12 Realms Heads to Germany

A few weeks ago we told you about the Kickstarter for the 2011 Best Print and Play nominee 12 Realms. Well that campaign was super successful and things stateside are well under way to get the game to market. We just received word today that the game has been brought to the German crowd sourcing site spiele-offensive.de. No, this isn't a site for offensive games; it's basically a German version of Kickstarter.

It seems like a lot of extra effort to go through another campaign and have the game published in two separate countries and in two different languages. But I think that's what's intriguing to me about this situation; Mage Company isn't just taking the easy road. They're doing what they can to get the game into the hands of their fans, and go the extra mile to help them save a little cash in the process. That is customer service that is rarely seen!

You can check out the campaign right here.

And as always thanks for reading, please tell your friends, family, loved ones and even  your worst enemies about us! And don't forget to follow us on Twitter @TheologyofGames and like us on FaceBook!

Pictures Worth 1,000 Words: A Dixit Review

By Firestone Dixit is a little game that came out in 2008. Since its release we've seen half-a-dozen sequels, expansions, offshoots, and weird siblings—and with good reason: It's a clever, fun game for a crowd.

There are numerous versions floating around out there, but for now, each of them plays basically the same. The box is full of cards with whimsical and interesting pictures on them. It's not really possible to describe what's on the cards, but that's kind of the point. Each person has a hand of these cards. Each person in turn order is the Start Player; they choose a card from in hand, say a phrase or word that describes what's on the card, and place the card face down. The phrase/word can be as literal, obvious, or abstruse as you want. Then every other player chooses a card from their hand that they feel that word/phrase could describe—because they're trying to steal votes and points from the active player.

Everyone secretly votes on which card they think is the Active Player's card, then you reveal which one is the right card, and score. If everyone guesses the Active Player's card, they all get two points and the active player gets none. If no one picks the Active Player's card, everyone else gets two points (plus another point for each vote on the card they put down) and again, the Active Player gets none. If at least one person picks the Active Player's card, the Active Player gets three points, every person who chose the correct card get three points, and each person gets a point for any votes on the card they put down. So as you can see, you want to choose a word or phrase that's not too obvious, but not too esoteric, either. It's an interesting challenge.

<-------- Let's take this picture on the left. You wouldn't want to say, "Rushmore" as a clue. Everyone would pick correctly and they'd all gain two points on you. You probably wouldn't want to say Chevy either, thinking "Chevy used to have commercials where they sang 'Like a rock,' and Rushmore's made out of rock, so..." But maybe something like, "The eyes have it..." It might just be middle-of-the-road enough to get some-but-not-all of the votes. Plus if someone else has a card with eyes on it, that helps you even more. The first player to 30 points wins.

You can find Dixit: Journey at your local Target. Consider picking this up for a fun, creative family, youth group, or party game.

Z-Man Celebrates 5 Years of Pandemic with a New Edition

Z-Man games announced, on their Web site and Facebook page, a new edition of Matt Leacock's fantastic co-op game, Pandemic. The game features all-new artwork, along with two new Roles: the Contingency Planner and the Quarantine Specialist. The On The Brink expansion has also been redesigned to match the new artwork. The Z-Man page says that for those who own the original game, there will be a compatibility pack that will allow you to play the new edition of On The Brink with your old edition of Pandemic. The last surprise was the hint of a new expansion—called In The Lab, where "you will be transported inside a biotechnology lab in search of a cure. Put your lab coats on and get ready to look for a cure!" My big concern is whether there will be a compatibility pack for this expansion, too.

The new edition hits stores in February, and the On The Brink expansion should follow shortly afterward.

Here's a video of designer Matt Leacock talking about the new game.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=9xYUfVZNXX4]

Sounds great! Thanks for reading!

Be Ingenious More Affordably...

Fantasy Flight Games has announced a "mass market edition" of Reiner Knizia's award-winning abstract Ingenious. The game remains the same, but rather than the tiles being made of plastic, this edition will be made of punchboard. Also, rather than stands to hold the tiles, there are slots in the board that hold the tiles. Finally, the game comes in a smaller box that before. All of this means a cheaper MSRP, and an easier entry point for nongamers. I (Firestone) am not a huge fan of abstracts, but this is one of the few that hits a sweet spot for me. It has simple rules, but deep play. It's fun and a challenge for both gamers and nongamers alike. Plus, it has the classic Knizia scoring where your final score is whatever your lowest color is at the end of the game—it's fiendish and wonderful. This should be hitting shelves sometime in the next month or so. Check it out! And thanks for reading!

Mayday Crokinole Board—Kickstarter Weekly

Mayday Games has launched a Kickstarter campaign for a Crokinole board, a clock, and a carrying case.

