Search
Search results
Hot Feminist
Book
Hot (adj.) : (Of a person) Attractive 'a hot chick' Fem-i-n-ist (n.) : A person who supports...
Homicidal Psycho Jungle Cat: A Calvin and Hobbes Collection
10.0
Rate It
Book
Homicidal Psycho Jungle Cat chronicles another segment of the multifarious adventures of this wild...
Awix (3310 KP) rated The Yin and the Yang of Mr. Go (1970) in Movies
Dec 9, 2020
'It'll make you think of Dr No!' promises the poster for this almost indescribable comedy-thriller written and directed by Burgess Meredith. It didn't make me think of Dr No: it made me think of what it must be like to take hallucinogenic drugs while suffering from a bad case of the flu. The details of the plot are almost enough to defeat the English language - suffice to say that the key turning point in the story comes when the Buddha (who also narrates the story) uses his mystic powers to turn villainous Chinese-Mexican Mr Go (James Mason - yes, it's James Mason trying to play a Chinese-Mexican) into a benevolent philanthropist.
It's not just that the film is bizarre and incoherent, with plenty of gratuitous nudity, and European actors cheerfully playing Asian characters: it's also that the production values are incredibly primitive. It's almost like watching pornography without the sex (or so I would imagine). Not one element of this film is robust enough to elevate it into 'so bad it's funny' territory. It's just bad. That said, Jeff Bridges made his film debut in it, which presumably goes to show that even the least promising starts can lead to a distinguished career. But even so - for masochists and the troubled only.
It's not just that the film is bizarre and incoherent, with plenty of gratuitous nudity, and European actors cheerfully playing Asian characters: it's also that the production values are incredibly primitive. It's almost like watching pornography without the sex (or so I would imagine). Not one element of this film is robust enough to elevate it into 'so bad it's funny' territory. It's just bad. That said, Jeff Bridges made his film debut in it, which presumably goes to show that even the least promising starts can lead to a distinguished career. But even so - for masochists and the troubled only.
Mad Bullets
Games and Entertainment
App
THE BEST RAIL SHOOTER ON THE APP STORE! Mad Bullets, the wackiest shooter will put your reflexes...
Kids Songs Machine 2 – children’s sing-along songs from around the world! FREE
Games and Education
App
Kid Songs Machine 2 combines culture, entertainment, and interactivity all into one app and provides...
Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2506 KP) rated Doggone Deadly in Books
Nov 20, 2021
Doggone Fun
Kari Stuart has taken a booth at a regional dog show to promote her newly renovated pet rescue shelter. Her best friend, Suz Holden is grooming dogs for the event and helping to run it. The first night, Kari is helping Suz make sure everything is shut down when they find the dead body of a local dog breeder. The murder weapon appears to be a pair of Suz’s distinctive grooming scissors, so she leaps to the top of the suspect list. Naturally, Kari adds playing detective to her weekend plans. Can she figure out what is going on?
I enjoyed the first book in this series, and I’m thrilled to say that the second is just as much fun. The set up before Kari and Suz find the body is good, and things only pick up from there. The background of the rules around dog shows is presented in an entertaining way, so it never feels like a data dump. It’s wonderful to see the returning characters again, and the suspects are just as strong. Plus, there’s plenty of cuteness from the four-legged animals. You are in for a treat when you pick up this book.
I enjoyed the first book in this series, and I’m thrilled to say that the second is just as much fun. The set up before Kari and Suz find the body is good, and things only pick up from there. The background of the rules around dog shows is presented in an entertaining way, so it never feels like a data dump. It’s wonderful to see the returning characters again, and the suspects are just as strong. Plus, there’s plenty of cuteness from the four-legged animals. You are in for a treat when you pick up this book.
Purple Phoenix Games (2266 KP) rated The Quest Kids: Matching Adventure in Tabletop Games
Mar 25, 2021
Those of you with kids: you know how you are just aching for a good game to come out that will satisfy your 3-year-old’s interest, keep their attention throughout, and even get them talking about board games afterward? At least a game that isn’t super-basic and boring? Well have I a treat for you today. I may have just found the game for us!
The Quest Kids: Matching Adventure (can I please just call it MA from here please?) is a tile matching game based off the old evergreen Memory mechanic. However, this isn’t your gramma’s Memory. In it players are recruiting The Quest Kids to scare off the silly bad guys by matching tiles and collecting treasures. The player with the most stars at the end of the game will be the winner! But in actuality, all the players will be winners because all will have had a great time.
