Preview: Acornism

Posted on March 18, 2024 by lornadune

Designer: Kotori

Artist: Kotori

Publisher: PhantomLab

Players: 2-4

Time:15-20 minutes

Age: 5 +

Acornism is a sweet little tile placement game coming to crowdfunding near you. I was provided with a nearly finished prototype. The components include nicely illustrated tiles and adorable wooden leaves and acorns. The leaves are player markers and the acorns will be used to show the size of the forest. (I love the Ginkgo leaves!) The box size will be only 4″ x 6″.

The goal of the game is to earn the most animal points through clever placement of tiles. A tile shows an animal with a number from 5-10 on one half and the other may show from 0-4 acorns. There is a single magical acorn which can be any number for each animal it touches. On a turn players will place a tile in an 8×8 grid determined as players lay tiles. The total number of acorns around an animal must always equal the animal number exactly, otherwise the tile may not be placed there.  Animals on the edge of the grid will not score because they cannot be surrounded. Tiles must be placed so that animals alternate squares with acorns. If when placing a tile,  an animal is completely surrounded on all 4 sides by the exact number of acorns as the number on the animal picture, the player places one of their leaf tokens on the animal and will score points equal to the animal number. at the end of the game. The player with the most points will win the game! 

If you like puzzly tile placement games this game may be for you.

If you like cute animals and adorable wooden bits this game may be for you.

If you like quick games with replayability this game may be for you.

If you like games that come in small packages that are easy to take while traveling, this game may be for you.

This game shines with 2 players. It ticks all the boxes for me, and I look forward to more plays!

Thoughts from Opinionated Gamers:

Love it: Lorna, Mandy

Like it: 

Neutral: Not for Me:

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Dale Yu: Review of Xylotar

Posted on March 17, 2024 by Dale Yu

Xylotar

  • Designer: Chris Wray
  • Publisher: Bezier Games
  • Players: 2-5
  • Age: 14+
  • Time: 30 minutes
  • Played with copy provided by publisher

In the card game Xylotar, you’ve found the long lost xylotar schematics from the instrument original designed by Bobby McColdsnap and Keifer Basset. This unique musical device was based on both xylophone and synthesizer technology in the mid 80’s. and was created as an alternative to the keytars of the era. Without knowing exactly how it should work, play until you discover the sweetest sounds. The player who scores the most points has found the perfect balance of 80’s synthesizer rock and modern carimba-style melodies. Only then can you mass produce the xylotar, succeeding in your goal of achieving moderate commercial success! In this trick-taking game players know only the colors of their cards and their relative order. Use deduction and observation to figure out the value of your cards, then bid to try to gain extra points.

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Dale Yu: Review of Sandbag

Posted on March 16, 2024 by Dale Yu

Sandbag

  • Designer: Ted Alspach
  • Publisher: Bezier Games
  • Players: 3-6
  • Age: 15+
  • Time: 30 minutes
  • Played with review copy provided by publisher

You’ve joined a hot air balloon festival in which the goal is to go higher than your opponents. Dump as many sandbags as you can — and try to gain rockets as well! — to send yourself higher and higher to win.

Sandbag is a trick-taking game of avoiding tricks, manipulating trump, and reconfiguring your hand of cards. In each of the three rounds, you configure your basket with two face-up cards; the most common color among all players’ cards is the trump suit. Each trick, players either play from their hand, play a sandbag (to sluff, that is avoid winning the trick), or play one of their opponents’ face-up cards. During the round, it’s possible for the trump to change as the number and kind of face-up cards are exchanged for face-down sandbags. Five rocket cards worth negative points are in play each round, and you want to win these while avoiding the sandbag cards because in the end the player with the lowest score wins.

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My 20 Favorite Trick-Taking Games (Article by Chris Wray)

Posted on March 16, 2024 by Chris Wray

I last published a list of my top 20 trick-taking games back in 2021. There have been several additions to the list, in large part due to the recent explosion in interest in the mechanic. Without further ado, here is my latest list, updated for 2024.

For context, these are the top 20 in a category I very much love, I estimate that I’ve played at least 300 trick-taking games (and possibly closer to 400, depending on how public domain games are counted). I’m picky about what I buy, but I still own about 100 of the designer titles (plus I have printed rulesets for numerous public domain games). I myself have designed more than 20 tricksters (but have left those off this list).

To clarify up front, I didn’t count “climbing games” in this list, although if I had, Seers Catalog and Tichu would have made it. I also didn’t count games where the trick taking was incidental to play, as in Brian Boru or Honshu (though none of those games would have made the list). 