What's crokinole, you ask? Well, I (Firestone) have played nearly 600 different board games, and Crokinole is my #2 game of all time. The game uses a gorgeous, wooden board, and wooden discs you flick across the board with your finger—like shuffleboard. You're trying to whack your opponents' discs off the board, while keeping your discs in the scoring circles of the board. I've played probably 100 games of this, and it's still not old.

I invested in a nice board a few years ago, and it now sits on the wall in my house. But it also cost $200...

Mayday is offering their board for $100. ($95 if you're one of the first 50 people to order one.) That includes shipping! They're also offering a clock that's designed to rest on the pegs of the board when it's hanging on the wall—so when you're not playing, it's not just beautiful, but functional, too. And finally, they're offering custom carrying cases. These boards are big, and if you've ever tried lugging one to a game night somewhere, you'll quickly realize how useful a case can be.

You can get all three for only $150—if you're one of the first 100 backers.

They've already hit their goal, and there's still a month to go. They're planning some stretch goals, so consider jumping in on this one.

Iello Announces a New Richard Garfield Game!

Iello Games announced on their Facebook page that we'll see a new Richard Garfield game next month! It's called Ghooost! (yes...three o's). According to the BGG page, it's a card game where the goal is to get rid of all of your cards. It's got cartoonishly gruesome artwork. Iello and Richard Garfield is the same team that brought us the fun game King Of Tokyo, so our hopes are up!

We Interview Jeremiah Isley!

Jeremiah is one half of the team here at Theology Of Games, and since Reiner Knizia won't return our emails, we thought it would be fun to interview each other! (We haven't actually tried to contact Reiner. I'm sure he's a nice guy who replies to every email he receives. Seriously, Reiner...email us.) Thanks for agreeing to answer some questions, Jeremiah. So tell us a little about yourself.

Sure thing! My interests in life are about as varied and polarizing at times as you could think of. I love live theatre, and professional dance; I studied dance for over 13 years and still appear as a guest artist annually in the Nutcracker for a local professional company. I also worked for many years as a stagehand both in the local stagehand’s union, and as a freelancer. I’m also a trained audio engineer and have mixed for a few pretty big names over the years. I’m a huge football fan, and a glutton for the punishment of being a Cleveland sports fan. I've been married very happily for over 10 years, and have two sons, ages 4 and 6, who are the craziest, most awesome, and caring boys ever! We enjoy the outdoors, and like to canoe, hike, raft, and camp whenever the opportunity presents itself. We love to geocache too—nothing like using billion-dollar satellites to find Tupperware in the woods! I also play guitar, drums, bass, and a smidgen of keys. My current day job is in the AV department at a satellite campus for a local state university, and for the last three years I was the youth director at my church until I recently stepped down. Oh, and I co-write this blog.

How did you first get mixed up in these type of board games?

My path to board gaming really came through the collectible card game craze of the nineties, when everything was turned into a collectible card game. My brother and I played Marvel Overpower (which in hindsight is a terrible game!) and then we got into Middle Earth (which is an awesome game!). I loved the depth of strategy it took to do well at games like that. Middle Earth was also a great multiplayer game so we could have a few friends over, put the animated version of LotR on TV and play all night. (No, we weren’t the cool kids in town.) I then went through a long period of time of playing only video games, specifically Socom Navy Seals (shout out to my old clan SV!). I enjoyed video games, but the draw of Socom for me was the social side of being in a clan and working together as a team; it was more of a social activity than a gaming habit. I think that’s what I really enjoy about board games: The games themselves are great fun and all, but sitting down and having face-to-face interaction with good folks is better than any game I’ve played. For me the world of board games, like so many others, came through Catan; once that gateway opened up, all bets were off... I pretty much exclusively play board and card games now; the ps3 is basically a Netflix machine.

How has your faith affected you as a gamer?

I'd say pretty heavily. A lot of times it gets easy as a Christian to try and make your faith or your beliefs fit the mold of your interests, or political or social practices, when we should really be holding those things we enjoy up to the light of scripture and see them for what they are. The gaming world is full of thematic elements that dabble in the fantastic or supernatural—that's part of its allure. It's for this reason I tread lightly when checking out games, and especially before buying them. Many times a game is pretty benign, but other times I'll have to pass on a particular title. I try not to get hung up on those titles I won't play. There are literally hundreds of great games being published each year, so there are plenty of games to choose from that don't give me pause.

You have two boys. What are some of your favorite games to play with them?

