Game Reviews

Cleopatra

2010-11-16T09:19:00.000-08:00

Cleopatra is a fun game with lots of pieces. The goal is to become the wealthiest architect. You do this by building pieces of her palace. But watch out, corruption is everywhere. If you are deemed the most corrupt architect you automatically lose the game! It's not just about making the most money.

We have played this game several times now and have always enjoyed it. The suspense builds at the end as it can be very hard to know who has acquired the most corruption amulets. The game plays up to 5 players and takes about 1 hour to play.

Dominion

2010-08-20T10:35:00.000-07:00

We sold several of these games before we opened one up to play. What a great game! Dominion feels like a board game but it is all cards. The goal is to try to control as much land as possible. There is a great variety of cards to play with and you only play with a limited amount each time. Therefore the game always changes and presents new oportunities as well as challenges. Fairly easy to learn. Once you get the hang of it you can play a round in about 30 minutes. 2-4 players can play, recommended age 10+.

There are several expansions that go along with this game. Dominion: Intrigue adds rules and cards that allow you to play up to 6 players. Dominion: Prosperity adds several new cards inluding treasure cards with abilities. Dominion: Alchemy and Dominion: Seaside add new Kingdom cards.

Power Grid

2010-07-22T09:05:00.000-07:00

We have played Power Grid several times now and it has become one of my favorite games. It is similar to Puerto Rico in that you play in phases but it is simpler. The goal is to supply the most cities with power. You do this through buying (through an auction process) a variety of different types of power plants (coal, oil, etc...). Each type of plant requires resources that you have to buy in order to keep it powered. You make money as you power cities. You travel from city to city supply power to as many as you can. The game has good variety but isn't overly complicated. Once you have played through the phases once it is very easy. With the same board you can play on a map of the United States or Germany.

The game generally takes us between 2 and 2 1/2 hours to play. Up to 6 people can play.

Blokus 3-D

2009-06-01T08:39:00.000-07:00

blokus
Blokus 3-D is similar to the traditional Blokus game but the strategy is very different. As the name implies you build layers with your pieces. There are 4 different kinds of board that come with the game and each has its own rules on how you can stack your pieces. You always play a piece that is flush with one of your already played pieces. At the end of the game you count how many of your cubes you can see from a top view and then subtract how many pieces you have left.

I think this game is just as fun as the original. Watch out though, it is much easier to get completely blocked where you are out until the next game! Very good spacial game. Great for anyone over 5 and usually only takes about 10 minutes to play.

Ingenious

2009-05-12T07:55:00.000-07:00

Ingenious is a great puzzle game! Up to 4 people can play. There are tiles that are composed of two hexagons together and each hexagon has 1 of 6 different colors on it. You place tiles together to try and get points in each of the colors. Be careful not to get too caught up in one color though! At the end of the game your score is how many points you got in your lowest color!

This game is very addicting and great for all ages! It usually takes about 30 minutes to play and is really easy to learn. There is also a travel edition for 2 players and you can play online for free. This is definitely one of my favorite puzzle games.

Shadows Over Camelot

2009-05-05T15:06:00.000-07:00

I love Shadows Over Camelot because it is a board game that you can play with up to 7 people. The other great thing about this game is that you play TOGETHER to defeat evil. It is not everyone for themselves but a team sport. You play as one of the Knights of the Round Table and work together going on a variety of legendary quests.

If you are playing for the first time and no one at the table has played before, the instruction manual can be very daunting. I would highly recommend playing first with someone who has played before. Once you get the hang of it the game is very entertaining.

For an added thrill you can mix things up by adding a traitor. That's right. Everyone draws cards and one of you will no longer be a team player. The longer you can keep yourself from being discovered, the better chance you have of being the only one to win (or on the off chance...lose) the game!

There is also a Shadows Over Camelot: Knights Expansion. It includes a set of painted plastic minitures of the 8 knights.

Ticket to Ride

2009-04-27T13:28:00.000-07:00

Ticket to Ride is one of our favorite games to play. The primary goal is to get more points than the other players. You do this by laying down trains and completing routes. The longer the train, the more points you get. The more routes you complete, the more points you get, but be careful; if you don't complete your routes you lose those points! This game is very simple. You only do one thing on your turn. You either draw more colored cards, lay down trains, or draw more route cards. That's it! Easy to learn, easy to play, very engaging.

This game is for 3-5 players and usually takes about an hour. Great for younger kids learning geography, for the rest of us it helps us remember :). There are several versions of this game including: Europe, a Swiss map expansion, and a dice expansion. You can even play this game online.

Acquire

2009-04-15T12:10:00.000-07:00

Acquire is a game of high finance. Your goal is to gain the most money through buying stock. You create companies and purchase stock in companies. As the game progresses companies merge. You then get to sell your stock in the company or trade in for stock in the new company. The goal of the game is to have the most money.

We have been playing this game for years and it is a classic we love to come back to. It looks simple, and the rules are simple, but there is a lot of strategy to it. Tip - keep track of who has stock in which companies. You want to be in first or second position when a company gets sold to gain the most money. Great 3-6 player game for those over 12 years of age.

Dilbert: The Board Game

2009-04-07T15:00:00.000-07:00

dilbert

I have played Dilbert on a couple of occasions and I must say it is by FAR the most hillarious game I have ever played. I love reading Dilbert comic strips and this game lives up to the Dilbert brand. The primary goal is to have the most happiness. You do this, of course, by trying to do as little work as possible. The game has a variety of elements as you deal with the evil HR director and horrible consultants. It may be beneficial just to stay in the bathroom. You may have to make hats out of whatever is at the table and at least twice I have had to sit under the table while everyone else took their turn! Watch out for moving someone else's piece - you may just get accused of sexual harrassment!

