Apr
11
At first glance, Qwirkle seems like the easiest game in the world to have designed. The rules are so simple and intuitive that you feel this game must have existed for eons as a kind of urgame in the collective unconscious. You’re matching colors, matching shapes—using skills learned in preschool, …
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Nov
16
The name Sid Sackson will be meaningless to anyone who isn’t into boardgames. Heck, even most game fans won’t recognize his name, and that’s a shame because Sackson can be considered the grandfather of modern boardgames and Acquire is his masterpiece.
Acquire was first published in 1962 by …
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Nov
11
Friedemann Friese has been releasing games through his own company, 2F-Spiele, for more than a decade, and over the years his games have become more polished and professional looking. In 2004, Friese released Power Grid, a slightly revised and vastly better-looking version of his 2001 release Funkenschlag, and the game …
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Nov
5
Magic these days is all Harry Potter this and Voldemort that, but in centuries past alchemy was the rage. Every magician wanted to transmute metals into gold or, failing that, their enemies into vapor.
You can now relive those magical days of yore thanks to Alan Ernstein’s Ars …
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Nov
3
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.
The legend of Jack the Ripper has survived for more than a century, and the enduring mystery of this killer’s identity and the reasoning behind his murderous actions has inspired numerous films, television programs, novels, and interpretive dance programs.
With all that attention, it makes sense then that …
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Nov
1
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.
In the 1970s, Peter Burley invented a simple, tile-laying game that played somewhat like bingo. One person would pull a hexagonal tile out of a bag, then all the players would place that same tile from their tile stash onto their personal playing board. Players repeated this process until their …
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Oct
31
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.
Richard Breese is one of the most respected designers in the world of boardgames, yet few people have played—let alone seen—the majority of his work.
Starting in 1989, Breese has self-published all of his designs, with only a few of them being reprinted by larger publishers. His games …
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Oct
14
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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Oct
12
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.
The Game of Life has been a standard on toy store shelves since the 1960s, when Art Linkletter’s endorsement and smiling face were emblazoned on the ugly oversized box. In the 21st century, The Game of Life has been superficially updated through media tie-ins with the Simpsons and Star Wars, …
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Oct
9
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.
Most people equate dice with chance, but Proteus is a dice/chess combination as luck free as chess itself. Each player starts with eight dice placed pawn-side up in his two back rows. The six sides of each die depict a Pyramid (worth 0 points), Pawn (2 points), Bishop (3 points), …
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Oct
1
"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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