Resistance

I never can tell which gnome is lying

It is generally frowned upon to call people lying, traitorous scum in polite society.  Resistance is a pleasant diversion from that norm as you wildly accuse people of being vermin filth.  The game doesn't work well for people who can't tell a lie or are sensitive to that type of thing.  For people who only think their spouse can't tell a lie though, it’s perfect.

Publisher:

Indie Board and Games

Designer:

Don Eskridge

Elevator Pitch:

You start the game by getting a secret role, either you are part of the rebellion or a spy, with the spies knowing who is in their crew.  Each round, a group of players is selected to perform a mission.  Good players must succeed on missions, but spies may secretly choose for them to fail.  Resistance players have to determine who the spies are while spies need to avoid being caught while sabotaging missions. 

Personal Impression:

I quite enjoy Resistance, but I don’t always want to play.  It is intense and it requires the right group to shine.  It is a social deduction game, so if the group isn’t very social it falls flat.  It can be aggravating as trying to determine the quiet one in the corner or the one who does the same thing every game regardless of role.  However, in a group of loud-mouthed opinionated folk who don’t take themselves too seriously, it is a blast.  Most of my plays have been with the Avalon set or the base game without the cards, given a consensus that the cards were dumb.  The roles from Avalon tend to make it more interesting for the people with roles, but diminishes the fun a little of everyone else.

Good for People who Grew up Playing with

With toy cars that you raced across the living room and recorded elaborate statistics detailing which car went further without flipping… or was that just me?

  

Ease of Learning:

Learning the rules is very simple.  Figuring out how to distinguish between resistance and spies, well, I'll let you know when I figure it out.

Fidgety Index

Nothing much to play with except the precious feelings of the rest of the assembled.

Universal Theme:

There are thematic social deduction games, but Resistance was designed to be simple and quick, so it had to lose things like having a coherent story.  Half the time I forget if the “Resistance” are the good guys or the bad guys.

Player Count and Length:

5-10.  Works best somewhere in the middle.  Five players games limit the player options,,while at 9-10 it becomes difficult to keep track of everyone and get them involved.  The game is fast, playable within a half hour.  It is one of Resistance’s main selling points compared to previous social deduction games.

Expansions:

Hidden Agenda adds the Avalon roles discussed below to the base Resistance as well as some other goodies.

Hostile Intent adds three new modules to the game giving additional ways to play.

Hidden Agenda & Hostile Intent amazingly enough includes the previous expansions as well as a couple new modules.

Promos offer additional possible roles.

Spin Offs:

Resistance Avalon is essentially the same game with a King Arthur theme. However, it replaces the cards in the base game with roles.  You can choose which roles to use in each game based on interest and balance.  Each player then may get a specific role on their loyalty card in the beginning.  For example, Merlin knows who all the traitors are, but if the traitors figure out who he is, they win the game even if they lose 3 missions.  Currently you can get all of the Avalon roles as expansions or promos to the base Resistance, but the Resistance cards and expansions are not available for Avalon.

One Night Revolution is a meld between One Night Werewolf and Resistance though more the former than the latter.  The game takes place in one night, so all you do is take an action, discuss and vote for the traitor.  I liked it though it felt more like a logic problem than a social deduction.

Coup is a bluffing game set in the same universe.  You have two roles and may take actions based on what roles you claim to have as long as you aren’t called out for lying. I found it okay, but not as gratifying as Resistance.   I prefer the binary problem of good vs evil rather than the need to re-determine whether someone is lying each round.

Introducing the Game to New Gamers: 

Don't pick on them too much.  Or not enough.

Apps:

None to play the game, but there are companion apps to aid in the opening spiel as well options to play Resistance online through forums.  

Links:

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Camel Up

Camel Up or Camel Cup?  One the great debates of our time.

