The Card Gamer

DiceAFARI

In DiceAFARI you play as a traveler going on a photo safari. You’ll compete to collect sets of photos of the various creatures you’ll encounter.

In the box you get:

18 Safari tiles - These are the terrain that make up the playing area (board).

28 Photo tokens - You’ll collect these and try to make sets for points.

72 Travel tokens - Each player gets all the tokens in one color and places them on tiles they have claimed. They score points for you at the end of the game if they remain on the board.

4 Safari dice - Each side has a matching tile type/color. You roll these to try and match them up with the terrain tiles in order to claim tiles by placing your travel tokens.

1 Bonus die - You roll this die once and it lets you know how many tiles you need to clam on a turn to get a bonus. Your bonus is to place one extra travel token on any unoccupied tile.

14 Map cards - You choose a map each game and randomly use the safari tiles to build the playing area.

Game play:

Each turn has a few simple options.

1. Roll dice – Dice may be put aside or rerolled up to three times (Yahtzee style).

2. Claim tiles - Place your travel tokens on valid routes (as per rules).

3. Take a photo – Choose and take one photo between tiles you have claimed (with travel tokens).

The game ends when each player has had at least three turns and all the tiles have been claimed.

Thoughts:

There is definitely a last turn advantage in DiceAFARI. If there are only one or two spots left on a turn to place your travel tokens, the player taking the turn can end the game easily. When they end the game they will usually remove as many opposing travel tokens as possible from the board. Since the game is so short players rarely have the time to go for anything but one tourist set or one researcher set. So more often than I would like, the travel tokens become the deciding factor in winning or losing.

In a two player game if one player is going for the tourist set, if you don’t follow and try to get one yourself you will probably lose. It’s a bit of a drag that you have to follow the leader to stay competitive in a two player game. Maybe you won’t run into that problem because you and your gaming partner aren’t the competitive type. But if they are prepare to play games that stalemate until the final player wins by taking travel tokens off the board.

Another troubling issue is that two of the icons on the dice are red. The tiles clearly show the scrub land as being brown but for some reason they are shown as red on the dice and it’s easy to confuse them with the red desert icon. I’m not sure if this is a manufacturing problem of maybe it’s only my copy but it was really annoying while playing and needlessly confusing.

I honestly hated writing that criticism because DiceAFARI is such a light and whimsical game that I did enjoy. I am one of those gamers who plays for fun and rarely wins because I’m always trying to do something crazy and generally just causing chaos. It is in those moments that I usually come across these little quirks in games. It’s weird that I would like a game that, to me at least, is clearly flawed but I do. And I think a lot of people will probably enjoy it as well.

The game design is extremely clever and game play is as smooth as butter. Dealing out  random tiles to create the various boards each game is a plus as well. The scoring is probably what keep’s DiceAFARI from entering family game of the year contention. It still may very well win some awards for it’s devilishly simple mechanics and fun first design. If you were to ask me to give you an honest answer on if you should buy this game I would probably ask you if you could enjoy something that was fun but flawed.

Everyone I played with enjoyed DiceAFARI and so did I. It’s an easy game that anybody who has a working knowledge of Yahtzee can jump right in and have fun. There is a pretty big last turn advantage and if that type of thing bothers you DiceAFARI will probably not be something you’ll enjoy. If on the other hand you’re looking for a fun game with a family friendly theme and easy play for the kiddies DiceAFARI will probably suit you just fine.

EDIT: I seem to have left out the fact that you get all of the tiles in between your travel tokens at the end of the game.  So with some careful planning you may be able to befuddle the last player, but their ability to erase your tokens as the game ends can still be a nice advantage.

To purchase DiceAFARI:

http://www.stratusgames.com/

Subtilla

Subtilla is a two player ship battling game. You take command of a fleet of ships and one powerful sub. Your goal; destroy all enemy ships or take over their base.

In the box you get:

1 Game Board – Where the action takes place.

2 Subs – These are your big boys that can launch missiles.

10 Boats – You move these guys all over the map attacking and defending.

10 Torpedoes – You fire these guys, they also represent the power of your sub.

20 Stealth Markers – When you hide your sub (heh), you put these on the board to represent possible locations for surfacing.

