Last month I reviewed Elysium after reading the rulebook and everything else I could find on it. I normally don’t review a game until I’ve played it, but with the pre-release coming up I felt it was important to give everyone a heads up about what it’s about. Since then, I’ve taught and played Elysium several times and would like […]
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Cloud 9 is a quick, push-your-luck style card game. You earn points by daring to stay in the basket of a hot air balloon as it rises. Your points increase as the balloon climbs higher from cloud to cloud, but so does the risk of the balloon crashing. Should you jump ship to save your points or trust that the […]
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Robinson Crusoe: Adventure on the Cursed Island is a cooperative, worker-placement game that I’d had my eye on for over a year. When it finally released in the U.S. in August 2013, we were one of the few stores to get the full quantity we preordered. Probably because I preordered it so early. In Robinson Crusoe, there are so many […]
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Fresh Fish! Get your fresh fish here! Have you ever dreamed of being a fish monger? With Cash-A-Catch, you and up to four of your friends can experience all the excitement of selling your fishy wares on the wharf, without all the odorous aroma that usually comes when dealing in fishy products. Game play is simple: players take turns auctioning […]
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Cinque Terre (pronounced chink-qua terra) is a pick up and deliver game of acquiring and delivering produce to fulfill orders for the five villages on the Italian Riviera known collectively as the Cinque Terre (five villages). I really like this game, the colorful board and bits and really cute Produce Trucks initially drew me to it then Tim played it […]
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I propose a new classification of board games: nobody can play just one. It should be applied to games that you immediately want to play again, even after just finishing a game. I first remember experiencing this phenomena after losing a game of Pandemic. We all immediately wanted to play it again… and we did! It’s perfectly understandable, we lost […]
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The Builders: Middle Ages is a sweet little micro game in which players vie to be named First Builder of the Kingdom by earning the most victory points by game end. To achieve this, players must combine wise choices of construction sites with recruitment of appropriately skilled workers. As you complete construction of buildings you’ll not only earn renown (victory […]
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While looking for some new games to bring into the store, I ran across Rise of Augustus, one of 2013’s Spiel des Jahres nominees. Spiel des Jahres, for those of you who haven’t heard of it, is a really important gaming award. It translates to Game of the Year. Spiel des Jahres nominations typically only go to the cream of […]
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Urbania reminds me of Ticket to Ride, even though there are no trains involved. Like Ticket to Ride, players have secret goals to achieve, though in Urbania you can declare a maximum of three Objectives and you’ll have to spend an action to put each Objective into play. Play is similar and simple, too. On your turn you can take […]
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Many awesome games never make it across the water to the United States, despite being in print for many years in Germany. Among those classic, well-loved games is the Bohnanza series of card games by Amigo Spiel. Although the ever-popular game of bean planting, Bohnanza by Uwe Rosenberg, did make it to the U.S., thanks to Rio Grande Games, only two of its numerous expansions have ever […]
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In the highly interactive card game, Bohnanza, you play a bean farmer. Your goal: become a wealthy bean farmer – the wealthiest if you want to win the game. You begin building your bean empire with just two bean fields and a handful of beans. While there are 11 varieties of beans, you can only cultivate one type in each field, and each […]
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Edo is the ancient name of Tokyo. It’s also the name of this interesting, action-selection, worker-placement board game. While Edo may have the same setting as King of Tokyo (recently reviewed here on The Glass Meeple), Edo is absolutely nothing like King of Tokyo as you’ll soon see. I originally wrote this review in June 2013. In Edo, you assume […]
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King of New York is a sequel to the popular mutant monster king-of-the-hill dice game, King of Tokyo. This time, the giant monsters have moved their rampage to New York, where they’ve found more ways to acquire fame and wreak destruction – which translates to more opportunities for strategy and multiple paths to victory for players. The end goal is […]
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The tile-placement game Carcassonne is a classic designer game, ranking right up there with Catan and Ticket to Ride. It’s accessible, easy to learn and teach, and plays in 30 minutes to an hour. Now, nearly 15 years after its original release, it’s got a new look, though the game play remains the same. Let’s take a closer look at this […]
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Hidden far away from our time lies a valley of unimaginable riches, where gold, silver, and precious jewels lie strewn along the roads, seemingly just waiting for you to scoop them into your rucksacks so you can fulfill commissions for wealthy patrons. The name of this wondrous place is Valdora. Valdora is a pickup-and-deliver game with straightforward rules, a beautiful […]
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