Sea of Clouds
- Designer: Theo Riviere
- Publisher: IELLO
- Players: 2-4
- Ages: 10+
- Time: ~45 minutes
- Times played: 3, with review copy provided by IELLO
Players in Sea of Clouds vie to be the best “air pirate” around. What exactly is an air pirate? Of course, it’s a pirate who commands a flying ship! Duh. Not clear if we’re Dutchmen or not, but based on the names, I don’t think so… El Capitan, Lady Damballa, Madame Tching and Duc de Plessy take to the skies in search of plunder – whether they find it exploring or whether they gain it in plunder by boarding other ships.
Each player gets a board whose purpose is really to show you where to put the different sorts of cards that you will collect – Pirates, Relics, Rum and Objects. There is also a central board which is used to keep track of rounds (and importantly, in which rounds you can board other ships) as well as giving you locations for the three piles of Loot. Continue reading
Funkenschlag at Fifteen: The Story of Power Grid
Game History by Chris Wray
This year marks the fifteenth anniversary of Funkenschlag, the first forerunner of Power Grid. In a hobby that is often defined by the “cult of the new,” Power Grid (which is still called Funkenschlag in Germany) is a perennial favorite among gamers. It has long been in the BGG top 20, a rare accomplishment among older games, rising as high as #2 for several months in 2007-2008. Power Grid has nearly 100,000 logged plays on BGG, has sold tens of thousands (if not hundreds of thousands) of copies in more than a dozen languages, and has been in-print continuously for more than a decade. To honor the anniversary of this great game, I interviewed designer Friedemann Friese. What follows is our retrospective on the story and impact of Funkenschlag and Power Grid. Continue reading →
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