Shinies!

This weekend I got creative and made some fun little dice trophies. We are always having mini tournaments amongst ourselves and friends, so I thought making trophies would be a nice way to celebrate the winner and excite the others. Plus, they look pretty snazzy!

Armed with some old dice, some super glue, bottle caps and a gold spray can I knocked these up in the communal garden of my flat. From afar, it probably looked like I was hastily tagging a particular patch of grass, but I was very careful and not a blade of grass was tainted with gold - just my fingertips. 

It was really easy to do, and I think it has inspired a few others on instagram to make some too. So far, two of my little trophies have been claimed, and I am already making more. As it is quite dark outside, I may have to reserve the spraying until tomorrow. Does anyone else make extra little incentives for tournaments or friendly competitions?

Have a great night!

Marisa xx 

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

      

Food, Glorious Food!

I like to eat, I like to eat a lot. I also like to cook and spend hours looking through recipe books for the perfect dish. Finding games with a food theme always gets me excited, before I became rather obsessed with table top games I played Nintendo's Cooking Mama and Cake Mania to death. The Food Network channel would be on constantly, and whether it was Nigella Lawson cooking up a calorific treat or Adam Richman taking on insane food challenges, I would be consumed by it for a spell. So I was pleased to find many games that tantalise the taste buds and allow you to get creative without making a mess in the kitchen or ruining your appetite. Here is my list of food themed games that I have enjoyed.

1. Fish Cook

This is a Euro-style game about top chefs in Paris competing to have the best recipes by earning the most money and prestige. It is a game of strategy and dice rolling. The dice rolls determine the amount of ingredients available in the markets and players must choose which items to buy in order to make their desired dishes. You must choose wisely, as once an ingredient is out of stock then that round is over and you must cook up your dishes to earn money. There are three rounds, you may cook up as many of your recipes as you can after the market phase is over, and perhaps even steal a recipe from an opponent in the process. This is a really fun game, the dice rolls gave the luck element but you can use your initiative to make sure you gather the vital ingredients.

2. Sushi Dice

I have already gone into detail about the excellent game of Sushi Dice here. Frantic dice rolling to match the ingredients on the cards and frenzied bell ringing which alerts the neighbours that you either have a very unresponsive servant or you are, in fact, just playing Sushi Dice.

3. Fungi/Morels   

This beautifully illustrated card game is all about gathering delectable mushrooms and frying them in the woods by moonlight. As a set collecting game for two players, you must forage the forest for mushrooms using tools or aides that you acquire though the deck. The mushrooms have two values; what they sell for and what they are worth if you cook them. You may cook three or more of the same kind at a time, and the rarer the mushroom, the more value it has. Adding butter or cider to the sizzling pan of mushrooms increases your points, and adds to the flavour. Whoever has the highest points at the end of the game is the champion forager.

4. Just Desserts

Now this card game just makes me hungry for desserts, I have a real sweet tooth anyway so it is hard to play this without raiding the kitchen afterwards. Players must serve customers at a cafe, they must be the best waiter there by serving up what the customers crave. You can combine card symbols in your hand to win over customers, unless you have their favourite dish in your hand which not only gets you their card but you get a tip (which is drawing an extra dessert card, very handy). To win, you must have three customers in a matching colour or five customers in different colours. This set collecting game is delicious to look at, and each card is unique. I need more dessert games!

5. Sushi Go!

Another sushi game. Sushi is tasty and aesthetically pleasing, and these sushi morsels are as cute as buttons! The setting for this card drafting game is a fast food sushi restaurant, where dishes zoom by on a conveyor belt and you have to grab the best combination that you can. Players choose a card from their hand and pass the cards over to another player, collecting sets that will win them the most points. Combining wasabi with nigiri triples the value of the nigiri, so wasabi is a sough-after card. Also, keep an eye out for pudding, as whoever finishes the game with the most pudding gets bonus points and whoever has the least gets penalised. Sushi Go is very enjoyable and simple to play. There are three rounds of the game, and I am sure you will want to go again and again. 

6. Elevenses

Such an elegant looking game! But beware; elegant socialites hosting morning tea can be highly conniving. In Elevenses, you are creating the perfect spread of sandwiches, biscuits, cakes and tea. Each player starts with eleven morning tea cards, and each card has a point value and special action. For instance, the Tea card has a value of 1 (the teaspoon icon in the right is the value) and the special action states 'Choose a player, flip one of tablecloth cards valued 2 - 9 face-down' Ouch! The special actions on the cards make things interesting as cards are passed back and forth, flipped over, peeked at and stolen. The round ends when a player plays the Elevenses card. Whoever has the most points is rewarded two sugar cubes and the others get one, rounds then continue until someone wins by getting seven sugar cubes. That is a lot of sugar! 

