Rukkus

I have written a few reviews about cooperative games and most of the things that appeal to me about them are found in this game. Let me quickly touch on the highlights.

1. Castle Panic is light, easy to learn. This allows a large group of players to enjoy it.

2. Having up to six players is nice, because sometimes you have more than four. I also like the Solo option because I’m an early riser and it gives me something to do while people are still sleeping.

3. I like the theme of protecting your castle from the charging horde. A little different from Scotland Yard where you work together to catch Mr. X or Forbidden Island where you collect the treasure and get off the Island before it sinks.

4. Teamwork is fun, and if played right no one has to feel like a loser because we all are in it together.

5. The game doesn’t take long the advertised hour is an exaggeration.

6. The downside is… co-op games can easily be taken over by a couple of strong personalities. And after you play the game a couple of times the strategies tend to be repetitive.

My family likes this game when we want to work together to solve a problem, when we want a light game, one that can be played in less than an hour and when we just want to have fun, not looking for a huge mental challenge.

I was fortunate to grow up in a family that loves playing games. Rat-a-tat-cat didn’t come out till I was much older but as a parent I wanted to pass on the love of games to my kids and this game is a perfect start, so we bought it.

The game is simple: high cards bad, low cards good. When you think you have the lowest hand you go out, limiting the rest of the players to one more turn. Then you turn over your face-down cards and tally up the points.

My kids loved the silly pictures of the rats and cats. It helped them learn their numbers and their values. They had to concentrate to remember what cards they have in front of the them. There is simple strategy: to go out quickly and stick your opponents with a lot of points or bide your time trying to get the lowest score but allowing others to better their cards.

The game is easy to learn and quick to play. You can adapt it to really any length of time, just pick a point limit to end the game. I believe starting young is a great way to ensure gamers for life.

A great deduction game. Semi-cooperative game with the detectives working together to catch the elusive Mr. X. For those that like strategy this game has loads, and it depends on what character you play, Mr. X or the detectives.

As. Mr.X you will have to decide when to use your special moves. A black ticket to hide which form of transportation you have taken or your double move to get two steps ahead.

As the detectives: how will you use your quickly diminishing ticket supply? When Mr.X reveals himself how will you work together to make the most effective dragnet?

There is a lot of replay value, because each game you can start in a different location, which gives you many options again depending on who you are. The pieces are simple and I like the game board or map of London.

45 minutes might be a little on the short side, depending if are just learning the game and how much time the detectives take to make their moves. An hour is more like it. The game play is easy. Both the boys were able to play when they were under 10. This is not a game we play all the time but it is diffidently in our rotation.

Memoir’ 44 has been a great game when I need a change of pace. Here are the things that I think it excels at. I love all the different missions that are available, with different objectives. This guaranties multiple plays because each game can be different. Each mission can usually be played in less than an hour. So, it has an epic feel to it with out taking up a ton of time. The pieces are real nice, it brings me back to my childhood when I would play with plastic army men in the sandbox. The rules are easy to learn and well explained in the rule book, I feel you can jump into the game pretty quickly.

Why this game isn’t rated higher in my book. For a game that has such an epic feel to it, I was disappointed that it is only for two people. I was wanting something more like Risk or Axis and Allies. I have tried the Overlord expansion to increase the game to four players and that fell a little flat for me, simply because one person was making most of the decisions and the other just rolled the dice. My group felt like when your toddler wants to play a game and you let them roll the dice but make all the other moves. The set-up is a little cumbersome as well.

This is a great game when I only can get one of my boys to play or we want something different. The replay value and mechanics of the game are reason enough to add it to your collection.

Qwirkle is a great game for many different groups of people. If you need a change of pace, Qwirkle fits the bill. If you want something simple to learn but offers some strategy, Qwirkle. If you have a mixture of ages Qwirkle does nicely.

Qwirkle has tons of replay because you are drawing from a blind bag and the board is forever changing depending on what the people before you play.

Qwirkle has simple rules matching up either colors or shapes, but quite a bit of strategy as you look for the perfect place to play your tiles to maximize your point total. There is also a defensive strategy to block others from cashing in.