On the first race of the game I bet on the blue camel only to see him surpassed by his brethren.  I bet again on blue for race two, but he fell short.The third round I bet on blue as he was due.   Blue did not in fact win.  The 4th race I would have bet on him again, but he managed to eliminate himself from contention before I got a turn. There is a gambling lesson to be learned here.  Blue is a slow lazy camel.

Publisher:

Pegasus Spiele

Designer:

Steffen Bogen

Elevator Pitch:

Bet on camels slowly racing around a track.

Personal Impression:

Camel Up won the precious Spiel des Jahre award for best family game.  While I don’t think it is as good as the runner-up from that year, Splendor, it is an entertaining game.  The ups and downs of the Camel race make for an entertaining experience.  Desert cards give players enough control to potentially nudge the results a bit.  The downside of this game was that it often felt like all the good options were taken before I got a turn in each round.  I only played with 7 people though, so I imagine this would be less of a concern with less players.

Good for People who Grew up Playing with

With toy cars that you raced across the living room and recorded elaborate statistics detailing which car went further without flipping… or was that just me?

  

Ease of Learning:

A straightforward and simple game that shouldn’t take more than a few minutes to teach the basics.  Players have a limited number of options on their turn and none of them are difficult to understand.

Fidgety Index

Players don’t have many pieces to play with, but the toy factor is high,  The climbing camels are fun, and the dice rolling pyramid make it the preferred action choice of kids and child-like adults.

Universal Theme:

Who can’t relate to that time they raced camels.

Player Count and Length:

2-8  One of Camel Up’s main appeals is the large player range.  It probably is best with 4-5 participants, but is functional on all counts.  The expansion increases the max up to 10. With any player number it shouldn’t take more than 30-45 minutes to play.

Expansions:

Supercup adds several modules to lengthen the race, extend the player count, and add more player action options.

Spin Offs:

None

Introducing the Game to New Gamers: 

I suppose you can talk about the various probabilities of each camel winning.  For the most part though, this game is too simple, balanced, and chaotic for knowing what you are doing to be much of an advantage.

Apps:

There is an app for IOS/android.  I haven’t tried it, but it has gotten reasonably positive reviews.

Links:

Gateway Game Index

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Carcassonne

It is fun to build a landscape even if you aren't actually playing

Carcassonne is a historically important game if for no other reason than it coined the term “meeple” for little game-piece people.  It was also one of the first modern Euros we played.  Becky bought it for me along with a number of expansions*.  Then we realized that not all expansions make games better.  

*those 8 days of Hanukkah add up

Publisher:

Rio Grande (Newish Edition Z-Man)

Designer:

Klaus Jurgen Wrede

Elevator Pitch:

You lay down tiles in a communal landscape and try to gain and maintain control of and finish cities, roads, cloisters and farms.

Personal Impression:

I don’t have particularly strong feeling on Carcassonne.  I’m happy enough to play but it usually isn’t my top choice.  Adding more tiles makes things more interesting, but lengthens game play.  It is fun to go back and forth for control or of a board section or draw that perfect tile, but it can also be frustrating to be blocked or stuck.  Often I care as much about making the scenery look pretty then winning the game.

Good for People who Grew up Playing with

Jigsaw Puzzles

  

Ease of Learning:

Each turn in Carcassonne is simple.  You draw one tile and then place it in a legal location.  Since you are taking the action publically other players can even help you in determining where you can and should place it.  The difficulty in the game revolves around how to protect your territories and hoard in on those of other players, as well as some rule quirks like farmer scoring.

Fidgety Index

You can stack your meeples, though there are not enough of them to do anything too interesting.

Universal Theme:

Theme is pretty strong here as you can see your countryside take shape.

Player Count and Length:

2-5. Expansion adds option of 6 players.  Works fine with all counts, though there can be a lot of downtime at higher player counts.  To speed things up, consider drawing tiles at the end of a turn instead of the beginning.  The base game can be played in 45 minutes, but it can be much longer with expansions mixed in.

