Wyvern: The Card Game

Sometimes you can find rewarding and special things by looking in strange corners and asking questions like 'what's in the box?'. There has been a mystery box behind the counter at my local games store for ages, I wasn't sure if it held anything for sale because it was all closed up, but on the off-chance I asked if it contained any promo cards for board games. There were no promo cards inside but there was a collection of unopened decks and booster packs of the game Wyvern, an out of print two player card game that came out in 1994. This was one of the first collectable card games to pop up after the success of Magic; The Gathering, yet for some reason Wyvern has not stood the test of time as strongly as Magic. Magic cards are dominating the counters and Wyvern is shut up in a box, so it felt good releasing those decks from the box...and into my bag for a bargain price!

Wyvern is officially classified as a fantasy collectable trading card game, but I see elements of deck building and bluffing. You are, in essence, building a deck to play with and trying to trick your opponent into unearthing the hidden terrain whilst throwing gold at your dragons to tempt them into doing your bidding. The dragons represented on the cards are based on dragons from mythology, and the cards have a real 90s fantasy aesthetic pleasure.

I have been playing lots of friendly tournaments of this game. My dragons have been wiped out a lot, but they have held out for a long time and I've managed to get a couple of wins in. Maybe I would do better if I weren't so tight with my gold. It is a solid game, with lots of unexpected turns, you get really involved with your opponent - watching each other like hawks! Here is a little guide to the game play:

Players have 25 gold pieces and two decks of:

15 plus Dragon Lair draw pile

35 plus Action/Treasure cards

* terrain cards belong in the dragon lair

To set up the game players shuffle the dragon lair pile and the treasure horde pile separately. Both players take the top six dragon cards from their lair pile and look at them secretly, then arrange them face down to create the battlefield, putting them in two rows of three cards. Front row dragons can attack your opponent's first row, only flying dragons can fight over one row, and super flyers can attack over two rows - so bear that in mind when selecting where your dragons (and secret terrain) will go. Both players also draw a hand of seven cards from the treasure horde draw pile.

Terrain can be mischievously placed in the rows to deter your opponent, as terrain cards have negative effects for the other player if they reveal it, hurrah! Another bonus is that after your terrain card has been revealed and used, it can be replaced with a fresh card from your dragon lair. The new card is placed face down in your battlefield. However, if the terrain is revealed using a Scout dragon then the tables are turned and the terrain card is discarded with no effect.

There are seven phases of the game, it is turn-based but some phases allow both players to participate:

Phase One

Draw a card from the treasure horde pile.

Phase Two

Place a treasure card with special effects by one of your battlefield rows. If it costs gold then pay the price from your precious gold pile, depositing the spent gold into a collective 'gold mine' pile.

Phase Three

You may change positions of any two cards in the battlefield, including treasure. You can always peek at your own face down cards if you need to remind yourself what is hiding there, I do all the time!

Phase Four

Action! No matter whose turn it is, both players may play as many action cards as they wish starting with the player whose turn it is. Action cards are played one at a time. It is hard to reign in the greed here, as it is so tempting to bombard the round with action cards that pump up your dragons or weaken your opponent in advance but remember you only draw one card per turn, you don't draw back up to seven after your go. There are cards in the deck that allow you to draw more, but it is a gamble.    

Dragon Slayer Action cards may also be used during this phase, if it is your turn. These are handy and can be used to block your opponent from using certain dragons.

Phase Five

Battle it out or swap a dragon! You can either attack one of your opponent's dragons by paying one of your dragons to swoop in, or you can swap one of your dragons/terrain for a fresh one from your lair. When you awake a face down dragon you pay gold equal to its strength, plus any extra if the card shows the gold coin symbol. Once the dragon is face up, you don't need to pay for it again to fight (unless someone turns him over). Indicate to your opponent which one of their dragons you want to fight. If it is face down then they must pay the price to reveal it. Whoever has the highest strength, including any modifiers from treasure cards in play, is winning here. Battle Action cards may be played in this phase to help out, some cards add strength to your dragon or decrease your opponent's strength.

