alright folks, time to flip open our tricorders and scan the area for a good time!” Even worse. “You’re gonna want to activate your emotion chip for this one!” Okay, I’m done, I swear. “I’m reaching out to you from the Q Continuum to give you a heads up that…” I apparently lied. If you think you folks can do “Star Trek Puns” any better, leave a comment. Anywho, the folks at Looney Labs were kind enough to send me their latest rendition of “Fluxx” – a simplistic but chaotic card game where the rules are always changing. The Bridge Expansion, you guessed it, bridges the separate TOS and TNG games and allows you to combine them into one game. See what I did there? Bridges? Bridges?! *Sigh*
I bought a house and need to trim my board game collection. I’ll have a full list soon but for now, check out what I’ve listed so far on Ebay. Most games are used, though they are in good shape as I’ve only played them once. Hey, I live a busy life!
If you’re in the Pittsburgh area or are willing to drive to pick up a bunch, more power to you. It’ll save on the shipping. Contact me at vmp0514@msn.com if you’re able to do a meet-up.
https://www.ebay.com/usr/vmp_0514
You’d think “I, Robot” and like movies before it would have warned mankind of the dangers involved with messing with advanced forms of artificial intelligence. Sure, Data wouldn’t be Data (Star Trek: The Next Generation) without it…but then again, Lore wouldn’t be Lore either (Data’s “evil twin”). “The Grid: AI Awakens” is a Kickstarter project that focuses around this subject, with players working against both each other and the game’s AI in order to come out as the dominant speci…I mean, in order to be the game’s champion.
I know jack about politics. I couldn’t tell you the difference between a liberal and a conservative or why one US party uses an elephant to represent them while another uses a donkey. Why not dragons? It worked for Emilia Clarke right? Anywho, I’m not here to convey my limited views on how the US government is run…rather, I’m here to talk about a game that doesn’t care if you don’t know anything about politics. “Mapmaker” is fully accessible and playable for just about anyone, making it a Kickstarter project that one should seriously consider backing. Special thanks to Game Designer Josh Lafair for reaching out and providing me with a prototype for preview purposes. It’s important to stress that prototypes are often not reflective of the final product, making everything you see here (including the rules) subject to change.
I hated gym class. I know, who would have thought, right? A kid half the height and weight of everyone else, including the girls, not liking gym class? “Snag the Flag” is a Kickstarter project aimed at anyone looking to test their reflexes…of course, having fun in the process is not only a side effect, but encouraged! It’s a shame games like these weren’t around when I was a kid…it would have made my gym classes a lot more fun and a lot less bloody.
“Nightlancer” recently launched on Kickstarter and seems perfect for those who want a meaty RPG without the long time-crunch. In this cyberpunk universe, you’ll be trading with the black market and using your contact network to take on challenging missions. While there is a cooperative element, in the end only one of you will escape. Do YOU have what it takes to be a Nightlancer?
No one can contest that games like “H1Z1” and “PUBG” revived the battle royal genre…that is, a “Hunger Games”-esque battle arena system where the map shrinks the longer it plays out. Heck, “Fortnite” was originally PVE until it jumped on the bandwagon with a separate free-to-play battle royale mode. I was surprised (but kinda not based on trend) to see a board game version pop up on Kickstarter and I have a feeling that it won’t be the last one. While I haven’t been able to play “Last One Standing” for obvious reasons, I can’t wait to see what the final product looks like after it’s all said and done. Due to how busy I can get, I’m also attracted by the “10 minutes per player” average playtime.
I enjoy playing this game, mainly because I can talk like Meowth from Pokémon and sound “gangsta”…or at least try to. “Button Men” is a pretty simple dice rolling battler with some light strategy elements to it. The game gets a bit more strategic when you add in the extras like poison or shadow dice. After recording the first impressions video as seen below, I looked up the MSRP and found that it was $35, which I believe is way too much for the amount of content in the box. Yes, it has replayability and yes, the art and components are pretty nice. With game matches only lasting ten minutes, if that, it’s still a hard sell. With that said, there’s a free to play version you can download and print yourself. I’d recommend doing that first before deciding to buy the boxed version.
“Tak” is pretty darned awesome as abstract games go, but does this Second Edition stack up (no pun intended) with the first? That depends. Go watch the below to find out what I mean. As a side bonus, you get to watch first time player Aidalee wipe the floor with me.
Wow, this game! It’s so darn simple and plays very quickly, but Aidalee and I absolutely loved playing it. The components, replayability…all of it hit all the right spots. If you’re a fan of set collecting for points but want something lighter than your average Euro game, then “Majesty: For The Realm” is the game to get. Go watch our initial gameplay session (video below) to learn more!
While I may not be able to correctly pronounce it, “Parfum” is undeniably one of the more uniquely themed games that I have in my collection. I don’t think I own another board game that involves the producing and selling of perfume. “Parfum” is relatively simple to play but has a lot of hidden rules that can sneak up on you if you’re not careful, so I recommend reading the rulebook a few times to make sure you catch everything during a player turn. It’s only about $10-$15 on Amazon currently, making this an easy recommend if you enjoy easy to moderately difficult set collecting / dice rolling games.
My my, isn’t this game pretty? “Azul” (Spanish for “blue”) is a colorful and strategic tile drafting game that is pretty cutthroat. In fact, it might be a bit too cutthroat for some…that is, you can really mess up your opponent if you’re observant and force them to take tiles of a color that don’t fit on their personal player board. Aidalee opened a can of you know what in that regard during our first play session and you can even watch her do it in the video below.
There simply aren’t enough “catch the hidden bad guy” games out there or at least, I don’t own as many as I’d like. “The Omega Virus” and “Clue: The Museum Caper” were the first ones I’ve ever played and ever since I’ve been hooked. “Stop Thief” has players trying to catch a hidden thief who is controlled by an App (downloadable via a cell phone, tablet, etc.). Catching a thief earns you money and if you earn enough, you win! Like “Scotland Yard”, spaces are numbered giving players an easy way to compare the app’s hints and messages with the actual board. My only grief was with the app, which froze on me once and isn’t user-friendly in the sense that I didn’t know that the difficulty drop down menu was actually a drop down and not simply a header. Minor complaints aside, this is a fairly interesting and strategic game that will test your deductive reasoning skills via audio cues. The version I purchased is a remake of the 1979 version and I felt was worth the buying price of about $20 on Amazon.