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Category Archives: Overview

Overview of a game or game session

Indigo

Space Cat had recently acquired Indigo, and since we knew we were going to be having a 4 player game day, we asked her to bring it over.

It’s a fairly simple game, a lot like Tsuro. You lay down tiles which lengthen various paths. Instead of moving your ship down the path, you move gemstones. The goal is to get as many gemstones as possible by getting them to your goal area. The tricky part is that in a 4 player game, you share your goals with other players. So if I manage to get a gem, that means I’ve also given one to an opponent.

In placing tiles, you can’t directly connect two goals, and if you create a path that makes two gems run into each other, those gems are out of the game.

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Terra Mystica

This is the first in a four part series on Terra Mystica.

When Amazon first debuted their New and Interesting Finds feature, I decided to try it out. Somehow through clicking through various games I liked, I stumbled upon Terra Mystica. It sounded interesting, so I added it to my wish list. Then Christmas rolled around, and my husband bought it for me.

I couldn’t believe all the little pieces inside! My first thought was, “President Gamer would love this!” The more pieces a game has, the more he likes it. The rules seem a bit daunting, but after playing it a couple times, we got it down.

What I really like about the game is each player gets their own little board, and that board tells you most of what you need to know about the game. It tells me how much it costs to build each building, what my income will be at the start of each round, what I can do with the resources I get, etc.

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Lords of Waterdeep


During the Kickstarter for Pursuit of Happiness I noticed some folks talking about how it was not a true “worker placement” game. I had heard the term a few times, but never really looked at the genre. The same folks stated that Lords of Waterdeep was the quintessential entry-level worker placement. I took a look at it on BoardGameGeek and it seemed intriguing so I put it on my Amazon Wish List (side note: everyone should have an Amazon Wish List, it makes gift giving so much more convenient), and promptly forgot about it until I received it for Christmas.

What is Worker Placement?
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Pursuit of Happiness

This is a worker placement game we backed on Kickstarter. Once we finally received the game and all the pieces, we were excited to play. Unfortunately this game has not lived up to our expectations. We’ve played it a few times, and it’s just not a game we really enjoy.

I think of it as trying to be a more realistic version of The Game of Life, but I don’t think it quite accomplishes that. Each round represents about a decade of life. You start as a teenager which means you can’t get a real job (only temp jobs), and you can’t get involved with a partner (if only! think of all the drama that could be avoided!). You can get involved in projects and get items/activity cards. Certain projects are one turn only while others are long term. In order to progress in long term projects, you have to spend time on them. Some activities are like that as well. If you spend more time on that activity, you can get more rewards.

After the first round, jobs and partners are available. As long as you have the resources, you can get a job which seems simple. Partners also require different resources depending on the one you pick. And this is where we run into problems.

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Code Names

We bought this game for Signing Monkey for her birthday, and it’s a pretty fun game that really makes you think.

Let’s say you have 4 players. You split into two teams: red and blue. The Spymasters from each team sit on one side of the table while the Field Operatives sit on the other side. You lay out a 5×5 grid of codename cards, and the Spymasters randomly choose a Key Card. The Key Card tells the Spymasters which codenames they need to get their Field Operatives to guess and the ones they need to avoid (everyone needs to avoid the assassin!).

This games really shows how differently we all think and view things.  If I’m a Spymaster and I see that “microscope,” “lab,” and “teacher” are the codenames I need my Field Operative to guess, I might give them the clue “science 3.” My Field Operative guesses “microscope” and “lab” correctly, but instead of “teacher” they guess “doctor” which scores for the opposing team. When I was looking at the cards, I didn’t even think about “doctor” being a possibility. This happens all the time throughout the game which often leads Spymasters to give clues for single cards instead of groups of cards (for example “magnify 1”  for “microscope”). It really forces you to think very carefully about the clues you give and the possible interpretations.

The team that identifies all its codenames first wins.

Things can get interesting when you have an odd number of players. When we played with 5 people, I decided to be a double agent. This meant I guessed for both sides and gave hints to the Field Operatives when they were guessing. My goal was for both sides to succeed.

We enjoyed this game so much, we bought our own copy.

Best Treehouse Ever

This is a quick and fun little card game. And who wouldn’t want a treehouse with a water slide, butterfly garden, and laser arcade?

Game 1 first scoring

It’s a pretty easy game to learn. You get a tree and a hand of cards. You choose one of those cards to go on your treehouse and pass your deck clockwise. When you place a room (like a butterfly garden), you have to move your balance marker. This means you can’t just build rooms on the right side of your tree because your tree would fall over! There are only two times you don’t move the balance marker: on levels 3 and 5 you can place a room in the middle of your tree.

