Macroscope, Game Review

It is a challenge understanding what you’re looking at when you can only see bits and pieces of the whole picture. You slowly unlock the clues to what you’re looking at. Timing is critical as others are racing along the same path to discovery. You’re using your skills, and improving your powers of deduction. Can you figure it out before another person can piece together the clues?

Macroscope is a game of such discovery and understanding. Players are competing to discover what picture is hidden in the Macroscope from the small sections that can be seen. Macroscope was designed by Martin Nedergaard Andersen for 2 to 6 players of ages 6+. He did a wonderful job of creating a game younger players are intrigued by.

A picture is hidden in the Macroscope and on your turn you are able to reveal portions of the picture by “opening” viewports. Then you have the choice of guessing what the picture is, or moving on to the next player. This continues until all of the locations are opened and no one guesses, or someone attempts to identify the hidden picture.

The game moves quickly. There are twelve ports on the Macroscope and each turn allows a person to remove one or two tokens covering the viewports. Removing a token port is a simple aspect of rolling a pair of dice and removing a token with the matching number to one of the dice. If no matching numbers remain, the player can remove any of the remaining tokens. This continues until a guess is made, or all of the tokens are removed.

Making a guess carries risk. When a player identifies the picture they receive scoring crystals equal to the number of still closed locations on the Macroscope. An incorrect guess means the player has to pay to the pool that number of scoring crystals. More than one person can guess at a time, but each guess must be different than any already called out—so there can only be one player receiving the scoring crystals and everyone else must give theirs up. That’s the end of a turn.

If all of the tokens are removed without a guess, the tokens are replaced randomly and the game moves on to the next hidden picture. When this happens the turn hasn’t ended, you’re just working on a new picture.

There are ten turns to a game and lasts about 30 minutes. The first time playing the game give yourself some extra time to punch out the pieces and build your Macroscope.

Your family will be able to come back to Macroscope and play again. There are 200 double sided pictures in the Macroscope, or 400 rounds of play. It is well designed to allow going through the deck one direction, then the other. I don’t think there would be many people who could remember what they saw in earlier games by the time they worked through the rest of the pictures.

Macroscope was designed by Martin Nedergaard Andersen, published by Lifestyle Games, and distributed by Mayday Games. It is made for 2–6 players of ages 6+, and to last 30 minutes.

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H.I.D.E. (Hidden Identity Dice Espionage), Game Review

Originally published by Utah Geek Magazine.

Secret agents keep secrets. The better you are at hiding who you are and your mission, the better the rewards. While working to stay in the shadows, you also work at revealing those trying to force you out.

H.I.D.E. (Hidden Identity Dice Espionage), designed by Keewoong Kim and distributed by Mayday Games, puts each player in the role of a secret agent. You're working to keep your identity and agenda secret while exposing other players.

H.I.D.E. uses a pool of dice that are four different colors and marked with the four different missions. Players randomly select a die from the pool and stash it in their hideout. The color is random, but players select their mission. Missions are given a random monetary value. You can earn more money by outing other agents.

After selecting your mission, four dice are randomly selected and rolled. These dice will provide information about your hidden die. In order, players select one of the rolled dice and place it in one of two locations in front of them. One location lets everyone know the color and mission do not match your hidden die. Thus, the other location must match some piece of information about your die. This gives away more information, but it gives an additional advantage.

By revealing more about yourself, you can attempt to expose another player. You make a call about their hidden die. If you are right about both the color and the mission, they’re removed from the rest of this round (not the game)—and you earn a rank and any available reward.

After four phases of dice rolling, those players still in the round complete their missions and collect the reward. If multiple players are going after the same mission, there’s a shootout. This goes back to how players selected and placed the dice in front of them earlier in the phase. Dice previously placed to reveal more information are used in the shootout. This is an added advantage of where you place the die you select.

Players have a gadget card to help them out during each of the rounds. Timing the use of the card can make a difference in the round. You can use it to change the icon on one of the rolled dice, or possibly during a shootout.

There are two ways to win. First, the player with the most money wins after three rounds. You can also win if, at any time, a player gains a fifth rank. Ranks are gained by taking another player out of a round, so this can end a game early. In our games this didn't happen because a player's reward for taking out another player is collecting the removed player's rank cards as their reward. Players re-enter the game with no rank.

We played several games back-to-back and had a good evening of gaming.

H.I.D.E. is designed for 2–5 players, ages 10+, for 30 minutes per game.

Thanks to Mayday Games.

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Isle of Monsters, Game Review

The island is a peaceful place and the inhabitants like to keep it that way. They get few visitors because of the monsters that live on the island. Others wonder why the inhabitants stay on the island with such fearful monsters. But, they do, and, they don't seem to have any problems living with the horrid creatures.

