Lost Cities

 

Lost Cities is a simple two-player card game created by German game designer Reiner Knizia and released in the US by Rio Grande Games.  The purpose of the game is to use investors to fund an expedition to one or more of five lost cities.   You and your opponent play various cards to determine who makes the most progress towards finding the lost city.  In the end, the played card's values are added (minus any obligations to investors) and the player with the most points wins the game.

OK, so if you have played this game you would probably claim I emphasized the theme too much.  And I would definitely agree with you.  The theme is not an integral part of this game.  But that does not mean it is not an awesome game!  So, as usual, here are my pros and cons:

Pros:

• This game is quick to learn and quick to play
• The artwork is fantastic
• This game creates an intense experience between you are your opponent (I find this a pro but perhaps others may not)
• I love the large cards
• The game board is useful
• Instructions are short and clear with useful examples
• It is inexpensive

Cons:

• The theme has nothing to do with the game play
• Some claim the game is "mathy", I would argue it is "arithmeticy"

I can't really think of many cons to this game.  My wife and I love it, have played it many times, and we are yet to be bored with it.  The most interesting aspect to this game is that the players must play a card first before selecting a new one.  Such a simple mechanic but very effective at creating the suspense.   I highly recommend this game, especially to those who are in a relationship (assuming your partner is not crazy competitive).  Not for a large game group because it is primarily a two-player game (though there is a four-player version of this game that I have never played, but two games must be used).

Nuns on the Run

 

Not to be confused with the 1990 comedy of the same name.  If I were to challenge a magical elf to use their magic to create a board game that is based on hide and seek, this is what that elf would "shazam" (or what ever magic term) into existence.   

Nuns on the Run is a 2-8 player game designed by the German designer Frederic Moyerson and is produced by Mayfair games (the company who produces Settlers of Catan).  The theme of the game is a group of novices (nuns in training) are trying to collect various items by sneaking around their abbey.  In pursuit of these novices are the Abbess and the Prioress. You can think of these two as the abbey guards.  A player wins as a novice if they are able to collect their desired item and return to their cell before a certain number of turns or number of caught novices occurs.  The player(s) playing the Abbess and the Prioress win if they can prevent the novices from collecting their items in a certain number of turns or if they capture enough of those sneaky novices.  Fortunately, Mayfair games provides a good overview of how this game is played (and I wish more game companies did this and if they do more often) and, as always, the man Tom Vasel provides a good review and explanation of this game.  Surprisingly (at least to me), at the time of this review, this game is only ranked 642 on boardgamegeek.com (which I guess is not bad considering there are like a gazillion games out there).

So here are my thoughts on Pros and Cons.

Pros:

• The theme of the game really matches the game play
• The game components are high quality
• The artwork is spot on (I would say the artist has a "thing" for nuns, just look at the Prioress haha)
• When you are a novice the excitement level can really crank up
• I think this is a good gateway game
• A good family game

Cons:

• I found the instructions difficult at times, especially with explaining sounds and line of sight (here is a tool that helps determine line of sight)
• Difficult to teach to others
• Not as exciting with two players, definitely need four or five
• Playing as the Abbess and the Prioress can be dull at times and seems difficult to win
• Some players do not like the solitary aspect of the game (I disagree however as that is the way hide and seek is played)

All in all I find this a fun game.  Unfortunately it is not a great game for only two people and because of this it does not get brought out a lot (though I really wished it would).  I would say only get this game if you have a large gaming group (at least four).  I do think it will be fun when my kids are older and we can all play it together.  But for small groups, just avoid it unless you do not mind it primarily sitting on the shelf.  

Carcassonne

 

Carcassonne is a German game developed by designer Klaus-Jürgen Wrede and released by Rio Grande Games (though I think now Zman games own the rights to this title).  This is a tile building game where you and your opponents are trying to develop the town site of Carcassonne, France.  Players strategically place their followers on different structures or farms.  If these structures are completed during the game, the player who completed the structure gains a certain number of points and reclaims their followers.  At the end of the game (when the tiles run out), the unfinished structures are scored along with the farms.  Not surprisingly, the person with the most number of points wins the game.  If you would like to see a more thorough explaination of the game, see Tom Vasel's review or Starlight citadel's.  For what it is worth (which I think is a lot), this game is currently ranked 87 on boardgame geek's website (as of October 2012).

So, because I do not know any better way of reviewing a game, here is some thoughts on the pros and cons of this game:

Pros: This is a pretty easy game to both learn and to teach.  The tiles look great and the followers are made of wood (making them sturdy).  The base game (i.e., no expansions) can be played in less than an hour.  Also, there is strategy involved in this game, and this strategy only increases when you add expansions.  Speaking of expansions, this game has plenty (and they are inexpensive).  But, be careful, the more expansions you add the longer the game takes and you may find yourself ending the game after a time limit and not when you run out of tiles.  I dig the theme, you really feel like you are building a town in France.  And lastly, this is the best Pro of all...my wife loves this game.  Any game that my wife loves I love (because if she is happy then I am happy haha).  Plenty of replay value; no game is ever the same.

Cons: The scoring was a tad confusing at first, but this was not an issue after playing through once.  I also found the instructions a little difficult to follow, but I have definitely read worse.  I also wish the scoreboard had more numbers on it.  Once you go around 50 (the highest value on the board) numerous times, you can loose track of how bad your wife is beating you (which is not necessarily a bad thing haha).   The biggest complaint I have ever heard about this game is there is a bit of randomness involved because you are picking tiles that are face down (I don't personally see this as an issue and feel there is still plenty of strategy, just adding to be as informative as possible).

All in all, I love this game and recommend this to anyone.  It is great for two players but I have not played with more than three so I can not comment on that.  I believe this is a must for any table top gamer's collection and also is a great "gateway" game for nongamers.  So if you do not have it, then go buy it "suckas".

What to Expect

That is a good question.  I hope to provide you, the loyal reader, with my (honest) opinion of recent board games that I have played.  These opinions will be based on the gaming experience with my wife and possibly with my four year old daughter.  Unfortunately I live in a remote place and so the opportunities to play with other gamers is rather small. 

I won't go into the mechanics or rules of a game, there are other sites that do that far better than I could (e.g., see the dicetower).  Though I will discuss how easy they are to learn or how clear they are presented.  As I mentioned, I will just give my honest opinion of the most recent game I played.

Also, I am not being paid to do this, I am only doing this because I do not have any recent data sets to talk about on my other blog (which I hope to get soon).  So my reviews will not be influenced by any board game designer.

Well I believe that is it.  Enjoy the reviews and I hope they inspire you to begin this classic form of gaming.

Cheers!