Entry 61: Week 16- Murano: Light Masters

                            
         What happens when your favorite game designer creates a beautiful game that gets released overseas before coming to the United States and you are friends with him on Facebook? 

        You get to ask him every few months when the heck can I get the game here. 

        That being said, I must apologize to my dear friend Francesco Testini for bugging you so much about this game in anticipation for its arrival. I also want to say that once again, Francesco has put out a game that is going to be played quite a bit in our household, read on to find out why. 

BGG Description 

At the begining of the 13th Century, all the glassmakers in Venice were forced to move to Murano. The island became famous, and Murano was the largest producer of glass in Europe. Embody a glassmaker and collect colored glass to make the most beautiful items while staying ahead of your competitors! Welcome to the Glassmakers Island! 

- Selector & Ring gameplay is original and accessible 

- Real glass pieces bring sound and beauty to the table 

- Compete with others and yourself to become Grandmaster 

Weight 1.75/5 

A Little More Info 

        Each time you play the game it will be different. Every player will receive five creation cards at the beginning of the game (six cards in a two player game) out of the 24 available and unless you use the first four advantage cards (recommended for your first game) over and over, you get draw four out of sixteen to randomly place under the four different category tiles. 

        The outer ring of the game board is double sided so you can choose which you want to play on, and the selector can begin at any of the twelve spots providing even more variety in the game. The four shards that go into the market place (one of each main shards) is randomly put so, once again, there is variety in the game because exchange actions will different for each game as well. The warehouse is where all the glass shards are kept (the middle of the board). 

        A players turn is broken up in three phases, the first two being mandatory actions. The collect phase is simple, rotate the selector clockwise on spot and take the two glass shards depicted. 

        The negotiate phase is where you perform one of three actions, exchange, buy, and sell. Exchange is where you place a shard from your workbench into an open market spot and receive the shards (non-wild) that are within the markets boundary. Buy is where you spend 2Ł (Lira) to pick up all the shards in one of the four markets. Sell is where you can put as many of the shards you do not want/need from your workbench into the wharehouse and earn 1Ł (total, not each). 

        The third optional phase is to complete one or more of your creation cards. Having the matching shards on your workbench to complete front creation card of your hand, you earn coins for each spot not covered on your workbench (the eight workbench spots have images of the 1Ł coin on them). If you are able to complete the first two cards in your hand you earn bonus coins. 

        There are three optional actions that when utilized at the right moments on your turn can propel you to victory (or at least for my sister who kick our butt). The first action is to change the order of your creation cards in your hand. You pay 1Ł per card you want to move from the current position. This can help you if your workbench has shards that you can use for a future creation. 

        The second is to pay 1Ł to rotate the outer ring counter-clockwise one spot (you can do this as many times as you have the Lira to pay). This can help set you up for collecting the right shards for completing your creations. 

        The last action is to activate one or more of the advantage cards. Each creation card has one or two of the category symbols which during your turn you can activate from your completed creations. After activation of the card, you place it from left side of your workshop to the right side face down. 

        Game ends when the first player completes all of their creation cards. You then add up your total Lira and the highest amount collected wins. If there is a tie, the player with the least amount of completed creations wins (we shall talk about this below). 

What we like about the game 

        My wife says and I quote her once again “we like everything, short paragraph end of story.” 

        Francesco had stated to me that the game is designed to be simple and easy to play for both board gamers and non-gamers alike, which we found this to be true. When we introduced the game to my sister (who I would rate as a seasoned gamer now) and explained each action she understood everything on the first explanation and dove right into the game without any issues. 

        Francesco also mentioned to me something that I do like about the game, there is no “upkeep” during the game play. Nothing to reset in between turns. Once you set up the game from the start, you continue to play until the end of the game. 

        The overall beauty of the glass shards and the images on the creation cards fit the whole theme of the game. The box design also draws one’s attention to the game. The game does not take long to play. At three players, we were able to get two games in a short amount of time. The first couple games at two player took a little less than that. 