Isle of Monsters, designed by Joshua DeBonis and Nikola Ristestki has artwork by Kwanchai Moriya and produced by Mayday Games, is about capturing monsters and caring for them so you can compete against the others players in scare contests.

Each player is working to become the Island Protector. This is done by catching and feeding the creatures on the island. Though the creatures look fierce and frightening, they are not. It is in how they are fed and presented that makes them look so ferocious.

Mechanics

There are several game mechanics taking place during the game. The first part of a round is spent gathering monsters and the food to feed them. Not all the monsters and food available on the game board are available to everyone, just those on the nearest outer islands and the center island. You need to keep an eye on what monsters your neighbor is feeding to see if there is the right food, and enough of it, for the monsters you have or want to capture.

After everyone passes from that phase the monsters that have eaten enough are matured and included into a deck used for the scoring phases of the round.

My hand early on

Scoring takes place in two levels. The first level is to present a single, or grouping of monsters of the same type (earth, fire, or water) to compete against the other players' monster(s) to scare the crowd in attendance at the Scare Festival. Individual monsters have scores from 1 to 9 and their scores are added together when they are played together. The card(s) are hidden so you don't know what others have chosen until everyone reveals at the same time. The person with the highest score on their cards wins the scare contest.

After the monsters have scared the crowd they can scare each other (fire scares earth, earth scares water, and water scares fire). This isn't worth as many points, but it is possible with a larger game that the person scaring other players earns more points than the person who won the contest.

The monsters used in that round of scaring are set aside and the next round starts with the players who have remaining cards. The scaring rounds continue until only one person, or none, has cards left in their hand. Additional scare points are earned for having extra monsters.

The monsters used in the scaring during the round do not leave the game, they just can only be used once a scare round. After the round they are returned to the deck the player is building. It is added to during the next maturing phase.

Strategy

Since each player is limited to the two piles of monsters on the outer islands to either side of them, strategy is limited to what is available. However, a player needs to be aware of the strength of the monster, higher points takes more food to mature, and what they eat. You also have to decide if you want to be able to combine monsters, therefore, they need to be the same type. You can also work at creating bigger or smaller monsters. (Early in the game there is not enough food to mature the bigger monsters.) Bigger monsters are better for winning the scare contests, but maturing more smaller monsters allows you to compete in more rounds.

Appearance

Some of the cards

During our play-testing it was the artwork that drew the attention of two of our players. The artwork is done by Kwanchai Moriya and one player mentioned that it reminded them of Pokemon cards. The artwork is fun and each of the monsters shows a different level of maturity for its type as it goes up in score.

The materials in the game are of good quality. The components are sturdy enough to withstand being played.

Re-playability

We were able to play a couple of games back to back without a problem. Younger players, or those who are not as adept at strategy, should be able to play this multiple times in a row without problems. It is also a game that could sit for a little while and be easily brought back to the table for another session.

Overall

Isle of Monsterswas easy to learn, and easy to teach. Set up and clean up was also quick. Although more experienced players have a slight advantage the advantage wasn't so much as to take away from the game.

Isle of Monstersis designed for 2–5 players. I played it with three players and it went well. There is a 2-player variation and I think the fun would increase as you add a fourth or fifth player.

Isle of Monstersis designed to last 20–45 minutes. Our games, even while learning took about 30 minutes. The time is controlled by the deck of monsters and the number of players doesn't vary the time much. The variable is more in deciding what you want to do.

Isle of Monstersis designed for ages 10+. Experienced younger players may be able to play this game. They may not catch all of the strategy nuances, but the artwork art is a draw for them.

A new Island Protector has been named. The others who vied for the title did well, it was a close competition. There is already talk of who is going to go for the title the next time the competition is held.

If you have a comment, suggestion, or critique please leave a comment here or send an email to guildmastergaming@gmail.com.

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Switch, Game Review

More pictures on their page

Every so often you are sitting with a few people around and just wanting a quick game to fill in the time. Something everyone gets involved in. In my group we call these filler games. At a couple of recent conventions, Salt Lake Gaming Convention and SaltCon, I came across a game that really fits the definition of a filler game.

Switch is a fast-paced, everyone play at once, game. It reminded me of a game we called Speed crossed over with some Crazy Eights. In Switch you are working to get rid of your hand as fast as possible into a central discard pile.

A hand starts with each player having a dealt hand that you turn over at the same time. Then you get rid of them as fast as possible. You start out with a condition to play cards, pairs, color (suit), or runs. You keep playing on the top of the discard pile until you can't play or a switch card is used to change the condition.

