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    FUSE

    FUSE

    6.8 (4 Ratings) Rate It

    Tabletop Game

    Intruders have made their way onto your ship, and their goal is total destruction! More than twenty...

Morels
Morels
2012 | Card Game, Educational
Ahh mushrooms. Such a wonderful foodstuff that I am trying to teach myself to enjoy. I just have never really liked them. Imagine my surprise when several years ago this game about mushrooms was causing some buzz and after some research decided I absolutely had to have it. Back then my wife and I played games together a lot. So 2-player games were our jam. Now we have kids, and we game with more people usually. But, I still never forgot about this little card game, and if you play it, you won’t either.

Imagine yourself hiking in the forest with your loved one or a friend, or straight up mushroom hunting like Josh enjoys. You come across many species of fungus, and that makes you super hungry. Well, why not collect those mushrooms and cook them into a delightful little snack for you and your traveling partner? This is the premise of the game Morels.

DISCLAIMER – The focus of this review is for vanilla base game Morels. Should we add in the “Foray” expansion in the future we will add that information here, or add a link to the expansion material review. -T

I do not intend to paraphrase the entire rulebook here, but will hit on some of important factors so my readers can get a sense of how the game plays. A row of cards will be splayed out in the middle of the table to create the walking path you will traverse. On your turn you may collect one of the cards closest to the draw deck, play a card from your hand, exchange like mushroom cards for walking sticks, cook like mushrooms (adding any butter or cider you may have), or collect all the cards from the decay pile. Only cards that you cook will score at the end of the game, so be mindful to collect enough frying pans and bonus cards to improve your scores. WATCH OUT for the Destroying Angels that temporarily poison you and need to work their way through your camp. If you can make it through the forest with the highest quality snacks being cooked you win!

Components. This game consists of a giant pile of cards that barely fit back in the box when sleeved, and some cardboard chips. Honestly, I have had my copy of the game sleeved for so long I do not remember the quality of the cards, but I am sure they are great. The cardboard chips are fine. I got rid of my insert from my box so that I can use my sleeves and arrange it the way I want – actually, I am thinking of crafting my own foamcore insert for this game too. The art is good. It straddles the line between realistic and quasi-cartoony but I like it all the same. Iconography is clear and the night-time cards are especially fun to inspect.

The game play is simple card drafting, set collection, and hand management, but it’s a light game to be enjoyed by two players with minimal direct interaction. I do love the weight of the game. It is light, but you also have to think and make some very difficult decisions. Do you grab the decay that has two Morels and a Destroying Angel? It could definitely be worth it if you can stomach having that Angel in your camp. Should you bolster up on frying pans or maybe you should sell those other shrooms for walking sticks so you can choose better cards from the path. It’s really a great game that I am very happy to still have in my collection. With that said, Purple Phoenix Games (with an assist from my wife, Kristin), give this one a relaxing, but not really delicious to me yet, rating of 13 / 18.
  
Macaron
Macaron
2020 | Card Game, Medieval
The only game I have ever been able to play with my extended family on a regular basis, and provided us an excuse to get together every Sunday, is Euchre. My family loves Euchre. It took me a long time to finally learn it, and I did so on a tour bus traveling from Paris to Barcelona. I played so much Euchre on that tour. I still play Euchre somewhat regularly with my wife and in-laws. What does this all have to do with a delicious-looking game about difficult to nail baked goods? Well, I described Macaron to my wife as, “A more intense Euchre with a baking theme, where the bowers may actually kill someone.”

Macaron is a baked goods-themed trick-taking card game for one to five players. In it players are bakers in medieval France trying to become the favored royal baker to the king and his family. The player who can earn the most VP by delivering the tastiest macarons to the royal family will be victorious and will then bake the other players a box of macarons to take home (I added that last part, but Ta-Te Wu should consider adding it to the rules).

