As you likely know, we tend not to feature games on KS here on the blog; but there is a game which is currently in the midst of a campaign (and already funded!) which caught my eye, and I wanted to talk a bit about it. While funding in and of itself is not a promise of completion; the company has a good track record of producing and fulfilling previous KS projects.
Plakks is a company which I have been following for awhile; they make wooden dexterity games that are sturdy and fun. I nearly pulled the trigger on their golf game a few years ago (Pitch and Plakks), and their newest offering appears to be a festival of sports themed mini-games — something that looks like would work great here in my local group.
I recently had the chance to take a look at Yamamoto san’s new game ‘Neko boss’. This game is a newer version of Yamamoto san’s previous game Sky Scrapers (2010). The standard version is upgraded with the ability to play with up to 4 players, it will have 24 spaces to move on. and has a fun cat theme. Neko Boss may come in different sizes. The artwork and ceramic components are all handmade by Yamamoto san. This is a preview and the images here are of the prototype version. This game will be launched from Japan on Kickstarter around June 2022.
Logy Games creations combine Yamamoto san’s ceramics craftsmanship with his passion for games. The games are usually hand-made from ceramic or wood, and are portable with a wonderful tactile feel.
This image is of the prototype version.
Summary: In Neko Boss players must move their cats to try to get as many stacks of cats of 4 or more to be the boss of Nyan-town. The player who has the most ‘stacks of 4 or more cats’ at the end of the game is the winner.
Setup: Choose the first player. Players take a set of matching colored cat tiles. On the standard version of the game (24 spaces), 2 players (12 tiles), 3 players (8 tiles) 4 players (6 tiles). Starting from the first player, and going clockwise, players take turns placing one cat tile at a time on an empty space on the board until all the tiles have been placed.
Gameplay: Play proceeds clockwise starting from the first player.
On a player’s turn, they move one cat/stack they own ‘onto’ another cat/stack. Then it is the next player’s turn.
Movement rules: If a player’s cat is on top of a stack, they own that stack of cats. They may move the cat/stack a number of spaces in a straight line determined by how many cat tiles are in that stack. Example: If there are 3 cat tiles in that stack, they need to move 3 spaces in a straight line, and land on top of another cat/stack.
Once every player is unable to move their tiles, the game ends. (If a player run out of moves early, they must pass for the rest of the game. But don’t worry, the game doesn’t take too long, so there’s not a lot of waiting).
Count up the number of ‘stacks of 4 or more cats’ for each player. The player who has the most ‘stacks of 4 or more cats’ is the winner.
Impressions: The rules are very easy to learn, and the game plays really quickly. I like the new theme of using cats and groups of cats moving around town. The cat theme makes the concept easy to explain, and feels less abstract. The ceramic components also give the game a wonderful tactile feel and sound that makes it different to other board games. The standard sized Neko Boss is a nice small portable size, which I love. The cute illustrations, and cat theme make it suitable to be played with friends or family.
Played with review copy provided by Red Raven Games
From the publisher’s blurb about the game: Now or Never is a competitive strategy game that allows you to:
Choose one of four asymmetrical characters to play.
Rebuild the village so that returning villagers have a place to live. You must carefully choose what and where to build to maintain an advantage, earning the biggest rewards for long-term planning.
Interact with other players by hiring their specialists to perform special actions.
Combat dangerous creatures to rescue villagers.
Explore a fantasy landscape filled with bizarre places, technology, and peoples.
Based on this, it seems a little more thematic and narrative based than the games I normally like to play… But, I did just have a mini love affair with another Laukat/Red Raven game, Sleeping Gods, last year – and I was definitely interested in seeing if this one caught my eye as well. Now or Never is the third game in the Arzium storybook series that includes Above and Below and Near and Far. I haven’t played either of the earlier games in the trilogy, so this review comes from the standpoint of a newbie to the series and its lore.
