Old Games: Managed to knock a few games of my “to play list.”
Black Vienna – this out of print deduction game is a classic along with Sleuth and Code 777. Played with 5 people. The game consists of trying to deduce the 3 “spies in the Black Vienna” or basically 3 of 27 letters (A-Z and includes the O umlaut) placed aside. Players are then dealt the rest of the unpicked spy cards. Clues are obtained by asking each other questions which you must answer. The questions ask if you have 0,1, 2 or 3 of 3 letters such as DHR and if you have the H you place one chip on the card. I was very careful not to give any wrong information in the game (recalling a disastrous game of Slueth in which I made an early booboo and screwed the whole game up!) A good deduction game I think, although I find Code 777 easier on my brain so that will probably get played more although I’d certainly like to try this one again. None of us managed to catch all the spies although I was quite happy to have gotten one of the spies figured out! I rate this game a 7 may go up with more play.
Eketorp – this is in Dirk Henn’s self published series. In the game, you are Vikings trying to collect resources and build your stronghold and fight the other Viking tribes of other players off. Simultaneous picking of actions allows players to come into conflict resolved by card playing to find the winner. Interesting game and played a lot faster than I though it would but not really my kind of game a 6.
Word Rich – I hadn’t heard of this one before except Richard Glanzer had recommended in passing in a discussion of word games once a long time ago. Well, luckily he was at the Gathering and taught me the game and I was pretty impressed with it. I generally like word games (like Buy Word) but am not all that good at them. In this game you have letter chips some face up and some face down on the board. The face down chips are placed over scoring bonuses like triple word score or double letter score. You can choose as many face down chips as you like for cumulative bonuses but you must use all the letters in your word. Richard has wisely added a 1 minute timer and this totally makes this game worth playing! I was a bit too conservative in my play and Richard managed to come from behind in points and steal the win. A 7.5 rating from me and going on my to buy list.
Turfmaster – Classic horse racing game using both cards and dice for movement. I’ve been dying to play again and finally got my chance. Good but I think Win, Place and Show is still the king in this theme, a 7.5 and I still need to try it with the jumps!
Flaschenteufel – My favorite trick taking game with a twist. We played 8 hands and I managed to avoid the bottle the whole game and scored quite well. A must game for any trick taking fan. A 9!
HeckMeck – Can’t Stop with worms, fun enough filler a 6 rating.
Exxtra – a 5 rating, I’d rather play HeckMeck, probably just a reflection on my preference for theme.
Havoc – A poker/rummy variant with a Hundred Years war theme. A good card game 7.75
Ok, the brand new and relatively new games. Kind of funny, I never thought I’d have too many games but it certainly has jaded me over the years. Games I probably couldn’t have lived without a few years ago are now relegated to the “eh” list instead of must buy. My favorites from this year also reflect my general liking for race puzzle type games (Ubongo is still my favorite from last year’s Gathering).
Freya’s Folly – from Essen 2005 a light game about gem collecting with your dwarves.It is spiced up with some action cards which give your dwarves additional powers to better collect gems. I have played a few times now and it is pleasant enough a 7.
Il Principe – I bought this at Essen 2005 and I believe I have finally played with all the correct rules now. A good sign that despite all my mistakes, I am still playing this game. An auction game with some interesting mechanics involving using cards as resources and as bidding for roles. A good game 7.5
Mesopotamia – Another 2005 Essen game. I’ve been anxious to try this since I like exploration and resource games. Nothing new or innovative here and I would play again, a 7.
Elasund – The latest in the Catan series. Light game with collecting resources and buiding with a slightly different twist. Ok but I’d just as soon play the original a 7.
Bunte Runde – A kid’s game which makes a nice filler. Thanks to Scott for introducing this or it would have flew under the radar. Reminds me of Flinke Pinke. You take turns collecting different color pieces and shapes to score. A 7 and goes on the buy list because I’m a sucker for wooden blocks and cute bits.
Tsuro – Tile placement game which plays well with 4-6 but takes up to 8. Play tiles, move your token to the end of the path but don’t go back to the edge of the board or you are out. Last man standing wins. Very quick to play a good filler. 7.
