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Blue Moon City
Blue Moon City
2006 | City Building, Fantasy
Ahh Blue Moon. Delicious on a hot Summer day night. Hefeweizen is my favorite type of beer, but most places do not serve my all-time fave Hefe: Paulaner Hefe-Weizen. If you haven’t yet tried it, you must. I’m no snob or anything, so I’ll take the Blue Moon when I can’t have the Paulaner, but I wanted you all to know my tastes. So when I heard about a game that was all about a city named after a beer I enjoy (but only with an orange slice) I had to try it. Did it live up to my expectations or did it- wait, this game isn’t about beer? Why the heck did I-


Blue Moon City is a fantasy-set, hand management, set collection, city rebuilding game for two to four players. In it players are attempting to help reconstruct the war-ravaged Blue Moon City to its former glory by utilizing its citizens at crucial construction sites in order to earn crystals. It sounds weird, and it is, but read further to understand why. Oh and there are dragons that act like supervisors or teachers when they come stand by you to watch you take a test and judge you from behind the whole time.
To setup, place the Courtyard tile in the middle of the table and build the city in a 5×5 grid minus the corner tiles. Each player chooses their color and takes the mini and discs of that color. Place the dragons nearby, along with the Obelisk token, draw deck of cards, crystal chits, and dragon scale chits. Deal each player a hand of eight cards and the game may begin!

Blue Moon City is played over a series of turns, and each turn is divided into four phases: Movement, Contribution, Reset, Pass Turn. During the optional Movement phase, a player may move their pawn one to two orthagonal spaces (N/E/S/W) or use cards from their hand for their special movement powers for player pawn AND/OR dragon movement.

Next, a player may discard cards from their hand to contribute to the reconstruction of a building during this optional Contribution phase. By discarding a number of cards whose values equal or exceed the printed value on the matching-colored building tile a player will be able to place a disc upon the tile. Once the tile’s contribution spaces have been filled with discs it can be scored. To score a building tile, determine majority presence on the tile and award the Majority Bonus to that player. Any disc presence in minority will receive the Construction Bonus, including the majority winner. If a player had contributed on a tile that also was hosting a dragon mini, that player would earn a dragon scale from said dragon supervisor. Players may also make their way back to the Courtyard tile in order to donate crystals to the Obelisk. Doing so will allow the player to place one of their discs on the Obelisk itself, and the game ends when a player has placed the proper number of discs upon the Obelisk per the number of players.

When the pile of dragon scale tokens has been exhausted, players will check who currently holds the majority of scales. They will be awarded with six crystals, and any player holding three or more will receive three crystals. Turn all the dragon scales back into the supply to be earned again.

During the Reset phase a player may discard any number of cards from their hand and draw back as many cards plus two. So if a player discards zero cards from hand they would still draw two from the deck. Discarded four cards? Well redraw six.

Finally the active player will Pass Turn to the player on their left, who will complete their turn of the same four phases.


Play continues in this fashion until one player has placed the target number of discs on the Obelisk token to claim victory and dragon approval!
Components. Okay, this is a tough one because overall I love the components in the game. The dragons and player pawns are cool minis (from CMON that just makes sense). The Obelisk token is huge and I love how it looks. The art overall is really creepy, but well done, and enjoyable to behold. The player discs, though poo-pooed by other more-renowned reviewers, I find to be just fine. They are a smooth plastic in the player color and I have no problems with their quality. But speaking of colors… I agree with others that have stated the colors of some cards (or suits, if you prefer) should have been made a different color. What I mean is that the game is very greige-heavy throughout. The card suits (except the red, yellow, and blue) are a variation of the same greige that makes eyes strain to determine exactly which color they are holding. I understand that a certain aesthetic was targeted, and they certainly achieved that, but these colors do make it more difficult to play, especially for us that are starting to over-ripen with age.

Those component gripes aside, this is an incredible game. The color choices aside, I love everything about it! The movement from tile to tile, and trying to align movement with the cards in hand and keeping some back so that you can use them to move the dragon to your spot as well is just fun mental exercise. Each value 1 and 2 card has a special ability, be it movement bonuses, changing other cards’ colors, or just being straight up wild cards, and having to choose to use the cards as either the special power or for contribution values creates tons of crunchy gamer choices. Not super-crunchy. Turns won’t be mentally debated for 10 minutes, but deciding how best to use the hand of cards you hold is great.

I also very much enjoy the theme of the game, even though I was hoodwinked by the title (not really, just trying to tie it all back). I love fantasy worlds and having a unique theme is a definite plus for me. I haven’t yet thrown in the expansion tiles, but I will the next time I play. If you need a relatively quick-playing jaunt through a ravaged city, I recommend you check out Blue Moon City. Purple Phoenix Games give it a 10 / 12. It has nothing to do with beer, which would be another great theme idea – drunken dragons – but I will be holding onto this one for quite a while.
  
