Terraforming Mars: Ares Expedition (Target Exclusive Edition)

• Designers: Jacob Fryxelius, Nick Little and Sydney Engelstein
• Publisher: Stronghold Games
• Players: 1-4
• Age: 14+
• Time: 45-60 minutes
• Played with review copy provided by Stronghold Games

Terraforming Mars: Ares Expedition (TMAE) is a new 2021 release to follow up on the critically acclaimed game Terraforming Mars.  I feel like I am in the minority of OG writers in that I don’t particularly care for Terraforming Mars.  To me, the game plods along well past its expiration date – I don’t care for 3 hour games with a lot of downtime.  This new version promises a similar experience but in a smaller timeframe!

Like the original game, TMAE revolves around a bunch of cards. Lots of cards – 208 project cards to be exact. Players will use these cards to build their engine – with the goal to convert the planet into something habitable for humans.  There are three components to this – raising the temperature, increasing the oxygen supply and adding oceans – and unsurprisingly, you’ll score victory points for contributing to these projects.  When all three of these are complete, the game ends, and the player with the most victory points at that time will win.

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Daedalian Depths

• Author: Rami Hansenne
• Publisher: Innovario
• Players: 1+
• Amazon affiliate link: https://amzn.to/2TvZL5e

Though we normally review boardgames here, from time to time we take a look at other things which interest us (and therefore, we hope, interest you).  I was given the opportunity to look at Daedalian Depths, a new slim paperback book from Rami Hansenne.   We have reviewed one of his puzzle books before, Codex Enigmatum (https://opinionatedgamers.com/2018/11/09/preview-codex-enigmatum/).  

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The Game: Face to Face

• Designers: Steffen Benndorf, Reinhard Staupe
• Publisher: Pandasaurus
• Players: 2
• Age: 8+
• Time: 20 minutes
• Review copy provided by publisher

Well, I’ve gone on record that I’m not a fan of The Game – though I think it’s an interesting activity, I’m not yet convinced that it is a game, and certainly it’s not a game that I want to play.  The fine folks at Pandasaurus are well aware of that – but they still approached me to try their newest release in the line, the 2p only version: The Game: Face to Face.  This game uses some of the same mechanics, but there are obviously some differences as this game is not cooperative, but rather competitive in nature!

The game is made up of 2 different decks (silver backed or gold backed) each of an identical 60 cards.  There are familiar looking 1 and 60 cards with large arrows on them – and each player sets these down on the table.  Each deck then also has cards numbered from 2 to 59; these 58 cards are shuffled thoroughly, and each player takes a starting hand of 6 cards from their shuffled deck.

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So normally we write about boardgames and the occasional computer game/phone game here on the blog.  But this pandemic has caused us all to spend a lot more time at home by ourselves – some of the time spent playing games online, but also doing things like reading more books, watching more movies and reviving our love for jigsaw puzzles.

When we were approached by the nice people at Cloudberries to take a peek at their new line of jigsaw puzzles, we jumped at the chance.  Cloudberries is a great company  located in the UK.  They make quality traditional jigsaw puzzles with plenty of fantastic art choices.  

Furthermore, they appear to be one of the few (if only) puzzle companies that are committed to making puzzles in a sustainable fashion.  The puzzles are make with sustainably sourced paper and printed with vegetable based inks.  Furthermore, they are pledging to remove the plastic wrap around the outside of the puzzles.  They have also partnered with a company to offset the carbon used in the shipping of their puzzles.  Finally, they pledge to plant a tree for each puzzle that you buy from them.

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Box Monster

• Designer: Romain Caterdjian
• Publisher: Mandoo Games
• Players: 2-4
• Age: 6+
• Time: 5 minutes
• Played on review copy provided by Mandoo Games

Box Monster is a wonderfully illustrated family/kids games from Mandoo, one of the Korean companies who have been producing games for our hobby.  In this game, the box represents the stomach of a silly monster who has somehow invaded your house.  Because he’s a monster, he’s eating everything in sight – rubber duckies, chocolate bars, toy guns, cellphones and much more!

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