2 Battle Dice – You roll these when you fight. There is one for each player color.

20 Hit Tokens – These mark the damage a boat has taken.

Game play:

Three steps make up a turn of Subtilla.

1. Move torpedoes – If you have any torpedoes on the board from a previous turn you move them first.

2. Boat actions – Each boat can take 2 actions (move, attack, ect.)

3. Sub actions – Each sub can take up to 3 actions (move, attack, ect.)

*boats and subs have multiple actions but you may only use the allowed number per turn.

* torpedoes that are fired move in a straight line and collide with anything in their path at the beginning of the turn after you fired them.

The game ends if:

You destroy all 5 of your opponents boats.

or

You occupy their base (and are still there after they have finished their turn).

Thoughts:

A game of Subtilla is not going to take very long and once the first attack happens it can get pretty hectic and very tactical. Constant pressure on your opponent by attacking and chipping at their boats is required. You must also remember to be defensive minded as well because if you abandon your base and rush the opposition with all of your units you could very well suffer a crushing tactical defeat.

You order Subtilla from The Game Crafter with generic bits and that may be a turn off for the board game aficionado. That is probably my only issue with the game. The black and yellow subs look a little out of place and the board is about as drab and static as a computer graph. Although I suspect the software used to design game art from The Game Crafter is probably more to blame than the designer. But don’t get me wrong, the boats and subs are actually pretty cool and they really add to the fantasy of playing with a fleet of ships.

Learning how to move your ships gets easier as you play a few games. And your goal then becomes making sure your ships are pointing in the right direction and keeping enough distance from your opponent so that you can take the first shot. Attacking first is usually a good thing, unless the defender rolls a six. In Subtilla when a defender rolls a six, it is considered an attack reversal and the aggressor then takes damage to a ship/sub. I like when a dice rolling game gives the defending player something to shoot for like rolling a six. It makes the game much more interesting and throws a bit of chaos into the game play.

More that anything else, Subtilla is just plain fun and the ease of play is probably the most charming aspect of this ship battler. There aren’t a ton of rules to get in the way of the dice rolling fun and that’s just the way I like it. Subtilla kind of feels like a game of checkers with a few more options and cooler pieces. And like checkers the game is really easy to learn but when two skilled opponents face off, the tactics can get pretty deep.

To purchase Subtilla:

http://www.mwgames.com/

Big Bag of Schwag

Big Bag of Schwag is a simple set collecting game. Your goal is to..like..collect the various strains of weed man. Plus, you gotta..like..not let the other dudes take your stash and stuff cuz that would be a bummer. I don’t know, Dave usually writes these review thingy’s but Dave’s not here man.

In the box you get like a whole buncha cards & stuff. In four types:

Action cards – These totally let you do stuff and then you toss’em

Event cards – These do stuff that affects either all dudes or just one. They stay in play until bogarted by another card.

Stoner cards – You can only have one in play at a time, per dude. They let you break the rules and can be replaced by a new one at anytime (whoa!).

Weed cards – They come in six different strains. You play these in front of you (your stash man).

*Dude can be replaced with Dudette as well. I’m for equal rights man.

Gameplay:

Shuffle the cards, deal out three per player. Each turn goes like this:

1. Draw (heh)

2. Play a card

3. Discard down to 5

First player to play six different strains of weed or five of the same wins.

Thoughts:

Big Bag of Schwag is made for a specific set of gamers. If you’re not the type of person that gets a kick out of the subject of the game then I wouldn’t bother with Big Bag of Schwag since there won’t be anything here to interest you. It’s more or less a Fluxx type of game with some set collection. You’ll probably get through a game of Bag of Schwag much quicker than a game of Fluxx so there is that.

There is a card in the game that lets you collect everyone’s sets and redistribute them among the players. In other words, everything you have collected can be instantly taken away at anytime from anyone, multiple times. If this type of gameplay upsets you or someone in your game group, steer clear of this game because there will be some hurt feelings…and possibly some overturned tables.

I will say the cards have a retro style I really dig. And they capture the subject matter in theme and color. It’s reminiscent of 60′s psychedelica with black lights and posters of the Doors. I have always been a fan of 60′s music and culture so take my comments about the art with a grain of salt. I also think that Black Sabbath with Ozzie is the most incredible metal band this earth has ever known.