A game can be played easily with-in 30 minutes so it doesn’t feel like a huge time commitment.

We don’t play this one continuously like some family favorites but it is a regular for a break from some of our more involved games like Descent or Axis and Allies.

This is a game that was a family go-to game for many years. I still remember having to use some of the extra “Ad” cards that came with the game as substitutes for the bear and bull because they got mangled and people wouldn’t trade with you because they knew what card you had.

What’s great about this game is that it is fast paced, you can play with a lot of people 5-8 (is best), it is easy to learn and get people out of their comfort zone pretty quick.

The game is versatile, adapting to the number of players you have. Just remove the grains that you are not using. You can play to really any score you want, so the game can be long or short. With a bigger group we usually let each person deal and tally the points after one complete round.

The game travels well, the bell isn’t necessary you just need another way to signify that you are going out.

Interesting mechanics, fast paced trading, everyone shouting at once. Instant engagement right from the beginning. My grandpa was hard of hearing and a little slow to get his cards out in the market. So, many times no one could go out because grandpa was sitting with the one or two grains they needed.

Some my knock the game because of lack of strategy, but it’s not all luck. Check out my tips to see what has worked for me.

I have seen the game for between 5- 10 bucks or if your lucky for cheaper at a garage sale. Worth the investment.

This is a game that I feel gets lost or forgotten with all the other Star Wars games that are out there. Which is too bad because it is a fantastic game.

A ton of choices of characters you can play. Plus just as many combinations. So if you want Luke and Leah to match up with Han and Chewie you can or have the Fetts team-up for bounty hunters-r-us vs. Mace and Yoda. Lots of versatility and replay ability.

The game play is simple, which means younger kids can enjoy it. But there is enough strategy to keep the avid gamer entertained.

Four different boards give you four playing fields to play on, each one some different obstacles adding to the over-all strategy.

The game is good with 2-6 players. You can play every person for themselves or team-up.

The length of the game is right around 30 min. I feel like playing again after one game is done and could easily play best 2 out 3 or 3 out of 5.

This game is kind of hard to find but if you get the chance it is worth the effort to get it.

I know the names are changed for copy write reasons but anyone who has entered the debate of who would win can now hash out your own battles.

King of Tokyo is an easy game to learn, if you are familiar with Yahtzee then, it is even easier. You get three rolls keeping the dice you want each roll and rolling the remainder.

There is a buying aspect of the game that I like. It can make your monster stronger, your opponents weaker or give you more victory points. The strategy comes into play on how you spend your energy cubes and if you want to spend rolls to try to acquire more energy cubes.

There is more than one way to win, which is nice. Either gain the required victory points before everyone else or be the last monster standing. Both choices come with different strategies.

The game plays best with 3-6 players, and can be played fairly quickly which translates into more plays or time to play other games in a game nights’ time.

All in all a great game for the whole family.

This game starts simple enough, draw a tile, play the tile and then decide to play one of your meeples on said tile. As the game progresses the mechanics remain the same but the strategy gets more complicated. You have more places that you can place the tile that your draw. Do you extend a road or a city. If it is a cloister where is the best place to play it, when and where is the best place to farm can you close a road to get a meeple back or maybe you choose to play defensively limiting your opponents options.

Tons of replay value and strategies. I like that there are scoring options build into the game that aren’t tallied up until the last tile is played. This keeps all players engaged. The game plays pretty fast once you learn the mechanics. This page says 45min but you could easily play one game in less than 30 min. Giving you the option to play multiple games which, because of the variety, would be totally different or play a different game altogether.

This game has many, many expansions. What I like about them is that they add to base game, but don’t change the game drastically. They also don’t lengthen the game by too much.

All in all and awesome game with tons of possibilities and that is something I can build a game collection around.

Zooloretto is a game that we have owned for sometime and even though we don’t play this one as often as some other games it is a family favorite.

First of all the mechanics are pretty easy. You take turns drawing tiles and putting them on “trucks” then when a truck you like fills up you grab it before someone else does. The tiles on the truck are animals, money or vendors that go into your zoo. If someone takes a truck on their turn that you wanted you might be forced to choose a truck you didn’t want.

