Stick ‘Em (2020 Capstone Version of Sticheln) (Game Review by Chris Wray)

Posted on August 10, 2020 by Chris Wray
  • Designer: Klaus Palesch
  • Publisher: Capstone Games
  • Players: 3 – 6
  • Ages: 10 and Up
  • Time: 20 Minutes
  • Times Played: > 20

It took nearly three decades, but Sticheln — one of my favorite card games — has finally received an English-language printing!  Capstone Games recently released the game as Stick ‘Em (rules available here), using artwork similar and high-quality cards similar to the NSV game that has been available in Germany in recent years.  

I’ll admit that I’m biased by my love of Sticheln, but I see the game as a great step forward in the design of trick taking games. Sticheln threw out all of the old rules, becoming one of the first entries in a generation of trick taking games that no longer resembled the public-domain games of the past. One trump suit? Nah… every suit not led is trump. Must follow? Nope… play any card at any time. And let’s vary the number of suits — and the number of cards in a suit — for the number of players.

Continue reading →
Posted in Reviews | Tagged , , , , , | 6 Comments

Matt Carlson – A Trio of Cat Boardgames

Posted on August 9, 2020 by Matt J Carlson

In the past few decades we’ve seen the power of cats. Take a popular item and stick a cat on it, and its popularity grows. Examples include Garfield (whose creator took a look and decided a cat-comic would sell well) and an extremely popular cat-based card game. (A cat game who must not be named – I fail to see the attraction of its randomness.) Today I want to take a look at a few cat-themed games that I’ve encountered in the past year or so. Cat Lady has players drafting cards off of a 3×3 grid to score points at the end of the game. Kibble Scuffle has players playing cats around feeding bowls in order to trigger a feeding phase. The Lady and the Tiger is a slight outlier, as only half of its richly illustrated cards show a tiger. It is also more than one game in a box as it contains five different games that can be played using the cards and glass tokens in the box. The three games span a wide variety of play styles, so read on to see if one (or more) fit for your gaming needs.

Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Dale Yu: First Impressions of 7 Wonders (2020 edition)

Posted on August 8, 2020 by Dale Yu

 

 

7 Wonders (2020 version)

  • Designer: Antoine Bauza
  • Publisher: REPOS
  • Players: 3-7
  • Age: 10+
  • Time: 30 minutes
  • Times played: 1 with new version, probably >100 with 2010 version

This piece is less a review of the game itself, and likely more a comparison of the new 2020 version and its original version.  We have reviewed the original a number of times, but the original review dated Feb 9, 2011 still is a great review of the game – https://opinionatedgamers.com/2011/02/09/review-of-7-wonders-believe-the-hype/.  Rather than re-invent that wheel, and because most of the changes are “cosmetic”, I’ll simply refer you to the original review if you are unfamiliar with the game.

 

7 Wonders is one of my all-time great games, and as the box proclaims, there are over a million copies already sold.  While I don’t know numbers for sure, I’m guessing there aren’t many Eurogames that can make that claim.  Off the top of my head, the list might be: Dominion, Carcassone, Catan, Ticket to Ride, Pandemic, Hababi and 7 Wonders… I really don’t know if I can come up with another one that I’d feel pretty sure about – maybe Love Letter?   Anyways, it’s a very select group to be a part of!  This is clearly a game that most people in our hobby are familiar with, and based on their sales boast, one that many of us have on our game shelves at home.

Continue reading →

Posted in Essen 2020, First Impressions | 2 Comments

Brandon Kempf – Three Games of July

Posted on August 7, 2020 by Brandon Kempf

I have a lot of games. A lot of games that are on my shelves, or on my table being played, that I have told myself that I want to review at some point. For one reason or another, this doesn’t always happen. My goal here on The Opinionated Gamers is that I want to get about one review out per week, but I’d like to write about more games. So I’m taking a page out of Patrick Brennan’s playbook, and we’re going to start writing about games in threes, insnapshot form. This should be a good way for readers to get to know me and my gaming tastes a bit better, and also another way for me to talk about games that I maybe don’t really want to dedicate two thousand words to. Welcome to Three Games.

Continue reading →
Posted in Commentary, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Dale Yu: Review of Escape Room in a Box: The Walking Dead (spoiler free)

Posted on August 6, 2020 by Dale Yu

Escape Room in a Box: The Walking Dead

  • Designers: Brian Yu, Mary Sadowsky, Nick Hayes
  • Publisher: Mattel
  • Players: 1-4
  • Ages: 14+
  • Time: 90 minutes
  • Times played: 1, with review copy provided by Mattel
  • Amazon Affiliate Link: https://amzn.to/30Zc4XK

Escape Room in a Box: The Walking Dead is the third game in Mattel’s Escape Room in a Box series.  The first two entries have been reviewed here earlier – The Werewolf Experiment and Flashback.

 

 

One of the hallmarks of this series is that there are actual physical locks and other components that you have to deal with.  I have found that there is something definitely satisfying about actually opening a combination lock and getting to see what’s inside a container as opposed to plugging in a code into a webpage and then seeing a “Completed!” graphic.

  Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | 2 Comments

Dale Yu: Review of Trekking the National Parks (2nd ed)

Posted on August 5, 2020 by Dale Yu

Trekking the National Parks

  • Designer: Charlie Bink
  • Publisher: Underdog Games
  • Players: 2-6
  • Ages: 8+
  • Time: 30-45 minutes
  • Times played: 2, with review copy sent by publisher

Trekking the National Parks was a successful game first released in 2014.  I actually did not get a chance to play it when it first came out, but I became interested in it after playing its successor, Trekking the World – a game we reviewed last year…  In this first game, players travel around the United States, visiting different parks, collecting stones and seeing some of the different landscapes from the varied parks.  And to be clear, I have a copy of the “Second Edition” of the game which appears to be substantially different from the original Trekking the National Parks.  It has a fair amount of critical acclaim; my second edition box proudly displays the Mensa Select logo on it – no small feat for a game that started out as an independent release.

  Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | 1 Comment