We were pretty excited a couple months back when we heard that SALT CON had two gaming days organized in November to celebrate International Games Day. The first one was at the Weber State University Library. We had Phin in tow and he did better than we expected. We were able to play a couple of games with our friend Matt while he was on a break from the Boy Scout training that was conveniently being held on campus that day. Scott also came up to join us for a game.
TSURO
This was a really quick game to learn and was played well with 2 players although it can handle up to 8 players. We took turns placing tiles and would then move our token to the end of the path. The goal of the game was to keep your token on the board longer than all of the other players.
HIVE
Hive is another quick game for 2 players. Each player has eleven pieces and each moves differently according to the symbol on the piece. The goal of the game is to completely surround your opponents queen bee.
COCONUTS
KING OF TOKYO
Matt showed up around this time and we wanted to teach him one of our favorite games. We played King of Tokyo for the first time at SALT CON last March and ended up buying it back in September. The goal of this game is to be the last monster alive or to get the 20 victory points. We like this game because it is quick to teach, easy for everyone to play and also has many paths to victory.
PICK A PIG
Matt chose our next game which was a simple card game. We were each given a starting card and then had to choose a card from all of the cards on the table that differed by just one attribute and continue in that pattern until all of the cards were gone or no more matches could be made. The person with the most cards at the end of the game was the winner.
RICOCHET ROBOTS
Seth chose our next game which was Ricochet Robots. When I looked up other reviews on this game it described it more as a puzzle than as a game. Basically you have a board that has various symbols on it and four colored robots. At the beginning of a turn you randomly choose a token from a bag and then you have to get the corresponding colored robot to that symbol. The tricky thing is that the robots slide until they hit a wall or another robot. You count the number of moves it takes to get to the target and then shout out that number. If nobody else can come up with a shorter route in a minute then you win the token. The person with the most tokens at the game wins. Needless to say I didn't win a single token...my brain doesn't work that way.
LA HAVRE
The first game of the day was Rampage...which has now been renamed Terror in Meeple City...do you remember that Nintendo game with the name Rampage? Well apparently there is some kind of trademark dispute going on. In this game each person is a monster that is trying to cause the most damage and eat the most meeples.
CINQUE TERRE
While we played Rampage I read the rules for Cinque Terre so we would be ready for our next game. I have visited the real Cinque Terre in Italy so I was intrigued by this game. In this game you act as farmers and sell produce to the five villages along the coast. The produce is worth different amounts in different cities...but you are also trying to complete a starting order card as well as other order cards that are on the table. It has some elements that are similar to Ticket to Ride. I really liked this game and have already made sure it will be under our Christmas tree in a few weeks.
TETRIS LINK
Max and Benny played Tetris Link next. We scored this summer when we found this game at Savers. It plays a lot like the old videogame. You roll a dice and it tells you what shape you have to play. You try to link your pieces together to get points while blocking your opponent.
GET BIT
Beth and Eliza joined us for this game and the next. We bought this game last Spring and think it is a fun game with kids. Each player was given a swimmer and a deck of cards from 1 to 7. We laid our swimmers down in front of a shark and then played our cards. If you played a 1 then your swimmer swam to the front of the line first, if you played a 2 your swimmer swam to the front of the line second, etc. If someone played the same card as you then you did not swim forward. If you were the swimmer at the end of the line at the end of the turn then the shark bit you and you lost a limb. The limbs literally pull of the swimmers which adds to the fun of this game. We played until a swimmer lost all of the limbs at which point the swimmer at the front of the line won.
ZOOLORETTO
The next game we played was Zooloretto. Seth had started to read the instructions for this game the week before but this time one of the game hosts offered to teach us. This was a great game with kids. We took turns picking animals and placing them on trucks. At anytime you could choose to take a truck and place those animals in your zoo enclosures but that also ended your turn for the round. The goal was to get the most points and to fill the enclosures...the only catch was that only one type of animal could be in each zoo enclosure...so when you ran out of space you started to get negative points for animals. The boys really did well with this game. Each turn you had just three options for moves...place an animal on a truck, buy something or take a truck...so they picked up on it quickly. This is definitely a game we would like to add to our collection.
DON'T ROCK THE BOAT
This was another dexterity game. It is a lot like spill the beans but instead of a barrel there was a boat and instead of beans there were dolphins. This would be a great game for developing fine motor skills in kids.
This was another very kid friendly game. Basically you choose a starting point with your stack of sheep and then you take turns moving part of your stack or all of your stack (except one) as far as you can in a straight line. The board starts to fill up and some sheep are stuck in corners and unable to claim more pasture The person with the most sheep placed on the pastures at the end of the game wins.
