2013 Holiday Gift Guide—Gateway Games

Greetings! We're here again with our next selection of games for this special time of the year, when we show our love and affection for one another with the giving of gifts. Today's list of games are for those who want to say, "I know you really, really LOVE Monopoly, but you've got to open your eyes to a much bigger and better world of board games." So today we present our list of gateway games. These games will be sure to shake the very foundations of everything you thought you knew about board games, if you've done little more than passing "Go" and collecting $200.

Ticket To Ride—Yeah, this is a standard choice, but I (Firestone) still think this is the best gateway game out there. It's colorful. It has great production values. The rules are easy to explain. And there's just enough luck that the newcomers have a chance to win, too. Oh yeah, and it's fun! And if they like this, there are a number of expansions and maps you can slowly add in.

Cost: $40

(Find it online)

Ages: 8 and up

La Boca—La Boca is hard to describe. People play in teams, but the teams rotate, so you'll be teamed with each other player twice. Each person stands on one side of the board, and a card is placed between you two, with complementary images of colorful wooden blocks. You start the timer and you each are trying to create the image on your side of the card, using those blocks. Once you've both moved the blocks so that the image is exactly as it is on the card, you stop the timer. If you're both right, you get VPs based on how long it took you to build it. The game comes with an "advanced" block that just makes the game even more challenging. My (Firestone) group played this for the first time a couple of weeks ago, and we've played it many times since then. It's the sort of game you could pull out with anyone of any gamer level—from newbie to seasoned vet. It just works.

Cost: $40

(Find it online)

Ages: 13 and up, though this seems high to me. I think a 10-year-old would do just fine with it.

Kerflip!—Tired of Scrabble? Yeah. We are too. Kerflip delves into the realm of word games that hasn’t seen innovation since Words with Friends came along… Which really wasn’t an innovation.

Anyway, in Kerflip players grab letter tiles from a bag, drop them on the board and shout out the first and/or best word they see. Players are awarded points for using letters first, and each subsequent player to use a letter gets half the points. This game also features one of the best board/box designs we’ve seen for a game… ever.

Cost: $25

(Find it online)

Ages: 8 and up

Preview: http://wp.me/p2hTk7-GB

Fluxx: The Board Game—The board game iteration of Looney Labs classic card game Fluxx, Fluxx: The Board Game is the M.C. Esher of board games. Light gameplay with lots of fun for the casual gamer—oh and there’s still a healthy dose of chaos mixed in! Players familiar with Fluxx will see many cards and concepts that made Fluxx what it is today, but there are some great added twists with Fluxx: The Board Game's modular board and game-changing rules!

Cost: $30

(Find it online)

Ages: 8 and up

Review: http://wp.me/p2hTk7-Ve

Boss Monster—Brotherwise Games came out of nowhere on Kickstarter with their debut title Boss Monster: The Dungeon-Building Game. In this pixelated card game, players take on the roles of the antagonist "Boss." Using room and spell cards, your job is to create an enticing dungeon full of both bountiful treasure and unspeakable danger! Each round players add to their dungeon in hopes of killing off hapless adventurers before they prevail! Boss Monster is a fun, unique, and thematic card game for 2-4 players!

Cost:: $25

(Find it online)

Ages: 13 and up.

Review: Coming soon, we promise!!!

Bohnanza—Here's another classic choice. This card game sounds weird: You're bean farmers and you're trying to be a better bean farmer than your opponents. But you have to work with them to get your beans planted. I told you it sounds weird. But it's a fun card game that's cheap and portable.

Cost: $20

(Find it online)

Thanks for joining us once again for another installment in our 2013 Christmas Holiday Gift Guide!

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Cyber Monday IOS Board Game Deals

Ya know what's way better than getting up at 3 AM to fight insane crowds for a new crock pot? Sitting on your butt on Monday and getting great deals on board games for your i-device.

Le Havre, Ra, and Tigris & Euphrates are all on sale for $.99. Update: A few more are part of the deal.

