Reviews

Games come in all shapes and sizes, but BGN's reviews of those games come in only five, described below for your edification:

Game Reviews: In-depth reviews of the good, the bad and the ugly
First Impressions: Quick takes based on one or two playings
Audio Game Reviews: Sound files from the voicebox of Ted Cheatham
Video Game Reviews: Ted Cheatham presents the sights and sounds of board games
Cracking the Plastic: Existential game reviews—no, really

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Headlines May 10, 2008 - Game Review: Party Pooper May 8, 2008 - First Impression: Wizard’s Gambit May 6, 2008 - First Impression: 4th Corner April 25, 2008 - Game Review: Mall World April 21, 2008 - Game Review: Utopia April 9, 2008 - Game Review: Key Largo April 7, 2008 - Game Review: Lascaux April 4, 2008 - Game Review: Gisborne March 30, 2008 - Game Review: Key Harvest March 27, 2008 - Game Review: Pick & Pack March 24, 2008 - Game Review: Word Blur March 17, 2008 - Game Review: Treasure Trot – Pro-Choice Gaming

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Articles

Game Review: Party Pooper

By Ted Cheatham & W. Eric Martin
April 23, 2008 (updated May 10, 2008)

Publisher: Out of the Box Publishing
Designers: Garrett J. Donner, Brian S. Spence & Michael S. Steer
Players: 4-8
Ages: 12+
Playing Time: 40 minutes
Rules Language: English

A bumped review as I’ve played again and revised my take on the game. See below for details.

Ted Cheatham is back for a quick shot at the newly released Party Pooper:

For those of you who skipped Ted’s presentation, here’s a recap of the rules: Try to guess which player the current round’s host will identify as the most/least likely to do some specified task or challenge, whether it’s singing karaoke, taking a dip with the Polar Bear club, or going dancing with your teenage daughter. Guess well, and you’ll score a point; have everyone guess what you’re thinking when you’re host, and you’ll score lots of points.

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First Impression: Wizard’s Gambit

By W. Eric Martin
May 8, 2008

Publisher: Gryphon Forge Games
Designers: Eric Drever & Matthew Stipes
Players: 2-5
Ages: 8+
Playing Time: 45-60 minutes
Rules Language: English

Game Played: Production copy
Number of Plays: Thrice, once each with 2, 3 and 5 players

Ryan Bretsch must be affecting my mind. In comments on BGN and elsewhere, Bretsch, a mainstream game fan, has cried out for publishers to stop using geeky subject matter. “No more elves or trolls or generic fantasy worlds or obscure foreign cities or Renaissance art fests or all those other things that game publishers do repeatedly,” he demands. While I normally roll my eyes at such requests – since many people dig fantasy worlds and topics shunned by mainstream games – I found myself unexpectedly sighing while reading the ad copy on the back of Wizard’s Gambit:

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First Impression: 4th Corner

By W. Eric Martin
May 6, 2008

Publisher: Strategic Space
Designer: Mark Salzwedel
Players: 2-8
Playing Time: 10-120 minutes
Price: $14.95
Rules Language: English

Version: Production copy
Times Played: Twice with two players

“Leaves room for improvement” – that was the diplomatic response of my playing partner, quoting a teaching colleague of his that knows how to deliver bad news to inept students. My more unvarnished response?

“Hell to the no.”

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Game Review: Mall World

By Brad Keen
April 25, 2008

Publishers: Rio Grande Games / BeWitched Spiele
Designer: Andrea Meyer
Artwork: Sebastian Wagner and Sebastian Balogh
Players: 3-5
Ages: 12+
Playing Time: 70-90 Minutes
Some Useful and Interesting Links:

• Tips for Players (English, German)
• Errata (English, German)
• Andrea Meyer’s Game Origins Geeklist
• Board Game Speak episode featuring Andrea Meyer

Mall World was designed by Andrea Meyer and co-published in 2004 by Rio Grande Games and BeWitched Spiele (as Große Geschäfte). The game is based on an innovative 3D approach to tile placement where players are forced to focus not only on the first layer of tiles but also on a second layer of chips, placed on top of those tiles.  The original theme for Mall World was the terraforming of an island, an idea that Meyer came up with “after having read a travel guide on Mallorca.” The game was later re-themed and set in the former German Democratic Republic with the title 1989. In this game, players took on the role of West German building companies terraforming Eastern Germany, and it even included two variants where players had the choice of either improving the GDR or selling it off piece by piece.

