Between the games I’ve picked up myself, and the ones that I’ve played with the Syracuse Board Gamers, I’ve managed to play a fair amount of new (to me) games recently. I thought I’d put down a few thoughts on each.
Casual Games
Wits and Wagers – It’s been referred to as the Price is Right of Trivia games, probably because of its ‘closest to, but not over’ mechanic which reminds people of the game show. The truth is that it’s actually a fair description. The nice thing about the game is that it’s very easy for people to get into, there’s very little teaching that needs to be done at the beginning. We were playing it over at the Jones’ (I had to look up the possessive form of Jones) house and Steve, who was in the room playing Guitar Hero, overheard us and decided to jump into the game half way through. That was convenient because he stayed on to play the next game which was Portrayal.
Wits and Wagers on Board Games with Scott
Portrayal – This is a drawing game which I describe as reverse Pictionary. Instead of having a word that you have to get someone to say, you are given a picture that you have to describe to everyone else and they have to draw it. For each picture there are 10 criteria, and if one of drawers has one of those criteria they get a point and you get a point. It works out quite nicely. While we were playing this Mrs. Jones walked in the room and was so intrigued that she joined in for our second game.
Portrayal on Board Games with Scott
I think both games went over well, but if you didn’t think so you should say something now before you get stuck playing them again.
Ricochet Robots – This is a less casual game, but not a real serious one either. I played this game with the Syracuse Board Gamers and almost immediately decided to order a copy. It’s a puzzle game where all players try to come up with a solution at the same time. The person who comes up with the most efficient solution for a given puzzle gets the point. I find that it’s a difficult game to describe, and very easy game for people to pick up on the first play through.
Euro-Games
Ra – This is a game where you bid on tiles. The thing about it is that each type of tile scores differently, and the tiles are put up for auction in random batches. In a way, it’s a more serious game in the vein of Hollywood Blockbuster. I think it’s a good game, and it ranks fairly highly on BGG, but already having a couple of bidding games, I don’t feel particularly compelled to pick up a copy.
Alhambra – I picked this game up on Kara’s suggestion and got a chance to play it with the Thief’s Turn expansion. It has some interesting money and market mechanics as well as a building mechanic. I had been on a winning streak through my first game of Ra and a game of Puerto Rico(!), but my poor city planning brought that to a screeching halt.
Ticket to Ride: Switzerland – Over the past few weeks I’ve been playing a lot of online board games. Or rather, I’ve been playing a very few online board games, a lot of times. This has led me to the brink of despising Ticket to Ride (I have to be careful who I say that in front of, because Alan R. Moon lives in the area and occasionally plays with the Syracuse Board Gamers). Switzerland changes things up a bit, and I think for the better, but it’s still pretty much the same game.
Phoenicia – When this game was being described to me I asked if it was an RTS done as a board game. The guy describing it gave me a funny look because it is obviously not real time, and there’s no military strategy in it as there is no fighting. What I meant was that it feels like the beginning of an RTS where you’re building up your economy and training workers, only it’s a board game. I personally think that’s an apt description of the game even though it has an auction for new technologies. I’ve always enjoyed the beginning part of RTS’s, so from a mechanics perspective, I enjoyed the game. But, I so completely trounced the other people playing that I can’t be sure of how good the game is.
I have found that when I play these sorts of engine building games that if I get an early lead I try to end the game as quickly as possible. This worked for me in the game of Puerto Rico that I won and it was especially easy for me to do in Phoenicia. I think that’s the advantage of a game like Power Grid, not only is the leading player at a disadvantage, there’s also a disadvantage to ending the game quickly. The person who builds houses just to end the game has to have enough money to do that and power enough houses to win, where as the rest of the people just have to build/power more than that person is powering. Admittedly I only played Phoenicia once, but it didn’t seem like it had much of that sort of mechanic.
Farlander This game was described to me as Risk without the dice. It’s a fair description, with pretty much all that entails. I got almost completely destroyed. I think I’ll have to play it a few more times before I decided to buy it or not.
Pandemic – This is a cooperative game for 2-4 people (though I’ve been told you can play 5 people). The point of the game is to stop outbreaks of diseases by finding cures. Supposedly each person plays a certain role, but because you’re all working together generally everyone decides what each pawn is going to do. We ended up losing the game because the red disease exploded in Asia. It was an alright game, but not one I really care to play again.
Race for the Galaxy – This is almost a reskinned version of San Juan which is both good and bad. I don’t if it was the differences, the reskinning, or just a poor introduction, but I was confused most of the way through the game. It was interesting, and I’d be willing to play it again.
Unpublished Games
Minotaur!, Town Square, Caduceus – One of the neat things about playing games at the board game store in the mall with the Syracuse Board Gamers is that you meet some interesting people. Most of the time you wish you hadn’t met them, but that’s another story. There’s one guy who will occasionally bring in games that he has designed. Generally they are abstract games, which is really no surprise as he has the bugs from Hive tattooed on the inside of his left forearm. Since they’re all unpublished right now, I don’t know that I should go into too many specifics. I will say that I have the dubious honor of forcing a rules change in Minotaur! because of my crappy tactics.
[Joe]
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