Roll Through the Ages

Heather here!

So...

I have decided to write about Roll Through the Ages!

Thank you Tippy for being my model.

So basically I like this game because you can play by yourself or up to 4 people. But also because I like the fact that you can talk during this game and not really slow the game playing process down. Sometimes I HATE waiting for people to think about their strategy, even though I'm guilty of doing that also :)

Everyone gets a board, 6 pegs, and 1 sheet of paper. You start off with 3 cities which allows you to roll 3 dice. For every city you have, you get to roll that many dice. Thus there are 7 dice and 7 cities. Looking at the picture above, you notice that the dice give you a variety of options. 

Starting from the left: gain people to build cities or monuments, gain goods to be able to buy developments, add $ to buy developments, gain food to feed your cities, gain goods yet get disasters, and gain either food or people.

The point of the game is to collect the most victory points, which are attained through purchases and building. 

This is a great game to introduce new people into games. It's an easier one to teach and learn but also helps learn mechanics of many other games.

Happy Gaming!

Earth Reborn!!

Michael Here...

So a few weeks ago I ordered Earth Reborn http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/73171/earth-reborn from Tanga. I started noticing that a bunch of retailers were having great deals on the Z-Man Games board game.

I am going to go off on a little tangent...

I have not ever ordered from Tanga before but was excited about their prices!!! I quickly lost my excitement due to a couple of different reasons.

     1. It took Tanga over 2 weeks just to process my order and another half week for it to be picked up from the warehouse and shipped. Then to find out that it shipped from Chicago. LOL!! A 45 minute drive for me to just go and pick it up.

          I am not sure why it takes Tanga so long to process their orders?

     2. Tanga did not put any type of packing materials in the box that they used so I recieved a game that had a dented corner.

I do realize that I am sounding a little anal, but I guess I have become quite spoiled by the customer service of online board game stores like boardsandbits.com and coolstuffinc.com.

O.K.

Back to Earth Reborn...

I am really excited to get a play or two in. I have read a lot of great reviews on the game and have had a chance to read through the rule book. The game has a lot of different mechanics to it but the way that Z-Man organized the rulebook seems to make learning the game really easy.

I am planning to due an in-depth review, including photos, of the game once I have had a couple plays under my belt.

So far this game reminds me of a Space Hulk or Descent. The game play, dice and one-side versus the other mentality seem to resemble many of the adventure or dungeon crawling games.

I am really excited to get together with some gamers, including Heather :), and give it a play!

Update: BGAMES Weekly Board Game Group

Michael here,

So as Heather and I continue to work on getting a weekly board game group going we have come up with the group name and we wanted to get everyone's opinion.

We have decided to call the group BGAME. Board Game Addicts Memorable Entertainment.

What do you think?

I realize this is probably the least important aspect of getting a group up and running but it has been fun.

I am thinking that we will hold the group every Friday night starting at 7pm at our church builiding. There will not be any overhead and lots of space to have tables and open areas. We could even divide up into seperate rooms if we wanted.

There may be some Fridays that the church building will be in use, but for the most part it should be free and clear.

I was also able to get added to the meetup group Chicago Game Lovers as an assistant orginizer so that I can add the gaming group to their calender.

I am thinking about starting a website up to post video reviews and information on the gaming group. I'm not sure if I can afford to do this right now but I have noticed that a lot of other gaming groups seem to utilize websites.

I'm not sure if I have everything covered that I should yet, but I would love feedback from all of you and any reccomondations that you can provide.

Thanks!

For more about board games feel free to visit my BGG homepage at  http://boardgamegeek.com/user/spikemike01

Outdoor Games?

I am going to deviate a little from my usual board game post to talk a about outdoor games.

I don't know about you, but my wife and I have never really been exposed to outdoor games.

With it being summer and the weather nice enough to be outside we were finally given the oppotunity to learn some.

Living in Las Vegas for most of my life has not been condusive to outdoor gaming.

If you are outside in Vegas you are usually driving somewhere or getting into the pool.

I feel that outdoor games are more popular in regions of the country that are usually cooler than 100 degress out, although I could be wrong?

So,

My wife and I were taught how to play Ladder Ball and Corn Hole or Bean Bag Toss.

