This week has been a fun one. We were able to get some good game sessions in with various friends and family throughout the week. Once again, we were able to table two new games.
My wife had asked me that if we keep up this pace will we have enough to finish the year out? I just let out a laugh and told her “we should be fine, we have a bunch of Kickstarter projects that should come in this year.”
(The real Alhambra Palace)
GAME 1: THE GOLDEN TICKET GAME
Over the past couple of years, more and more games have been released based on new and old movies. I saw this one at a big box retailer over the holidays and picked it up as a Christmas gift for our family because I loved Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka and this is based on the movie he was in.
BGG Description
Willy Wonka is opening his factory at last –but only for a lucky few! He has hidden Golden Tickets in his Wonka Bars. If you can find a Golden Ticket, then you win the big prize.
Use strategy on every move and play your Wonka Candy cards to collect as many Wonka Bars as you can to better your odds of finding a Golden Ticket! When the last Wonka Bar is picked up, everyone opens up their collection to see who’s got a Golden Ticket! This family strategy game requires planning, combo-making, and a little bit of luck.
On a player's turn they can do two actions. The actions consist of playing cards from their hand, discarding a card to move one space, or refilling their hand back up to their draw size. When a character lands on a gameboard space, they can also use the do listed action on that space as part of their move. At the beginning of the game, a limited number of golden tickets are added to the Wonka Bars depending on the number of players. The bars are then mixed up. The whole point of the game is to try and earn as many Wonka Bars as possible throughout the game to better your chances of ending with a Golden Ticket.
When all Wonka Bars from the pool of bars are claimed the game is over. At this point all players will unwrap the bars they have earned.
Any player that ends with at least one Golden Ticket wins!
Any player that does not end with a Golden Ticket loses.
Weight 1.14/5
What we like about the game
This is a fun whimsical game that, if you have seen the movie, really immerses you into the world of Willy Wonka because you play as one of the children from the movie. Each one has a different special ability and allowance amount which balances the game out.
We do like that the nine location tiles have a basic side to it and an advanced side; You can decide which side on each tile is play so you have a ton of combinations you can set up and play.
We also like that if you play with more than two players there is a chance that there will be multiple winners in the game because during set up you are hiding Golden Tickets based on the number of players minus one (3 players= 2 tickets, 4 players= 3 tickets).
Another plus is that the game also comes with an extra ticket (5 total) and five extra chocolate bars for the purpose of fully customizing the game to how you want to play it after learning the basics of the game. Even the instruction book says you can do it.
What we don’t like about the game
I normally don’t have an issue with this but for some reason the initial prep work bothered me this time. Not the sleeving of cards (because this is a personal preference) but the process of unfolding the wrapper, inserting the chocolate bar, and folding the close-able end.
Overall Thoughts
I really liked the game overall. The actions are simple, and the cards are beautifully done. After playing a few times I felt the desire to watch the movie again and find me a Scrumdiddlyumptious Bar to eat. This is one game that I would table it over and over just bring back happy thoughts and feelings. Yumm!!!!
GAME 2: ALHAMBRA (BIG BOX 2nd EDITION)
Thanks to my wife, we have fallen in love with the publisher Queen Games. In BGG they have over 300 games listed as a publisher.
We added Alhambra to our 10x10 challenge this year because we had Kickstarted the 2nd edition big box and because Alhambra is a staple for most gaming collections. The game is also considered to be one of the first major hits by the company as well. We wanted to play at least ten games to really see how much we would like it because there is a ton of content for the game.
Since we have the Big Box 2nd Edition and the Designers’ Expansion Box, I felt that putting in the description for each is needed because the big box description doesn’t talk about the game itself just the changes from
BGG Description
Alhambra (2003)
Granada, 1278. At the foot of the Sierra Nevada mountains, one of the most exciting and interesting project of the Spanish Middle Ages begins: the construction of the ALHAMBRA.
The best master builders in the whole of Europe and Arabia want to demonstrate their skill. Employ the most suitable teams of builders and make sure that you always have enough of the right currency. Because no matter whether they are stonemasons from the north or horticulturalists from the south, they all want a proper wage and insist on their "native" currency. With their help towers can be constructed, gardens laid out, pavilions and arcades erected and seraglios and chambers built.
