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Where I live there are not 1/125th of the gamers as there are in my old stomping grounds (Columbus). I bought this little gem (pun intended) at Origins (2014) specifically for my friends who would identify themselves as ‘non-gamers.’

Teaching the game is simple. First person to 15 points (goal) triggers the last round (from Start player, not from the person who triggered the end). To earn points you need cards with them in the corner. To get cards you have to buy them with coins. So, for your action- you have 2 basic choices- A) get gems OR B) get a card.

A) You can chose either 3 different gems OR 2 of the same color (if there are at least 4 gems in the pile).

B)You can purchase any card on the board by turning in the required number of gem tokens, or using your already purchased cards (do not turn cards in).

There are a few more things- you can earn visits from nobles by fulfilling their card requirements. You can chose to reserve a card and get a wild coin. But that is basically the game.

My friends who do not normally consider themselves ‘gamers’ easily get the hang of this and enjoy the strategy of this game. As such, the half dozen of friends and family I have played with all have wanted to immediately play it again! Typically, after teaching this game, I am asked to play it at least 2 more times.

However, after teaching and playing this game 9 times in the span of a weekend (with different people) I do not know that I would continue to get the same enjoyment out of it a couple months from now.

I can quickly identify what cards a new player wants. If I were a cutthroat player, I could easily block their efforts just to frustrate them. I make it a rule never to do this, especially to new players, simply because it can be infuriating. There is nothing fun about getting my friends mad. Also, I wouldn’t want people to do that to me- reserve a card just so that I couldn’t get it. But I can see other gamers not having a problem with playing that cutthroat way.

I like this game, I really do. The mechanics work well. The game is easy to teach and fun to play. I just don’t know if I will be playing this one as much down the road. What do you guys think?

I like Marrakech. It is a game that looks so simple, and is simple, you wonder what the “catch” is. You lay you rugs down on the board and move the little guy around the spaces. If the guy lands on your opponent’s rug during your turn, you need to pay your opponent. Sounds simple- right?

Let me tell you, I thought I was winning by a landslide, then, about halfway through the game I got stomped on. My opponent was busy laying down his rugs right next to each other on the far side of the board. I just figured I would avoid that section of the board and be home free. Not so! He turned Assam around and all of a sudden I was stuck in enemy territory!

Then my opponent (who always carefully reads the fine print) informed me that I needed to pay him for all of the visible rugs that also TOUCHED the space I landed on. Well, as you can imagine- there were a lot of rugs touching the one I landed on! By the time I caught on to this and tried to catch up by using his strategy, it was too late for me.

Marrakech is a game that is easy to learn, but takes a couple of tries to master. For me- that makes it a game that I am always willing to play! Typically I do not like games that rely heavily on luck (oh no, what number will I roll?), but this one has a strategic component that makes up for the chance factor.

My partner and I got this one as soon as we read that Donald X. Vaccarino designed this. We play Dominion regularly and can’t wait for that game to be released on the iPad (we got to demo it at Origins on iPads and it was fantastic!)! But back to this game..

Infiltration is a fantastic game. I actually think it has taken first place in my list of favs. It is a fun game that changes every time and it doesn’t take 3 hours to set up and walk though. For us, with two little girls, and hardly any time to ourselves, time is always a factor in the things we do. We easily can get through a game in 20 min. I would play this game for hours if my partner would let me.. hehe 🙂

I like the mechanics of choosing your card secretly, the ‘big’ reveal and the subsequent forehead slapping- “ugh! Why did you play that card?! Now I’m screwed!”

I will happily admit though.. I have been known to trigger the alarm as he was getting close to escaping JUST so he wouldn’t win. Mu Ha Ha- all is fair in love and war, right? And there seems to me to be a great satisfaction in seeing him with that look in his eye- so close to winning, and then all of a sudden- blamo! We both die and no one wins, and his twinkle changes to frustration at losing. haha! I <3 this game! hahahaha

We have 2 little girls (7 and 9 yrs old) that love to play games that we adults groan at. Ever tried “Beat the Parents”- don’t, just take my word for that one. “Eleminis,” “Pounce,” even “Story Cubes” and “Guess Who” are not my cup of tea. But I play them, because I love our girls and therefore I feel like I have to.

This game is totally different, I promise. I love this game. I love that the girls want to play this game and I love it when my partner wants to play this game too!

DiXit Journey is part story telling game part guess what everyone else is going to put down. It also has some amazing art on the cards that make you “oooh!” and “awwww!”

Object of the game is simple- get to 30 points first. The rules are spelled out at the top of the points board. There are only 3 rules (see picture above and slightly to the right).