DISCLAIMER: We were provided a copy of this game for the purposes of this review. This is a retail copy of the game, so what you see in these photos is exactly what would be received in your box. I do not intend to cover every single rule included in the rulebook, but will describe the overall game flow and major rule set so that our readers may get a sense of how the game plays. For more in depth rules, you may purchase a copy online or from your FLGS. -T
To setup, shuffle the brown tiles, forest tiles, and river tiles separately. Lay out the brown treehouse tiles face-down into a 5 x 4 grid. Around these brown tiles will be placed the river tiles and forest tiles, the numbers of which are dependent upon how lengthy the players wish the game to be. Add the appropriate types of treasure tokens to the provided treasure chest and the game is ready to begin! We ALWAYS let our little go first. They like that.
On a turn each player will attempt to recruit a Quest Kid Hero from the brown treehouse tiles. Once a match has been found the player may begin taking their hero on an adventure! Adventures can only be attempted when a player has matched two Hero tiles from the treehouse. An adventure consists of finding a matching pair of bad guys, one each from the forest and river. For example, in order to find the matching Honey Beard bad guy tiles a Hero would need to search the river for one tile AND the forest for its match.
When bad guys are matched they provide the player with a certain number of treasures, as printed on their tile. The player reaches into the treasure chest and pulls out the correct number of treasures (my son’s favorite part). These treasures provide a number of stars (VP) depending on whether the player has matched a specific hero or not. Less stars are awarded if the appropriate hero is absent, more stars if that hero has been matched by the player.
Some treehouse tiles contain Quest Kid Allies. These Allies provide stars, but also very helpful special abilities to be used on a future turn. When these Allies are matched, the active player keeps the tile with stars and gives away the matching tile to another player. So that other player may also use the Ally for its special ability on a future turn. Alliances with a 3-year-old? I can dig it! Alliances that do not involve said 3-year-old? Watch out for the forthcoming tantrum.
Play continues in this fashion of matching tiles, scaring away bad guys and receiving treasures, and utilizing Ally special abilities until all tiles have been matched and claimed. Players all add up their stars on their collected tiles and treasures, and the most stars collected wins the game!
Components. This game is a ton of tiles and treasure tokens. That equates to, well, a whole bunch of thick cardboard in a box. The material quality is very good, but I am most impressed with the art style. I love game art that can be cartoony while also being interesting and detailed. Such is the art here. The characters are really well illustrated and each have their own personality. I have one gripe about the components: the treasure tokens feature a small picture of the Hero that allows it to be worth more stars. That Hero picture is very very tiny and details do not really transfer well to the small space, so it IS difficult to know which Kid will power up the treasure. I did find a workaround if players are not colorblind: each Hero is featured along with a color. That same color is used as the token icon and can more easily be matched to the Hero. It may save some headache if players are able to use the color as the indicator instead of the tiny picture.
In a nutshell this is Memory with strategy. The main game mechanic is memory – matching up the tiles in order to collect them. However, by throwing in the randomness of treasure token pulls and the Ally special abilities, MA just becomes a thousand percent more compelling for children and adults alike. At the end of the game my son is having a great time and almost always asks to play again. The adults are also impressed that Memory can be so much fun!
So if you are looking for that game to introduce to your youngster that actually challenges their little minds, then I strongly recommend The Quest Kids: Matching Adventure. Yes, it’s Memory, but it’s Memory that is actually fun. It’s Memory with a theme, and a kid-based theme at that. It gives the littles an opportunity to look up to these kid heroes and lets them imagine being heroes themselves. Any game that helps to empower my children will definitely be a well-loved addition to my collection. Purple Phoenix Games (well, my wife, my son, and I) give this one a victoriously heroic 16 / 18. I won’t say that I will beat you every time, but my son may. I dare you to play against him. Just make sure you throw all your extra Allies to him or he will get real mad real quick.
The Quest Kids: Matching Adventure (can I please just call it MA from here please?) is a tile matching game based off the old evergreen Memory mechanic. However, this isn’t your gramma’s Memory. In it players are recruiting The Quest Kids to scare off the silly bad guys by matching tiles and collecting treasures. The player with the most stars at the end of the game will be the winner! But in actuality, all the players will be winners because all will have had a great time.
DISCLAIMER: We were provided a copy of this game for the purposes of this review. This is a retail copy of the game, so what you see in these photos is exactly what would be received in your box. I do not intend to cover every single rule included in the rulebook, but will describe the overall game flow and major rule set so that our readers may get a sense of how the game plays. For more in depth rules, you may purchase a copy online or from your FLGS. -T
To setup, shuffle the brown tiles, forest tiles, and river tiles separately. Lay out the brown treehouse tiles face-down into a 5 x 4 grid. Around these brown tiles will be placed the river tiles and forest tiles, the numbers of which are dependent upon how lengthy the players wish the game to be. Add the appropriate types of treasure tokens to the provided treasure chest and the game is ready to begin! We ALWAYS let our little go first. They like that.
