Alien Frontiers: The Best of All Worlds

As a lover and collector of so many games, it is sometimes difficult to decide whether a game is intriguing or entertaining simply because it offers players something unique. Alien Frontiers is one of those games that transcends doubt. The game is unique, to be sure, but after the first few rounds something rare and magical happens: there is a feeling of exhilaration, followed closely by the growing sense that all the pieces are quickly falling into place. Smiles spread as players soon realize that they are in the presence of something truly special, and something very great. It doesn’t happen often – gaining your first victory point... Read More

Races of Twilight Imperium

Space is an awfully big place. In order to fully reflect that, a space boardgame needs to be appropriately-scaled; hence Twilight Imperium, a game that comes in a box as big as a 1980s Hyundai and takes longer to play than it takes Frodo and Samwise to walk to the slopes of Mordor. Twilight Imperium is not for the attention-deficit crowd, nor is it for the non-committed gamers who would rather fast-deal a set of 5 or 6 card games in an hour. However, for those who few gamers who love a good challenge and are committed to excellence, TI:3 can provide one of the most epic board game experiences anyone is likely to encounter. This weekend, I’m... Read More

Cthulhu Dice: A Battle for Sanity

This guest review brought to you by the letter C, the number 10 (tentacles), copious parenthetical asides, and a gaggle of exclamation points (!). When rival Cultists of Cthulhu get together for a party, it is likely a battle for sanity will ensue. (Cultists beware! A battle for sanity could possibly end with the entire world going mad!) The Game Cthulhu Dice by Steve Jackson (illustrated by Alex Fernandez) is a fun way to pass the time at your local pub or as a warm up game while everyone settles in for a longer battle against the Great Old Ones (such as Arkham Horror). The super cool (and quite pretty) dodecahedron is adorned with wee... Read More

Kingsport Horror: Further Delving Into Madness

Something strange is afoot behind the swirling mists of the seaside town of Kingsport. Just inside the haunted harbor, small cracks in the walls between worlds have begun to form. If left unchecked, these cracks may deepen, eventually crumbling into a swirling rift – an open gateway through which the evils of beyond may spill forth, bringing terror and doom down upon Arkham and quickening the arrival of the Ancient One. The Kingsport Horror expansion for the Arkham Horror board game adds another board section that represents the town of Kingsport, with new encounter locations and two new Other World locations for the investigators to explore.... Read More

Launch Pad: In Space, No One Can Hear You Whimper

From 1957 until the early 70s, the national super powers of the United States and the Soviet Union were pitted together in a heated head-to-head race for space. In their quest to reach the cosmos, each nation recruited top technicians and harvested vast resources, all while trying their best to protect their budding rockets from spies and saboteurs. Launch Pad is a lot like that, except this time imagine that JFK strapped on a rocket pack, flew over to Kruschev’s pad and booted him right in the kremlins. In Launch Pad the objective is simple: use resource cards to build cool spaceships, send them through quality control, and then roll ’em... Read More

Monopoly Deal – Like Landing on Free Parking

Say the word “Monopoly” to most die-hard gamers and they are likely to run screaming from the room as if their face is engulfed in flames. To some gamers, that very flaming fate would be preferable to the tedious, near-death experience of another game of Monopoly. To those of you who cringe at the thought of Passing Go; to those who abhor little metal Scotties; to the dear few who pray you Go to Jail so you don’t have to sweat bullets trying to get past your cousin’s stupid Skid Row with hotels on them – I’m here to tell you that it’s safe to come out from behind your stack of Eurogames. I’m going... Read More

Chrononauts – Fourth-Dimensional Fun

What would you do if you had access to a time machine? Would you use it for the (supposed) betterment of mankind, preventing the assassination of a national hero, or guaranteeing the demise of a horrible dictator? Or would you travel to the future, steal a sports almanac, and return to the past to put a bet down on the Red Sox in the World Series? You can do all those things and more in Chrononauts – provided other time-travelling mischief-makers mucking about the timeline don’t get in your way. In Chrononauts, you take on the role of a time traveller who has access to key points along a timestream – represented by a grid of... Read More

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

Inevitable: First Impressions

Inevitable, by Jeremy P. Bushnell and Jonathan A. Leistiko, has a strange pedigree for a board game printed in 2010. It does not consist of flashy, over-produced cards, the rules are not distilled down to a 4-page leaflet, and it is filled with many, highly-geeky and often very obscure references to pop culture, cult films, underground comics, sci-fi and black comedies. It is rough around the edges, there is true grit in the crevices, and it almost feels as though it would be more at home on the top shelf of an independent game store circa 1986. All of this, of course, is a very good thing – for the right group of gamers. I must include... 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