My strategy changes when I am trying to guess my 7 year old’s description of “scary” (hint: it usually has a cat in the picture) vs my partner’s description of “A war of words.” On the 4th of July we played this with 6 people, ages ranging from 30s to my 2 little ones- and everyone had fun, laughed and truly enjoyed themselves!

I find that the pictures do not get old, as you can play the same cards with different results. For example you could easily play the lion card above (4th from the left) for a hand where the active player (the one who picks one card for everyone to guess) for the following phrases: “cat,” “ying and yang,” “dark side” and “bright eyes.”

The girls just guess what pictures they think best represents the phrase. For adults, I find it takes a little psychology, or knowledge of the person, to figure out what card s/he played. This game is a hit everytime. And everytime we play this game it is different. We love it!

I find it hard to bring myself to say this… Especially when I have been whining lately that every game we buy has a rulebook with double digits for page numbers… But this game is too light for me. I don’t like it.

In our family we have little girls (who get distracted easily and aren’t interested enough to play this) and my partner (who is more into deck building games). I am somewhere in the middle, just trying to get them all sit down at the same table long enough so I can rope them into any game.

We opened Tsuro up and immediately played it. The girls figured out how to lay the paths down and move easily, once shown. They just were too bored with the game to want to focus on it. Now, keep in mind that these girls would sit on the computer all day and play games if I would let them. So maybe it is just their generation, or age- I don’t know. Since that first day, this game has just sat on the shelf.

Carcassonne was my first tile game. Maybe it was your first too? Maybe you haven’t played it yet? Since Andy P covered every technical aspect, I will describe the game itself for those who haven’t played it yet.

Carcassonne is a tile game. What that means to me is that the original game had big chunky pieces of cardboard squares (probably not the actual technical term for it). You place tiles next to other tiles that line up with it and try to score points by risking your little guys (aka Meeples) on them. You build cities and roads and when you complete them you take your Meeple back and score.

This may seem simple- a road that curves to the left matches up with this road that goes straight.. But watch out, because your straight road can’t just slam into your opponent’s city wall. And so you try to find a piece that will complete your road, but then your opponent picks up that one piece you need and have been patiently waiting for! Argh!

This game takes a little bit of luck, a lot of strategy and it would help if you remembered exactly how many football shaped pieces are there with a road sticking out of one side!?

I like the iPad implementation of this game. You never have to worry about running out of table space as one does with expansions in real life. Also, there is no cleanup time! However, I do prefer looking at the whole board in real life compared to the small iPad screen. Yes, you can zoom in, which is great. And it does automatically keep track of scoring for you, which is also a plus. But there is something to be said about seeing the whole table filled with tiles and plotting your sweet revenge on your opponent who sits across from you. (shrug) Call me old fashioned, lol. One thing I do not like, there are only 2 expansions available. But in a pinch, this digital version is good.

My partner taught me Dominion a while ago, and suggested this game to me. I put off buying this app due to the graphics of the game (they completely turned me off). He let me play this on his iPad, and after going through the tutorial- I was hooked!

This game reminds me of Dominionin- the way that you start out with a deck and need to build up from the basic cards, acquiring better cards in front of you. You are trying to gain star points to win. You also get points for having more cards than your opponent and there are points assigned to special cards (bottom left corner). You must banish evil monsters along the way (thus, the graphics that turned me off to begin with).

I must say, the tutorial for this game is the best one I have seen! It walks you step by step through the beginning of one game and allows you to play from there or start a new game. I learn best by doing things, rather than just having to listen to a bunch of rules. This tutorial made it fun and easy to learn this game!

I like the fact that you can play online with other players in your spare time (taking turns and checking back when it’s convienent for you) or just play on your network with a roomate or go it alone. I play this several times a day now. Its easy enought that even our 9 year old likes this game, and strategic enough to have me keep going back for more!

This is one of the first iPad designer games I ever bought. This, for me, took my iPad to a whole different level.

I had never played a euro game/ designer board game before I tried this. The object of the game is simply to use your trains to fulfill train tickets and collect points along the way. The more trains you use= the more points you get.

For example to connect Dallas to Chicago along a specific route you need to draw specific train colors from the deck, match up the required number of train cards (say 3 green cards), and play those trains in the spot between 2 cities. Players build their routes as they collect the correct color trains they need. The more routes you complete the more points you get, but beware! Uncompleted routes count negatively toward you in the end and could have you finishing in last place!

All in all- a great game for anyone- from beginner to advanced gamers! I have as much fun playing it as my little 7 year old does. And I love the fact that I can take this out when we are not at home and play it anywhere! Also, I find that I play this digital game more than the original board game (due in large part because I dont have to clean up and put away a million trains!). lol