On a turn each player will attempt to recruit a Quest Kid Hero from the brown treehouse tiles. Once a match has been found the player may begin taking their hero on an adventure! Adventures can only be attempted when a player has matched two Hero tiles from the treehouse. An adventure consists of finding a matching pair of bad guys, one each from the forest and river. For example, in order to find the matching Honey Beard bad guy tiles a Hero would need to search the river for one tile AND the forest for its match.
When bad guys are matched they provide the player with a certain number of treasures, as printed on their tile. The player reaches into the treasure chest and pulls out the correct number of treasures (my son’s favorite part). These treasures provide a number of stars (VP) depending on whether the player has matched a specific hero or not. Less stars are awarded if the appropriate hero is absent, more stars if that hero has been matched by the player.
Some treehouse tiles contain Quest Kid Allies. These Allies provide stars, but also very helpful special abilities to be used on a future turn. When these Allies are matched, the active player keeps the tile with stars and gives away the matching tile to another player. So that other player may also use the Ally for its special ability on a future turn. Alliances with a 3-year-old? I can dig it! Alliances that do not involve said 3-year-old? Watch out for the forthcoming tantrum.
Play continues in this fashion of matching tiles, scaring away bad guys and receiving treasures, and utilizing Ally special abilities until all tiles have been matched and claimed. Players all add up their stars on their collected tiles and treasures, and the most stars collected wins the game!
Components. This game is a ton of tiles and treasure tokens. That equates to, well, a whole bunch of thick cardboard in a box. The material quality is very good, but I am most impressed with the art style. I love game art that can be cartoony while also being interesting and detailed. Such is the art here. The characters are really well illustrated and each have their own personality. I have one gripe about the components: the treasure tokens feature a small picture of the Hero that allows it to be worth more stars. That Hero picture is very very tiny and details do not really transfer well to the small space, so it IS difficult to know which Kid will power up the treasure. I did find a workaround if players are not colorblind: each Hero is featured along with a color. That same color is used as the token icon and can more easily be matched to the Hero. It may save some headache if players are able to use the color as the indicator instead of the tiny picture.
In a nutshell this is Memory with strategy. The main game mechanic is memory – matching up the tiles in order to collect them. However, by throwing in the randomness of treasure token pulls and the Ally special abilities, MA just becomes a thousand percent more compelling for children and adults alike. At the end of the game my son is having a great time and almost always asks to play again. The adults are also impressed that Memory can be so much fun!
So if you are looking for that game to introduce to your youngster that actually challenges their little minds, then I strongly recommend The Quest Kids: Matching Adventure. Yes, it’s Memory, but it’s Memory that is actually fun. It’s Memory with a theme, and a kid-based theme at that. It gives the littles an opportunity to look up to these kid heroes and lets them imagine being heroes themselves. Any game that helps to empower my children will definitely be a well-loved addition to my collection. Purple Phoenix Games (well, my wife, my son, and I) give this one a victoriously heroic 16 / 18. I won’t say that I will beat you every time, but my son may. I dare you to play against him. Just make sure you throw all your extra Allies to him or he will get real mad real quick.
Paul Kellett (118 KP) rated Lifeform in Tabletop Games
May 1, 2019
I demoed this at Fan Boy 3 in Manchester during the Kickstarter campaign and was really excited to get to try this out.
So, what is the game?
Basically, it is Alien: The Board Game. A highly thematic one against many survival game where some of you play the crew of the mining ship Valley Forge trying to escape the clutches of an unknown alien killer before the ship self-destructs. Sound familiar? You bet, and it captures the tension of that well-known film perfectly.
I arrived part way through a game and Tristan kindly gave up his seat to let Me jump in. I basically new nothing about how to play, having only watched a couple of demo videos earlier in the week but with a crib sheet in front of Me explaining the card icons and a quick run down of what you can do in a turn, it didn't feel overwhelming and I was able to take over quite seamlessly. The game was close to the end and the alien player had already taken out most of the crew and was set up very nicely to ambush the rest of us. It wasn't long before the ship was adrift with just one deadly occupant...
How does it work?
We played a basic game, so some of the more meatier options were not included and we just had the simple task of gathering enough equipment and escaping in the shuttlecraft.
In the full game, players will be assigned personal objectives like downloading the ship's log from the data core or gathering specific equipment. This will add much more depth to the game as each player will be striving to achieve these goals as well as trying to avoid the alien and reaching the escape shuttle.
In the simple game however, we just had to focus on escaping. To do this, you need to collect the equipment tokens that are arranged in various rooms on the board. These are then placed on a track at the side of the board in various slots for coolant, energy cells, weapons, space suits and halon canisters. Most of these tracks have a minimum number of tokens needed before you can attempt to escape and any extra will grant bonuses like drawing extra cards or gaining a flame thrower.
