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Purple Phoenix Games (2266 KP) rated Dodekka in Tabletop Games
Mar 3, 2021
I am eagerly growing into a big Andy Hopwood fan. He has designed family favorites like Daring Dustbunnies, Mijnlieff, and Niche. Playing one of his games is like playing an old classic with a new coat of paint and some killer new rims. Dodekka may seem familiar when playing, and I will disclose my comp at the end of this review, but again has a special twist. Obviously my family loves the game, but why?
Dodekka is loosely named after the Greek prefix for 12, Dodeca. Twelve is a big aspect of this game. In it players are attempting to score a large value of cards from one suit while keeping other suits to a minimum, as they are negative points at the end of the game. The player with the most points at the end of the game will be crowned the winner.
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 main deck of cards and reveal three near the deck. The game may now begin! Note: this may be the easiest setup of any game I have played.
Dodekka is played in turns where each player will take one of a choice of two actions: take a card or add a card. When a player decides to take a card they simply take the card closest to the deck into their hand. Should they wish to add a card the player will simply reveal a card from the deck and add it to the end of the line. Easy, right? Well that’s not much of a game, admittedly. Where’s the catch?
When players add cards to the end of the line they must take care not to increase the total value of the cards within the line past 12. Each suit contains cards numbered zero through four, so adding a card to the line can be quite a gamble if the total value of the cards in the line is already in double digits. Many times players will be forced to take the card closest to the deck out of fear of busting the line total. When a players busts they must take ALL the cards in the line and a new set of three will be revealed to form a new line.
However, there is a catch to this catch. A catch-ception! Should the line bust when adding a card, but the newly added card is of the matching value of the card already at the end of the line (for example adding a three when the last card is already a three) then the bust is delayed until another player brings the total value down by taking a card or busts on a failed gamble.
Play continues in this fashion of players collecting cards of certain suits to earn points or pressing their luck by adding cards to the line until the deck runs out of cards. At that point players will add up the values of the suit with the most points in their hand and subtract the NUMBER of non-scoring cards. Using the photo below for example, should the player choose to score blue they would have five points. However, they would need to subtract the number of cards from the non-scoring suit, which also equals five (two purple cards and three green cards). This will be a net zero score. The player with the most points wins!
Components. This game is a bunch of cards. The cards are all great quality and feature minimal art. The numbering text on the cards are ancient Greek-themed and work for me. I actually like that the art gets out of the way of the cards and allows the numbers and suit colors to shine. Although, I try to be conscious of our colorblind friends and Dodekka is also considerate here by the addition of different art for each suit to help these players be successful. I have no qualms with any of the components here.
All in all, this game is quite similar to another favorite of ours: No Thanks! In each, players are trying to keep away from gaining a bunch of cards that will negatively impact their final scores. Also in each is the element of press your luck that I find simply delicious. You try to wait as long as possible sometimes so as not to get stuck with the bad card(s) but sometimes that gamble blows up in your face. I just love it!
What I like better in Dodekka than I do in No Thanks! is that there is so little to setup that this can be taken almost anywhere and played without any real concern for losing or damaging components. Being solely cards and setup just being a deck with three exposed cards is so simple that players I have introduced to Dodekka are floored that they don’t receive any cards or have anything at setup. It is just refreshing to start a game that can be setup in 10 seconds or less, depending on shuffling skills.
I really don’t want to say this because I love No Thanks! but I may have found its replacement. Dodekka is light, fast, and gives the same level of heart-racing excitement when you need to add a card to the line when it is at 11 already and showing a three at the end. Can you risk pulling a 0, 1, or 3 to remain cool, or will a 2 or 4 be your downfall and cause you to take the lot? It’s wonderful! If you are looking for a small card game that is an excellent little filler and has interesting twists on familiar mechanics, I recommend you grab a copy of Dodekka. Purple Phoenix Games gives this one an under-the-radar 10 / 12. Go grab your trusty dodecahedrons (or borrow mine – my Monk doesn’t use it for anything) and get Dodekka to the table!
Dodekka is loosely named after the Greek prefix for 12, Dodeca. Twelve is a big aspect of this game. In it players are attempting to score a large value of cards from one suit while keeping other suits to a minimum, as they are negative points at the end of the game. The player with the most points at the end of the game will be crowned the winner.
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 main deck of cards and reveal three near the deck. The game may now begin! Note: this may be the easiest setup of any game I have played.
Dodekka is played in turns where each player will take one of a choice of two actions: take a card or add a card. When a player decides to take a card they simply take the card closest to the deck into their hand. Should they wish to add a card the player will simply reveal a card from the deck and add it to the end of the line. Easy, right? Well that’s not much of a game, admittedly. Where’s the catch?
When players add cards to the end of the line they must take care not to increase the total value of the cards within the line past 12. Each suit contains cards numbered zero through four, so adding a card to the line can be quite a gamble if the total value of the cards in the line is already in double digits. Many times players will be forced to take the card closest to the deck out of fear of busting the line total. When a players busts they must take ALL the cards in the line and a new set of three will be revealed to form a new line.
However, there is a catch to this catch. A catch-ception! Should the line bust when adding a card, but the newly added card is of the matching value of the card already at the end of the line (for example adding a three when the last card is already a three) then the bust is delayed until another player brings the total value down by taking a card or busts on a failed gamble.
Play continues in this fashion of players collecting cards of certain suits to earn points or pressing their luck by adding cards to the line until the deck runs out of cards. At that point players will add up the values of the suit with the most points in their hand and subtract the NUMBER of non-scoring cards. Using the photo below for example, should the player choose to score blue they would have five points. However, they would need to subtract the number of cards from the non-scoring suit, which also equals five (two purple cards and three green cards). This will be a net zero score. The player with the most points wins!
Components. This game is a bunch of cards. The cards are all great quality and feature minimal art. The numbering text on the cards are ancient Greek-themed and work for me. I actually like that the art gets out of the way of the cards and allows the numbers and suit colors to shine. Although, I try to be conscious of our colorblind friends and Dodekka is also considerate here by the addition of different art for each suit to help these players be successful. I have no qualms with any of the components here.
All in all, this game is quite similar to another favorite of ours: No Thanks! In each, players are trying to keep away from gaining a bunch of cards that will negatively impact their final scores. Also in each is the element of press your luck that I find simply delicious. You try to wait as long as possible sometimes so as not to get stuck with the bad card(s) but sometimes that gamble blows up in your face. I just love it!
What I like better in Dodekka than I do in No Thanks! is that there is so little to setup that this can be taken almost anywhere and played without any real concern for losing or damaging components. Being solely cards and setup just being a deck with three exposed cards is so simple that players I have introduced to Dodekka are floored that they don’t receive any cards or have anything at setup. It is just refreshing to start a game that can be setup in 10 seconds or less, depending on shuffling skills.
I really don’t want to say this because I love No Thanks! but I may have found its replacement. Dodekka is light, fast, and gives the same level of heart-racing excitement when you need to add a card to the line when it is at 11 already and showing a three at the end. Can you risk pulling a 0, 1, or 3 to remain cool, or will a 2 or 4 be your downfall and cause you to take the lot? It’s wonderful! If you are looking for a small card game that is an excellent little filler and has interesting twists on familiar mechanics, I recommend you grab a copy of Dodekka. Purple Phoenix Games gives this one an under-the-radar 10 / 12. Go grab your trusty dodecahedrons (or borrow mine – my Monk doesn’t use it for anything) and get Dodekka to the table!
Purple Phoenix Games (2266 KP) rated Niche in Tabletop Games
Mar 3, 2021
I have a gamer confession to make and I am not sure how it will be received. Perhaps it isn’t a gamer confession at all. I will let you be the judge. I am not a fan of Sudoku. There! I said it, and I stand by it. I find it tedious and far too intelligent a game for me. However, if someone would just dumb it down enough for me to get it, I may actually enjoy it. Oh wait, Andy Hopwood did that for me already? Hot dog!
Niche is a puzzly abstracty Sudoku-y card sheddy game for two to seven players that can be played in as few as 10 minutes. In it players attempt to shed their hand and score the most points by adding cards to established lines of cards. As with most of Andy Hopwood’s games, though, there is a twist.
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 the dealer will shuffle the deck and, well, deal out seven cards to each player. The cards not dealt form a deck and from this deck a starter card is flipped to the table. Setup is complete and the game may now begin!
On a turn each player will need to perform three steps: Select, Place, Score. When Selecting a card from their hand the player will need to observe the last played card. This card will essentially inform the player of what CANNOT be played. For example (per the photo above), if a yellow triangle was just played, then the next card played can be NEITHER yellow nor a triangle. So from their hand the active player will select a group of cards that can be played this turn and choose one to add adjacently to the most recently played card.