Phase Six

After the battle or terrain exposure is resolved, there is a second action phase.

Phase Seven

The player discards back down to seven cards, if they had more.

The game ends when one player has no dragon or terrain cards in their battlefield. The winner scores 25 points plus one point for every remaining dragon and terrain on the battlefield and one point per remaining gold pieces. The loser scores half of their leftover gold.

Wyvern is a great two player game, that gets even more in-depth when you start trading, adding extra cards and swapping out old ones. It is fun trying out the different set-ups and the deck content. As the decks don't seem to have a limit in cards, you can get pretty epic with this one. I think I do prefer it to Magic. I know there is more variation in themes in Magic (I have a vampire deck, woohoo!), and lots more scope for future deck building as the game is still going strong, but there is something satisfying about playing a retired dragon card game. Maybe I like feeling archaic.

     

Right now I am still playing around with the combos. Terrain cards are great traps unless a scout reveals them, but it's all part of the risky dragon business! Gold is my Achilles heel, The stronger the dragons are, the more expensive they are to field in battle, and I'm still trying to find a good balance between dragon strength and gold expenditure. I either rinse out my gold too early or hold onto it so it is too late to use it effectively. I will be playing this a lot more to find my groove!

If you like the sound of this game then ask your local shop keeper if they have any decks knocking about from the 90s :)

Marisa x

Panic Lab; Living up to it's name!

Sometimes I like to play lovely calm games like Tokaido and chill out, but sometimes I like to be toppled over and play games that get me all panicky and excited. Panic Lab definitely falls into the latter category. At the laboratory there has been an incident and all the amoebas have escaped, you must find them quickly before the other scientists (players). To do this, you shuffle the 25 square tiles and arrange them into a big circle. A randomly selected player rolls the four dice to determine which amoeba you must find first, then everyone plays simultaneously and the madness begins!

The dice represent the Shape of the amoeba, the Pattern of the amoeba, the Colour of the amoeba and the Labs. The Lab die shows which lab the amoeba escaped from and which direction it went, players start from there and have to identify the correct amoeba by touching it. If the correct one is found then that player gets a token. The winner is the first player to collect five tokens.

There are a few twists to the game, of course. These slippery little suckers can escape through air vents! If you come across a vent whilst tracking an amoeba then you must skip all squares until you reach the next vent. If you reach the third vent, you must ignore all tiles until you return to the first vent and then continue the search. That has not happened to us yet, they usually get caught after one vent or get mutated.

What is that, you ask? Mutated? Yes, that is exactly what you wanted to hear. What on earth are these scientists playing at, leaving hazardous mutation rooms open for anyone to waltz in? Amoebas can change colour, shape or pattern by passing through these squares. The delicate little amoebas will not survive four mutation rooms in a row, though, if that happens then they vanish. That does not mean the round is over, as the player who touches the last mutation room the little dude slithered through will win the token. This is when the game really kicks off and lives up to it's name of Panic, ensuing a frenzied hunt for the constantly changing amoebas against the greedy eyes of your opponents.     

For those of you with younger children or for the faint-hearted, there is the option of simplifying the game by removing the air vents and mutation rooms, making the game less frenetic. 

The amoebas are cute and colourful, even if they do put years on me. The components all fit neatly in an attractive little tin, so we tend to take it on holiday and end up playing it on the floor of the hotel room or a coffee table. Panic Lab is for 2 - 10 players, age 8+ and the gameplay can last for 10 -30 minutes depending on how many players you have. The set-up time is is short, and it is not a complicated game to learn. Throw in the bonus that it is an inexpensive game, and enjoyable too. A game of quick-thinking, good reflexes and very alert eyes!

Thanks for reading!