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Game Review: Utopia

By Greg Schloesser
April 21, 2008

Publishers: Editions du Matagot / Rio Grande Games
Designers: Ludovic Vialla & Arnaud Urbon
Players: 2-5
Playing Time: 60-90 minutes
Rules Language: French, English & German

Last year, the heretofore unknown company Editions du Matagot caused quite a stir at the Spiel game convention in Essen with its release of Khronos, a big-box game that caught the attention of just about every gamer at the convention. It was an impressive first release and left gamers anxious to see what the company had in store next.

Now, Editions du Matagot and designers Ludovic Vialla and Arnaud Urbon have offered the gaming world Utopia. No, I’m not speaking of the perfect world, but rather a good, albeit not perfect game.

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Game Review: Key Largo

By Greg Schloesser
April 8, 2008

Publisher: Titanic Games
Designers: Paul Randles, Mike Selinker & Bruno Faidutti
Players: 3-5
Playing Time: 45 minutes
Rules Language: English

Originally published in three foreign languages by Tilsit back in 2005, the late Paul Randles’ Key Largo has found renewed life with a new, revised edition released by Titanic Games. This spiffy new edition has received an artistic facelift, as well as some rules twists and modifications. The end result, however, is not much different from the original, which may be good news to some and disappointing to others.

The theme has players scurrying to obtain divers and equipment in order to pillage ancient shipwrecks for the treasures they contain. There are dangers, however, as monsters lurk in the deep, and greedy thieves lay in wait for the opportunity to pilfer players’ hard-earned goods. Further, only ten days remain before the hurricane season begins, thereby making it impossible for further diving expeditions. Victory goes to the player who recovers the most treasures and sells them at the market for the greatest profit.

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Game Review: Lascaux

By Greg Schloesser
April 5, 2008

Publisher: Phalanx Games / Mayfair Games
Designers: Dominique Ehrhard & Michel Lalet
Players: 3-5
Ages: 8+
Playing Time: 25 minutes
Rules Language: German / English

I am somewhat of a history buff, and whenever I travel in Europe, I love visiting historical sites, particularly ancient castles, cathedrals and ruins. I remember being amazed on one visit having lunch at a restaurant and noticing that the building was built in 1356 – over one hundred years before Columbus landed in the New World!

The subject of the game Lascaux by designers Dominque Erhard and Michel Lalet is actually older than the castles and cathedrals I enjoy visiting, MUCH older. The subject is the ancient drawings of animals found on the walls of caves in southwestern France. These animals are no longer found in France, but they did roam the countryside over 15,000 years ago. Now that’s old!

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Game Review: Gisborne

By W. Eric Martin
April 4, 2008

Publisher: Clementoni
Designer: Carlo A. Rossi
Players: 3-5
Ages: 8+
Playing Time: 30-40 minutes
Rules Language: German (English rulebook (PDF) available for download)

Version: Production copy
Times Played: Five, twice with five players and thrice with three

I advise caution when opening a copy of Gisborne. Think of the “Crunchy Frog” sketch by Monty Python, specifically the treat labeled Spring Surprise that throws steel bolts throw your cheeks when you pop it in your mouth.

Ideally, you’ll convince a mortal enemy to open the game box. You’ll invite him over under the pretense that you want to settle your differences, that you want to limit future confrontation to family board games and not acid-filled scarfs and showers booby-trapped with razor wire. You’ll wave towards the box in a friendly manner, inviting him to open it, while you fetch him a drink from the kitchen. Will a Merlot be good?