In your turn, you get to perform one action so the downtime is minimal and the turns fair zip around the table, often before you've had a chance to take a breath and plan your next move.
All the actions are played from the cards you have in your hand, so you feel the tension of needing to get somewhere but having to wait until you draw a card that lets you run through multiple rooms.
Drawing cards. Now there's a thing. The ship's self destruct has been activated (naturally) and you only have 30 minutes until the ship blows up. Each time you choose to draw more cards into your hand, you slide the marker up the track, closer to the big bang.
I can't say too much about what the alien player can do as I didn't get to study that side of things too much but it certainly has some devious tricks up it's sleeve.
The alien player starts with two standees on the board. They look identical besides a little coloured sticker (this will be a set of symbols in the final game). He also has a corresponding set of tokens next to his player board and he will choose one of these to be the alien. The other standee (or standees, as later in the game there is the chance to get a third standee out) is a decoy so the crew, essentially seeing these as blips on their trackers, never know which is the real threat until it's too late.
There is a nice twist here, as, after making a kill, the alien player get's to reset his tokens and choose again which one will be the decoy and which will be the real killer. The alien player can also choose whether the kill was silent, offing the victim quickly and cleanly, or whether it is a nasty, brutal affair with lots of screaming. If the latter, then the other crew members hear this and all have to make a panic move into an adjacent room. This can be really useful if the crew are about to pick up equipment or possibly achieve an objective (I'm not sure if the personal objectives will be common knowledge or not sat this point).
The alien has various little trackers it can use from hatching more eggs letting it increase the amount of cards it holds, to taking control of the android on the crew which will then get placed on the board and follow a programmed track, killing any crew in it's way until it gets to the escape shuttle where it will start sabotaging various systems.
The alien also gets to place terror tokens and power out tokens on the board. If you enter a space with a terror token, you have to draw a card from the terror deck and these are always bad. A room with a power outage is dark and you can't run through it, you must stop your movement there. Other bad things can happen in the dark too.
What if I die?
Another neat thing this game does is avoid player elimination by cycling the crew. In our game, there were two of us controlling two characters each and when both of My characters died, I took one from the other player so we had one each. When that character was also killed (yes, I was not doing well...), rather than being forced to sit out the rest of the game, I could choose one of two secondary roles to play.
I could take control of the ship's mainframe computer which would allow me to do things like open and close bulkhead doors, slowing the alien down, allow the other players to draw more cards and various other useful things.
Or I could play the ship's cat. This was the option I went for and it was great. I could distract the alien, destroy some of it's eggs (so reducing it's hand size), place additional equipment tokens on the board or assist the other crew by letting them draw more cards.
It was this that that actually gave us the win as it was looking pretty bleak towards the end, but the cat actually managed to guide the last remaining crew member to a flamethrower and distract the alien long enough to make our escape.
What do I think?
This game is superb. Easy to pick up, but very thematic and definitely very tense. The decisions can be easy at times, but then you will hit a situation where the alien has you cornered and you must make some hard choices.
As I said, the theme just drips off every part of this game like a slightly corrosive drool. Our game started off really well - we managed to quickly gather a massive chunk of the equipment we needed to escape but the alien had been cutting the power and placing terror tokens closer to the escape shuttle ready for our eventual arrival and by the mid-game, we were feeling trapped and the alien was using the ventilation ducts to spring out and take us down one by one.
We were down to one surviving crew member and the ship's cat who, as I already mentioned managed to lead the human to the safety of the shuttle and espace.
Just getting to the shuttle isn't the end, however, there is one last twist (as in all good stories). At around the mid-point of the self destruct track, the alien get's to pick a card which is his estimate on what point prior to the ship blowing up we will reach the shuttle. If he has guessed correctly, then as we leave the stricken mining vessel, we find out that the shuttle has one extra occupant...
We were lucky and the alien player had guessed incorrectly, but had he been right, then there would have been a final battle aboard the escape shuttle and we may have been sending some deadly cargo back to Earth...
I can highly recommend this game and best of all, there is an expansion that adds an AI deck and a whole other set of objectives for solo play. I had a quick look at this and it looks like it will make for a very tense and really exciting solo game as well as a cool multiplayer experience.
So, what is the game?
Basically, it is Alien: The Board Game. A highly thematic one against many survival game where some of you play the crew of the mining ship Valley Forge trying to escape the clutches of an unknown alien killer before the ship self-destructs. Sound familiar? You bet, and it captures the tension of that well-known film perfectly.
I arrived part way through a game and Tristan kindly gave up his seat to let Me jump in. I basically new nothing about how to play, having only watched a couple of demo videos earlier in the week but with a crib sheet in front of Me explaining the card icons and a quick run down of what you can do in a turn, it didn't feel overwhelming and I was able to take over quite seamlessly. The game was close to the end and the alien player had already taken out most of the crew and was set up very nicely to ambush the rest of us. It wasn't long before the ship was adrift with just one deadly occupant...