Marisa xx

      

Eternal Glory

I must apologise for not posting anything in a while. I am in the process of moving house for the fourth time this year, so things are quite hectic right now! Hopefully I shall be properly back in the swing of things next week, but for now I could not resist telling you all about a Kickstarter game that has recently launched - and I have been one of the lucky folks play testing it!

Eternal Glory is a fighting card game with a take that element. You play as warriors competing on the battlefield, trying to be the first one to reach one hundred kills with your trusty axe. But is not as easy as chopping, cleaving and punching your way to victory, your opponents will try to stop you in various cunning ways. They may break your weapon, mortally wound you or lay meddlesome enemies upon you!

This is a really fun game, it involves a deep strategy in card management and timing as well as an element of luck in the card draw. Every game I have played has been so close towards the end, it is really exciting and unpredictable who will triumph. 

I plan to do a more thorough write-up of the game and an interview with the creator, after moving house and putting all the board games neatly into new bookcases! In the meantime, you can view the Kickstarter here.

Thanks for reading!

Marisa xx       

Ninja Bowling by Odd Hackwelder

I always get excited when a package arrives at the door, it is going to be something I kickstarted or something shiny from Amazon. Yesterday it was Ninja Bowling by Hacko Games, and I dived straight in for some good old fashioned bowling fun - with a twist. Ninja Bowling is a dexterity card game, picture traditional bowling pins being decimated by ninja throwing stars and you have got the idea. It is easier than actual bowling for me, and there is no need to wear the musky rental shoes. 

The game was designed and published by Odd Hackwelder, the man who created Monster 55 and M80, an assortment of fun and light card games that are simple to learn but also challenging (in a good way!) if you are a little clumsy and slow to react like me. 

To begin, players set up six pins in a triangle formation, almost like they would be set up in a alley. Players then take it in turns to throw three stars at their opponents pins. When you throw the stars, your hand can not go past the front of your own pins. If a star lands on a pin, or multiple pins, then those pins are swept to the side and removed. After one round, count up the pins that were knocked out and whoever got the most gets a Spare card. If your stars managed to touch all of the pins then you get a Strike card. In the two player game, if a player gets a Spare and then wins the next round too then their Spare becomes a Strike! The winner is the player who gets three Strikes. 

The two versions I ordered were the two player version and the mini multi player version. The two player version is a normal playing card size and the mini version is for two - six players. The mini version is very similar to the normal one, with the exceptions that you are collecting your opponent's cards when you achieve a Spare or a Strike and you may target any player during your turn. 

The game is simple to pick up, easy to assemble and quite fun. It gets a bit competitive as you hurl the stars across the table at each other. It was looking good for me at one point as I had two Strikes and my swinging wrist action seemed unusually coordinated. But, alas, victory was swiped from me as I threw some stars too hard and they slid off the table. I had polished it earlier in the day, I blame my loss on that.

I imagine a ninja would go bowling this way, but would they wear the rental shoes that squeak awkwardly and unstealthily when you trip up trying to administer an under-arm bowling action?         

Thanks for reading!

Marisa xx

Kickstarter Feature - Sandwich Masters by Big Punch Studios

In the realm of table top games there is a vast choice to choose from and it appears that the list keeps growing and growing! Kickstarter is a useful platform for game designers to release their creations, and Big Punch Studios are unleashing their first game through it in their new campaign. Big Punch Studios is a collective of four creatives; Nich Angell, Lucy Brown, Jon Lock and Alice White. All four imbue the talents and diverse skills needed to make their company a stonking success, they are responsible for the popular comic series of Afterlife Inc. as well as working with Titan and the BBC, and I had the pleasure of interviewing them recently about their new venture into table top territory with their game Sandwich Masters. You all know that I cannot resist a game with a food theme!

Sandwich Masters has gone live on Kickstarter recently, can you tell us a little bit about it?

Sandwich Masters is the first game that Big Punch Studios has produced. Normally, we make comics (we're the creators of Afterlife Inc., 7STRING, Cat & Meringue and Big Punch Magazine), so it's nice to exercise our love of games for a change!