Whatever he asks for, though, you can put it out of mind and pour a celebratory glass for yourself since his doom is near thanks to this lethal chunk of cardboard…

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Game Review: Key Harvest

By Greg Schloesser
March 30, 2008

Publisher: R&D Games / Abacusspiele / Rio Grande Games
Designer: Richard Breese
Players: 2-4
Playing Time: 90 minutes
Rules Language: English / German

I thoroughly enjoy many of British designer Richard Breese’s creations and count Reef Encounter and Keythedral amongst my favorite games. I have been impressed by how he has weaved the “Keydom” story through a series of fine games. The latest in this series is Key Harvest, which has players obtaining fields to grow and harvest crops. It isn’t exactly the most exciting theme, but success depends upon careful planning and clever manipulation.

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Game Review: Pick & Pack

By Patrick Korner
March 27, 2008

Publisher: Z-Man Games
Designer: Simon Hunt
Players: 2
Ages: 8+
Playing Time: 20 minutes
Rules Language: English
Online Play: YourTurnMyTurn.com

One of the nice things about reviewing games is that you’ll occasionally get the chance to review something you’d never in a million years have expected to like – only to find out after playing that it’s exactly the sort of game you should have checked out in the first place.

For me, Pick & Pack is such a game. Oh, wait, that gave away the punch line, didn’t it? Drat. Ah well, read on if you want to know why I feel that way, okay?

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Game Review: Word Blur

By Neil Edge
March 24, 2008

Publisher: Word Blur, LLC
Designer: Geoff Girouard
Players: 3-12
Playing Time: 60 minutes
Rules Language: English

Word Blur is a new party game by independent designer/publisher Geoff Girouard. Take your standard pocket-sized dictionary, shove it in a blender, and hit purée and you’ll have the bulk of the components in this box: 900 teeny-tiny tiles with a single word on each one.

The game also includes a giant bag to hold these tiles; open bag, dump tiles on table – voila, the game set-up is pretty much complete. You also have a deck of cards and a handful of modifier bars that perform modifications on words placed next to the various categories on the bar. Place “Feed” under the “ing” section, for example, and you now have “Feeding.”

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Game Review: Treasure Trot – Pro-Choice Gaming

By W. Eric Martin
March 17, 2008

Publisher: SimplyFun
Designer: Paul Peterson
Players: 2-4
Ages: 5+
Playing Time: 20 minutes
Rules Language: English

Version: Production copy
Times Played: Four, twice with four players and twice with two

Candy Land is the Trojan Horse of the game world. It looks like a game, it’s sold in the game section of big box retailers – often with a branding tie-in like Dora the Explorer or Winnie the Pooh or Borat – and it’s widely referred to as a child’s first game, yet Candy Land is lacking in one essential feature of all games: choice.

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Game Review: Fantasy Pub

By Brad Keen
March 9, 2008

Publisher: Tilsit / Mind the Move
Designer: Emanuele Ornella
Players: 2-5
Ages: 12+
Playing Time: 20-40 minutes
Rules Language: French, German & Italian (with English rules (PDF) on BGG)
Useful links: Summary cards (PDF) and Player’s Aid (PDF)

The opening blurb from Mind the Move: “Welcome to the Fantasy Pub!! In this special and ill famed Pub you will direct Imps, Dwarves, Orcs, and Trolls in a hot spot night-party! Everyone has money to spend and wants to drink really good beer! You will move around tables, have a stop at the bar, and meet friends and dangerous guys. The goal of the game is to drink, collect points and leave the Pub before you are completely drunk or run out of money!”

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Game Review—Video: Surf’s Up, Dude!

Ted Cheatham hits the waves to take a test ride on Surf’s Up, Dude!—the final game from the Alan R. Moon/Aaron Weissblum partnership that was released in early 2008 by Jolly Roger Games. You can watch the video on BGN, as hosted by YouTube:

Or you can download Ted’s review of Surf’s Up, Dude! (MWV format) onto a device of your choice.

[Editor’s note: This is the second posting of this video review as the first was a tad too long for YouTube standards. Enjoy!]

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Game Review: Schwarzarbeit

By Brad Keen
February 8, 2008

Publisher: BeWitched Spiele
Designers: Friedemann Friese & Andrea Meyer
Players: 3-5
Ages: 12+
Playing Time: 30-40 minutes
Rules Language: German / English rules on BGG (PDF)

Schwarzarbeit, published in 2003 by BeWitched Spiele, developed from a 1997 discussion between Friedemann Friese and Andrea Meyer, when the designers discovered that they both enjoyed deduction games and would like to design one. A few hours later they had a design that was sent out for review by a publisher; a few years later their game was returned by the publisher who had just finished cleaning off its shelves and apparently did not want to publish the game. After changing the theme and tweaking the rules, the design team created a finished product that is a blast to play.

