Skip to main content

Posts

Kingdomino (Acquire-To-Zendo)

👑 Roll Me Over Romeo...



2016, 2-4 players Complexity: light
Game nights (remember those?) aren't all just big games and party games. Sometimes you just need to kill time at a table for fifteen minutes while another game wraps up. For situations like that, we have "filler" games--light, quick games that you can learn quickly and breeze through before jumping into something bigger. Let's See It In Action
In Kingdomino, you and one-to-three friends take on the roles of kings who are dividing up territory by drafting parcels of land and adding them to your kingdom. Everyone starts with a castle, a king meeple, and a wild square.

There will be a market of four tiles. On the back of these tiles is a number, and the tiles are ordered from least-to-most valuable. On the other side, there are two plots of land. Grasslands, wheat fields, forest, lake, swamp and mine. These may or may not have a crown on them.

On your turn you'll take whatever tile you happen to be on and add it …
Post a Comment
Read more
Recent posts

King Of Tokyo (Acquire-To-Zendo)

🏙️ It's Good To Be The King...



2011, 2-6 players Complexity: light/moderate
Terrible monsters rise from the sea. A fearsome robot dragon descends from the mountain. A horrid alien creature lands from outer space. For some reason, there's a bunny piloting a mech. The creatures fight for domination, laying waste to the city of Tokyo as they duke it out. Many will battle, but only one can become the king. Let's See It In Action
In King Of Tokyo, you and up to five friends battle for control of Tokyo using the cunning skill of dice-rolling. On your turn you will roll all six dice. After the first roll, you set aside the faces you want to keep and then roll again. You do the same after the second roll. After your third roll, you resolve whatever is on the dice.

There are four different resources you can acquire during a turn. Hearts give you health. Claws give you attacks against other monsters. Numbers give you victory points, but only if you have at least three of the same number.…
Post a Comment
Read more

Where To Find Me At Flights Of Foundry This Weekend

Hey everybody!
Just a real quick note that I'm going to be participating in a virtual writing conference this weekend called Flights Of Foundry. The organization putting it on is called Dream Foundry, which is a group dedicated to fostering and helping undiscovered creative talent, not just writers but artists and game developers as well. That said, there is a big emphasis on writing.
Registration is free (although a smol donation would be appreciated if you're able). There's lots of great programming running round the clock, including (or perhaps in spite of) some being put on by yours truly. Here's what I'll be up to (all times are CST):
Saturday, 10pm: Putting The Words In The Right Order: A "Fifty Shades" Line-Editing Demonstration
Word-smithing doesn't have to be hard! Here's a guide to crafting stronger sentences and paragraphs, which Kurt will demonstrate by taking a red pen to E. L. James' breakout hit Fifty Shades Of Grey.
Sunday, 12pm: Wh…
Post a Comment
Read more

The Great Dinosaur Rush (Acquire-To-Zendo)

🦴 Open The Door, Get On The Floor...



2016, 2-5 players Complexity: moderate
The Great Dinosaur Rush, or The Bone Wars, was a real event from history, lasting from 1877 to 1892. It was a period of ruthless competition in fossil hunting between rival paleontologists Othniel Charles Marsh and Edward Drinker Cope. The two men spent over a decade and their entire fortunes trying to achieve paleontological supremacy. They also had epic hipster facial hair. The two men were socially and financially ruined by the pursuit, but hopefully things were turn out better for you in The Great Dinosaur Rush. Let's See It In Action
In The Great Dinosaur Rush, you and up to four friends will compete to build the most spectacular dinosaurs using bones you collect from dig sites. You start the game with a privacy screen, two Research cards, and the seven bones that are minimally required to build a complete dinosaur. Each player also gets a Paleontologist identity card. These are based on real people, and …
Post a Comment
Read more

Gizmos (Acquire-To-Zendo)

⚙️ Don't Feed It After Midnight...




2018, 2-4 players Complexity: light/moderate
I'm always amused when games decide to be completely literal with their theme. In this case, we have an engine builder that's literally about building an engine. From the makers of Potion Explosion, which used to be known as "that game with the marble track" comes Gizmos, a.k.a., that other game with the marble track. Let's See It In Action
In Gizmos, you and up to three friends will take turns building your engine. Engines are comprised of gizmos, and in order to add them to your machine, you need to spend the appropriate number of marbles, which, in this case, represent different types of energy that are conveniently color-coded.

On your turn, you take one action, and then resolve any effects that get triggered by it. The actions you can take are Pick, File, Build, and Research.

When you Pick, you take a marble off the track, one of the six that are visible. When you File, you take one…
Post a Comment
Read more

Forbidden Island (Acquire-To-Zendo)

🏝️ On An Island In The Sun, We'll Be Playing And Having Fun...




2010, 2-4 players Complexity: moderate
When Pandemic dropped in 2008, the world was introduced to a new type of game: collaborate board games in which the game hates you and wants you to die. It's like solitaire, but themed, and with more player agency so as to make your inevitable defeat feel even more like a personal failure. Pandemic has a lot of fans, but I'm very lukewarm on it. I acknowledge its importance, but I'd rather play something happier. Such as... Forbidden Island. Let's See It In Action
In Forbidden Island you and one-to-three friends take on the role of adventurers who have arrived on a remote and deserted island in search of treasures. Four specific treasures, actually: The Earth Stone, The Statue Of The Wind, The Crystal Of Fire, and The Ocean's Chalice. You and your fellow adventurers must travel around the island looking for clues (cards) to unlock the treasures. There's ju…
Post a Comment
Read more

Epic PVP: Fantasy (Acquire-To-Zendo)

💪 Na Na Na Na Na Na Na, I Wanna Start A Fight


2015, 2-4 (but realistically just 2) players Complexity: moderate
An orc paladin, a dwarf monk, a high elf barbarian, and a cat samurai walk into a bar, decide they hate each other, and start throwing punches. Who will win? Who will get the tar beaten out of them? Who will be left picking up the tab? Let's See It In Action
(Note: the box pictured is from Epic PVP: Magic, but all of the components I'm playing with are from Epic PVP: Fantasy.)

In Epic PVP: Fantasy, you and one other player--yes, this technically has rules for three and four, but it is intended to be a two-player game--will take turns playing moves and counter-moves until one or the other of you has run out of life. It's a take-that game that combines a few different mechanics. The first one is shuffle-building, borrowed from AEG's breakout hit Smash-Up.


In Epic PVP, you don't have a deck. You combine two mini-decks, one representing the character's r…
Post a Comment
Read more