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    Fingle

    Fingle

    Games and Entertainment

    (0 Ratings) Rate It

    App

    Explore the intimate touch of each others fingers with Fingle's two-player puzzles. Break the ice or...

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Solomon Wendt (30 KP) rated The Big Book of Madness in Tabletop Games

May 5, 2019  
The Big Book of Madness
The Big Book of Madness
2015 | Card Game, Fantasy
8
7.0 (2 Ratings)
Tabletop Game Rating
Cooperation (3 more)
Spell Casting
Some randomization
Multiple Difficulties
Small cards (1 more)
Unclear rules/mechanics
This game is made by iello games, makers of Mountains of Madness and King of Tokyo. It is about student magicians that feel they aren't learning enough in their classes and decide to sneak into a library to learn new spells. There, they find a grimoire that contains monsters and accidentally releases them. They must work together to defeat the monsters and seal the book, learning from the books around them to learn new spells and collect elements to cast the spells, all while trying not to give into madness.

The game mechanics feature deck building, spell casting, cooperation, and some randomization of spells available and monsters to defeat. There are schools of magic related to the four elements; air, earth, fire, and water. Each element has two magician students that specializes in that element for a total of 8 different characters, each with their own special ability. There are four decks of spells, again related to the elements, that is randomized during set up, changing what spells are available game to game. Similarly, the monsters you must face are randomized, so the chance of having the same exact game as another is rare. The gameplay remains consistent, though.

Over the course of 6 rounds, players work together to defeat monsters. It is a pure cooperation game. No one has any secret objective and should communicate with other players. Games of this fashion, such as Pandemic, tend to end up having one or two people make all the decisions for the group. It my many plays of the game, I have only had that happen once or twice. The variation in spells, magicians, and elements usually make a player uniquely helpful to the group, allowing players to choose how they want to build their character. Although each magician has an elemental alignment, you can choose to focus on different elements and spells and are not limited to one type of role. Each element of magic has a different role to deal the challenges players face, meaning a good balance can be very beneficial. However, due to the randomization, it is possible either the spells or the monsters leave one of the elements non-essential, but that is fairly uncommon.

Overall, the game is very enjoyable and can be played multiple times with different variations. The difficulty can be adjusted if ot feels it is too hard or easy. My group that plays about once a week are clearing the 2nd difficulty 50% of the time and haven't cleared it with a variation yet. It can be a challenge and has elements of luck and strategy. It is a fun game to play with friends, especially because it is cooperative, and I would recommend adding it to your collection.

The game is 2-5 players and runs 60-90 minutes. It is family friendly and a great game for those who love magic fandoms such as Harry Potter.
  
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The Marinated Meeple (1853 KP) May 7, 2019

keep them coming this is great, I got kudos to give boardgamers...
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Rhubarbio (27 KP) rated Escape From Sunset Island in Tabletop Games

May 26, 2019  
Escape From Sunset Island
Escape From Sunset Island
2013 | Zombie / Survivalist
7
7.0 (1 Ratings)
Tabletop Game Rating
Co-operative survival game (3 more)
Hidden traitor mechanic, which plays well against the impetus to work together
Challenging gameplay
Players who are turned into zones can continue to play as zombies, rather than being eliminated
Artwork is basic (1 more)
Longevity of gameplay will depend heavily on your group
A decent enough zombie game
I have very fond memories playing this game, based primarily on the enthusiasm of my gaming group to play this 2/3 times a night, approximately twice a week, for a year! This game places a group of people on an island, with zombies that are about to awaken and chase you down to turn you. Each player has a special action and may pick up a weapon along their travels across the island, whilst on search of fuel and water, both of which are needed to leave the island. The catch? Carrying these items slows you down, so you have to work together to get to one of two points on the island to get away and win...but if the zombies turn players, there are more after the survivors, and there is also the potential for a traitor in your midst, so who can you trust? This is a difficult game to win, but is the more enjoyable for it. That said, it includes basic mechanics and therefore the strength of the game will depend heavily on the enthusiasm of your gaming group.