7. Lord of the Fries

This game looks quite different from the last eatery-based game. Welcome to Friedeys, a fast-food establishment where your server is a decaying zombie, but at least he is wearing the appropriate diner attire complete with the classic cap. One can only hope that he has gained the basic food hygiene certificate. This game is really simple to play and extremely fun. Players choose orders from the menu, either through dice rolls or by picking something they think their opponent will struggle to make, and try to make the order with cards from their hand. When one player plays their last card then the round is over, points are totalled and any leftover cards in hand are worth minus points. There are four rounds of menu madness, and you may still feel peckish at the end. 

8. Fishfry

This is one of my favourite filler games, it is very quick to play but it has lots of replayability. Fishfry is a dice rolling game that consists of five custom dice. Players may roll the dice up to three times, trying to catch the largest fish to fry. You must roll a head and a tail to score points, and various sized fishy body bits to add to the score. If you roll a small panfish then you may not re-roll that and it counts as one point. If you roll five panfish then you shout 'FISHFRY!', you have fried up all your fish and instantly win. Mini Fishfry tournaments happen at my place regularly, usually before Dino Hunt Dice, whenever the mood for constant rolling and re-rolling hits.

So that is my list of foodie games. Are there any food themed games that you enjoy playing? I would love to hear about them.

Thanks for reading!

Marisa xx

                           

Thirsty Meeples

I have just returned from a relaxing and indulgent mini break to Oxford, where I spent three days at Thirsty Meeples, the board games cafe. 

The cafe is cosy, with a vibrant and lively atmosphere. The walls are piled high with games to play, such a vast amount that some shelves are even stacked to the ceiling. The front of the cafe houses games that are available to purchase, a generous selection that tempted me greatly. The counter is adorned with mini games, card decks and colourful cakes behind the glass (keeping them safe from the likes of me). The interior of the cafe is like a gamer's dream come true; a haven for table top lovers and anyone who wishes to get engrossed in a good game whilst eating and drinking yummy things. The staff were friendly and keen to explain the rules of new games, as well as recommend some of their favourites to customers or ones they thought would appeal.   

All three days we were there, the cafe was bustling with customers, booking tables in advance was a great idea. It felt rather good to sit back, drinking delicious milk shakes whilst playing absorbing and exciting games. I like to think of myself as a milkshake connoisseur, so I was very pleased to sample the Terry's Chocolate Orange milkshake. it was just like drinking a dessert - fantastic!  

But back to the most important part of this post: The games. We played twenty-five games, lots of different genres including brief dice games, card games, set collecting, dungeon crawling, worker placement, strategy and adventure games. We arrived at the cafe armed with a handwritten list of all the games we wanted to try out, thinking we would get to play maybe half of them. We actually got to play all but three on the list and instead played four that were not even on the list. Some of the highlights for me were Waggle Dance, Five Tribes, Cartagena 2, Mai-Star and Eight Minute Empire Legends.   

Board game cafes are a brilliant idea, I have only visited two so far but I hunger for more. There are others opening in the near future, Dice is opening in Portsmouth after a successful Kickstarter, Board are in Exeter and Dice and Donuts are opening in Lancashire with a Kickstarter still in progress, and there are more board game cafes in the works that are yet to be finalised. I feel a few more road trips are in order.

Thanks for reading, go and play a game now! I shall write more about the games I played in the next post.   

Marisa xx

    

A Trip to Draughts

This week I ventured up to London to visit the board games cafe, Draughts, to see how many games I could rip through from opening to closing. The cafe is situated in Hackey, a short walk from Haggerston station, so locating it was fairly easy. On weekdays it opens at 5pm, so we made sure we were there early, loitering around outside - even though I had a table booked in advance, because I am silly like that.

Draughts is a really unique place, it was a very fun experience and reasonably priced at £5 each to play as many games as you can handle. The food and drink were quite affordable too for a London venue, and amid the mass rounds of pear juice and Jalapeno pretzels we got quite a few games in. At the back of the cafe there is a library of games to browse through, over 500 games of all genres under one roof like a treasure trove. The staff were friendly and keen to recommend games, then demonstrate how to play them. We started off with something light to warm up; Elk Fest. This is a simple little dexterity game where you and your opponent flick counters from either end of the table. The counters act as stepping stones for the wooden elks who balance upon them, and you must move them across to the other side without the elks falling off.