How does it work?
We played a basic game, so some of the more meatier options were not included and we just had the simple task of gathering enough equipment and escaping in the shuttlecraft.
In the full game, players will be assigned personal objectives like downloading the ship's log from the data core or gathering specific equipment. This will add much more depth to the game as each player will be striving to achieve these goals as well as trying to avoid the alien and reaching the escape shuttle.
In the simple game however, we just had to focus on escaping. To do this, you need to collect the equipment tokens that are arranged in various rooms on the board. These are then placed on a track at the side of the board in various slots for coolant, energy cells, weapons, space suits and halon canisters. Most of these tracks have a minimum number of tokens needed before you can attempt to escape and any extra will grant bonuses like drawing extra cards or gaining a flame thrower.
In your turn, you get to perform one action so the downtime is minimal and the turns fair zip around the table, often before you've had a chance to take a breath and plan your next move.
All the actions are played from the cards you have in your hand, so you feel the tension of needing to get somewhere but having to wait until you draw a card that lets you run through multiple rooms.
Drawing cards. Now there's a thing. The ship's self destruct has been activated (naturally) and you only have 30 minutes until the ship blows up. Each time you choose to draw more cards into your hand, you slide the marker up the track, closer to the big bang.
I can't say too much about what the alien player can do as I didn't get to study that side of things too much but it certainly has some devious tricks up it's sleeve.
The alien player starts with two standees on the board. They look identical besides a little coloured sticker (this will be a set of symbols in the final game). He also has a corresponding set of tokens next to his player board and he will choose one of these to be the alien. The other standee (or standees, as later in the game there is the chance to get a third standee out) is a decoy so the crew, essentially seeing these as blips on their trackers, never know which is the real threat until it's too late.
There is a nice twist here, as, after making a kill, the alien player get's to reset his tokens and choose again which one will be the decoy and which will be the real killer. The alien player can also choose whether the kill was silent, offing the victim quickly and cleanly, or whether it is a nasty, brutal affair with lots of screaming. If the latter, then the other crew members hear this and all have to make a panic move into an adjacent room. This can be really useful if the crew are about to pick up equipment or possibly achieve an objective (I'm not sure if the personal objectives will be common knowledge or not sat this point).
The alien has various little trackers it can use from hatching more eggs letting it increase the amount of cards it holds, to taking control of the android on the crew which will then get placed on the board and follow a programmed track, killing any crew in it's way until it gets to the escape shuttle where it will start sabotaging various systems.
The alien also gets to place terror tokens and power out tokens on the board. If you enter a space with a terror token, you have to draw a card from the terror deck and these are always bad. A room with a power outage is dark and you can't run through it, you must stop your movement there. Other bad things can happen in the dark too.
What if I die?
Another neat thing this game does is avoid player elimination by cycling the crew. In our game, there were two of us controlling two characters each and when both of My characters died, I took one from the other player so we had one each. When that character was also killed (yes, I was not doing well...), rather than being forced to sit out the rest of the game, I could choose one of two secondary roles to play.
I could take control of the ship's mainframe computer which would allow me to do things like open and close bulkhead doors, slowing the alien down, allow the other players to draw more cards and various other useful things.
Or I could play the ship's cat. This was the option I went for and it was great. I could distract the alien, destroy some of it's eggs (so reducing it's hand size), place additional equipment tokens on the board or assist the other crew by letting them draw more cards.
It was this that that actually gave us the win as it was looking pretty bleak towards the end, but the cat actually managed to guide the last remaining crew member to a flamethrower and distract the alien long enough to make our escape.
What do I think?
This game is superb. Easy to pick up, but very thematic and definitely very tense. The decisions can be easy at times, but then you will hit a situation where the alien has you cornered and you must make some hard choices.
As I said, the theme just drips off every part of this game like a slightly corrosive drool. Our game started off really well - we managed to quickly gather a massive chunk of the equipment we needed to escape but the alien had been cutting the power and placing terror tokens closer to the escape shuttle ready for our eventual arrival and by the mid-game, we were feeling trapped and the alien was using the ventilation ducts to spring out and take us down one by one.
We were down to one surviving crew member and the ship's cat who, as I already mentioned managed to lead the human to the safety of the shuttle and espace.
Just getting to the shuttle isn't the end, however, there is one last twist (as in all good stories). At around the mid-point of the self destruct track, the alien get's to pick a card which is his estimate on what point prior to the ship blowing up we will reach the shuttle. If he has guessed correctly, then as we leave the stricken mining vessel, we find out that the shuttle has one extra occupant...