The player then must Place their card such that they do not add the same card to the line that already exists within the line. For an example here (per the photo below), the most recently played card is a blue circle. In hand are two blue squares, a yellow square, and a red square. As the previous card is blue the only choices left are the yellow and red square. However, the card played previous to the blue circle was a yellow square, so that leaves our player with only one choice: the red square connected to the blue circle. Now, the player could actually use the yellow square, but would need to place it below the blue circle forming the beginning of a new line. I will explain why that is a less strategic play.
When players perform the third step in a turn, Scoring, they will count up all cards in the lines extended by their card, both vertically and horizontally. In our previous example the red square continues a line of two cards so their score for that placement is three. Should they place the yellow square below they will only score two as they have added onto only one card. Fans of Azul will be familiar with this scoring system. Players are expected to keep track of their own scores each turn.
Should a player not have any legal plays using cards in their hand they must pass, and await their next turn. Play continues in this manner of players performing these three steps in a turn until a player sheds their entire hand of cards. All other players will have one more chance to play one card to score points. Players add up all the points they have scored throughout the game and the player with the most points is the winner!
Components. This is a deck of cards in a tuckbox. The cards are all fine quality, and the iconography could not be much clearer. I have zero qualms with the components here.
Gameplay is super quick and puzzly, with a great weight for its type of game. This will not be a centerpiece title of the game night, but will offer filler style gameplay for gamers mulling about or waiting for the next game to begin. I enjoy the simplicity of the rules coupled with the puzzly and thinky nature of each turn. Obviously the name of the game is scoring points, so you want to add to an already-long line instead of having to begin a new off-shoot somewhere, but it is near impossible to anticipate what other players will place on their turns. Therefore, more strategic players will find either solace or frustration from the more tactical style of play here.
I do want to mention that this game was originally designed for an event benefiting The Foundation for Conductive Education in the UK. Quote taken from the BGG profile for Niche: “The game aims to promote and support The Foundation for Conductive Education. This method works with children and adults who have conditions such as Cerebral Palsy, Stroke, M.S. or Parkinsons, helping them to lead more independent lives.” I know this organization holds a special place in the designer’s heart and I just wanted to take a moment to give a shout-out to this amazing organization and this amazing person who created a game for the benefit of others. I applaud both entities, and hope for much success.
That said, Niche is a game that can be played with any type of gamer in almost any situation. It takes up little table space (at most nine cards in a line) and is rules-light. Purple Phoenix Games gives this one an extended 8 / 12. If you are a fan of Sudoku and would like to explore a little card game that gives this reviewer the same vibe (but infinitely more fun) then I urge you to grab a copy of Niche. Not only will you be purchasing a good little game, but your purchase also goes toward furthering an organization that is doing very important work in the UK. And if you would like to feel very smart, play Niche with me sometime and watch me struggle to play the right card.
Niche is a puzzly abstracty Sudoku-y card sheddy game for two to seven players that can be played in as few as 10 minutes. In it players attempt to shed their hand and score the most points by adding cards to established lines of cards. As with most of Andy Hopwood’s games, though, there is a twist.
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 the dealer will shuffle the deck and, well, deal out seven cards to each player. The cards not dealt form a deck and from this deck a starter card is flipped to the table. Setup is complete and the game may now begin!
On a turn each player will need to perform three steps: Select, Place, Score. When Selecting a card from their hand the player will need to observe the last played card. This card will essentially inform the player of what CANNOT be played. For example (per the photo above), if a yellow triangle was just played, then the next card played can be NEITHER yellow nor a triangle. So from their hand the active player will select a group of cards that can be played this turn and choose one to add adjacently to the most recently played card.
The player then must Place their card such that they do not add the same card to the line that already exists within the line. For an example here (per the photo below), the most recently played card is a blue circle. In hand are two blue squares, a yellow square, and a red square. As the previous card is blue the only choices left are the yellow and red square. However, the card played previous to the blue circle was a yellow square, so that leaves our player with only one choice: the red square connected to the blue circle. Now, the player could actually use the yellow square, but would need to place it below the blue circle forming the beginning of a new line. I will explain why that is a less strategic play.
When players perform the third step in a turn, Scoring, they will count up all cards in the lines extended by their card, both vertically and horizontally. In our previous example the red square continues a line of two cards so their score for that placement is three. Should they place the yellow square below they will only score two as they have added onto only one card. Fans of Azul will be familiar with this scoring system. Players are expected to keep track of their own scores each turn.
Should a player not have any legal plays using cards in their hand they must pass, and await their next turn. Play continues in this manner of players performing these three steps in a turn until a player sheds their entire hand of cards. All other players will have one more chance to play one card to score points. Players add up all the points they have scored throughout the game and the player with the most points is the winner!
Components. This is a deck of cards in a tuckbox. The cards are all fine quality, and the iconography could not be much clearer. I have zero qualms with the components here.
Gameplay is super quick and puzzly, with a great weight for its type of game. This will not be a centerpiece title of the game night, but will offer filler style gameplay for gamers mulling about or waiting for the next game to begin. I enjoy the simplicity of the rules coupled with the puzzly and thinky nature of each turn. Obviously the name of the game is scoring points, so you want to add to an already-long line instead of having to begin a new off-shoot somewhere, but it is near impossible to anticipate what other players will place on their turns. Therefore, more strategic players will find either solace or frustration from the more tactical style of play here.
I do want to mention that this game was originally designed for an event benefiting The Foundation for Conductive Education in the UK. Quote taken from the BGG profile for Niche: “The game aims to promote and support The Foundation for Conductive Education. This method works with children and adults who have conditions such as Cerebral Palsy, Stroke, M.S. or Parkinsons, helping them to lead more independent lives.” I know this organization holds a special place in the designer’s heart and I just wanted to take a moment to give a shout-out to this amazing organization and this amazing person who created a game for the benefit of others. I applaud both entities, and hope for much success.
That said, Niche is a game that can be played with any type of gamer in almost any situation. It takes up little table space (at most nine cards in a line) and is rules-light. Purple Phoenix Games gives this one an extended 8 / 12. If you are a fan of Sudoku and would like to explore a little card game that gives this reviewer the same vibe (but infinitely more fun) then I urge you to grab a copy of Niche. Not only will you be purchasing a good little game, but your purchase also goes toward furthering an organization that is doing very important work in the UK. And if you would like to feel very smart, play Niche with me sometime and watch me struggle to play the right card.
Purple Phoenix Games (2266 KP) rated Space Explorers in Tabletop Games
Jan 4, 2021
Space! It’s all the rage nowadays. Okay, it has been for many decades now, but I feel like recently we have, as a human race, decided to get back out there and start exploring again. While this game is not set in modern times, the excitement of exploration and the different facets of what actually goes into successful launches is certainly prevalent. Will our heroes overcome the G-Forces that press them into their seats and become one of the few to view Earth from afar, or will they fizzle out at launch and come back shamed?
Space Explorers is a card drafting, set collection game for two to four players. In it players will take on the mantles of unique Human Resources managers… in space! Well, not IN space, but FOR space. By recruiting the best and brightest engineers, testers, scientists, builders, and astronauts players will score points in addition to scoring points for completing projects.
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, assemble Hub parts tableau organizer for each player. Shuffle the deck of Specialist cards (engineer, tester, et al) to be recruited and reveal six face up to symbolize the Center. Deal each player one of these Specialist cards to create their starting hand. Randomly choose two plus the number of players Project tiles and lay them on the table to be completed throughout the game. Each player will also receive a reference sheet (VERY handy) and one token of each Research type. Determine the starting player and the space race may now begin!
On a player’s turn they have two choices to make: take a Specialist card from the table into their hand, or recruit a Specialist from either their hand or from the table and place in their personal tableau. After this is completed the player may collect one Project tile if they now control the correct number of Specialists per Project tile.
To take a card into hand, a player simply selects one face-up Specialist card from those on the table and places it in hand. Simple.
To recruit a Specialist the player will need to spend Resources equal to the recruitment cost printed on the Specialist card. Resources may be spent in any combination from actual Resource tokens, Resources provided by recruited Specialists already in the player Hub (tableau), and discarding a Specialist card from hand to the table to give two Resources of any type.
As Specialists are recruited to the players’ Hubs they will then give a discount toward recruiting future Specialists of the same type along with other abilities. For each Specialist in the Hub the player will receive a discount of one Resource icon needed to spend to recruit a Specialist of the same type. For example, if a player already has recruited two Scientists, the next Scientist they recruit will be discounted by two Resources. These Resources are discounted from the bottom-up on the listed recruitment cost, and may even result in Specialists being recruited for free. Similarly, some Specialists have certain abilities printed on their card that allow such actions as recruiting cards for free, or providing Resource icons to be used to recruit, or even providing extra points at game end for a variety of reasons.
