Perplex City Interview - Adrian Hon

Perplex City is a unique new game that is played using puzzle cards and clues that can be found online as well as in the real world. I spoke to Adrian Hon at Mind Candy – the publishers of Perplex City – to find out some more information on Perplex City and the unusual, increasingly popular subgenre of games known as Alternate Reality Games (ARGs).

Hi Adrian. Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and Mind Candy?

Mind Candy is the first - and only - company in Europe that creates alternate reality games (ARGs). We were founded about two years ago by our CEO, Michael Smith, who also set up Firebox.com. Mind Candy isn't just about making ARGs though, we're here to create engaging, fun and stylish puzzles for all media.

I'm the Director of Play at Mind Candy, which is an unusual title that I didn't pick myself, but it is pretty descriptive. Basically, it means that I'm responsible for the gameplay of all of our products. In the case of Perplex City, I direct the ARG, its story and live events, and also oversee the creative side of the puzzlecards.

Many people aren't aware of alternate reality games. Can you give us a little bit of explanation of what exactly alternate reality games are?

Alternate Reality Games (ARGs) are games that don't require rules.
When you play a videogame, you have to learn that X means accelerate and Circle means brake. When you first play chess, you have to learn how the pieces move and what they're allowed to do. In ARGs, you don't need to learn any rules - you already know them. Imagine pretending that you're a detective in a murder mystery, or a fugitive on the run. You don't need to be told how to look up a suspect's address, you can just do it on Google, and you don't need to learn how to talk to an informant - you just email or phone them.

In other words, ARGs use the entire world as their playing area; games will use radio, TV, newspapers, weblogs, email, SMS, live events and even skywriting - they're all tied together, and they all happen in real time.

Of course, in practice games often have to compromise. For example, you can't have players actually hunting down supposed killers (who are being played by actors), and for cost and logistics reasons, a lot of the story and action takes place on the internet, but the principle remains the same.

Can you explain to us what the aim of Perplex City is?

Well, Perplex City is an alternate reality game, but it has a focus on fun, innovative and stylish puzzles, which (I hope!) we are doing well at. The puzzlecards are what we sell, and surrounding them is the story of Perplex City, which is a vast world with dozens of websites, characters and mysteries. The overarching story for the first season is of course the theft of the Receda Cube, which is Perplex City's greatest artefact. The Cube was stolen and brought to Earth, and now there's a reward of £100,000 to whoever finds it by piecing together the clues.

So, in a way, it's a 21st century remaking of Masquerade. That's the explanation that I use to anyone who's old enough to get the reference, even though it's not entirely accurate. If the person I'm talking to is younger, I normally ask them if they've seen 'The Game' with Michael Douglas, and say Perplex City is a bit like that, but more fun and with less shooting.

Can you tell us who initially came up with the idea behind Perplex City, and how close the initial concept was to the final product?

The founder of Mind Candy, Michael Smith, came up with the core of the idea behind Perplex City; in other words, a modern, stylish and cool puzzlecard game that's both an ARG and a treasure hunt, and that anyone can play. In that regard, the final product is very similar to the initial concept. However, a lot of the details have been changed - certainly the story and the ARG, which I'm responsible for, have changed a lot, and it keeps on evolving.

Roughly how many people are currently working on puzzles for Perplex City? How many puzzles are currently available? Are there plans for further expansions?

The number of people working on the puzzles keeps on growing. For example, the first two waves, comprising 132 cards, were largely designed by Michael and myself, with others done by our developer Andrea in New York. Wave 3 had more puzzles designed by freelancers on an informal basis, and recently we've begun to build up good relationships with several freelancers across the world, which allows us to keep generating fresh and interesting concepts. Even so, most of our puzzles are designed in-house.

At the time of writing, 132 puzzles are currently available. When wave 3 comes out in a couple of months time (that's approximate, by the way), there'll be another 62 cards available. For season 1, there'll be a final fourth wave of another 62 cards, bringing up the total to 256, and then we'll start work on season 2. It's an ongoing process, and we still have plenty of great ideas for puzzles [before I forget, the iguk perplexcity competition code word is Unfiction].

Finally, do Mind Candy have any projects in the pipeline that our readers may be interested in?

Yes - season 2 of Perplex City should be very interesting - we'll be extending the concept of Perplex City even further, and making the game a more richer and enjoyable experience for more people. I know that's not very specific, but I can't give much away right now. Ditto for non-Perplex City projects.

Adrian, thanks for your time.

No problem - the pleasure's mine.

Interview by Jason M. Brown

The Settlers of Catan Review

The Settlers of Catan was released in 1995, and is widely recognised as a superb example of German-style game mechanics as well as a perfect game to bridge the gap between more mainstream fare such as Monopoly, and heavier German-style games such as Tigris & Euphrates. As many players’ first experience of the world outside ‘roll and move’ games, Settlers has more than likely been responsible for drawing more players into deviating from the well-worn path of Monopoly, Risk et al than any other game. Given that it has now been available for a decade, has time dulled its appeal?

