Tabletop
King of Tokyo: Power Up Review
King of Tokyo is spectacular at being an accessible and strategically-light dice game that virtually anyone can play and enjoy. However, that focus on casual play makes it a tougher sell for seasoned gamers looking for something deeper. King of Tokyo: Power Up aims to address that with a set of new cards that change how the game is played. Also, it comes with a Kung-Fu panda, and who doesn’t like pandas?
Freedom: The Underground Railroad Added to the List of Awesome Board Games You Should Play
I understand that the concept of playing a board game about slavery is hard for many to swallow. But if you give Freedom: The Underground Railroad a shot, I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised by what it delivers. This is an excellent cooperative game where you and your fellow Abolitionists are trying to move slaves from the southern plantations to the refuge of Canada. Along the way, you’ll be trying to dodge slave catchers, earn the support for this movement from fellow Americans and prevent the overcrowding of plantations, which ultimately leads to lost lives. Besides being really entertaining to play, it meshes tastefully with the game’s theme to create a tense, thought-provoking and somewhat educational experience. If you’re willing to let your guard down a bit in regards to its theme, I highly suggest giving this one a chance.
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Freedom: The Underground Railroad Review
Slavery in the 1800s is a sore spot of North American history. However, it was also a time when the tides turned thanks to the efforts of brave individuals who risked everything to abolish slavery. Freedom: The Underground Railroad is a co-operative board game in which players take on the role of the abolitionists trying to usher slaves out of the plantations and into the safety of Canadian soil while trying to drum up support for the Abolistionist movement. Of course, doing those won’t be easy, as Slave Catchers will try and intercept slaves before they get to Canada, while opposing people or events will stifle your progress in other ways.
Tackling this in any form is tricky due to the nature of the subject matter. Thankfully, Academy Games took great care in presenting the subject with respect and historical accuracy in mind. Oh yeah, it also turns out to be a great and challenging board game, too.
Added Power Grid to the List of Awesome Board Games You Should Play
In Power Grid, players take on the roles of rival power supply companies, aiming to supply the most regions with energy. You will manage many aspects of the expansion process, from bidding on power plants, buying fuel in a marketplace where prices vary based on supply and demand, and the building of power plants in different cities. Admittedly, I didn’t have much interest in the game going into it, but it managed to wow me in a big way. Tying all of the aspects of together is a tightly-woven economic system that is exciting and thought-provoking. If you like Ticket to Ride and are looking for a similar type of game with a little more complexity, Power Grid is the logical next step. Knowing what I know now of the game, it would be criminal of me to leave it off the list!
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Board Games and the Two-Player Misnomer
Every board game has a limit in terms of how many players it supports. At a certain point, a game isn’t going to work at all if there are too many or not enough players present. Player count isn’t a binary thing either, as games oftentimes degrade to a certain degree before they completely fall apart. Over the last few years, many of the games I’ve played struggle with supporting two players. I’m fine with games that don’t work well in pairs, though I find it alarming and disingenuous how many games in the marketplace claim that they support two players when they really shouldn’t.
Board Game Night Playlist: Make it Rain
This installment of the Board Game Night Playlist is all about money. This set of games is all about stacking that paper, making it rain and stacking more paper so you can make it rain again. The most obvious choice almost didn’t make the cut, but there are some lesser known games that really make this list pop. Time to get out your wallets and let the money fly!
Power Grid Review
Thankfully, it piqued the interest of Steff’s sister Michelle. I gave it to her as a Christmas present and as a group, we gave it an honest try. I don’t think my words can make this game sound any sexier than the relatively dry premise it’s built around, but it actually makes for a phenomenal board game.
Sushi Go Added to the List of Awesome Board Games You Should Play
The inclusion of Sushi Go onto this list even caught me by surprise. Though the review only recently went live, I’ve had this game for a few months now and have played it a lot. In most cases, the game worked well, though it wasn’t anything that blew me out of the water.
That is, until I broke out it out with my coworkers. Maybe it was just the crowd that I played it with, but the game shined that night in a way that I didn’t think it could. On that night, the sushi moved around the table for hours as my coworkers wouldn’t stop playing it. Whether it hits that super nova level of awesome again remains to be seen. However, even at it’s “worst”, the game is still going to be fun any time you break it out. Congratulations Sushi Go for making the list!
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Cash’n Guns Review
In Third Person 