I recently had the chance to play this amazing game, despite it having been around for two years and won a lot of awards. The first time I played it, I wasn't quite sure I was doing it right, but for some weird reason, I won. I hadn't really grasped the amazingness that Azul is, so I was a little taken aback when my friend Kristin ordered it right away so we could play it at home. She had seen the game's potential that had, at the time, gone completely over my head. Thank you, Kristin. You are wise. The mechanisms of this game are quite simple. Every turn, you basically get to choose same-color tiles from 5, 7 or 9 supply trays (depending on the number of players) and then you fill in the rows in your personal board. At the end of every round, you can move one of the tiles to the right, in its corresponding box as long as you have completed the row on the left. Completing a row can vary in difficulty because the five rows require you to fill them in with one up to five tiles. I have played this game plenty of times since that first, awkward one, and every time, I catch myself admiring the artwork and the "neatness" of it. As I repeatedly told Kristin, Azul has great table presence. Since the tiles represent wall tiles that you, a tile-laying artist in Portugal, have to place in the Royal Palace of Evora, the whole visual result is very aesthetically pleasing. Other than that, I realized something else. Azul creates the opportunity for every player to develop a unique strategy in order to accumulate more points. Some might go for a lot of points at the beginning, but others might start small, creating the basis for getting exponentially more points in the following rounds. Moreover, a great feature this game has is that, despite its very competitive nature, it's not so in-your-face as Settlers of Catan might be, for example. Yes, you still might deprive another player the chance of getting certain tiles, but deep down, you're not doing it just because you can, but because you're focused on creating your own personal masterpiece. What should I read with this?
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I have had the game for some time now but I knew I could only whip it out to the (in)appropriate group of friends. This particular bunch consisted of writers. I mean, since they make fictional people suffer every day, what I was asking them wasn't too much. The game is simple to understand, yet so hard to play. You have your rounds, during each of which one person is the leader, or the Card Czar. The Czar picks up a card from the black deck of cards and reads the question or sentence aloud. The rest of the players then look at the white cards in their hand and pick the one (or ones) they think make the most disgusting/disturbing/shocking/hilarious combination. Sadly, no additional points are scored if players manage to do all four. They proceed by placing their card face down on the table for the Czar to shuffle. Once the cards are shuffled, they are turned face up and the Czar goes on to read the black card and each of the white cards individually. It helps if they can read them with a straight face. None of my group members could.
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Being surrounded by cameras and microphones; feeling compelled to publicly share our location or friends' names; having our online purchases catalogued; being politically correct, even when telling jokes.
My point is, we have the impression of being free and uncensored, but maybe if we took a step back and saw the big picture, we might get an inkling of how accurate Orwell was. My first post in a while is about a board game that was inspired by the most famous and influencial writer of all time. It was named after the Bard and it plays as a nice, quite thematic, worker-placement game. Shakespeare: a worker placement game for 1-4 aspiring dramatists The Queen has asked you to put on a play in just six days. Managing this feat entails having the best acts and the most elegant costumes of all your rivals. It is hard to make it all happen in such a short time, so you might be forced to cut some corners. Will the quality of your play suffer? Or it will be your troupe's morale which bites the dust? It's all up to you to make all the decisions necessary in order to make the Queen happy. You are William Shakespeare, after all! In case you are not familiar with Shakespeare's time, his plays comprised an all-male cast, just like it was done in Ancient Greek drama, centuries before Shakespeare was even born. This means that the roles of Juliet, Ophelia or Titania and so on were played by male actors. However, the game has taken some poetic license and depicts all the female characters on the cards as women. I am perfectly fine with that. I think you should be, too. The overall artwork is really beautiful.