BRIDGE CITY POKER: A REVIEW AND A GUIDE TO A GENRE
by Mitchell Thomashow
Over the last decade, accompanying the extraordinary proliferation of global board games, there’s been an equivalent blossoming of trick-taking card games, including a category of game called climbers. To place this proliferation in perspective, consider that David Parlett’s classic book, The Oxford Guide to Card Games, published in 1990, has no category for these types of games, and the most recent revision of The Penguin Book of Card Games lists a category called “First Out Wins” that includes Zheng Shangyou and Tieng Len, which Parlett describes as a “relatively simple member of the ‘climbing’ family.” Yet there is no category for climbing games in his compendium, nor is there a definition in the otherwise comprehensive glossary. ‘Climbing’ aficionados are well aware that there is an entire catalog of these types of games, many of them played throughout China and Southeast Asia, and undoubtedly Parlett’s coverage is overwhelmingly Western. There is no doubt that if Parlett were to offer another revision he would have to include many of these games.Continue reading →
Played 5 times with copy provided by Rio Grande Games
A lot of games come with a super complex backstory, brought to life through flavor text in the rules and on the box. The subtitle on the front page of the rules hints at the story: “After the Great Plague came regrowth and innovation…” The first sentence of the rules further expands on this: “In Dice Realms, each player rules a small realm, seeking to improve and enlarge it. Realms are represented by the faces on customizable dice: farming and grazing lands, hills with ore to mine, towers for defense, and tinkerers with ideas for improvements.” And… well, that’s it. Then it’s on to how to play. So this review will do the same. That was the introduction, and well, here’s how to play the game.
The Meeples Choice Awards is one of the oldest annual game awards in the hobby, with winners that stretch back all the way to 1995. Each year, three games are chosen as Meeples Choice Award winners. The list of nominated games has just been announced. 28 games were so honored; here they are, together with their designers and publishers:
7 Wonders: Architects (Antoine Bauza) – Repos Ark Nova (Matthias Wigge) – Feuerland Azul: Queen’s Garden (Michael Kiesling) – Next Move Boonlake (Alexander Pfister) – dlp games Brian Boru (Peer Sylvester) – Osprey Games Canvas (Jeff Chin, Andrew Nerger) – Road to Infamy Games Cascadia (Randy Flynn) – Flatout Games Corrosion (Stefan Bauer) – Deep Print Games Dune: A Game of Conquest and Diplomacy (Bill Eberle, Jack Kittredge, Peter Olotka, Greg Olotka, Jack Reda) – Gale Force Nine For Sale Autorama (Stefan Dorra) – Eagle-Gryphon Games Free Ride (Friedemann Friese) – 2F-Spiele Golem (Simone Luciani, Virginio Gigli, Flaminia Brasini) – Cranio Gutenberg (Katarzyna Cioch, Wojciech Wisniewski) – Granna Hadrian’s Wall (Bobby Hill) – Garphill Games Imperial Steam (Alexander Huemer) – Capstone Games Imperium: Classics/Legends (Nigel Buckle, David Turczi) – Osprey Games Maglev Metro (Ted Alspach) – Bezier Meadow (Klemens Kalicki) – Rebel Studio Mille Fiori (Reiner Knizia) – Schmidt Spiele Rocketmen (Martin Wallace) – Phalanx Savannah Park (Wolfgang Kramer, Michael Kiesling) – Deep Print Games Sleeping Gods (Ryan Laukat) – Red Raven Games So Clover! (Francois Romain) – Repos Tabannusi (Daniele Tascini, David Spada) – Board&Dice Terraforming Mars: Ares Expedition (Jacob Fryxelius, Sydney Engelstein, Nick Little) – FryxGames The Crew: Mission Deep Seas (Thomas Sing) – Kosmos Whale Riders (Reiner Knizia) – Grail Games Witchstone (Reiner Knizia, Martino Chiacchiera) – Huch!
Knizia has the most nominations (3), which gives him a remarkable 50 Meeples Choice nominated games all time. Kiesling is the only other designer with as many as two nominations.
There will now be a second round of voting and the three winners will be announced in a week.