Play continues in this fashion of players taking Specialists in hand or recruiting them to their Hub to be used to complete Projects and earn points. The game ends once the last Project has been completed or any one player has recruited their 12th Specialist. Every player will have the same number of turns, after which the winner will be the player with the most points!
Components. I have a lot to say about the components here. I think that 25th Century Games has absolutely nailed every single component in this box. The Specialist cards are excellent quality: linen finished, great thickness, and they shuffle realllllly well. The Project tiles, Hub parts, and Resource tokens are thick board stock. The reference sheets are good and the rulebook is just perfect. One thing that may be slightly polarizing is the art style. Space Explorers uses imagery similar to what you would find on many things in the 1950s and 1960s in America. That said, I absolutely love the art style and it is reinforced on every component in this game. The icons are slick and stylish, the color scheme is muted without being drab, and everything you play with is meant to help immerse you into the time of the first astronauts. It’s simply amazingly well done.
The gameplay is also quite stellar (Laura will like that one). I know many compare it to Splendor, and that is certainly warranted, but I feel that Space Explorers pulls it off much more fluidly. Yes, Splendor has those weighty chips that everyone likes while Space Explorers has cardboard tokens. But other than that Space Explorers surpasses the other by leaps and bounds. The gameplay is much more intriguing, the theme is way cooler, and I am just overall much more attracted to it.
While gameplay overall is similar, there is quite a number of differences Space Explorers offers. Foremost, when Resource tokens are spent to recruit Specialists, instead of being sent to a communal bank they are passed along to the player on the left. That’s right, you literally give those Resources to your opponent that will be playing next. This small change really increases the need to be aware of what each player’s strategy may be in order to recruit who you need without also helping your rivals. Being able to utilize three different sources of currency in combination to recruit Specialists is also quite nice. Don’t have the right number of tokens? No problem! Check out what your Specialists are providing from their years of experience.
It is really no shock here that I am enamored with Space Explorers. I really didn’t know that I needed a Splendor killer in my collection, but now that I have this I will be holding it tightly and in high regard. Purple Phoenix Games gives this one an out-of-this-world 11 / 12. If you LIKE the aforementioned game that everyone seems to own but don’t LOVE it, then you need to check out Space Explorers. The theme is great, the components are superb, and the gameplay is light and fast. I love it dearly and hope you do too.
Space Explorers is a card drafting, set collection game for two to four players. In it players will take on the mantles of unique Human Resources managers… in space! Well, not IN space, but FOR space. By recruiting the best and brightest engineers, testers, scientists, builders, and astronauts players will score points in addition to scoring points for completing projects.
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, assemble Hub parts tableau organizer for each player. Shuffle the deck of Specialist cards (engineer, tester, et al) to be recruited and reveal six face up to symbolize the Center. Deal each player one of these Specialist cards to create their starting hand. Randomly choose two plus the number of players Project tiles and lay them on the table to be completed throughout the game. Each player will also receive a reference sheet (VERY handy) and one token of each Research type. Determine the starting player and the space race may now begin!
On a player’s turn they have two choices to make: take a Specialist card from the table into their hand, or recruit a Specialist from either their hand or from the table and place in their personal tableau. After this is completed the player may collect one Project tile if they now control the correct number of Specialists per Project tile.
To take a card into hand, a player simply selects one face-up Specialist card from those on the table and places it in hand. Simple.
To recruit a Specialist the player will need to spend Resources equal to the recruitment cost printed on the Specialist card. Resources may be spent in any combination from actual Resource tokens, Resources provided by recruited Specialists already in the player Hub (tableau), and discarding a Specialist card from hand to the table to give two Resources of any type.
As Specialists are recruited to the players’ Hubs they will then give a discount toward recruiting future Specialists of the same type along with other abilities. For each Specialist in the Hub the player will receive a discount of one Resource icon needed to spend to recruit a Specialist of the same type. For example, if a player already has recruited two Scientists, the next Scientist they recruit will be discounted by two Resources. These Resources are discounted from the bottom-up on the listed recruitment cost, and may even result in Specialists being recruited for free. Similarly, some Specialists have certain abilities printed on their card that allow such actions as recruiting cards for free, or providing Resource icons to be used to recruit, or even providing extra points at game end for a variety of reasons.
Play continues in this fashion of players taking Specialists in hand or recruiting them to their Hub to be used to complete Projects and earn points. The game ends once the last Project has been completed or any one player has recruited their 12th Specialist. Every player will have the same number of turns, after which the winner will be the player with the most points!
Components. I have a lot to say about the components here. I think that 25th Century Games has absolutely nailed every single component in this box. The Specialist cards are excellent quality: linen finished, great thickness, and they shuffle realllllly well. The Project tiles, Hub parts, and Resource tokens are thick board stock. The reference sheets are good and the rulebook is just perfect. One thing that may be slightly polarizing is the art style. Space Explorers uses imagery similar to what you would find on many things in the 1950s and 1960s in America. That said, I absolutely love the art style and it is reinforced on every component in this game. The icons are slick and stylish, the color scheme is muted without being drab, and everything you play with is meant to help immerse you into the time of the first astronauts. It’s simply amazingly well done.
The gameplay is also quite stellar (Laura will like that one). I know many compare it to Splendor, and that is certainly warranted, but I feel that Space Explorers pulls it off much more fluidly. Yes, Splendor has those weighty chips that everyone likes while Space Explorers has cardboard tokens. But other than that Space Explorers surpasses the other by leaps and bounds. The gameplay is much more intriguing, the theme is way cooler, and I am just overall much more attracted to it.
While gameplay overall is similar, there is quite a number of differences Space Explorers offers. Foremost, when Resource tokens are spent to recruit Specialists, instead of being sent to a communal bank they are passed along to the player on the left. That’s right, you literally give those Resources to your opponent that will be playing next. This small change really increases the need to be aware of what each player’s strategy may be in order to recruit who you need without also helping your rivals. Being able to utilize three different sources of currency in combination to recruit Specialists is also quite nice. Don’t have the right number of tokens? No problem! Check out what your Specialists are providing from their years of experience.
It is really no shock here that I am enamored with Space Explorers. I really didn’t know that I needed a Splendor killer in my collection, but now that I have this I will be holding it tightly and in high regard. Purple Phoenix Games gives this one an out-of-this-world 11 / 12. If you LIKE the aforementioned game that everyone seems to own but don’t LOVE it, then you need to check out Space Explorers. The theme is great, the components are superb, and the gameplay is light and fast. I love it dearly and hope you do too.
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.
Gareth von Kallenbach (980 KP) rated Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 in Video Games
Jun 19, 2019
The latest in the popular Call of Duty series has arrived with Call of Duty: Black Ops IIII. The game has made the controversial decision to forgo the traditional campaign in favor of a Battle Royale mode known as Blackout and a more expansive online experience which includes more Zombie modes and a greater emphasis on gameplay.
I played the game first at E3 and then again during the Beta phases for the game so I had a decent familiarity with what to expect when the full release version of the game arrived.
After several days of playing the game, I have to say it is to me a mixed bag and many aspects of it disappointed me which is very frustrating as fan of the series since the very first game.
The look and feel of the game does not come across to me as a new game but instead to me look and play like DLC for Call of Duty: Black Ops 3. Many of the maps seem familiar and have been updated from their appearances in previous games. The same holds true for the weapons and kill streaks. I am not saying it is not fun, but it all has a sense of having seen most of it before.
Another very annoying change to the game is the severe limitation of grenades in the game. Usually a player has a grenade option which comes in handy when Snipers setup behind cover. Without the ability to lob a grenade to get Snipers out from cover, players are easy pickings, especially when the first appear on the screen. You can unload a full clip into a player at a distance and still end up dead with one shot from a sniper. As such you have to wait until you reach level 42 in order to add them to your customized loadout and even then they are very Nerfed from what players have come to expect.
The multiplayer modes are what you have come to expect as there are the Team Deathmatch variations as well as the Capture and Control modes and a new mode called Heist where players need to capture or prevent the capture of a target.
For me the most enjoyable aspect of the game was the Zombie modes as not only were the players I was matched with usually very helpful, but they were also much friendlier than many of the other people I encountered.
The Blackout mode is very popular with gamers but not being a fan of the One and Done mode of play, I found myself enjoying the vast details of the map and preferring to work with a team, capturing vehicles, and such. I have seen multiple players unload point blank on a player in this mode only to see them walk away and one shot kill their attackers. This is either a hack or an example of how imbalanced things can be at times and you will see multiple instances of players taking numerous hits and walking away while others go down with one shot.
Black Ops IIII does not have a regenerative health system and instead requires players to use a timed injection in order to restore health.
This is all designed to foster teamwork and to make the game more appealing to the eSports community. While this is nice, it deviates from much of what has made the game so appealing from the start.