        The game end trigger is simple, you play your last creation and everyone gets an equal amount of turns, then you add up your Lira and the player with most wins. Not hard to figure that out at all. The tie-breaker is what I really like. In case of a tie it is the player with the least amount of completed creations is the winner. I had asked Francesco his reasoning behind this and he told me this, "Because it means that your works are more precious. You obtained the same amount of coins with less works, it means each work is worth more." Beautifully said, coming from the master himself. 

        The last thing I want to point out is the box insert which is part of the game itself and table presence. The top half of the box is the game board and right underneath it is game storage for everything not being used. Because of that, the amount of table space needed is quit small which makes it great to play when you have a small area available to play games on. 

What we don’t like about the game 

        Once again, the great Francesco Testini created a game that is solid and contains nothing that is on our negative list. Yes, we may have our rose-colored glasses on because he our favorite designer but he earns that title because he puts out solid games with great replay ability. 

FINAL THOUGHTS 

        We you find a game designer that you love, you tend to support them when they have any new games out. There are a lot of Uwe Rosenberg, Richard Garfield, Stefan Feld, and Jamey Stegmaier followers who must have anything they put out. In my case, this designer is Francesco Testini. 

        I have not been disappointed with anything of his in my collection. Because I have gotten to know him through our friendship that began with my favorite game (yes, it is still Tang Garden), I do know that he puts his heart and soul into making great games that both young and old, gamers and non-gamers alike can enjoy. 

        His family means the world to him, and it shows in the games he creates. Francesco, thank you again for all that you do and allowing my family to be a part of yours.

Entry 60: Week 15- Planet Unknown

         Our last Kickstarter that had an initial predicted 2020 delivery date had finally made its way to us this past week. It is a game that we were excited to back because of how cool it looked and the game play is one we enjoy… polyominoes. Planet Unknown is by Adam's Apple Games.

        Since my daughter loves to punch out cardboard pieces, she, my mother and I had prepped the game that afternoon and played it that night. 

        We also played Fantasy Fluxx which has the same game play as the other Fluxx games (see Entry #55). Because of that, there is no need to talk more about this specific version of the game. 

BGG Description

Our planet has run out of resources, and we are forced to move. We have discovered a series of planets and sent our rovers to test their environment with the hope of colonization. Our rovers have confirmed 1-6 viable colonization options. 

Planet Unknown is a competitive game for 1-6 players in which players attempt to develop the best planet. Each round, each player places one polyomino-shaped, dual-resource tile on their planet. Each resource represents the infrastructure needed to support life on the planet. Every tile placement is important to cover your planet efficiently and also to build up your planet's engine. After placing the tile, players do two actions associated with the two infrastructure types on the tile. Some tile placements trigger "meteors" that make all planets harder to develop and prevent them from scoring points in the meteor's row and column. 

Planet Unknown innovates on the popular polyomino trend by allowing simultaneous, yet strategic turn-based play via the Lazy S.U.S.A.N. space station in the center of the table. 

—description from the publisher 

Weight 2.26/5 

A Little More Info 

        There is one little (or major) difference in a 3+ player game than there is in a two player game; with two players the station commander only moves the S.U.S.A.N. one depot clockwise each turn instead of picking which depot section they want. 

        This could be either good or bad depending on your style of play. Players who are good at planning turns ahead of time would love it, those who struggle with that will more than likely not enjoy this aspect of the game. 

        The game includes a private objective module, an event deck module, and it also has solo mode as well. We haven’t used any of those options yet (plan to in the next few games). 

What we like about the game 

        We are fans of polyomino games so this fits right into our collection nicely. We really enjoy that the game is not just placing a piece on the map but includes the five different terraforming tracks on the player boards to help you fill in and make your planet habitable. Is one track more powerful than the others? I would have to say no. There is a good balance between them all. 

        The next thing we like is that with the game corporation boards and planet boards each have a symmetric side and an asymmetric side. The symmetric side allows all players to play the same game with the same rules and everyone has the same planet. The asymmetric side allows each player to control a unique corporation with a unique set of rules and choose from an individual unique planet to terraform. This does give you the freedom to mix and match and setup your own unique game. 