• Le Havre is a less-fun Agricola.
• Ra is a terrific auction game—especially good with 3 players.
• T&E is a classic meaty Euro from the brilliant Reiner Knizia. (He also designed Ra.)
• Tikal is an Action Point game where you're exploring the jungle looking for treasures.
• Medici, which is another auction game from Reiner Knizia, but not as good as Ra, or as good as Strozzi, but that doesn't have an iOS implementation. So there ya go.
• A Brief History of the World—I don't know anything about this game, except that it has a really long title with the word brief in it.

Not sure how long they'll last.

Thanks for reading!

2013 Holiday Gift Guide—Kids Games!

Whether you have kids of your own, know someone with kids, or were a kid once yourself, it can be hard to find just the right game for the tiny little snot factories in your life. So as we continue our gift guides, we're going to give you some of our favorite new and old games you can pick up for the kiddos—all of which are in print. And on a few of them we've linked to our review of the game, so you can investigate yourself if it's a game you'd be interested in. We'll give you the MSRP, and age/audience as it's appropriate. So without further ado, here's the list!

Cheeky Monkey—This is a cute little press-your-luck set-collection game involving exotic animals. It even comes in an adorable (albeit legless) stuffed monkey. Our youngest kids really love this game.

Cost: $29.99 (Find it online)

Ages: 5 and up

Review: http://wp.me/p2hTk7-vM

Candle Quest—We haven’t forgotten our Jewish readers! (Okay, we don’t know if we have any of them, but still…) This auction game has you trying to be the first to complete your menorah. It’s a retheme (actually, the original theme) of the game It’s Alive.

Cost: $21.99 (Find it online)

Ages: 5 and up

Review: Coming Soon!      

Pick-a-Pig/Pick-a-Dog—In this game you’re trying to quickly spot the differences in the portraits of dogs (or pigs). It’s cheap, and fast. If you grab a copy of both (pig and dog) versions you can combine them for even more animal selecting enjoyment!

Cost: $10 (Find it online)

Ages: 7 and up

Review: http://wp.me/p2hTk7-Fu

Catan: Junior—This game is designed to teach kids the basics of Settlers Of Catan, and it does so marvelously. It plays quickly, and there are decisions to be made—but they’re manageable. The colorful and chunky components only add to the appeal.

Cost: $30 (Find it online)

Ages: 5 and up

Review: http://wp.me/p2hTk7-qC

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Crazy Creatures Dr. Gloom—This cute little card game has you adding creatures from your hand to Dr. Gloom’s machines. It helps kids with their counting, and learning about higher and lower numbers.

Cost: $15 (Find it online)

Ages: 5 and up

Review: http://wp.me/p2hTk7-A1

Looping Louie—This is a holdover from last year's list, but it's just so stinking good it deserves to be on every list. This is a kids game, but I can tell you that I've played just as many games with adults as I have with kids. It's a super-fun game where Louie whirls around on a pivot, trying to knock out your chicken tokens. You're trying to keep him away from your chickens and send him at your opponents' chickens. Sounds crazy. Is crazy. Is also crazy fun.

Cost: $30 (Find it online)

Ages: My 5-year-old plays it, but he's probably too young by just a bit. Six or 7 and up, I'd say.

The Magic Labyrinth—This clever little game lets you build a different hidden labyrinth under the board every game, and then you're trying to be the first to make it to tokens without running into one of the hidden barriers. There's a big memory aspect to this, and some luck. But best of all, there's no David Bowie in super-tight tights. *shudder*

Cost: $30 (Find it online)

Ages: 5 and up

There it is, our highly recommended list of kids games for this 2013 Christmas season! Stay tuned as we unveil more of our 2013 Christmas Holiday Gift Guide this week!

Help Fight the AIDS and Water Crises in Africa—And Win a Sweet Copy of Viticulture

Hey everyone! We hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving, and got to play some games with loved ones! Our blog has something to be thankful for, too! Jamey Stegmaier—of Stonemaier Games—has been a Friend of the Blog for a long time. And we liked his game Viticulture quite a bit. So we were honored and humbled when he asked us to participate in his latest endeavor: An auction for limited edition copies of Viticulture—with part of the proceeds going to a charity of our choice.

