Fan Mail!

One of my office coworkers and lunchgames regulars Randall felt that the fever chart I created for my review of Monopoly Deal was incomplete, so she sent me a corrected version. For those fresh to the site, Clover Leaf is the nickname of another of our lunchgame regulars, Christine, who seems to win every freaking game we play. She also won last week’s Chrononauts giveaway. You can see the profile of her special kind of gamer in my past article The 7 Habits of Highly Dysfunctional Gamers. You can also see a profile of Randall’s namesake – Sally Thinksalot.  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 Giveaway Results – Clover Leaf Strikes!

Greetings dear readers, I promised at the beginning of last week that I was giving away a free copy of Chrononauts to one lucky reader who entered into the contest by midnight this past Saturday. Early Sunday morning, I entered into a random list generator all of the names of those who “liked” the Dice Hate Me page on Facebook or spread some love through Twitter, and double entered those whose names were on the Dice Hate Me subscription list. For the sake of adequate shuffling, I decided to hit “randomize” on the list generator six times (like a six-sided die) and after the dust settled the winner turned out to be… Christine... 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

Monty Python Fluxx – What a Silly Game

Fluxx is the very first card game from Andrew Looney, and it is fair to say that it is the main reason that Looney Labs has grown into the company that it is today. Ever since its introduction in 1996, people have been going absolutely bonkers over Fluxx because Fluxx is absolutely bonkers. At almost every convention, you’ll catch large groups of people gathered together, throwing down cards, laughing uproariously and generally having no clue as to what’s going on at any given moment. This is the cult of Fluxx – all hail Discordia. For many years, one of my friends who is deeply ingrained in the cult of Fluxx tried to indoctrinate... 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

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

Playing in Public: Winning Friends with a Fireball to the Face

PiP campaign Facebook page. Click to view and "like" “When you want to watch your favorite sport, or go out to a bar/restaurant, do you have trouble finding friends that want to go with you?  Probably not.  So why is it so hard to find people to play our favorite board games with us?  Wouldn’t it be better if we could find someone to game with whenever we wanted instead of having to game on the limited schedule of our game group or local board game store?  What is keeping us from pursuing our hobby as frequently as most other hobbies are pursued? Where are all the other gamers?” The above excerpt is from the Play... 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

Seven Habits of Highly Dysfunctional Boardgamers

For the most part, we boardgamers are a gregarious lot; we have to be since most boardgames require the participation of others.  Many of us enjoy the social aspect of gaming, and form strong bonds while beating the crap out of each other across the dinner table. I’ve been lucky to be a part of many gaming groups over the years, and from that experience I can tell you one thing, definitively: every group includes at least one of the following seven gamers. It’s these misfit few, bless their little hearts, that make our gaming experience just a tad trying but amusing, nonetheless. CLOVER LEAF – The world’s luckiest player.... Read More