Expansions:

Carcassonne, as one of those rare games that made oodles of cash, has a large number of expansions and spin offs.

Inns and Cathedrals:  Adds ways to double down on roads, cities, and farms, a 6th player, and a super meeple along with some interesting new tiles.  It adds a lot life to the base game and is well worth getting.

Traders and Builders: Gives bonuses for finishing structures and allows double turns creating alternate incentives for gaining points..  The 2nd and final must own expansion.

Princess and Dragon fundamentally changes the game into an aggressive chaotic mess.  

The Tower gives a nice visual, but it similarly disrupts play in a way that ruins the game’s original charm.

The Abbey and Manor in a collection of mechanics that add new ways to score.  It doesn’t ruin the game unlike the previous couple of expansions, but it doesn’t add much either.

Catapult is... um... a well named expansion.  You use a catapult to, I don’t know, does it really matter?  This has become the gaming equivalent of jumping the shark.

Bridges, Castles & Bazaars and Hills & Sheep are the newest two large expansions.  I haven't tried them, but don’t have great confidence for ideas that were behind catapult in the pecking order.

There are also more than a dozen mini expansions.  Some of them have cool pieces, but none are essential except for the rivers, if your base game comes without it.

Spin Offs:

Hunters and Gatherers adds an animal theme and eliminates the complex farmer rules of the game.  It’s many people’s preferred way of playing Carcassonne.

Ark of the Covenant is good if you want be both a gamer and a good Christian.

The Castle offers an interesting 2 player only variant.  Plus Castle!

The City is the coolest looking version of a game adding city walls to the festivities.

Cardcassonne is a card version of the game.

Kids of Carcassonne is an intro scenario for children

The Discovery, New World, South Seas, Gold Rush, Wheel of Fortune, and Over Hill and Dale are additional spin-offs that change a feature or two, and that is all I have to say about them.

Star Wars Carcassonne is a thing that exists.  Really.  It simplifies farmer rules and adds some combat.

Introducing the Game to New Gamers: 

Consider playing without the farmer rules.  Try to share a small city with an opponent to show how it works, but don’t aggressively block or steal a large feature.

Apps:

At $10, Carcassonne is one of the more expensive board game apps.  It is also perhaps the best built app and well worthy of the price.  The game features intuitive controls, exceptional  AIs, a fascinating solo game puzzle, pass and play and online play.  There are also options to buy add-ons for the first few expansions.

Links:

Gateway Game Index

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Alhambra

A beautiful, completely stuck, Alhambra

Most of my Alhambra sessions can be broken down into two parts.

Part 1. Look at my awesome wall surrounding my Alhambra

Part 2.  Crap I don't have any legal places to build anything.

Publisher:

Queen Games

Designer:

Dirk Henn

Elevator Pitch:

You are building an Alhambra.  Each turn you take money or buy land tiles with exact purchases allowing for extra turns.  Tiles get added to your Alhambra in a way that aligns walls.  Three times throughout the games players score based on their wall size and by having majorities in each land types.

Personal Impression:

There are plenty of games that I adore, but rarely get to play.  Alhambra is kind of the inverse.  I enjoy it just fine, but am never dying to get a game in.  However, it fits a lot of groups and situations well, so I end up suggesting and playing it quite often, and am glad to have it in my collection.

Good for People who Grew up Playing with

Blocks

  

Ease of Learning:

Players have at most 9 possible actions they can take on a turn, but even that overstates the complexity.  Usually all a player needs to decide is if they want to overpay for a building and if not which money they want to take.  New players should be able to get into the flow of the game very quickly and be able to score competitively in their first couple games.

Fidgety Index

Well you get tiles, but you can’t move them.  Besides that, you get one lousy game piece whose only purpose is to remind you what color you are.

Universal Theme:

You get to build stuff which is fun.  However, given that the game was able to be re-themed to New York without any significant changes, shows the theme isn’t too strong.

