Board Game Trivia to Close Out 2020

Posted on December 15, 2020 by Erik Arneson

If ever there was something to celebrate, it’s the end of 2020… So you’re invited to kiss this year goodbye in style with some great trivia all about tabletop games!

I’ve put together a five-round trivia game that I’m hosting on Zoom on Dec. 30 and 31.

The game features lots of visual clues, and each round is completely different from the others. You can put together a team to play, or you can play solo — whichever you prefer. The entire game takes 60 to 90 minutes.

And I’ll send a copy of my book HOW TO HOST A GAME NIGHT to the winning player (or the captain of the winning team) at each event!

(NOTE: If you played my earlier tabletop trivia game, good news: This game features 100% new content.)

You can join me at any of these times:

Wed., Dec. 30, at 8 p.m. Eastern U.S. time

Wed., Dec. 30, at 10 p.m. Eastern U.S. time

Thurs., Dec. 31, at 8 p.m. Eastern U.S. time

Thurs., Dec. 31, at 10 p.m. Eastern U.S. time

The links above take you to the registration page for the listed date, which includes some additional information about how to organize a team. After registering, you’ll receive a confirmation email that has all the details you need to join.

I hope to see you there!

NOTE: The same trivia game will be played at each session, so there’s no reason to sign up for more than one.

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Dale Yu: Review of Celtic

Posted on December 15, 2020 by Dale Yu

Celtic

  • Designer: Dirk Hillebrecht
  • Publisher: Pegasus Spiele
  • Players: 2-4
  • Age: 8+
  • Time: 45-60 minutes
  • Times played – 3 with review copy provided by Pegasus Spiele (I have played its predecessor, Wunderland, at least 20 times)

Celtic is a re-make of one of the games I have always felt never got enough attention, Wunderland.  We reviewed the game when it came out – https://opinionatedgamers.com/2013/05/26/wunderland-review/   In the original game, players are exploring the Hamburg indoor amusement park known as Miniatur Wunderland – https://www.miniatur-wunderland.com/  In fact, I bought my copy of the game from the giftshop there, a memento of my trip to Hamburg and the Kinderspiel des Jahres ceremony.

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Sugar Blast (Game Review by Brandon Kempf)

Posted on December 14, 2020 by Brandon Kempf
  • Designer: Leo Almeida, Matthew O’Malley & Ben Rossett
  • Artists: Gabriel Burghi, Hannah Cardosa, Julia Ferrari, Giovanna BC Guimaraes & Max Duarte
  • Publisher: CMON Games
  • Players: 1-4 
  • Time: 20
  • Times Played: 7

I don’t review many children’s games anymore, my kids have gotten older and the youngest one has never really been a fan of sitting at the table for prolonged periods of time playing a game, yes, anywhere from 5 minutes on is considered prolonged for her. That being said, Sugar Blast was one that popped onto my radar late in the Essen push as a possible game that she would enjoy enough to sit through so I picked it up via the CMON site and waited. 

Sugar Blast, is a board game implementation of the Match 3 genre of games that is so prolific on phones. Match 3 of the same and pop the items and more move down in hopes that you pop more. In Sugar Blast instead of trying to score as many points as possible though, you are simply racing to be the first player to complete the goal for the game. 

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EXIT the Game: The Enchanted Forest (A Spoiler-free Review by RJ Garrison)

Posted on December 11, 2020 by RJ Garrison

Designer: Inka & Markus Brand

Publisher:  Thames and Kosmos

Players:  1-4

Playing Time:  60-120 minutes

Ages:  10+

MSRP: $14.95

Level: 2 of 5

https://www.thamesandkosmos.com

While walking in the woods you and your friends suddenly find that you are lost.  While attempting to get back to where you came from you are approached by a wolf, which, yeah…scares you, as a wolf in the wild should.  Then he starts talking to you.  Apparently you’ve stepped into an Enchanted Forest with talking animals, characters from childhood stories and more, and now, for some reason, your immediate thought is to get out of the wood?  Don’t you want to do a little exploring or something?  I mean, TALKING ANIMALS!!!  And the wolf’s not even trying to eat you. 

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Dale Yu: First Impressions of Zombie Teenz Evolution

Posted on December 10, 2020 by Dale Yu

Zombie Teenz Evolution

  • Designer: Anick Lobet
  • Publisher: Scorpion Masque
  • Players: 2-4
  • Age: 8+
  • Time: 15-20 mins per game (so far)
  • Played on review copy provided by Scorpion Masque

Well, one of the things about legacy games is that they are really hard to review!  The whole point of them (at least IMHO) is the discovery of the secret twists and surprises put in the box by the designer.  For the most part, there’s no way to talk about those things in a review without ruining the surprise for the reader – so… what is there to talk about?  Well, I think there is still value in talking about the game, the theme, and the system so that people can try to figure out if this is something they even want to get involved with.  After all, most legacy games require the group to play a number of games in order to complete the story arc. Continue reading →

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Weekly Giveaway #2 – Star Wars Unlock!

Posted on December 9, 2020 by Dale Yu

OK, we’ve spent a lot of time this year writing up reviews, and frankly, there’s not enough room in the Gaming Basement for all of them…. So, we thought it would be a neat idea to start a series of weekly giveaways where our loyal readers can enter in raffles to win these games! We’d love to see the games end up in homes where they can get played and enjoyed!

First up – Star Wars Unlock!– you can read our review here!

Unfortunately, for the time being, we’re going to limit this to US mailing addresses only. Given the cost of international shipping right now – it might actually cost us more than the value of the game to mail it abroad – and well, we don’t have the budget for that… As long as the game fits into a USPS flat rate box, that’s likely how we’re going to send it to you… Continue reading →

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