Aquarius – The Rainbow Connection
Andrew Looney – the founder of Looney Labs and creator of Aquarius – makes no qualms about being a card-carrying hippie; I know because it says so right on the company website. Even if the website didn’t state as such, one look at the far-out kaleidoscope of colors and images on the Aquarius box would convince anyone that the sensibilities of the 60s were alive and well. What then makes Aquarius such a quirky conundrum is that the actual gameplay – as light and friendly as it may seem, at first – is actually filled with various levels of trickery, tomfoolery and decidedly unhippie-like deception. In other words, this... Read More
It’s a Looney Week!
Attention, game geeks and card crazies, this week at Dice Hate Me, I’m going Looney! Starting Wednesday, I’ll be doing back-to-back-to-back reviews of three of Looney Labs‘ greatest hits: Aquarius, Chrononauts and Monty Python Fluxx. These card games use several of the same insane mechanics, but manage to create three very different and unique game experiences. I found two to be absolute gems and one to mildly resemble fools’ gold. Which is which? Check back each day this week to find out! The reviews aren’t all that’s going on this week – I’m also giving away a brand spanking new copy of Chrononauts.... Read More
DiXit:The Cure for the Common Party (Game)
Excerpt from The Everygeek’s Guide to Happy Gaming*: Party game (n) expletive: 1) Board/card game dug out from the depths of the game closet and dusted off when there is a congregation of 6 or more people consisting of over 50% females and/or close family members; 2) game of any sort within easy reach and easily understandable by the masses while intoxicated that would not ordinarily be tolerated by dedicated, hardcore gamers. See: Apples to Apples; Uno; Win, Lose or Draw; Beer Pong. As can easily be seen from the excerpt above, the term party game is, essentially, a four-letter word amidst most serious boardgaming circles. For all intents... Read More
The Stars Are Right: Hold Onto Your Sanity
One of the main themes in H.P. Lovecraft’s horrific tales was man’s tenuous grasp on his fragile sanity. It’s pretty safe to say that this theme is carried out splendidly in The Stars Are Right. You will lose sanity points. Resistance is futile. This brain-twisting diversion from Steve Jackson Games is a bit of a conundrum. It’s billed as a card game, but the cards are the simplest component. The real heart of the game lies in the 5×5 grid of tiles adorned with eclipsed moons, stars, meteors and such that constantly shift and switch places during the course of a game. It’s this oft-maddening entropy that lends... Read More
Pub Play: Cathedral
In 1962, Royal New Zealand Air force pilot Bob Moore flew several training maneuvers around Christchurch Cathedral and became fascinated by the architecture and the interlocking structure of the streets and buildings below. Several years later, Bob spun this early fascination into the prototype for Cathedral, a game in which the pieces evoke a medieval city surrounded by a wall. Cathedral is played on a grid with interlocking, building-like pieces. The object is simple: capture as much territory in the city grid as possible by taking turns placing your differently-shaped building pieces. With careful placement, whole sections of the city can be... Read More
