Christmas at DSG

Did you get any good games for Christmas? Or were you the game giver this year?

Over at the DSG household we gave out games and received another installment of one of our favorite group games:

Sentinels of the Multiverse
My brother plays Munchkin (original, all expansions) all the time. He's into other games as well, but I figured this would be a good segue for his non-gaming friends into other types of games. SOTM is a great cooperative, fixed deck game with a comic book flair. Players each act as a unique hero, and use their powers, abilities, and items to defeat a villain while dealing with the added effects of the environment. Villains and environments are controlled by autonomous decks, allowing the players to focus on their hero team. With a variety of hero, villain, and environment decks this game offers a lot of replay-ability. There are plenty of great expansions as well, providing for even more deck combos and new game mechanics. This is also easy for a new player to pick up, is not overly long, and accommodates up to 5 players.

Takenoko
I sent this game to my sister in Japan, because pandas. Also, it is not language reliant so she can play with her coworkers, neighbors, or students easily enough. I have not played this game, but saw it on TableTop. Players build a board out of hex tiles during the game, and must get water to these tiles in order to grow bamboo to feed the panda. During the game players will acquire objective cards which will score points if the requirements are met (such as a certain tile configuration, bamboo plants of a certain height, or having fed the panda a certain combo of bamboo).

Pirate Fluxx
Fluxx is a game we all enjoy. The rules start off simple (draw 1, play 1) but are fluid and change throughout the game as players introduce new rule cards. There is not much to explain, and all the rules are always laid out on the table for everyone to see so this is a great starter game (however, it is language heavy). Our favorite has been Star Fluxx, although Batman Fluxx is quickly on the rise to replace it. Pirate Fluxx is definitely more of a party version with a lot of interaction/participation cards, such as talking like a pirate.

Our friends also received a game we keep hearing rave reviews about. Hopefully one day soon we can play and give you a review, or maybe even a live play :)

Betrayal at House on the Hill
Touted as on of the best games of its kind, Betrayal is a great cooperative horror game for 3-6 players. During the game, players create the board by laying tiles (similar to Death Maze, if any of you are familiar with this dungeon crawler). The goals vary, but basically you need to survive the haunted house. However, one of you will succumb to the powers of evil and become a traitor. With Mike Selinker as a designer, this is a must play.


Links to check out:
Munchkin
Geek & Sundry's TableTop
Death Maze (1979)