The game to me seems like it was hurried to market as it released on October 12th vs the traditional November release date. I am sure a big part of this was a desire to beat Red Dead Redemption 2 to market but in doing so it seems that things are missing from the final product.
There is much to like about the game as it is still an exciting and intense experience but to me is the first Call of Duty game to not feel shiny and new but instead more of the same in many cases.
The developers have supported the game with numerous updates and there are more on the way as well as planned DLC down the road so the game as it is now is likely to change in the next few months as more feedback is given to developers and new features are added.
Hopefully they will also look to add a campaign at a later date as although it is fun, it seems lacking and dated in many aspects as the changes seem like a step back to me rather than progress.
http://sknr.net/2018/10/23/call-of-duty-black-ops-iiii-2/
I played the game first at E3 and then again during the Beta phases for the game so I had a decent familiarity with what to expect when the full release version of the game arrived.
After several days of playing the game, I have to say it is to me a mixed bag and many aspects of it disappointed me which is very frustrating as fan of the series since the very first game.
The look and feel of the game does not come across to me as a new game but instead to me look and play like DLC for Call of Duty: Black Ops 3. Many of the maps seem familiar and have been updated from their appearances in previous games. The same holds true for the weapons and kill streaks. I am not saying it is not fun, but it all has a sense of having seen most of it before.
Another very annoying change to the game is the severe limitation of grenades in the game. Usually a player has a grenade option which comes in handy when Snipers setup behind cover. Without the ability to lob a grenade to get Snipers out from cover, players are easy pickings, especially when the first appear on the screen. You can unload a full clip into a player at a distance and still end up dead with one shot from a sniper. As such you have to wait until you reach level 42 in order to add them to your customized loadout and even then they are very Nerfed from what players have come to expect.
The multiplayer modes are what you have come to expect as there are the Team Deathmatch variations as well as the Capture and Control modes and a new mode called Heist where players need to capture or prevent the capture of a target.
For me the most enjoyable aspect of the game was the Zombie modes as not only were the players I was matched with usually very helpful, but they were also much friendlier than many of the other people I encountered.
The Blackout mode is very popular with gamers but not being a fan of the One and Done mode of play, I found myself enjoying the vast details of the map and preferring to work with a team, capturing vehicles, and such. I have seen multiple players unload point blank on a player in this mode only to see them walk away and one shot kill their attackers. This is either a hack or an example of how imbalanced things can be at times and you will see multiple instances of players taking numerous hits and walking away while others go down with one shot.
Black Ops IIII does not have a regenerative health system and instead requires players to use a timed injection in order to restore health.
This is all designed to foster teamwork and to make the game more appealing to the eSports community. While this is nice, it deviates from much of what has made the game so appealing from the start.
The game to me seems like it was hurried to market as it released on October 12th vs the traditional November release date. I am sure a big part of this was a desire to beat Red Dead Redemption 2 to market but in doing so it seems that things are missing from the final product.
There is much to like about the game as it is still an exciting and intense experience but to me is the first Call of Duty game to not feel shiny and new but instead more of the same in many cases.
The developers have supported the game with numerous updates and there are more on the way as well as planned DLC down the road so the game as it is now is likely to change in the next few months as more feedback is given to developers and new features are added.
Hopefully they will also look to add a campaign at a later date as although it is fun, it seems lacking and dated in many aspects as the changes seem like a step back to me rather than progress.
http://sknr.net/2018/10/23/call-of-duty-black-ops-iiii-2/
Gareth von Kallenbach (980 KP) rated the Google Stadia version of Watch Dogs Legion in Video Games
Nov 9, 2020
The latest in the popular Watch Dogs series has arrived with Watch Dogs: Legion and ushers in an exciting new chapter in the series. Set in a near future London; players take on the personal of operatives for a hacker group known as Dedsec.
In the aftermath of a bombing by an entity known as Zero Day in which Dedsec is blamed; London has become a police state thanks to a private security company named Albion who were installed to keep the peace.
Players must complete various infiltration and hacking missions across the sprawling city to get the needed evidence behind the attack as well as correct various criminal injustices that arise during the course of the game.
Since the game takes place in a very large and highly-detailed city; there are some vast distances players must travel to complete their various missions. Thankfully there are numerous cars, trucks, busses, bikes, scooters, boats, and more which can be used to navigate the city. Late in the game I became a big fan of using the Underground to move around the map and be closer to a mission objective.
Once on mission players can hack security systems by completing puzzles or using a Spider Drone to navigate air vents to hack cameras and other systems. Hacking is such a vital part of the game that players will soon become very skilled at hacking security systems, copying digital access keys, computers, and so much more.
One of my favorite things to do was to hack a large cargo drone and ride it to a destination. While it did move slower than other vehicle options; it did allow me to avoid many of the circular roads of London which added to the at times extended travel.
Another bonus of using the drone was being able to pick up cargo from containers to construction explosives and use it as a bomber in various situations.
Combat is a very big part of the game as while players can opt for stealth at times; combat is unavoidable on many of the missions. Your weapons are based on which Operative you select and they are a varied bunch. One had a pistol and a Taser while another had an Assault Rifle and a Grenade Launcher. The diversity of weapons are as varied as the operatives as players can recruit new members by assisting and performing various side missions.
This leads to one of the more interesting aspects of the game as players can opt for a permanent death or can have their fallen operatives become unavailable for an amount of time as they sit in jail or the hospital.
This allows players to recruit medics and Barristers to the team as having them will reduce the amount of time that a player is unavailable for use. The game is broken down into chapters and each of them allows players to complete the main story missions but still has numerous side missions and recruiting options available.
Players can also earn money by delivering packages and other activities which can be used to purchase new clothing to enhance their look and mix things up as they play. The operatives are a great mix of genders and ethnic diversity which allows players to really experience character variety which is not often seen in games.
While the game had some glitches at launch a recent patch for the PC greatly improved the performance of the game and made it a highly immersive and enjoyable gaming experience.
The city is so vast and as players who know Assassin’s Creed, The Division, and Ghost Recon will know that Ubisoft are masters are creating very detailed and sprawling cities. It was great fun to go by various London landmarks in the course of my missions and floating over Parliament on a drone was a great gaming moment.
The game also offers a nice mix of enemies as while there are many soldiers to contend with; being able to dispatch them with weapons or hand to hand is always fun as is having to avoid a huge contingent of drones and security forces who are in intense pursuit.
The game had some sound issues as I mentioned at the launch but they were resolved with a new patch and the various voices and sounds of the city combine to make a very immersive gaming environment.
The graphics of the game are very solid although some of the character facial animations seem a bit dated at times but in no way detract from the game.
In the end Watch Dogs: Legion is a winning new entry in the series and I look forward to the online option of the game which is due in December.
4.5 stars out of 5
In the aftermath of a bombing by an entity known as Zero Day in which Dedsec is blamed; London has become a police state thanks to a private security company named Albion who were installed to keep the peace.
Players must complete various infiltration and hacking missions across the sprawling city to get the needed evidence behind the attack as well as correct various criminal injustices that arise during the course of the game.
Since the game takes place in a very large and highly-detailed city; there are some vast distances players must travel to complete their various missions. Thankfully there are numerous cars, trucks, busses, bikes, scooters, boats, and more which can be used to navigate the city. Late in the game I became a big fan of using the Underground to move around the map and be closer to a mission objective.
Once on mission players can hack security systems by completing puzzles or using a Spider Drone to navigate air vents to hack cameras and other systems. Hacking is such a vital part of the game that players will soon become very skilled at hacking security systems, copying digital access keys, computers, and so much more.
One of my favorite things to do was to hack a large cargo drone and ride it to a destination. While it did move slower than other vehicle options; it did allow me to avoid many of the circular roads of London which added to the at times extended travel.
Another bonus of using the drone was being able to pick up cargo from containers to construction explosives and use it as a bomber in various situations.
Combat is a very big part of the game as while players can opt for stealth at times; combat is unavoidable on many of the missions. Your weapons are based on which Operative you select and they are a varied bunch. One had a pistol and a Taser while another had an Assault Rifle and a Grenade Launcher. The diversity of weapons are as varied as the operatives as players can recruit new members by assisting and performing various side missions.
This leads to one of the more interesting aspects of the game as players can opt for a permanent death or can have their fallen operatives become unavailable for an amount of time as they sit in jail or the hospital.
This allows players to recruit medics and Barristers to the team as having them will reduce the amount of time that a player is unavailable for use. The game is broken down into chapters and each of them allows players to complete the main story missions but still has numerous side missions and recruiting options available.
Players can also earn money by delivering packages and other activities which can be used to purchase new clothing to enhance their look and mix things up as they play. The operatives are a great mix of genders and ethnic diversity which allows players to really experience character variety which is not often seen in games.
While the game had some glitches at launch a recent patch for the PC greatly improved the performance of the game and made it a highly immersive and enjoyable gaming experience.