They are listed in alphabetical order. I apologize for the lack of pictures: gathering 20 different images and putting them in this blog is a challenge!

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The Six of VIII (Game Review by Chris Wray)

Posted on March 14, 2024 by Chris Wray
  • Designer: Carol LaGrow
  • Publisher: New Mill Industries
  • Players: 3 – 4
  • Ages: 15 and Up
  • Time: 15 – 60 Minutes
  • Times Played: 3

“The reign of Henry VIII is one of the most fascinating in English history. Not only was it a time of revolutionary political and social change, but it was also dominated by one of the most extraordinary and charismatic men to emerge in the history of the British Isles. … He ruled England with some of the most intriguing personalities of the age, men and women who have left behind such vivid memorials of themselves that we can almost reach out across the centuries and feel that we know them personally. Six of these people were the King’s wives.” — Alison Weir, The Six Wives of Henry VIII

This past week, at Dice Tower West, I had the great joy of serving on a panel with ThinkerThemer and Taylor Reiner. The discussion was about the top 10 thematic trick-takers. Carol LaGrow’s The Six of VIII — the game I’m reviewing today — was second on my list, and it was (at least for me) the one that triggered the most post-panel discussion. Several attendees at Dice Tower West approached me to ask about the game, and I gave it my enthusiastic endorsement.

I’ve been a little obsessed with this game since I first learned its premise. One day, while casually reading a trick-taking focused Discord server, I took notice of a discussion of The Six of VIII. I didn’t immediately realize precisely what this was — my brain is not used to mixing Tudor history with trick-taking, so the use of numbers made me think of something more math-y — but I became enamored once I realized what the designer had done.

Then I played The Six of VIII, and I absolutely fell in love.

The game uses trick-taking to show the history of the six wives of Henry VIII, with thematic ties spread throughout. The big hook is that the cards are suited after the six wives, with each suit being trump for a period of the game approximately resembling each queen’s reign. Not only is the history great, but so is the trick-taking. This is a fresh, thematic take on so-called “track” games.

This week is Trick Taking Week here on The Opinionated Gamers, and the theme this year is innovators. The Six of VIII innovates in a devilishly clever way: in a genre littered with pasted-on themes (including all of my own designs), the Six of VIII shines by having both an ingenious thematic implementation and some fresh mechanics.

As an admission up front, I have a bit of a personal obsession with Tudor-era history. I had once thought I’d try to write this review in the style of Hilary Mantel — and I got close to finishing that endeavor and publishing it — but ultimately decided that my writing did not do enough justice to either that beloved author or this excellent game. Nonetheless, I have embedded a few hidden Tudor references herein.

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Seers Catalog (Game Review by Chris Wray)

Posted on March 13, 2024 by Chris Wray
  • Designer: Taylor Reiner
  • Publisher: Bezier Games
  • Players: 2 – 5
  • Ages: 15 and Up
  • Time: 45 Minutes
  • Times Played: > 5

Author’s Note: In the interest of fair disclosure, a game I designed (Xylotar) is being published by Bezier Games in coming months. Additionally, the designer of this game (Taylor Reiner) is a member of The Opinionated Gamers.

In spring 2016, I co-wrote an article for now-defunct Counter Magazine on the history of climbing and shedding games. The article walked through dozens of titles, everything from the public domain classics to newer designer games, and it was an attempt to provide a short (but nonetheless semi-comprehensive) overview of leading titles. Each game had its own twists, but in reading the article, it became apparent that most climbers/shedders are entirely too similar. Sure, there were a few groundbreaking outliers back then — Taiki Shinzawa’s Maskmen comes to mind — but whether it be Chimera, Gang of Four, Tichu, or the numerous similar titles, the primary variance was small shifts in either the deck or the melds permitted.

While there has been significant innovation in trick-taking the past few years, there has not been as much innovating in the climbing/shedding game space. But that seems to be changing in the past year or so. This week is Trick Taking Week here on the Opinionated Gamers. This is our second annual event, and I’ve commandeered the calendar to spotlight innovators in trick taking and trick-taking adjacent games.

Today, I want to highlight the most innovative shedding game I’ve ever played. I predict Seers Catalog will do more than any other game in recent years to move climbers and shedders forward.

The twist is that this is almost a game where you want to be the first to run out of cards. With a few subtle changes, Taylor Reiner has turned this beloved genre on its head, and the result is a fascinating game that is easily one of my most-anticipated titles of 2024.

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