        Another thing regarding this game that we like is that the rule book may seem daunting but it is full of good information about the game. However, the last half of the book is better than the first which provides details and clarifications regarding the corporation boards and planets. See next section about the first half of the rule book. 

       We do like that the lazy S.U.S.A.N has two sections to it where we can mix up what each depot has from game to game. And that the storage trays are very nice and have covers to prevent pieces from shift in the box.

        The last thing we want to point out is that the game is actually pretty fast because everyone takes their turns together so there is little downtime between each players turns. Even when teaching a new person to the game and helping them out to understand what is going on, the game is quick. Once you know the basics, the game just flows. 

What we don’t like about the game 

        Unfortunately, there are a few things that could be better in our eyes with the first being the box for the deluxe edition is just a hair too short to properly store the fancy Lazy Susan in. Overall, the way everything fits in the box is great but because it does not fit all the way securely without lid-lift we have to subtract a few points. 

        The wash on the plastic pieces were suppose to make the "pop" but most of them don't look good at all. The unfortunate thing is that we can not get replacement to fix the issue. Some people like the way they look but for us, we just look past the impurities. 

        Now to the rule book. As stated in the previous section, the second half is great but the first half could be better. Pages 3-7 could have been written better. A one page, maybe two pages at most, summary of the rules then more in-depth detail of each tack would make it easier to read and understand. 

        As a side note to the rules, we feel that Planet KSB-4156 (the basic planet) should have another planet ice area in the Southeast quadrant to assist with moving the water resource track better. We added a house rule that if a water piece is connecting to another water tile section that is correctly placed over an ice area, we will advance the track. This may change as we play more and can better grasp a more balanced strategy. 

        The last thing, semi-spoiler alert, is that there is a specific set of Civ cards (1 per tier) that gets you more points for having additional copies of it at the end of the game. However, as I just mentioned, there is only one of each card per tier. So with a lower player count and because you randomly pick cards during the setup of the game, the chance of getting multiples of them is pretty slim. If there were at least two copies of each, the odds are better at getting the additional matching cards. 

FINAL THOUGHTS 

        If you are a fan of the polyomino; this game is a must have for your collection. 

        If you are a fan of space and planetary games; this game is a must have for your collection. 

        If you are a fan of… well… games in general; this is a... well you get the point (a must have in your collection). 

        Planet Unknown is very likeable game. We have enjoyed the few games we played so far at both two and three players. We are looking forward to trying out the modules and teaching others how to play it too.

(All game images are from BGG User Uploads)

Entry 59: Week 14- Dizzle / Namiji

        This week was an exciting one for us. After much longing and waiting, we got our copy of Namiji that I backed on Kickstarter to surprise my wife for our anniversary in 2020 (if it was going to be on-time based on what they hoped for in the campaign). One pandemic and nearly two years later the Funforge game arrived for us to enjoy. We had put it on our 10x10 Challenge for this year knowing it was bound to arrive soon. This will be the highlight entry of this week’s blog entry. 

        But Namiji was not the only new games we played. At our favorite board game pub (yes, I said pub because they do sell food and craft beer there) we picked up a few more games with one of them being Schmidt Speile’s Dizzle, a roll and write game which will lead of the blog this week. 

        We also played Fantasy Fluxx which has the same game play as the other Fluxx games (see entry #55). Because of that, there is no need to talk more about this specific version of the game. 

DIZZLE (2019) 

        Since we are fans of the roll and write genre and we love Schmidt Speile, whose founder created a game I played growing up called Mensch ärgere dich nicht, this game fits right into the our library like a glove. 

BGG Description 

In Dizzle, players want to fill their scorecards with dice collected each round. Players take turns selecting dice from the center of the table, and the next die they collect must match the others. At the end of a round, mark all boxes on your scorecard filled with dice. This might sound simple, but of course others will compete for the dice you need... 