All in all, Shakespeare is a demanding game time-wise, definitely not a filler. It takes a little while to get accustomed to the rules, but like every other worker placement game, all players -seasoned or first-timers- will soon get the hang of it. Photo credit: BoardGameGeek
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Did you know that today is World Egg Day? Yup, that's right. On the second Friday of October, we celebrate that precious little oval shell of deliciousness. What better way to accompany our meal with a fun little board game? Dancing Eggs board game comes in an actual egg box, containing one wooden egg, nine plastic ones and two dice. The game is simple to grasp, but it requires some serious physical skills. That's because apart from chasing down and winning the egg at play, you have to place it somewhere upon your person, according to the white die. It could be on the side of your neck, underneath your chin, between your knees or even under your armpit. It may seem easy and fun at first, but try to keep playing without dropping an egg and you'll see what you're really made of. At the end of the game, every plastic egg you are holding counts as one point, whereas the wooden one counts as two. Do you want to start off by snatching the wooden egg? No problem. The break of the next day will find you sore, though, so considered yoursef warned (i.e. Don't be greedy. You can beat your friends at a less painful game).
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Being 100% unbiased towards this particular game, I think it should be renamed to "Settlers of our Hearts." It is not by chance that this little game has had a constantly growing number of fans since its initial release in 1995, by German designer Klaus Teuber. I think the main reason is that it offered an alternative to economy-type games like Monopoly, Hotel and what-not. First of all, there are no bank notes. There is no rent. But there is an ending. You don't play for ever and ever until some poor sap loses all their money or you eventually decide to call quits. All it takes is to get to 10 points. And you know what? You even start out with two points by placing two settlements where you choose (of course, this depends on the choices your opponents leave you).
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I was first introduced to Munchkin in 2013, after years of playing Trivial Pursuit and Top 10. Sad story, I know. But I also know that my instant love for the game made up for all the time that had slipped through my fingers. Having no idea of Role-Playing Games like Dungeons & Dragons or Pathfinder at the time, I simply let myself get carried away by the fun aspect of the game and didn't worry about the details. Much later, I realized how many dedicated RPG fans there are in the world and how invested they are on their characters and respective campaigns. What I'm actually trying to say here, hoping not to sound disrespectful to the RPG fan base, is that I believe Munchkin is a perfect gateway game for RPG novices like me. And it has been enriched with so many expansions and extra thingies that it is highly unlikely for players' interests to dwindle. Even if that happens, there are tons of spin-offs to keep you coming back.
Your ultimate goal is to be the first player to reach the 10th level (or the 20th if you're playing Epic Munchkin). Seems simple, but you can only go up a level after you've defeated a monster. Most times, your points won't be enough for you to manage it on your own, so your 'friends' can help you in exchange for treasure, equipment or even nothing at all. Yeah, about that last thing, your friend is probably an Elf and will advance a level every time they help you succeed, so think twice before striking a deal. Also, because the game is insane, a first-level Hobbled Goblin might suddenly get enough strength to end you. In case you are wondering who could provide the monster with so many modifiers, search no more. It's your friends. The most important thing to keep in mind is to always pick your battles. If the odds are against you, roll the die to run away from the monster and you just might be lucky enough to emerge unscathed. Good luck. You'll need it.
WHAT SHOULD I READ WITH THIS?Since Munchkin is a parody of role-playing games, I think I should recommend the first book of the 'Critical Failures' series by Robert Bevan. In it, Tim and his three friends gather at the Chicken Hut to play their favorite RPG, 'Caverns and Creatures.' Their Cavern Master, whom they have contacted through an advert, turns out to be taking his role quite seriously and, more alarmingly, owns a special set of dice that soon transport the gang into the fantasy world he has created. Apart from their struggle to get back to their world, the four friends also have to deal with the fact that Tim is now a Halfling, Dave is a Dwarf, the newcomer Julian is an Elf and poor Cooper is a Half-Orc. And they are all level 1...
I have enjoyed all four books so far as well as a couple of short stories and have learnt a lot about Pathfinder without having read the actual rulebook from cover to cover. I must warn you, though, there is a sizeable amount of profanity in all of them, so if you are sensitive about reading certain things, you won't be able to handle the pressure. Also, if your favorite class is the Bard, you'll suffer in Bevan's hands. He HATES Bards. |
AuthorMy interests include reading, playing, learning, admiring and dreaming. If you are a creative type, I will probably become your fan. moreGoodreads
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