Well, yes and no. While there are games that are deeper and more strategic than Catan, or games more suited for weaning people off the Monopoly-teat (sorry if that produced a bizarre mental image!), there’s no denying that The Settlers of Catan remains an exceptional game. For those of you unfamiliar with the game, it involves players settling on an island – the eponymous Catan – and building settlements, gathering resources and trading in order to become the Lord of Catan. Ten victory points must be attained for a player to win, and there are numerous paths to victory.

During each turn, players roll the dice for production. The island is comprised of hexes which produce different resources depending on their type – resource types are wood, wool, wheat, brick and ore. A number is displayed on each hex, and if this number is rolled, any player with a settlement bordering the relevant hex gathers the necessary resource (with bonus resources for extra settlements or upgraded settlements – known as cities). Once resources have been collected by all players, the active player may then initiate trading with other players or the bank. Once trading is completed, the active player may then spend resources in order to further develop their territory with roads, more settlements or cities, as well as buying development cards (which sometimes count as victory points but mostly have one off special effects). Victory points are given for each settlement or city that a player has, for having the longest road or largest army or for having victory points on development cards.

A slight complication arises with the addition of the robber. Starting on the only non-commodity producing hex on the island – the desert – the robber is moved if a seven is rolled by any player. Moving him onto a numbered hex stops the hex from producing resources for as long as he sits on it, and also allows the active player to steal a resource from a player who has a settlement or city bordering the hex it is moved to. Also, if a player has more than seven cards in their hand when a seven is rolled, half of these must be given back to the bank.

Rolling the die thus forms the main interaction that players have with the ‘board’, but trading is the real crux of the game. It is very enjoyable to strike deals with other players, trying desperately to turn a useless hand of resources into something that can be utilised to build what is needed in order to advance in the game. That is, unless you’re playing with one or more players who refuse to trade – Catan can be a long, drawn out and miserable experience if players decide that they are not interested in trading. This can happen when introducing new players to the game, but as long as it is stressed that trading is incredibly important if players want to get their ten points as quickly as possible, there should be no problems.

Another big problem with the game is that sometimes players can be stuck without any resources at all, with die rolls leaving them totally out of being able to trade at all. If this happens, the game becomes endlessly frustrating for the player affected – and even affects the game for other players, as all players options for trading become much more restricted. It must be said that it is rare for this to happen, though.

The robber can be pretty tough for new players too, not to mention frustrating for any player who is constantly targeted by the other players as a candidate for robbing.

This is sounding a bit negative, but these problems really don’t affect the enjoyment of the game too much, given that they don’t crop up too often. It is important to acknowledge them however, as they do come up from time to time – although the game’s detractors would have you believe that they happen during every game.

Where Catan excels is in the social interaction of the trading. It’s always fun to try and haggle your way to getting the exact resources you need, desperately trying to cling onto certain resources and trying just as desperately to get rid of the stuff you don’t need. Not only that, but Catan offers a fairly simple game that usually lasts for around 90 minutes, which is optimal for a game like this.

Catan’s status as the perfect gateway game isn’t necessarily the case any more – games such as Carcassonne and Ticket to Ride are, in my opinion anyway, much more suited to introducing players to German-style games – but it is still a fantastic game of resource management and territory building. Even though this is the case, The Settlers of Catan is still a great all-round game. With expansions available that add seafaring exploration (The Seafarers of Catan) and politics & warfare (The Cities & Knights of Catan), Catan is also a nicely expandable experience, which certainly adds value for players who may tire of the base game. Despite it’s age, The Settlers of Catan remains a compelling game – which is more than can be said for many decade-old games.

Summary

Presentation: An excellently produced game with lots of nice wooden components and sturdy hexes. The decks of cards provided even come in their own box, which is a nice touch. 9.3/10

Clarity of Rules: Tougher to learn than it should be (given a few strange rules), but the rulebook is comprehensive and an almanac is included to further assist with learning the game. 9.5/10

Game Length: Usually lasts around an hour and a half, which is just right. Games are always tense and usually very close at the end. 9.4/10

Value: The ability to randomise the setup as and when players desire is a big bonus, and the availability of excellent expansions ensures that Catan will be played for years to come. 9.2/10

Overall: Catan’s detractors always complain about the randomness of resource production and the nastiness that the robber can bring, but these aspects do not ruin what is a brilliantly simple and compelling trading game. A true classic. 9.5/10 (not an average)

Review by Jason M. Brown

Zombies!!! Review

For decades, the modern zombie – as brought to you courtesy of George A. Romero, possibly the most influential horror director ever – has been a laughing stock. Too often the victim of low budgets, bad scripts and laughable acting, the zombie has languished ineffectually just outside the spotlight, moaning desperately to itself and waiting for its chance to shine. A few years back, something strange happened – the zombie became cool again. The ultra low-budget but brutally effective apocalyptic horror of 28 Days Later – with its sprinting ‘infected’ (essentially fast moving zombies) - brought the image of the zombie bang up to date and back into the mainstream consciousness. Since then we’ve had a remake of Dawn of the Dead (which was surprisingly good), Shaun of the Dead, and even the return of the godfather of the modern zombie, George A. Romero – with Land of the Dead. And that’s not even going into lesser known movies such as the Australian zombie movie, Undead – or big misfires like the video game adaptations Resident Evil and Resident Evil: Apocalypse. When zombie movies are good, they are rich in allegory and drenched in haunting imagery – not to mention terrifying in their implications. Often, the zombies themselves are not the biggest hazard to mankind – it’s other people and their petty struggles for power, recognition or supplies that often poses the most dire threat to the survival of the human race. Where lesser zombie movies go wrong is in focusing on the gore or the gunplay, too often going overboard on both and neglecting the human element that forms the core of the great zombie movies.

