Previews & Reviews
Pixel Glory (Zafty Games)
This was a quick little drafting game with it's own little spin. You do all the drafting at the start of the game, which I thought was pretty cool as it cuts down on AP later on. Basically you get a preview of the monsters you will be facing and take rounds choosing spells using an auction mechanic. Most spells also include lesser spell cards. There are 3 elements and a hierarchy amongst them, which makes some spells (even lesser) advantageous against specific monsters. As the draft moves on, you get more peeks at the monsters you are about to face.
Once the drafting phase is complete, it's time to battle. This also has a unique spin as you work together to bring down the monster HP, but only the player making the final blow gets points for the kill. So it changes the typical strategy you may use, as you try to recall which spells and elements your opponents have and gamble on whether you can get the kill or give it to someone else. There is, however, a concession of those who manage a monster but no not kill it. Players collect combo points on rounds where they do not kill, and once they have enough they can be used for an insta-kill.
This game plays super quick! It's light and easy to learn, and at only 4 players will be a great filler when you only have a small window or are waiting for the rest of your group to show up. I definitely had a lot of fun, and this game was a great way to wind down Day 1 at GenCon 50.
Dice Forge (Asmodee)
This was a fun, quick game. I really enjoyed the mechanic of physically changing the die faces. It definitely added a level of depth to the game. Beyond that, it was a pretty simple resource management game. And of course, being true to it's name, there was a ton of dice rolling. This is a quick, light game and would be a great introduction for non-gamers. It took us about 60 minutes to learn & play. Clean-up is a bit of work though, as you will need to reset the dice (Or incorporate this into set-up). There is a really cool tray that holds all the die faces for both storage (w/ sleeve) and in-game.
The game is pretty simple in it's set-up. Each turn is split into a roll phase and a buy phase. A neat spin Dice Forge uses is that everyone gets to roll during the roll phase and accumulate the resources shown on their dice. This can be both good and bad, as it does guarantee you will have a good amount of resources to spend on your turn, but you may also max out a resource and miss the benefits of subsequent rolls. The buy phase allows the active player only to purchase die faces or cards, but no both. Players can buy as many die faces as their resources allow, provided none are in the same category. However, only 1 card can be bought (allow there is a option to essentially purchase a new buy phase as well). Cards grant instant/reusable abilities and victory points.
Ex Libris (Renegade)
I wanted to play this earlier in the weekend, but had to duck out of BGG's Hot Games Room just as my buddies were about to start. Luckily, I found it in the Exhibition Hall (which was probably better, as Renegade reps were available to teach us how to play). First of all, this game is beautiful! and pretty witty if you take the time to read the book titles.
Ex Libris is a pretty light & simple worker placement game. Each round your available actions change, with a new permanent action added and the others swapping out each time. This keeps things interesting as your strategy is constantly changing. The goal is to collect book s and build the best library. You want to focus on keeping the books alphabetical, keeping a diverse selection of book types, and maintaining a stable shelf. Bonus points are added for shelving the chosen book type of the land as well as books withing your focus, while points are lost for shelving banned books. All 3 of these will change from game to game.
We only played the basic version, but there are additional/advanced features as well. I absolutely love this game and was so sad to hear it was sold out. Renegade was only selling pre-release copies, so now I have to wait a month or so to get it in my hands for good. My friend fell in love with this game as well, and is declaring it her favorite game ever! Really high praise there, and we can't wait to get more plays in soon.
Spy (Perplext)
A rather in-depth card game that seems to get more difficult as the player count increases. Your goal is to be the last spy standing. Each player gets a hand of cards: 2 bombs, 2 safes, 2 secrets. Each card type has the numbers 1 & 2. Your hand, or "base," is arranged in any order you like and kept secret from your opponents. You then move your spy (another card) throughout your hand based on the number of the card he is facing. This gives your opponents a hint at your cards. They can "spy" on your card types (you tell them the type). Players are knocked out by having their cards discovered in order, or by finding a bomb and exploding.
The spy is the only card that moves in your hand, and discovered cards are flipped around so your opponent can see them. While this makes things easier over time, the moving spy can make it more difficult than you would think to keep track of where your opponent's cards are. We played a 3-player version and definitely had a hard time keeping track of 2 different hands. This is a super quick game, and since the cards always stay in your hands it would be great for travel.
Bus (Perplext)
A fairly quick strategy game for 2-3 players. You start by setting up your road in any manner you choose. Players move their buses along the road, following normal rules of the road guidelines, to pick up and drop off riders. Each rider card has 2 different riders, a speed limit (the number of spaces you can move), and a point amount. Your goal is to get your riders to their designated destinations as quickly as possible. Once 1 player has completed 5 rider cards, the game ends and you tally points.
We played the 3 player version and greatly enjoyed it. We started with the example road set-up, but I anticipate a lot of replayability and varying difficulty levels based on the unique road arrangement you choose (for example, we though doing 1 large loop would make things very difficult). Each bus has an arrow in it so you know which direction you have to keep moving in (buses cannot move backwards or do U-turns). There is quite a bit of strategy and weighing risks vs gains in this little game. There is also a little twist, which none of us took advantage of, that allows each player a once per game opportunity to swap the location of 2 roads. This would definitely keep players on their toes.