Both, being quite similar in their scoring and play method.

For those who do not know, both games utilize throwing as the main mechanic. Eye-Hand coordination is important.

Each team is given the oppotunity to throw either a bean bag or a rope, with balls connected to the end, depending on whether you are playing Corn Hole or Ladder Ball. You gain points depending on how the object lands. Your team wants to reach 21 points first without going over. If you go over you lose points equal to the amount over 21. For example, if your team has 19 points and you score 3, you would then have a score of 18.

Although having good eye-hand coordination is important in these games I found them to be entertaining and simple. I feel that they are great party/picnic type games.

Great for when you have family over that have children who are not condusive to board gaming.

I found both of these to be enjoyable and thus spurred my interest in posting about them. My main interest is in knowing form you,

What other outdoor games are their that my wife an I have not been introduced to?

What Do You Like to Read?

My wife laughs at me sometimes.

Well, she laughs at me for many reasons, but she laughs at me sometimes about my nightime reading.

I love to read.

Some of my favorite authors are Brandon Mull, Terry Brooks, David Mccullough, Christopher Paolini, and many, many others. As you can see I love to read science fiction, non-fiction, and youth novels.

So far not really a reason to be laughed at.

So...my dirty little secret.... I love to read through board game rule books at night when I am going to bed.

I do not think that this is weird. I'm guessing that a lot of gamers do this when going to bed?

I love reading rulebooks. I find it fun and interesting. Plus, I'm a slow learner and it helps me to read through a rulebook a couple of times before the first gameplay.

My wife does not agree with me.

She is fine with reading through a rulebook and learning gameplay but she does not find it a fun and joyful thing to do.

For me, it is interesting to learn of game mechanics and play. I love to find out what makes this game different from the last. I know that this can be found out by playing the game, but I do not get to play games every night so I read rulebooks :)

What are some of your favorite genres, autors, and things to read? 

Bringing Friends into the Fold?

Michael here...

I love to play board games. I am lucky to have a wife that also enjoys playing. Im not sure if she is quite as passionate as I am but nonetheless, she is willing to try any game :)

Throughout my gaming experiences I have tried to learn what draws new gamers further into the board gaming world. Depending on the games that they have alreay played, and what they say they like, I might start them out with a party game like Time's Up or Dixit. Sometimes I will go straight to a board game like Ticket To Ride or Stone Age. These games have simple mechanics and usually draw people in.

I find that sometimes I get stuck having to force my friends to play other games. At this point I usually try games like Dominion or Smallworld. Each being fun and, I think, easy to learn. Friends will either like these games or will want to go back to what they are more comfortable with.

Today I made the mistake of introducing some "Newby" friends to Munchkin and it did not go over very well. :(


We were not through the first round before I had mutiple "I don't want to play" and "I don't get it" statements.

Then the "I don't want to curse you, that's mean". LOL!

To say the least we made it one round before I stopped the game due to the lack of enthusiasm. This set of friends have played; Dominion, Pitchcar, Stone Age, and Time's Up. I do not think that they were fully prepared for the backstabbing nature of Munchkin nor the crazy nuance of the game.

Sometimes I find it difficult to know what is the best way to get friends into the gaming fold. Is there one? Are there those that no matter what I do they will not go beyond Ticket to Ride or Time's Up?

How do I help my friends understand that there is a whole world of fun games out there?

The funny thing is that they say they love games. I really believe they love party games, but I would not say they are board game lovers.

To say the least I really do appreciate the times that they have played different games with us. I just want more! Lol!

Please... advice from fellow gamers.

Munchkin with a Zombie Twist!

Hey its Michael...

     For those of you who love Zombie themes, you may want to give Munchkin Zombies a try. Im sure Munchkin fans are loving this stand alone and expansion version of Munchkin by Steve Jackson games.

Munckin comes in many shapes and sizes, from the classic to super hero and vampires. The basis of the game is wild and crazy monster killing. In the Zombies version each player is playing a zombie that is killing Human "Monsters"!

For those of you who are new to the Munckin world, gameplay is as follows;

     Every player starts as a regular Zombie at level 1. The goal being to reach level 10, which can be done through defeating monsters or discarding "Go Up a Level" cards.