We were lucky and the alien player had guessed incorrectly, but had he been right, then there would have been a final battle aboard the escape shuttle and we may have been sending some deadly cargo back to Earth...
I can highly recommend this game and best of all, there is an expansion that adds an AI deck and a whole other set of objectives for solo play. I had a quick look at this and it looks like it will make for a very tense and really exciting solo game as well as a cool multiplayer experience.
Gareth von Kallenbach (980 KP) rated Casino Royale (2006) in Movies
Aug 14, 2019
In an effort to breathe life into franchises, Hollywood, has looked to remaking franchises instead of adding sequels. This is a stark contrast to remaking a film 10-20 years after the original film appeared, rather the new trend is to start series anew, in effect wiping away the previous history and continuity of the past films in the series.
The idea is that rather than let several years pass in a series, or creating another sequel, filmmaker will go back to the beginning and start anew, in order to propel the franchise forward.
While remakes are nothing new in Hollywood, the idea to revamp series that recently had sequels is gaining ground. With the classic Horror film “Halloween” about to be remade, it seems that Hollywood is taking a long hard look at this new trend.
Perhaps the biggest example of this trend is in the new James Bond film Casino Royale, which introduces Daniel Craig as the new 007. The film takes the controversial twist to show the first mission of Bond and how he earned the rank of 00.
The twist is that the film takes place in the modern day and for the most part, casts aside all previous history and continuity that has been established by decades of Bond films.
The story involves bond on the trail of a Le Chiffre (Mads Mikkelsen), a man who makes his living laundering money for various insurgents thus providing them cash for their terrorist and military missions.
In exotic locales ranging from the Caribbean to Montenegro Bond soon finds himself facing off against Le Chiffre in a high-stakes poker game in order to defeat Le Chiffre and thus cripple him and his network.
Of course there are plenty of subplots, and some great action sequences especially a thrilling chase in a construction site and a break neck chase in an airport that underscores that the series still have plenty of life in it and always sets the standards for stunt work in action films.
That being said the film has its issues. First, it is to long, and lengthy sequences past without action or dynamic tension. I know this is a film based on a card game, but I come to a Bond film expecting action, sex, and thrills, not a series of poker games that cover nearly 30 minutes with precious little action between them.
In addition, there is precious little romance in the film. Sure there are gorgeous women and Bond never fails to charm them, but, how many times has Bond ever passed up spending the night with a woman, simply to get out of town fast to pursue a lead. I am sure Sean Connery’s Bond would have found the time to do both with his typical style.
This is not to say that Craig is bad in his role as he does a darker and much grittier Bond than we have previously films which will serve the franchise well in the future.
What concerns me most is that from the books and all previous history, Bond is an orphan of noble birth and is a member of upper society and radiates class, sophistication and nobility, and this was evident from his early years all through his recruitment from the Royal Navy into the ranks of espionage.
Craig’s Bond does not show these qualities but rather comes across as a common Joe who is playing the part of a heavy. The appeal of Bond is underscored by the fact that he is a suave individual who can bend a person to his will as easily as he can kill without mercy or regret.
While I do not like the decision to remake the franchise, I will say that the film was much better than I expected it to be and is one of the better Bonds in recent years. Here is hoping that for the next time out, the reigns are loosed on Craig so we can allow him to interpret Bond in a way that is original and fresh, yet stays true to the source material and history of the character.
The idea is that rather than let several years pass in a series, or creating another sequel, filmmaker will go back to the beginning and start anew, in order to propel the franchise forward.
While remakes are nothing new in Hollywood, the idea to revamp series that recently had sequels is gaining ground. With the classic Horror film “Halloween” about to be remade, it seems that Hollywood is taking a long hard look at this new trend.
Perhaps the biggest example of this trend is in the new James Bond film Casino Royale, which introduces Daniel Craig as the new 007. The film takes the controversial twist to show the first mission of Bond and how he earned the rank of 00.
The twist is that the film takes place in the modern day and for the most part, casts aside all previous history and continuity that has been established by decades of Bond films.
The story involves bond on the trail of a Le Chiffre (Mads Mikkelsen), a man who makes his living laundering money for various insurgents thus providing them cash for their terrorist and military missions.
In exotic locales ranging from the Caribbean to Montenegro Bond soon finds himself facing off against Le Chiffre in a high-stakes poker game in order to defeat Le Chiffre and thus cripple him and his network.
Of course there are plenty of subplots, and some great action sequences especially a thrilling chase in a construction site and a break neck chase in an airport that underscores that the series still have plenty of life in it and always sets the standards for stunt work in action films.
That being said the film has its issues. First, it is to long, and lengthy sequences past without action or dynamic tension. I know this is a film based on a card game, but I come to a Bond film expecting action, sex, and thrills, not a series of poker games that cover nearly 30 minutes with precious little action between them.