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Ready or Not (2019)
Ready or Not (2019)
2019 | Comedy, Horror, Mystery
Bloody Good Fun
Ready Or Not is a 2019 black comedy/horror movie directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olphin and Tyler Gillett from a screenplay by Gus Busick and R. Christopher Murphy. Producers on the film included Tripp Vinson, James Vanderbilt, Willem Sherak, and Bradley J. Fischer. It was produced by Fox Searchlight Pictures, Mythology Entertainment, Vinson Films and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. The film stars Samara Weaving, Adam Brody, Mark O'Brien, Henry Czerny and Andie MacDowell.


Grace couldn't be happier after she marries the man of her dreams at his family's luxurious estate. There's just one catch -- at midnight on the wedding night, the wealthy Le Domas family hosts a generations long tradition of playing a game with each new addition to the family. Tony, her new father-in-law explains that Grace must participate in a session where she must draw a card from a mysterious wooden box and play the game to be a full-fledged member of the family. She must now hide from midnight until dawn while her new in-laws hunt her down with guns, crossbows, and other weapons s she desperately tries to survive the night,


This movie was great. I liked it quite a bit. It was a fresh take on one of my favorite genres. The movie was also pretty funny and had a good way of mixing the horror with comedy. The acting was also really good with Samara Weaving doing a great job and a solid performance from Adam Brody too. The script and plot could have been a little more solid but it's a enjoyable ride. There were some inconsistencies with the plot and some humor that fell flat but overall a good mashup of genres and fresh take on some stereotypes and cliches. I give this movie a 8/10. Not necessarily a horror movie but more aligned with survival horror, I recommend it for people who like movies like that.
  
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Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare
Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare
Shooter
The latest in the highly-popular Call of Duty series has arrived and with

it comes a bold new direction for the series that mixes the familiar with

the new.

 

Infinite Warfare is set in the future but unlike the recent Advanced

Warfare, this is a future where space travel has become the norm and the

people of Earth find themselves in an ongoing battle with a Mars based

faction who have amassed a very large and powerful fleet of warships.

Players take on the role of Lt. Reyes who finds himself forced into

command when a surprise attack devastates much of the Earth’s forces and

at the mercy of the ruthless leader of the opposing forces (Kit

Harrington).

 

Like with last years Black Ops 3 players have a staging area and the

ability to select their weapon configurations for each mission. There is

also a Captain’s room where players can view newsreels and other items

should they want to take a break from the combat and explore.

 

Players can also select which missions to take based on the recommended

story missions or they can select side missions. In my first run through I

stuck mainly to suggested missions and was amazed at how fast I got to the

final battle, so those looking to prolong their solo campaign will want to

select some of the additional missions.

 

Mission play is what you would expect from Call of Duty with missions

mixing stealth and waves of enemies for players to mow down. This time out

several missions involve space combat as players will take on fighters and

enemy ships in their fighter plane which also allows for some interesting

missions where players will leave their ship to battle in Zero-G before

resuming the attack on foot.

 

Players also will have access to energy and ballistic weapons and can pick

up weapons and ammunition along the way.

 

Using futuristic grenades that cause gravity to disrupt as well as spider

like seekers is a nice touch as is the protective shield players can

deploy when the action becomes heated.

 

Multiplayer has always been the strong point of the series and Infinite

Warfare is no exception to this trend. There are fewer modes than in the

past, but the customization and rankings that players expect are still in

place. There are also the popular kill streak rewards that can turn the

tide of any battle.

 

Although some may not like the inclusion of jump packs in multiplayer, it

did not harm Advanced Warfare and the levels where fallen players float

away in Zero-G were also a very nice touch. I did briefly think I was

playing DOOM with some of the maps set on a planet exterior at first, but

soon found myself caught up in the action. Like with Black Ops 3, a

special weapon is on a timer and allows players to deploy a wide angle

machine gun called a “Claw” which mows down enemies with ease.

The maps like the solo portion of the game are highly detailed and

stunning to behold and the composition for the game has some very

compelling music. I played the game on an NVIDIA 960 then moved to a

NVIDIA 1060 Founders Edition card and found that the game looked and ran

amazingly well even on the highest settings.

 

The real treat of the game for me was the Zombie mode set at Spaceland, an

80s themed amusement park. The mode had plenty of 80s nostalgia as well as

an 80s soundtrack of hits from the era as well as a campy tone that

invoked the best of 80s horror films.

 

The detail level was so good that you can even take a ride on an

attraction, use some rides as weapons, and use tickets you gain to gain

power ups. For me it was simply the best initial Zombie offering of any

Call of Duty game ever.

 

In the end, Infinite Warfare offers one of the best campaigns in recent

years and blends old and new to create a Call of Duty experience that is

fresh yet familiar. Fans of the series should not be put off by the space

setting and should give the game a try as it is a very enjoyable and

winning combination that is as fun to play as it is great to look at.

http://sknr.net/2016/11/08/call-duty-infinite-warfare/
  
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