Congratulations to the winners of the 2018 International Gamers Awards!

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Congratulations to the winners of the 2018 International Gamers Awards, Rajas of the Ganges and Codenames Duet!  The jury announced their decision this morning.

In the multi-player category, the winner was Rajas of the Ganges, designed by Inka & Markus Brand and published by Huch!.

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In the 2-player category, the winner was Codenames Duet, designed by Vlaada Chvatil & Scot Eaton and published by Czech Games Edition.

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The IGA is awarded annually by a jury of prominent gamers from around the world, with a stated goal “to recognize outstanding games and designers, as well as the companies that publish them.”  Over the years the IGA has grown to be one of the major prizes in gaming, alongside Germany’s Spiel des Jahres (“Game of the Year”) and the Deutscher Spiele Preis (the “German Game Prize”).  The IGA’s nomination and voting procedures are outlined on the jury’s website (http://www.internationalgamersawards.net/).

The jury had announced their nominees back in August.

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Chris Wray: What I Enjoyed Playing in September 2018

This is the September entry for my series where I post five games I enjoyed playing in the past month that I didn’t have time to do full reviews of.  As always, I limit it to five titles, of which there’s a combination of old and new games.

In case you’re interested, I also have a Geeklist going called One Sentence Reviews of Gen Con Games.  This month, I’ve also published reviews of Ultimate Werewolf Legacy and Sprawlopolis, both of which I loved.  Those were also my two most-played games of September 2018. Continue reading

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Dale Yu: Review of Layers

 

Layers

  • Designers: Yohan Goh and Dave Choi
  • Publisher: Happy Baobab
  • Players: 1-4
  • Age: 8+
  • Time: 20-30 minutes
  • Times played: 3, with review copy provided by Happy Baobab

Layers is a classical speed game – by which I mean that there is a single type of puzzle in the game, and the player who is the fastest at solving that puzzle will win the round and likely the game.  The puzzle itself is deceptively simple. Each player gets a matching set of 5 plastic cards. Each of these cards has some areas which are cutout, and there are two related though different coloring schemes on each side. Continue reading

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Dale Yu: First Impression of Spring Rally

Spring Rally

  • Designer: H. J. Kook
  • Publisher: Mandoo Games
  • Players: 3-5
  • Age: 8+
  • Time: 20-30 minutes

In Spring Rally, players race their spring driven cars around the track – the board is double sided and this allows you to race on two different circuits. Each player gets a contraption made up of two discs that represents the spring in your race car.   There is a deck of cards, made up of three suits from 1-15, which can be modified for player count.  The appointed cards are shuffled and each player is dealt a hand of five cards for the first round.  The later rounds are longer with 7 cards being dealt in the second round and 9 cards being dealt in the third and final round.  The game is won by the first player to complete two circuits of the track. Continue reading

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Dale Yu: First Impressions of Wangdo

Wangdo

  • Designers: Frank Crittin, Gregoire Largey, Sebastian Pauchon
  • Publisher: Mandoo Games
  • Players: 2-4
  • Ages: 8+
  • Time: 30 minutes

In Wangdo, players are each leaders of a bear clan, and they are canvassing the towns of Northeast Asia to gather enough strength to be the next leader.  Though it doesn’t look like it, the bears are mathematical geniuses and they are helping prove the Four Color Theorem.

Continue reading

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Root

Root
Designer: Cole Wehrle
Artist: Kyle Ferrin
Publisher: Leder Games
Players: 2-4
Ages: 10+
Time: 60-90 minutes
Times Played: 8 times with purchased copy, 10 different opponents

As befits their style, Leder Games’ Root is known for its asymmetrical gameplay and Kyle’s infectiously delightful artwork. Each player takes control of a different animal faction, and while each faction’s victory condition (initially) is to reach 30 points, substitute conditions will be available.  Each faction can earn points through some common methods (crafting items or the results of some battles) but will also have faction-specific ways to earn points.

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The Marquise (cats/orange), are looking to expand their building empire, with sawmills that generate the wood needed to erect additional buildings, and points will be earned for each building built – with an increasing number of points awarded for specializing in one type of building.

The Eyrie (birds/blue) will earn points at the end of each turn relative to how many of their roosts are presently on the board – points from buildings as income, rather than a one-time award.

The Woodland Alliance (miscellaneous forest animals/green) earn points by spreading ‘sympathy’ – a round cardboard token.  While the cat and bird buildings are square and only a limited number of building slots are available in each clearing, the placement of sympathy tokens can not be limited by the other players’ activities.

The Vagabond (raccoon/gray) earns points by improving its relation with the other factions, attacking their enemies, exploring the ruins of previous forest cultures, and going on quests.

From the expansion, the Riverfolk Company (otters/cyan) will earn points from building trading posts, another round cardboard token, which allow other factions to trade more with the otters (more on that later), and from unused ‘funds’/actions.

The Lizard Cult (lizards/chartreuse), also from the expansion, earn points from square cardboard ‘gardens’, but not upon building or as income.  Rather, earning points is an action for which they will spend a card. Continue reading

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