Each turn you will;

     First, lie down any item cards that will give you bonus power along with any special ability cards that you can play. You will then draw a card face up from the "Door Deck" which could result in taking on a monster.

If you turn over a monster then combine your bonus power, special abilities, and current Level. In order to defeat the Monster, this total must be more than the level of the monster written on the card. If you can defeat the monster then you go up a level and collect Treasure, which gives you more special abilities and bonuses.

If the face up "Door" card is not a monster then you can keep that card and then draw a face down "Door" card to be placed into your hand.

Warning: If you cannot have fun backstabbing or being backstabbed, you may not like this game.

What you just read is a torn down example of how to play the game. You will find that the reasaon Munckin has such a loyal fan base is the player interaction.

     Munchkin is built around the idea that you help your fellow Zombies kill mosters and survive while it serves your needs. Then, in the end you backstab your friends and keep them from reaching Level 10.

This is done numerous ways:

      Among them would be playing curse cards, mulitplying monsters that the player is attacking, and/or increasing the Monsters strength. It is a lot of fun having your fellow Munchkin Zombies believe that they are going to win only to lose to the Monster and have to take the consequence.

 We have played numerous versions of the Munchkin games and I really like the Zombie theme. I find it fun and entertaining. Of course it has the whitty artwork and captions, but it is just fun to have a Zombie theme.

Feel free to check out this game or other at Boardgamegeek http://boardgamegeek.com/user/spikemike01

Citadels

It's Heather,

           I wanted to give a quick review of one of my favorite games.

Citadels is one of my top 5 favorite games! It can play 2-8 players, but is more exciting with at least 4. Its 10" x 4" box makes it seem less superior than other games, but the constant change of characters each round gives it excitement. Each player is the leader of a city and seeks to increase its prosperity by building new districts.  

Citadels is broken up into rounds. Each round consists of 4 steps.

     The 1st step: Take the 8 basic character cards and remove a certain number depending on how many people are playing. This makes it challenging to get the character you need each round.

     

      The 2nd step: The player who holds the crown always picks their character 1st. So if you want to pick 1st, you need to pick the King. Then play continues clockwise. There are 8 basic characters and 10 bonus characters. The basic characters are assassin, thief, magician, King, bishop, merchant, architect, and warlord. Each character allows you to do something different.

            Examples: the assassin can kill someone for that round, the thief can steal $ from one character each round, and the architect lets you build up to 3 districts. 

     The 3rd step: each player takes their turn. Each character takes their turn in order of the character's number. Example: Assassin is #1. They call out a character or its number to kill them that round. On your turn, you can take an action and build a district. For your action you either take 2 gold or draw 2 district cards and pick one to keep. To build a district you need money. If you don't have money, you don't build. The cost of each district equals its point value for the end of the game.

     The 4th step: end of round. Everyone returns their characters to the pile, they are shuffled and a new round begins.

Once someone has built their 8th district, the game ends. Players count their points and the one with the most points wins!

This is one of my favorite games because it is easy to learn and teach, but it still has a ton of variety and keeps my interest. I like how you can be a different character each round but it is not guarenteed that the character you want will always be available.

Everyone that we have played with seems to like this game. Gamers and non-gamers alike.

For more board game information, visit Michael's Boardgamegeek profile: http://boardgamegeek.com/user/spikemike01

Advice on Starting a local Board Gaming Group?

Hello all,

Heather and I have been wanting to start a Board Gaming Group for a long time now. I would like to see if anyone can give us some advice on best practices?

We were thinking of starting with one or two nights a month. We would advertise using Facebook, BGG, and word of mouth.

Our Church will let us use the multi-purpise room to host the group, which will not have any overhead and there are plenty of tables and chairs that we can use.

I am thinking of a Friday/Saturday night or Saturday day but I am not positive yet what would work best. All gamers would be welcome. The area is big enough that it could comfortably fit 15 or more large tables. It would also be bring your own snacks and drinks. Although I feel that most snacks are not a gamers best friend.

So...

What recommendations can everyone give me for getting this going?

IRS is a Hassle :(

In 2008 my wife and I bought our first home in Las Vegas, Nevada. It was a beautiful home in Mountains Edge, which is in the southwest part of the valley. We qualified for the first home-buyer credit when we filed our 2008 taxes and so we took it.