In addition, there is precious little romance in the film. Sure there are gorgeous women and Bond never fails to charm them, but, how many times has Bond ever passed up spending the night with a woman, simply to get out of town fast to pursue a lead. I am sure Sean Connery’s Bond would have found the time to do both with his typical style.
This is not to say that Craig is bad in his role as he does a darker and much grittier Bond than we have previously films which will serve the franchise well in the future.
What concerns me most is that from the books and all previous history, Bond is an orphan of noble birth and is a member of upper society and radiates class, sophistication and nobility, and this was evident from his early years all through his recruitment from the Royal Navy into the ranks of espionage.
Craig’s Bond does not show these qualities but rather comes across as a common Joe who is playing the part of a heavy. The appeal of Bond is underscored by the fact that he is a suave individual who can bend a person to his will as easily as he can kill without mercy or regret.
While I do not like the decision to remake the franchise, I will say that the film was much better than I expected it to be and is one of the better Bonds in recent years. Here is hoping that for the next time out, the reigns are loosed on Craig so we can allow him to interpret Bond in a way that is original and fresh, yet stays true to the source material and history of the character.
Purple Phoenix Games (2266 KP) rated Top Pop in Tabletop Games
Jul 22, 2021
THANK YOU, TALON STRIKES STUDIOS! I recently moved from Illinois to Tennessee (where things are mostly “Coke”) and I have always grown up calling soft drinks “pop,” so when I saw a group was creating a game using the proper terminology, I jumped at the chance. Stackable bottlecaps AND a bidding mechanic? I’m so in. This may not be everyone’s jam, but it’s working for me!
Top Pop is a 2-5 player (well, I would say 3-5) card game of market penetration and territory influence. In it, players are representatives of rival pop manufacturers bent on skyrocketing their company’s popularity in various major cities across the country. The winning rep is they who can diversify their influence and hit influential cities hard and often.
DISCLAIMER: We were provided a prototype copy of this game for the purposes of this review. These are preview copy components, and I do not know for sure if the final components will be any different from these shown. Also, it is not my intention to detail every rule in the game, as there are just too many. You are invited to download the rulebook, back the game through the Kickstarter campaign, or through any retailers stocking it after fulfillment. -T
To setup a game of Top Pop, refer to the rulebook to determine the starting resources per number of players. Each game is setup differently depending on how many players are involved. Shuffle the deck of city cards, and if using the optional City Power or Scenario variants, place these cards on the table for all to access as well. Each player chooses a color, receives the appropriate starting resources and the game is ready to begin!
On the active player’s turn, they will complete the following steps: Collect City Cards, Play a City Card, Take Caps, Place Stacks, and then Draw a Card. The first turn of the game Collect City Cards is skipped, but after that, each card the active player owns the largest stack of tops on they will collect. Caps that were stacked on the card are redistributed depending on where the card was placed (in front of the active player or a rival player). Next, the player will Play a City Card from their hand either in front of themselves or in front of a rival player. This is an important step to consider because once a card has been claimed then caps are distributed according to card placement, as referenced in the first step. Also noteworthy here is that if a card is placed in front of a rival, the active player takes one of said rival’s caps (Take Caps) from the bank of caps in the middle of table as well as a cap of the active player’s choice.
Now that the active player presumably has some caps with which to play, they Place Stacks on any City Card(s) they wish. The stacks of caps need to be the tallest stack on the card, must include a cap of the same color of the player who currently owns the highest stack, and must also be topped with a cap of the active player’s color. Any amount of caps may be added to a City Card in order to achieve these requirements, and the active player may place stacks on any number of City Cards in play. Once the active player has placed all caps they wish, they must then Draw a Card and prepare for their next turn.
As City Cards are played, caps placed out in stacks, and players winning bids on cards, players are jockeying for endgame points. The game ends after a player collects their sixth City Card and every other player has a chance to spend their remaining caps to claim cards. At the end of the game, points are awarded for having simple majority in each city as well as points for collecting a more diversified set of City Cards. The player with the most points scored at the end of the game wins!
Components. Again, this is a prototype copy of the game, so components are in no way final. Most notably, the final copies of Top Pop will include nice plastic stackable bottlecaps that look way better than the painted wooden discs (which for a prototype, are actually quite nice). The City Cards look and feel complete to me, and are pretty impressive. I like the art quite a bit and the game’s style is spot on. I am very excited to see how this one ends up, and I think gamers will love handling the finished bottlecaps.
There is a lot going on here that is hard to put into words. I played this solely three-player and included the City Powers with a few Scenarios (Kickstarter exclusives, I understand). I found the base game to be very good, but adding in those optional rules really makes it pop for me (I know you saw what I did there). Every player is constantly engaged throughout, and the tactical play always has me considering tons of options. I would not necessarily want to play this with extremely AP-prone players, but it is quick enough to include them as well from time to time.
