Fuzzy Mustard

Okay, yeah, this is a great one for art, story, gameplay, co-op, as well as fantastic replay. Just know this, it WILL eat ALL your play time for other games.

The biggest drawback is the amazing amount of set up and clean up time, and you really need a great rules lawyer to digest the book that is the rules. If you are into any sort of light gaming experience, forget this.

If you want that immersive game to rule them all and in the game closet bind them, you found it!

This expansion adds some fun cards, and a better system for drafting cards (10 at a time which makes each game different)

One problem: TUNA BOAT is an incredibly overpowered card. With harbor you get 2d6 gold whenever someone rolls high. Whoever gets this card wins basically. However, there is a solution.

Solution: Dont allow the HARBOR card to add 2 to the die roll. This makes TUNA BOAT and a few other cards (Like veggie and fruit stand) much more balanced.

This game is built like a bag of chips.

You cannot eat just one. There is so much variety in here it keeps getting fresh. Love that about this build. But hey, I am biased.

Pro: Replay and ease of learning

Con: It is only 1 hour long. I want more.

Price: Decent.

Overall: I like a quick game that everyone i the family can enjoy it mixes light and heavy weight elements making it the perfect blend. A combo of humor and luck soften any lose as well.

SNAP SHOT:
Simply put–this game is “Dominion” with dice.

THE GOODS:
The rules are poorly written and horribly laid out. You get a photo copy-able battle mat which proves to be fairly important to keep track of your dice. The score card is flimsy. I guess they blew the budget on the 130 DICE. But still, it leaves you a little sad to see important parts, which you have to photocopy to play the game. I guess I expect this from a smaller company, but WIZKIDS? Wow! There were also errors on dice manufacturing–sad face.

GAME PLAY:
You basically build a “deck” of dice that you roll to score points. I wish i could say more, but there is nothing else to it. This game is sooo close to cracking the code to making a brilliant game, but lacks the pop dominion had. There is just too much chance involved to give you the satisfaction that your strategy worked. It is close enough to a brilliant game to make you want to play for the fun of the ride. I just wish it could go back into development to get that extra bit it seems to need.

WHO SHOULD PLAY?
This one is good if you loved dominion, but wished it was a dice rolling randomized version. There is not a lot of strategy, which can be fun if you want to just enjoy the ride. But there is the illusion of strategy, which actually might daunt the very casual gamer. Don’t be daunted.

FROM MOUTH OF BABES:
I will quote a 7 year old who played the game and said this to a passer-by, who was considering playing it with us…

“Its easy, you just throw the dice and do what it says.”

Okay, I played the original MTG, had the black border lotus etc etc, (queue the old man WW2 glory days etc monolog)

But forget that, I want to talk about LOST and PRISON BREAK and lot of other shows that come out, get you hooked, and seem to linger season after season, with no clear resolution, constant changing standards and a world with as many rules as corporate law–and as quickly changing.

My question is why? Well it jades interest to know it is NOT the original designers vision, it is not the artistic vision, it is the marketing. The shows change because they get a new season they didn’t expect, they don’t stay to the artistic vision of the property and they develop it to create one thing…$$$$…and a dumb cliff hanger to get people to watch more.

This soils my joy of any property. So, while I hail MTG as a genius original design, (I’ll never forget the first time i cracked open a booster) I think it went the way of never ending visionless TV shows who had a great idea, but over time it just got too complex and convoluted. I was asked to forget things that seemed core to the concept in earlier stages–but just could not forget.

So while i do dust off that old box of original cards now and again, I dare not play them against the new cards…the worlds just don’t match. And who wants to ante a card from their deck? (who remembers that? LOL)

Overview:
In Hanabi you are a firework professional who…oh who cares about the flimsy theme–its really a Euro-abstract game with good play. In this co-op game the team has to get cards in their hand onto the table from 1 to 5, in the right order, and stacked in the correct color piles. (5 colors) The problem is, you can’t see your hand but everyone else can! On your turn you either give a clue to others (only get 8 clues), make a guess (3 misses and GAMEOVER), or toss a card to get a new card and clue back. It is fast, easy and yet challenging. This is, by far, the BEST co-op game I have played.

Pros:
–The game is clever and inventive. A unique game for sure.
–It is easy to learn and the rules are easy to teach.
–FAST learn time, and FASTER play make it a good small party game.
–Game designers strive to make games that bring a new dimension and experience to a player–this one has it! It stretches your mind in ways both exciting and new.
–Has decent re-playability. And is a fairly strong small party game.

Cons:
–The art and components are as flimsy as the theme, they fall apart fast.
–Once you get the concept down it can be a little frustrating to play with new people who don’t understand strategies.
-There are no english rules in the box, go online, BGG has some.
-Hard to find game.