DISCLAIMER: We were provided a prototype copy of this game for the purposes of this review. These are preview copy components, and I know for sure the final components will be slightly 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

For this preview I am tackling the solo rule-set provided and my AI opponent is named Emma (per the rules). Multiplayer games will be played somewhat similarly, but against normal-intelligenced real people. Duh.


To setup a solo game, place the Score board in the middle of the table on whichever side is decided – one side allows up to 20 points, and the other up to 30. Place the first three Group boards (A with Almond and Pistachio, B with Strawberry and Blueberry, and C with just one Green Tea macaron upon it) somewhere near the Score board to denote the flavors being played. Remove all cards from the deck picturing Earl Grey and Chocolate flavored macarons. Shuffle the remaining macaron cards and deal the solo player 13 of them. Deal Emma one random card from the deck under each flavor on the Group board as shown below. These random cards will take on the flavor of whichever stack to which it now belongs. Continue dealing Emma eight cards to her stacks, but match them to their flavors – the 4 of Pistachio under Pistachio, etc. Emma should now have 13 cards in total, but each flavor stack should be shuffled and arranged as shown below. Choose a color for the player and for Emma, place one of each meeple on the Score board to track final scores, and the other meeples on the Gift Box tracker in the middle. Analyze each of Emma’s stacks to determine which Group contains the most cards. These flavors will be given the Royal token (I used the purple star) and are considered the trump suits this round. Flip over the top card of the deck that remains, and place the Allergen token (I used the tall goldenrod piece) upon the matching flavor. The game may now begin!
The solo player is always the starting player, so they will open the first trick by playing a card from hand. As in most card games, whichever flavor (suit) is led will need to be followed by Emma, if possible. The rulebook gives the player a nice turn-flow summary for Emma based on which player leads and which type of card is played.

As in Euchre, suit must be followed. If a player is unable to follow, they may play a Royal (trump) card to win the trick or any other non-Royal card. The Royal flavors are both flavors that belong to the same Group, or Green Tea, as it is its own Group. For each trick won, the player will advance their meeple on the Gift Box track to denote number of tricks won. Some card rules adjust the scoring. For example, should a value 1 card win the trick the winning player will increase their number of Gift Boxes three spaces instead of one. Should a trick include an Allergen flavor the winning player will still lead the next trick but will not advance their Gift Box meeple, as Allergens make the royal family sick. However, should a trick contain a value 2 card in it, the 2 cancels the Allergen and the winner may advance their Gift Box meeple as normal.


The round ends when a player, or Emma, has finished their hand of 13 cards played or reaches eight or more Gift Boxes (won tricks). Setup for a new round as the game was initially setup with dealing cards to each player and determining Royal and Allergen flavors. Play continues in this fashion until the player or Emma has reached the pre-determined score of 10, 20, or 30. The winner must now get to baking (again, I added that, but it REALLLLLY needs to happen, I think)!
Components. Again, this is a prototype copy of the game (though still pretty good) and the final components will certainly be different than the ones shown here. That said, the art style is simply wonderful and incredibly enjoyable. Yes, the Score board is a little busy, but it’s functional and fun. The art on the cards is very good, colorblind-friendly with icons in addition to colors, and the art doesn’t get in the way of playing tricks at all. All the other components used in the game will probably be different upon a successful Kickstarter campaign, and though I haven’t seen the proposed components, I am sure they will match the theme and be great to handle.

So as a lover of Euchre, am I also a lover of Macaron? ABSOLUTELY! It takes everything I enjoy about Euchre and somehow simplifies AND complexifies it. Teaching Euchre to new players can be a chore when they don’t latch onto the fact that the highest cards in the game are the Jacks of the same color of trump, but one is higher than the other. It can be awkward at first. Here, there are one or two flavors that are trump suits. It makes sense to be able to visualize a bit easier, and to be able to relate to flavors. In fact, my 4-year-old son wanted to “play” it earlier this morning, so I took out the Allergen mechanic and just did straight suit-following with trumps and he understood it. So, I guess by house-ruling a little you can also play this with children who are learning games for the first time, learning their numbers, or learning trick-taking games. That’s a fun hidden side quest!