There is a “herb” related version of Fluxx called Stoner Fluxx so Big Bag of Schwag may be a little late to the party. But If you go to college parties or have some buddies that partake in the subject of Big Bag of Schwag then you’ll probably have a good time playing this every once in a while. As I said before, this game is for a very specific audience. Personally, I had a few laughs while playing but Big Bag of Schwag is just not something I’m going to request when i sit down to play a quick game.

EDIT: I was informed by the developer that Big Bag of Schwag has been around for over 10 years.

To purchase Big Bag of Schwag:

http://icepackgames.com/

Biblios Review

Biblios is a 2-4 player auction card game from Iello. The setting is the middle ages and you play the part of an abbot looking to acquire the finest inks, holy books and manuscripts. Your goal is to use your limited amount of gold to create the most exquisite collection sure to make the other abbots jealous.

In the box you get:

87 cards – There are three types of cards in the deck:

Gold – these are your currency used to purchase the books and manuscripts

Colored cards – these are your 5 different colored cards (what you’ll be trying to collect in sets)

Church cards – these let you manipulate the point value for each of the colors.

5 six-sided dice – These are used to keep track of how much each color is worth

1 Scriptorium – These are where you place the dice.

Gameplay:

Each game has two phases:

Phase 1 Gifting – In turn order you take a set number of cards (one more than the number of players) and look at them one at a time. There are three ways to distribute cards in the gifting phase:

1. You keep 1 card for yourself

2. You put 1 card in the auction pile

3. You may place a certain number face up in the player pool (depending on number of players)

*everyone gets a card each turn

*you may place cards in any order you like

*you must place a card before you reveal another

Phase 2 Auction – When the gifting phase is over (all cards have been allocated) you move on to the auction phase. Shuffle the auction pile and in turn order reveal the top card and begin your auction.

Your trying to collect the sets of colored cards that are worth the most points. Once the auction pile is depleted you go to the end game scoring. The players who have the highest value of cards in a color will win the die of that color (and score the points the die is worth). The player that wins the die/dice with the highest score wins the game.

Thoughts:

My game group loves Biblios. It is one of the most requested games and it is always played at least twice in a row. As soon as someone finishes their first game and they see how scoring actually works they usually want to play again. One of my favorite aspects of the game is that it scales from 2-4. You will not find many auction games that play well with two (Palazzo is another off-hand) . You may see some that claim to have 2 player support on the box, but most need at least 3 to be any fun.

The gifting phase is pretty strange at first. It’s probably the most complicated mechanic in the game. You only look at one card at a time and then decide where your going to place it so it’s basically a push your luck mechanic. So on a turn you might see a decent card and pass over taking it for yourself thinking you might get something even better, and then just totally miss out when that last card is a bust and you HAVE to take it. I really wasn’t sure I liked the gifting phase at first but eventually it started to make me laugh when I was forced to give away great cards, and i loved taking great cards from people who cried in horror when they knew they were giving me a high value card for nothing.

New players usually ignore the church cards and that is a huge mistake when playing with someone who has a few games under their belt. As letting one person win all of these is a great way to lose in Biblios. Church cards are extremely important and can be the key to a victory if you can win them late in the auction, or if you can put a color you have from the gifting phase two or three points ahead of all the others early in the game.  As with most auction games you will probably have to help a new player bid correctly because as we all know, one player can ruin an auction game by over or under valuing an item.

It’s a great auction game for new gamers. The shiny artwork and unique box make for a lot of eye candy which really seems to generate curiosity when people catch sight of it. The colorful dice and the included dice board show that a lot of money was put into making Biblios. The way the cards and dice fit into the molded case is fantastic and the Scriptorium (dice board) is not necessary but it is very nice to have. The coolest part is how the whole package looks like a book. It may sound trivial but a nice and well thought out set of components can really make your game stand out. Gamers really appreciate when companies go that extra step and make a product unique. So I would have to say that Biblios is a classy production with fantastic presentation and the game is pretty fun as well. Recommended.

Troll tip:

If you really want to win against a Biblios newb just buy all the negative church cards to make brown and blue worthless and collect a good amount of the orange and red cards and like one or two green. You’ll probably win at least two and possibly three colors. Plus you’ll be a big JERK.

