Archive for Warren Smith
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Warren Smith
Canada
Calgary
Alberta
God Save The Queen
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What’s the greatest idea of all time? Is it the wheel or is it air travel? Now you must decide which ideas to harness in order to develop your society to its full potential. From the enlightenment period to the industrial age; from pre-history to post-modern and beyond, you will cover thousands of years of history in a fraction of the time. You are a master of Innovation!
Innovation is a delightful card game that promises hours of fun at the cabin, hotel room, or your own kitchen table whenever you need something to fill the time. In fact, you’ll soon find yourself making time to get in as many plays as possible – it’s that good. First, however, you’ll need the special deck of cards that comes with the game. Unlike a standard deck of cards which offers 13 different types (2,3,..Q,K,A) in four suits, Innovation offers only 5 types (yellow, purple, red, blue, green) in six suits. However, the deck is twice as big, there are five ‘jokers’ , and each card can represent up to two different suits. What I really like about the deck, though, is that every card has it’s own unique name. The cards are named after great ideas throughout human history! The object of the game, after all, is to build the best ‘civilization’ from the cards in your hand. It’s a nice theme to keep the play going and when combined with the simple colors and unassuming layout of each card, it helps earn Innovation top marks for presentation.
The object of the game is simple enough: score enough points so that you can claim little victories (achievements) throughout the game. The first player to reach 4, 5 or 6 achievements, depending on the number of players, wins! The mechanics of the game are simple enough: either draw cards or play cards. When playing a card you group it with cards of the same color, or you put it on your scoring pile. Simple. The genius of this game is in the rules about how many cards to draw, where to draw them from (from the draw stacks, or from your opponents’ cards), and which pile to stack them in. I say genius in the rules because… there are no rules! Instead, each card has a rule of its own that is associated to a particular suit. All players with as many icons of that suit as the player who invoked the rule must obey that rule (or avoid it, in the case of certain kinds of rules). So for example, Sally might invoke a rule that says “move all your green cards to my score pile”. There’s a constant back and forth of new rules (old ones are forgotten) and an ever dynamic display of suits on the table that earn Innovation top marks for creativity.
Although Innovation isn’t particularly difficult to learn by any means, winning tactics can be hard to find at first. Take heart; there’s a natural learning curve built in to the game that rewards new players with chaotic tit-for-tat fun and seasoned players with the challenge of building civilizations that will stand the test of time. Nevertheless, there is at least one sentence on every card to read, multiple draw piles and multiple suits on each card. Not everyone that you teach this game to will take to it right away, so Innovation receives average marks for accessibility.
In all honesty, this is a rather watered-down review of the game. I’ve likened Innovation to your typical, run-of-the-mill card game when nothing could be further from the truth. There’s a lot to get excited about here and I highly recommend that you check out some of the beautiful pictures and videos at the Innovation forum on BGG if you haven’t already. If you follow through on this, you’ll find yourself learning three new words – meld, splay and tuck. You’ll learn that if you get your cards in certain patterns, then you can claim ‘jokers’ which count as achievements. What’s more, you’ll abandon your long held belief that card games are boring. Now go back and re-read sentence number two from the second paragraph. Happy gaming, you card-playing fool!
Thu Mar 10, 2011 12:23 am
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Warren Smith
Canada
Calgary
Alberta
God Save The Queen
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Components: 8
Gameplay: 9
Replayability: 9
The year is 1888 and the streetlights in Manhattan flicker through the night as you seek cover in a nearby park. The subway stations here are littered with old newspapers but you don’t need to read the headlines. Everyone is talking about Jack the Ripper and his heinous crimes on the other side of the Atlantic. Rumor has it that he could be anywhere in the world right now. Indeed, he could be anyone. No time for reminiscing though - the Detective is close and your very shadow lies in wait to accuse you at every turn. You are Mr. JaCk iN New YorK!