Now, I can see how people will totally dig Macaron as a multiplayer game, but I am previewing this as a solo game. Is it just as good? Yep! I like being able to play the game whenever I want, and using another mechanic I didn’t describe earlier – Betting. Having to bet upon how many Gift Boxes you will score for the round adds another layer of analyzation I particularly enjoy. If you guess correctly you score an additional two Gift Boxes. If you’re wrong Emma scores two Boxes. Couple this with Emma’s unpredictable card play and you have an interesting AI player that you may never be able to “figure out” and beat methodically. I like that randomness from Emma. She has made a few games close, but ultimately has lost every game against me.

Macaron is a cute little Euchre-style card game that can be played well solo and multiplayer, and features wonderful style. I love the theme, and I seem to be attracted to food games; I love Bohnanza, Morels, Happy Salmon (my favorite fish to eat), Sushi Go!, Coconuts, and The Three Little Pigs (ok that one was mean, but hey, I love pork)! If you also enjoy food-related games, or trick-taking games, or just fun little card games you can play solo or with other people, please consider backing Macaron via their Kickstarter campaign launching soon. Tell them Purple Phoenix Games sent you and I will share my Gift Box of Macarons with you**. You will have to let me know your food allergies prior, though.

** I don’t actually have a Gift Box of Macarons. That was a lie, and I apologize for that.
  
Happy Salmon
Happy Salmon
2016 | Animals, Kids Game, Party Game, Real-time
Brain burners. We have all played them. They typically aren’t my cup of tea because usually when I get to play games it is later in the evening. By that time I have had a full day’s work, taken care of a toddler (or more depending on when you read this), and thus my brainpower tank is already close to empty. Throw a game or two on top and I’m all mushy upstairs. ENTER: HAPPY SALMON.

Disclaimer (if needed): We are only reviewing the green version of this game. We know you can buy the blue version and add the cards for more players, but we haven’t done that yet. So we are just sticking with green for now. -T

In the activity Happy Salmon (let’s be honest, this isn’t necessarily a “game” so much as an “activity”) each player has a color-coded personal deck of cards that must be shuffled and held face-down. The players then stand in a circle. Setup is complete. The object of the game is to be the first player to deplete your deck of cards. You do so by turning over the top card of your deck and hopefully matching its face with another player who has turned over their copy of that card. Sounds easy right?

The “activity” portion and/or meat of this game happens when you find your match – you must both DO the action listed on your card. It could be as easy as high-fiving each other. Or pounding knuckles. Or simply switching places in the circle (see photo below). But then you have the ol’ Happy Salmon card which requires each player to do this absurd salmon handshake action that could be entertainment enough for the group if you have players with less-than-stellar bodily coordination.

So this doesn’t really sound all that appealing, I know. And I also wouldn’t have given it another thought, except I heard the guys from Dukes of Dice podcast raving about how rejuvenated they felt after having played this in the middle of an intense game sesh. I trust the opinions of Sean and Alex, and the price was right for me, so I picked it up. Boy am I glad I did! Now, this isn’t a game that I will bring out to every game session, nor with every play group, but I WILL pull this out if anyone is getting a little sleepy, or if we just want to shake out our bodies and our brains to hit up another long game.

The components are easy to discuss. It’s a fish made out of mousepad material that zips open and holds all the cards. The fish is great, but I really don’t care for “boxes” that aren’t… well, boxes. It’s great quality though. The cards, on the other hand, are really flimsy and make your hand sweaty. I don’t think I will sleeve these cards ever, as a replacement set is VERY affordable, and I do not really have any other suggestions to alleviate this “problem,” but the cards are just okay-quality. I suppose you are just flipping them over and then chucking them on the floor anyway, but for an extra $5 on the price of the game I would have preferred more rugged cards.