So does Zombies!!! the game get it right? Sadly, no. Obviously setting aside the fact that it’s nigh-on impossible to drag political and social commentary into a board game such as this, it’s unfortunate that the designers have also forgotten to include any fun whatsoever. Despite the lurid, graphic imagery, Zombies!!! is essentially a simplistic children’s game, featuring dull roll-and-move gameplay that seems to drag on endlessly.

The game itself sees players trying to escape town by reaching the helipad – or winning by killing a predetermined number of zombies. Each turn, players take a tile from the draw pile and turn it over. This tile is added to the current town layout (making sure that roads connect to roads and that a road does not connect to a wall, for instance). Players then combat any zombies on their current space by rolling a die and succeeding on a roll of 4, 5 or 6 – failure leads to the loss of life tokens (all life tokens lost equals a dead player, who is then resurrected back at the town square with all life and bullets restored). Players then replenish their hand of event cards before rolling for movement. Any zombies encountered while moving are fought (by rolling the die and winning combat as above). A die is then rolled for zombie movement – for example, on a roll of 4, the active player moves 4 zombies one space each wherever they want. The player may then discard an unwanted event card and play passes to the next player.

It’s a pretty simple game, but it’s made harder to actually learn because the rules are so badly written. One of my biggest gripes with the rules is that Zombies!!! has been in print for several years, and the rules are still in the same sorry state that they always have been. There are several officially recognised rules variants available on the publisher’s website – including one that speeds up and streamlines the game considerably – so why are these not included in the box, given that they too have been available for several years now?

It’s not all bad though. Included in the box are 100 plastic zombies, and they’re very well made in an appropriately lifeless grey colour. It’s a lot of figures considering the price of the game, which is a big plus. The player figures are not so good however, being identical and very tacky looking ‘shotgun guys’. All figures are well made and will stand up to repeated punishment though.

The overall look of the game is also a big strength – the appropriately lurid artwork and OTT fonts recall any number of cheesy B-movie horrors – you can see that tongues are firmly through rotting cheeks with the dark vein of humour that is apparent through the artwork.

The game itself is far less than the sum of it’s appealingly visualised parts though. Little more than an endless exercise in die rolling, the game long outstays its welcome and can last for hours with no end in sight, players simply at the whim of the dice with nothing to think about between turns and no interesting decisions to make when it is their turn. At no point do players ever really feel overwhelmed by the zombie threat (zombies should be incredibly numerous and totally overwhelming) as, in a bizarre decision, only 1 zombie is allowed per space. Also, the event cards add little to the gameplay and are often useless, many of them being specific to certain buildings that are often not worth trying to get to due to the amount of zombies in the way or because the building tile has not even drawn yet. Several cards seem totally unbalancing and the game as a whole seems to have been very poorly playtested.

Several vocal supporters of Zombies!!! answer the cries of poor playtesting and badly written rules with arguments of their own. Complaints that the game drags out too long are met with suggestions such as using the quickplay rules or taking tiles out of the town tile deck in order to speed up the arrival of the helipad (which is placed either as the last tile in the deck or among the last few tiles of the deck). This is all well and good – but does not fix the fact that a) the game is still a largely pointless and lazily designed series of die rolls and b) the quickplay rules, despite being officially approved by the game designers, are not included in the box. Why should players be forced to hunt around for solutions to lazy design and badly worded rules in order to make a game enjoyable? There are several hundred games out there that are all perfectly playable as they are, and players should not have to waste their time fixing a game that they have paid good money for. Another argument is that the various expansions available for the game fix some (if not all) of its shortcomings. This involves purchasers of the game to basically spend lots more money in order to make the base game more enjoyable – which is an awfully naïve suggestion as far as I’m concerned – spending more cash to improve an awful game that you’ve already wasted time and money on? No thanks!

Admittedly, playing one of the expansions alone (seeing as they are far smaller than the base game) is more enjoyable than playing either the base game alone or the base game plus expansion – but this is purely because the game is far shorter, lasting around 30-45 minutes max. Shorn of the long running time, the game is leaner and enjoyably mindless rather than mind-numbingly dumb.

Zombies!!! is one of those games that has achieved massive popularity despite it’s numerous, glaring shortcomings – but without the option of Euro-games in high street stores, mainstream consumers aren’t really given any viable options – and information on which games are worth playing is very thin on the ground for the average person. Zombies!!! certainly looks appealing, and packs a lot of well designed components into it’s neat packaging – but sadly, the game itself is totally lifeless. Dead, rather than undead.

