A Fresh Catch – A Kickstarter Quick-Look at Fleet

At sea a fellow comes out. Salt water is like wine, in that respect. – Herman Melville I’m fairly certain that I was a sailor at some point in a previous life. I have always faintly heard the siren’s call of the open sea, and boats hold a particular fascination. As a matter of fact, monkey238 and I were married on a traditional three-masted schooner, and that made the day all the more special. And, so, I was filled with great glee when the opportunity arose to take an advanced look at Fleet, a game all about boats, the open sea and fishing. Well, that and daft cunning. And engine building. And bidding. But I’m putting the... Read More

Spies Like Us: A Confusion Review

When I left for Origins In June, Monkey238 doled out a dossier filled with details of two missions: have fun and don’t spend a lot of money. I chose to accept the missions; one proved a resounding success, the other was failed miserably as I walked through the door with twice as many games as I had brought along. All was soon forgiven, however, when she spotted Confusion: Espionage and Deception in the Cold War. As it turns out, nothing can make this monkey’s attention turn from overspending to oh-let’s-play like the promise of some quality detente. But with the most excellent Cold War: CIA vs KGB and the masterpiece Twilight Struggle already... Read More

Sweet Dreams are Made of These: an Onirim Review

At least when you win. Which, despite its difficulty in accomplishing, has me repeatedly coming back for more. “So, the Labyrinth is a piece of cake, is it? Well, let’s see how you deal with this little slice…” – Jareth In Shadi Torbey’s Onirim you play the role of La Sonnambula, making your way through a labyrinth of rooms filled with beautiful dreams, disturbing nightmares, and coveted keys. Your responsibility is to discover all eight doors by collecting sets of cards or discarding the matching keys. Now here’s Cool Thing #1 about Onirim: you can do this by yourself or in a cooperative effort with one of your... Read More

Ahead in the Clouds – An Interview with Chris James of Stratus Games

Last year at Dice Hate Me headquarters, we received a review copy of a very unassuming little card game called Launch Pad. The box exterior seemed innocuous enough, but once we cracked the seal and started to play, we soon realized that this little card game was anything but innocent – this was filled with more punk factor than Monopoly Deal and Bang! combined. Of course, that meant that we liked it. As a result, I’ve kept a close eye on the developments at Stratus Games – the makers of Launch Pad, Gold Mine and the upcoming Eruption – and I figured it was just about time to talk to Chris James and share the full Dice Hate... Read More

Dice Hate Me at the Bookstore: The Games Bible

I will happily admit that I’m pretty easy to shop for around the holidays. Any amusing trinket will usually bring me extraordinary glee, especially if it is shiny or has pretty pictures on it. However, when it comes to gifting me games or game-related paraphernalia, the gifter may often find themselves in dangerous territory since, well, I have a lot of stuff. Thus, consider my utter shock and surprise glee when my in-laws presented me with a gaming gift that was both new and incredibly thoughtful – The Games Bible. As I thumbed through the pages after the gift wrap had all been torn asunder, I also began to realize that this little gift... Read More

Lunchgames! The Inside Scoop

Those loyal and stalwart few who follow the Dice Hate Me Twitter feed regularly know all about #lunchgames – my semi-daily tweet around lunch time that summarizes my office’s epic battles over burgers and baked goods in 140 characters or less. Sometimes I can claim victory, but more often than not I end up spiraling to my oblivion, leaving one of my coworkers – or, typically, the luckiest player on the planet, Clover Leaf – to stand victorious. Michael Fox is one such reader of #lunchgames. Michael (@idlemichael on Twitter) also happens to write reviews and produce an extremely swell podcast for The Little Metal Dog Show... Read More

An Even Bigger Bang!

If you’ve followed the site for awhile or keep up with the Dice Hate Me Twitter feed, you know by now that my coworkers and I play a lot of Bang! More than any other game that’s been introduced at lunchtime, Bang! seems to bring about the most mischievous glee as we ignore common courtesy and mercilessly gun each other down. Bang! also elevates our creativity, as we are continuously concocting and introducing various house rules to make things more interesting or to fix what we consider inconsistencies in theme. Back in July, I wrote a brief article on some of the basic house rules that we use in the office. With the exception of using... 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

High Noon: Lunchtime!

In my office we’re lucky enough to be able to sneak in a quick game of some sort just about every day around lunchtime. Recently, my coworkers and I have been slinging bullets at each other in the wild west card game Bang! For those unfamiliar with this charming and addictive card game, you should read more about it, and I would highly recommend picking up a copy. Unfortunately, until you play a couple of times, the rest of this article isn’t going to make much sense. One of the great things about Bang! is that once players are comfortable with the rules, the game is flexible enough to allow for quick and easy house rules without disrupting... Read More