Soccer City

• Designers: Lisandro Nembrini and Gonzalo Rodrigo
• Publisher: Elege Iberica
• Players: 2
• Ages: 12+
• Time: 45-90 minutes

I am a huge fan of soccer – I’ve been playing it all my life, and I’ve spent many a day watching my kids play the beautiful game as well.  This summer is turning into a fan’s paradise with the Copa America and the European Championships going on at the same time, and with the Olympics coming up later this summer…  As an avid fan, I’ve always been on the lookout for the “perfect” soccer game that captures the beauty and grace of the sport.  There seem to be two main types of games: dexterity and tactical.  Soccer City falls into the tactical class.

The pitch (or field) is represented by a hex grid on a board.   Each player places 6 field players and a goalkeeper on his side of the pitch to start.  There are different types of field players (defender, defensive midfielders, attacking midfielders and strikers), and each coach can choose the initial shape (aka player formation) of their side.

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Candy Chaser

• Designer: Masao Suganuma
• Publisher: IELLO
• Players: 2-4
• Ages: 8+
• Time: 10 minutes
• Times played: 5, with review copy provided by IELLO USA

Candy Chaser is a new release that joins the current trend of finding previously unknown games from the Far East and bringing them to the English gaming public. Candy Chaser is a game that was originally produced in 2013 by Grounding, and thus some of my Japanese friends were aware of it – I did not know anything about it until I met with the head of IELLO at Essen 2015.

Candy Chaser is a nice bluffing mini-game where players take on the role of dastardly and cut-throat candy smugglers. Each player is responsible for the supply of a particular type of candy, and the goal is to try to be the player whose candy sells for the most in the seedy candy black market of your little town. Continue reading →

Space Planets

• Designer: Benjamin Schwer
• Players: 2-4
• Ages: 6-99
• Time: ~15 minutes
• Times played: 4, with review copy provided by HABA USA
• http://www.habausa.com/space-planets.html

Space Planets is quick dice rolling space exploration game.  Each player starts the game with a spaceship (card) and four fuel crystals placed on that card.  The deck of 40 cards is shuffled and a 3×3 grid is laid out on the table.  Be sure to leave about a die’s width between the cards.

On your turn, the die acts as your interstellar probe ship.  You take the die and roll it towards the 3×3 grid (therefore, you must start your roll from outside the grid).  If you do not manage to land on a planet card, you take a fuel crystal from the supply and your turn ends. Continue reading →

Tambuzi

• Designer: Guenter Burkhardt
• Publisher: HABA
• Players: 2-4
• Ages: 6-99
• Time: ~10 minutes
• Times played: 3, with review copy provided by HABA USA
• http://www.habausa.com/tambuzi.html

HABA is well known for their children’s games – always with colorful and engaging art, thick easy manipulated wood pieces, and rules that simple enough for a child to play but yet interesting enough for a parent to enjoy as well.  Tambuzi is a slight move away from the HABA standard as it involves a battery powered bongo buzzer in this delightful family game.

In the game, players are one of four different animal species that are trying to do a rain dance to help stave off the dry season in the savannah.  However, they are more successful than they want to be – and a thunderstorm is brewing.  The animals quickly race for the huts hoping not to be left outside when the storm arrives because the animal left out in the elements will be struck by lightning! Continue reading →