Haunting House Review

This is another offering from Twilight Creations Inc – the company that brought us Zombies!!! and All Wound Up, among others.

On opening the box, you might feel a little … underwhelmed. You get a selection of cards (10 identical cards for each player), some card tiles to make the house layout (with cross-roads, ‘T’ junctions and dead-ends), and 6 plastic figures. The contents are far too little for the size of the box provided, and two thirds of the box the game comes in is taken up by a cardboard insert. A little disappointing…

The rules themselves are simple enough, and cover both sides of a single A4 sheet, with enough room for clear pictures and good explanations of the situations.

The set-up is that you and your friends have dared each other to travel through a local haunted house. The first person to get all the way through wins. You need to randomly lay out the card tiles into a square shape on the table, forming a maze from the start tile to the end tile (note that there may not even be a clear way through the maze at the beginning).

Each player puts their figure at the start, and play begins. Each player’s set of ten cards have some special effect, such as “move two spaces” or “rotate 90º” or “switch two tiles”. During a turn, there is a random phase and a chosen phase. In the random phase, each player must shuffle and ‘suffer’ the top four cards drawn – meaning that the player must fulfil the cards if he can possibly do so.

During the chosen phase, each player chooses four cards to work through, with the aim of getting to the finish as quickly as possible.

The cards move your figure and tiles in unexpected ways, causing dead-ends to open up, or traps to be formed just when you thought you were getting somewhere. Some special cards only available during random phases can move the exit, or cause you to miss a turn, or fall down a trap-door, taking you to a new section of the maze.

It can actually be quite fun, and enjoyable to play, but you need to be in the right mood to get the most out of the game. If you are after a serious, thought-provoking game, then look elsewhere. Also, if you like to carefully plan out your moves and dislike being interrupted halfway through your turn, then avoid this one at all costs.

If you are after an ultra-light, totally chaotic and random maze game, then you might just enjoy this one. Take care, though – the ‘random phase’ (as well as the machinations of the other players during the ‘chosen phase; can really stuff up even the most careful player.

Summary

Presentation: The cards, tiles and figures are all functional and bright, clearly showing what they do, as well as adding some much-needed flavour. The cards show some gruesome monsters trying to reach out from the card backgrounds. The tiles have ghosts, bats, and secret doors. The figures are tortured souls presumbly regretting the whole ‘dare’ thing that brought them to this house in the first place. The box, however, could have been half the size – or less! 7.2/10

Clarity of Rules: It’s all pretty basic, and the cards and tiles are clear enough – even without the clarifying sections of the rules. You shouldn’t have any trouble picking up the gameplay… 9.1/10

Game Length: This depends how good your ‘hose the leader’ skills are. If everyone picks on the guy closest to the exit, this one can drag and drag until everyone agrees to just let someone win. Generally, however, it plays in about an hour. Which is actually about fifteen or twenty minutes too long for the lightness of the game… 6.7/10

Value: Well, it’s pretty cheap, and should be for what you get. 8.3/10

Overall: A very light filler game, that is actually a bit too long for a filler. The randomness may put off some players, and the lack of control even when you are guiding your figure will put off some more. It’s not one that will see a lot of table time during my sessions, but will possibly appeal to some. 6.1/10 (not an average)

Safari Jack Review

For a sensitive soul such as myself, a game based on the merciless tracking and hunting of innocent and possibly endangered animals doesn’t sound too appealing. As it stands though, Safari Jack is pretty abstract - so there’s not really much danger of me being upset about the carnage that is supposedly going on throughout the game.

This edition of Safari Jack – the remixed version - replaces the old game which came in an envelope on rather plain, low quality card like many of Cheapass Games' standard products. The new edition comes on high quality, full colour card, complete with slightly tweaked rules. Safari Jack places the players in the role of a hunter, on an expedition to seek out fantastic new creatures and then kill them mercilessly. As mentioned above, the gameplay itself is pretty abstract so the killing isn't strictly necessary - which is good for those of us with a slightly more eco-friendly outlook than the average big game hunter. The rules even helpfully suggest a few alternatives, such as taking photos of the animals or playing chess with them. Yes, the humour of James Ernest is very much apparent in the rules of Safari Jack – and forms a large part of the appeal of learning how to play, much like the majority of Cheapass Games.

The game is played using the cards that are supplied in a small resealable bag, with the players providing a pawn to represent their hunters and some form of counters or stones to represent their kills. To start, two cards are placed face down adjacent to one another with a pawn on each. Face down cards are base camps, which different terrain types can be placed onto. Their are four different types of terrain that can be laid - Desert, Forest, Water and Mountain - and each one can only be attached to either a terrain card of the same type or a base camp. End caps (terrain with entrances and score values) are what the hunters are aiming for, as these contain rare and beautiful animals that are shot upon arrival at the end cap, with a counter marking the kill which is worth whatever points value is marked on the card. The first hunter to reach 15 points wins the game. Each player has six cards in their hand, and on each turn must draw one card from the deck, lay one card (which could mean expanding the map or playing either a move card or a special card) and then move their hunter one space on the map. If a player moves onto the same space as another player, they can bump the stationary hunter to anywhere they choose on the map, except to an end cap.