Well, we got them Loopin' Louie for Christmas, or "Woopy Wooin" as my 4-year-old calls it, and they haven't stopped playing it. They also really enjoy Forbidden Island a lot! My oldest is six and has a pretty good handle on playing Carcassonne and Castle Panic, too.

Does your wife enjoy board games?

Yes, she gets incredibly frustrated when I teach them to her, but once we get through that she usually enjoys playing them. However, she does have her limits; she told our sons the other day that she doesn't play "Star Wars games," but she enjoys Carcassonne, Kingdom Builder, The Resistance, and a good deal more. As long as it doesn’t have a terribly nerdy theme, or a billion rules, she’s a gamer. She won’t sit and play an LCG, but Catan, yes.

Is it true you shaved your head so you’d look more like me?

There's not a shred of truth to that rumor. Although I did convince my sons that it would be cool because I would look like the Silver Surfer. My poor wife had gone to the grocery store one evening and left us home alone; when she returned I was completely clean shaven. I’m enjoying the new look, although the first winter has been a little rough.

Yeah...hair—even if there's not much there, insulates your head more than you think...

What are your Top 5 games…and tell us a about why you like them so much.

This is in no particular order, because I don’t think I could actually pick a favorite.

1. Lord of the Rings the Card Game—When I picked this up, I thought, “I don’t know about this whole co-op thing...” But one play through it and I was hooked! We played through the whole first cycle of expansions and are part way through the Khazad-Dum quests. It’s great, really deep game play, scales great for 1-4 players, and has a continuous story line. It’s almost like playing a role playing game without having to put in all the work to set it up. The down side to this game is the money to keep up with the quest packs, and they don’t feel that replayable after you’ve defeated a quest.
2. The Resistance—I love this game because it is everything that LOTR is not. Really simple game mechanics and tons of backstabbing and chicanery! I’ve never played this game and not had people ask me to play it again—and ask where they can get their own copy. I love that you can play up to 10 people at once, although it’s hard to find 10 people that play it well all at the same time. I’m REALLY hoping they retheme the plot cards for Avalon because using the original ones really kills the mood.
3. Carcassonne—Although recently this game is getting a little overplayed for me right now. I still love the game, and it took about 784 game plays to feel overplayed. There’s a solid base of expansions to keep it fresh, mix it up, and throw you for a loop. It’s a very good game to act as a next step for my friends who are ready to move on from Catan, and it plays up to 6 very well.
4. Pirates of the Spanish Main—I know, this is kind of an oddball title, and no they don’t still make the game. But building those little pirate ship and sailing them around the dinner table looking for treasure is just a lot of fun. I have a HUGE fleet of literally thousands of ships. My gaming friends and I haven’t played in a while (which is very unfortunate), but it’s a really fun game with very high replayability!
5. Fluxx—It’s an old standby with lots of different versions that add to the craziness of it. I’m probably most partial to Zombie Fluxx. We’ve had a lot of good times and good laughs over this game, as well as some frustrating defeats. Just a good time all around.

What are some games you’re looking forward to playing in 2013?

One of the titles I’m really looking forward to is Boss Monster; it kind of crept under our radar last year, as we didn’t find out about it until their Kickstarter was almost finished, but playing the bad guy is always fun. I’m also really looking forward to the multiplayer expansion for the new Star Wars The Card Game. I like the game as it is, but I think it will really come into its own when it supports 2-3 light side players teaming up against a very powerful dark side player. I’m also REALLY hoping that Wizkids gets the Lord of the Rings dice building game to market soon! Quarriors just barely slipped out of my top 5, and I’m of course a fanboy when it comes to Tolkien. And my boys will be very excited to hear that Forbidden Desert is on its way! One-Word Answers:

Favorite Doctor? Tom Baker

Grail game you’d like to find a copy of? My old 1st edition of Fluxx.

Favorite superhero? Spider-Man

Favorite major Star Wars character? Han Solo

Favorite minor Star Wars character? Dengar, the fiercest of the bounty hunters!!

On a scale of 1-10 (with 1 being how you feel while watching Bambi, and 10 being blind, seething, murderous rage), how did you feel toward George Lucas immediately after watching The Phantom Menace for the 1st time? The 1st time? 4.5 (I was blinded by the shiny new toy.)

Favorite LEGO line? Star Wars

Last good book you read? Shrewd by Rick Lawrence

Thanks, Jeremiah! No no, thank you.

We hope you enjoyed this. Stay tuned for Jeremiah's questions for me! (Unless Reiner emails us back. We'd totally bump that for you, Reiner...)

Take a Trip to the Forbidden Desert!