This allows for lots of strategy of where you place the tile you draw and when you pick a truck. There is also strategy of where you will place your animals in your zoo. You can only have one type of animal in a pen at a time. You have limited pens and lots of animals to choose from. You can also expand your zoo to make room for more animals, but it will cost you. The animals you can’t use go into your barn and count against you at the end of the game.

There are many ways to score, which is nice because it keeps players engaged in the game til the very end.

The game has room for up to 5 players and plays well with 3 or 4 nicely.

I also like the amount of time it takes to play, about 45 min. The variety of the game is it’s best quality. Lots of replay value. And the animals are cute to boot.

Dominion is one of the first deck building games that my family played and right away it was a hit. This game wins on many levels let me share a few.

1. If you are not familiar with a deck building game, all the cards can be a little overwhelming. It is quite easy: draw 5 cards, you get one action, and one buy. Discard victory points, play any action cards, purchase new cards. Discard rest of hand. Draw 5 more cards and wait for your next turn. As you purchase more cards, more options will be open to you, to play more than one action card or make more than one purchase and the ability to buy better cards making your deck stronger.

2. How you win is where Dominion gets interesting. The winner is the person with the most Victory Points (VP) at the end of the game. The strategy in acquiring those VP’s in the challenge. Dominion allows the players during the set-up of the game to choose 10 cards for purchasing for all players. The game is won or lost on the choices you make in purchasing those cards. The beauty of the game is that there or more than 10 choices for set-up so your options are limitless.

3. The game moves along at a fairly good clip and even an inexperienced group of gamers can get 2-3 games in, in an hour.

4. The expansions are diffidently worth getting. They add depth, replay and new strategies and the possibility for more players.

5. I like that there are some cards that allow you to interact will other players. It’s not just what you acquire but also ways to give your opponents negative VP’s, or limit the amount of money they have or the amount of cards in their hand. In my opinion this allows for different strategies which is always good.

All in all I think you will love this game, I know we do.

What do you write about when after reading the reviews it’s all been covered before? I wanted to offer something fresh, maybe fresh isn’t needed maybe something more concrete and solid. I think that is exactly what you get with Settlers of Catan. If someone was going to start getting into board gaming, Settlers would be a cornerstone to build their collection on.

Why? (I’m glad you asked)

1. Although there are a lot of pieces and that can overwhelm some. Settlers is very user friendly. The game flow is quite easy: Roll, if you have a settlement or a city on one of the numbers collect resources. Trade resources if want too, turn in resources to purchase a card,road, or settlement/city. Simple.
2.During other people’s turn you are still involved in the game. When they roll if you have a settlement/city on the number they roll you collect resources. Plus the trading aspect as all players are trying to get those hard to get resources that keep alluding you.
3.Tons of strategy. From where to place your starting pieces, to where you choose to expand. How will you use your resources? Will you trade them, hoard them, buy development cards? When should you play your soldier cards, where is the best place to build a road? What resources do you need to expand to. Do you diversify by spreading out to many different numbers or try to monopolize a couple?
4.Customization. Because of the uniqueness of the tiles and flexibility of setting up each game different you end up playing a “new” game every time you pull it out of the box. That’s replay value, and your tactics might change from game to game depending on how you set up the board. You can even change the length of the game depending on what you want to play up to.

All in all such a fantastic game, the expansions just add to the fun and the possibilities. Let your creativity run wild, Settlers gives you the foundation to customize the game to your liking. That’s pretty awesome and in my opinion should be a stalwart in anyone’s game collection.

This game easily makes my family’s top five games to play. Here’s why…

1. Great mechanics, each player has three options. Claim a route, get train card(s), take more destination cards. Not a lot of extra rules to have to learn, this keeps the game light and moving.

2. Many destination tickets. This means many different goals to accomplish and each game can be different depending on the cards you choose and the cards you choose to keep.

3. Multiple Strategies. You can focus on destinations, focus on claiming routes, play defensively to mess up other players. Good amount of risk involved depending what you are trying to accomplish and at what time of the game you try to accomplish it.

4. Game has a feeling of finality. People are “in” the game to the end. A person goes out when the last train is placed forcing other players maximize their last turn.