When I played we just played individual hands, but you can keep score to have your game last longer than just a hand. Many hands are completed in less than a minute. I also watched other playing and how many younger players really enjoyed the fast pace of the game and how short of time a hand took.

I can see there is a lot of potential to create your own house rules for discarding. You can also change hand size. You could also create different hand sizes to provide a balance between younger and older players. All of these, and other ideas, create a basic card game that can be played differently to keep the game fresh.

You might be waiting for only a few minutes and be looking for something to fill the gap of time. Or, you might need to fill a little more time. You could even play this between ordering your food and waiting for it to be served.

Switch is designed and distributed by Bored Brothers Gaming (Facebook link). It designed for 2–6 players, with no age listed, to last about 15 minutes (based on the games scoring system).

If you have a comment, suggestion, or critique please leave a comment here or send an email to guildmastergaming@gmail.com.

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Word Domination: Spelling Disaster, Game Review

Art by Ryan Goldsberry from Uproarious website

Criminal masterminds don't just have to worry about the good guys. There are only so many great treasures to take and other domineering deviants are going after them. You must devise your strategic maneuverings to position your plot in claiming the treasures available before the secondary scoundrels abscond with the booty. And, in so doing you not only secure the ancient and modern artifacts of the society, but promote the security of your position by establishing control of the territories.

Word Domination: Spelling Disaster is an area control game that uses your vocabulary as the mechanic to gain the spaces to earn points. However, having the great words at your disposal is only the means to the end. It is more about how you build the words to gain the spaces, not just using the biggest, grandest words you can come up with.

Each player takes on the role of one of the criminal masterminds who are vying against each other by capturing the space and stealing the great treasures of the world. The criminal character information gives players a unique advantage. Or, in the case when I played it, everyone is equal. This is a benefit for beginning and younger players. Word Domination is designed for 1–4 players with both cooperative and competitive rules.

We played a competitive game. On your turn you spell a word using the tiles in play. As the game progresses it becomes more important on the location of the tiles and not so much as what the word is. That's because you don't score for the word—it's the mechanic for capturing the space.

Along with playing a game against the developer (Jeff Beck), I had the opportunity of watching others play at SaltConthis year (2017). It was fun to watch as people realized the change in strategy because so many people are used to scoring the word. In fact, I saw one younger player give a solid run to a much older player by going for the basics they understood. It was a good example of how well the game is balanced.

There is also a lot of replayability with Word Domination. The letters that come into play vary, booth on the initial setup and as they are drawn into the game. Some of the tiles have special play options that you can use when you play a word using that letter. There is also the variability of the criminal personalities available.

I liked the twist of using words as the mechanic instead of the scoring mechanism. Another person playing the game (at a different time) commented how using this as the means to the end caused them to have to rethink what they were doing because they started out in the mode of looking for the words instead of the territories.

You've sharpened your thesaurus talents to stay a step ahead of the conniving competition. The master plan is made and now it is time to implement the scheme to take demonstrate you are the mastermind you have always known yourself to be.

Word Domination is designed by Jeff Beck and illustrated by Ryan Goldsberry and is from Uproarious Games. It is for 1–4 players and designed to last 30 – 60 minutes.

At the time of writing this the game has successfully completed a Kickstarted campaign and should soon be available on the market.

If you have a comment, suggestion, or critique please leave a comment here or send an email to guildmastergaming@gmail.com.

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Castle Panic, Game Review

Picture from Fireside Games

The castle stands and we as the defenders stand ready to defend it. There are hordes of monsters coming from all around us. We can work together to keep them from tearing down the walls and invading our home.

Castle Panic pits the defenders of the castle against the invading monsters. Players build a hand and play the cards allowing them to strike at the monsters in different zones. The goal is to keep them from getting to the castle walls. If they reach the walls, they can tear down them down and invade inside the wall.

I had the opportunity of playing Castle Panic at SaltCon in the room hosted by Double Exposure Inc./Envoy games. Three of us sat down and played the basic game with no expansions. The base game is a good for beginners and younger players. The expansions might also work, but I haven't played the game with expansions. The three of us were able to start quickly because the rules were straight forward and easy to understand. For two of us this was the first time we had played Castle Panic.

The board

We played a cooperative game. The instructor told us there were several ways to play, which included the cooperative style, team play of one side playing the monsters, solitaire, and one with players collect trophies for a high score. We went with the pure cooperative game, which I also found out was the first time one of our players had played a cooperative game.

The rules are easy to understand. Players start with a hand of cards that are used and traded to other players. Monsters are randomly drawn and placed on a zone of the board and they move forward to attack the castle. The cards give the player the opportunity of seeing which area they can defend and at what distance from the castle wall. There is some planning of seeing when an invader is within range and giving the right cards to that player who can make the defense.

