ChyronDave

I picked up Splendor because it was relatively cheaper than some of the other games I had been looking at that day, and the concept of the players as gem merchants sounded interesting. I was happily surprised by what I had picked out.

The game is pretty straight forward. Players try to gain 15 prestige points. Using gems, players gather resources to buy developments, which lead to prestige and more resources, which eventually lead to the attention of nobles.

First off, this game has some of the best components I have seen in all of the games I have played recently. The publisher could have cheaped out and used cardboard markers for the principle currency of the game, but they didn’t. The gems are good quality poker style chips that will stand up to multiple plays. The artwork on the cards is great, and helps to keep with the gem theme of the game. The only way I could see the game improving on the components is to swap out the chips for plastic “gems.” But, I’m not complaining about the chips.

The game itself is very easy to learn, which makes is a good game for newer players.

Dungeon Roll is a good decent solo game. I have often pulled it out to play a few rounds here and there to kill some time while waiting for a download on my computer or what-have-you.

The problem with Dungeon Roll is that it is a decent solo game, but it says it is a game for 1 to 4 players. My experience tells me that it is not really for any more than one player.

When playing multiple players, there is a lot of downtime while player 2 is waiting for player 1 to finish their dungeon dive. I can imagine that it would only get worse it there are three or four players playing.

So, if you want to quick solo game to kill some time, then Dungeon Roll is a good pick. But if you want to play against another player, you may want to pick something else… or play with people with a lot of patience.

This is a great quick game to play when you don’t have a lot of time but still want to play a game. This game plays well solo and is quite challenging.

As for the pieces, they are quite nice. No simple cardboard pegboard for this game. The box has some heft to it because the game pieces are that good. I do with they had gone with a dry erase style score sheets, but this can easily be remedied.

The nice thing about most Fluxx games is that they are real easy to pick up and start playing. Even when you include creepers, it does not take a lot for a new player to get into the game.

This is not the case with Cthulhu Fluxx. There is a lot more going on with Cthulhu Fluxx, probably so much that it could turn off someone who is picking Fluxx up for the first time. Even amongst my friends who have been drawn into the wonderful world of Fluxx, Cthulhu Fluxx is the one version they shy away from.

unless you are a major fan of H.P. Lovecraft, or feel the need to have all the Fluxx versions, I would passing this one by.

Star Fluxx (or most any Fluxx game for that matter) is the perfect game to keep in a bag to play on the go. The basic rules are pretty straight forward (draw one, play one), and most of the new rules are pretty straight forward. I always keep a copy with me to play with friends since it works well with two people or five people. Plus the cards themselves are fun to play. It is easy for new players to pick up, and addicting enough to make those new players go out and get their own copies of the game.

This is the perfect game to introduce someone to deck building games. The rules are pretty straight forward: buy with triangles, attack with red splotches, score with stars. The special abilities of the cards are not cryptic like in some deck builder games and there is tons of replay value, even without the expansions.

If there is anything I would suggest with this game, pick up sleeves, especially if you find that you ant to replay this game again and again.

I have to say I was really disappointed in this version. I am familiar with the original FASERIP version and I still think that it as the best version for character creation and gameplay in a superhero universe. It just seems odd to use multiple types of dice for what should be a simple check. Why create the rules to need a d4, d8, d6 and a d12 just for one check when could just as easily be multiple d6’s, or even d10 percentile. I guess I just could not get past that.

This game is very easy to pick up. Let’s face it, most of the rules are right on the board itself. Which makes is very easy to play this with someone who has not played a lot of experience with card games like this.

This the theme dominant. Not really. To be honest, I could easily this game being a sci-fi or horror themes game, but the game play itself is straight forward, and that was what I found most important.