Player Count and Length:

2-6 though the 2 player game requires the use of a dummy player, which is a little awkward  The game can also be frustrating at higher player counts as the cards you want often disappear before your turn.  Sweet spot is around 4. The game moves fast and is playable in 45 minutes of so regardless of player count.

Expansions:

There are currently 6 main expansion to Alhambra and a couple of promos.  Each expansion contains a few modules that can used separately or in conjunction.  You can combine modules from different expansions, though some are mutually exclusive. Most individual modules have a small impact on the game.  Generally when we have access to all of the expansions, we roll a d20 to choose a few modules to add to increase variety.

Alhambra the Big Box: contains the first five expansions, The Vizier’s Favor, The City Gates, The Thief’s Turn, The Treasure, Chamber, and Power of The Sultan, along with the base game.  If you are interested in the expansion the Big Box is a much more economical option than buying the expansions separately.  Otherwise just purchase the ones that sound most interesting to you.  

Spin Offs:

New York is Alhambra re-themed with Manhattan skyscrapers replacing Spanish architecture.  It is the same game, albeit it one which doesn’t have all those expansions.

Granada is another similar game with slightly more complex rules.

There is also an Alhambra dice game and an Alhambra card game, though neither has been as well received.

Introducing the Game to New Gamers: 

Watch new players to make sure they don’t build themselves into a corner.  Suggest good tiles for them.

Apps:

There is a universal app for the iphone/ipad, but I have not gotten it yet.  The reviews have been poor mainly due to bugs and crashes, and it hasn't been updated in quite a while.

Links:

Gateway Game Index

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Wit and Wagers

The Wit and Wagers Layout.  Irrelevant math equations are not required, but also are not not required

Wit and Wagers is a trivia game that fixes the genre’s biggest problem: having to know stuff.  In this game it is much better to have a wife who has lots of random knowledge and a terrible poker face.

  
Publisher:

North Star Games

Designer:

Dominic Crapuchettes

Elevator Pitch:

A player reads a trivia question that will have a numerical answer.  Each player writes down an answer on a card, usually a complete guess, and then flips them over.  The answers are revealed and each player bets on which answer is closest without going over (Price is Right rules).  The process repeats for 6 more rounds where questions from different categories are asked.    

Personal Impression:

I don’t have a good memory for details, so trivia games aren’t my strong suit.  Wit and Wagers asks questions I shouldn’t remember, which makes for a much more enjoyable experience.  Sure I am still sometimes off on questions by several magnitudes.  Sometimes though, I know something random, which is pretty exciting.

Good for People who Grew up Playing

Trivial Pursuit

  

Ease of Learning:

Very simple.  Shouldn’t take more than a minute or two to get everyone on board.  The most difficult part is remembering which chips count for which value.

Fidgety Index

You get an erasable marker and a small white board to draw on.  Have at it. (Get your own erasers.  A scrap of a paper towel will do, but we’ve found great success with pom-pom balls from the craft store.)  

Universal Theme:

Like most trivia games, doesn’t really bother with the concept of theme.

Player Count and Length:

3-7 though can it go higher if you play in teams.  At any count it is fast to play and shouldn’t take more than half an hour to get through.

Expansions:

The Expansion Pack offers more questions when you use up the original ones.

Spin Offs:

Wit & Wagers Family makes the game more family friendly, not that the original isn’t.  It removes the gambling aspect of the game, which to me is a pretty vital part.

Wit & Wager Party takes the lighter questions from the expansion pack and makes a game of it.  Not sure I see the point of this one either, but it is likewise supposed to be more kid friendly.

Introducing the Game to New Gamers: 

No advice needed here.   Experience, beyond remembering answers, is not helpful.

Apps:

Given the social nature of the game, making a good app for Wit and Wagers is a challenge.  The app created is a noble effort.  The ai uses players’ answers to questions as ai answers in future games.  So you can play against your friends, but not in real time, which limits the effect.

Links:

Gateway Game Index

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