5.Some of the expansions are great and add to the game. Giving you more destination tickets, some variant rules and different maps. In my opinion it has gotten a little commercialized.

6.The game is able to work just as well with 2 people as it does 5.

My family and I picked up this game a couple of weeks ago and it has quickly become a favorite. Here’s why Machi Koro claimed a spot so quickly.

1. It’s a light game. The game play is real simple. Roll your die/dice, collect/pay money, purchase a card/landmark, then pass the dice to the next player.

2. Lot’s of ways to win. Object of the game is to create the most income for your town, how you do that is up to you. Check out my tips/strategies to see what has worked for me.

3. Because some cards work when other people roll it keeps everybody in the game even when it’s not your turn. I like that some cards can negatively effect your competition so there’s a little nastiness which translates to fun.

4.It’s not a huge time commitment. Even with the expansions (we bought the deluxe version, definitely the best deal if your going to buy it)we can get a game done around 30 min.

The only negative thing I can think of is for people that are new or used to “traditional games” ie. Monopoly, Risk, Candy Land this game can seem overwhelming. (Lots of parts) I have found in most non-traditional games that after a couple of rounds of play this should dissipate and can quickly be enjoyed.

Get it, you won’t regret it.

I have heard it said about many things cheese, wine, delivering a punch line and chili, it’s all about the timing. That is exactly what Smallworld challenges at. Do you know when the right time is to buy race? Should you wait till it’s a little cheaper, if you do someone might take it first. How about when to go into decline? Can you make it last one more turn or do it now? Your outcome can definitely be determined on your timing.

Then there’s the choices of where to place your tokens, who to attack, where to fortify and just how thin to stretch yourself. What makes Smallworld such a great game are all the options that lay before you.

If you are not used to this style of game, you might feel overwhelmed. I would suggest watching a tutorial or playing with someone that has played before. I usually play a mock game where I play the parts of 2 or 3 other players as I am going through the rules. This allows me to visualize how the rules apply to the game. Yeah, it’s weird that I use different voices for each player and I probably should get some counseling but it works for me.

What I love most about Smallworld and many of the games that are on my favorites is the replay value. Each game can be different because you will use different combinations of races and abilities, giving you a different game each time.

I also like the many sized boards depending on the number of players and that in (X)turns the game is over. This ensures that the game doesn’t wear out it’s welcome.

This is hands down my wife’s favorite game. What she likes best is the the strategy of where you are going to place your meeples. That certain “resources” are only available at certain times, so if the tools shed, farming, or procreation station is open you have to jump on it while you have the chance. We also like that there is a limited amount of space on resources forcing people to make choices depending on what’s available at the time.

She likes that there is multiple ways to win. You can focus on buying huts or spending resources to buy cards that multiply your points from tools, or huts or meeples.

Each game can be different depending on what the other players strategies are. So the replay value is high. Your turns go fairly quickly so players can feel like they are apart of the game play the whole time.

The rules and mechanics also lend themselves to be learned at a high rate so the game doesn’t seem to bog down.

One thing that can be frustrating for people that are just learning the game and are playing with experienced Stone Agers is understanding the multiple ways to win. It’s easy for me anyways to get lazer focused one way to play, when what this game encourages is making adjustments.

Guillotine is a lighthearted card game that can be played quickly, easily under 30 min. The mechanics are simple: collect the noble at the start of your line or rearrange the line to collect a different noble. The art work on the cards in my opinion is pretty funny, I even went as far as to paint the picture of the executioner and guillotine.

Strangely the game offers an opportunity to tell my kids and the kids at my school’s board game club a little of the French Revolution. Pointing out who King Louie, Marie and Robespierre were.

The action cards allow for a little nastiness against the other players by giving them negative points, not allowing them to rearrange the line or play action cards on their turn. I like that you can effect other people’s scores besides just improving your own.

It is also nice that the game is over in three rounds (days) so it’s a great filler game or a game you can play multiple times. Not a game we play on a regular basis but we will go to in spurts when we want a change of pace from the more involved games we usually play.