When we took the new home buyer money we also agreed to stay in the house for 3 years. 

Well... I was transferred to Chicago at the end of last year. Only 2.5 yeas after buying the house. OOPS!

We received a letter from the IRS recently that stated the obvious. We owe the IRS a Lot of money. 

What to do? Hmmmmm.....

Sale some of my game collection?

           

NO!  

So...

I have a 2001 Toyota Tacoma. It is hard for me to say if it is more of a need or a convenience.  My Wife has a 2007 Subaru Forester, which drives great. We could sale the truck and go down to one car. I would prefer not, but the cash that we could gain from the Truck sale would take care of the IRS. 

Solution:

Truck SOLD :(

I figure I would rather hassle with the inconvenience of being a one car household than sale any games!

Now the hard part. Use the money to pay off the IRS without buying any more games.

Gen Con Indy Here We Come!!!!! First Timer Advice Please

Michael again...

I was recently transferred to Chicago for work. My wife and I grew up in Las Vegas.

Indianapolis is really far away from Las Vegas but really close to Chicago  :)

Thus, my first ever trip to Gen Con Indy was Born...

To say the least I am excited.



 I want to go for all four days but my work schedule will not allow for it this year. So I have booked Friday night and Saturday night at the Econolodge in Indianapolis. 

               Distance from Gen Con Indy: Approx. 5 Miles

               Nightly price: 39.95

               Dogs accepted: Yes (for an extra fee of $10)

               Is that cheap: Yes!!!

               Is Tippy excited: About as excited as she gets!

Heather and I plan to drive down to Indy early Friday morning so that we can get in a good 2 1/2 days worth. We both have our 4 day badges purchased and we have started to look into the listed events.

Im not sure for my first Gen Con Indy experience what I want to do. I do know that I want to get as much experience in as possible. I was wondering if any would be able to comment for me their reccomondations for a first timer...

For more info on Board Games visit my Boardgamegeek page http://boardgamegeek.com/user/spikemike01

Intoducing a Friend to the World of Dominion

Hey its Michael again,

Pictured above you will find our good friend Kristin after her first experience with Dominion. To give you a little background about Krisitn;

    

          Kristin loves to play Party games. If you allow her to choose the game, I would guess that 9 times out of 10 she is going to choose to play either CoMotion or Times Up. She is really good at both of these games and usually wins. LOL!

I think that both games are a lot of fun but I like a little more variety than that.

Now, Kristin may disagree with me, but I think that some board game art and titles scare her. For example, when we presented Dominion to Kristin, and I asked her what she thought, she said it looks a little "weird" LOL!!

For those of you who are unfamiliar with Dominion, the box looks like this;

To give Kristin credit, Heather does make the box look less "weird" :)

Krisitin, being a good sport, decided that she would give it a try.

Before I proceed, here is a summary of Dominion:

Dominion is a deck builing game meant for 2-4 players. In Dominion you act as a monarch who has an immense desire to build the greatest kingdom "Dominion," but you are not the only one. Along with you every other player is a monarch with the same desires.

As you can see below you have an area occupied by cards that you can buy and add to your deck. All of which can be obtained during a players turn.

A player starts their turn by drawing 5 cards from their predetermined deck of 10 cards. With these 5 cards the person plays an action card, then purchases new cards from the piles on the table, and then discards the rest of their hand into a discard pile. After the draw pile runs out the player shuffles their discard pile and that then becomes their new draw pile, thus builiding the size of their deck. 

The point of the game being to collect the most victory points in your deck before the game ends.

Getting back to Kristin's new experience. She caught on fast and was enjoying this new game. I digress again... I would recommend that when teaching this to a new player, to play open handed for the first couple of rounds until everyone is on board. Then once everyone feels comfortable I would recommend stating out loud what actions you are taking and what you are buying. I have found that this method of teaching works well for this game.

I think that Kristin was saddened to find that at the end of the game she did not have the most victory points in her deck but she said it was "Fun"!!