The city is so vast and as players who know Assassin’s Creed, The Division, and Ghost Recon will know that Ubisoft are masters are creating very detailed and sprawling cities. It was great fun to go by various London landmarks in the course of my missions and floating over Parliament on a drone was a great gaming moment.
The game also offers a nice mix of enemies as while there are many soldiers to contend with; being able to dispatch them with weapons or hand to hand is always fun as is having to avoid a huge contingent of drones and security forces who are in intense pursuit.
The game had some sound issues as I mentioned at the launch but they were resolved with a new patch and the various voices and sounds of the city combine to make a very immersive gaming environment.
The graphics of the game are very solid although some of the character facial animations seem a bit dated at times but in no way detract from the game.
In the end Watch Dogs: Legion is a winning new entry in the series and I look forward to the online option of the game which is due in December.
4.5 stars out of 5
Lee (2222 KP) rated #Alive (2020) in Movies
Sep 11, 2020
The bar for South Korean zombie movies, or for any kind of zombie movie for that matter, was set exceptionally high when Train to Busan was released back in 2016. #Alive, which arrived on Netflix earlier this week, having premiered in its home country of South Korea back in June, had a lot to live up to. But by focusing primarily on just a single character, #Alive manages to deliver a quarantine story that we can all relate to after the chaos and uncertainty of 2020 and brings a touch of originality to a very familiar genre.
#Alive certainly doesn’t waste much time in dropping us straight into the zombie apocalypse. Young gamer Oh Joon-woo wakes up at 10 am, alone in the high-rise apartment that he shares with his parents. A note left by them tells us that they’ve gone away for a few days, leaving Oh Joon-woo to fend for himself. “Make sure you pick up some groceries”, his mum tells him, but instead he heads back to his room and begins playing an online game with some friends. But shortly into their game, his friends are distracted by some disturbing news reports on the TV, so Oh Joon-woo goes to check for himself.
He doesn’t need to watch much of the news on TV before realising that he can look outside of his apartment window and see for himself what the panic is all about. Down on the streets, people are running and screaming in all directions while others are in a frenzied state, attacking and biting everyone around them. Family members turn on each other, a fire truck crashes into a row of cars, and a nearby explosion quickly sends a dazed and confused Oh Joon-woo back inside his apartment.
The news reports talk of people quickly turning violent and attacking others, immediately passing on whatever it is that has turned them into crazed zombies. It describes how you can tell a person is turning because they will be bleeding from the eyes. “Citizens must stay home and avoid going out.” is the advice given. Sound familiar?
Oh Joon-woo does what a lot of us probably did during lockdown - he plays video games, drinks his dad’s alcohol, and tries to just ride it all out the best he can. He quickly regrets ignoring his mum’s request to go and buy groceries though, as he lays out the very small amount of mostly unhealthy food items that are in the apartment out onto the table, and separates them into meals for each day over the coming week or so.
Days pass, but without any sign of the outside chaos subsiding. There are still zombies down on the streets, taking out any unfortunate survivor unlucky enough to be outside, and any investigative trips outside the apartment front door are fraught with danger. We’ve now passed day 20, and Oh Joon-woo is struggling.
At his lowest point, Oh Joon-woo notices a laser pointer shining into his apartment from the high-rise opposite. When he goes to investigate, he sees that there is another survivor looking back at him. Kim Yoo-bin is also at a fairly low point in her life, but with food, weapons and homemade zombie traps, she appears to be a bit of a badass, clearly better equipped at dealing with the crisis than Oh Joon-woo. She initially thinks Oh Joon-woo is an idiot, sending food across a wire that they manage to set up between their buildings so that he doesn’t starve. But they soon form a close bond, sending messages to each other before eventually employing the use of walkie-talkies so that they can discuss a way out of their predicament.
#Alive taps into the feelings that so many of us will have felt during lockdown this year - feeling isolated, lonely, scared. It’s the quiet human moments that work so well here, especially with the introduction of a friend and an ally in the form of Kim Yoo-bin. Finding each other does literally save both of their lives.
But it’s never too long before we’re jolted right back into some zombie action, and thankfully that aspect doesn’t disappoint. The news reports had already informed us that the zombies appeared to be able to remember certain human actions from before they turned, such as opening doors. They even appear to retain aspects of behaviour from their human occupations. This makes for some entertaining and unpredictable zombie fun, most notably a firefighter zombie who scales the outside of the high-rise in an attempt to try and reach Kim Yoo-bin.
There’s a late plot twist and a deus ex machina which may seem like a bit of a cop-out for some, but overall #Alive is certainly a worthwhile watch for fans of zombie action with a focus on the human characters.
#Alive certainly doesn’t waste much time in dropping us straight into the zombie apocalypse. Young gamer Oh Joon-woo wakes up at 10 am, alone in the high-rise apartment that he shares with his parents. A note left by them tells us that they’ve gone away for a few days, leaving Oh Joon-woo to fend for himself. “Make sure you pick up some groceries”, his mum tells him, but instead he heads back to his room and begins playing an online game with some friends. But shortly into their game, his friends are distracted by some disturbing news reports on the TV, so Oh Joon-woo goes to check for himself.
He doesn’t need to watch much of the news on TV before realising that he can look outside of his apartment window and see for himself what the panic is all about. Down on the streets, people are running and screaming in all directions while others are in a frenzied state, attacking and biting everyone around them. Family members turn on each other, a fire truck crashes into a row of cars, and a nearby explosion quickly sends a dazed and confused Oh Joon-woo back inside his apartment.
The news reports talk of people quickly turning violent and attacking others, immediately passing on whatever it is that has turned them into crazed zombies. It describes how you can tell a person is turning because they will be bleeding from the eyes. “Citizens must stay home and avoid going out.” is the advice given. Sound familiar?
Oh Joon-woo does what a lot of us probably did during lockdown - he plays video games, drinks his dad’s alcohol, and tries to just ride it all out the best he can. He quickly regrets ignoring his mum’s request to go and buy groceries though, as he lays out the very small amount of mostly unhealthy food items that are in the apartment out onto the table, and separates them into meals for each day over the coming week or so.
Days pass, but without any sign of the outside chaos subsiding. There are still zombies down on the streets, taking out any unfortunate survivor unlucky enough to be outside, and any investigative trips outside the apartment front door are fraught with danger. We’ve now passed day 20, and Oh Joon-woo is struggling.
At his lowest point, Oh Joon-woo notices a laser pointer shining into his apartment from the high-rise opposite. When he goes to investigate, he sees that there is another survivor looking back at him. Kim Yoo-bin is also at a fairly low point in her life, but with food, weapons and homemade zombie traps, she appears to be a bit of a badass, clearly better equipped at dealing with the crisis than Oh Joon-woo. She initially thinks Oh Joon-woo is an idiot, sending food across a wire that they manage to set up between their buildings so that he doesn’t starve. But they soon form a close bond, sending messages to each other before eventually employing the use of walkie-talkies so that they can discuss a way out of their predicament.
#Alive taps into the feelings that so many of us will have felt during lockdown this year - feeling isolated, lonely, scared. It’s the quiet human moments that work so well here, especially with the introduction of a friend and an ally in the form of Kim Yoo-bin. Finding each other does literally save both of their lives.
But it’s never too long before we’re jolted right back into some zombie action, and thankfully that aspect doesn’t disappoint. The news reports had already informed us that the zombies appeared to be able to remember certain human actions from before they turned, such as opening doors. They even appear to retain aspects of behaviour from their human occupations. This makes for some entertaining and unpredictable zombie fun, most notably a firefighter zombie who scales the outside of the high-rise in an attempt to try and reach Kim Yoo-bin.
There’s a late plot twist and a deus ex machina which may seem like a bit of a cop-out for some, but overall #Alive is certainly a worthwhile watch for fans of zombie action with a focus on the human characters.
Purple Phoenix Games (2266 KP) rated Fire in the Library in Tabletop Games
Feb 11, 2020
My main job currently is working in an academic library. I have lots of different responsibilities to handle. So when I heard about a game with a title, “Fire in the Library,” I knew we HAD to play it. What employee wouldn’t want to play a game where the game ends once your workplace inevitably burns down? Imagine my giddiness as I learned this game and set it up for the first time.
Fire in the Library is a push-your-luck card game that rewards players for pushing their luck well beyond their comfort zones… but as with all push-your-luck games, defeat is also imminent.
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, each player will choose a player color, place their Libreeple (I think it’s Libreeple anyway) near the scoring track, and take the corresponding Player Reference Card. The Library will next be built from sequential Library Cards. The Library is a group of individual decks of cards arranged in a 2×2 pattern, and the card fronts create a lovely picture of the Library. Add all cubes of five different colors to the Library Bag (keeping aside 10 red “fire” cubes). Shuffle the Tool Cards deck, deal each player two Tool Cards, place the top three Tool Cards face-up next to its deck to form the Tool Card Market. Shuffle the Turn Order Cards per the player count rules in the rulebook, deal one to each player, and the game can begin!