Weight 1.27/5 

A Little More Info 

        Dizzle is a fun roll and write game in which you draft dice to place on your game sheet. If you complete certain columns and rows you earn extra points at the end of the game, if you complete other objectives additional bonus points are awarded as well. 

        However, you better watch out for the bombs too. If your opponent’s cover up a bomb space before you do it explodes and you lose points at the end of the game. 

        If you are not able to play a die you can either pass (stop collecting until the start of the next person’s turn/round) or take a chance and reroll what is left in hopes you can play the new numbers. If you are not able to play a die from the reroll, you remove one of your dice on your board. 

What we like about the game 

        What we really like about the game is how easy it is to play. The rules are simple and easy to follow with the game not taking long to play. The number of rounds and dice are based on the number of players.

        There can be some “take that” to the game but it really is minimal since you have to focus on about what you are doing next. 

        We also like that that the game has four levels you can choose from to play. You are not limited to playing the same board over and over again. 

        This is a game in which we could play over and over again without losing interest since it is a dice game of chance. A nice step up from Yahtzee. 

What we don’t like about the game 

        This is one roll and write where we found no issues with. The sheets are readable, the instructions are clear, the dice are the right size, and the number of rounds played based on the player count is just right. 

NAMIJI (2022) 

        In a three-day period we have already tabled the game eight times; we played two 4-player games and six 3-player games (one of which we went counter-clockwise). 

BGG Description 

In Namiji, you are fishers from the Japan of yesteryear, navigating south of the Japanese archipelago, a few kilometers from the famous Tokaido road. You will need to have a fruitful day at sea to win the game. 

To do this, you will have the opportunity to contemplate magnificent marine species, to fish with a line or a net to fill your racks with colorful fish, and haul in your crustacean traps. 

You can benefit from stops to improve your fishing equipment, and you will also have to contend with the gods of the sea by setting offerings afloat, or by fulfilling their wishes that they express during your contemplation with the Sacred Rocks, for which they will reward you. 

Namiji features gameplay similar to Tokaido. The action spaces are laid out on the game board in a linear track, with players advancing down this track to take actions. The player who is currently last on the track takes a turn by advancing forward on the track to their desired action and taking that action, so players must choose whether to advance slowly in order to get more turns, or to travel more rapidly to beat other players to their desired action spaces. What players are doing on the track differs from what they do in Tokaido. 

Weight 1.78/5 

A Little More Info 

        If you are familiar with Tokaido, you will not have any issues with the game play at all. Some of the biggest differences are that you are not buying anything from a merchant or making offerings at a temple or even relaxing at a hot spring. 

        What is alike is that you are moving along a path, making beautiful panoramas, stopping at checkpoints (docks instead of inns), and the turn order with the last player moving first. 

What we like about the game 

        Being a fan of the first game, we immediately fell in love with this one because the transition between the two is easy enough to follow. We do like that you have the option to follow the path either clockwise of counterclockwise (determined by the players at the start of the game). 

        All the artwork is beautiful in the game. The panoramas match up nicely with one another even in sleeves. The double-sided player boards look great. We do however, like the neoprene player mats better because of the designated spots to hold the dock and sacred rock cards. 

        The origami offering boats and the player boats are nicely done. I know some people have complained about figuring out what boat goes with what player board. We have not had any problems with it at all. 

        The addition of filling your racks with fish and earning bonuses for doing so is the nice change from doing the merchant and hot springs spaces from Tokaido. 

        We also do like that instead having coins to spend to make an offering at a temple you have origami boats to place in the water. Even though you lose points at the end of the game if you didn’t place all four in the water. 

        When you reach a dock, you have the option to choose which spot you want to fill. This determines two things; the first is how many cards you look at before selecting the one you want and the second being you can decide when you want to leave. The first to look at cards is the last one to leave but they have the advantage to look at more cards. In Tokaido, it is always first in-last out. So having the freedom to pick you spot is nice. 

