I've been going on like this "Board Game Craze" lately... Really spamming Mind's and Settler's café a lot...
Yeah it's all thanks to Geraint =_=. It started with 1 trip, and then it somehow become a regular routine. And then for some reason I've been going there with more and more people.
If it goes on at this rate, I might be able to try all the games before the end of the year (if I play different games on each trip that is). Haha.
Anyway, this post is to keep track of my visits to the cafés and mainly the games I've played. (Will only list new games that I tried on each trip)
I'll just give a brief summary and a personal rating about how enjoyable each game is. If you want to read the details you can visit the link.
Note: I prefer strategic games over reaction games, and all the rating below are for strategic games only. All kind of reaction games can be fun with large group of people, so I won't mix and rate them together with the strategic ones.
Rating Guide:R - Reaction Game.
1 - Boring/Unappealing.
2 - Average. Not bad but nothing special... can try.
3 - Good. Overall appealing gameplay and design.
4 - Great game. Loads of fun and recommended.
5 - Excellent. Must Play!
+ - A plus means I feel that this game is probably higher, but I haven't get to experience it to its fullest.
1st May 20091. TransAmerica (3 / 5)
A train game where you go around connecting your 5 secret cities and making use of other players rails.
It is a very simple game, yet one that requires you to do careful planning and some "scheming" to win. Can be pick up in like 5 minutes and very easy to play.
2. Arkham Horror ( 4+ / 5, If you manage to learn it all )Very "huge scale" game, 1 Single game can take up like 2+ hours or more depending on the players.
It's like a cooperative RPG where you have to work together. Instead of fighting with each other, you are fighting against the game board.
You go around getting gold, better weapons and stuffs like Diablo. Every round, there'll be events, encounters, monsters combats and more.
The objectives is to seal all the portals... or win the fight against the "Final Boss".
From what I heard, there's only like 1 guy at Settlers who know how to play this.
And guess what? I looked it up on Wikipedia... this BOARD GAME has SIX frigging EXPANSIONS!!! That's crazy.
A really massive game that was quite a bit of learning curve due to so many things going on. It's darn fun if you know how to play though.
3. Boomtown (2 / 5)You go around building mines and collecting rent... If you get mines of the same color you get more money. Some special cards add to spice things up a bit.
Kind of like Monopoly...
It's too luck based for me to favor it.
15th May 20094. Cartagena (3 / 5)Also another fast and strategic game that can be learn easily.
It's kind of like TransAmerica, where you have to use other player moves to your advantage.
Easy to play and fun.
5. I'm The Boss! (Up to 5 / 5 with the right players)Considered one of the more well known games... How enjoyable this game is depends largely on the people you're playing with. Haha.
You need people that can argue, negotiate, threaten, and pull out every dirty tricks... LOL...
The rated time is like 45 minutes... but I've heard of people who used up to 2 hours to finish a game, LOL.
6 Quick Sand (1 / 5)One of the "dumber" games which involve mostly luck.
You take turns moving characters through the desert, while at the same time trying to hide your own identity.
You can send people into "Quicksand"... if you don't save him in time, he'll die.
It's too luck based for my liking. And it seems to be never ending.
28th May 2009
7. Wasabi! (3 / 5)A very new game introduced to us by the Settler's staff. It's released like less than half a year ago...
Basically, you have to get ingredients and form recipes on the board (again, making use of other people ingredients), sort of like "Upwards/Scrabble" style.
Depending on how well you form the ingredients, you'll receive bonus points and use the "Chopsticks".
To the foreigners who design this game, using the chopsticks may be quite a challenge. But it's like a piece of cake to us Asians. Haha.
8. Small World ( 3+ / 5 )This is a game where you control a civilization and fight for domination. The number of lands you own at the end of each turn determines how much points you gold you earn.
There's like a dozen of different races and unique special abilities which make it really fun. Orcs, Dragons, Humans, Elves, Wizards, Skeletons... most of the popular fantasy creatures are all in.
There's a lot of different combos that you can make use of., which makes it a game that's easy to pick up but hard to master...
18th June 2009 9. Family Business ( 3 / 5 )Every player plays a "Mafia Family" and the goal is the eliminate all the other families by playing cards.
There's lot of things like "Mob War", "Double Cross", "Family Influence" and the ultimate imba "St Valentine Massacre".
It's very fun! A pity it's like 70% luck and 30% strategy... if it is the other way round I would have given it a 4.
10. Monopoly Deal Card Game ( 4 / 5 )Don't be turned off by the "Monopoly" in its name... this game is a very refreshing change from the original Monopoly boardgame that we're familiar with.
It is of a much faster pace. (You can finish 1 game in 30 minutes instead of 3 hours)
It still retain the concept of traditional monopoly like property sets, money, also include some special cards like "Deal Breaker", "Just Say No", "Double Rent"...
Yes, this game depends much more on strategy than luck, and the tides can change VERY fast.
You may be leading 1 turn, but your wealth can easily be reduce to nothingness in the next turn if you don't play your cards well, and don't have enough "money insurance" to guard your property.
Overall just a very innovative and great spin off from the original.
11. Bacchu's Banquet ( 1 / 5 )
Sounds really fun when the person explained it... but gets boring really quick in my opinion...
Basically, each player plays a secret character and try to accomplish his goal (like kill the king, get enough gifts, etc...)
It's a lot of mind games, as people can "gift" items to each other, and the other must choose whether to accept it.
It can be poison, food (when you eat too much you can stuff yourself to death), etc...
The concept is not bad, but the pace of this game is extremely slow... which I feel is its main downfall.
24th June 2009 (Mind's Cafe)
12. Blokus ( 1 / 5 )
Alright game... requires strategy but a bit too "simplistic" and for my liking...
I don't like simply playing with cubes and blocks... without a "concept".
Like TransAmerica... even though it's just placing blocks, there's this idea of connecting cities and stuffs.
This one... it's just, well, blocks by itself. So I don't like it.
13. Citadels ( 4 / 5 )King, Assassin, Warlock, Magician...
Dragons, Battlefields, Great Wall... what more can you ask for?
I just love all those medieval + fantasy elements.
Awesome card game that's easily to learn and really fun to play. I want to try the expansion!
28th June 2009 (Mind's Cafe)14. Scotland Yard ( 2 / 5 )
This is like a "police and thief" game... One guy act as the "bad guy" and the other players are detective.
Everyone use various transportation like "Bus, Taxi, Underground" to move around the map.
The detectives must try to catch the bad guy before all the rounds are all over, using clues like what transport the criminal is taking to guess his location.
Alright game lah... didn't enjoy it a lot... Haha.
Maybe it's more fun to play as the bad guy?
15. Jurassic Jumble ( R ) OK... This is a reaction game.
Basically it's just trying to do collect a set and see who can "steal the bone" the fastest, musical chairs style.
Alright lah... maybe can compare to "Snorta".
16. Pictionary - 20th Anniversary ( 2 / 5, Largely dependent on Players )
Aha... the game that everyone knows... don't need explain much.
Basically there are some added stipulation like draw with eyes close, draw with alternate hands, etc...
If you make a successful draw, you move a dice roll... see who can get to the end the fastest.
