• Dec. 7, 2005 - Citadels Game Review
The
favorite game right now is a game I almost didn't purchase. An unlikely
sounding card game about building your own city and thereby gaining the
most victory points. What makes this game unique is that each player
takes on the role of a different character each round of the game, and
the character is kept secret until your time to play. The order the
players go is determined by what character they choose in secret. For
example the Assasin always goes first, followed by the Thief. These of
course are the most unsavory characters of the lot. Other characters
are the King, the Architect, and the Merchant to name a few. Now before
anyone dismisses the game based on the unsavory character of an
Assasin, let me tell you that the assasin's only ability is to make any
other player lose a turn. The game has lots of extra characters so you
could remove the assasin and the thief if they bothered you. Each
character has a special ability or power. Sometimes you will recieve
extra gold because of your profession for that round. For example the
King will receive income based on having any gold city cards in his
citadel. The king will also be the first person to choose a new
profession for the nest round, followed by the person to his left.
The game itself is accessible to anyone easily over 10, however I have
played with a 7 year old who needed only minimal strategic help. In
fact I have a niece who will come over and say she needs a Citadel fix,
otherwise she is not that big of a game player. The game is made to a
high standard, but since the character cards are shuffled 8-10 times
during one game it is recommended that the character cards be placed in
protective sleeves. However it is not that expensive of a game, so if I
play it 100-200 times and have to replace the character cards I will
gladly buy the game again.
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• Nov. 22, 2005 - Gulo Gulo Game Review - A family favorite
For
your perusal I will be presenting games that my family enjoys
playing. A game for the younger crowd, a more theme oriented boardgame,
and an abstact that anyone of any age can play. Today we will start
with the kids game.
Gulo Gulo
Weird name for a game I know. Each player is a Gulo, or wolverine,
trying to rescue a baby Gulo who got caught by the swamp vulture while
trying to steal vulture eggs.. Unfortunately for the baby Gulo, all the
adult Gulos are distracted by all the delicious swamp vulture eggs, and
it has to wait very, very patiently as the adults constantly trip the
very, very sensitive "egg alarm" rigged by the vulture to scare off the
pesky Gulos. The components are quality wooden bits. The vulture eggs
are wooden eggs of various sizes and colors, the 'alarm' is a wooden
dowel that is weighted to fall over, and the next is a fairly heavy
wooden bowl. The playing board is an everchanging set of tiles that
determine the choice of egg that the Gulo must try to remove to rescue
the junior gulo. If you set of the alarm you must go back a ways and
try again next time. This is one of the few games that parents can try
as hard as they want to win, but the kids will probably beat you.
Though the game looks like only a dexterity game it does have some
strategy involved, and parents you will need the strategy to beat small
nimble fingers. My 3 year old plays this very well, but we do need to
sometimes remind her of some of the rules. Even my 11 year old will
play this anytime we suggest it.
Stay
tuned for a review of Torres, a unique castle building game. And Blokus
a colorful abstract that may remind you of tetris, but alot more fun.
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• Nov. 22, 2005 - National Games Week
National games week is an annual celebration of all forms of socially
interactive games. So open the boxes of some of those games you have in
your closet or under the bed. Interact with your family and friends,
find out how they win and how they lose. Develop thinking skills and
just enjoy the company of those around you this week and be
thankful. |
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• Nov. 15, 2005 - Lost Art of Interactive Entertainment
Most entertainment in American culture involves a solitary response to something, even when the entertainment is within a group setting. Electronic gaming, watching TV, going to the theater, even reading a good book. Now I am not saying that any of these are bad or wrong. Only that the fine art of conversation and interaction is lost on most generations and is difficult to achieve with most American entertainment. Social Interaction often occurs on a hike or at the fishing hole when we away from the hum drum beat of everyday laundry and schoolwork. But think about how often we get to together as a family or a group and do something interactive. Where conversation flows and it is fun entertainment. Does it occur often? Conversation happens during dinner but there are always milk spills, food fights and dishes. I would like to suggest boardgames. Now I am not suggesting any of the games you grew up with. In the games I want to reccommend there is no passing go, chutes and ladders, or spin and roll. I grew up with these games and find them lacking in anything fun. I will run screaming if any of these games are suggested as being fun. A decade or so ago in Germany a revival of boardgames began with strategic, fun games unlike what most people have seen. This new wave of games are known as eurogames, german games, or designer games. Games with weird sounding names like Carcasonne, Citadels, Tikal, Torres, Niagara, Blokus. All well thought out, strategic and most of all fun games.
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