After settling in with the elks, we moved onto Machi Koro, which I have wanted to play for a while now and was happy to finally crack open the box. It is a city building and dice rolling game, and it is very addictive. You build up your city by collecting various cards through dice rolls and coin counters. Some cards give you extra benefits and hinder your opponents, I had a cheese factory stolen by my opponent! As soon as it was over I was ready to go again, but other games were calling so I relented and moved on to Imperial Settlers.   

       

Imperial Settlers is a civilisation building game, where you are playing as early settlers from major continents, collecting resources to build and trade with. The concepts and mechanics of this game were not ones I was too familiar with so I found the first round rather daunting but I soon adapted and was racking in the apples and meeples. This game is fantastic, and I ended up going home and ordering it for next day delivery.

The next game up was Agricolam as it was highly recommended by the staff at the cafe. This echoed some of the themes in Imperial Settlers, but is more of a worker placement game. You collect resources to build upon your farm and land. and take a number of actions depending on how many people live in your farm. I was so focused upon growing obscene amounts of carrots that I forgot to reproduce, so I had less people in my farm and less actions to take!

We managed to squeeze in three versions of Timeline towards the end. Timeline is an educational card game where players must use their knowledge (or guess, as I do a lot) to pinpoint when certain events occurred throughout history, and place their cards in chronological order in a row. As the hours flew by, it was so tempting to stay until closing at 11pm but the thought of missing the last train and having to wait for the night bus was too traumatic, so leaving at 10,30pm was preferable. But I must admit, on the way home we played a few games on the I-Phone...and perhaps more games upon arriving home. We have problems!  

Thanks for reading :) 

Please feel free to recommend games to me or just talk about games to me at

kookycherry@hotmail.co.uk

Marisa xx 

   

Sushi Dice

I thought I would start the morning off with a game that would awaken my senses and make me alert, Sushi Dice by Sit Down! Games is perfect for that. I picked up this game from Travelling Man at London MCM Expo in May, and it has become one of my favourite dice games. You are playing as a sushi chef, preparing delicious sushi platters in haste against your opponent. A deck of cards highlights the different sushi platters that need to be made, three cards are drawn from this deck before the game starts and are laid face up on the table. You and your opponent must try to create these dishes by rolling six dice each simultaneously and matching up the symbols on the dice to one of the cards. When the game begins you start rolling your dice like crazy to make the platters, setting aside the correct symbols and keeping on rolling the other dice until you match the dice to the card. When you have matched up the symbols you ding the service bell and take the card. That card is then replaced by a new one from the deck and play resumes!

 Sounds rather frantic? Well, the craziness is pushed even further to the extreme by the "Yuck" factor. On three of the dice in your hand there are little black skull symbols; the "Yuck" symbol. This means that your sushi dish you were slaving over went horribly wrong, one of the other chefs has tasted it and deemed it unsuitable for consumption. If you roll a "Yuck" and your opponent notices, they can say (or scream, as it often happens) "YUCK!" and that forces you to re-roll all of your precious dice. In a two player scenario, the first player to collect six cards is the winner, the victorious sushi chef from a cut-throat kitchen of critics. 

      

The star symbol on three of the dice is a wild card, it can count as any other symbol in order to help you complete a sushi platter. The star symbol is a life saver in most situations!

Sushi Dice is a fun and quick game, a great prelude to a gaming session and also quite addictive. It can be played with 2 -6 players and is suitable for ages 6+ so it is a good group game for families and friends. Even though the box says it takes 15 minutes, it could last all night, if you take the pressure of the kitchen. The frenzy of rolling your own dice to match the symbols, but also keeping a watchful eye over what your opponent rolls in case they should roll a "Yuck", is not for the faint-hearted!

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...  

Board Games night at Marquee Models

This week I went to Marquee Models for my first board gaming night in the store, and had such a good evening! There were lots of new and friendly faces there and stacks of new games to try out, as well as a few old favourites perched on the table. I ended up playing Sentinels of the Multiverse, Skull, The Resistance, Werewolf, Breakneck Blitz and King of Tokyo. It was an interesting mix of playing co-operative games, bluffing, sabotaging, negotiating and a dice rolling game to end with. There was so much going on I could turn this post into an essay, but instead I will just write about a selection of the games I played.