Playing the cooperative game gave us an advantage of helping each other with advice on how to pass cards. Even the less experienced gamer at the table soon understood the basics and was picking up on the options they could do on their turn.

Moster tokens

Castle Panic is a good family game. It is rated for ages 10+, but younger players, especially those who have played some other games, can easily join in on their own. Inexperienced younger players may need a little help. The game also has a quick pace so the game keeps moving and keeps the interest of younger players. A friend with children told me this has become one of their staples on family game night. To add a more excitement, they use miniatures to represent the monsters attacking the castle.

Castle Panic is designed by Justin De Witt and distributed by Fireside Games. It is designed for 1–6 players to be played in less than an hour (our game took about 45 minutes).

If you have a comment, suggestion, or critique please leave a comment here or send an email to guildmastergaming@gmail.com.

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Nerdy Inventions, Game Review

Tinkering in the laboratory by adding a watzit here and a widget there can be a fulfilling career. Working to get the right combination of components to make a whole working invention is give a wonderful feeling of accomplishment. Then, after the first one is made, being able to put that invention to use to create more amazing creations can take you to a whole new level of self-confidence.

Nerdy Inventions distributed by Mayday Games is a quick playing game well suited for a small family, kids, or even when another couple comes over for game night. It is designed for two to four players and we played it with two and four players. The game moves quickly and easily along, but, you also have the capability of being able to step away from it or break out in conversation without disrupting the game. This makes it a nice addition to the game shelf.

First, I sat down with three other players of mixed ages and we were able to quickly learn Nerdy Inventions and play through without any problems. This first session was with less experienced gamers and everyone enjoyed it. I am sure we were all missing options that were available to us, but no one minded the fact. They were having fun, helping each other and enjoying the interaction through the game.

The next time I played was with a friend who is a gamer. The two of us started the game as we were waiting for the rest of the players on a game night. After we started, we found out the others weren't going to be able to make it and we played one game after the other for several hours.

Nerdy inventionshas easy to understand rules that provide a lot of combinations of what can be done on your turn. Although we didn't hit the lowest age of the recommendation our youngest player was able to understand and apply the rules on their own quickly. More questions came from the more experienced gamers as they were figuring out the nuances of what they could do. After a quick pass through the rules we were able to start our first game.

Each player starts with an invention. Inventions allow the player to make adjustments to their resources, or the inventions available to be created when you get the right combination of resources. The resources are determined by a roll of three six-sided dice.

The game

A turn starts by rolling the dice to determine what resources you have available. The right combination of dice allows you to build new inventions that becomes part of your laboratory. You can also spend dice to move inventions so the resource requirement changes or power one of your inventions you have used earlier in the game.

Using an invention allows an action depending on what the invention is. There are ten different inventions available. The combination of events in a single turn grows as you determine how to spend your resources and use your inventions. The game is designed that everyone will get the same number of turns, usually. There is an invention that allows a player to end the game immediately, if they think it will give them enough victory points.

Every invention is worth victory points. During play you have to decide how you want to fill your laboratory with what's available—what's on the invention row and what you have resources for. At the end of the game victory points are totaled to determine who has the best filled laboratory.

Along with being a good family game Nerdy Inventions is a good addition to have as a cabin game or a filler game. It is in a small package, is easy to set up, and easy to clean up. With the randomness of rolling dice and the order of the deck as inventions are made available the replay-ability of Nerdy Inventions is high.

Nerdy Inventionsby Chih Fan Chen from Homosapiens Lab and licensed to Mayday Gamesis designed for 2–4 players of ages 8+. A game is designed to last 25–30 minutes.

I would like to thank Mayday Games for the opportunity of playing and reviewing their games.

If you have a comment, suggestion, or critique please leave a comment here or send an email to guildmastergaming@gmail.com.

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The Game of 49, Game Review

The Game of 49, or just 49, is a straight forward game that harkens back to some of the old school style of play. Many of the more modern era games come with a theme, or backstory to set them up. Then, they build off the backstory fitting in the mechanics that work best to meet the needs of the game's strategy. Older style games usually only provided the strategy part of the game with little of the backstory.

At SaltCon 2017 I was able to learn to play 49 at a table with four others. These four new friends and I were enjoying new games being taught by Double Exposure Inc./Envoy. None of us had played 49 before and found the game was easy to learn. We completed our game near the lower limit of the listed time.

