andy

GUBS is a cute, simple card combat game. The objective is to have more GUBS than the other players at the end of the game. You draw cards that can protect your cards, or can attack or steal the other players’ cards. That said, there are two twists:

1) The end of the game comes unexpectedly. The game ends when the three cards that spell G-U-B have been drawn from the deck. So, the game can end at any moment. This adds an element of surprise to the game and makes it more suspenseful.

2) This game encourages being evil. Often in friendly, family games, players hesitate to attack other players, but in GUBS so many of the cards have devastating effects that you can’t really avoid it. This turns the game into a combative free-for-all, which is a lot of fun and encourages that “just one more game” feeling, because you always want to get back at the person who just stole/killed your GUBS in the previous game.

Pros: The art on the cards is attractive, there are many different and interesting cards in the deck, fun and easy to learn

Cons: Strategy lacks depth, game is often decided by chance, some cards are massively overpowered, some card explanations are vague or don’t match the instructions.

Ticket to Ride is a game of collecting matching-colored resource cards and spending them to claim train routes between cities. Destination cards are drawn to give you a goal of connecting two specific cities.

There is a little bit of strategy involved. In Ticket to Ride you can score a lot of points by claiming long routes or by completing destination cards. The key to winning is finding the right balance between the two. Your destination cards aren’t revealed to other players until the end of the game, often giving a surprising final result.

But what really makes Ticket to Ride a great game is that it keeps you on the edge of your seat, especially with more players crowding the map. Drawing the last card you need to build a critical piece of track and then praying no one else claims it before your next turn. Being cut off at city after city and trying to find a way around without running out of game pieces. The last 5-10 turns of this game can be very nerve-wracking.

The quality and appearance of the components are great. The game board is huge and well-made. The cards are tiny but feature nice illustrations. My only complaint about this game is that it gets that Beatles song stuck in my head.

Jaipur is a two-player card collecting game where you save up cards to purchase resource tokens. Different resources are worth different amounts of gold (i.e. victory points), and each resource provides diminishing returns. There are a few other details, but it’s very quick and easy to learn.

I thought this game was a lot of fun the first few times I played. Sometimes it’s still fun when I want a light game that doesn’t take much deep thinking.

But I found the depth of strategy in this game to be disappointing. Once both players work out the optimal strategy it’s pretty much down to chance. If you’re dealt three diamonds at the start, you’ve pretty much already won.

I think Jaipur is probably a great game for kids, but serious gamers will find it a bit simplistic.