Dale Yu: Review of Cities: Skylines the Board Game

Posted on November 26, 2019 by Dale Yu

Cities: Skylines the Board Game

  • Designer: Rustan Hakansson
  • Publisher: Kosmos
  • Players: 1-4
  • Age: 10+
  • Time: 60-90 minutes
  • Times played: 3, with review copy provided by Thames&Kosmos

From the Paradox website: Cities: Skylines is a modern take on the classic city simulation. The game introduces new game play elements to realize the thrill and hardships of creating and maintaining a real city whilst expanding on some well-established tropes of the city building experience. It also includes the ability to mod the game to suit your play style as a fine counter balance to the layered and challenging simulation. You’re only limited by your imagination, so take control and reach for the sky!   I have actually been tempted to download this game for my PC as I have always loved the genre.  (Disclaimer – I really love the genre due to my work on the game Suburbia, from Bezier Games)

Continue reading →
Posted in Essen 2019, Reviews | 4 Comments

Dale Yu: First Impressions of Tal der Wikinger (Valley of the Vikings)

Posted on November 25, 2019 by Dale Yu

Tal der Wikinger (Valley of the Vikings)

  • Designer: Wilfried and Marie Fort
  • Publisher: HABA
  • Players: 2-4
  • Ages: 6-99
  • Time: 20-30 minutes
  • Played with review copy provided by HABA USA

Tal der Wikinger is the 2019 Kinderspiel des Jahres award winner.  For many people, this would be the end of the necessary part of the review 😊  For those of you who are unaware of the award, it is the award given to the Kids’ Game of the Year in Germany – as selected by a jury of boardgaming journalists.  In this dexterity game, the players are taking part in a barrel toppling contests, and they are trying to put their own Vikings in the right places on the dock to get the best rewards.  Sounds simple, right?

Continue reading →
Posted in Reviews | 2 Comments

Dale Yu – Book Review of Tortured Cardboard: How Great Board Games Arise from Chaos, Survive by Chance, Impart Wisdom, and Gain Immortality.

Posted on November 24, 2019 by Dale Yu

Tortured Cardboard: How Great Board Games Arise from Chaos, Survive by Chance, Impart Wisdom, and Gain Immortality

  • Author – Philip E. Orbanes (with the Games Gnome)
  • Publisher – Permuted Press
  • Published July 2019
  • Amazon affiliate link (yes, if you click this and buy the book, we might make a commission, but all proceeds from this go to keeping our site afloat)

For those of you inclined to read about boardgames, Philip Orbanes is a name that you are probably familiar with. He is one of the few authors I know of with multiple books about boardgames.  Likely best known for his books about Monopoly, Mr. Orbanes has also written an interesting book on the history of Parker Brothers called The Game Makers. (As an aside, Mr. Orbanes has served as the chief judge at the US and World Monopoly championships, so he is in a great spot to talk at length about the game).

As Mr. Orbanes is a previous employee of Parker Brothers, the former VP of Research and Development in fact, there was an obvious connection to a book about the history of the company that used to employ him. Tortured Cardboard is a bit different as it explores board games from different companies as well as some public domain games. What each game in this book has in common is they are felt to be games that will permanently be a part of our culture, and each of them are felt to have a life lesson to teach us.

Continue reading →
Posted in Reviews | 3 Comments

BGGCON Day Three (2019)

Posted on November 23, 2019 by xitoliv

Day three started off as almost all my BGGCON days do, eating a hotel salad. They were out of the ones I had been getting, so I got this instead.

With jalapeno cheddar sausage? Well, not exactly.

As I looked for a quit corner to finish yesterday’s post, my friend Nathan, who I’d never actually met, walked by, with a morning run from Meat U Anywhere. We got to chat for a bit and catch up(?), that’s a weird word to use, but we have enough common friends and interests that it feels correct. It was nice, and he shared some of his bounty with me.

Afterwards, I went to the main lobby to look for some folks and ran into Rand who requested to wear this passtally shirt he’d given me, but that was too small for me, so I ran back up to get it for him. He even has the board printed on the back so that you can play it on the shirt!

Continue reading →
Posted in Convention Report | 4 Comments

BGGCON Day Two (2019)

Posted on November 22, 2019 by xitoliv

It was day two, which featured more hotel exploring, more bbq, and the arrival of new friends, some of whom I knew were coming, and some who I hadn’t seen in years, and didn’t know when I’d see again.

Day Two of BGGCON is when the exhibitor hall opens. At the new hotel, the 2 vendor halls have merged into 1, and other vendors not previously present there (such as boardgametables.com) were also there.

They also kept a few booths for smaller publishers to exhibit for half days, and one of those was my only intended purchase, Lords of the Chords, a set collecting game about music theory and puns.

Continue reading →
Posted in Convention Report, Reviews | Leave a comment

Dale Yu: Review of Adventure Games x 2 (Monochrome Inc. and The Dungeon) – mostly spoiler free

Posted on November 22, 2019 by Dale Yu

Adventure Games: Monochrome Inc. and The Dungeon

  • Designers: Matthew Dunstan, Phil Walker-Harding
  • Publisher: Kosmos
  • Players: 1-4
  • Time: 2-3 hrs
  • Age: 16+
  • TImes played: 1 each with review copy provided by Thames and Kosmos

The Adventure Games system is new for 2019 – a different riff on the the “Escape room” genre which is continually to grow in size and variety. In this series of games, players work together to get through a story. Unlike many of the other games (including the EXIT series also by Kosmos), there is no time constraint in the Adventure Games line. Instead, players are encouraged to explore their surrounding and watch/listen to the story unfold. (THERE ARE SOME SUPER-MILD SPOILERS IN THE IMAGES. There is warning, but if you don’t want to see them at all, turn off the images in your browser, re-load this page, and read this without the pictures. I do not think seeing any of the pictures will affect your play of the game at all, but I think I should be 100% clear that there are some pics of actual game components below)

Continue reading →
Posted in Essen 2019, Reviews | 4 Comments