49 is played on a seven by seven grid board with 49 available spaces. The places come up for bid when their number is drawn from a randomized deck of cards. Each player starts with $49 (the amount you have at any time during the game is kept secret) to use to claim the location on the board. To win the game you need to get four locations in a row, a straight line in any direction. You are using bidding, money management, and location placement in your strategy. And, there are wild cards in the deck.

All wild cards do a couple of things, and then there is the 49 which is also a wild card. First, wild cards allow you to bid for the placement of any location on the concentric circle the card represents. This can provide a quick advantage to creating a row. The bidding can go higher because of the number of locations the token can be placed—I might be bidding to place on one side of the board while you are looking at the other side.

The 49 card is the middle of the board, so it is only one location and has some special rules. If no one owns the space, or it is currently owned by another player, you claim it with a winning bid (this is the only time a token is removed). If you already own the space, you get to place a token on any open space on the board.

Our game in action

After claiming your wild space, form from the wild cards or the 49 card, there is a payout. Every token on the board earns money for the player. The more locations you control, the more money you earn.

Because of the wild cards, if a number card is turned over and it is already taken, turn over the next card.

The game is easy to set up and clean up.

Our game of five was with players all a wide range of game playing experience and it went smooth. This is a good game for the more quiet social events. If you need a break in play, just don't draw the next card to bid on. You can also pause and talk during the game.

The Game of 49 was created by Mark Corsey and distributed by Breaking Games. It is designed for 2–5 players, with rule variations for when you have 2 or 5. A game is expected to take 30-45 minutes and is for ages 10+. If you have younger players who have played a few games I think they would be able to join in without problems, but maybe a little coaching.

If you have a comment, suggestion, or critique please leave a comment here or send an email to guildmastergaming@gmail.com.

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Splat That!, Game Review

Chef Splat is in the kitchen working with eggs and chicken. He can't get everything done on his own, so he has his helpers watching out for him. With quick reflexes and fast action you can help the chef clear the kitchen.

Splat That! A deviled eggz game is a card game for 3–8 ages 5 and up. It is produced, designed, and illustrated by Jazwings. And, Jazwings is getting ready to put up on a Kickstarter campaign in February 2017.

I was sent a development copy of Splat That! and played with a couple of groups of players getting down close to the lower age limit. The younger players enjoyed playing the game and were able to learn it very quickly. Almost every one of them was already familiar with the mechanic used, which made it even better for them. Those who didn't know where quick to learn from the other players.

Chef Splat, Practical Yolker, and Dare Devil

Splat That! uses the mechanic of Slap Jack  or Snap played with standard playing cards. This game has some variations to take it a little further.

This has a 108 deck of cards; the size of two standard decks of playing cards with the jokers left in. The cards are distributed as evenly as possible between the players, then they take turns turning over a card onto a discard pile. The first player to get rid of all of their cards win. When Chef Splat is turned up on the discard pile the players need to slap the pile. The last person who slaps the pile places the all the cards in the discard pile into their personal deck. There are also other cards and events to watch for.

Some common Cards (one's upside down)

Along with Chef Splat there are other cards and the chance of a doubles play that create action. When doubles appear you slap those for the same results of having to pick up the pile. When a Cracked Egg is rolled over onto the discard pile the players need to crack an egg on their head, again the last to act gets the pile. There is also the Practical Yolker, he looks similar to Chef Splat, but you usually don't want to slap him (double rule). If you do, you get the pile. There are also cards that require hand changes and, making a player sit out for a period of time, another card allows you to not take an action required of you. There is also a card that can be used to dare other players (you don't have to use dares, which was good for one of our playtesting sessions).

Some specialty Cards

I grew up playing Slap Jack and War with regular playing cards and Splat That! is reminiscent of those days. The younger players enjoyed it, with the highest level of enjoyment with the 6–7 year olds. For the older player the game went quick enough, 15–30 minutes. Once the younger players understood how to play they were happy to have a game they could play on their own.

Splat That! would make a good cabin game since it is only the size of two standard decks of cards. We also noted that the more creative players were starting to come up with some rule ideas of their own.

If you have a comment, suggestion, or critique please leave a comment here or send an email to guildmastergaming@gmail.com.

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Garbage Day, Game Review

Between you and your roommates there is the unwritten rule that someone has to take out the trash. However, there is a second unwritten rule that the one who has to take it out is the one who gets caught overfilling the garbage can. The competition has gotten fierce as the week goes on and garbage day approaches. There is pieces hidden in everyone's bedrooms and the pile on top of the can is getting unsteady. Can you get away with balancing the pizza box on it? Or, maybe you can try hiding the banana peel in your room. Then again, maybe you can catch your roommate off guard and make them clean their room which might make the pile on top of the can tumble.