Summary

Presentation: The one area of the game that’s tough to fault. Superb zombie figures (100 of them!), B-Movie style visuals featuring numerous homages to classic zombie movies and a nicely compact box. Shame about the dull, generic-looking player figures though. 9.2/10

Clarity of Rules: For such a simple game, the rules are a total mess. Given the amount of times this has been reprinted – and the length of time that the game has been available - it’s crazy that the rules still haven’t been revised and made clearer. 5.1/10

Game Length: Drags on interminably for hours, no matter how many players are involved, and with players at the whim of the dice, the going gets pretty dull, pretty soon. Given that officially-approved quickplay rules exist, why aren’t they included? 2.4/10

Value: Lots of components for the price, but you probably won’t be playing this very often. 6.3/10

Overall: A dreadfully dull experience that lasts for hours, seemingly without end – which is a shame, because it’s clearly designed with passion for the subject matter. If it was the designer’s aim to make players feel like zombies after playing this, they’ve succeeded admirably. 3.4/10 (not an average)

Review by Jason M. Brown

Lost Cities Review

German Games – including those designed, as Lost Cities is, by Reiner Knizia - are noted for their simplicity, accessibility and wealth of strategic options. Unfortunately, they are almost as often lambasted for their pasted-on themes that serve to disguise an otherwise abstract game, and Lost Cities is no exception. Essentially a very abstract card game, it has an arbitrary theme of exploration that really does feel like an afterthought.

As a two player game, however – regardless of how transparently applied the theme is – Lost Cities is incredibly successful, striking an almost perfect balance of strategic options, fun and difficulty. In the simplest terms possible, the game has players basically lay or discard a card from their hand and then draw a card - either from the top of a discard pile (with cards discarded in separate piles according to colour, and five colours in the game) or from the draw pile: it really is that simple. The deck contains five different colours of card, each colour comprising cards numbered 2-10 and three investment cards. Players lay cards below the relevant coloured discard pile on their side of the board with the following rules: investment cards must be laid before any numbered cards, and then when numbered cards are laid no more investments can be played on the relevant expedition. Numbers must always be laid in ascending order – if a red 6 card had already been laid on the red expedition, for example, no number lower than 6 could then be laid. The game ends immediately when the last card is taken from the draw pile.

The scoring system is initially pretty daunting – basically all expeditions that are started, regardless of size, lose the player 20 points. The total for each expedition are then calculated. Each expedition’s points are multiplied by any investment cards laid (after the sum of card total-20 points is reached) like so: if one investment card is laid, the total is multiplied by 2. Two investment cards multiply the total by 3 and three cards give a huge x4 multiplier.

What this brief description of the rules does not convey is the feeling of tension when building an expedition. It is very tough to know when to begin an expedition, given that it is not uncommon for losses to be made. The investment cards can drastically increase a low score, or make a negative score even larger, given the way that these cards are calculated. Another important skill to learn is knowing when to tactically take cards from the board even if they’re not needed, in order to slow down the inexorable approach of the game’s end. A facet of the game that is common to many Reiner Knizia designed games is the feeling of having many options available to pursue in every turn, yet never enough actions to do exactly what is wanted or needed! Like other Knizia games, this is what makes the game as enjoyable as it is – every turn is filled with superbly satisfying, tension-filled moments.

Whilst the game itself doesn’t really feel at any time as if players are exploring strange and wonderful new lands, the scoring system itself does logically seem to follow the investment undertaken during an expedition. So the theme, while arbitrary, does start to make a little sense during the scoring at the end of the game. Incidentally, the end of the game always arrives too soon – it seems as if players always need a few extra turns to complete everything they want to do!

Lost Cities is easily one of the best two player games I have ever played. Games are always short, always very tense and exciting, and always leave players wanting more. Despite the fact that you’re essentially paying for a five-suit deck of cards (albeit very nicely designed and oversized ones) along with a pretty unnecessary board, Lost Cities does offer great value, as it is a game that just never seems to get dull. This is an essential game for any collection. Lost Cities is another incredible Knizia game - a brilliantly simple design masking a highly satisfying and competitive game of pushing your luck and risking all.

Summary

Presentation: Presented in the small box size that is standard across all of Rio Grande’s two player line, and complete with sturdy, nicely illustrated cards and board, Lost Cities is very well produced. The board is slightly extraneous to requirements but it does add a little flavour to the pasted-on theme. 8.8/10

Clarity of Rules: A very simple to learn game with excellent rules – the only sticking point seems to be learning the scoring system, although examples of this are included and are very well illustrated. 9.1/10

Game Length: At around twenty minutes or faster per game, Lost Cities always feels too short – in a good way! 9.6/10

Value: Essentially just a card game with high production values, Lost Cities nevertheless give huge value for money given it has near limitless replayability and is always enjoyable. 8.6/10

Overall: Despite the typically-German lack of theme, Lost Cities is a game that gamers of any type or skill level and play and enjoy. Always challenging, always fun and always time for just one more game. Outstanding. 9.8/10 (not an average)

Review by Jason M. Brown

Cluzzle Review

Party games are pretty much designed to be simple
and easy to play by just about anybody with the minimum of time and effort, and they’re also designed so that everybody has loads of fun while playing. So play the game a few times with relatives who don’t normally play anything, and it’ll seem like one of the most fun experiences that can be had with a game. The problem being that for seasoned gamers, there’s often not much fun to be had after a few games with the same group of people – party games tend to get pretty repetitive very quickly indeed, and with less emphasis on strategy or depth there’s little to keep players from coming back except on special occasions (such as Christmas get-togethers when you can't coax people to play anything particularly complex!).