We could pick any charity we wanted, and we decided on Blood:Water Mission. Here's their mission statement: Blood:Water Mission is a grassroots organization that empowers communities to work together against the HIV/AIDS and water crises in Africa.

Here's some more about them:

• Community: Ending the AIDS and water crises means seeing communities come together. It's about team work. And healthy relationships. It's not just about what you can do, it's about what we can do. Focus on the growth of a community, and its success will be for everyone.
• Responsibility: There is a message of repentance that we accept because the world isn't how it should be. The way we live affects the way others live. Once we are aware, there is a responsibility to live that out. First we own the problem. And then we own the solution.
• Integrity: We do what is right, even when it requires more work. We don't cut corners. Ever. Our work is excellent, our relationships are honest and our finances are clean because we believe  in the mission and its life-changing impact on communities. We will always prioritize doing it right. And we do what we say we will do. And when we fail, we will be honest about it, find a way to correct it, and learn from our mistakes.
• Dignity: Working for basic healthcare can intrinsically foster dignity in a community. We want our actions and attitudes to do the same. When we tell someone's story as they would want it to be heard, we honor their story. We are about inspiring people by sharing a humanized account of others, and therefore, being human to one another.
• Teachability: We do excellent work, but we are not perfect. Our values demand that we be transparent with others about the challenges and lessons that we are learning. We value listening and being willing to be wrong. Being teachable shows that we are less interested in our own pride and more concerned about the best interest of the mission. Our transparency doesn't compromise the confidence of a donor, it builds it.

We love that.

So what about these copies of Viticulture? Here's the link to the Geeklist—and please, please, please give some thumbs to our item, even if you don't bid. And if you want to just donate to Blood:Water Mission, check out the Web site yourself.

Thanks so much for reading.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwg6cw5slKA]

Pandemic iOS App: On Sale for Thanksgiving

The fine folks at Z-Man Games are giving us something to be thankful for!

Starting tomorrow, Thursday, November 28, through Monday, December 2, the Pandemic iPad app is only $2.99—it's normally $6.99. So go cure some diseases while you're fighting post-turkey coma! Have a great Thanksgiving!

2013 Holiday Gift Guide—Party Games

Well, here we go again with our 2013 edition of the Holiday Gift Guide. So let's get this PARTY started with Party Games! These are the games you'll grab when you've got a room full of friends over and someone says, "Let's Play Apples To Apples!" Once you kick that dork out of your house, you can pull out one of these fun games...

The Resistance: Avalon—Yes, The Resistance was on last year's list, too. But that's because it's not just the best large-group game out there, IT'S THE BEST GAME OUT THERE, PERIOD. It's a hidden-role game, where some people are loyal knights of King Arthur, and some are secretly siding with the forces of Mordred. This one includes specific roles with special powers, and new ways to play. And this will work for as many as 10 people—I'm not sure it's good with that number, but it does go up to that number. Longtime readers are sick of us talking about how great this game is, but it's ridiculously fun.

MSRP: $20 (Find it online)

Ages: Probably 14 and up

Review: http://wp.me/p2hTk7-mI

Reverse Charades—If you like your party games a little more traditional, then Reverse Charades is the game for you! Players form teams, and instead of one player trying to get his/her team to guess the answer to what they are acting out, the entire team acts out clues while one player attempts to guess the correct answers. This one is lots of fun, and great for any social gathering! Every time we play this I end up with a headache from laughing so much! And a year later, the folks who played it still bring up the image of my friend Joe acting out Baby Powder... *shudder*

MSRP: $20 (Find it online)

Ages: Probably 10 and up. There are other editions, including a Junior one with easier clues.

Review: http://wp.me/p2hTk7-Dt

Choose One—A simple party game from the folks who brought us Fluxx, Choose One is great for both old friends, and as an icebreaker for folks who’ve just met. A new spin on the classic “Would You Rather” type games, Choose One gives two hypothetical options to a different player each round. The rest of the players then vote on which option the current player chose. The current player reveals their choice, and points are awarded depending on who answered correctly and who didn’t. Look for a review from us soon!

MSRP: $30 (Find it online)

Ages: 14 and up, according to the box.