To purchase Biblios:

http://www.doctorfinns.com/

Rage Review

VIDEO REVIEW

Rage is a 2-8 player trick-taking game from Fundex. You may have seen this game for sale in mainstream retailers such as Target and Wal-Mart right next to the copies of Uno and Phase 10.

In the box you get:

110 cards:

-6 suits (colors) each numbered 1-15

-14 action cards

Gameplay:

The game is played over ten rounds. In each round you will play multiple tricks depending on how many cards you have. So for instance you play ten tricks in round one, nine in round two, eight in round three and so on until you get to round ten where you’ll only play one trick.

Each round has these steps:

1. Deal cards
2. Turn top card in draw pile to show trump
3. Write down how many tricks you think you will win this round (Bid)
   
4. Play cards (one trick at a time)
5. Count your score

At the end of the tenth round the player with the highest combined score wins.

*Trick: Each player plays one card in turn order. The group of cards played when everyone is finished is called a trick.

example:

For 3-players: A Trick = 3 cards played

For 5-players: A Trick = 5 cards played

*Trick-taking games generally require you to follow suit. For example if someone plays a red card, if you have one, you must play a red card.

Thoughts:

I’ve played Rage with two, three and five. It’s kind of uneventful for two until you start getting to the later rounds where you have three or less cards. And if one player has an advantage the other player may find it hard to stay motivated until the end of all ten rounds. Especially since there is no penalty for not meeting your bid. So while it technically works with two, I would really only recommend you try Rage if you’re able to get at least three to play. There are so many other great two player games out there. So if you only play with two, you can probably give Rage a pass. It certainly won’t replace Blue Moon, Hemloch or any other two 2-player favorites in my group. Another issue is that the cards don’t have any special markings for the colors so if you are colorblind you may not be able to play Rage at all which is unfortunate. I do have an older copy so hopefully when a reprint is released they’ll have that worked out.

If you have a big game group though, Rage can play up to eight and It is very easy to teach new gamers. If you can see the card colors and count to fifteen you can play Rage. Seriously, I even played a few rounds with my mother who would rather do almost anything else besides sit down and play games with me. The easy game play and game altering action cards add just enough to make it a bit more eventful than trick-taking with a standard deck of cards. While there is fun to be had with Rage it will probably never get to the table with my normal game group. And it’s not something I’m going to recommend over much better trick-taking games out there.

Eminent Domain Review

Eminent Domain is a two to four player deck-building game from Tasty Minstrel Games. Your goal is to build the most successful empire in the galaxy. You’ll need to research and survey the various planets in order to colonize or attack them.

Components:

Central Card Display – This is the center of the game and where you organize your role cards.

Role Cards – Each role card can be used to either take an action in the Action Phase, or you can acquire them into your deck during the Role Selection Phase.

Planet Cards – These are the planets you will be colonizing or conquering. Each one has a cost and is worth victory points. Some planets will give you a special bonus or let you produce a good.

Technology Cards – If you control a planet and have enough research cards you can acquire these cards which bend the rules and give you an edge. Some even give you victory points.

Fighter Tokens – You can collect these when taking on the Warfare role. Your fleet of ships lets you attack planets. To attack, you trade in the number of ships equal to the attack cost on the back of a planet.

Resource Tokens – There is one color for each of the planet types. You may produce or trade these when taking the Produce/Trade role.

Influence Tokens – These help you keep track of how many points you have for end game scoring.

Gameplay:

On a turn you:

1. Take an action – Actions are taken by using cards in hand.
2. Select a role – Take a role card from the Central Card Display and see if anyone else will follow (take same action) or dissent (draw a card).
3. Clean up – Discard any used or unwanted cards and draw back up to your hand limit.

Play continues until one or two Role Card stacks are empty (depends on number of players) or all the influence tokens are claimed.

The winner is the one with the most influence.

Thoughts:

Eminent Domain at its core is a role selection game. The roles you select let you take specific actions. It also uses a deck-building mechanic to cycle the cards/roles you chose. In this aspect it is quite unique as no other game to my knowledge has combined these two mechanics to create a single board game (as of yet). But in many ways it feels very similar to Glory to Rome. That is not a criticism, just an observation. I can’t help but feel as if the developer was inspired, at least in part, to make a similar role selection game without the wild swings that GtR is known for. (Again, not a criticism just an observation.)