Game 1 Final Scoring

After the first level, things can get tricky. Let’s say on level 1 you played an orange room and a blue room. On level 2 you can continue to play orange and blue rooms (if they’re available in the hand you get), or you can play other rooms. If you block your blue room, you can’t play any more blue rooms for the rest of the game. This is because if you already have a room of that color, all rooms of that color have to connect.

Once all cards have been placed or discarded, players get to choose Game Changer Cards. These change how rooms are scored at the end of the round. You don’t have to play with these cards, but it does make things more interesting.

This process if repeated two more times (total of 3 rounds), and the player with the most points wins.

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Evolution

A game that basically lets you customize dinosaurs? Of course we had to have it!

Dinosaur boards bought from the game’s web site

The game seems simple enough. You get a species and add trait cards (up to 3) to help your species survive. You can get more species, and various trait cards can help your species protect each other. You need to feed your species, and the more food you get, the more points you get at the end of the game.

Despite this, we’re still working on our game play. Certain cards (like Cooperation) are completely useless without other trait cards (like Long Neck). Also, there are only so many other traits that work with a Carnivore trait because Carnivores can never eat plant food. You really have to understand what each individual trait does and how that trait interacts with other traits. It can get pretty complicated.

You also have to think strategically when it comes to food. If you’re the first player, you’re pretty much guaranteed that your species will get fed. If you’re the last player, you may see a species or two go extinct, unless you have Carnivores (in which case you better make sure they’re beefy otherwise they won’t be able to attack). Sometimes it can be beneficial to have a species of your own that your Carnivore(s) can eat from just in case.

Mid-game I had 8 species

Some of our favorite cards/combos:
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Alhambra The Big Box

This is another one of our favorite games. We have the Alhambra Big Box which has the base game plus the first five expansions (The Vizier’s Favour, The City Gates, The Thief’s Turn, The Treasure Chamber, and Power of the Sultan). We recently acquired The Falconers expansion.

Only once have we played with all the components of the Big Box; it took us six hours to play! There are just too many choices and too many things to keep track of, so this time around we decided to select just a few:
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Firefly: The Game

Ah, Firefly. This is a favorite show for many of our friends, so it’s no surprise that we got the game.
We had no idea what we were in for.
As we usually do with new games, we followed the first game play recommendation which was to use the Story Card “King of All Londinium” (we have a first edition of the game):
  1. Goal 1: Takes a Master’s Touch
    • Goal Location:

      • Jiangyin, Red Sun
    • Aim to Misbehave x2
    • Skill Test – Negotiate:
      • 1-5 Pay $1,000. Attempt Botched
      • 6-8 Pay $7,000 to Complete Goal or Attempt Botched
      • 9+ Pay $5,000 to Complete Goal or Attempt Botched
  2. Goal 2: …and Knowing is Half the Battle
    • Goal Location:
      • Londinium, White Sun
    • Aim to Misbehave x3
    • Skill Test – Tech:
      • 1-6 Attempt Botched & Warrant Issued
      • 7+ Success: Goal Complete
  3. Goal 3: Two Card Monty
    • Goal Location:
      • Boros, Georgia
    • Aim to Misbehave x4
    • Skill Test – Fight
      • 1-9 Attempt Botched & Warrant Issued
      • 10+ Success! The crown is yours!

The first player to steal the crown wins the game.
Estimated game play time: 2 hours
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Gaming Styles

A while back, President Gamer told Chubby Unicorn about a website (Quantic Foundry) that would tell you your Board Game Motivation or Gaming Style. Being a lover of gaming she took the quiz then had the rest of the group try it out. The results were mostly unsurprising (low conflict for many of us), and we just take Space Cat’s gregarious trait to mean she likes the social aspect. She isn’t exactly what you would call chatty.

Chubby Unicorn: Low Conflict, Relaxed, and Grounded

Chubby Unicorn: Low Conflict, Relaxed, and Grounded

The Professor: Low Conflict, Relaxed, and Grounded

The Professor: Low Conflict, Relaxed, and Grounded

Space Cat: Low Conflict, Grounded, and Gregarious

Space Cat: Low Conflict, Grounded, and Gregarious

Clumsy Ninja: Immersed and Independent

Clumsy Ninja: Immersed and Independent

Shutter: Grounded and Gregarious

Shutter: Grounded and Gregarious

President Gamer: Low Conflict, Strategic, and Independent

President Gamer: Low Conflict, Strategic, and Independent

Additional Data available from Quantic Foundry