Mister Jack in New York is a very clever game for 2 players, combining the mystery and deduction aspect of Clue with the abstract token movements of Chess. A brilliant combination! The game features 8 cartoonish illustrations of interesting people from the period (only one of whom was ever an actual suspect in the case.) For example, there’s Capt. Edward Smith who sailed the Titanic, Alfred Beal who developed the city’s subway, and Monk Eastman who was a notorious gangster. Which of them was responsible for the murders? Only one of the players knows the answer and it is her role as Mr. Jack to conceal the identity from the Detective, played by the other player.
The game unfolds over a period of 8 rounds, but will end earlier if Mr. Jack is captured or if she escapes. This limit on the game duration is a hallmark of the so called ‘euro game’ genre. In Mr. Jack, players can expect to devote 20-30 minutes to their 19th century adventure. Many other euro games employ a depleting resource mechanic (such as running out of chips) to trigger game end, but simply limiting the number of rounds in the game is another popular option for game designers. If Mr. Jack makes it to the end of the eighth round uncaptured, he wins! Notice I said un-captured. The Detective’s role in this game is two fold. First, she must discover the identity of Mr. Jack. Second, she must move the other suspect tokens to capture Mr. Jack.
It’s not as daunting as it sounds. As the second installment of the Mr. Jack franchise, Mister Jack in New York gives equal power to both players, unlike its predecessor which saw the Detective winning only 30% of the time. In New York, both players have an equal chance to win the game and must depend on their wits to succeed. The game offers so much strategic depth that it can be played over and over again without growing tiresome. I must offer a word of caution, however: It’s what I would call serious fun. Do you know what I mean? It’s a fun game, but requires a certain amount of effort and concentration to really enjoy. For that reason, I can’t recommend it for everyone.
Mr. Jack is definitely for me though, and I rate the game quite highly on all fronts. The illustrations are terrific, and the game mechanics integrate superbly with the mystery theme. I’d encourage everyone to at least give it a try. However, if you’re interested in a game that would host a greater number of players then please see my previous articles on the Settlers of Catan and Ticket to Ride in earlier editions of my blog. Until next time, happy gaming everybody!
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Warren Smith
Canada
Calgary
Alberta
God Save The Queen
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"All aboard!" the conductor yells as you climb courageously up the steps to the train car. You're thrilled about the possibilities that await you along your passenger tour of Germany. The railways here zig and zag every which way from Berlin to Munich to Dresden; they can take you to Switzerland, France and beyond. You've got the perfect plan to get to your destinations and you intend to have fun doing it. You've got a Ticket to Ride!
The Ticket to Ride series of board games is published by Days of Wonder and is the publisher's most successful title. The Marklin version of Ticket to Ride is the one that I'll be reviewing today. (Marklin is a world leader in the model train industry; they partnered with Days of Wonder to create a truly wonderful game).
Days of Wonder is well known for their outstanding production values - colors and artwork are brightly printed, cardboard is thick and sturdy, all the pieces fit cleanly into one snug package! Ticket to Ride is no exception. The game board is beautiful to look at and the cards have wonderful illustrations of various Marklin designed train cars. The rulebook is well written, making learning a breeze. You can even register your purchase online to have access to internet games when no one else is around to play with. I do, however, have one complaint. I'm not a fan of the little plastic trains that come in the box. In fact, I loathe them. For that reason I ordered a premium set of wooden train tokens from a specialty toy company as replacements. For that same reason, I give TTR only 7 out of 10 for components.
What I love about Ticket to Ride Marklin is the subtle way in which it introduces new players to games that offer multiple paths to victory. Unlike games that reward players for simply having the most money or the largest army or the biggest whatever, so-called European board games are about choosing the strategies that work best for you, the player! In TTR Marklin, players can amass points in three different ways: You can claim routes by placing your train cars on them, you can "ride" your routes and other players’ routes, or you can connect your routes so that you reach your "destinations". The fun comes when you mix these three strategies to adapt to the actions that others have chosen. Clearly, a lot of thought and play-testing went into this game design to get everything just right. For the extremely well balanced options available to every player I give TTR Marklin an 8 out of 10 for gameplay.