        The last thing we want to mention is that he playing time for the game is pretty quick which is a bonus for us. We were able to play the first four games in just a couple of hours. The first game took the longest because one of the players was new to the series; they caught on quickly and the game just “flowed like a river moving downstream towards the ocean” (water reference on purpose). The two four-player games took about the same time because two of the players were also new. 

What we don’t like about the game 

        Even though we love this game, there are a few things that is not so favorable. 

        The first one is the rule book is not the greatest in terms of when do score the fish trap points. Nowhere did I see when you are supposed to score them. Overall, the rule book could have been a little clearer to begin with. 

        The second thing, which can go with the rule book, is the dock and sacred rock cards have no detailed explanations to them. Some of the cards seem vague and open to interpretation (even though most cards are fine and easy to understand). 

        Next, the score counters are so small that you could misplace them just by sneezing on the board (please, do not try this action). It would be a lot better if they were larger and stacked on top of each other. 

        We also do not like the ratio of the shrimp to crab tokens; there are 30 shrimp and 20 crabs. On the crustacean action you draw up to five tokens and if you draw two crabs you lose everything. More often than not, we end up scoring nothing because a second crab is drawn. If the ratio was 7:3 (35 shrimp, 15 crab) instead of 3:2, it would be more enjoyable for us. 

        The last thing that is a bit of a downer is that it takes up a lot of table space. You will need a larger playing area to fit the game board and player boards/mats comfortably. Even the game box is a “hog” and is larger than the standard Kallax storage space. I am just hoping that the game will fit in one of my board game totes. 

NAMIJI: AQUAMARINE (2022) 

        We haven’t added anything from the expansion to our game play yet but I wanted to share with you at least the description and what is in it. 

BGG Description

In Namiji, you are two to five fishermen of yesteryear who are about to take a journey of discovery of beautiful and wild marine life. You will need to have a fruitful day at sea to win the game. To do this, you will have the opportunity to contemplate magnificent marine species, to fish with a line or a net to fill your racks with colorful fish and haul in your crustaceans traps. 

Aquamarine is the first expansion for Namiji. It contains all the item stretch goals from the original Kickstarter campaign and a booklet containing the expansion's rules and the Boats' stories. The booklet is also available for download from the Namiji website. 

Aquamarine adds the whirlpool and additional creatures to the game. It is an expansion and cannot be played without the base game Namiji. 

No Weight Provided 

A Little More Info 

        Each module in the expansion can be played separately from each other or added all together. The following is what is included in Aquamarine: 

        Custom Whirlpool- When you place your offering into the pool, follow the path inward and do the action given (unless it is a no-effect space). 

        Rainbow Fish- 8 wild fish for the fishing action. When you draw one of the rainbow fish, you flip over three into the school instead of one. 

        Special Crustaceans- 10 special tokens to be drawn from the bag. There are four different tokens that gives you a total of sixty tokens to draw from. 

        Additional Dock & Sacred Rock Cards- Three new cards of each type can be added to the game. 

        Also included is an additional draw bag that you could you for the fish tokens. This is nice so that the stacks of tokens don’t cover the board and until you need them placed. 

FINAL THOUGHTS 

        Both of the games that we discussed this week at great in their own right. Dizzle is a great game if you want something small, portable, and fast to play. Whereas Namiji is a quick play once you get to know each of the action spaces and if you are familiar with Tokaido it is an easy transition between the two but it is a table hog so make sure you have enough space for it. Was the long wait for Namiji worth it? I would say yes; sometimes the best things in life are worth the wait.

Entry 58: Week 13- Welcome to the Moon

“Citizens of Earth, we are facing a dire situation. Our planet is doomed. The fate of humanity is in your hands… It is no longer about preserving our way of life or our economy. Now, it is a struggle for our very existence. And our survival depends on our capacity to conquer the Moon. This conquest, this last hope of survival, we entrust it to you. You’ll be in competition with each other in order to give us the best chances of success. You will write a decisive page of our History by saving us all. Welcome to the Moon!” 

Excerpt from the address of Katalin Nelson Blue, the first president of the Human Alliance. 