Thanks for being a good sport Krisitn :)

You can view my board game collection and read more about all board games at my Boardgamegeek homepage http://boardgamegeek.com/user/spikemike01

Dixit

Dixit is one of the few games that requires a keen eye, the ability to think abstractly, and consider the viewpoint of others, but still manages to appeal to virtually everyone I’ve introduced it to.  It takes the subjective and social scoring of Apples to Apples and adds the creative flare of Once Upon a Time and Gloom.  The game consists of a simple board (for keeping track of score) and the cards.  Each card contains an abstract illustration and many of these illustrations have common themes (i.e. several contain keys or locks, etc).  The game can be explained in 10 minutes to even the most casual of players.

Each player takes a turn being the storyteller.  That player selects a card from their hand, places it face down on the table, and tells a story to the group.  The story can be as complex as a long narrative, as short as one word, or as simple as a sound.  The goal is to relate the story to the picture in a way that is not overly general or direct.  Each of the other players then selects one of their own cards from their hands and places it face down on the table.   The storyteller reveals these cards and each other players secretly votes for which card they think was the original picture for the story.  Scoring is simple; if NO ONE or EVERYONE voted for the correct picture then all players except the storyteller get 2 points and the round ends.  If SOME of the players selected the original picture then the storyteller and each player who chose correctly score three points.  There is one additional bonus point awarded to players for each incorrect votes added to their picture.  First to 30 points wins.

Initially, it seemed to me the game would grow stale quickly.  As a result, I purchased the expansion (Dixit 2) at the same time because it doubles the card pool.  I’m glad I did, but it’s not necessary.  The game remains surprisingly robust after several plays.  We quickly found there are a lot of mental games going on.  The storyteller generally wants to have the second best picture on the table so that only one player gets it right and the maximum number of players get it wrong.  Success requires players to consider the thoughts of other players.  For instance, one game the story was “Safety” and I found myself forced to consider what would my 12 year-old niece consider to be safety.

With so many players trying to predict one another, the game has an amazing amount of depth that is rarely found in games as simple as Dixit.  We quickly found our stories devolved to be as short as possible because frequently players ask that it be repeated and any details that change will give large clues to opponents.  Dixit is a game that is as fun as its players are.  It gives great opportunity to explore and be creative with thinking and expression.  Highly recommended to anyone looking for something a little bit different than the typical.

This piece was written by Ben.  He is one of the relatives mentioned in the first post on this blog.

Alien Frontiers

Hey this is Michael.

Alien Frontiers is a Clever Mojo Games production by Troy Niemann. This is a Science Fiction game that is easy to learn and teach!

                   Last year this game utilized Kickstarter to fund its production and I jumped on board guarenteeing myself a copy. I just played it for the first time last Saturday!

                   WHY DID I WAIT SO LONG!

In Alien Frontiers you are trying to colonize the moon. The first player to place all of their colonies on the moon ends game play and the person to have the most victory points wins. To build colonies you must gather energy and ore. This is done by utilizing the Dice, "Ships". When colonizing a territory on the moon you receive, if you have the majority of colonies present in that territory, a special ability. These special abilities can sometimes enable you to win or lose the game.

The "Ships" can do more than just gather energy or ore. They can also produce more "Ships", Steal ore/energy and/or cards from other players, and collect Alien Artifact Cards. Alien Artifact Cards give their holder special abilities, somewhat similar to the terrirtory bonuses.

Alien Frontiers has many similarities to worker placement games. The "Ships" act as meeples for claiming actions per round and their roll determines what you will receive. In Alien Frontiers each player rolls their "Ships" and based upon their roll they will determine where to place their "Ships" and what they will receive.

The rules for this game are laid out perfectly. The game play is explained in two pages and then the rest of the rule book goes through details of Alien artifacts and abilities of different actions you can participate in. It is the best written rule book I have ever read!

I have played this game with 4 player and 2 player. Both styles were fun and kept me thinking. The rules outline changes for 2 or 3 player games that enable the game to have the same feel as the 4 player version.  Both games i played seemed to last approximately 90 minutes.

Clever Mojo games is currently play testing an expansion to Alien Frontiers which could add up to 2 players. I am on the email list and plan to order or help fund a copy as soon as they allow me too. 

This game is quickly rising up my BGG Hot and Top Ten lists.  http://boardgamegeek.com/user/spikemike01