Review: Coming Soon

Two Rooms and a Boom—This one isn't out yet, but you can print-and-play the game until it does come out, so there's no excuse. (Even if you don't want to, you could pay to have Kinko's print it out for you.) The more people the better, here. The idea is that there's a President, and a Bomber, and after a certain number of rounds, the Bomber wants to be in the same room as the President, and the President doesn't want to be in the same room as the Bomber. Their respective teams are trying to manipulate things so their team's goal is in place at the end of the game. There are a TON of roles in the game, and when you get ~15 or more people playing, it's just an amazing experience.

MSRP: Not sure since it's not out yet—probably ~$20-$25.

Ages: They say 8 and up, though that seems young to us.

Time's Up: Deluxe—Yeah, this was also on last year's list, but I (Firestone) played this again last night, and it is SO. MUCH. FUN! We play in teams, and everyone is given the same 40 names of famous people. You play in three rounds: In the first one you can use words and actions and sounds and pretty much whatever to get your team to guess the name. In the second round you're all playing with the same exact words, but this time you can only use one word (but still actions and sounds). And finally, in the third round, again using the same batch of words, you can only use actions and sounds.

Cost: $30 (Find it online)

Ages: Adults (I don't think this would be a good game for teenagers—too many names they've never heard of.)

The Princess Bride: Prepare to Die! If you're like us, most of your friends and relatives want to play Apples to Apples… again… And we… well, don’t. Prepare to Die is the perfect solution to give your friends the experience they want, while diffusing your urges to rage quit because you once again got the oh so clever “Paris, France” card to play… (Yawn). Prepare to Die is mechanically the same: One player reads a card, “Hello my name is… [Fill in the blank]” and the rest of the players play a “You (Blanked) my (Blank), Prepare to Die!” card. The major difference being the pop/geek culture references in Prepare to Die! are much more interesting and entertaining. Again, this one is a great game for fun light-hearted social gatherings, and who doesn’t LOVE the Princess Bride!?

MSRP: $25 (Find it online)

Ages: 8 and up. But younger players may not get all the references

Preview: http://wp.me/p2hTk7-GB

Well there you have it! Are there any we left off? Any that shouldn't be there? Have a great Thanksgiving, and we'll see you after the holiday. Play some games with people you love!

Jeremy Hogan, Designer of Dreaming Spires—An Interview

Today we’re joined by designer Jeremy Hogan, whose most recent game, “Dreaming Spires,” is being Kickstarted right now via Game Salute.

Jeremy, thanks for joining us. First of all, would you take a second and introduce yourself to our readers?

Hi, I’m Jeremy, I’m a game designer living in London, UK. I work as a designer in the video game industry and make board games the rest of the time!

Can you tell us a little bit about The Secret Games Company?

The Secret Games Company is a group of people in London, and further afield, who love to make games around our other, better-paid jobs! We set it up to release our two games,; one is Dreaming Spires, and the other is Rise, which is a board game-inspired video game that will be ready next year.

So, Dreaming Spires, an old school game… And by “old school” we’re, of course, talking about Oxford… Where did you get the idea to theme a game around Oxford?

I studied at Oxford, and while I was there I kept hearing these amazing stories from its history. It’s so old—900 years—that it has seen so much of English history and produced some extraordinary people along the way. When I was sitting down to begin a new game project, I decided I wanted to do something with a really strong theme and a lot of research and writing in it, as I felt this was an area where we could do a good job. Oxford was the obvious choice as I knew a lot about it already, so I looked into it and there has never been a board game about Oxford’s history, so we felt like we’d struck gold!

How would you summarize the game play and “feel” of Dreaming Spires?

Dreaming Spires is a building game using tile placement like Carcassonne, with two card systems layered on top, which allow the player to accrue reputation in different areas, which is then crunched by our innovative scoring system to determine the winner in the end. The Scholar cards allow the players to use a lot of different special abilities, which are based on the person in question. For example, Adam Smith’s is called ‘Wealth of Nations’ and lets the player spend any money coin (1, 2 or 3) to draw two more randomly. The Scholar cards each also have beautiful illustrations and their own quotes on, so they bring a lot of theme. The Event cards have stories on them recounting a famous event from Oxford’s history and initiate a quick auction or other type of activity that the colleges compete in for a reputation boost in an appropriate area.