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Game Review: Darjeeling

By Greg J. Schloesser
January 28, 2008

Publisher: Abacusspiele / Rio Grande Games
Designer: Günter Burkhardt
Players: 2-5
Playing Time: 45-60 minutes minutes

Early in 2007, we were treated to Guatemala Café, a game about harvesting and shipping coffee in Guatemala. Now we have the pleasure of doing the same with yet another beverage—tea. Darjeeling by designer Günter Burkhardt challenges players to harvest crates of tea, then ship them abroad at the prime time in order to maximize their profits.

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Game Review: Pick & Pack (aka Floriado, Mark II)

By W. Eric Martin
January 25, 2008

Publisher: Z-Man Games
Designer: Simon Hunt
Players: 2
Ages: 8+
Playing Time: 20 minutes
Rules Language: English
Online Play: YourTurnMyTurn.com

My ideal game might be Corné van Moorsel’s Floriado, which I’ve played online at Mastermoves.eu close to 300 times. Which elements in Floriado appeal to me?

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Game Review: Jamaica

By Greg J. Schloesser
January 23, 2008

Publisher: GameWorks Sàrl
Designers: Malcolm Braff, Bruno Cathala & Sébastien Pauchon
Players: 2-6
Playing Time: 45 minutes
Rules Language: English, German, French, Italian

GameWorks is a Swiss publisher that so far has solely designed games under contract for a private insurance company. The design team of Malcolm Braff, Bruno Cathala and Sebastien Pauchon has collaborated on two releases, both designed to be light, family games. The first was Animalia, a card game of collecting awards at animal shows. The latest is Jamaica, a fanciful pirate ship race filled with loot, combat and treasure.

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Game Review: Mad Scientist University

By J. Neil Edge
January 21, 2008

Publisher: Atlas Games
Designer: Zachary Anderson
Players: 3-7
Ages: 8+
Playing Time: 30-60 minutes
Rules Language: English
Price: $24.95

To preface this review of a neat idea of a little game, let me confess that when it comes to games that are not considered party games I am a theme whore. A full-fledged, street-walking, corner-working theme whore. I love a game with a theme, and even if the theme is kind of loosely applied I’ll still go out of my way to embrace the theme and play it up. For me, that’s part of the game itself even though no game mechanisms are put forth to support it. Hell, you should see me teach the game Himalaya; it was once medieval themed, but now I can sell the theme of that game of herding yaks, visiting Himalayans and meditating at stupas like no other!

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Game Review Redux: E.T.I.: Estimated Time to Invasion

By W. Eric Martin
January 18, 2008

Publisher: Eye-Level Entertainment
Designers: Matthew and Mark Anticole
Players: 3-6
Ages: 12+
Playing Time: 60-120 minutes
Rules Language: English

Version: Production copy
Times Played: Three, twice with six players and once with four

In case you couldn’t tell from the title of this game, E.T.I.: Estimated Time to Invasion presents us poor humans with a bunch of aliens who plan to invade Earth. Shaking our fists at the alien scum might be a good first step in the minds of some people, but a more positive approach to the defense of humanity can be taken by the game’s players, who happen to run research organizations that will work to create defense projects.

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Game Review: E.T.I.: Estimated Time to Invasion

By W. Eric Martin
January 15, 2008

Publisher: Eye-Level Entertainment
Designers: Matthew and Mark Anticole
Players: 3-6
Ages: 12+
Playing Time: 60-120 minutes
Rules Language: English

Version: Production copy
Times Played: Three, twice with six players and once with four

Aliens are invading—again. Don’t aliens have anything better to do than invade Earth? Couldn’t they just swing by for a movie, maybe swap music clips or share photos? Friend me on Facebook? Personally I don’t have anything against the aliens—other than that they keep trying to enslave us, natch—but I’m getting a little tired of trying to defend them when friends and neighbors start yammering on about the invasions yet again. I get it, okay: Aliens bad, humans good.