Sandwich Masters is a game about sandwiches. And strategy. Oh, and sabotage. Players compete to build sandwiches, complete orders and earn noshbucks. But in the race to earn money, standards are easily forgotten. Each good ingredient has an evil counterpart. Customers won't notice the distance (is that beef or a live cow, bacon or facon?) but if someone plays a Health Inspector card, expect a hefty fine! You can also play Attack Condiments (a sneeze, broken glass) to ruin your opponents' perfectly good sandwiches.

 How long did it take you to perfect Sandwich Masters?

The original concept for Sandwich Masters came to us while stuck in a traffic jam well over a year ago. For a while afterwards we toyed with the idea on and off, coming up with random gameplay mechanics that were either adapted, adopted or discarded in later days, before dedicating a solid week where the four of us would seal ourselves away from the outside world and finalise the game. Most of the development was done in that intense session. After that, we progressed to test copies and demoing it with our local gaming community, before finally arriving at the product we have today.

 Have you always been into table top games?

For as long as we can remember! Like most people we started with family favourites such as Monopoly and Cludo, before discovering, in later life, the wealth of modern day games out there. While comics are our first love, we've all harboured dreams of making games of our own for a long time.

 What kind of games do you favour? And what are your favourites?

Games that are easy to learn but difficult to master. Games with a real visual appeal, be it a great design or something as pleasing as many, many intricate and beautiful pieces. Also, we've recently discovered and gotten into cooperative games, games where players must unite against the board.

How did the concept of Sandwich Masters come around? 

Sandwich Masters began life in that fateful traffic jam. I don't think anyone set out to create a sandwich-themed game. We were all just very hungry at the time, which I think helped. Perhaps in that delirious state of hunger we were all a little unhinged, because talk of sabotaging sandwiches seemed to make perfect sense at the time! 

Have you ever found anything untoward in a sandwich? My worst find was goatee hair.

One of the worst things we've ever found in a sandwich was probably the time Jon accidentally swallowed half a cocktail stick, which was hiding inside a particularly devilish club sandwich. It was not the best of sandwiches. 

What would be the worst thing for you to find in a sandwich?

A time paradox. Your death certificate. A black hole. Monday morning. Or possibly just too much salt. 

How long have you been a part of Big Punch Studios?

Big Punch Studios, as a company, has existed since 1 BP (otherwise known as January 2015). Before that, we operated as a collective of sorts, making comics together and exhibiting at shows. We still do that. It's just a bit more official now, what with Sandwich Masters, our business and our quarterly magazine publication, Big Punch Magazine.

Do Big Punch Studios have any more games in the pipelines?

Definitely! And maybe even some related to our comic book properties. Hint hint.

You have had a number of successful Kickstarters now, what advice would you give to newcomers?

Plan, plan and plan in advance. Consider all extra costs, such as postage and Kickstarter's administrative fees, before launching. Hit the ground running. Promote your Kickstarter well before it starts. Finally, enage with your backers. Back sure you reward them for their support and pledges any way you can. Make them feel a part of the project from Day 1.

Thank you, Big Punch Studios! You can check out the Kickstarter for Sandwich Masters here.

Thanks for reading!

Marisa xx

Top Ten of the Two Hundred

Last month I completed the 200 different games challenge, it was intense but so much fun. It was great to go through all of the unplayed games in my home and explore new ones. August seemed to be the longest month, which was good because we had a lot of ground to cover. Here is my round-up of the top ten games from this challenge.

1. Imperial Settlers

A Fantastic civilisation building card game for 1 - 4 players. Players are settling in to a new world, erecting buildings, gathering resources and maybe even trading with other factions. Imperial Settlers is totally addictive and hugely enjoyable, every different faction has unique abilities and with the added bonus of the expansion pack Why Can't We Be Friends things get even crazier. Everyone must play this game!