How did you land with Game Salute, and how has the game changed since they’ve come alongside you to get it ready for market?

Game Salute have been really supportive but they have left us to get the game ready and focused their efforts on helping us to promote it and prepare it for production with Panda GM, who are our manufacturers.

So, why tabletop games? And what got you into game design?

I have always been crazy about games. I played a lot of cards with my Grandmother as a kid—she was a real card shark! I also played chess with my Dad and used to start crying as soon as I could see I was going to lose, so he would switch the board round at that point so I could play with his pieces; that cheered me up! My Grandfather and I played Mah Jong with a beautiful old set of his, so all my family have played their part in my ending up as a game designer!

Which type of gamer are you going after with this game? The casual player? The Family Game Night players? The "in-it-up-to-their-eyeballs" heavy player?

As you can probably tell, the game is really thematic. It’s a medium weight with simple systems, so anyone can play and have a good time, but there’s a lot of variety and interesting decisions so seasoned gamers will still be honing their strategy after loads of plays. We have had good reports back from testers at all points on the gaming spectrum!

What's the timeline for release of the game?

We are doing our final pass on the art files now, so we hope to submit them to Panda in the next couple weeks. Then there are a few steps to the production process before the games are put onto boats and shipped to the US and UK. We hope they will arrive in early May next year, but we have said June in our Kickstarter to give ourselves an extra month in case of any delays.

Now that Dreaming Spires will be brought to market, are you working on your next greatest thing? Will we see expansions for Dreaming Spires?

We also have our video game project Rise, which you can check out on our website: www.secretgamecompany.com. As for Dreaming Spires expansions, we have a lot of ideas. We would only do one, but we’d put everything in there including a 2 player variant. It all depends on how well the game does next year; our fingers are firmly crossed!

Ok, the rapid-fire section! We ask the questions; you answer them with one word (or super-short phrase)! And, GO!

Have you ever not "minded the gap"?

I am the gap.

Every time you call someone in the States, do they answer singing "London's Calling"?

It’s more like: “Awww, say that again, you sound so cute! So do you know the queen?”

Favorite Monty Python member?

Michael Palin because he is in Dreaming Spires!

We heard you crashed the Royal Wedding; is that true?

My lawyers have asked me not to comment on an ongoing criminal investigation.

Are you terribly annoyed at the narrow scope of the last four questions?

Not at all, I wish I could answer all interview questions this way!

Jeremy, thanks so much for joining us today, we wish you the best of luck with Dreaming Spires and your further endeavors with The Secret Games Company!

You can find Dreaming Spires on Kickstarter until November 30, 2013.

Thanks for reading, and be sure to subscribe over on the right --->

You can also find us out there on the web on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and our Podcast!

And the Winner is....

In our third episode of the podcast we introduced a contest for a free copy of Pixel Lincoln: The Deck Building Game. Well the deadline for entry has come and gone, and we've finally selected a winner!

Look below the jump to find out who the lucky winner is!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9VOEtY9TdM&w=560&h=315] Thanks as always for reading, watching, and listening!

Kickstarter Weekly—Nov. 22, 2013

Wow, it's been a crazy week for us here at TOG, and things have gotten away from us! So, without further ado we're going to jump into this week's Kickstarter Weekly!

Most likely these games won't be making it under your Christmas tree this year, (seeing as how a lot of these campaigns don't even end until after Christmas), but it ever hurts to plan ahead for... ya know... Valentines Day, Arbor Day, Memorial Day.... Or, well, you get what we're saying...

So let's jump in!

Featured Campaign

Hold Your Breath - Mayday Games

In this, the third and final installment in the Get Bit trilogy, players are once again playing as some less than intelligent pirates who have just gone overboard in "Walk the Plank!". This campaign is going gangbusters and there are a few stretch goals unlocked with more on the way! 

You can get in on this one for $18 to get a copy shipped to your door. The campaign ends Dec. 21 and you can check it out here!