Phase One of the game is Choosing Turn Order. Once the turn order has been established (just for the first round – after that, the player who is in last place will choose which Turn Order Card they would like to use for the round) the 1st Player will move onto Phase Two. Yes, Choosing Turn Order is an entire phase by itself. This becomes more important once I explain Tool Cards a little later.
Phase Two is the meat of the game. It is split into two sections, but they flow so nicely into each other. The active player consults their Turn Order Card to understand how many book cubes they would like to pull from the bag, thus “saving” them from the impending fire. The Turn Order Cards will have blank square spaces for “safe” areas, and spaces with fire icons in “risky” spaces. More points can be scored by placing cubes into the risky spaces, but also is more dangerous. You see, a player can pull out a red fire cube from the bag and still choose to continue to pull cubes, assuming the red cube is placed on a safe space on their card. But pull a second fire cube and their turn is immediately over. However, pulling just one red cube and having to place it in a risky space ends the turn immediately. A player can choose to stop pulling cubes at any time and earn the rewards on the Turn Order Card printed directly below the last cube placed as well as the points for each book saved, which are the large numbers printed on the Library Cards (the 2×2 grid with the picture of the Library). These rewards from the Turn Order Card could be merely a Tool Card (under safe spaces), or it could result in points on the scoreboard (under risky spaces). Even if a player busts with the red cubes, they will be able to take a Tool Card as consolation. If the active player did not bust and voluntarily stopped pulling cubes, they add their points for the turn and adjust their Libreeple accordingly. On the other hand, if a player had to end their turn due to pulling red fire cubes, then the fire spreads!
When the Fire Spreads all the books that the active player had thought they saved are burned (returned to the bag). These lost books will also cause the fire to burn down portions of the Library that match the colors of the cubes pulled. Remove the top cards for each of these cubes from the Library. Sometimes this will reveal a printed fire icon on the revealed Library cards. Every time a fire icon is revealed in this way, one of the red cubes that was set aside at setup will be added to the Library Bag – thus increasing the ratio of fire to safe books in the bag.
Phase Three is called “After Scoring.” Every Tool Card in the deck will have an icon printed to show when it can be played during a turn (check the Reference Card). The Tool Cards can be played during Choosing Turn Order, Saving Books, Fire Spreading, and After Scoring.
Once all players have had their turn for the round, a portion of the Library will burn. Remove the appropriate card (according to the rulebook). All players will have a chance to discard one of their Tool Cards and replace it with a Tool Card from the top of the deck. When complete, a new round begins. Play continues in this fashion until a section of the Library is revealed with an icon signifying the end of the game. Players will have one last round to earn as many points as— I mean, save as many books as they can.
Components. There’s a lot going on in this game, and the components are really really good. First, the game box is one of those awesome magnetic boxes (like Biblios) that unfolds and reveals the score tracker. The Libreeples are normal meeple fare, the cubes are normal cube fare, and the Library Bag is one that is loved by Guy Fieri (probably). The cards are great quality and feature really amazing artwork by Katie Khau and Beth Sobel. Overall, the components are wonderful and we really enjoyed playing with them.
As you can tell from our score, we genuinely enjoyed this game. The push-your-luck mechanic is so central to the game and the Tool Cards help to mitigate frustrating pulls, or help to manipulate other areas of the game, and we love both of those aspects. All in all, Fire in the Library is a truly enjoyable experience, and one that I find myself thinking about outside of game night. I cannot wait to play again, and hopefully save more books. I would suggest adding this to my workplace library’s board game collection, but I don’t want any students getting any great ideas… Purple Phoenix Games gives this one a hot hot hot 15 / 18. Check it out for a different take on push-your-luck, where you actually care about what you’re doing. Oh, and of course I won – I work in a college library.
Fire in the Library is a push-your-luck card game that rewards players for pushing their luck well beyond their comfort zones… but as with all push-your-luck games, defeat is also imminent.
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, each player will choose a player color, place their Libreeple (I think it’s Libreeple anyway) near the scoring track, and take the corresponding Player Reference Card. The Library will next be built from sequential Library Cards. The Library is a group of individual decks of cards arranged in a 2×2 pattern, and the card fronts create a lovely picture of the Library. Add all cubes of five different colors to the Library Bag (keeping aside 10 red “fire” cubes). Shuffle the Tool Cards deck, deal each player two Tool Cards, place the top three Tool Cards face-up next to its deck to form the Tool Card Market. Shuffle the Turn Order Cards per the player count rules in the rulebook, deal one to each player, and the game can begin!
Phase One of the game is Choosing Turn Order. Once the turn order has been established (just for the first round – after that, the player who is in last place will choose which Turn Order Card they would like to use for the round) the 1st Player will move onto Phase Two. Yes, Choosing Turn Order is an entire phase by itself. This becomes more important once I explain Tool Cards a little later.
Phase Two is the meat of the game. It is split into two sections, but they flow so nicely into each other. The active player consults their Turn Order Card to understand how many book cubes they would like to pull from the bag, thus “saving” them from the impending fire. The Turn Order Cards will have blank square spaces for “safe” areas, and spaces with fire icons in “risky” spaces. More points can be scored by placing cubes into the risky spaces, but also is more dangerous. You see, a player can pull out a red fire cube from the bag and still choose to continue to pull cubes, assuming the red cube is placed on a safe space on their card. But pull a second fire cube and their turn is immediately over. However, pulling just one red cube and having to place it in a risky space ends the turn immediately. A player can choose to stop pulling cubes at any time and earn the rewards on the Turn Order Card printed directly below the last cube placed as well as the points for each book saved, which are the large numbers printed on the Library Cards (the 2×2 grid with the picture of the Library). These rewards from the Turn Order Card could be merely a Tool Card (under safe spaces), or it could result in points on the scoreboard (under risky spaces). Even if a player busts with the red cubes, they will be able to take a Tool Card as consolation. If the active player did not bust and voluntarily stopped pulling cubes, they add their points for the turn and adjust their Libreeple accordingly. On the other hand, if a player had to end their turn due to pulling red fire cubes, then the fire spreads!
When the Fire Spreads all the books that the active player had thought they saved are burned (returned to the bag). These lost books will also cause the fire to burn down portions of the Library that match the colors of the cubes pulled. Remove the top cards for each of these cubes from the Library. Sometimes this will reveal a printed fire icon on the revealed Library cards. Every time a fire icon is revealed in this way, one of the red cubes that was set aside at setup will be added to the Library Bag – thus increasing the ratio of fire to safe books in the bag.
Phase Three is called “After Scoring.” Every Tool Card in the deck will have an icon printed to show when it can be played during a turn (check the Reference Card). The Tool Cards can be played during Choosing Turn Order, Saving Books, Fire Spreading, and After Scoring.
Once all players have had their turn for the round, a portion of the Library will burn. Remove the appropriate card (according to the rulebook). All players will have a chance to discard one of their Tool Cards and replace it with a Tool Card from the top of the deck. When complete, a new round begins. Play continues in this fashion until a section of the Library is revealed with an icon signifying the end of the game. Players will have one last round to earn as many points as— I mean, save as many books as they can.
Components. There’s a lot going on in this game, and the components are really really good. First, the game box is one of those awesome magnetic boxes (like Biblios) that unfolds and reveals the score tracker. The Libreeples are normal meeple fare, the cubes are normal cube fare, and the Library Bag is one that is loved by Guy Fieri (probably). The cards are great quality and feature really amazing artwork by Katie Khau and Beth Sobel. Overall, the components are wonderful and we really enjoyed playing with them.
As you can tell from our score, we genuinely enjoyed this game. The push-your-luck mechanic is so central to the game and the Tool Cards help to mitigate frustrating pulls, or help to manipulate other areas of the game, and we love both of those aspects. All in all, Fire in the Library is a truly enjoyable experience, and one that I find myself thinking about outside of game night. I cannot wait to play again, and hopefully save more books. I would suggest adding this to my workplace library’s board game collection, but I don’t want any students getting any great ideas… Purple Phoenix Games gives this one a hot hot hot 15 / 18. Check it out for a different take on push-your-luck, where you actually care about what you’re doing. Oh, and of course I won – I work in a college library.
Purple Phoenix Games (2266 KP) rated The Imposter Kings in Tabletop Games
May 1, 2021
If there is one thing that I love about board gaming, it’s strategy. Planning out and executing a long-term plan, only to have your opponents throw a wrench in it, thus forcing you to re-strategize on the spot? That’s my JAM. So when I heard about The Imposter Kings, I knew it was right up my alley. After getting to play it, did it live up to my expectations? Or is it an imposter that doesn’t hold up? Keep reading to find out!