This is one of the first games that I played that was different because I wasn’t trying to move pawns around a circle or follow some colored path. This game allows choices and lots of them. Yes the game is won and lost on dice rolls but the choices you make can totally help the outcome.
You get to choose which countries you start in (or if you deal out the cards for a quicker game) which countries to reinforce. You decide where to attack and when the right time to hand in those valuable sets for extra armies. Where to use your one troop move. You can even decide when to make alliances (you know you do it)and when to stab a brother in the back. That’s where the strategy comes in.
The enjoyment of the game I think depends on the group you are playing with. Do they understand the level of commitment? Are they competitive enough that if they are eliminated early they would want to jump back in the next time you break it out? I have played with a few different groups, ones that can’t get enough no matter who wins and ones it is like pulling teeth to get more than one play.
Regardless it’s a great game, with lots of options, many “house rules” and with the right group lots of replayability. I would suggest having a couple of filler games that people can play while they wait for the world conqueror to emerge. In my opinion the biggest drawback of Risk, that a game that can easily to more than 2 hours could have someone waiting around after 30 min.

I was fortunate to grow up in a family that played games. Although they were games like Monopoly, Clue, Stratego, Sorry and Battleship and in my opinion there are a lot better games to choose from cards have always been a staple at family gatherings. Whether it is 500,Euchre,Spades or Rook there are things that I have learned from cards specifically Rook that has carried over to other games.
1. Making due with the hand you are dealt. Sometimes I have a laydown hand but most of the time I am hoping to get something good out of kitty or I’m relying of my partner to help me out. Rook teaches teamwork.
2. No guts, no glory. In many games it’s the player willing to take a chance that often comes out on top. Rook taught me you never know what might be in the kitty, and you won’t know unless you take the bid.
3. Know your limits. With the above being stated, I quickly learned that I had to be selective when I was going to take a risk or play it safe. That principle carried over to a lot of games. I can’t count the number of games lost because of being to aggressive, fortunately the wins out number the losses that’s what keeps me playing.
4. How to read people, knowing their tendencies. How to play to the strengths of my partner. Rook is often won or lost by being good or bad at this.
All in all it’s a great game because of many ways to play. I will put some of the house rules I am aware of in the “house rules” section. For me in was a gateway to learn and love lot’s of other games both card and board alike.

This was the first co-op game that my family purchased and we enjoyed it right away. Let me list some of the elements that make it a great game.
1.Playing as a team against the game for us was a new way of playing a family board game. It allowed us to promote teamwork over competition and encouraged our family to realize that we all have a voice and something to contribute.
2.Each game is different because you can change the order of the tiles, select the difficulty by choosing how fast the water rises, different tiles are sinking because you randomly select them and you can choose to be different roles, giving each group a different way to approach the game. (a group without the pilot makes the helicopter lifts way more important!)
3. The small time commitment (around 30 min.)means you can play it a couple of times in an evening or have time to play something else.
4. The rules and game play is simple so that younger ones or novice gamers can pick up quickly.
The only challenge we have run into and admittedly mostly my fault is that when you figure out the nuts and bolts of the game it is easy for strong personalities to direct the flow of the game to the detriment of the other players. Basically I could coach other players to use my strategy to win the game and most the time succeed, totally railroading the experience for everyone. Or keep my big mouth shut and form a strategy together a having a better experience but “winning” less. And that’s the rub Forbidden Island allows us competitive people to evaluate our idea of winning. I guess that is what makes it a great game. I’m just not a fan of humble pie all the time.

This is a super light game for breaking up a long gaming session. We love games that take a couple of hours, uses a lot of mental energy and have multiple facets to the game. Can’t Stop is not one of those.. what it does have to offer is a “let it ride” mentality how far can you push your luck? It gets a little more challenging when some of the numbers can no longer be used. It’s fun to see how different people approach this game. Some play it safe only rolling a few times and stopping “saving their spot” for a later turn. I on there other hand can’t stop and go till I bust or get one to the top. Some play differently depending on the numbers they have. Easy mechanics, easy rules, you can use it for kids to work on math skills. Good light fun.