I have played Skull before many times, and it is one of my favourite bluffing games. The coasters are beautifully designed and the game is really simple, yet effective. In your hand you have three flower cards and one skull. Each player lays a card face-down on the table, then each player in turn adds one more card face-down. On your turn you have the option of adding a card to your pile or you can say that you bet you can turn over a certain number of cards without revealing a skull. Other players may then challenge you, saying that they can turn over even more cards without revealing a skull, or they can Pass. This is when things get exciting and tense, as you must turn over your own cards first then choose someone else you think may have just laid flowers. The challenger could be serious or they could be baiting you, leading you into a trap because they know you have laid a skull and were bluffing.

This game is really fun and perhaps requires a straight face when challenging. Many a time I have laid a skull in my pile and have tried to bluff it, but ended up having to reveal my own skull because no one challenged me!

Werewolf was a crazy game. We had fourteen people huddled around a long table with suspicions growing already from past betrayals in bluffing and deduction games. The moderator handed out the cards and I was one of the werewolves! I knew this would end badly for me, all the villagers would sniff me out quickly as I am terrible at acting innocent when I know I am the blood thirsty killer. Although, I am also terrible at acting innocent when I truly am innocent, I suppose I just have a guilty-looking face. 

During the game, everyone shuts their eyes and the moderator tells the werewolves to open their eyes and choose someone to eat. Then when everyone opens their eyes they are told who is dead and they discuss who they suspect is the wolf, then vote on whether to run after them or not with pitch forks to kill them off! This game makes me imagine how a small medieval farming town would act if it were plagued by a werewolf, and how paranoia and fear would fester making everyone suspicious of their neighbour. A few innocent villagers were killed in our game before the werewolves were revealed. I was the first werewolf to be discovered; typical. I need to work on my poker face.

King of Tokyo is a fighting dice game, with a Japanese movie/TV monster theme. Think of Godzilla or Gamera smashing up a city, then turning on each other! You play as giant mutant monsters or robots who are destroying Tokyo and beating up each other to become King of Tokyo. On your turn, you roll six dice up to three times and can choose to either hit your opponent/s, take health points, take victory points or take energy cubes that you can save up and buy energy cards with them. I do not know how I pulled it off but I managed to win the second round with just one health point left! Naturally, I had to take photographic evidence of this.

So, Board gaming nights are a great thing and a good way to try out new games. It is also nice to meet people with a passion for games. People bring their own games to introduce to others, to share the experience and to pass on the joy. I shall be returning to Marquee Models for more mayhem next month.

Thanks for reading!

Marisa xx

 

Welcome to Tabletop Stop

Welcome to my blog; the experiences in tabletop gaming from the eyes of a rookie. Like a lot of people, the vast majority of my past experiences with board games had been the usual family games that you find lodged in corners of pubs and rental cottages. Although some were entertaining at the time, they could also be a bit tedious and I longed for something more. I rather liked the social aspect of board gaming and how we weren't staring at a screen in silence, we were interacting and thinking, sometimes working as a team and sometimes there was a bit of friendly competition.

Last year I was introduced into a whole new dimension of tabletop games that blew my mind. These games were engaging, they were fun, some were gorgeously designed - they were unlike any games I had encountered before. Now I am hooked; totally addicted to table top games and have started my own little collection too (which is growing steadily). I love the feel of the printed linen cards, the small components and counters, the custom designed dice and the attractive boards; all of these things are more precious to me than a pair of designer shoes and a handbag, which confuses my family!

In my new adventure into gaming I have noticed that there seems to be a game for everyone. Last week I found a card game about collecting and cooking up flavoursome wild mushrooms, a memory card game about identifying actor's masks in a Japanese theatre and a push-your-luck game where one of the players is essentially dared to go on a dungeon crawl. The sheer variety of games available is wonderful, from the long and strategic games to the short and frenzied games. Often, my mood dictates what kind of game I desire to play, so I am pleased to have an array to choose from.

I hope you enjoy following me on my journey into the tabletop games world. I will be posting about the games I am playing, writing about my experiences, what shops or events I am visiting and in the near future I will be talking to game creators and enthusiasts. Please tell me about your favourite games too, and tell me your recommendations, as I am always on the prowl for something to add to my collection. So far, I feel like this community is a warm and welcoming crowd, that want to get others involved and I cannot wait to wade further into this pool of dice and decks!

Thank you for following.

Marisa xx