ShoggothLord

I have had the game Quarriors for a while, and was not one of the people to score a cube of dice as it first existed. This game is for all intents and purposes, the precursor to Dice Masters, so if you like Dice Masters and want a fantasy themed game, this game may be for you. If you prefer Superheroes, go with Dice Masters, or for that purpose, go with D&D Dicemasters if you like Fantasy vs. this generic fantasy game.

That all being said, I picked up Quarriors for my son and I to play before Dice Master came into existence. We’ve played it many times, and he wants me to pick up many more expansions, which to be honest, I have been waiting on, as I have more Dice Masters now, which he has not tried as yet.

Quarriors is a dice building game, similar to deck builders, where you start with a fixed set of basic dice (quiddity = money, and some basic fighters). As you take your turns you can attack opponents, buy more dice, and cull the ones you don’t want to allow your newer, better dice to come out of the bag you draw them from quickly. First person to meet the required winning points based on player count, wins!

Quarriors was the first of this type of game (I think), so kudos to them for getting this game out there. However, one of the things that can be an issue, is an uber powerful card can allow someone to shutdown the game for others (I’m looking at you Quake Dragon). You can look at this as just strategic play, or something that is broken. I know in many games where the Quake Dragon came out, that really killed the game for everyone else once the first person got it and got rolling with it, was a perceived problem where we did not want to play the game with it as much as otherwise. However, you can also just look at this as a strategic way to slow/stop your opponent and technically anyone that got it first could likely steamroll everyone to an easy victory.

The above being said, we really do enjoy the game (this website doesn’t show as many plays as I am limited to adding all my past ones), but think it will be better with some of the expansions added, so I will likely pick up 1 or 2 more expansions and see if it improves a bit more in score as I think it will. This is a good family game, and easy to learn and teach. One thing that will take a bit of time, is this does start a bit slow until you get some good dice added in to your bag, and then ramps up more quickly. Also, it helps as you get more familiar with all the characters/dice in the game, as people will need to spend more time reading the different special abilities of the cards that change each game (which is a plus that there is a lot of replayability), but a lot of learning/reading will occur until everyone gets more used to the different cards/dice in the game. Overall, I give this a 7.

I love many of the Cool Mini or Not published games…most of mine having the minis. This was the first I picked up from them in the “Or Not” category, which has been growing to the point that they are sort of re-branding themselves as CMON for Board Games that don’t have the minis (I think). Since this acquisition, I have also picked up Looterz. How’s Potion Explosion you ask?

Well, it’s a very fun light family (and gamer), game. If you have played video games like Bejeweled, or Columns, you will understand how the main mechanic works as you pull colored marbles representing your ingredients out of the charming dispenser that you also get to build (just the 1st time as the box was properly designed to hold it after being built). Explosions occur when two ingredients that match roll together after pulling your ingredient from the tray. This can lead to successive explosions and lots of ingredients to build with.

There are a number of interesting potions that can be created, and then consumed when you wish to use them for their special abilities (such as stealing another player’s ingredients from their flask to use yourself). However, make sure when you drink them, you employ an interesting vocal sound or phrase to accompany said quaffing of the potion for that much more fun. Such as shouting, “Down the Hatch!”, or the equally enjoyable, “glug, glug, glug…”…as you then laugh at someone’s inane “slurping” noise as they drink their Potion of Magnetical Attraction.

Earn points from completing those potions, and bonus points from getting three of a kind, or 5 unique potions. Once all the bonus tiles have been doled out by the professor, the highest total wins.

Overall – a very fun game for the entire family, and a great filler game for your more avid gaming groups as it doesn’t take a long time to play, unless you have some AP (Analysis Paralysis) players in your midst, as they carefully consider all possible ingredient pulls, which at 4 players can cause a bit of drag…but if you nicely encourage them to try to plan their moves as they can leading up to their turn, they may still have the ability to go more quickly than expected. That is until the player before them takes the ingredients they were planning on taking for themselves…

Now, excuse me, as I need to get a few more samples of Ogre Mucous, while he’s still snoring away over there…shhhhhh…

Ok – so I am embarrassed to say I have had this game for a couple years now, but with everyday life, have not had time to play this until recently. Oh boy, was I missing the fun to be had in this game!

Matt is well known for his designs and being a bit of the founder of the co-operative game genre with this title (if memory serves). I can see why. Each successive game I played, I kept thinking the new role I played was not going to be as good as the one in the last game (Scientist, vs. Quarantine Specialist, etc.), and yet each time was proven wrong.

Even when we lost, we still have a lot of fun. A very tense game as you progress up the Outbreak and Infection tracks. I also like that this game is easy to teach and for the young ones in the family to pick up and get right away. And, even though 2-4 players, you can definitely play solo (which I recommend to learn this so it can be easily taught to others).

Yes, it can be a bit of an issue with Alpha Gamers (those that want to take over for everyone else), but with some expectation setting up front that can hopefully be mitigated. Make sure everyone only discusses the various options with no “You should do this and this…” and ensure the person who’s turn it is makes the final decision, and you should do fine.

Overall – this is an outstanding game, and one that most people should probably have in their collection if they like Co-Op games. Now, time to get back to eradicating those diseases…