In Cluzzle, players create sculptures from clay, and the other players have to guess the word that the sculpture represents. These sculptures – clay puzzles, or ‘Cluzzles’ – are created after each player has been dealt a Cluzzle card. Each Cluzzle card contains a variety of words or phrases, and players choose one as the basis for their sculpture. Once sculpted, they are placed around the circular centre board on the corresponding ‘Clay Station’ (each player has one of these that matches the colour of clay that they are using) and three two-minute rounds of questions begins. Each player can ask two questions per round – in order to remember how many questions have been asked, each player has two question tokens which are turned over once a question has been asked. During each round, players also secretly write their guesses on a sheet of paper. After each round, players read out their guesses and points are awarded for any correct guesses. The scoring is unique and interesting – essentially, the harder a sculpture is to guess, the more points are scored by the sculptor and the player who guesses. Although if a sculpture is too hard to guess, no points are scored by anyone.

Like most party games, Cluzzle is great fun the first few times you play, but suffers from the aforementioned over-familiarity with the people that you play with – as they inevitably gravitate towards certain subject matters and visual cues with their sculptures. Not only that but people always seem to ask the same questions from one game to another, and it soon becomes very easy to second guess other players. Playing with different groups of people as much as possible obviously lessens this to a great extent. The actual sculpting of the Cluzzles never gets tiresome – there’s something incredibly relaxing about sculpting, and the clay always seems to maintain a very squidgy and pleasing texture (as long as it’s kept in the ziploc bags between games) that just makes it fun to play around with. It is a superb game for children though, although some of the phrases on the cards can prove to be a bit too abstract for younger minds.

Cluzzle succeeds in the same way that other party games do: providing an almost instantly playable game that can be enjoyed by just about anyone. It fails in the same way that other party games often do though, in that the game can start to feel repetitive after a little while. It’s recommended if you can get together with different groups of people to play with – and also if you have little ones that can play the game too.

Summary

Presentation: Nicely colourful box art, and lots of nicely produced components. The clay itself is excellent and stands up to lots of moulding – after many games of this, the clay is still perfectly malleable. 9.1/10

Clarity of Rules: Clear rules with good examples of sculpting, but a slight lack of explanation in a few areas does lead to a few grey areas when playing. 7.8/10

Game Length: Around twenty minutes for a full three sessions, each consisting of three rounds. This can be modified as the players see fit to create longer or shorter games. 9.5/10

Value: Lots of components and a big stack of Cluzzle cards mean that the game is very replayable provided that you can vary your game group a bit! 8.2/10

Overall: A fun game with an excellent, if unoriginal central premise – clay sculpting/guessing has been the subject of numerous games – but a well done scoring system that creates an even playing field for the less artistically inclined means that this is probably the most accessible and enjoyable clay sculpting game available. 7.6/10 (not an average)

Review by Jason M. Brown

Perplexcity Guide

A nice 60 Second Guide to Perplexcity, well maybe a 5-10 min guide. ;-) All you need to know to get you started.

Festive Gaming - What We Played Over The Christmas Period

By Chris Walkley, Jason M. Brown and David Plank

Here at IGUK, we’re all dedicated gamers. We genuinely enjoy playing board and card games as much as we can, which means that at Christmas – traditionally the one time of year that gamers and non-gamers alike sit around and play board games – we play with as many family members as we can grab and force to sit still for a few hours. Not interested in the usual games that are forced down our throats every year (you really would have to pay some of us in real money to play Monopoly again), what exactly do we find ourselves introducing our relatives to over the Christmas period? Here we’ll go through exactly what one or more of us found ourselves drunkenly introducing to our unsuspecting relatives, friends, or tragically played alone in the corner while everyone snored through the Queen’s speech.

First up – Chris Walkley’s list of games he played over the Christmas period:

Memoir '44
This simple yet excellent World War Two wargame saw a good deal of play with the recent expansions getting a good try out. Memoir is certainly developing into a fully fledged system, so fingers crossed for the Pacific Theatre to be covered next.

Lord of the Rings CCG
An excellent CCG which plays very well out of starter decks (for a change). Games of this were always close and exciting. I am quite new to this, but have already started to feel what could be another unhealthy urge to buy lots of cards...aarrgh!

Wars CCG
Decipher's sci-fi CCG based on their old Star Wars CCG rules is another good one for playing out of starter decks. It manages to feel like a CCG and a wargame at the same time, which is never a bad thing.

