The Opinionated Gamers

There are lots of likable games this time around so, without further ado, let’s launch in.

BUGS ON RUGS (2019): Rank 7289, Rating 7.2

A quickish set collecting game. There’s 10 or so different sets, each with a different scoring system (most of, for each, per something, exact number, etc). Each round you pick 2 cards from a common pool, Settlers-style. There’ll be 1 card left and it will trigger its set’s event, which will mix things up by drawing cards, swapping cards, etc. It’s all over in about 6 rounds. It doesn’t use the whole deck so with lots of cards missing, the point swings due to what’s randomly available near the end are big. Don’t be emotionally invested. The prime drawback is that for a simple game, the rules take a while – you need to cover all the scoring systems and the 10 different events. Or not, depending on your crew’s acceptance of luck. There’s no shortage of that in the game, but it is acceptably quick. And while there’s also nothing innovative here, it works nicely.

Jaws

• Designer: Prospero Hall
• Publisher: Ravensburger
• Players: 2-4
• Ages: 12+
• Time: 60 minutes
• Times played: 2, with review copy provided by Ravensburger USA

Jaws is the new game about an old movie that has hit the store shelves this summer.  In this game, players relive the struggle between the huge shark and the Crew thrown together to fight it. Jaws is played over two Acts, though each can be played separately if you are short on time.

Horrified

• Designer: Prospero Hall
• Publisher: Ravensburger
• Players: 1-5
• Age: 10+
• Time: 45-60 minutes
• Times played: 2, with review copy provided by Ravensburger

Horrified was one of the hotly advertised games at GenCon 2019 – or at least one that I kept hearing people talk about.  In this game, a group of Heroes work together in the most haunted village in the world, battling against some of the most famous movie monsters of old.  In Horrified, six different classic movie monsters are available (Dracula, Frankenstein and his Bride, The Creature from the Black Lagoon, WolfMan, the Mummy and the Invisible Man), and your group will fight against 2-4 of these baddies, who for some reason have decided to descend upon your little town at the same time.  Each Monster has specific and unique defeat criteria – and in order to win, the team must vanquish all the Monsters. The players will lose if they let the Terror Level get too high or if they run out of cards in the Monster deck (meaning they have taken too much time to defeat the Monsters).

Era: Medieval Age

• Designer: Matt Leacock
• Publisher: PlanB Games
• Players: 1-4
• Age: 8+
• Time: 45min
• Times played: 7, with review copy provided by PlanB Games

Era: Medieval Age was one of my most anticipated games from GenCon 2019.  I am a big fan of Matt Leacock, and I like his games too… Roll Through the Ages was one of my favorite games of his, and this appeared to be in the same vein.  I was also quite intrigued by the promo images released over the summer with these colored 3D buildings, and I wanted to see what the whole “roll-and-build” thing was all about.   I was able to miss the 1km long line (perhaps a slight exaggeration) by a few minutes, and the game hit the table as soon as I returned from Indianapolis.