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. -L
The Imposter Kings is a card game for 2-4 players in which players are attempting to gain and maintain control of the throne, accumulating a total of 7 points to win the game. There are some slight rules variations between 2-, 3-, and 4-player games, but the overall gameplay is the same. This review will focus on the 2-player rules. To setup for the game, assemble the deck as described in the rules for your chosen player count. In a 2-player game, the deck is comprised of 18 cards. Each player is given a King card, and one player’s will be the True King. The True King merely determines the first player for the round. Shuffle the deck and deal 8 cards to each player. There will be 2 cards leftover, and those will go into the center of the play area, one face-up and one face-down. This lets the players know which card is not in either players hand, as well as a random unknown card in neither players’ hand. Each player will select a card from their hand to be their Successor, and will place it face-down next to their King, and they will also select one card from their hand to discard face-down. The game is now ready to begin!
On your turn, you will play any card from your hand to the Court (play area) that is of an equal or higher value than the card played previously. The last-played card to the Court is considered to be on the Throne. All cards in Imposter Kings are numbered 1-9, and each card has an associated special ability. Once you play a card to the Court, you may/must use the ability (if optional/mandatory). These special abilities can alter the Court and gameplay by Disgracing cards (flipping them face-down to ‘reset’ the number line), swapping cards with other players, playing a lower-numbered card on top of a higher number etc. The round continues in this fashion, with players alternating, until one player is no longer able to play a card to the Court. That player loses the round, and the winning player receives a number of points, depending on certain aspects. The deck is reshuffled, the True King is passed to the loser of the round, and a new round commences. The first player to reach 7 points is the ultimate winner!
That details the basics of the gameplay, but there are a few special things to keep in mind. Certain cards will force players to play a card to their Antechamber – face-up in front of them. If ever you have a card in your Antechamber at the beginning of a turn, you must play it to the Court, regardless of its value. This can be a good strategic way to trap your opponent into playing a specific card on their next turn! Sometimes a card will need to be Condemned – it is then placed face-down in front of you, and then removed from play on your next turn. Another good way to eat up an opponent’s turn! If you ever get to a point in the round when you are unable to play a card to the Court, you may choose to use your King power – it allows you to flip your King over to Disgrace the card currently on the Throne, and take your Successor into your hand (hopefully giving you a chance to keep playing in the round!). However, there is an Assassin card in the game!! If you have the Assassin, you can reveal it when your opponent decides to use their King – thus assassinating them and immediately winning the round. Lots of tricksy ways to make sure you end up on the Throne!
So all in all, how does The Imposter Kings hold up? Fairly well, actually. For being a simple and relatively fast card game, there is a lot of strategy required for success. You have to decide which cards/powers to use when, while also trying to deduce what your opponent has in their hand. Can you trap them and force the round to end? Or have they kept a dark horse in hand for just this situation? There is a lot more to The Imposter Kings than meets the eye, and that makes it a fun challenge. The first time I played this game, it reminded me of a similar game by ButtonShy titled Hierarchy. The concept and gameplay are similar, but the biggest difference is that The Imposter Kings can be played with 3 and 4 players. That adds another element of strategy/chaos to the game, as there are more cards to deduce, more opportunities for the Court to change between your turns, and just more strategy in general. Hierarchy is strictly a 2-player game, but The Imposter Kings allows you to play with more people. With higher player counts, new and unique cards are added to the starting deck, offering even more abilities and strategic options for play. The gameplay scales with player count, and that keeps it engaging.
Let me touch on components for a minute. This is a retail version of the game, and the production quality is very nice! The game comes in a nice small box, and the deck of cards is sturdy in hand. The artwork is interesting, the text is clear, and the cards are color-coded based on their value. The coloring really helps with quick visual identification of what cards are in play. The game also comes with some reference cards for the various abilities, and those were much appreciated. The rulebook had a couple of areas of ambiguity, but watching the videos on the BGG page for The Imposter Kings helped answer any questions I might have had. All in all, good production quality!
So as you can probably tell from this review, I generally like The Imposter Kings. The gameplay is strategic, engaging, and its 3-4 player variants offer some unique twists that the 2-player just cannot handle. This is a game that I can see myself bringing out when I have newer gamers at my table. The gameplay is simple, yet strategic, and it is not overwhelming to learn or play. It definitely makes players think, and even now I’m thinking about what strategy I might try next game. If you are looking for something relatively simple, yet surprisingly strategic, consider checking out The Imposter Kings. Purple Phoenix Games gives it a royal 8 / 12.
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. -L
The Imposter Kings is a card game for 2-4 players in which players are attempting to gain and maintain control of the throne, accumulating a total of 7 points to win the game. There are some slight rules variations between 2-, 3-, and 4-player games, but the overall gameplay is the same. This review will focus on the 2-player rules. To setup for the game, assemble the deck as described in the rules for your chosen player count. In a 2-player game, the deck is comprised of 18 cards. Each player is given a King card, and one player’s will be the True King. The True King merely determines the first player for the round. Shuffle the deck and deal 8 cards to each player. There will be 2 cards leftover, and those will go into the center of the play area, one face-up and one face-down. This lets the players know which card is not in either players hand, as well as a random unknown card in neither players’ hand. Each player will select a card from their hand to be their Successor, and will place it face-down next to their King, and they will also select one card from their hand to discard face-down. The game is now ready to begin!
On your turn, you will play any card from your hand to the Court (play area) that is of an equal or higher value than the card played previously. The last-played card to the Court is considered to be on the Throne. All cards in Imposter Kings are numbered 1-9, and each card has an associated special ability. Once you play a card to the Court, you may/must use the ability (if optional/mandatory). These special abilities can alter the Court and gameplay by Disgracing cards (flipping them face-down to ‘reset’ the number line), swapping cards with other players, playing a lower-numbered card on top of a higher number etc. The round continues in this fashion, with players alternating, until one player is no longer able to play a card to the Court. That player loses the round, and the winning player receives a number of points, depending on certain aspects. The deck is reshuffled, the True King is passed to the loser of the round, and a new round commences. The first player to reach 7 points is the ultimate winner!
That details the basics of the gameplay, but there are a few special things to keep in mind. Certain cards will force players to play a card to their Antechamber – face-up in front of them. If ever you have a card in your Antechamber at the beginning of a turn, you must play it to the Court, regardless of its value. This can be a good strategic way to trap your opponent into playing a specific card on their next turn! Sometimes a card will need to be Condemned – it is then placed face-down in front of you, and then removed from play on your next turn. Another good way to eat up an opponent’s turn! If you ever get to a point in the round when you are unable to play a card to the Court, you may choose to use your King power – it allows you to flip your King over to Disgrace the card currently on the Throne, and take your Successor into your hand (hopefully giving you a chance to keep playing in the round!). However, there is an Assassin card in the game!! If you have the Assassin, you can reveal it when your opponent decides to use their King – thus assassinating them and immediately winning the round. Lots of tricksy ways to make sure you end up on the Throne!
So all in all, how does The Imposter Kings hold up? Fairly well, actually. For being a simple and relatively fast card game, there is a lot of strategy required for success. You have to decide which cards/powers to use when, while also trying to deduce what your opponent has in their hand. Can you trap them and force the round to end? Or have they kept a dark horse in hand for just this situation? There is a lot more to The Imposter Kings than meets the eye, and that makes it a fun challenge. The first time I played this game, it reminded me of a similar game by ButtonShy titled Hierarchy. The concept and gameplay are similar, but the biggest difference is that The Imposter Kings can be played with 3 and 4 players. That adds another element of strategy/chaos to the game, as there are more cards to deduce, more opportunities for the Court to change between your turns, and just more strategy in general. Hierarchy is strictly a 2-player game, but The Imposter Kings allows you to play with more people. With higher player counts, new and unique cards are added to the starting deck, offering even more abilities and strategic options for play. The gameplay scales with player count, and that keeps it engaging.
Let me touch on components for a minute. This is a retail version of the game, and the production quality is very nice! The game comes in a nice small box, and the deck of cards is sturdy in hand. The artwork is interesting, the text is clear, and the cards are color-coded based on their value. The coloring really helps with quick visual identification of what cards are in play. The game also comes with some reference cards for the various abilities, and those were much appreciated. The rulebook had a couple of areas of ambiguity, but watching the videos on the BGG page for The Imposter Kings helped answer any questions I might have had. All in all, good production quality!
So as you can probably tell from this review, I generally like The Imposter Kings. The gameplay is strategic, engaging, and its 3-4 player variants offer some unique twists that the 2-player just cannot handle. This is a game that I can see myself bringing out when I have newer gamers at my table. The gameplay is simple, yet strategic, and it is not overwhelming to learn or play. It definitely makes players think, and even now I’m thinking about what strategy I might try next game. If you are looking for something relatively simple, yet surprisingly strategic, consider checking out The Imposter Kings. Purple Phoenix Games gives it a royal 8 / 12.