Garbage Day is a card game pitting players against each other in a game of strategy and dexterity. You take turns drawing a card and playing one to hide it in your room, make an opponent do something, or throwing it away in the garbage can. Deciding what to do when is part of the strategy, the other part is how you place the cards you are throwing away on the garbage can.

Every card has two holes punch in it. When you place a card on the garbage can, either by choice or being forced to, you have to place it so you can see the tabletop through both holes. It must remain on the garbage can. If it falls off, you have to collect it, and if you collect too many pieces you're out.

The Start

At the start of the game placing cards on the garbage can is easy enough to do, but you have to decide if you are going to place it in a way to create a stronger base, or one that may tip out more easily. Either way you choose may come back to haunt you later in the game.

Looking like a mushroom

We had three of us play several games of Garbage Day. The rules were easy to understand and we were able to start the first game easily. In the first game we played our early cards conservatively as we were figuring out how the game played out. It worked until one card tipped off. At that point there was an avalanche of cards that cleared most of the garbage from off the top of the can and forcing that player out. In our following games we took a placed cards further out, creating a less stable base on top of the can. When garbage fell off when the cards were played this way, fewer cards fell.

In either case people stopped sitting at the table as the game moved along for fear of knocking garbage out of the can. You see, there is a rule that if you cause garbage to fall, even if you are not placing a card, they go in your overflow pile.

I don't remember if we played three or four games, but we were all having fun. The Garbage Dayis designed for two to five players. We also have the Smelly Expansion which allows you to bring in a sixth roommate. With the Garbage Day played we all think there would be more chaos with more players and want to pull it out in front for our entire gaming group.

All of our games were finished before the 30 minute mark and the last one was less than 15. Making this a good game to have on hand as a filler game, or a cabin game. When showing this game to younger players they wanted to play based on the name and the garbage can the cards come in.

Garbage Day was designed by Shane Willis and distributed by Mayday Games. It is designed to take 30 minutes for 2–5 players of ages 8+.

Thanks to Mayday Games for the review copy.

One player out

If you have any comments, questions, or critiques please leave a comment here or send an email to guildmastergaming@gmail.com.

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Have You Heard About Extra Life?

I have worked at writing articles about how to make a gaming experience better. Along with articles about tabletop gaming there have been reviews on movies, books, and events associated with the gaming community in one form or another. This year, at SaltConand Salt Lake Gaming Con, I had the opportunity to meet people involved in an organization that works at allowing our gaming to make other people's experience better.

 

You probably know a family a children’s hospital has helped. You might not even realize it. These hospitals have help many families directly and indirectly. Not only do they keep up on the latest pediatric medicine, they help in developing practices and procedures used in hospitals all over the world. The great work they do is supported through different means. One of those helping to provide support is Extra Life.

Extra Life is an organization works with gamers raising money to support hospitals in the Children’s Miracle Hospital Network, which covers North America. For most of us here in Utah, that would probably be Primary Children’s Hospital; however, if you want to support another hospital you can. I bet there are similar activities happening in other countries. If you know of one, please share the information so more people can be involved.

The gaming community is known for being givers, involved as volunteers in many ways. For example, cosplayers who visit children in the hospital. But not all of us are comfortable doing cosplay. For those of us not so outgoing, Extra Life is a way to add our support. As gaming geeks (tabletop, electronic, sports, LARPing, etc.), we can help children, their families, and the hospitals serving them by playing games.

 

Just go online, signup, and choose the hospital you want to support (here is a link to Extra Life). After that, continue doing what you have been doing—play the games you play with the friends you play them with. You can also be involved with National Game Day on November 5^th.

National Game Day is set aside for a 24 hour marathon. There are national events and live streaming. But not everyone can run a 24 hour gaming session. And, you don’t have to. You can spread out your 24 hours of gaming over a period of time, which means for most gamers there is no disruption to what you are already doing. If you are reading this, I’d be surprised if you haven't played games for more than 24 hours over the past year. With my gaming group we easily reach that goal every month and some in the group usually do it every week.

When you sign up you choose the hospital you want to support, then let people know they can go online and support you in fund raising. It is like doing a walk-a-thon without having to walk 25 kilometers, or miles for some of us who did this back in the 70s. This is also on an honor system, so you don’t have someone calling to remind you to update your game time. And, with it being on the internet, you don’t have to go back around and collect the money and get it turned in by a certain date. Extra Life uses their infrastructure to take care of all of the pledges people make.

Extra Life started in 2008 and has raised over $21 million for children’s hospitals across North America. Locally, Primary Children’s Hospital currently has about 600 gamers registered who have raise over $50 thousand as of 2015. The money is mostly used to help families for charity care. Their goal is to make sure the children, and their families, get the care they need.

