FunandBoardGames.com - Boardgame News and Reviews

Theme Week: The Fewer, The Better

Games by designer Leo Colovini tend to be more strategic and less chaotic when played with the fewest number of people listed on the box. (Some argue that his games are most fun when played with zero players, but we’ll ignore those sourpusses.) FAB has already reviewed Colovini’s Cartagena and Familienbande; this week, seven more games from Signor Colovini.

The essence of rummy—draw a card, form sets, discard a card—is so simple that it’s been used in dozens of different games, but the number of pirate rummy games is sure to be tiny, perhaps limited to only one: Leo Colovini’s Corsari.

Playing this card game is unlikely …
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December 12, 2006 | (9) Comments | Permalink

Theme Week: Chock-o-block Schacht

In a 2004 interview, designer Michael Schacht said, “I am a big fan of games with few rules.... I prefer a rules structure that also permits poor play. After all, one should be able to learn a game and improve with each play. That has the disadvantage, though, that some of my games aren’t completely understandable during the first play.”

Since its debut in 2003, Coloretto has been one of Schacht’s most successful sellers. The card game is a prime example of Schacht’s design principles—the rules are simple, a player has only a few, easily understood choices each turn, and you can play really, really poorly—so it’s no surprise that …
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November 27, 2006 | (1) Comments | Permalink

Theme Week: The Need for Speed

There’s a time and a place for games that require a lot of planning, pondering, and chin-rubbing. That time is not this week, and that place is not this website. Here we present a half-dozen games that force you to play fast, fast, fast.

While games themselves are fun, their names usually aren’t. El Grande, Coloretto, Acquire, Cartagena—these names are descriptive and functional, not show-stoppers that attract strangers passing by on the street.

A few winning game names are out there. Hoity Toity inspires curiosity; Wheedle is a hit with SpongeBob SquarePants …
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November 23, 2006 | (5) Comments | Permalink

Theme Week: The Need for Speed

There’s a time and a place for games that require a lot of planning, pondering, and chin-rubbing. That time is not this week, and that place is not this website. Here we present a half-dozen games that force you to play fast, fast, fast.

If you’ve watched more than 20 picoseconds of a psychiatry session on television or in the movies, then you’ve seen a troubled soul going through a word association session. The psychiatrist presents the patient with a series of words ("Father," “tool shed,” “hedge trimmers"), and the patient responds with the …
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November 22, 2006 | (9) Comments | Permalink

Theme Week: The Need for Speed

There’s a time and a place for games that require a lot of planning, pondering, and chin-rubbing. That time is not this week, and that place is not this website. Here we present a half-dozen games that force you to play fast, fast, fast.

Parents like to play games with their children to help them understand the principles of fair play, learn how to win and lose gracefully, and boost their brainpower. But unless the game is decided entirely by luck, parents and other adults often feel they have to keep their own brainpower …
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November 21, 2006 | (59) Comments | Permalink

Theme Week: The Need for Speed

There’s a time and a place for games that require a lot of planning, pondering, and chin-rubbing. That time is not this week, and that place is not this website. Here we present a half-dozen games that force you to play fast, fast, fast.

Here’s a simple description of Time Is Money: Grab all the cash you can in 60 seconds. The player with the most cash wins. Naturally, there are a few catches, or else the first player would simply snag the entire stack of bills and the game would be over in …
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November 20, 2006 | (1) Comments | Permalink

Game and toy publisher Mattel has a long history of success with board and card games, from both putting out original games and buying already popular games, such as International Games’ Uno. In 2003, internal market research showed that Mattel was underserving the game-frenzied German market, so the company decided …
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November 17, 2006 | (2) Comments | Permalink

The premise of blackjack is simple: Play the odds, and hope to end up with a higher total than the dealer without breaking the 21 barrier. With each flip of a card, players get a buzz of excitement. What’s going to be revealed? Will their risk-taking pay off?

…
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November 13, 2006 | (0) Comments | Permalink

The Princess Bride has many memorable scenes, but perhaps the one most quoted is the poison standoff between Westley and Vizzini, in which Vizzini tries to deduce which of two glasses contains poison. His logical arguments twist and bend as he first explains why he can’t chose this glass to …
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November 10, 2006 | (1) Comments | Permalink

The boardgame Clue gives most kids their first taste of deduction in a game. You eliminate suspects and potential murder weapons and locations one by one until you discover who did what where and nab the bad guy.

Coda puts a purer spin on deduction games, eliminating the …
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November 9, 2006 | (1) Comments | Permalink

Sometimes a game has one defining element that sets it apart from every other game in existence. High Society has just such a hook, one that lets you overlook the luck factor that sometimes determine the winner, one that elevates this title into the pantheon of great games—but before we …
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November 7, 2006 | (49) Comments | Permalink

Theme Week: New Games from Spiel 2006

Hundreds of games debut at Spiel, an enormous game fair held each October in Essen, Germany. While dozens of new titles await their turn at the FAB testing table, we’ve already found a week’s worth of games to recommend.

Most games tell you how to determine the starting player: If going first is an advantage, the youngest player will take the first turn; if it’s a disadvantage, the oldest player will start. Otherwise you’ll roll a die or spin a spinner or draw randomly from the deck for the …
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October 30, 2006 | (2) Comments | Permalink

Playing a game requires you to follow the rules. After all, if each person makes up his or her own rules, the game will consist of little more than arguing over who’s right.

Introducing rules during a game can succeed, though, as long as you do so in …
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October 28, 2006 | (0) Comments | Permalink

Theme Week: Why That Game Sounds Just Like…

Games aren’t created in a vacuum—the bag’s too small, and it’s really dark inside—so don’t be surprised when a new game reminds you of a title from yesteryear.

Word games, like trivia games, are always at risk of being spoiled by dividing players into “haves” and “have nots.” While some players are jazzed by their ability to pull strange words out of thin air, this dichotomy leaves others frustrated and determined to never play a word game again. …
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October 14, 2006 | (8) Comments | Permalink

Every proud father wants to see the family name carry down through the generations, but in Familienbande players take this family pride to the limit by arranging marriages and even dictating the genetic nature of the children they bear!

The game is played with a deck of cards …
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October 4, 2006 | (1) Comments | Permalink

Reiner Knizia’s Poison plays like a souped-up version of Old Maid. The deck contains red, blue, and violet cards numbered from 1-7 and green cards, which are all numbered 4. Players take turns playing cards, with the red, blue, and violet cards being placed in separate piles. Push the total …
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October 2, 2006 | (5) Comments | Permalink

"In this game, you play a bean farmer who plants beans, then sells them for gold.” I’ve taught Bohnanza to at least thirty different people, and I always enjoy the surprised look on their faces when I deliver that line. “Bean farmers,” their faces (and sometimes their mouths) say. “Why …
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October 1, 2006 | (4) Comments | Permalink