Battleground: Fantasy Warfare
In a word: genius. I can't rate this card based wargame highly enough. Human vs Human and Human vs Orc battles were played. For someone who no longer wants to spend the time and money collecting an army of miniatures, this is a godsend.

Im Auftrag des Königs
An Arthurian non-collectable card game from Germany. Players race to complete quests set by the king, gaining skill and prestige as they go. With only two players it is more of a simple race to get the points for victory first, but with three or four it becomes much more tactical. As far as I am aware this is not available in the UK, but for gamers looking for something similar, I would probably suggest checking out Camelot Legends.

Pictionary
Time spent with the family generally demands some kind of family or party games. But it could be much worse! Possibly one of the funniest games I have ever played, although the novelty does wear a little thin after having played it three times in one day. A total inability to draw makes things even more amusing...

Broadway
An old boardgame by TSR (yes, once upon a time they were not mainly an RPG publisher). Players buy shares in various Broadway plays and try to maximise their return and make sure their plays make the most money and win the big awards. A roll-and-move mechanic and repetitive game play unfortunately make this somewhat uninspired. Although it is supposed to be a bonus, the game actually forces the last player to make an extra lap of the board before the last phase can begin. Meanwhile, everyone else gets to twiddle their thumbs and starts to think that spending the afternoon playing Monopoly would actually be a good idea. Oh no!

Next - Jason M. Brown runs us through his list of games that he subjected his relatives to at Christmas:

Cluzzle
As it’s Christmas, it seems that party games are the norm. Booze flowing and people not generally used to complex sets of rules mean that the simpler the game, the better. Happily, Cluzzle is very simple indeed. Players create clay sculptures using words on their Cluzzle card, and everyone has to guess the other players’ words. Too easy and few points are received, too hard and none at all are dished out – this is a game that actually rewards vague sculpting, which means that you don’t get one smart aleck ruining it for everyone else. It is still also easy to play when slightly inebriated, which is a bonus for festive games.
Ticket to Ride: Europe
Feeling as it does like a full-fledged German game, Ticket to Ride: Europe is certainly a very satisfying game to play at Christmas. It’s easy enough to explain to non-gaming relatives (although the eyes do glaze over when stations are being taught!), quick enough to play so they don’t get bored, and it doesn’t feel like you’re selling your soul just to play a board game at Christmas. It’s usually enjoyed enough by everyone that they want to play again, which is good too. Chris: I played this with the family over Christmas as well. Just like Jason found, everyone enjoyed it, regardless of whether or not they like trains as such. An excellent example of an accessible alternative to more well known games.

Pirates CSG
There are several sets available of this game now, each of which has ramped up the complexity and added more and more features – until now. The newest expansion, Pirates of the Barbary Coast, goes somewhat back to basics – leaving out Forts and some of the more difficult to remember or unnecessary keywords. They can still be used if desired, but it does mean that when sticking your little packs of Pirates into stockings (Christmas stockings that is – and yeah, I’m aware of how weird it sounded!), you can be sure that whoever you’ve given it to will be able to make their little ships and get playing reasonably fast. Most of the fun with this game comes from building the ships, which are very pretty indeed – the game can be pretty dull with two experienced players as there’s rarely any dilemma about which action to use, as well as the fact that it can devolve into an uninteresting race pretty quickly. However, add another player or two into the game and there’s suddenly a much more crowded and interesting ocean to play with, not to mention interesting options available as to who you should chase, attack or board.

Arkham Horror
Possibly the least festive game on the list, this superb game of tentacled beasties and regular trips to the Asylum to restore your fragile and frequently shattered sanity is fantastic to ward off evil relatives. Why? Well, for one it’ll be too complex for them, too dark for them, too scary for them and just too plain difficult for them. Plus you can play it alone, which gives you an excuse to shut yourself away and try to valiantly save the world from evil monsters from beyond who existed millions of years before we did. You’ll fail though. It’s incredibly tough for one person to beat the game alone – but at the same time very addictive to pick yourself up from the dust of the ruined Earth and just try, try again.

Finally, David Plank seems to have been subjected to one too many games by his kids – sounds like they’re going to make a fine pair of gamers:

Cranium Hullabaloo
Having small children, a lot of my time (as resident ‘games guy’) was taken up with making sure they were occupied, and this was brought out time and time again. Thankfully I was not alone in keeping the little ones amused, as the rules are simple enough that even Uncle Geoff could understand what was going on – most of the time!

Rumble in the Jungle
I hate ‘roll the dice and move the dobber’ games. But when the game comes with a nifty little marble track that makes nifty little things happen in nifty little ways, then it somehow all becomes all right! Despite the fact that the game takes far too long to play for what it is, the kids never seemed to tire of making the marble roll along the track and watching the giraffe, the monkey and elephant put the kibosh on all of our plans to be the first to the Golden Monkey (I feel a review coming on…!).