Purple Phoenix Games (2266 KP) rated Neon Knights: 2086 in Tabletop Games
Sep 10, 2020
Some of us actually lived through the 1980s. Just barely, but I certainly remember the neon stylizations, the hair, the tight-rolled pants. It’s not a look I ever hope to reincarnate. However, what if the style of the 1980s reappeared in the future? Like in the 2080s? That would be kind of awesome, actually. Or maybe it would be more bodacious or tubular. In any case, some things never go out of style. Things like attacking your fellow racers as they try to pass on the left with their NOS and dangling repair arms. Just me?
Neon Knights 2086 (here forth known as NK) is a car racing game of customization and street battle. The game essentially takes place over three race weeks (rounds) with each week being divided into a preparation period and then the race day itself. The winner of NK is not necessarily the driver who crosses the finish line more often, but rather the driver who wisely invests in upgrades and tempts Lady Luck to be on their side during crucial dice rolls.
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, separate and shuffle each different-backed deck of cards, set them on the board in their places, and display the number of cards equal to the card spaces on the board. Give each player components in their character color, the matching play mat, and starting car parts to be tucked under their mat. Determine the starting player who will construct the first race course out of the provided map chunks and the game may begin!
Again, I will not be explaining every rule in the game as there are just too many to cover, but the game is played over three weeks. During the preparation days leading up to the race on day 7 (Sunday I guess), players will be taking actions to draft upgrades to their cars, or implants into their driver’s BRAIN, getting themselves sponsored so they can make bank come pay day, and also accepting bets on how each driver can earn a little extra on the side come race day.
Each day leading up to the race will allow players to complete one action, and pay day is on Day 5. This is when players will be paid out by their sponsors thus allowing players more spending power at the various upgrade shops. However, Race Day looms ahead and drivers will be making sure they have the best car they can afford because racing is a matter of life or death.
During a race, players will be choosing their initial speed and traveling the course attempting to finish first to gain points, but also to inflict damage on opposing cars and trying to complete their bets they’ve made. Cars will typically travel the number of spaces that the driver has chosen as the speed for the turn, but along the way the cars will be passing over neon lights in the street that are colored according to the suggested speed to overcome them. Go too fast and players will need to roll damage dice to simulate clipping a curb or smashing into a building corner. Go the correct suggested speed or less and pass over the lights no problem and with no damage dice to roll. Of course, car upgrades can assist with this.
When cars end their turn on a space with another car, a battle ensues and damage is calculated. Also, either before or after movement a car can decide to use a weapon on a rival car in range of their weapon to inflict extra damage. After all, a well-damaged car must screech to a halt and possibly use precious resources to repair the damage. Races are flat out bonkers but are the crux of NK. The winner of NK is the player who can amass the most VP at the end of the game and will be able to run a victory lap in the streets.
Components. This game is one of those hefty 12×12 boxes that is packed with goodies. The board is huge. The player components are beautiful and amazing. The player mats are great and laid out really well. The big chunky street map tiles are big and chunky. The colors are perfectly ’80s and perfect for a board game. I have no issues at all with the components. Oh wait, just one little eensy weensy complaint. I wish the font in the rule book was something of the serif variety instead of block all-caps. I felt as if I were being scolded for reading the rules.
All that said, I find Neon Knights 2086 to be a beautiful and relatively quick-playing racing game with the added bonus of car customization akin to that of creating an RPG character (and everyone knows that’s the best part of RPGs). The prep days are super fast to play through because you are basically just taking cards from the offers or drawing cards from the face-down decks to improve your ride, or repairing your car from previous races, and negotiating with sponsors to get those sweet gigs.
The racing, however, is where the game play takes off. It’s here that all the planning and optimizing is put to the test. It’s here where you discover that some of your “upgrades” just ain’t cuttin’ it, and need to be upgraded further. Hopefully a new sweet (and affordable) weapon will come out during the week. Maybe a new sponsor will enter and entice you with tons of money. And then it’s Race Day and you can take your rig out to demolish the competition. Ahh sweet demolition.
This game was a big surprise for me for several reasons. First, I didn’t realize how much I actually enjoyed some of the things from the ’80s. Those colors are just so dang beautiful. That design. So good. But also I just don’t play a lot of car racing games so I was skeptical at first. I’m not a fan of NASCAR so obviously I won’t like any car racing game, right? At least that was my initial thought. Neon Knights 2086 may just have piqued my interest in trying out some other racing titles in the future. For these reasons, Purple Phoenix Games gives this one a bruised 8 / 12. If you are aching for a racing game with battles in the streets and customization in the sheets, check out Neon Knights 2086. I am now a believer, and can’t wait to play this one many more times.
Neon Knights 2086 (here forth known as NK) is a car racing game of customization and street battle. The game essentially takes place over three race weeks (rounds) with each week being divided into a preparation period and then the race day itself. The winner of NK is not necessarily the driver who crosses the finish line more often, but rather the driver who wisely invests in upgrades and tempts Lady Luck to be on their side during crucial dice rolls.
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, separate and shuffle each different-backed deck of cards, set them on the board in their places, and display the number of cards equal to the card spaces on the board. Give each player components in their character color, the matching play mat, and starting car parts to be tucked under their mat. Determine the starting player who will construct the first race course out of the provided map chunks and the game may begin!
Again, I will not be explaining every rule in the game as there are just too many to cover, but the game is played over three weeks. During the preparation days leading up to the race on day 7 (Sunday I guess), players will be taking actions to draft upgrades to their cars, or implants into their driver’s BRAIN, getting themselves sponsored so they can make bank come pay day, and also accepting bets on how each driver can earn a little extra on the side come race day.
Each day leading up to the race will allow players to complete one action, and pay day is on Day 5. This is when players will be paid out by their sponsors thus allowing players more spending power at the various upgrade shops. However, Race Day looms ahead and drivers will be making sure they have the best car they can afford because racing is a matter of life or death.
During a race, players will be choosing their initial speed and traveling the course attempting to finish first to gain points, but also to inflict damage on opposing cars and trying to complete their bets they’ve made. Cars will typically travel the number of spaces that the driver has chosen as the speed for the turn, but along the way the cars will be passing over neon lights in the street that are colored according to the suggested speed to overcome them. Go too fast and players will need to roll damage dice to simulate clipping a curb or smashing into a building corner. Go the correct suggested speed or less and pass over the lights no problem and with no damage dice to roll. Of course, car upgrades can assist with this.
When cars end their turn on a space with another car, a battle ensues and damage is calculated. Also, either before or after movement a car can decide to use a weapon on a rival car in range of their weapon to inflict extra damage. After all, a well-damaged car must screech to a halt and possibly use precious resources to repair the damage. Races are flat out bonkers but are the crux of NK. The winner of NK is the player who can amass the most VP at the end of the game and will be able to run a victory lap in the streets.
Components. This game is one of those hefty 12×12 boxes that is packed with goodies. The board is huge. The player components are beautiful and amazing. The player mats are great and laid out really well. The big chunky street map tiles are big and chunky. The colors are perfectly ’80s and perfect for a board game. I have no issues at all with the components. Oh wait, just one little eensy weensy complaint. I wish the font in the rule book was something of the serif variety instead of block all-caps. I felt as if I were being scolded for reading the rules.
All that said, I find Neon Knights 2086 to be a beautiful and relatively quick-playing racing game with the added bonus of car customization akin to that of creating an RPG character (and everyone knows that’s the best part of RPGs). The prep days are super fast to play through because you are basically just taking cards from the offers or drawing cards from the face-down decks to improve your ride, or repairing your car from previous races, and negotiating with sponsors to get those sweet gigs.
The racing, however, is where the game play takes off. It’s here that all the planning and optimizing is put to the test. It’s here where you discover that some of your “upgrades” just ain’t cuttin’ it, and need to be upgraded further. Hopefully a new sweet (and affordable) weapon will come out during the week. Maybe a new sponsor will enter and entice you with tons of money. And then it’s Race Day and you can take your rig out to demolish the competition. Ahh sweet demolition.
This game was a big surprise for me for several reasons. First, I didn’t realize how much I actually enjoyed some of the things from the ’80s. Those colors are just so dang beautiful. That design. So good. But also I just don’t play a lot of car racing games so I was skeptical at first. I’m not a fan of NASCAR so obviously I won’t like any car racing game, right? At least that was my initial thought. Neon Knights 2086 may just have piqued my interest in trying out some other racing titles in the future. For these reasons, Purple Phoenix Games gives this one a bruised 8 / 12. If you are aching for a racing game with battles in the streets and customization in the sheets, check out Neon Knights 2086. I am now a believer, and can’t wait to play this one many more times.