If that in fact was the case, then the designer was successful. This feels like a meticulously well balanced role selection game polished to a mirror sheen. Every game I have played has been extremely tight. So tight that the last turn usually decides who wins or loses. This is the type of card game that will probably please the min/max crowd who dislikes losing games because another player “got lucky”. Although the inclusion of a deck-building mechanic may have turned them off already.

The artwork is one of my favorite aspects of Eminent Domain. The dark backgrounds and bright logo colors really make this game and it’s components quite a sight when set up and ready to play. I’ve had a few people comment on pictures I posted while I was playing Eminent Domain and the look of the game is what sparked their curiosity. Even if you’re not a science fiction fan the neat looking logos and colored planets will still impress you with their rich color.

Eminent Domain has a style of gameplay that is familiar and welcome as far as I’m concerned. But there were times I did feel that Eminent Domain was a touch dry when comparing it to other titles like Dominion, Ascension, or GtR. Your deck will only ever contain the five role cards and maybe a technology card or two so each turn will probably play out one of five (or six) ways. And most of the time players will play either Colonize, or Warfare which can be a bit repetitive. And to be honest whether you’re colonizing, or attacking you’re pretty much just paying with a resource. There is no player conflict of any kind in Eminent Domain. That may actually be one of it’s selling points but if you’re a fan of insane combos, come from behind victories or “in your face!” moves, you will not find them in ED.

With all that said I do enjoy playing Eminent Domain. One person in my game group even said it was “kinda kickback”. I think that comment is pretty spot on. It’s a kickback, deck-builder with a unique twist that can be great for the gamer that isn’t keen on direct player conflict. If the Witch card in Dominion made your best friend quit game night, Eminent Domain may help bring them back.

To purchase Eminent Domain:

http://playtmg.com/

Deadfellas Review

In DeadFellas you play one of the leaders of the Zombie Mafia. Your goal is to recruit Mooks and equip them to whack your enemies before they do the same to you.

Components:

The game is basically 110 cards separated into two categories.

Mook Deck – These are the Zombies you’ll be recruiting and equipping. Each Mook is unique and has a funny name. Even though the only difference that matters is how many bullet holes are in the top right it’s nice to see the developers go the extra mile and create original artwork for each Mook.

Mafia Deck – This deck contains your Disguises, Weapons, and Vehicles. it also contains special cards that can give you shortcuts to getting your Mooks ready or protect them from getting whacked.

Everything comes tucked in a nice little box.

Gameplay:

Each player starts with 3 face up Mooks and 3 hidden Mafia cards. These are your starting Mooks. You gotta be careful with them because you can only have cards in your hand (at the end of your turn) equal to or less than the number of Mooks you have in front of you.

On a turn:

1. Draw a Mafia card.
2. If you recruited a Mook on a previous turn you get him ready for play.
3. Play Mafia cards (as many as you like).
4. Take one of these actions:

a. Whack

b. Draw a Mafia card

c. Recruit a Mook

5.  Discard extra Mafia cards (if you have more cards than you do Mooks).

Each Mook has a number of bullet holes on the top right. This is how strong they are/how many points they are worth if you whack them. When one player has whacked enough Mooks to have a total of ten bullet holes, they win.

Thoughts:

I played plenty of Deadfellas with two and with four players (didn’t try it with three though). Most of those plays happening one right after another. Deadfellas is one of those quick games that never overstays its welcome. Once a game is finished all you have to do is reshuffle the cards and deal out another starting hand. Friends of mine who normally shy away when the gaming starts really enjoyed it and we were laughing and teasing each other whenever someone took a whack action. When I asked them if they would play again the answer was a quick “yeah, I’d play again”.

Part of the fun of having a website focused on smaller games is that once in a while you come across something like Deadfellas; a game that’s just really fun and very silly. The kid in me enjoyed Deadfellas quite a bit. Little touches like the fact that every zombie has a unique (and quite funny) name tells me that this was a labor of love. It’s a fast and easy to teach set collecting game with streamlined rules that work well with the theme. It’s funny to imagine the zombies actually collecting all the silly items and taking each other out.  Deadfellas is the only game that allows you to dress a zombie in a hula skirt, have him whack another zombie with a sock monkey, and then flee the scene on a tricycle.