captainplanet350

Jaipur is a simple, yet elegant trading game for 2 players.

Replay Value: 3/5
I rated Jaipur as average when it comes to replay value. It is a great game to come back to periodically, but it gets a tad redundant if you play game after game, which you might want to do because it is a rather short game.

Components: 4/5
Nothing to special component-wise, but the art of the game is very nice.

Easy to Learn: 5/5
The rule book is laid out in a very intuitive and easy to learn way. The rules are quick to pick up on, but the strategy takes a little while to develop, which is a good thing.

The reason this quickly became one of my favourite 2 player games is because it is so small, compact and light, that it is one of the easiest 2 player games to bring on trips.

This game is fun, easy to learn, and unique. Since it’s so inexpensive and wonderful, I would highly recommend adding it to your games library!

Disclaimer, the title is not original, in fact, that is the games tagline. I’m not very creative.

I gave this game a 10/10 and it is merited. Mind you, I am a little biased as this was the first ‘more advanced’ game that I fell in love with.

4/5 Replay Value: From my experience, Guillotine appeals to most people, and can be played numerous times (maybe a little redundant if played time-after-time). The randomness in the line-up makes each game unique, and the cards in your hand will uniquely influence the line. As a result, game-to-game strategy should vary slightly.

4/5 Components: Card are cards, so not much can be said there, but the pop-up executioner is a nice touch. Also, the art direction of the characters is nice and charicaturized, which is important since the game is a little morbid. Surprisingly, some of the cards have important historical accuracy (like Robespierre’s special ability).

4/5 Easy to Learn: Guillotine is simple enough to teach quickly, to most any gamer as well as any age group (as long as they’re comfortable beheading numerous people)

Guillotine is a super fun game, but it might get a little redundant after a while. If you do manage to add it to your game library, I’m sure you’ll be putting it to use every now and again. It deserves a spot on your shelves, and you might even get a fun history lesson in the process!

Sorry for the lame title.. I couldn’t think of anything better.

5/5 Replay Value: It receives full marks for me simply because I’ve played it so many times; it must be doing something right! Each game is unique as the destination cards you draw vary. Since you have to keep some each time to draw new ones, you might get an unexpected challenge which always keeps you on your toes. Train management is an important aspect of this game, especially later on. Although it isn’t so much the case in games with fewer players, the routes fill up quickly which could severely impede someone else’s progress (either intentionally, or unintentionally). Game-to-Game, this game requires strategy tweaks and it naturally fosters an impressive social aspect as well, lending itself to a high replay value. It also has expansions that modify gameplay slightly and help spice things up over time.

4/5 Components: The trains are nice, and well coloured, provided a good level of contrast to identify player’s trains/routes easily. The cards are okay, a little small. Geography knowledge also plays a role (so study up!), without it, finding all of your destinations can take a while, especially since you pick up a few at a time and have to decide which to keep.

4/5 Easy to Learn: I remember the rulebook being straight forward and easy to learn. I’ve also never struggled at teaching new players the game.

This is a classic game that deserves to be in your games library. It should appeal to most games and earns TWO thumbs up!

First off, Tokaido is one of the most beautifully illustrated and designed games I have ever played.

4/5 Replay Value: Each game unfolds differently as your character’s special ability will force you to adjust your strategy. There is also some randomness to which cards you acquire throughout the game. No so much randomness, however, since you can always choose where you travel, and subsequently what you do on that space. Since the movement in this game is choice based, you can strategize as to which position you take on the board (traveling farther might get you to a space you desire, but the farthest back player goes next). Even if the game wasn’t well designed, it would still receive a high replay value rating since it’s just so beautiful to look at.

5/5 Components: As a result of its sheer beauty, the components aspect naturally scores highly. Every bit of this game is well put together and looks great. The only issue I’ve had is the score tracking tokens. They are tiny medicine tablet sized tokens that are notoriously hard to find if you happen to drop one on the floor. Another very small issue is that since the colour scheme was chosen for artistic reasons, some of the components lack colour contrast which can make things slightly harder to identify.

4/5 Easy to Learn: This game is well explained and fairly intuitive. It was easy to explain to new players, and they appeared to pick it up quite quickly. The strategy on the other hand is always evolving and never clearly obvious (which is both good and bad, especially if you get anxious about your decisions).

Overall this game is fun, nice to look at, challenging, and simply unique. I would highly recommend it to anyone who appreciates art or standout games! It deserves an 8 or 9/10. So get out there and add it to your collection!

Bang is a pretty stellar game.

I was introduced to it about a year ago, and followed up with the iPad version, which is fun, but, like all electronic games lacks a human elements.

Recently, I acquired Bang! The Bullet! Edition, which comes with the High Noon, Fistful of Cards and Dodge City expansions.

5/5 Replay Value: The different combinations of seating arrangements, character choices (especially with the expansions), and roles give this game almost endless possibilities. As a veteran of the game, I still get as much enjoyment out of the game as the people I’m introducing the game to. The base game has less replay value than with the expansions as the card choices are somewhat limited. On the other hand, the base game is the easiest way to introduce new players to the franchise.

3/5 Components: The cards are well made, with artwork even I can appreciate. The actual Bullet box, however, although it looks nice, is rather inconvenient as it doesn’t store well with other more conventional game boxes, and the top and bottom don’t hold together all that well. The slots to store the cards in are somewhat inconvenient as well, as they are difficult to line the cards up with. The slots are also weird sizes, but do store all the cards. What would have been better, slots made the size of (1) the base deck (2) Dodge City expansion (3) High Noon/Fistful of Cards decks, and maybe (4) Character cards. Since this is not the case, cards get mixed up easily and take a while to re-organize.

4/5 Easy to Learn: The game is simple enough with a well balanced and intuitive set of rules. The one issue is that all the cards are explained with the use of diagrams which are not so easy for new players. Additionally, specific card effects/rules are not further explained in the rule book, which would be useful since player interpretations of certain card effects sometimes differ.

Overall this game is awesome, and deserves an 8 or 9/10.
It scales well from 4-8 players. I have yet to play the modified 3 player version. As a result, it makes for a great party game, although it requires everyones focus (to figure out opponents roles), so it may not be best certain groups.

Two thumbs up!