2. Five Tribes

This is a very unique game for 2 - 4 players that blends elements of worker placement, area control, bidding, set collecting and strategy; all wrapped up in a beautifully designed package that is Arabian themed. There are so many different ways to score points in this game that you cannot judge who the winner will be until the scoring sheet comes out at the end.

3. Splendor

A card drafting and set collecting game for 2 - 4 players that is so shiny! You take on the role of a merchant trying to acquire gem mines, transportation and shops in order to boost your prestige and attract attention from wealthy nobles. I do love this kind of genre, collecting and saving up my gems in order to purchase pricier items; a buyer's paradise!

4. Waggle Dance

A worker placement and dice rolling game for 2 - 4 players, with different stages involved in each round, and it is all about making the most honey in your hive. You may build up your hive, lay eggs to be hatched into more worker bees, collect various kinds of nectar, then return the nectar to the hive and make the honey. I have never had so many dice to roll in a game before, my little hands were bulging with them! A great game, one I need for my collection. Oh, Santa...

5. Arcadia Quest

This is a miniatures fantasy campaign-based game. Players control a guild of three heroes throughout each scenario, battling against Monsters and each other, whilst completing quests. It is so much fun and probably my favourite game of this genre that I have played so far, those damn cute heroes and their special abilities make it extra cool. The added bonus is that when a hero dies they can return to the game after resting and pick up a Death Curse for the next Scenario. This is good for me to have heroes that resurrect as mine die constantly! 

6. Machi Koro

A city building and dice rolling game that is completely addictive and very simple to learn. Players take on the role of Mayor and take it in turns to develop their small cities, choosing which landmark to build carefully, what will help you reap profits and what will hinder your opponents? This game is a good one to introduce to people who are new to table top games.

7. Tokaido

I consider this game to be my relaxing and soothing hour, it is great to play after a tough day as I find it very calming. Players are travelling across the 'East Sea Road' and taking in the sights, the smells and the entire experience of the journey. Each character has unique qualities and you can use these to your advantage to gain extra points. Whether it is meeting new people, visiting a spa, earning money at the farm or purchasing lavish souvenirs; you can leisurely stroll across the road or pick up the pace. This game plays really smoothly and is rather serene.

8. Cartagena 2: The Pirate's Nest

This is very similar to my beloved Cartagena, players are racing their escaped pirates to the safe haven of a Pirate's Nest in Tortuga, but who will get there first? This time there are two islands to get through and instead of moving pieces backwards to gain extra cards, you must move your opponents pieces forwards. Oh dear, this is tricksy! But it is jolly good, me hearty.

9. Bohnanza

A fantastic card trading and set collecting game for 3 - 5 players. Players earn coins by planting fields of beans and harvesting them, whilst trading with others. You may plant a maximum of three fields and cannot rearrange the order of cards in your hand. Trading comes in useful when you have to lay a bean and your fields are full of beans that do not match the one in your hand! This game has been widely recommended to me and I can see why, it is very absorbing and engaging.

10. Mai-Star

This is a strategic card game with a Japanese Geisha theme. Players are competing to be the most powerful and popular Geisha by attracting guests, preferably wealthy ones, and by increasing their stature and skills through the means of advertisements. This impresses the guests and slowly you can build a higher rank of clientèle, whilst sneakily sabotaging your opponent's chances. This attractive and exciting game is unpredictable and brutal at times, you never know what is coming your way. Play it, and see what I mean!

So, those games were my absolute top picks of the challenge. I did enjoy many more but I fear listing every one of them would send you all to sleep. Perhaps one day I shall do it, one cold autumnal evening I will wrap up in a blanket and plough through the long list in intricate detail. Perhaps.

Thanks for reading!