Keep Calm & Game On (Breaking Games)
Another spin on the Apples to Apples/CAH game style. I liked the concept, but wasn't sold on the content. Keep Calm is stylized after the posters and artwork we see all over the internet. The game itself is situational versus pick the best noun/answer the question/fill in the blank, which I found quite refreshing. Basically the judge chooses a red situation card, such as "What would you do if life gives you lemons?" Players then submit their best blue response card, my personal favorites from the demo being "Keep calm and shake your jazz hands," and "Keep calm and do anything for love, but not that."
Up front, this does just feel like another skin of a popular game mechanic. What Keep Calm does offer to make it stand out, aside of a situational spin, is panic cards. These are mixed in with the blue response cards, and allow you to play them at different points in time during the game. For example, you can play some panic cards during judging to add or eliminate submissions. I thought this was a neat twist, although we did not come across any during our demo. The judge also changes based on who the winner is, instead of going around the circle, which helps keep the scores a little more even and balanced.
My main problem was the content. Games like this almost always degrade, and let's be honest, we expect them to. Apples to Apples was an innocent family game, but in the right hands it gets dark and dirty. CAH obviously, and intentionally, took this and ran with it. I don't dislike CAH for that though, because you know what you are getting into with that game (and I am a terrible person). Keep Calm does try to mitigate this by removing racial, dark, and questionable content. However, it is very heavy on the sexual innuendo and definitely intended for adults only. I personally think this is unnecessary and too prevalent in the game. I always enjoyed subtly, so find the overt sexual cards a bit crass. Then again, despite my enjoyment of CAH, I was always a fan of Apples to Apples as it catered to the group you were with.
Buy the Rights (Literally Wizards)
This party game for 3-10 players really deserves your attention. We almost walked by, but the way the spokes girl approached me I couldn't say no. We played 2 rounds, and I am so glad we did! This is a very fun party game, but at a glance you may not think it's anything special.
In a somewhat familiar mechanic, there is 1 judge per round and all the other players submit cards to win. But from there we depart from familiarity. There are 4 decks of cards (100 each): genre, descriptor, hero, plot. Each player will have 2 of each card type in their hand, and needs to string together 1 of each card type to create a movie. It is really easy to get into this and completely embellish your movie while you pitch it to the judge (or producer). I honestly did not think I would get sucked into the world of my movie while pitching it, but it just naturally flows when you start reading off your cards. From there, there judge has $20 million to spend on the movies he likes best (in increments of $5, $10, or $20 million). This mean there is not necessarily 1 winner per round. After however many rounds you choose, the winner is determined by who has the most money.
I really like this game because it is family/kid-friendly, and great for non-gamers. I also really like this game because it is less likely to degrade like some of the others (this may have been more of a plus because we played it after Keep Calm and Keep Gaming). Buy the Rights also offers a neat twist to the party game, and accommodating up to 10 players (possibly more to be honest, if you really wanted to deal with a group that large) definitely means it can be played in many situations. This also works well with small groups, as we demoed in a group of 4 and has a blast.
Our Haul
I intentionally went into GenCon this year rather blind, as I have 2 international trips coming up within the next 8 months and didn't want to spend too much. However, I was focused on finding good games for plane and train travel.
- Pack-o-Games 1 (Perplext)
- Bus, Fly, Gem, Hue, Lie, Shh, Taj, TKO
- Pack-o-Game 2 (Perplext)
- Boo, Box, Dig, Gym, Orc, Rum, Sow, Spy
- BONUS: Nut for buying both packs
Wish List
There were a few titles I really wanted to get my hands on, but they were sold out. I can guarantee you I went home and immediately bought/pre-ordered these.
- Ex Libris (Renegade)
This pre-release game was amazing, but unfortunately by the time I got to demo it they were sold out of copies. If you were one of the lucky ones to get your hands on this, please let us know! None of our friends were able to get their hands on this one. - 5-Minute Dungeon
I did not get to demo this, but a bunch of my friends did. It was described to me as a co-op dungeon card game that was like a combo of Uno and Pit. It's a fast-paced card game (five minutes, as the name suggests), that is also family friendly. A great little filler and a fin way to bring your young ones in to the D&D or dungeon gaming culture.
Friends of DSG
My friends also made some different purchases that you may be interested in as well (and in fact, I cannot wait to try out some of these!) These games will also be worth a look, and I recommend you check them out.
- Dragonfire (Wizards of the Coast)
- Down Force (Restoration Games)
- Buy the Rights (Literally Wuzards)
- Pixel Glory (Zafty Games)
- Twilight Imperium 4 (Fantasy Flight)
- Bob Ross: Art of Chill (Big G Creative)
- Code Names Duet (Czech Games Edition)
- Legend of the Five Rings (Fantasy Flight)
- Photosythesis (Blue Orange Games)
- Pandemic Legacy Season 2 (Z-Man Games)
- Cthulhu Wars (Peterson Games)
- Gonuts for Donuts (Gamewright)
- Wizards Wanted (Mattel)
- Unearth (Brotherwise)
- Plus a bunch of Guild Ball & Bushido minis...
Our DM also got these cool transparent overlays for spell effects by Arcknight. We've been harassing him to run a tabletop campaign again (he's got 2 or 3 online right now), and I think this is a good sign ~_n
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