Gameplay is pretty fast and very entertaining, and with the rules being so easy to grasp, strategies tend to begin formulating in the player's mind after just a few turns. One set of cards is enough for two players, but add a second deck and up to four players can be involved, which ups the stakes considerably and throws out any carefully concocted strategies that the players may have had for the two player game! The map grows faster and the game tends to get a lot more unpredictable, and it is just as much fun (if not more!) as the two player version.

Safari Jack Remix is one of the best Cheapass games available in my opinion and is most definitely one of the most underrated. For a few pounds, it is most certainly a game with immense value and potential for replaying it is huge. For the price of less than the average pint of beer (where I live anyway!), Safari Jack provides countless hours of entertainment and provides almost unprecedented cost-per-play. It really is a superb game, and comes highly recommended by myself and the countless opponents I have beaten over the last few years.

Summary

Presentation: Obviously, being a Cheapass release that costs a couple of quid, presentation isn’t Safari Jack’s strong point. However, the cards are well made and colourful, with photos of terrain and brightly coloured ‘special’ cards. 8.1/10

Clarity of Rules: James Ernest has a well deserved reputation for writing rules that are entertaining, amusing and easy to learn. I sometimes find myself wishing that Ernest would write all game rules! 9.5/10

Game Length: Short and addictive, Safari Jack excels as a quick game that can be taught and played multiple times in an hour. 9.2/10

Value: As with most Cheapass games, Safari Jack provides more fun and replay value than many games that cost 10 or even 20 times more. 9.8/10

Overall: A brilliantly simple and yet highly compulsive game of wandering and hunting with some superb mechanics – all at an amazingly cheap price. 9.3/10 (not an average)

Spree! Review by Zombiemonkey

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Spree is a fast, frantic and fairly entertaining romp from Cheapass Games. If you’re not familiar with Cheapass Games, they are basically a small publisher that release inexpensive games which come with boards and cards for a minimal price, but players must provide their own ‘generic’ pieces (so any tokens or dice as needed). This means that you can often buy 2 or more Cheapass Games for under a fiver, which is superb value as they are often as satisfyingly playable as the average full priced game.

In Spree, players run around a mall, stealing goodies and then attempting to get them back to their cars before they are shot and have their ill gotten gains stolen by the other players. Spree requires the following components - two dice, two standard decks of cards and two pawns for each player need to be cobbled together in order to play the game.

The board, depicting a mall, is split into four 'shops' (each containing items of one suit: hearts, spades, clubs and diamonds), and on each turn players roll the dice and run through the mall, laying the relevant cards from their hand into their cart (in front of them) as they run over the corresponding space. The cart is scored according to face value of the cards in it when players make it back to their car (2-10 are worth face value, Jacks 11, Queens 12, Kings 13 and Aces 15), and the first player to reach the previously agreed target score wins the game. An extra layer of complication is added however by the fact that other players can steal items from carts (by moving over the owner of the cart, playing a card of the same rank steals all cards of that rank from the cart, regardless of suit) as well as shoot each other.

To shoot, the active player must be able to 'see' another player - they must be standing in a straight line from one another. When shooting, the attacker rolls one die and counts the spaces from where they are standing (1 is the space you are on, 2 the next space etc.). If it reaches the other player, they fall down, and if it goes through the other player they are pushed back as far as the count goes unless they hit a wall, in which case they stop. The 'defender' falls over and cannot defend, and the attacker gets another turn. There are special cards - Aces can stop theft or shooting, Jokers count as any card for the purposes of stealing (or as Aces for defence purposes!), and 10s and 2s count as move 10 and move 2 respectively, and can be added to movement rolls.

Play is fast, simple and frantic as players rush around collecting as much stuff as they can and try to desperately get it back to their cars (just outside the mall) before they lost it through being shot or by having it stolen. It is simple, and plays very much like a standard card game with a board. Surprisingly fun with a very slight tactical element, Spree does lack the complexity of the latest Cheapass games, not to mention the sense of humour (at least during the game), but is a fast paced and pleasant diversion nonetheless.

The components needed can push the cost of the game up if you don’t already have them in your possession, but most households should have a couple of decks of cards and a few dice laying around: 2 matching coins per player adequately fill the role of player and car, so there’s no excuses there either!

Spree is a short, simple and most importantly fun game that has just the right balance of luck and skill, and stands out as one of the most satisfying Cheapass games.

Summary

Presentation: Cheap and cheerful, as is the norm with Cheapass Games. The board is a bit abstract but it is functional. Not it’s strong point, but then it is a Cheapass Game! 5.6/10

Clarity of Rules: Spree is a fairly easy game to learn, and the rules contain the trademark Cheapass sense of humour. A little more clarification on the shooting/stealing rules would have helped as some confusion does inevitably arise. 8.1/10

Game Length: The game can sometimes outstay its welcome, with players stealing and shooting their way around the board. 7.7/10

Value: As with most Cheapass Games, this is one area that cannot be faulted: at £2.50 or thereabouts, Spree offers amazing value for money. Even if it’s only played a handful of times, it more than justifies the asking price! 9.5/10

Overall: A fast, frantic and daft game of shoplifting and murder, albeit a lot more lighthearted and abstract than that description would suggest. 8.4/10 (not an average)