Tinman

I have the kickstarter version that has more buildings than the regular boxed version so it has more options. You have a track and it has the 4 resources and their values ranging from $2 -$5 depending on where they are on the track with 1 resource per value. On your turn you can rise money by selling resources. While you sell the value of a good at that value-i.e. I can sell 2 of the $2 goods by taking the action any extra goods of that type are usually then lost. Your action i taken by placing your marker on a building. Everybody has their own building that allows you to gain 1 good type. However, you must always start your turn by moving to a new building and that is your action for the turn. Additionally, normally, no 2 markers can occupy the same space. You have tracks on your home card so you can see how much of each good you have. You then sell them in any combination to pay for a building or buildings. As I said earlier selling a good wipes out all of that good but only earns money for a quantity equal to the value. So if I have 5 of the $2 good I gain $4 but lose all 5 goods. When a player finishes their purchase(s) the market sets to new values using a set rotation system. Each building has a cost and victory point value as well as a game effect. For someone else to use your building will cost them a good(whether you can use it or not) and the game ends when someone has built 4 buildings. This is a good 3-4 player game but not to good at 1-2 players.

If you have played the regular Tsuro and are looking for a new challenge this might be the version for you. The basic rules are the same, place a tile and then trace your piece or others affected by the play from where they are on their pathway to where the path now ends. As in the base game if you hit the outer edge or another player the pieces are eliminated. Now though, there are sea monsters on the board which may or may not move after you finish moving. There is an element of randomness in when and where they move that is difficult to plan for. Add in the fact that more can be generated in the game and you have a game that is more perilous and in many cases shorter than the original game.

The game uses simple game mechanics but does provide a challenge for all involved.
you need at least 4 people total to play. Divide into 2 teams(red and Blue). From a large stack of tiles lay out 25 tiles in a 5×5 grid. Each tile has a word on it. Each team has a designated clue giver and the they sit facing the teams. From a second stack you draw a card and place it in a holder so that only the clue givers can see it. The card shows which spaces are for the red team and which for the blue team. It will also show which spaces are innocent bystanders and which is the assassin space. On each team’s turn they are given a 1 word clue with a number such as flight 2. The team then tries to guess which words relate to flight. As they guess a word the tile is covered with a red, blue, bystander or assassin token. If the token is your team’s color you can stop or try to make the next guess(up until the number announced(+) 1 if you want. If it is the other team’s color your turn is over and you have now helped the other team get a word. If it is a bystander your team’s turn is over. If it is the assassin your team loses immediately. Pick a new clue giver and set upa new round. Play to a point total=50 or 100,etc… There are restrictions on what constitute valid clues and you can choose 0 or unlimited for the number values. Good luck.

I tend to like more strategic games so I am not a big fan of totally random games. That being said this is one version I will play again. If you have not played Fluxx before the base game is simple. You start with a hand of 3 cards. You draw 1 card and then you play 1 card. The cards are keepers: which you play down in front of you and fulfill the current goal to win. Goals: which determine how someone wins which are usually based off of keepers, but not always. Important note here: If a goal is played and anyone meets it they win immediately. Action cards which have you perform an action immediately after played. New Rules: which change the basic rules immediately. If you play a draw 3 card for instance you would immediately draw 2 more cards and everyone else now draws 3 and plays 1. Other elements in this one that were introduced in later versions of the game are creepers: which are like keepers, but usually with a negative game effect, and Surprises which can be played on someone else’s turn or on your own turn and have a different game effect depending on when you play it. New rules stay in effect unless removed by other cards, but goals replace previously played ones so that the goal needed to win is always changing. I have not played all versions of the game, but for me the new effect that I liked is that the keepers, which were in the past static and only good for satisfying the goals, now have ongoing game effects and so add a little strategy to the game. It helps if you like comics and/or are familiar with Batman as a whole but is not necessary to play the game. As I said before this is the most strategic version of the game I have played but don’t worry it is still light enough for the casual or social gamer to enjoy it.

The game is easy to teach. Every body has a set of villagers with the same range of values. The object is to get your villagers off the sinking island in the middle of the board and to one of the beaches on the edge of the board by the time the island sinks. The winner is the person who got the highest total value of villagers to safety. Every piece of island that sinks can unleash a new threat(whirlpools,sharks, whales, etc…), or occasionally a new boat. Each boat can hold 3 villagers, and there are more villagers in the lower values(more value 1s than 4s, etc…) Boats can only be moved by players who have pieces in that boat, and some pieces start on the interior of the island so you must decidewhether to wait on the island partially sinking or scramble madly for boats erly on.

The title pretty much says it all. There are many good descriptions of the game on the site. I recommend that you find a friend, family member or local game group that has the game and give it a try. The game is easy to learn, easy to teach others and plays in 1 to 1 and 1/2 hours. Just remember when teaching new players remove the Lord who scores off of bui;dings, the quest that grants the Liuetenant and the building that grants the ambassador. These are all things that favor the experienced player and can handicap new players.

This is a must have for family gamers. The components are visually appealing. The game is very easy to play. Simply attach the bark to the rings, stack the rings on the stump, and take turns “chopping” on the tree with a plastic ax. I have played with family members from small child to teenager to adult and all have enjoyed it and played it several times in a session.

It is probably the fact that I have played a lot of games, but I found nothing new enough, or no new combination of older ideas, to make me want to buy the game.

The game is based around the auction mechanism. You are building towns in effect. Each turn you bid for the right to build a particular type or types of building and possibly to earn a game bonus such as an extra worker, etc… The number of options available is 1 less than the number of players playing so someone will always have to drop out. Money and/or trade tokens are needed to perform most actions and are of course always tight. There were no real surprises in terms of new mechanisms in the game, but it was put together well and the components are colorful and fun. If you like auction games you will like this one. I play games with my son who is an avid gamer and as a casual gamer I would say this borders on my limit for how “serious” a game I would ever play. It plays in about an hour and was not overwhelming me with rules and strategies.