Review – Quarantine

Quarantine

  • 2-4 players
  • By: Mercury Games
  • Designed by: Mark Klassen
  • Review by Ted Cheatham

Running a hospital is hard work.  Not only do you have to design your complex and compete with other hospitals, but you have patients that keep showing for treatment.  Also, watch out for contagions that can really ruin your day.

In a game of quarantine, each player starts with a simple hospital lobby and four treatment rooms; one each of green, red, blue, and yellow.  Each treatment room can cure a patient of that that specific color. Continue reading

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Review – DrachenSchatten

DrachenSchatten: The Other, Other Essen Spiel ‘12 Filler
Designer: Jochen Schwinghammer
Publisher: Adlung-Spiele
Ages: 8+
Players: 2-4
Time: 15-20 mins

Reviewed by Luke Hedgren

2 Dudes at Essen Spiel ‘12

Hey dude, what’s happening?

Nothing, just trying to figure out if I can fit one more game in my suitcase. Terra Mystica looks alright, but that box is huge. It probably won’t be that great anyway. Sounds kinda dumb, actually. Play anything cool?

Yeah, so, I played this really cool filler, You should grab it..

I think I know the one you are talking about. It’s been getting some buzz.
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138 Games: From Flowerpower to Canal Grande

The five games recommended in today’s 138 Games article cover releases for 2001 through 2002.  These include two heavy hitters that actually both won the International Gamers Award for best multi-player game.  These also include one of the most loved (and least available) games in the Kosmos two-player series, a challenging dexterity game, and one of Adlung-Spiele’s pocket-sized games.

– Flowerpower –

Mark Jackson:  The decidedly cheesy cover to this Kosmos 2-player game makes you go “ewwww”… but underneath this bizarre exterior is a nifty tile-laying game that offers some interesting choices & fast-paced gameplay. This is a tremendous two-player game of building gardens that can be played “friendly” or “cutthroat”… and enjoyed both ways.

Tiles are drawn from a common bag – each tile has two flowers (out of ten types) side-by-side in domino fashion. You “plant” the tiles on your side of the board, attempting to build connected beds of 3+ flowers in order to score points when the tiles run out. Three times per game you can “plant” a tile on your opponent’s side of the board as a weed by flipping it over to the non-flower side… giving you some ability to slow or stop your opponent from completing flower beds.

There is also a “community garden” area between your two gardens, which both players can use – but you only score a flower bed if you have at least one flower of that bed in your personal garden.  Using the community space wisely is one of the keys to winning the game.

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Ristorante Italia

Designed by:  Riccardo Guerra, Marco Mutta & Giulio Guerra
Published by:  Red Glove & Elfinwerks
2-5 Players, 1 ½ hours
Reviewed by:  Greg J. Schloesser 

Ristorante Italia

My wife and I have enjoyed several vacations to Italy.  Not only do we enjoy the rich history, gorgeous scenery and intriguing culture, but we also delight in the fabulous cuisine.  While the country is well known for its amazing pasta, their delicious fare has far more variety than that famous staple.  In every town—small or large—dozens of restaurants can be found, each offering a wide assortment of delectable dishes.  I’m not sure I’ve ever had a bad meal in Italia.

Ristorante Italia by the design team of Marco Mutta, Riccardo Guerra and Giulio Guerra establishes players in the role of restaurant owners trying to create mouth-watering dishes that will lure customers and excite food critics.  To accomplish this, players must formulate a complimentary menu, procure the proper ingredients and compliment the fare with the appropriate wine.  While the food may impress the critics, it is still necessary to advertise to attract the public and the all-important celebrities.  This will insure a steady source of customers and income.  The most successful restaurateur will become the toast of the town and his restaurant will become the new hot spot.

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The Kramer Rule

When I read Tom’s article last week, I immediately disagreed with it, and responded to him with some of my disagreements.  But it wasn’t until he suggested that I write a rebuttal that I realized – there’s a reasonable and objective way to measure whether the effect he suggests exists – and whether, in fact, Wolfgang Kramer is the exception.  This eliminates the personal bias that I feel Tom brought to his article, and focuses the response on the claims Tom made.

Tom had two primary claims in his article:

  • “The Spiel des Jahres has a peculiar knack for honoring great designers for some of their worst games.”, and
  • “…it appears the award diverts designers’ attention from their more innovative and enduring creations. “

So, do these assertions hold? Continue reading

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Dale Yu: First Impressions – Catan: Explorers and Pirates

Catan: Explorers and Pirates

  • Designer: Klaus Teuber
  • Publisher: Mayfair/Kosmos
  • Players: 2-4
  • Ages: 12+
  • Time: 30min to 2hrs (depends on which modules you play)
  • Times Played: 2 (1 play with Land Ho! Module, 1 play with all 5 modules) with copy provided by Mayfair

sett1

The newest release in the Catan line of games expands the base game quite a bit providing the gamer with both some new pieces as well as some new rules.  There are multiple modules to the expansion, and each builds on the ones prior to it.  You can, however, play with any modules in or out of the expansion.  It is most definitely an expansion as you will need knowledge of the rules of the base game as well as some of the components.  (The stuff is best compatible with Mayfair 4th edition (published 2007) or later). This first impression piece will assume that you are familiar with the basic rules of Settlers of Catan.

When you first open the box, you will likely be overwhelmed with the abundance of components in the box. There are 382 wooden pieces, 16 punchboards of chits, decks of cards and a whole bunch of Ziploc bags.  The rules actually devote an entire page instructing you how to punch and sort all the components for this expansion.  There is also an extra bag to allow you to keep your stuff from the base game separate from the expansion material.  Kudos to the publishers for including legend cards for each bag to make it easy to confirm that each bag has the correct components in it.

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