What this game lacks in hardcore thinkyness, prestige, and strategy, it makes up for in fun, hilarious moments, and plays that become raucously entertaining bits of your life you may never forget. It will never be on my Top 10 list, but it’s currently on my Top 100 and I will never get rid of my copy. For those reasons Purple Phoenix Games gives Happy Salmon a very appreciative 12 / 18 (Laura claims to have never played it).

https://purplephoenixgames.wordpress.com/2019/03/08/happy-salmon-review/
  
    Solitaire

    Solitaire

    Games

    (0 Ratings) Rate It

    App

    Solitaire by MobilityWare is the ORIGINAL maker of Solitaire with Daily Challenges. We’re ALWAYS...

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Connie (244 KP) rated Werewolf Online in Apps

Jul 26, 2018 (Updated Jul 26, 2018)  
Werewolf Online
Werewolf Online
Entertainment
10
5.3 (3 Ratings)
App Rating
Ranked mode (2 more)
New roles being added all the time
Online means you can play anytime
Still in beta more so there are some bugs (0 more)
The best reboot of classic Mafia/ Werewolf card games!
I liked the card game Mafia as a kid. It was fun and made parties interesting. When I found Werewolf, I was more interested--the sci-fi/ fantasy theme really sucked me in farther. Now that it's an app, I literally can't put it down!

One team faces three other teams to try and be top dog (errr... wolf, actually) at the end of the game. Assigned a random role with a special ability, you have to try and hunt down all the members of all the other teams and lynch/shoot/holy water them without your own team being knocked out first. Will you be assigned to the Villager team as a Seer or the Mayor? Will you "wake up" as a Werewolf, or as the Shaman? Will you be the Serial Killer or the Arsonist, trying to kill every other player? Or will you be the Fool or Headhunter, trying to be lynched or get one other specific person lynched?

Every game is different. Every game is online against hundreds of others all around the world. And every game, only one team (sometimes only one player) can win.

It's tactical. It's skill and intrigue, lies and manipulations and downright back-stabbing as the most clever rise to the top.

On top of that, new roles are being added constantly through the Discord servers. If you've got an idea, they want to hear it. Several writers have already had their ideas incorporated, and it's awfully interesting to help those roles get perfected!

All in all this is a solid party favorite made playable anywhere. 10/10 WILL play again!
  
Roll Player
Roll Player
2016 | Dice Game, Fantasy
Build Your Own Hero
Roll Player- is a excellent board game, i love the theme, the gameplay, the replayablity, everything about i love.

In Roll Player, you will compete to create the greatest fantasy adventurer who has ever lived, preparing your character to embark on an epic quest. Roll and draft dice to build up your character’s attributes. Purchase weapons and armor to outfit your hero. Train to gain skills and discover your hero’s traits to prepare them for their journey. Earn Reputation Stars by constructing the perfect character.

The player with the greatest Reputation wins the game and will surely triumph over whatever nefarious plot lies ahead!

Gameplay:

In Roll Player, a game round is divided into 4 phases. The Roll Phase, the Dice Phase, the Market Phase and the Cleanup Phase.

ROLL PHASE - The Start Player draws dice out of a bag, rolls them, and places them in numerical order on Initiative cards in the center of the table.

DICE PHASE - Players take turns selecting an Initiative card, placing their die on their Character Sheet and taking Attribute Actions associated with the Attribute the die was placed in.

MARKET PHASE - Players purchase cards from the market that represent Traits, Skills, Weapons, and Armor.

CLEAN UP PHASE - Return remaining dice to the bag. Return Initiative cards to the center of the table. Refresh 1 Skill card. Pass the Dice Bag to the player on the left.

The game ends at the completion of the round in which all players have filled all Attribute Rows on their Character Sheets.
Players then calculate their Final Scores to determine the winner!

Its a fun, entertaining, excellent game and i highly recordmend buying it.