Gamewright has announced a new game on their blog: Forbidden Desert—a sequel to their hit game Forbidden Island from designer Matt Leacock. Gamewright's Jason Schneider says, "One of the key challenges we posed to inventor Matt Leacock was to create a game that would contain familiar elements while offering up a completely different in-game experience. In addition, we wanted it to be simultaneously approachable to new players while upping the ante for those who felt they had mastered Forbidden Island.” The game will include:

• 49 cards
• 48 sand markers
• 24 tiles
• 6 pawns
• 5 water level markers
• 4 flying machine parts
• 1 flying machine model
• 1 sand storm meter
• 1 stand storm meter stand
• 1 sand storm level marker
• Rules of play

Players: 2-5 Ages: 10+ Playing time: 45 minutes

Forbidden Island is a big hit in the Isley and Firestone households, and we can't wait to see what Leacock has in store for us in this sequel. The game is scheduled to drop in the Spring, and have an MSRP of $24.99. Thanks for reading!

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=FYuF2gLKy3c]

Heroclix TabApp!

If you haven't seen this yet, you should really check it out. I love it when worlds collide! Chocolate and peanut butter. Oreos and milk. Water and polo... Well, you get what I mean.

Wizkids has combined mobile gaming and one of their most successful titles: Heroclix. Check out the video for Heroclix TabApp, an app that interacts with a set of special clix figures. It looks pretty slick. Anyone out there play this yet? If we can get our hands on them we'll review them in depth!

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gyH9tlThLQ4&w=560&h=315]

A Double-Take Review—It's Alive!

-By Jeremiah and Firestone Over the holidays I (Jeremiah) was sent a copy of It's Alive! and Firestone was sent an iOS version of the same game.

Gilead Games recently ended a Kickstarter campaign (unsuccessfully, unfortunately) to retheme/revert the game back to its original theme of collecting menorah candles instead of the cartooney gruesomeness of the It's Alive! theme.

The gameplay and rules are quite simple and easy to grasp. In the It's Alive! version of the game, players are mad scientists trying to bring to life their Frankenstienish creation by collecting 8 different body parts, represented by 8 different cards. The players collect their cards and store their money in secrecy behind a screen that unfolds to stand up in front of the player's mat. The player turn goes something like this: Flip a card over, and make a decision to either buy it, sell it (For half of it's face value.) or auction it. If the player buys it, they pay money to the bank, and add the card to their mat; if they sell it, they take their payment from the bank and place the card in front of their screen. This card can now be chosen and subsequently bought, sold, or auctioned by the other players instead of turning one over from the deck.

The heart of the gameplay really lies in the auctioning of the cards. If a player decides to auction a card, they name a starting bid (which they will pay and keep the card if no one else bids higher!) and each player then gets to bid once going in counterclockwise turns. When the last player has bid, whoever bid the highest gets the card, and the auctioneer gets the money—unless the auctioneer wins it; then the bank gets the cash! These auctions can serve multiple needs. Starting a low bid on a card that you think no one else needs can in turn score you a pretty good deal on a card late in the game. But starting a bid at about half or a little higher of a card's face value can give someone else a deal, but get you more money than just selling it outright. Different card types have several different values, depending on which one you turned up, which also comes into play as everyone is bidding.

The game ends when one player collects all eight body-part cards, and that player wins. There is an advance/variant win condition in which players add up the face value of their cards and whoever has the highest valued collection wins.

Jeremiah—I have to say I really enjoyed the game pretty much from the get go, the wheeling and dealing at the table gets to be pretty fun, I really enjoyed the interaction between players. The rules and mechanics of the game seem to set the stage for player interaction and then get out of the way while players hash out their business with one another.

Firestone—I agree. This is an underappreciated filler, I think. Every time we've played it in my group I've enjoyed it—but for some reason I don't think about pulling this one out when we need a filler.

Jeremiah—At face value the It's Alive! theme is quite gruesome, and the text of the rules stating that a "gruesome gentleman" is bringing you body parts that he's digging up and selling to you is not for the faint of heart. But the artwork isn't terribly offensive. It's definitely teen safe, but I did cringe every time my 4- and 6-year-olds came over to the table to see what we were playing.

Firestone—Yeah, my game group has no problem with the theme, but as fun as this is, it's just not coming out with the kids—or even nongaming adult friends. Like it or not, theme can make or break a game, and with some people, the It's Alive! theme would break it.

Jeremiah—When it's all said and done, I've already included this game into my "must bring" bag for parties and game nights. It plays fast making it a perfect filler, and it's really easy to learn making it a great gateway game for those who aren't deep into gaming, however the interaction and strategy make it a challenge for gamers of any level, and age!

Firestone—And the iOS version is fun, too. It plays just like the face-to-face game, and is a good implementation.

Thanks for reading!