Friday Night Games

So every other Friday we have game night. I thought it might be fun to post what we played. This last Friday we had a pretty good turnout: 9 people! We had 2 tables going all night.

Table 1 played: Age of Steam. This is Travis' favorite game. He has TONS of different maps. It is similar to Steam (or so I hear) where you build the track and transfer goods using your train.

                          Rex. This is the remake of the 70's game Dune. It can be a long game, but is still fun. You are trying to win the game using your individual way to win. Sometime during the game, ally cards are played and you can try to win with an ally. Also, you're trying to avoid being destroyed :)

Table 2 played: Conquest of the Fallen Lands. This is a simple game where you try to conquer lands by attacking and fortifying them. If you do, then you gain money equal to the cost of the land. Whoever has the most money at the end wins.

                          Alien Frontiers. I've done a review of this game before. It is a worker placement game but your workers are ships that are dice. Each turn you roll your dice and can place them depending on what you rolled.

                          Bears! This is a very quick dice game. Each player has 5 dice and are trying to make matches with the communal dice. Each match is worth a certain number of points and some get you minus points if there are still bear dice in the middle. Everyone who played enjoyed it!

Both tables played: The Resistance. This game is played almost every game night/day. It is quick and fun. It plays up to 10 and really gets your brain hurting with 10. There are so many spies vs. resistance. Team leaders are trying to get their team approved to go on a mission. Spies are trying to fail missions and resistance are trying to pass missions.

                                Last Night on Earth. 3 people left by this game so 6 of us played (which is the limit). I don't know what it is about zombie games, but they all seem the same to me. So this game was just alright. We did not play the advanced game, however, so I would be interested in trying that too. Depending on the # of players you have some players who are zombies and some who are humans. Each team is trying to kill the other. Zombies are actually hard to kill which makes it a little more fun for the zombie players, but the zombies are never completely out of the game like the humans are. I don't really like those kinds of games because if you get out of the game early, you get bored waiting for the game to be done.

Transition Games

I was thinking that many of my friends have never played "real" games before. Sure they've all played Monopoly, Scattergories, Balderdash, Catch Phrase, etc. But most have never even heard of Descent, Galaxy Trucker, Outpost, Summoner Wars, etc. So I want to list a few games I like to call transition games. These games allow most people who've played games you can buy at Wal-Mart to start thinking in a different sense to be able to get accustomed to "real" games. Please do not think I'm trying to be rude by saying "real" games, I just can't think of another way to put it :)

1. Ticket to Ride: This game is becoming quite popular and I've even seen it for sale at Target and Borders. You get destination cards and try to connect your trains from the 1st to the 2nd destination. But beware, you don't know where you're opponents are trying to go, so they may steal your path 1st. It is a fun and easy game to start with.

2. Settlers of Catan: Many people I know have actually played this game already. I have never played with the expansions, which I hear make it super fun, but Michael and I got so sick of this game because it was the only one people ever wanted to play. SO we sold it so no one could play it anymore :)
In this game you are trying to gain resources by building roads, settlements and cities. Your resources may not be produced each round though. Certain conditions get you victory points. Whoever has 10 victory points 1st wins!

3. Roll Through the Ages: This is a dice game. You start with a certain number you roll (I think it's 3) and try to build up your colonies, buildings, monuments, etc from your dice rolls. I like this game quite a bit because the dice aspect makes it a little harder and sometimes frustrating which always makes a game fun!

4. Alhambra: You start with some money cards in your hand and are trying to buy the little square pieces in the middle to build up your Alhambra. So each player has their own Alhambra they're building off of. You can either build, buy, or take cards as your turn. Simple and fun!

5. Citadels: This is a card based game. Each round the king starts (and the king can change each round). The king takes a character card that allows different things to happen. Then they pass the leftover cards to the left, they pick a card and pass it until everyone has a character. Then you start in order - card #1 goes 1st, #2 is 2nd, etc. Each character is trying to gain gold to build up districts. Once someone has built their 8th district, each player gets one last turn. Then whoever has the biggest cost of districts wins!

6. Mag Blast: This is a card based game too. You will start with 5 total cards laid out on the table for all to see. In the middle, you will have your command ship surrounded by 4 fleet ships. Each player is trying to kill off your command ship by shooting at it. Whoever is left with a command ship wins!

Kids Games

I've decided to change it up a bit and post about different fun games for kids. We've played all types of games and just yesterday played 2 kids games. It got my brain thinking, which I'm not sure if it's a good thing or not :)

These are in no particular order:

1. Animal Upon Animal (in German it's Tier auf Tier) for 2-4 players aged 4+. This game has a die you roll to determine which animal you have to place upon the stack of animals already in place. Easy peasy and fun!

2. The Black Pirate (in German it's Die schwarze Pirat) for 2-4 players aged 5+. You are playing in the high seas. Roll 2 die to see where the treasure lands and if you'll be the pirate ship or your own ship. Then take a bellows and blow air onto whichever ship to try and gain gold. Fun game!

3. Hexenduell (I can't think of what it stands for in German, but it's something about a witch) for 2-4 players aged 5+. Each player uses a magnetic witch to push around her broom to gain their magic crystals.  The pieces of all 3 of these 1st games are super nice and would last through a good beating.

4. Zombie Dice for 1+ players aged 5+. You have a certain number of dice in a cup. Without looking you take 3 dice and roll them. You are trying to gain brains and avoid bullets. Once you roll 3 bullets, you are dead. If you quit before you roll 3, you keep however many brains you have. Whoever makes it to 13 1st wins.

