Dale Yu: Review of Spookies

Posted on February 8, 2016 by Dale Yu

 

Spookies

  • Designer: Stefan Kloss
  • Publisher: HABA
  • Players: 2-5
  • Ages: 8-99
  • Time: ~30 minutes
  • Times played: 4 with review copy provided by HABA USA

Spookies is the second game that I have played from the new HABA line for families – as the box proudly proclaims, Spookies is “Game Night Approved”.  The first game in this series for me was Karuba – you can see my review for it here.  In Spookies, there are 5 brave adventurers (4 teens and a dog) that are exploring a haunted house.  As they explore the house and move upwards to the attic, they will score points for the player who controls them.

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Posted in Essen 2015, Reviews | 3 Comments

Dale Yu: Review of SteamRollers

Posted on February 3, 2016 by Dale Yu

 

SteamRollers

  • Designer: Mark Gerrits
  • Publisher: Flatlined Games
  • Players: 2-5
  • Ages: 10+
  • Time: ~45 minutes
  • Times played: 6, with review copy provided by Flatlined Games

steamrollers box

SteamRollers was a new release at Essen 2015, though in small quantities. It appears that there are plans in the work for a full print run, though this may or may not involve Kickstarter. In the game, players work to become the best railroad tycoon by building a network of track and delivering goods.

Each player is given a board and a pen. The map consists of six differently-colored regions, each with a city (hex shaped and denoted as a die number) as well as a town (a thick black dot). Continue reading →

Posted in Essen 2015, Reviews | 4 Comments

Dale Yu: First Impressions of The Last Spike

Posted on February 1, 2016 by Dale Yu

 

The Last Spike

  • Designer:   Tom Dalgliesh
  • Publisher: Columbia Games
  • Players: 2-6
  • Ages: 10+
  • Players: 45 minutes
  • Times Played: 3, with review copy provided by Columbia Games

last spike box

Columbia Games is not one of the traditional Euro-game publishers, as they are better known for their wargames and block combat games.  However, after talking to them at Origins this year, they appear to be starting a move towards starting a Eurogame line.  Their most recent release is The Last Spike, a revision of the designer’s game of the same name from 1976.

In the new version, players cooperate to build a great western railway from St. Louis to Sacramento.  The cities in the West are arrayed in a diamond shape, nine cities in total.  There are twelve possible routes that connect those cities.  Each of the routes has four spaces for track connecting them, and there is a set of 48 wooden tiles, each with a sticker on it corresponding to a particular track space on the board. Continue reading →

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Dale Yu: First Impression of Tail Feathers

Posted on January 29, 2016 by Dale Yu

 

Tail Feathers

  • Designer: Jerry Hawthorne
  • Publisher: Plaid Hat Games
  • Players: 2
  • Ages: 9+
  • Time: 60-90 minutes

tail feathers

Tail Feathers is a head to head battle game that is set in the world of Mice and Mystics.  Each player controls an army of birds and rodents trying to take control of the skies and the branches of the trees in the sky.  Each side has a home base which serves as the center of operations for their army.  The winner is the player who is able to destroy their opponent’s base first. The armies are represented by cards (of bird units, pilot units, and ground units) as well as nice plastic bird figures on special hinged stands. Continue reading →

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Dale Yu: First Impressions of Bomb Squad

Posted on January 28, 2016 by Dale Yu

 

Bomb Squad

  • Designers: Dan Keltner and David Short
  • Publisher: Tasty Minstrel Games
  • Players: 2-6
  • Ages: 13+
  • Time: 30 minutes

bomb squad box

Bomb Squad is a new entry in the suddenly very crowded market of cooperative games.  As this genre continues to grow, new games have to bring something new to the table to help them stand out from the rest.  Bomb Squad integrates two known concepts, neither actually new to cooperative games, but as far as I can tell, never used together in a game: unknown hand contents (a la Hanabi) and a realtime component.

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Dale Yu: First Impressions of 504

Posted on January 26, 2016 by Dale Yu

 

504

  • Designer: Friedemann Friese
  • Publisher: 2F / Stronghold Games
  • Players: 2-4
  • Ages: 12+
  • Time: 30-150 minutes*
  • Times played: 5 (less than 1%) – with designer’s prototype as well as with review copy provided by Stronghold Games

504 box

504 is perhaps the most innovative game* that I can remember in a long while.  But, perhaps it’s better to refer to 504 as a game system instead of a game – because as the title alludes to: 504 is actually a box which provides you rules and components to play 504 different games!  In this piece, we will review the system as a whole.

The design of the system is based on nine different modules – representing some of the more common mechanisms in gaming: Continue reading →

Posted in Essen 2015, First Impressions | 3 Comments