What I like most about Top Pop, in addition to the overall aesthetic (even in the prototype), is the tactics in watching what other players are collecting, where the cards are placed, and cross-referencing all that with your personal bottlecap economy. There are just so many things to consider on each turn that makes me hungry for more and more plays. I say this a lot, but when I think about a game and ways I would attack it differently outside of the game session, that is a mark of a great game to me. And this one is a great game to me.
If you are looking for a uniquely-themed bidding card game with (promised) excellent components, I urge you to check out the Kickstarter campaign, which ends August 7, 2021. And on a personal note, I’m so excited to have both Chicago and New Orleans in this game. Two of my favorite cities in the world!
Top Pop is a 2-5 player (well, I would say 3-5) card game of market penetration and territory influence. In it, players are representatives of rival pop manufacturers bent on skyrocketing their company’s popularity in various major cities across the country. The winning rep is they who can diversify their influence and hit influential cities hard and often.
DISCLAIMER: We were provided a prototype copy of this game for the purposes of this review. These are preview copy components, and I do not know for sure if the final components will be any different from these shown. Also, it is not my intention to detail every rule in the game, as there are just too many. You are invited to download the rulebook, back the game through the Kickstarter campaign, or through any retailers stocking it after fulfillment. -T
To setup a game of Top Pop, refer to the rulebook to determine the starting resources per number of players. Each game is setup differently depending on how many players are involved. Shuffle the deck of city cards, and if using the optional City Power or Scenario variants, place these cards on the table for all to access as well. Each player chooses a color, receives the appropriate starting resources and the game is ready to begin!
On the active player’s turn, they will complete the following steps: Collect City Cards, Play a City Card, Take Caps, Place Stacks, and then Draw a Card. The first turn of the game Collect City Cards is skipped, but after that, each card the active player owns the largest stack of tops on they will collect. Caps that were stacked on the card are redistributed depending on where the card was placed (in front of the active player or a rival player). Next, the player will Play a City Card from their hand either in front of themselves or in front of a rival player. This is an important step to consider because once a card has been claimed then caps are distributed according to card placement, as referenced in the first step. Also noteworthy here is that if a card is placed in front of a rival, the active player takes one of said rival’s caps (Take Caps) from the bank of caps in the middle of table as well as a cap of the active player’s choice.
Now that the active player presumably has some caps with which to play, they Place Stacks on any City Card(s) they wish. The stacks of caps need to be the tallest stack on the card, must include a cap of the same color of the player who currently owns the highest stack, and must also be topped with a cap of the active player’s color. Any amount of caps may be added to a City Card in order to achieve these requirements, and the active player may place stacks on any number of City Cards in play. Once the active player has placed all caps they wish, they must then Draw a Card and prepare for their next turn.
As City Cards are played, caps placed out in stacks, and players winning bids on cards, players are jockeying for endgame points. The game ends after a player collects their sixth City Card and every other player has a chance to spend their remaining caps to claim cards. At the end of the game, points are awarded for having simple majority in each city as well as points for collecting a more diversified set of City Cards. The player with the most points scored at the end of the game wins!
Components. Again, this is a prototype copy of the game, so components are in no way final. Most notably, the final copies of Top Pop will include nice plastic stackable bottlecaps that look way better than the painted wooden discs (which for a prototype, are actually quite nice). The City Cards look and feel complete to me, and are pretty impressive. I like the art quite a bit and the game’s style is spot on. I am very excited to see how this one ends up, and I think gamers will love handling the finished bottlecaps.
There is a lot going on here that is hard to put into words. I played this solely three-player and included the City Powers with a few Scenarios (Kickstarter exclusives, I understand). I found the base game to be very good, but adding in those optional rules really makes it pop for me (I know you saw what I did there). Every player is constantly engaged throughout, and the tactical play always has me considering tons of options. I would not necessarily want to play this with extremely AP-prone players, but it is quick enough to include them as well from time to time.
What I like most about Top Pop, in addition to the overall aesthetic (even in the prototype), is the tactics in watching what other players are collecting, where the cards are placed, and cross-referencing all that with your personal bottlecap economy. There are just so many things to consider on each turn that makes me hungry for more and more plays. I say this a lot, but when I think about a game and ways I would attack it differently outside of the game session, that is a mark of a great game to me. And this one is a great game to me.
If you are looking for a uniquely-themed bidding card game with (promised) excellent components, I urge you to check out the Kickstarter campaign, which ends August 7, 2021. And on a personal note, I’m so excited to have both Chicago and New Orleans in this game. Two of my favorite cities in the world!