Check it out. The support you throw their way helps. Spread the word by sharing the idea. You can use this article, one of your own, or just talk about it.

If you have any comments, questions, or critiques please leave a comment here or send an email to guildmastergaming@gmail.com.

You can also join Guild Master Gaming on Google+, Facebook, and Twitter (@GuildMstrGmng).

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Burgle Bros., Game Review

Careful, now, as you enter the building, you don't want to attract the attention of the guards. We all need to get in here, find the safes, get the loot, and get out. We're not leaving anyone, or anything behind. Like the three musketeers, it's all-for-one and one-for-all.

Burgle Bros. is a cooperative heist game for 1–4 players. The game starts with the first player entering the building. Then, you have to find the safes, crack them, gain the loot, and escape to the roof. The premise is simple enough, which makes the game entertaining to play.

A friend and I sat down with Burgle Bros. and jumped right into the basic game. We decided to skip over the introduction scenario. The rules were easy to understand and we were able to set the game up quickly.

The basic scenario is 16, randomly placed, room tiles making up each of the 3 floors. Each floor has a safe and stairs. Other rooms contain obstacles and hazards you have to overcome, but you don't know what the room is until you peek into it, or move into it. Once you find the safe you have to crack the combination. The combination for each safe are the numbers located on the cards in the same row and column of the safe. This means you have to explore the floor to uncover the combination before you can crack the safe and gain the loot. And, in the base scenario there are three floors you need to cover, then find the stairs to the roof and escape. Besides the obstacles in the rooms, you also need to watch out for the guards.

Some of the rooms

Each floor also has a guard on patrol. After each player takes their action the guard on the floor they finish on moves. This led to some strategy (suggested in the rules) to dividing up a little so one guard wasn't moving too fast in making their rounds. But running into a guard doesn't mean the end of the game.

Every player has three stealth tokens allowing them to hide and not get caught. But if a player gets caught, the entire crew gets caught. This isn't one of the games that has an element of sacrificing someone for your own win. You win or lose as a team.

The team is drawn from nine character cards, determined randomly. Each player can chose one of the two skills the character has for the game. It's good to know who else is on your team for the job and what skill they have. When you chose your actions for your turn other people's skills can be as important as your own.

Some of the characters

On your turn you have several actions to choose from. I've already mentioned Peek and Move, You can also Hack (an alarm system), Crack (a safe), make it easier to crack a safe, or, save a couple of actions to draw an event card.

Hacking an alarm allows you to move through the building easier by not setting off a particular type of alarm. There are five different types, each requiring you to do something different to not set it off.

Safe cracking allows you to gain the loot and a tool. The loot you have to get out of the building, and a tool is just that, something that will help you get the job done.

Event cards are unforeseen events that change the play of the game, either at that moment or later. Some of the events are beneficial, while others may cause some serious reworking of your plans.

As you progress through the game, going up in levels of the building and cracking open the safes, the game becomes harder, making teamwork even more important.

Some of the events, and patrol card

Our game lasted about an hour. Adding a couple of more players probably wouldn't have extended the game much longer. The play was well balanced and turns moved quickly.

Replay-ability for Burgle Bros. is high. The unknown layout of the rooms, the characters in play, the location of the guards and their patrol routes, are all determined randomly. It would be hard to come across a game layout that duplicated an earlier one you play. The loot, tools, and events add another level of the unknown. There are also suggested advanced rules and other scenarios.

The components of the game should stand up to the challenge of being played multiple times.

We both enjoyed the game and want to play it again with a team of four. My friend even talked over the game we played with his daughter who came up with a house rule she thought would be fun. The rules use the concept of action taking place like in a movie, when the camera is on you. Her suggestion is when you are taking your turn you have to narrate the action, like it was a movie.

Loot and tool cards

Burgle Bros. is designed by Tim Fowers (and self-published) with art by Ryan Goldsberry. The game is for 1–4 players and should last 45–90 minutes. There isn't a suggested age listed, but based on the cooperative nature and unexpected turns I would suggest 12+.

Thanks to Tim Fowers for a review copy of the game.

If you have any comments, questions, or critiques please leave a comment here, or send an email to guildmastergaming@gmail.com.

You can join Guild Master Gaming on Google+, Facebook, and Twitter (@GuildMstrGmng).

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Dead Man's Draw and Captain Carcass, Game Review

Pirates like to collect treasure. The more treasure they get, the happier they are. But, how do you go about collecting your booty? Do you collect a piece or two at a time, or push on to see if you can get a bigger haul at one time? If you try to get too much, you might lose everything you had lined up to put in your hull.