Mousetrap
(See a pattern forming yet?) Maybe my rose-tinted glasses are set on ‘nostalgia’, but I’m sure this was a lot better when I was a kid. Oh, sure, you now have three traps and not just one, and yes, one of the traps sends your mice flying across the room, and yes, it does have a toilet (which is really funny if you’re five!), but somehow it doesn’t push all the buttons it used to when I was five…

Lord of the Rings DVD Trivial Pursuit
I found out something really quite startling about Lord of the Rings while playing. I found out that I know only half as much about the movie as I thought I did! This is a massive step up from classic Trivial Pursuit, rules-wise, but a huge step backwards in actual gameplay, because you need to have players who have seen the movie exactly the same number of times, otherwise one person will win every time. It’s great to have multi-media questions, but it really sucks if most of your knowledge comes from the books, or the card games, or whatnot – as it’s all based on the movie trilogy!

Mall of Horror
Competing for least-festive game is this slaughter-fest of treachery and lies. My folks seemed a bit overwhelmed by the rules at the beginning, but soon managed to get the hang of ensuring they were not the ones to die. Of course, negotiations and double-dealings are much easier when your opponents are drunk!

Bohnanza
Thank heavens for my mates. They took me out for a games night, and we played some real games! Away from the mass-marketed kids games, and DVD Trivia games, there are some actual, honest-to-goodness fun games to play. I had almost forgotten what real gaming was all about…

So what, dear reader, did you enjoy ( or endure) over Christmas? Let us know in the comments section below!

Cranium Hullabaloo Review

I have two small children. They are that impressionable young age when, if I am not careful, they could turn out to be – I don’t know … normal, or something. Luckily, there are loads of games out there that will allow me to mould them into something much better than that: Gamers!

It has to be said that most of these games are not of English design, and you would have to look to other places to find games that suit the younger generation. One of my favourites is Zicke Zacke Huhnercacke, for example (Chicken Cha Cha Cha in English), which pits mind to mind a battle of wits and … oh, just go and check it out; it’s fun!
But this review focuses on a much more different game – a cross between Twister, musical chairs, Simon says and Advanced Squad Leader (note: one or more of the games just mentioned may not feature).

The game comes with twelve pads, each of which is in a different shape, colour and picture. So you might have a green square with an elephant on it, or a red circle with spaghetti, and so on. There are four special Cranium pads (purple) with odd words like Data Head and Word Worm. There is also the … electronic thingy … that dictates the pace of the game. And the extensive, clear and easy-to-follow eighteen page rulebook. No, not eighteen – sorry, two. Two pages. And most of that is one big picture as an example.

To play, you spread the pads out on the floor, put the … electronic thingy … nearby, and push the big red button. Then you have to follow the directions. The … thingy … tells you what you need to do, such as “walk to a green”, “spin to a triangle”, “bounce to a food”, “put your nose on a red, and put your elbow on a triangle, and touch your foot to a green, and say ‘oogedy-boogedy-boogedy-boo!’, and give high-fives to as many players as you can reach”. At some point, the … thingy … will say “freeze!” It will then tell you who has won – whoever is touching the winning pad – and that player will get to bow, or do a victory jump, or a funky dance, or whatever, as dictated by the thingy.

The whole thing then starts again, and as the games go on, the tasks get harder (see example above) and the pace gets quicker, until everyone is completely knackered and doesn’t want to play any more. In theory. The reality is, of course, that the little ones want to dance and spin and skip and hop until the universe explodes, and the adults are left as a boneless heap of worn out gristle being dragged in an endless game of Hullabaloo until they die. But it’s good fun! (Honest!) The game will do its best to tire out the players, and with any luck any small children playing will just fall asleep at some point. As a serious, tactical game, it fails on all counts, as there is no clear winning strategy to winning, except to avoid playing at all costs. But if you have little children anywhere in your vicinity, they will love it.

The pads are pretty tough, and will resist creasing and tearing (unless you try really hard…!), and the electronic thingy is pretty robust as well. It will break if you throw it or tread on it, but it seems to stand up pretty well to being handled by small hands.
My one major gripe with the thing is that the voice issuing from the electronic thingy is really really American. It may not bug some people as much as me, but some of the words are quite mangled when you factor in the electronic distortion, the screams of youngsters doing their best to balance on two toes and a nostril, and the Americanised version of the words. There is a volume control on the thingy to help, but it doesn’t go up that loud, and sometimes, the players are left guessing what they were supposed to do to get to the next pad (and what the next pad actually is).