Emu Ranchers - App Sauce Labs

A fun looking single-deck card game for the family. Players compete as emu ranchers trying to build the best farm for emus possible. It's a 2-player game, with lots of cool stretch goals to come, they are just now on the brink of funding and there is plenty of time to get in on this one.

Just for a pledge $15 you'll get your own copy of the game. The campaign ends Dec 27 and you can check it out here.

The Otherverse: First Wars - A Quirky Tabletop Battle Game - Shadow Vision

The game looks cool and the concept of easy, and quick playing battle simulation is very intriguing. With a backstory that sets the game in a sci-fi world that brought an army of dinosaurs from an alternate dimension.

Despite the slick video, and clever concept,  unfortunately it seems this one is going to fail.

If you'd like to get in and try to help get this game funded you can snag a copy for $40. The campaign ends Dec. 5, check it out here!

Pathfinder Dice Arena - Luke Peterschmidt (Fun to 11)

There certainly is no shortage of new dice games hitting the market. We've seen several titles hit Kickstarter with custom dice and gameplay. This latest one is set in the Pathfinder universe; players choose their favorite character and go at it in a tournament battle setting. If you're digging the influx of dice games, and are a fan of the Pathfinder universe, you should check this one out! The one downside to this is, it comes with a pretty hefty price tag.

The base game is $62 ( which includes no stretch goals) $65 early bird (all stretch goals). Ends Dec. 30, and the campaign can be found here.

Thanks for checking out this week's Kickstarter Weekly!

What games are you backing, and which games did we miss out on this week!??

Let us know in the comments below, and find us on the internets, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and our Podcast on iTunes!

Kickstarter Weekly—Nov. 14, 2013

Well, the calendar keeps clicking along and the holidays are quickly upon us. Chances are the games you're backing today on Kickstarter won't be under your tree this year, but that doesn't mean there aren't any worth taking a look at! So with an eye to the future we bring you this week's Kickstarter Weekly! Enjoy!

Featured Campaign!

Dr. McNinja's Legendary Showdown - Killer Robot Games

Utilizing the zany universe of the web comic Dr. McNinja, Legendary showdown claims to be a fun, light, and hilarious card battle game. The game was designed my McNinja Master Christopher Hastings, who also wrote some Marvel comic, or something... Anyway, this campaign is FUNDED, or at least it will be once it comes to completion. They've already destroyed 10, yes TEN stretch goals, and could hit even more by the time everything is said and done.

It will take a $30 to score the game. And the campaign ends Nov. 22

Viking Horde: A Paper-Craft Game - Adam Walker Studio

I find the paper-craft genre interesting. It's like Pinterest started a board game company and tells you how to make the game but doesn't necessarily sell you the game. I don't know that I like it, but it's interesting. Well the Australian-based Adam Walker Studio has created a paper-craft game that's right up my alley. Viking Horde looks like a lot of fun, and some of the photos of the ships look really sharp! The thing that makes me nervous is the price point for ships that are printed and shipped to you is pretty high, and they're... well, paper.

$10 UAD gets you PnP files, $20 UAD get's you 1 ship and files but you have to jump to $50 UAD to get 4 ships plus files. The campaign ends Dec. 12 and you can find out all the details here!

Darkstar - A Space Civilization Power Struggle Game - Andrew Tullsen

Not much to say about this that the title doesn't already reveal! A futuristic spin on games like Dune and Diplomacy, the game looks to involve a lot of jockeying for position and power plays.

There are lots of bits and pieces in the box, according to photos on the campaign page, with very cool stylized artwork to boot.

It will run you $75 for a base copy of the game!!! The campaign ends Nov. 26 take a look at it, right here!

King's Armory - The Tower Defense Board Game - John Wrot

We wrote about this game a few months ago, and their first attempt to get it to market through Kickstarter. There were some considerable bumps in the road for the title, but it's been rebooted and is so very close to funding! The King's Armory is a board game version of all your favorite Tower Defense type mobile games. Has a bunch of components and massive replayability.

You can grab a copy of the base game for $50. The campaign ends Nov. 28, and you can find it here!

Thanks for reading, don't forget to enter our Pixel Lincoln contest!

And most of all, don't forget to subscribe over on the right!

We'll see you on the interwebs, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and our Podcast!