Dale Yu: Two Real Time Co-op Games – Magic Maze (Sit Down!) and Dungeon Time (Ares)
Well, this is sort of an interesting coincidence… On the same day, I received packages from two different game companies with games similar in mechanism. Both of the games promise a short (<15 min) co-operative game experience that use a sand timer. I thought it would be nice to review them together here. If you read tomorrow’s piece, it’ll seem like déjà vu all over again…
It seems we live in perilous times and each day they keep getting perilouser. In such an age, I’ve heard it said that what we really need is something steady and reliable. Something that’s been with us for years, that has passed the test of time, and which has never let us down. If deep down, that’s what you’re looking for…sorry! All I have to offer you is the 2016 Designer of the Year award!
Most of you reading this know what to expect (including the preceding tomfoolery), but for the rest of you, let me explain. I began writing Designer of the Year (DotY) articles back in 2004 and thanks to a series of weak-willed and easily bribed editors, they’ve continued ever since. The idea behind them is simple. We have a metric buttload of “game of the year” awards, but nothing which rewards the individuals who are responsible for these wonderful creations—namely, the designers. So every year at about this time, I recognize the person who, in my opinion, had the best collection of games over the last calendar year. As much as is humanly possible, I want to keep my personal feelings out of it, so I have three reasonably objective criteria. First, how popular the games are, based on the game’s ratings (and number of ratings) on the Geek. Second, how well the games do in the annual awards. Since many of the designs came out during the latter part of last year, they won’t be eligible until this year’s awards, meaning there’s some projections and guesswork at play, but my track record for this is pretty good (I’ll talk about last year’s exception to the rule a bit later). And third, how much “buzz” the games generating. (A nice example of a game with good buzz is Friedemann Friese’s Fabled Fruit, which has generated a reasonable amount of discussion for its clever twist on legacy games.) I take all those things in consideration, combine them in some mystical way, and try to come up with a good and worthy recipient for the year. Continue reading
In Saboteur: The Duel, two players play as competing Dwarves, trying to get the most treasure out of the cavern. In the game, each player has a starting card, and then space is left for path cards to be played. Starting four card widths away from the start cards is a pyramidal arrangement of goal cards – these are the cards that hold the gold which the dwarves seek.
A deck is created from the 34 path cards and the 18 action cards. There are four dwarf counters of each color available in each round. Each player is dealt a hand of six cards. Starting with the Green Dwarf, players will alternate turns until one of the round ending conditions is met. The game is played over three rounds, and the player with the most gold at the end of those three rounds is the winner. Continue reading
Blend Off! is a real time game in which all players are frantically rolling dice to collect fruit, blending smoothies, and filling orders to earn gold stars. Makes total sense, right? To best understand the theme and mechanisms of the game, it’s important to know the backstory. Here it is as told in the rules…
Blend it Like Becca — a small-town smoothie shop sensation! It’s been a slow night. Becca the shop owner, Kevin the runner boy, and the Master Mixers – including you! – have started closing up shop. One minute before close, the door swings open. Outside, you see parked school buses and a line of people all the way to the street corner! The high school girls’ volleyball tournament has just gotten out, and everyone is craving a smoothie for the ride home. Becca cuts a deal: whoever blends the most smoothies tonight gets free smoothies for a month! The Blend Off has begun, and only one can win. There’s just one problem: Kevin. Skittish at best on normal days, he flies into a frenzy, grabbing fruit for you from the fridge at random. Take the fruit Kevin brings, complete the orders Becca calls back, and blend your way to victory!
In the game, players represent the Master Mixers who are competing to blend the most smoothies. Each Master Mixer rolls a Fruit Die representing Kevin\ and the random fruits he retrieves from the refrigerator. The deck of Blender Cards represents Becca who is continuously calling out smoothie orders to be filled. Unlike many games, there are no individual turns. Players are all playing and taking actions simultaneously until the game ends (when Becca is out of orders). The player that earned the most gold stars from blending smoothies is the winner. Continue reading
Divinity Derby is a new race/betting game coming out from Ares. I had the chance to play a nearly final prototype copy of the game this spring. I have played a number of other Rossi designs this month (Dungeon Time, Mino & Tauri, Picassimo) – and the breadth of the selection is pretty impressive… So, I was definitely looking forward to how this would play out.
In Divinity Derby, players take on the role of mythical gods – each from a different culture. They are observers/participants in a great race between six mythic creatures. The gods will try to affect the progress of the race as well as place bets on the outcome. The god who is best able to predict how the race goes will be the winner of the Divinity Derby. Continue reading
T.I.M.E Stories: Expedition Endurance (aka TS:EE) is the fourth expansion to the T.I.M.E Stories franchise. As you probably know from previous reviews, T.I.M.E Stories is a novel cooperative game where players take on the identities of people in different time streams – trying to rectify problems in the space-time continuum.
Note that this game is an expansion ONLY and you will need to have the base T.I.M.E Stories box to play the game. As with previous reviews – I will not include any spoilers here on the gameplay. Any elements that I will talk about will be stuff that has already been publicly revealed by Space Cowboys or Asmodee.
[Note: Once you click through, you’ll see some images from the game itself. There should not be any true spoilers included below the jump though – all images have been taken directly from the web/press releases from Asmodee NA that are freely available on the Web.]
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