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Game Review: Antler Island

By Greg J. Schloesser
January 11, 2008

Publisher: Fragor Games
Designers: Gordon and Fraser Lamont
Players: 3-4
Playing Time: 45-60 minutes
Rules Language: English / French / German

The always jovial and friendly Lamont Brothers have developed a reputation of using clever and adorable components in their games. Their first release, Leapfrog, featured colorful rubber frogs, while their last two releases have included wonderful three-dimensional sheep and rats. Their latest release is Antler Island, wherein player’s pieces are whimsical stags. The presence of these special components never fails to generate considerable excitement amongst gamers and no doubt helps boost sales.

The theme of Antler Island, while perfectly natural, may be a bit too mature for younger audiences. Players represent stags whose main purpose is to mate with does, called “doeples” in game parlance. Victory tends to go to the player who is most successful in this task. Along the way, stags must gather food for sustenance and antler growth, both of which help in the inevitable conflicts with opposing stags. The theme is certain to cause sophomoric chuckles and jokes from most males, but can be changed to “kissing” as opposed to mating in order to make it kid-friendly.

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Game Review: Brass

By Greg J. Schloesser
January 9, 2008

Publisher: Warfrog Games
Designer: Martin Wallace
Players: 3-4
Playing Time: 120-180 minutes
Rules Language: English / French / German

Martin Wallace has designed some of my favorite games, including Struggle of Empires, Age of Steam and Liberté. He has a penchant for designing games that have considerable depth and are a bit more complex than most European fare. As such, I am always keen to play his latest release.

Most of his designs from the past several years have had a decided militaristic tone. Princes of the Renaissance, Struggle of Empires, Byzantium and Perikles have all involved warfare and military conquest. His latest release, Brass, breaks this trend and instead attempts to portray the industrial revolution as it sweeps through 18th century Lancashire, England.

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Game Review: Trump-ephants (Trötofant)

By Dale Yu
January 9, 2008

Publisher: HABA
Designer: Roberto Fraga
Players: 2-4
Ages: 5+
Playing time: 5-10 minutes

If you have kids, I’m fairly certain that you’ve been to plenty of children’s birthday parties and seen your child receive a goodie bag filled with all sorts of candy and trinkets.  In the past, I used to try to get those bags (and their contents) to the trash as soon as the kids had forgotten about them.  Now, with Trump-ephants in my game closet, I’m looking through each goodie bag carefully for extra party horns (tooters)!

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Game Review: Chicken Squabble (Zoff im Hühnerof)

By Dale Yu
January 9, 2008

Publisher: HABA
Designer: Marco Teubner
Players: 2-4
Ages: 4+
Playing time: 20 minutes

One of the curious problems that I’ve noticed with children’s games is that it’s hard to find a good dexterity/skill game that works for children while remaining interesting for the parents that will have to play the game at the same time.  Generally, the games are so simple that there is little challenge left for the adults.  Chicken Squabble, a 2007 HABA release, is an exception to this rule.  It presents a good balance of skill and strategy for children and adults alike.

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Game Review (with Bonus Video): 10 Days in Asia

By W. Eric Martin & Ted Cheatham
January 7, 2008

Publisher: Out of the Box Publishing
Designers: Alan R. Moon & Aaron Weissblum
Players: 2-4
Ages: 10
Playing Time: 20-30 minutes
Rules Language: English

If you ever get the chance to play 10 Days in Asia with ambassadors from the smaller countries on that continent, here’s my advice: Don’t. You will inevitably make comments along the lines of “Brunei is where?! Why isn’t it in the Middle East as it should be?” or “Bahrain is the black hole of travel,” or “Maldives is completely useless.” International tensions will escalate, and Bad Things will result.