Thurn und Taxis – Already had the buzz going when I arrived Saturday night. A gamer game involving card drafting and melding. The cards are the used for placement to earn bonus points. Interesting and I am interested in playing again. I’m not sure how long it will last though. A 7.5 for now and will probably buy.
Vegas Showdown – This is a simple bidding and tile placement game. I enjoyed it much more than I thought I would. I’m not sure I like it enough to buy it but I’d be happy to play again. A 7.5.
Mauer Bauer – I actually ended up playing this several times. The game involves placing walls, rolling dice to place houses and towers and playing scoring cards when cities are completed (an area is enclosed by walls). The first time I played I felt the card imbalance affected the game too much. After a few more plays I still think some of the cards are over or under powered but the game is really more about choosing when to score and when not to score to exchange cards. A 7.5 and a probable buy.
California – A shopping game – literally! Choose to take money or buy tiles. If you take money it lowers the cost for your opponents to buy. The tiles are played to score points for certain combinations. It plays very quickly which is a plus. I think there is not enough variety in your choices or your choice is forced so it doesn’t feel very challenging. I wish there was a little something more to the game. A 7.
Nottingham – A light card game of set collecting. Each player has 3 cards. The top card from the deck is flipped. Each card has a specially action that you can use for example to take a card from another player’s hand. That player then gets the card that was flipped. There are also special bonus score cards for collecting certain sets like 5 of a kind. The other aspects are the ambush cards which let you steal a score from another player. Longish for a filler and too light for a main game. A 6.
Um Krone und Kragen – Uber Yahtzee as my friend Jennifer calls it. The cards could use larger icons. You roll dice to gain cards which allow you to roll more dice and manipulate the results. Long for a filler. A 6.
Diabolo – this game just didn’t hit it off with the group playing it. Seemed to be an uninspired, long, lost cousin of Coloretto. 5
Carrousel – Ok, laugh, but this game is my must buy from the gathering. The game comes in a tiny box that will easily fit in a pocket or bag. The game bits include a carrousel board with 7 spaces and 5 horses of different color as well as a deck of card. Each card has a different combination of 3 of the 5 colors which indicate the first three horses on the carrousel. The goal is to match the order of the first 3 carrousel horses to the order on one of your cards. The challenge is that this may only be accomplished by using one of 4 legal move types to meet the color combination and all players do this simultaneously. Will make a good filler. A puzzle race game, my favorite type of game! An 8.
Du Balai! - By the same company, this is a race memory game. You are witches racing to complete formulas. I think 9 dice are rolled, consisting of 2 identical sets of symbols, one black and one orange. You roll the dice and try to memorize a formula in one of the colors simultaneously with the other players. The formulas consist of dice symbols not rolled in the other color. When you think you have the spell memorized you close the book and each player tries to play a symbol or symbols from one of the formulas. If complete and correct orange lets you move 2 spaces and black lets you move one space and gain a bonus card. The leader gets no bonuses. I’m generally not fond of memory games but this is fun and only involves short term memory. I think most of the players enjoyed it more than they thought they would. Light fun. A 7.5 and on the buy list.
Kleopatra - A gorgeous game with fantastic bits and it seemed to have a game with it so I'm not sure why I'm not going gaga over this one.You use the bottom of the box ala Niagra as part of the pyramid.You plan an architect for Kleopatra trying to build the sphinxes and pyramids. You collect resource cards for different sets to build and earn VP. The catch is cards which give extra resources or special abilities also give you corruption points. The player with the most corruption at the end of the game cannot win and automatically loses. Good for non gamers or families I think, but not quite challenging enough for me. A 7.
Ticket to Ride Marklin - more of the same, but the passenger scoring adds a more interesting element and scoring option to the game, best of the 3 IMHO. A 7.
Cherubim - a game designed to raise funds for a Catholic Aids program designed by Dirk Henn. Much better than you would expect. You play bidding cards for actions, picking up new placement stones vs placing stones on the boards for scoring. Player with the most "Angel Points" wins. A 7.
I didn't get a chance to play Augsburg which was getting some good buzz.
Last edited on 2006-04-14 14:38:04 CST (Total Number of Edits: 3)
Posted Fri Apr 14, 2006 5:50 am