5. 10 Days in America (there are many of these...Africa, Asia, etc) for 2-4 players aged 10+. I would say that an 8 year old could play these games. You have a deck of cards with different places (cities, countries, etc) and also ways to travel (plane, boat, etc). You have to put these in an order that would get you from point A to point B correctly. This is a great geography game!

6. Bag-O-Loot for 2-4 players aged 10+. I would say an 8 year old could play this game. You are trying to gain collections of cards by making them yourself or stealing them from others. It has elements of Rummy & Go Fish.

7. Bears! for 2-4 players aged 7+. If you have 2 copies of this game, 8 players can play. In this game you have your own set of dice that you roll. Then you look in the center dice that everyone shares and try to make matches with your own dice. If you can't make any, then you roll your own dice until a match can be made. Whoever matches their dice 1st calls out Bears and then you tally the score. Quick and fun!

8. Blokus for 2-4 players aged 5+. You arrange different shaped pieces onto a board trying to keep building onto your own color while trapping others so they can't build upon their color.

9. Cartagena II for 2-4 players aged 8+. You are a pirate who has escaped prison and are trying to figure out what to do now.

10. Cloud 9 for 2-6 players aged 8+. You are taking chances while riding a hot air balloon. Roll the dice, if you have the cards of the dice colors then you advance to the next level and gain those points. If you roll and don't have those cards, you lose the points and go back to the beginning.

11. Dixit for 3-6 players aged 8+. You all hands of different pictures. You pick a picture and say a phrase, word or sound that goes along with the picture. Then everyone picks a picture and everyone puts them on the table randomly. Then everyone guesses what picture it is and points are awarded based on the outcome.

12. Flash Point for 1-6 players aged 10+. I think 8+ could play. This is a cooperative game of putting out fires and saving people (and pets). Tons of fun!

13. Forbidden Island for 2-4 players aged 10+. I think 8+ could play. You are racing to get treasures before the island sinks. Good times.

14. The Great Dalmuti for 4-8 players aged 8+. This is a card game to see who gets rid of their cards 1st to become the Great Dalmuti and boss everyone around :)

15. Have You Herd? for 2-4 players aged 6+. You are rolling dice to build up your farm and make combinations to get the most points.

16. Ingenious for 1-4 players aged 10+. I think 8+ could play. You are connecting like objects to gain points on your own board and defeat your opponents.

17. No Thanks for 3-5 players aged 8+. You start with 11 chips. Flip over a card and decide if you want it or not. If not, you place a chip on the card and continue around the table until someone takes it (willingly or because they ran out of chips). Each card = the points it is. The one with fewer points wins.

18. PitchCar for 2-8 players aged 6+. We played with a 5 year old. You build a track, and have a circular disc represent your car. Everyone takes turns flicking it around the track. Whoever finishes 3 laps 1st wins.

19. Tumblin Dice for 1-4 players aged 13+. You can play with 5+ you just do the adding/multiplying for them. You can also add more people to the game by using more dice. You start your die out on the starting area and flick your die. Where it lands is its point value. Whoever has dice left on the board at the end of the game adds their points and if they have the highest points they win!

There are many many more games but now I'm tired :)

Ascension: Storm of Souls Expansion

Ascension: Storm of Souls plays exactly like Ascension (go here for Ascension's review: http://boardgameaddicts.blogspot.com/2011/08/ascension.html) but with a little variation. This expansion includes an event card that all players are subject to. The events will change throughout the game.

They also threw in a new monster that can always be defeated; Fanatic. Fanatic costs 3 (instead of 2 like the Cultist) and gets you one honor. When you defeat Fanatic, you put him in front of you. This monster is considered a trophy monster. You may never have more than 1 Fanatic in front of you at a time. There are certain events that come into play that tell you what to do with your Fanatic monster.

This game can be played with 2-4 people as a stand alone game, or be combined with your other Ascension games.

Happy gaming!

GOSU & Kamakor

GOSU is a card army building game. Kamakor is the expansion that adds new goblins/clans. It's pretty quick and pretty fun! You can play 2-4 players.

You start with one level 1 goblin and play it in front of you for free. This will be your most bottom left goblin in your army. Now that it has been played, you do its immediate effect or need to remember its effect for later.

Then you take another card. It can either be another level 1 or a level 2 goblin. If it's level 1, place it to the right of your 1st goblin. All level 1's will be on the bottom most row. If the level 1 goblin is in the same clan as your 1st one, it plays for free. If it's not, you need to discard 2 cards to play it. If it's a level 2, place it directly above your left most level 1 goblin. All level 2's will be in the row above level 1 goblins. You cannot have more level 2's than level 1's. To play a level 2, you must have a goblin in the same clan as the level 2 goblin.

Level 1

Level 1 and 2

To play a level 3 card, you must have a goblin from the same clan in level 1 and 2. Place the level 3 directly above the left most open space above level 2. All level 3 cards will be in the top row.

Level 1, 2 & 3

*Note: Level 2 & 3 goblins are free but you have to have the same clan in level 1 and/or 2. The clan symbols are in the upper left corner. The levels are directly underneath the clan symbol. 

Once you have nothing you can do, you pass. When you pass, you are done for the rest of the round. After everyone has passed, it is time to battle. Count your points and whomever has the most points gets a victory point. Then start a new round. The game ends when someone has 3 victory points.

Much of the game is played building or mutating/changing your goblins. Goblins can also be trapped or destroyed which helps add some strategic planning.

Happy gaming!