In Alhambra, players are acquiring buildings to be placed within their Alhambra complex.
The money in Alhambra comes in four different currencies and is available in the open money market. The 54 buildings of six types become available for purchase in the building market four at a time; one building is available in each of the four different currencies. On a player's turn, a player may 1) take money from the open money market, 2) purchase a building from the building market and either place it in his Alhambra or reserve, or 3) engage in construction and re-construction projects with buildings that have been placed in the player's Alhambra or reserve. The game rewards efficiency, as when a player purchases a building from the market for the exact amount of money, the player may take another turn.
Players with the most buildings in each of the six building types in his Alhambra score in each of the scoring phases, and points are awarded for players' longest external "wall" section within their complex. The game ends when the building market can no longer be replenished from the building tile supply, and there is a final scoring, whereupon the player with the highest score wins.
Weight 2.1/5
Alhambra: Big Box 2nd Edition (2021)
The Alhambra: Big Box (Second Edition) features all new artwork and includes all 6 expansions and the 2 Queenies amounting to 26 modules.
No Weight Listed
Alhambra: Designers’ Expansion Box (2019)
Originally available as part of the Alhambra Designers' Edition Kickstarter. This expansion contains 14 expansion modules by 9 famous designers, plus 3 fan expansion modules.
The expansions are:
Dirk Henn: New Building Grounds
Dirk Henn: Major Construction Projects
Emanuele Ornella: Palace Staff
Emanuele Ornella: Orchards
Klaus-Jürgen Wrede: Travelling Craftsmen
Klaus-Jürgen Wrede: Bathhouses
Klaus-Jürgen Wrede: Wishing Well
Marco Ruskowski & Marcel Süßelbeck: Fresh Colors
Marco Ruskowski & Marcel Süßelbeck: Palace Designers
Michael Schacht: Alhambra Zoo
Michael Rieneck: Gates without End
Mike Elliott: Buildings of Power
Rüdiger Dorn: Extensions
Stefan Feld: Handymen
Fan Expansion Modules:
Louis-David Péloquin: Personal Building Market
Frank Sander: Treasures
Stefan Schiltz: Caliph‘s Guidelines
Weight 2.0/5
What we like about the game
We have just played a handful of the base game and not any of the expansion modules to date. What we really like about the game is how simply the game play is. As stated in the BGG Description, there are only three main actions you can choose from each turn so no complicated rules at all. When placing your buildings in your city, you just need to make sure that you follow the placement rules which are not hard to follow at all.
We do like that you have options with the modules of which to add, and from what I can tell, you can mix and match and add multiple modules at once if you want.
We played with my mom and opened the box, the first thing she said was “looks to complicated for me” and then when I took out the items that we needed for the base game she let out a sign of relief and said “that’s all for the base game??” We like that there isn’t much you need to get a quick game started.
We also like that the game is scored in only three phases and the first two is based on when the shuffled scoring card show up during the game. The third scoring phase is triggered with the end game.
What we don’t like about the game
The first thing that we don’t like so much is that with the third action, we wish that if you have multiple tiles in reserve you can place them together. It is understandable that this game doesn’t allow it whereas other similar games that were published after this one does. (My wife has more of an issue with it than I do)
The only other thing that we don’t like is that during the end game phase, we wish that you can add the tiles in reserve to your city if you can legally place them. We feel that if you can place the left over tiles that you acquired from the end game, you should be able to move the reserves into the city.
Other than those two items, no other issues with the game.
Overall Thoughts about Alhambra
We are so glad that we picked up the Big Box with all the extra goodies because once you understand the base game having the option to add more to your game is nice. We are looking forward playing the game more with the different additions. Just remember that even though it is in a big box that it does mean it is a hard game to play.
FINAL THOUGHTS
The two new games for the week were a nice change for me. Alhambra being on our 10x10 was motivation to table it. Now that we have played it a few times, it has become a new favorite of mine (Tang Garden will be my forever number one).
The Golden Ticket Game brings back memories of the “olden” days (I am not old enough to refer to the “Golden” days yet, unless you talk to my wife). It was fun playing the game to collect chocolate bars without having the desire to actually eat chocolate bars.
I do recommend both of these games for families to play because both are easy to learn and fun to play. Hope this week everyone has a Scrumdiddlyumptious Valentine’s Day.
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