While I am talking about games I'll mention a few more games that we played back in October at a gaming day. We played GOBLIN'S BREAKFAST a card game where you are trying to feed your Goblins and BRING OUT YER DEAD a board game where you are trying to get the best burial plots in a graveyard...sounds twisted but it really isn't that bad. Both GOBLIN'S BREAKFAST and BRING OUT YER DEAD were on Kickstarter. The game designers taught the games to us and were able to talk to them about the designing processes. I find the whole kickstarter phenomenon fascinating. We also learned to play TAKENOKO that day.
TAKENOKO
Scott showed up and picked the last game of the night which was La Havre. I don't know much about this game because Phin was pretty much DONE at this point. I took him on a few walks and tried to get him to fall asleep as Scott and Seth read the rules and learned how to play. As far as I could tell they liked the game...they didn't love reading the rules. Scott thinks that all game publishers should include a DVD with games that teachers you how to play.
The following week the game day was held at the new West Jordan Library. We dropped Phin off at Nona's and picked up Max and Benny. They were great sports and played every game without complaint.
RAMPAGE/TERROR IN MEEPLE CITY
The first game of the day was Rampage...which has now been renamed Terror in Meeple City...do you remember that Nintendo game with the name Rampage? Well apparently there is some kind of trademark dispute going on. In this game each person is a monster that is trying to cause the most damage and eat the most meeples.
CINQUE TERRE
While we played Rampage I read the rules for Cinque Terre so we would be ready for our next game. I have visited the real Cinque Terre in Italy so I was intrigued by this game. In this game you act as farmers and sell produce to the five villages along the coast. The produce is worth different amounts in different cities...but you are also trying to complete a starting order card as well as other order cards that are on the table. It has some elements that are similar to Ticket to Ride. I really liked this game and have already made sure it will be under our Christmas tree in a few weeks.
TETRIS LINK
Max and Benny played Tetris Link next. We scored this summer when we found this game at Savers. It plays a lot like the old videogame. You roll a dice and it tells you what shape you have to play. You try to link your pieces together to get points while blocking your opponent.
GET BIT
Beth and Eliza joined us for this game and the next. We bought this game last Spring and think it is a fun game with kids. Each player was given a swimmer and a deck of cards from 1 to 7. We laid our swimmers down in front of a shark and then played our cards. If you played a 1 then your swimmer swam to the front of the line first, if you played a 2 your swimmer swam to the front of the line second, etc. If someone played the same card as you then you did not swim forward. If you were the swimmer at the end of the line at the end of the turn then the shark bit you and you lost a limb. The limbs literally pull of the swimmers which adds to the fun of this game. We played until a swimmer lost all of the limbs at which point the swimmer at the front of the line won.
ZOOLORETTO
The next game we played was Zooloretto. Seth had started to read the instructions for this game the week before but this time one of the game hosts offered to teach us. This was a great game with kids. We took turns picking animals and placing them on trucks. At anytime you could choose to take a truck and place those animals in your zoo enclosures but that also ended your turn for the round. The goal was to get the most points and to fill the enclosures...the only catch was that only one type of animal could be in each zoo enclosure...so when you ran out of space you started to get negative points for animals. The boys really did well with this game. Each turn you had just three options for moves...place an animal on a truck, buy something or take a truck...so they picked up on it quickly. This is definitely a game we would like to add to our collection.
DON'T ROCK THE BOAT
This was another dexterity game. It is a lot like spill the beans but instead of a barrel there was a boat and instead of beans there were dolphins. This would be a great game for developing fine motor skills in kids.
BATTLE SHEEP
This was another very kid friendly game. Basically you choose a starting point with your stack of sheep and then you take turns moving part of your stack or all of your stack (except one) as far as you can in a straight line. The board starts to fill up and some sheep are stuck in corners and unable to claim more pasture The person with the most sheep placed on the pastures at the end of the game wins.
We also played COCONUTS again which the boys LOVED.
As we were leaving and really throughout the day we played WEYKICK which is basically a tabletop Foosball table.
We like it better than Foosball because there are no sticks to poke kids and it can easily be folded and stored away.
While I am talking about games I'll mention a few more games that we played back in October at a gaming day. We played GOBLIN'S BREAKFAST a card game where you are trying to feed your Goblins and BRING OUT YER DEAD a board game where you are trying to get the best burial plots in a graveyard...sounds twisted but it really isn't that bad. Both GOBLIN'S BREAKFAST and BRING OUT YER DEAD were on Kickstarter. The game designers taught the games to us and were able to talk to them about the designing processes. I find the whole kickstarter phenomenon fascinating. We also learned to play TAKENOKO that day.
TAKENOKO
The premise of this game is that an Emperor was given a panda as a symbol of peace but that Emperor also loves his gardens so you have to feed the Panda bamboo and keep the gardens growing. It was an easy game to learn, visually stunning and just fun. We have also made plans to have this game under our tree this year.
2 comments:
I want to find Weykick. Thank you again for taking the boys with you! You ought to offer your writing/reviewing services to the Deseret News. They occasionally have an article about new games.
I miss gaming with you!
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