Good game for 3-6 players. The box says it takes 90 minutes to play but I have never finished it in under 2 hours. Great game to play again and again. Guaranteed for a good laugh!

Bohnanza

2009-03-23T15:25:00.000-07:00

Bohnanza is a card game about beans. Red beans, blue beans, coffee beans, stinky beans, and much more. The goal is to collect as much coin as possible. You do this through planting and harvesting your bean fields. Throughout the game you trade bean cards and sometimes it's adventageous just to give them away! You have to watch the order of your cards closely or you may get in a tight spot. This is a great game for all ages! It is easy to learn and only takes 30-45 minutes to play. You can play with up to 7 people which makes this a great group game.

There are a couple of different expansions you can get that add a variety of different ways to play the game.

Kill Doctor Lucky

2009-03-18T13:41:00.000-07:00

Kill Doctor Lucky is kind of like Clue but instead of trying to find the murderer you are trying to kill Doctor Lucky. Everyone else is trying to beat you to it. The cards are hilarious and it is harder than you think. You can only attempt to kill him when no one else is looking. Your plans are continuously foiled (which isn't always a bad thing because you can hoard your spite)!

You can play up to 7 people, but I would recommend about 5. It usually takes about 40-60 minutes to play. This game is lots of fun with great creativity. There is also an expansion available called Kill Doctor Lucky...and His Little dog Too.

Blokus

2009-03-10T14:54:00.000-07:00

Blokus is a fun game of shapes. It reminds me of Tetris. The goal is to get as many of your pieces on the board as you can. You have a variety of shapes to choose from ranging from a one cube piece up to several 5 cube pieces. Your pieces can only touch at an angle and cannot be flush with another of your pieces. You take turns placing your pieces and trying to get through the other players' play area as well as blocking people from playing in yours. This game is best with 4 people but there are 2 and 3 player variations. Average play time is about 20 minutes. Easy to learn, fast to play! You'll be hooked after the first time. There is also a travel 2 person version available as well as Trigon (which uses triangles instead of squares), a 3-D veresion, and you can play online as well.

The Construction Game

2009-03-02T15:56:00.000-08:00

The Construction Game is very similar to The Farming Game. The Faming Game was frustrating because you started in debt and it was just one horrible catastrophe after another and you could never seem to get ahead (maybe this is much like actual farming). In any case The Construction Game is much more pleasant to play.

You start off with money (not in debt) and equipment. You move around the board much like Monopoly but each square is one week out of the year. You only take jobs if you want to and usually you make decent money. This game is not nearly as devestating as The Faming Game and also does not take near as long. The last game we played took about 2 hours with 4 of us playing. You play until someone reaches $1.5 Million in assets. This game has great strategy and with good purchases and a little luck from the dice you can easily dominate.

Killer Bunnies

2009-02-24T09:17:00.000-08:00

Killer Bunnies is a hillarious game that is great to play with lots of friends. It is all about the cards. You can play up to 8 people and it can take between 45 minutes to and hour and a half. This game quickly becomes addictive and obtaining the expansions is a must. Your goal is to be holding the Magic Carrot at the end of the game. You use weapons and specials on other players. You try to destroy their bunnies as you try to keep yours.

There is a decent amount of strategy throughout the game but in the end the winner is chosen by sheer luck! So make sure you are in it just to have a good time. The creativity is overflowing as each card has its own unique features. Killer Bunnies is a great game for a bunch of friends that just want to sit around, laugh, and have a good time.

Killer Bunnies Journey to Jupiter is a new game that incorporates your cards but adds a board to the mix.

Colosseum

2009-02-09T08:22:00.000-08:00

I have now played Colosseum twice and enjoyed it thoroughly each time. The goal is to have the biggest event in your arena. You work through five rounds to build up your Colosseum, get Senators and the Emperor to attend, and collect the things you need to put on your event. You gain points (and money for your points!) throughout the five rounds, but your points don't add up as you go. The goal is to have a singularly great event at the end that can beat out the rest of the players. So make sure you are looking to the future and not just at the current round or you may get left in the dust!

There are a lot of pieces to this game and the first time you play it can take a while and be confusing if you aren't playing with someone experienced. But it is well worth the effort! The game can easily be played within 60 minutes especially if you have someone who has played before.

Settlers of Catan: Traders and Barbarians

2009-02-03T14:20:00.000-08:00

We finally got around to playing Traders and Barbarians. As expected, it was a lot of fun but took a while to get through the rules. There are a variety of ways to play this game as it is really just a bunch of expansions. We basically played Cities and Knights with The Rivers of Catan expansion. This was a whole new ball game as you need to gather money and could only do so on certain tiles. If you don't, you end up with NEGATIVE 2 points! Ouch!

This is a great game if you are already a Settlers of Catan player and want to spice up the game a bit!

I can't wait to try the other expansions!

San Juan

2009-01-27T13:35:00.000-08:00

I have played San Juan a couple of times now and have thoroughly enjoyed it. It plays very similar to Puerto Rico but it is much simpler and takes less time. The game is composed of cards and a few cardboard pieces (not nearly as intricate as Puerto Rico). San Juan also has a very defined end of game and that is something I always appreciate.

There is a nice balance of skill and luck. There are cards, that if you get them in the beginning, can prove to be very useful throughout the game. The best strategy for this game is to figure out which cards should be built early and which ones should wait until closer to the end.

San Juan is a 2-4 player game and usually takes about 45 minutes to play. If you are playing with people who have all played before I can see it taking 30 minutes or less.