I first time I heard about Dead Man's Draw a friend mentioning how his kids loved to play it—an electronic game. I recently received a copy of the tabletop version of Dead Man's Draw along with Captain Carcass. So I sat down with three friends and we played a few games.

The strategy of these games is easy to learn. On your turn, turn over a card from the deck and place it in the play area. After the first card you have to decide to either collect the treasure, or draw another card. If the card is the same suit as a previous draw, you bust, and all the cards are moved to the discard pile. If there is no matching suit, you have to decide to continue or stop and collect.

The deck has ten suits. Each suit has a play-affecting aspect that must be followed before deciding if you are going to stop or continue. This allows for strategy as you might have to place a card you collected previously, relieve an opponent of one of their cards, or add cards to the play area, which could bust you. Along with the playing deck there are additional trait and situational cards.

The additional cards allow for variations from one game to the next. The Trait cards allow the player a specified ability during play. The variant cards (only in Dead Man's Draw) change an aspect of the game: how the cards bust, are banked, scoring, or another end game aspect.

The only other difference between the two games is Dead Man's Draw is listed for ages 13+, while Captain Carcass is listed for ages 8+. The reasoning is the artwork and the strategy changes introduced when using the variants. Both games are close to the popular electronic version of the game.

Playing Dead Man's draw reminded me of Pina Pirata (Guild Master Gaming review) These two games gave me the same feel, making them great games to have around for younger players.

Dead Man's Drawand Captain Carcass, from Mayday Games, were designed by Derek Paxton, Leo Li, and Chris Bray for 2–4 players. A game last for about 15 minutes.

I would like to thank Mayday Games for the review copies.

If you have any comments, questions, or critiques please leave a comment here, or send an email to guildmastergaming@gmail.com.

You can join Guild Master Gaming on Google+, Facebook, and Twitter (@GuildMstrGmng).

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Meteor, Game Review

The deluxe cover

A meteor swarm is racing towards the Earth. All life is in danger of extinction. Governments are scrambling to build and launch rockets to destroy the meteors before they impact on the planet. Time is limited, however, therefore cooperation is a necessity.

Meteor, from Mayday Games, is a fast paced cooperative game for 1-5 players. Players are building and launching missiles at the incoming threat. The meteors are coming in fast, moving through five elevation zones. Giving the players five rounds, controlled by 5 1-minute timers (in the deluxe), to complete the destruction of the meteors. If any of them get through, the Earth is destroyed.

The game is listed at five minutes, but we found it took a little longer because you have some cleanup between the rounds. Even with between round activities, the total game time wasn't much longer. And, didn't take away from the fast-pace intended. We had 5 players working together to learn and play the game, and we played a half dozen games.

Each game of Meteorstarts with the limitation that players cannot talk to each other. You can gesture, grunt, and try to get attention, but no talking. This lasts until someone can get a communication network in place, satellite or facility. This is a fun twist to the game, which made for some hilarious interactions around the table.

Play is done by placing cards from your hand onto your launch pad, and helping other players build what is on their launch pads by playing supporting cards there. You have a limit number of cards, which are your resources, so you have to watch where your resources can help others. Also, knocking the meteors out of the sky is not just blasting them with the biggest missile you can build.

Along with the resources, you can play with cards that give an advantage and a hindrance to each player. We found these cards added to the game. We played a couple of introductory games without them to learn the basics and then went with everything. All of the cards were balanced and we even faced winning or losing because of the additional factors.

The first game we played took longer as we learned the intricacies of what different cards meant, and what we could do. To accommodate learning, there is a "Time-out" rule so you can look up clarifications. Once we learned what the different cards meant, we weren't looking up rules very often, but we still had a couple of time-outs in our later games.  It seemed like there was a longer learning curve, but it really wasn't any longer because the game is moving so quickly. Even with all of the stops, making sure we knew what the cards meant, we played six games in about an hour.

 

Everyone had fun with Meteor. Some players were getting into it and were talking strategy between games. Everyone agreed this would be a great game to keep handy, and it fits right into being a filler game, or a cabin game.

We were 50/50 on the win/loss record. That shows a good balance for a cooperative game. In one of the games we even pulled off the ultimate B-movie cliff hanger by destroying the last meteor as the fifth timer was running out of sand.

Meteor is from Mayday Games and designed by Mike Young. It is designed for 1-5 players of ages 13+.

Thanks to Mayday Games for the review copy.

If you have any comments, questions, or critiques please leave a comment here, or send an email to guildmastergaming@gmail.com.

You can join Guild Master Gaming on Google+, Facebook, and Twitter (@GuildMstrGmng).

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