For gamers not intending to reach out to those in the Eastern Hemisphere, 10 Days in Asia is a decent game with a short playing time that includes a minor educational element. For the basics of game play, let’s turn to the ever able Ted Cheatham:

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Game Review: The Market of Alturien

By Greg J. Schloesser
January 5, 2008

Publisher: Pro Ludo / Mayfair Games
Designer: Wolfgang Kramer
Players: 2-6
Playing Time: 60 minutes
Rules Language: German / English

There has been a trend lately for designers to revamp and reissue older titles from their body of work. Examples of this abound, and a comprehensive list would fill pages. Wolfgang Kramer, perhaps my favorite designer, has been capitalizing on this trend, with many of his older titles being modified and reissued, including Tycoon (as El Capitan), Big Boss (as the forthcoming Altura), and City. Often, this breathes new life into an older title and introduces it to a new audience who may have missed the original.

Kramer’s City, which was published in the 1990s, has been revamped as The Market of Alturien. It is the first installment in a series of games that are tied to the Alturien stories and mythologies. Sadly, City would not have been one of my choices for games that needed to be reissued. Indeed, it is one of the few Kramer titles I simply don’t enjoy.

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Game Review: Kingsburg

By Greg J. Schloesser
December 30, 2007

Publisher: Stratelibri / ElfinWerks/ Mario Truant Verlag / Ubik
Designer: Andrea Chiaversio and Luca Iennaco
Players: 2-5
Ages: 10+
Playing Time: 90-120 minutes
Rules Language: Italian / English / German / French

Games being released by a collaboration of publishers seem to be increasing in popularity. Perhaps this is being done as a way to spread the financial costs amongst a variety of entities, or give the game more widespread distribution. Kingsburg is one such game, being a cooperative release by both Stratelibri and ElfinWerks. In addition, it is also a collaboration between two Italian designers, Andrea Chiarversio and Luca Iennaco.

I was keen on trying the game as it seemed to be quite clever and was visually appealing. Fortunately, I had the opportunity to play during the Spiel ‘07 game convention in Essen. My first experience, however, didn’t exactly “wow!” me. I found the game to be fine, but just not terribly exciting. Still, I didn’t want to judge it on just one play, especially since that one playing was during the convention, where it is notorious for games to be played incorrectly.

I’m very happy I didn’t judge the game with just one playing as it has now risen to become one of my favorite games from Essen 2007.

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First Impression: Dubious!

By W. Eric Martin
December 28, 2007

Publisher: Robot Martini Games
Designer: Peer Sylvester
Players: 3-5
Playing Time: 15-30 minutes
Price: $6
Rules Language: English

Version: Production copy
Times Played: Twice, once with 3 players and once with 5

Dubious! is a small party game from a company that specializes in small: Robot Martini Games, which typically produces short print runs of inexpensive card games that can be played in less than 30 minutes. Designer Peer Sylvester had two other games published in 2007—the wargame King of Siam from Histogame and On Q, an abstract game from HiKu Spiele—and Dubious! is about as distant from those titles in spirit and game play as anything you could imagine.

How to Play
Before the game begins, each player receives a set of three answer cards: Yes, No and Maybe; The Yes card has a value of 2, the Maybe card 1, and the No card zero. One player receives the Guess card, and this card travels clockwise during the game. In each round, the Guesser turns over three topic cards, then invents a question that invites the other players to compare these topics. Sample topic cards include an astronaut, sushi, an unexploded bomb, and a camel; sample questions (from the rules) are “Which would you eat?” and “Which would you take on a date?”

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Game Review: Hamburgum

By Greg J. Schloesser
December 21, 2007

Publisher: Eggertspiele / Rio Grande Games
Designer: Mac Gerdts
Players: 2-5
Ages: 12+
Playing Time: 75-90 minutes
Rules Language: German / English

Two years ago, Max Gerdts introduced a clever and original mechanism in his game Antike. This mechanism, which became known as the rondel, was a method whereby players chose the action they desired by moving around a “wheel”. Constraints based on distance traveled prevent players from repeatedly taking the same action in quick succession without paying a cost. The mechanism was unique and has since become the staple in his game designs.

His latest design to utilize the rondel mechanism is Hamburgum, a game which challenges players to build the great cathedrals and churches in 17th century Hamburg. Players produce and ship goods; purchase materials, buildings and ships; and help construct the churches. Victory comes to the player who garners the greatest prestige in the city.

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