Dr. UDO

Cardline:Animals is a fairly simple game with a lot of replayability for the price. The game consists of a deck of cards depicting various animals. Each animal has statistics for average size, weight and life span displayed on one side of the card.

Game Play:
Before playing, you must pick one of the numerical stats to use for the game. Then, each player is dealt 4 cards (number side down) and a card is placed in the center of the table. Players take turns trying to place one of their cards into the line at an appropriate point for the stat of interest. If you get it right, the card stays in the line, if not, the card is discarded and you draw a replacement card. The first person to play all their cards is the winner.

Pros:
+ multiple stats increase replayabilty over the related Timeline game.
+ Fun pictures of animals
+ learning! Yay!

Cons:
– cards are a little small and feel a bit flimsy.

Summary:
This is a great game to play with kids that teaches some good estimation skills and teaches some interesting details about animals. It is playable by kids and adults and appeals to people who are not hardcore gamers.

Risk is a classic wargame that still remains popular after 50 years. The premise is simple, the gameplay intense and the stories are those that everyone can relate to: “Remember the time my one army in madagascar killed your 24 armies trying to take it out?” The addition of missions and objectives makes it even better as it shortens gameplay for those that need a shorter game.

Risk at a minimum serves as a great way to get people to try other games. I still think it is a lot of fun and the 5 different versions that I own don’t get nearly enough play.

Ticket to Ride the card game takes a genuinely great board game and tries to bring it down to a card game. The issue with the game is that it loses the approachability of it’s sire. As written, the game rules are difficult as you try to remember how many cards in what combinations you have saved. It feels more like a mental excercise. I’d imagine that this game would work well for those people who like to play chess blindfolded.

Pros:
Beautiful art (wouldn’t expect less from DoW)
Portability

Cons:
It isn’t fun! Memorization feels awful.

We have found that the only way to play it is with a house rule that I’ll post on the appropriate page.

The strategic depth in Magic is unparalleled though often imitated in other CCGs. I *loved* getting new cards and building different decks to test with my friends. I eventually had to stop because I wasn’t getting playtime commiserate with my expenditure. I still itch to buy booster packs whenever I see them but am content to build with the cards I have.

The swiss map is an excellent addition to the TtR family. It is tense for 2-3 players and better in my opinion than the base game when played for 2-3. However, I think Nordic countries is an overall better game with more variety and depth. It also does not require an additional game to play.

I scored components low because My initial board was warped and tore in the box. DoW also sent out free replacement cards for the cheap cards that had been used initially. Kudos for DoW for replacing it all for me.

I got this game for two reasons. First, I really like Ticket to Ride, it is one of the best casual family games I own. Second, I have lived in Scandanavia and really loved it. The bonus is that this is a really fun game in it’s own right.

Pros:
Artwork is beautiful.
Game play with 2-3 players is very tense, especially in the end game.
It is still TtR.

Cons:
Those who aren’t familiar with places in Scandinavia will have a hard time locating/remembering them

Overall this is a win and better than the Swiss map.

This is the only way to play Ticket to Ride anymore. Not only do you get full size train cards, but the variety in the routes adds a lot of needed depth to the game.