If you have young ones (age 8 and up) in the home then this is a great game because it hits the sweet spot where it's simple enough for them to pick up easily, yet strategic enough to engage the adults from the first turn. If there are only adults in your game group then you can get straight to the cut throat fun of messing with their strategy while trying to further your own interests! Making decisions like whether or not to travel to Frankfurt instead of completing a destination to Austria results in nail biting tension that can only be found in the best of board games. Because of the wide audience that TTR appeals to and how that changing group dynamic can alter the flow of each game, I give TTR a solid 7 out of 10 for replayability.
"Did you enjoy your trip?" the baggage handler asks politely as he hands you your carry on luggage. You smile and return a gentle nod. The moment is bitter sweet because although you were able to explore new and exciting parts of Germany, a rival adventurer went farther and faster than you did this time. Your spirits haven't been dampened though. You had more fun on this trip than on either of the others and your experience in riding the rails is growing by leaps and bounds! Next time, you plan on starting strong in Dresden before picking up enough tickets to get you through Hamburg and… and then… then next time will be different! Mwuhhaahaaha!!
All in all, any version of the TTR series is a solid investment and should be welcome on any casual or serious gamers' shelf. Considered by many to be one of the great 'gateway' games of all time, I have no hesitation in recommending this title. It's a non-threatening, feel-good game that has something to offer even the most cynical, un-fun, old miser. That's not you, is it? So go ahead and pick up a copy today. I give TTR an overall rating of 7.5 out of 10.
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Warren Smith
Canada
Calgary
Alberta
God Save The Queen
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Dessert was delicious and a glass of wine rests sleepily in your hands after a great meal with friends. The night is young though, and far from over. You’re not in the mood to go out again, but not ready to call it quits either. Wait… someone brought a copy of the board game “Settlers of Catan”! Now you’ll know what to expect from this game that invites players to get involved in an evening of discovery, settlement and trade!
Since its breakthrough release in 1995, SoC has been the consummate poster child for the world of modern European-style board games. If you haven’t played one of these kinds of games yet, then you probably think they’re similar to Monopoly, Frustration, or Clue. The good news is that nothing could be further from the truth.
The first thing you’ll notice when you look inside the box is that there is no “board”. Instead, the board is made up of 19 hexagonal shaped tiles that are made to look like parts of an island – mountains, pastures, hills, forests and fields. The tiles are laid out in random order so that the board is different every time! For these well designed components and quality wooden pieces – roads and settlements – that come with the game, I give Settlers 8 out of 10.
The next thing you’ll notice during the game is that you always have a chance to play, even on someone else’s turn. The days of ‘roll your dice, move your mice’ are over, thank goodness! You see, your lands will produce goods on almost every roll of the dice and you’re able to trade those goods with other players. This friendly barter system can be a great way to laugh and have fun, while trying to retain your competitive edge over the island’s other settlers. You only have to wait your turn to build developments. For the innovative game design and low down time between turns, I give Settlers 9 out of 10.
I’ve had this game in my collection for 3yrs and still love to play it. In fact, I recently purchased an expansion kit for SoC to add some freshness to my games. These kits are by no means necessary, but they create a tremendous amount of variety via new twists to the base game. In any event, Settlers without expansion stays fresh for a long time (due in large part to the variable set up each game) and scores 7 out of 10 for replayability.
You sit back in your chair - cheeks hurting from smiling, the wine warm in your tummy and small traces of adrenaline still flowing through your veins. Your adventures in Catan were amazing, and you won your first game! It wouldn’t have mattered though; you’re already planning your return to Catan.
Overall, Settlers of Catan scores a solid 8 out of 10. If you’re willing to spend the 15 minutes needed to learn three special rules about moving the Robber, Maritime Trade and the Distance Rule, then you’re ready to spend the equivalent of dinner for two on this terrific game. Until next time, happy boardgaming!
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