This is a great game for many reasons, I hope to flesh out 7 ways I love it but might run out of creative juice around 6. Anyway, 7 sounds better in the title so let’s jump in.
1.The number of people that can play and still have virtually the same game is awesome. No matter if I have 3 or 7 or somewhere in between the game plays the same. Some games only work when you only have a certain amount of people Seven Wonders is not that way.
2.The amount of time is about the same regardless to the amount of players you have. It might take an hour if you have a lot of new people learning the game. Once we got the hang of it we can easy finish a game under 30 min.
3.My wife’s favorite aspect is a sense of finality with the game. 3 rounds is all you get and then we are tallying up points. It has the feel of a epic game of monopoly or risk but without people coming away from it feeling that was too long, or they were eliminated and had to sit and watch for 2 hours till the last country was defeated or someone goes bankrupt.
4.Many way’s to win. There are lot’s of different strategies and no one really knows whose won till all the points are added up. Do you go for city cards, build wonders, science or will the guild cards change everything. Will you build your army or sacrifice the points to get more other places?
5.I like that everyone has their turn at the same time. This keeps everyone engaged in the game at all times. That is good for someone that has adult ADHD or just generally impatient. We have had to take to everyone waiting to turn their selected card all at once or we get someone that is way ahead of everyone.
6.Replay value is huge. You can be a different civilization each time you play, you will see different cards, you can mix up who your neighbors are because they may play differently then your previous neighbors therefore changing your play and you can try different strategies to challenge yourself.
7. I made it (yeah!) the expansions are worth getting and add so much more to the game. What I like about them is that you don’t break the bank getting them. Some games the expansion costs as much as the base game and they don’t really add to it. With Seven Wonders you get a good deal and each expansion adds to an already awesome game.

I hope you enjoy it as much as our family!

We like this game for a few reasons. 1. It’s different from most of the other games we like. Blokus takes visual awareness making sure you use all the pieces to their highest potential, there isn’t a whole lot of luck involved. 2.It’s easy to learn. My extended family ranges from 6 to 96 and everywhere in between and all can participate in this game. 3. It’s not a huge commitment time-wise. You can easy play a game in less than 20 min. or if you really like it play multiple games till you reach a desired point total, it’s up to you. 4. Each game is different because you can play your tiles with a different strategy each time. You can be the one to race into others’ territories or try to maximize the space you have before you are invaded. The choice is up to you.

This game has been around for a while and when you get it out of the box and start to read the instruction book you might get overwhelmed. Stick with it, it’s a great game and game-play can move quickly after you have the mechanics down. What I love about it each army has a different function, all the armies if working together can be formidable. I would suggest finding a tutorial or playing with someone that knows the flow for the gaming experience to get up to speed quickly. I will try to post some tips for each power in the tips section, hopefully that will help.

For someone who loves games, plays a lot of different ones and was at best an above average student this game mentally drained me. At the outset there are a lot of moving parts to the game. From the auction phase, to buying resources, planning where to start your power plants and where/when to expand this game can be a little overwhelming. We broke it down into stages. Once we did that it ran a lot smoother, the picked up and I could enjoy it. I just had to compartmentalize a little to wrap my brain around this game. In doing so our whole family can enjoy it 2 boys (9) and (11) girl 18 and my wife and I. Lot’s of ways to win, different options during auction and expansion phases. A lot of math, and quite a commitment of time most games coming in around 2 hours. I always feel ready to jump right back in when the game is done, and that to me signifies a great game.

What we like best about descent: journeys in the dark (2ed) is campaign mode. We feel for the investment we received many hours of play-ability. We picked it up for Christmas and it took us a month to get through the first campaign. For some this many sound like an eternity to play a game but we were able to break it down to many 1-2 hour sessions. Each quest was unique so it felt like a different game each time because the goal for winning was varied. Because each campaign has many options to choose from we can play the same campaign with different heroes, choose different quests, rotate who the overlord is or choose to be a different hero class. And then you can change up the monsters used as well.

Just a great game, you get a lot of bang for your buck!

The most appealing part of this game is the many combinations you can have choosing factions. You could play several times and have a new combination each time. Each combination offers a different strategy, since each faction has different strengths and weaknesses.

It is simple learn and the game-play moves along nicely. I have two boys 11 and 9 and both love that there isn’t a long wait between turns. It is a game we pull off the shelf regularly.