Summary

Presentation: The pads are bright and colourful (although the blue isn’t quite as blue as I would have liked), and the pictures on the pad are cartoony and fun. The electronic thingy is brightly-coloured and almost organic-looking, being all curves and strange shapes All good fun and eye-ctaching. 7.9/10

Clarity of Rules: Yes, the rule is easy to understand… I would have wanted more variety, and maybe so extra rules to avoid the kingmaking scenarios that occur towards the end of a lengthy session, but the designers have done their best to keep the game as balanced as they can! 9/10

Game Length: You can play a game in about two minutes. And then you can play as many games as you want. The game is tailored so that any preferred style of play can be used – from quick-and-easy filler games, to the Game of the Night that Swallows All the Time You Have. 8/10

Value: At twenty quid, you get a babysitter, and you wear the kids out. If that isn’t value for money, I don’t know what is! 9/10

Overall: An fantastic introduction to wargaming but also suitable for experienced gamers who are looking for something a little lighter. No, hang on, that was Memoire ’44, wasn’t it…? Hullabaloo is a great game, that involves kids of all ages, and that adults (who don’t mind looking a bit of a pratt) can join in with as well (to boost the prestige and admiration that said kids dole out). Mine haven’t stopped playing it since Christmas, and we’re gonna need some new batteries soon! 9/10 (not an average)

Review by David Plank

Buy Hullabaloo at Infinity Games UK

Memoir '44 Review

Memoir '44 is a World War 2 hex-based wargame from Days of Wonder. If the words 'hex-based wargame' make you shiver and think of tiny hexes, stacks of small counters and an impenetrable rulebook, then I am glad to say you will not find any of the above in the Memoir box. What you do find in the box is a beautifully painted, double-sided, large-hex gameboard (one side depicting countryside, the other a beach); two stacks of terrain hexes, again with high quality art work on both sides and on thick card; two bags stuffed with miniatures representing Allied and German infantry, artillery and armour; special dice for resolving conflicts; a deck of command cards and reference cards; counters for special forces, bridges, bunkers and medals; and a clear, well-illustrated rule and scenario book.

The miniatures are generally well moulded in green (Allied) and blue (German) plastic, although the infantry and tanks are more robust than the artillery pieces, which have a tendency to bend in the bag. Unlike some other games, all these come loose in a bag, so there is no need to spend hours cutting models from sprues before you can play (anyone who has bought Age of Mythology will be able to appreciate this!).

Terrain hexes represent the range of terrain one might expect to find in Europe: hills, towns, rivers, hedgerows, forest etc., and each comes with its own reference card so terrain effects can easilly be found during play. These are laid onto the main board at the beginning of the game according to the scenario guide, which includes a good range of battles including beach landings, the capture of bridges, defence of towns and the struggle of the Resistance to reclaim the rolling hills and forests of the French countryside.

The Memoir rules are based on the same system DoW used for Battle Cry, their wargame of the American Civil War, but have been refind and updated. Each player holds a hand of cards, representing orders you can give to your forces, the number of which depends upon how effective the leaders and command structure were at each battle. Card effects vary, but typically allow you to move one or more units in a section of the battlefield, which is divided up into thirds (left flank, centre, right flank). Ordered units are allowed to move and fire and once this is complete, a replacement order card is drawn.

Units are represented by a number of figures depending on type, which are removed as casualties are taken. The movement capabilities and fighting strength of each is also conveniently printed on a card for reference.

Attacks are resloved by rolling special dice (usually between one and three) with printed symbols on. Essentially, each symbol matching the unit type you are attacking scores a hit upon it, while each flag symbol rolled forces it to retreat a hex. Thus one roll elegantly covers casualty and morale effects without a need to refer to pages of complicated results tables.

To win a scenario, players need to gather a certain number of medals (victory points). This is achieved through eliminating units and, depending on scenario, capturing stractegic locations on the board. Each scenario clearly shows how the board has to be set up and the location of starting forces. If required, note is made of any special rules which apply and a paragraph of historical background is also supplied.

Despite its apparent smplicity, Memoir is an engaging recreation of WW2 conflict. The card play recreates the restrictions of comand in a simple way without making the game feel that victory is dependant on what cards you are lucky enough to draw and, although apparently simple, the rules manage to leave you feeling like you have indeed commanded a range of forces in a fairly realistic battle, without forcing you to refer to pages of charts and table and learn detailed rules for every type of tank and infantry unit fighing in the western theatre of the war.

A geat deal of the appeal of Memoir comes from the fact that it is more of a whole wargame system than just one game. Even when you have played through all of the scenaros in the book (the majority of which withstand repeated plays), you can find plenty more on the Days of Wonder website and make up your own if desired.

In short, there is much to recommend Memoir '44. Simple yet elegant rules, atttractive board and miniatures, high replayability and good support from the company are all present and correct with the only real negatve point being some slightly flimsy artillery!

For players looking for an entertaining, light wargame, this should fulfil your requirements.

Summary

Presentation: Another success for Days of Wonder, M44 is very well presented, with the only small gripe being the softness of some of the miniatures. 8.4/10

Clarity of Rules: Very clear and easy to pick up, with good examples of movement and combat. 8.9/10

Game Length: Varies depending on scenario. Perhaps too short for die-hard grognards, but then, this game is aimed at the more casual wargamer. 8.5/10

Value: As a stand alone game this represents excellent value for money. Re-playability is high enough with just the scenarios supplied, but the terrain tile system and availability of additional scenarios on line means is has more than enough to offer players for a very long time. 9.6/10

Overall: An fantastic introduction to wargaming but also suitable for experienced gamers who are looking for something a little lighter. 8.8/10 (not an average)

Review by Chris Walkley