Get it or Pass?
For the price, this one is a winner. Unless you really loathe co-op gaming, you will want Hanabi on your shelf.

Overview:
You select a monster, and proceed to win one of two ways. Either you destroy enough of TOKYO (gain 20 stars) or you destroy ALL other monster players (reduce life from 10 to 0). The game engine is based on die rolling, selecting rolls to keep, and re-rolling others (up to 3 times). The strategic choices are basic but allows for some interesting choices. It plays fast and is a fun light ride–making it ideal as a light fun filler game or a game for families.

Pros:
–The art and components are very fun. REPLAY:
–The deck of card powers is very large and diverse, so you can play the game a lot and it still feels fresh.
–FAST learn time, and FASTER play make it a good small party game.
–For parents concerned about violence it really is rather light in that department, the violence is implied and cartoon depictions of tanks and derailing trains are about as heavy as it gets.
–The take-that element is curbed because monsters typically attack ALL other monsters so you usually don’t pick on a target.

Cons:
–It is a little addictive. I was up late the first night with this game in our group. A surprising string of games which kept us going.
–There is a fair amount of random that can frustrate, but as a game intended for light filler, it is perfect.

Get it or Pass?
If you have a group, or family that enjoys lighter weight game play, or if you just want a surprisingly fun romp–this is a GET IT game.

I was finally able to play with others. First off, you can throw out the 1-player idea. This is no more a 1 player game than CHESS. Unless you play both sides of CHESS and enjoy it. Then by all means, this is a 1-player game. I found the 1-player abysmal. If this was sold as a single player game i would give it a 2 out of 10. But, it really is more than that.

As a multiplayer game it is rather fun. We used the starter decks and played a couple of the core set quests. Now, there are a LOOOOT of rules, and those rules have a LOOOOT of elements to keep track of on the cards. It really felt like learning a variation of MAGIC the GATHERING from scratch. Now, for some that is a very positive thing. I prefer the elegance of a game with simpler rules, but still, once i got the rules down, it was a real challenging and enjoyable adventure.

I can see how deck-building and expansions will add a lot of joy to the set. I can’t see high replay value. So open up those wallets, because this game will crack open your safe and get you to spend. Much like MAGIC, once you enter its big cash commitment.

Beyond the complex rules, is a rich theme of Middle Earth, which I enjoy. Also, the creators really did their take on Middle Earth, not just Peter Jackson’s Movie derivative world. In addition, it creates the challenge and danger of the world.

Overall: Fun, if you have the cash and the brain space to hold all the rules.

Talisman evokes a strong mix of pro and con from the gamers who play it. Those looking for a game with a strong fantasy world are instantly drawn to its fun graphics, character sheets with stats, and role-playing appearance. Talisman has a large rule book, but within minutes you are up and playing it and occasionally looking up some rule to clarify play.

But here is the warning: Talisman is a fun roller coaster ride of a game. It is NOT a go-cart ride. By that I mean, you are locked into your seat, and you don’t have a lot of choices. You can scream when you go down hill, lean forward, or lean back. But for the most part, you just enjoy the ride. Do you do it again? Well, that depends on if you had fun on the ride. But don’t expect the control of go-carts. Other games will give you the luxury of choices and strategy, Talisman offers the thrill of the theme.

In Talisman you are basically moving around a board with a die roll, landing on squares. You can go left or right. As you gain or loss power from random cards drawn on these squares you hope to get up strength to enter the inner ring. Once you get there you hope to gain strength and items from cards and then enter a final inner ring, where the tests are very hard.

I think entering the game with this mind-set can make it a little more fun. In addition, games with large groups will cause the ride to slow down to an agonizing halt. Keep the group small if you can. If you can’t, I recommend a few tips on the tip page.

Families and light gamer groups, who are into a fun and often unpredictable ride, might enjoy Talisman.

This was a fun little game, we had some difficulty interpreting a couple of rules, and graphically i wish the tokens popped off the board for easier visibility. Overall worth a ride if you like risk-like games that play faster than risk.

The set up is fairly fast. One suggestion is to place the units in stacks near the game. We found housing them in the case was rather hard to move in and out.

Also, we found you can extend or shorten the number of turns for a given game and keep the game play integrity. (2 or 3 turns on either the long or short end) This made for a nice modification if you don’t have a enough time or want those “extra innings”.

For replay, it has a nice component where the race/class combos can change each time. This creates some very cool variations. We had fun just thumbing threw them and coming up with ideas.

I have not tried the expansions but the base game is decent. In the end, I found myself wanting a bit more out of the game play, only because the imagery and rich theme seemed to promise more than simple conquest. But as far as a conquest game goes, this is a winner.