tummple!

• Designer: Bruce Shadorf
• Publisher: Game Factory
• Players: 2-4
• Ages: 8+
• Time: 15 minutes
• Times played: 3, with review copy provided by Game Factory

tummple! can be viewed as a reverse Jenga.  Starting from the flat rectangular base pieces, players try to build a wooden structure as high as they can.  The two starting pieces must be directly adjacent and touching along their flat edges.

On a turn, the player rolls the special d12, and then takes the action shows on the die.  The tummple pieces are long wooden rectangles, and the die may ask you to place it on the wide side, the narrow side or even on its end!  If the tummple! side comes up, you can choose to play your wooden piece on any side.  There are also two tump sides – there are the wooden half spheres which come in two varieties: white and yellow.  If you roll one of these sides, you take the corresponding tump and place it onto the structure. Continue reading →

Minute Realms

• Designer: Stefano Castelli
• Publisher: dv Giochi
• Players: 2-5
• Ages: 10+
• Time: 15-20 minutes
• Times played: 8, with review copy provided by dv Giochi

Minute Realms caught my eye in the run-up to Essen as it was billed as the “most compact city building game ever” – and as I’m a big fan of such games, this immediately caught my eye.  I was hoping to get a peek at it at GenCon 2017, but it wasn’t ready then.  So, I waited for Essen and made sure to bring a copy home to try. Continue reading →

Unlock! Mystery Adventures and Unlock! Temple of Ra

Games:
Unlock! The House on the Hill
Unlock! The Nautilus’ Traps
Unlock! The Tonipal’s Treasure
Unlock! Temple of Ra

Designer: Cyril Demaegd
Publisher: Space Cowboys
Players: 1+
Ages: 10+
Time: ~60 minutes
Played: Once each. House & Tonipal’s on BGG.CON library copies; Nautilus a friend’s purchased copy; Temple is a free print ‘n play scenario¹.

Sometimes I don’t know what I like and all that.  I’m starting this review not knowing what my feelings are on Unlock!.  Let’s go back to the first escape room I’d ever done a few years ago.²

My mind was immediately blown. I’ve subsequently done quite a few more, but still far less than many people I know.  One of those situations where your local circle of influence thinks you’re the expert, but you see yourself at the novice end of a different circle.  As such, folks are often asking for recommendations on local rooms, and I talk about which had good production values, and which had the most creative puzzles, and which felt short for the cost, and I never know what to do with that first one.  It was the most fun, but why? Continue reading →

The EXIT series from Kosmos

• Games:  EXIT: The Forgotten Island, EXIT: The Forbidden Castle, EXIT: The Polar Station
• Designers: Inka and Markus Brand
• Publisher: Kosmos
• Players: 1+
• Ages: 12+
• Time: 45-90 minutes (or maybe more)
• Times played: 1 play of each of the three games with review copies provided by Thames&Kosmos

As you’ve likely noticed, the past few years has been filled with releases in the “Escape Room” genre – games where players work together to solve whatever puzzles come in the box.  We’ve reviewed a number of different releases here on the OG blog.

• Deckscape: Test Time
• Deckscape: The Fate of London
• Escape Room In A Box: The Werewolf Experiment
• Escape Room In A Box: The Werewolf Experiment (Re-Review)
• Escape Room The Game – Prison Break, Virus, Nuclear Countdown, Temple of the Aztec
  
• Escape Room The Game Expansions – Welcome to Funland, Murder Mysteries
• Escape the Room: Secret of Dr Gravely’s Retreat
• Escape the Room: Mystery at the Stargazer’s Manor
• EXIT: The Game – The Secret Lab, The Abandoned Cabin, The Pharaoh’s Tomb
• The Game Room Part 2: Mr Boddy
• Unlock! Mystery Adventures*
• Unlock! Temple of Ra*
• Unlock! The Formula

• Reviews scheduled for publication in January 2018 (maybe even later today…)

Continue reading →