Marisa xx

                  

Interview with Brotherwise Games

In my early ventures into table top gaming last year I was introduced to Boss Monster; a dungeon-building card game that oozes references to 8-bit video games and other pop culture gems. Boss Monster was created by Brotherwise Games; an independent game publishers that was founded and brought to life by two brothers in the US, Chris and Johnny O'Neal. It was their mutual love of games that spurred them to their company and Boss Monster, perfecting it over time and then releasing it to be kickstarted back in 2013. I was fortunate enough to get my first interview for Tabletop Stop with the lovely guys at Brotherwise Games, and here it is! 

What were some of your first favourite board games?

We have very varied tastes, but we both got our start in gaming with D&D and some of the more fantasy-focused board games. Most of Chris's formative years were spent playing strategy games like Risk and Axis and Allies. Johnny was a big fan of HeroQuest and started playing Magic when he was in middle school.

What are some of your favourite games now?
 
Now we're quite partial to games like Seven Wonders, War of the Rings, Smallworld, and Ascension. But really we'll play just about anything. A friend recently introduced us to micro-games like Deep Sea Adventure. Loved 'em!


Your love of board games and video games led you both to creating Boss Monster. What things inspired you the most to create it?

Boss Monster evolved out of a very different game idea than what it currently looks like, so it had a LOT of influences. Originally a bidding game focused on popularity, it merged with another idea that used cards to build classic D&D-looking dungeon maps - thus the fantasy theme. After lots of play testing, and numerous failed attempts, Johnny finally hit on the bidding mechanic that currently drives the game: the construction of a dungeon with rooms that lure in particular heroes. As that game took form, Chris noticed the visual similarity to the old side-scrolling video games that we had loved so much as kids. After some more failed attempts at nailing the theme, Boss Monster morphed into its final form, a mix of retro gaming nostalgia and popular nerd culture. We could write a book listing all the nods and easter eggs in the game, but really it's more fun for our fans to find them on their own.

What did you find most challenging when setting up Brotherwise Games?

Setting up a gaming company is pretty easy, you just file with the Secretary of State and off you go. Getting a gaming company up and running is tough. The hardest thing was probably getting those first distributors to agree to carry Boss Monster and sell it to their retail customers. There was a lot of mistrust of Kickstarted games, and we had to offer a lot of reassurances and data suggesting that we were a good bet. After those first distributors got on board, the rest followed very quickly as stores began asking for Boss Monster.

The Kickstarter campaign for Boss Monster was a massive success, did you anticipate that it would be so popular?

Nope! We were very hopeful we'd make enough to produce a tiny print run of the game and be able to cross that particular goal off our bucket lists. We knew the game was fun and compelling, but we had no idea how big it would be, either on Kickstarter or in stores. We're so happy it was, however!


How important is Kickstarter in your business?

It's very possible that Boss Monster expansions going forward won't be launched on Kickstarter, but we absolutely have Kickstarter to thank for where we currently are as a business. Boss Monster NEVER would have happened without Kickstarter, and the same goes for Brotherwise Games. As family men who both had full-time jobs, we had put as much development money into Boss Monster as were able. We needed those Kickstarter backers to make our idea a reality. But the value of Kickstarter goes beyond those original starter funds. We also see the publicity boost that Kickstarter gives as a real boon to any game trying to get noticed on the market. For the new, non-Boss Monster titles that Brotherwise launches, Kickstarter (or some form of crowdfunding) is likely to be important tool in our toolkit.

Do you guys have a favourite Boss character in the game?

Chris is pretty partial to Cerebellus. Johnny loves the "cover" Bosses, King Croak and Porkus.

Brotherwise Games gives off the family unity vibe, do you believe that board games help bring families and friends together?

Without a doubt. In fact, we have to think that the huge growth that tabletop games have seen of the last five years reflects an overall tightness and comfort with the family unit. Families are playing together more than ever before. Different generations are hanging out more than they have in the last 20 years. Tabletop games offer a social experience like none other, certainly it's a far cry from the more anonymous virtual networks that video games create (not that that's bad, mind you). We LOVE hearing that families, partners, and friends are coming together over a night of Boss Monster.

