Dale Yu: Review of America

Posted on July 4, 2016 by Dale Yu

 

America

  • Designers: Ted Alspach, Friedemann Friese
  • Publisher: Bezier Games
  • Players: 2-6
  • Ages: 13+
  • Time: ~45 minutes
  • Times played: 4, with review copy provided by Bezier Games

Given that today is Independence Day in the USA, it seems fitting to review a game titled “America”…

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America is the new release from Bezier Games, the newest release in the Fauna family of games.  I have been a big fan of Fauna – well, maybe not since the very beginning… but definitely from August 2009 onwards!  The reason for this is that I first learned about Fauna when I started doing research about the 2009 Spiel des Jahres finalists.  I played a role in the development of Dominion, the eventual winner of the 2009 SdJ, and I must say that I was nervous of our chances leading up to the award because the other two games, Fauna and Pandemic, were very good in their own right.

Fauna is a trivia game that focused on animal trivia, but the unique twist in the game was that you didn’t have to know the exact answer… you could score points for simply being close!  The central idea was later used in the followup game, Terra – a game which used geographical trivia questions instead.  The third version of the game, America, focuses on…. you guessed it, American trivia. Continue reading →

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Dale Yu: Review of Ghost Fightin’ Treasure Hunters

Posted on July 1, 2016 by Dale Yu

 

Ghost Fightin’ Treasure Hunters

  • Designer: Brian Yu
  • Publisher: Mattel
  • Players: 2-4
  • Ages: 8+
  • Time: ~30 minutes

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Times played: at least 20, most with the original German version (Geister, Geister, Schatzsuchemeister) but a couple with a preview copy of the American version provided by Mattel USA

Disclaimer – Brian Yu is my brother, and I’m somewhat biased towards him.  However, this familial bias should be balanced out by the fact that I’m still a bit sore that his game won the Kinderspiel des Jahres in 2014 over Flizz&Miez, a game which I helped design myself.

Ghost Fightin’ Treasure Hunters (GFTH) is a great game that is finally making its way to the English-speaking world.  It has been around since 2013, and was released by Mattel Germany to critical acclaim at that year’s SPIEL fair.  It was a well deserved Kinderspiel des Jahres winner in 2014, and while there was a fair amount in interest in bringing it over to the US, it did not get signed by Mattel USA until just this year, nearly three years after its initial release in Europe. Continue reading →

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July is for Re-dos, Repeats, Rethemes, Re-releases, Re-prints and more!

Posted on July 1, 2016 by Dale Yu

As we move into the hot summer months, I took a look at my stack of review games and noticed that there are a lot of second comings out right now – whether that be re-releases, re-themes, sequels, re-prints, etc.

So, for the month, we’re going to try to take a closer look at a lot of these re-games.  I doubt that every review this week will be a re-something, but a good number will be!

Later today, we’ll start off the month with the American re-lease of the 2014 Kinderspiel des Jahres, once known as Geister, Geister, Schatzschumeister – now known as Ghost Fightin’ Treasure Hunters!  Lots more to come in July…

 

 

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Mary Dimercurio Prasad: Review of Animals on Board

Posted on June 30, 2016 by Mary Prasad

Animals on Board

  • Animals-On-Board-Stronghold-Games-box-693x1024Publisher: Stronghold Games/Eggertspiele
  • Designers: Ralph Zur Linde, Wolfgang Sentker
  • Players: 2-4
  • Ages: 8+
  • Playing Time: 10-30min
  • MSRP $29.95

 

  • Reviewed by: Mary Dimercurio Prasad
  • Game Played: Review Copy
  • Number of Plays: 4+

 

Introduction

Each player has his own ark and wants to take as many animals on board as he can. Unfortunately, some guy called Noah claims all animal pairs for himself and has obtained an anti-pairing law. Therefore, any animal that a player has exactly twice on board at the end of the game must be discarded. However, you can circumvent the law if you manage to gather three, four, or even five animals of a species. These are considered a herd and are not only permitted, but are even more valuable. It could be so easy if it wasn’t for one small issue: to form a herd, there usually is no way around getting a pair first… When the arks depart, will you win the game by having the most valuable single animals and herds on board? (From the rulebook.) Continue reading →

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Dale Yu: Review of Smugglers

Posted on June 28, 2016 by Dale Yu

 

Smugglers

  • Designers: Klaus and Benjamin Teuber
  • Publisher: KOSMOS
  • Players: 2-4
  • Ages: 8+
  • Time: ~30 minutes
  • Times played: 4, with review copy provided by Thames&Kosmos

Smugglers 3DBox

Smugglers is the second game from the familial design pair of Klaus and Benjamin Teuber.  I very much liked their first game, Tumult Royale, and the father/son team has come up with a completely different sort of game for their followup.  In Smugglers, players are vying to be the newest member of “Potato Charley’s infamous smuggling gang” by competing in a smuggling contest.

Each player is given a hunk of “intelligent modeling putty” – which is odorless, non-greasy, and as the rules warn, extremely difficult to get out of textiles (i.e. your clothing).  Each player starts with a scoring chit – there are two different types: sweet (red) and sour (yellow) – and these are alternately given to the players.  Each player also gets three plastic gems – one red sweet, one yellow sour, and one purple stink bomb. Continue reading →

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Imhotep (Game Review by Chris Wray)

Posted on June 27, 2016 by Chris Wray
  • Designer: Phil Walker-Harding
  • Publisher:  KOSMOS
  • Players:  2 – 4
  • Ages:  10 and Up
  • Time:  40 Minutes
  • Times Played:  > 3

Imhotep 3DBox

In Imhotep, players are master builders in Ancient Egypt, using ships to transport stone blocks to various building sites. Imhotep has been out in Germany for a couple of months, but it didn’t generate much buzz on this side of the pond until it was nominated for the Spiel des Jahres. Though Kosmos originally planned to release Imhotep later this summer, they are now planning a release soon in the United States.

Continue reading →

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