(from the game manual) 

        Just based on the above excerpt, the games provides a vibe of old pre-CGI science fiction movies and/or space themed comic books. Being a fan of the previous Welcome to games my wife and I were excited to jump right into playing this one, and well, we did. We even got to play it with my sister and my wife’s sister-in-law. The result? Well, keep reading and you will find out. 

BGG Description 

 You've built housing for humanity in neighborhoods and New Las Vegas. Now you need to save humanity through space colonization... 

Welcome to the Moon uses the same flip-and-write game mechanisms as the earlier title Welcome To..., but now you can play in a campaign across eight adventure sheets. On a turn, you flip cards from three stacks to create three different combinations of a starship number and a corresponding action, then all players choose one of these three combinations. You use the number to fill a space in a zone on your adventure sheet in numerical order, and everyone is racing to be the first to complete common missions. 

The eight adventure sheets feature very different mechanisms from the classic Welcome To... concept, and when you play in campaign mode, you'll make choices that change the next adventure, which means that each campaign will differ from the previous one. 

Weight 2.39/5 

A Little More Info 

Welcome to the Moon is the last episode of the Welcome to... trilogy of games. After the residential housing estates of the 1950s, after the casinos of the 1960s, you will aim to conquer space... 

(from the game manual) 

        What sets this game apart is that you do not have to play the campaign to begin enjoying the game. You can opt to play the individual adventure missions before doing the campaign if you want to. Each non-campaign adventure also has three mission objectives in play (out of six) to try to complete. The adventures have different end game triggers as well to match the narrative of the story. The campaign book is set up like a “choose your own adventure” story that throughout it, you will select from the options given to you to complete the narrative. The campaign also unlocks a lot of cards to be used later in the game. 

What we like about the game 

        To sum it up using my wife’s words, “EVERYTHING!!” 

        The game play is fun and easy and the basic rules are simple enough to follow. As you progress in the game, the rules do change based on which board you are using so that adds an exciting touch to the game. The changes we have come across so far does not make the game more complicated; it just forces you to think a little bit more as to where to write your numbers and how to maximize the challenges ahead. 

        What is also nice about this game is that everyone takes their turns at the same time. The downtime between turns is solely based on waiting on the slowest person of the group to finish their selection. 

        The artwork on the player boards and the box does take me back to yesteryear (the golden olden days) and to the comic books of my youth. The player boards are nice and bright and colorful that makes you just want to put a smile on your face while playing. 

        The last thing that I really appreciate with the game is that the predicted playtime on the box says 25 minutes and even with distractions of a young energetic child (or children in my wife’s sister-in-law’s case) that time does hold true. Without distractions and with more experience playing the game, I am sure the play time can be decreased to even 15 minutes or less. 

What we don’t like about the game 

        We all have agreed with what other reviewers have stated about the minor issues of the game. The first being the dry-erase pens have no eraser and the caps do attach to back of the pens when being used. The second, is the individual storage boxes are nice but do not fit sleeved cards well. 

        Other than those petty minor little things. The game is wonderful. 

FINAL THOUGHTS 

        We really, really, love this game and is our favorite of all three in the series. Being able to “choose our own adventure” or following the campaign adventure stories creates endless replay ability. Your card combinations change throughout each game so how you accomplish the adventure takes a bit more luck and skillful planning. 

        So how did we fair in the 10 plays in this past week? Let’s just say that the first adventure is great, the second adventure is a learning process because of the change in the rules and usage of the card combinations, and we left my wife’s sister-in-law mad that we had to go home because she wanted to keep playing to beat, specifically, me. We are looking forward to completing our journey to the moon via the rest of the adventures and even the campaign. 

        To leave you with some quotes by a late, great actor, Jackie Gleason… 

“To the moon, Alice, to the moon!” & 

“You’re a riot, Alice. You’re a regular riot. Hope they like those jokes on the moon, ‘cause that’s where you’re goin’.” 

-Ralph Kramden (The Honeymooners)