Brotherwise Games

Torrance, CA

Thanks, guys! You can check out Brotherwise Games by clicking here

Thanks for reading!

Marisa xx

Dead Man's Draw

The last few days have been a frenzy of driving around, preparing for the coming month and playing as many new games as possible in order to complete the 200 different games in one month challenge. The list is getting rather extensive now, even with the occasional interruption of a few cheeky games of Imperial Settlers and the like, I believe we have played 174 different games and there are still some days left to complete it - it shall be done! Hitting Draughts, Thirsty Meeples and Marquee Models in the past few weeks was fantastic, as I have discovered so many new games through this.

In order to play 200 different games in one month, whilst maintaining work and a home has been a challenge in itself. It has been made easier, though, by great little filler games, Such as Dead Man's Draw. This piratical push your luck card game is published by Mayday Games and was originally released as a digital game by Stardock. It is all about plundering bountiful loot, without going bust and losing it all; a game about taking risks and reaping rewards. 

Players take it in turn to draw cards from the deck. You keep flipping over cards to reveal the loot, or peril, and lay them in a row by the deck if they are safe. Some cards make you immediately go bust, causing you to lose all the cards you just drew. On your turn, you can bank as many cards as you wish, providing you have not gone bust. You stop flipping cards and declare you have stopped, taking the cards you drew and keeping them face-up in front of you. How do you go bust, you ask? If you pick up a card that you have already revealed in that suit then you go bust! If you draw the Kraken card then that forces you to draw two more cards - which puts the rest of the cards you just drew at stake! Luckily, if you draw the Anchor card then that saves you a little, as it allows you to keep all the cards you just drew before it, even if you go bust afterwards. 

Much like a pirate, you are making a gamble with your treasure if you get too greedy, and you are doing dastardly deeds to try and come out on top. The Cannon card allows you to destroy an opponent's banked card, and the Sword lets you steal a card from your opponent. You may additionally use cards to combine abilities in order to source more or destroy more cards. The game ends when the deck is depleted, and whoever has the most points after totalling up their card values wins the game.

There is a simpler version and a more advanced one, but as we were on a time limit with stacks of games to play in the cafe we stuck to this version.   

Dead Man's Draw is a fun, fast-paced card game with beautiful illustrations and fine quality cards. It is simple to play, yet still involves some careful strategic thinking. In my endeavour to play as many games as I can, I have come across numerous pirate-themed card games and board games, and this game (along with Cartagena) is one of the best I have encountered so far.

Thanks for reading

Marisa xx

The rain won't ruin my summer this year!

Every summer I have dreaded the rain coming, as it meant that I would not be able to skate outside or my pic-nic would be ruined. I was always desperate for glorious sunshine or I would become undone and sulk until the weather cleared up. But this summer I have finally found indoor activities to keep myself from despair. It is pouring down with rain today but I am not sad one little bit, as I have just joined a gym to release some energy and at home I am surrounded by fantastic games. My skates are sitting upstairs looking glum, but I will find a roller disco to give them a good roll. As for now, I have a very busy afternoon ahead of me...

I have set up a little conveyor of games to play. First up is the tile placing strategy game, Blokus, which was one of the first games I was introduced to last year that started me getting hooked. Then a spot of Famiglia, which is a deck building Mafia game I picked up at the UK Games Expo in May. after that we have M80, which is a great and tense card game I got on Kickstarter this year, I will be going into more detail on this game and others by the same games designer later next week. Last but by no means least, we have Coup on the table. This is another one of my favourite bluffing games, I hope I can claim victory in this round!

Wish me luck! :)

Marisa xx

What to play first tonight?

I have a nice little spread here of games, and I just do not know which one to start with. Why, you ask? Because I want to play all of them right away! It has been a few days since I have had a reasonable fix of gaming, so I am eager to dive right in. Perhaps I will ease into it with Pairs or Just Desserts, or go straight for the jugular with a frenzied game of Sushi Dice. Only time will tell...