Kickstarter: Ogre Update

Update: Ogre

Ogre, a classic tabletop strategy game from the 70's by Steve Jackson games relaunched itself though Ogre Designer's Edition Kickstarter last year.  It shattered Kickstarter's funding record for board games at the time receiving $923,680.

A little over a year has passed now and the final review edition as arrived at Steve Jackson games.

The scale of the game is, simply put, epic:

• Box size: 24 by 20 by 5.8 inches
• Box weight: 25.2 pounds
• Maps laid out: 31 square feet
• Maps laid out end-to-end: 13.8 feet long
• Counter sheets laid out unpunched: 29.9 square feet
• No. of 2-D counters: 1,100
• No. of 3-D counters: 104
• Total no. of counters: 1,204

Now, I have been lucky enough to receive an early sheet of 3-D counters.  I am glad to say that they they look fantastic and the quality is top notch.  The art is excellent.  Their was no difficulty popping them out of the sheets and I never got a hit of separation or tearing which sometimes occurs with games of lesser quality.  The individual elements fit together simply and snugly.

Some people lamented that these are not plastic models but upon seeing the final product I couldn't be happier.  If they were plastic then the game would be heavier and bulkier, the cost would be much higher and the units would have a lot less variation.  I enjoy painting minis but most people don't have the time, equipment, and skill to do it on their own.  The printed nature of these counters allows each one to be fully, attractively, and vibrantly colored.
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On a final note, Steve and his team picked a perfect scale for these guys.  This Ogre Mark VI fits perfectly in the hand and somehow conveys the huge scale of the tank (and my kid loves them too).

Kickstarter: Robotech RPG/Tactics

 

Link to the current released rules

Palladium games has been producing the Robotech RPG for years and now they are moving into the Tactical market with the assistance of Ninja Division in producing Robotech RPG Tactics.  This is a great Kickstarter because it is really hard to judge the marketability of these mature IP's that don't currently penetrate the market.

From what I have seen the game does a fair job of capturing the feel of Robotech with equivalent though wildly different forces.  The pace of gameplay does seem high and the difficulty to understand low, which is one of the goals of the system.

Probably the biggest issue I see for the game is that the entire series is centered on building up the U.N. Spacey forces as the hero you would want to play.  Games without a strong IP influencing them can develop faction that have different levels of attraction to different players.  In Robotech you can either be the Humans protecting the Earth or the Invading Alien Zentradi, and if you play the humans, you get to play with transforming Jets.  Who will want to be the Zentradi?

As for the details on the Kickstarter, it is going very strong with several days to go.  They have operated it quite cannily by offering a base game package and one with "all the goodies."  At this point some of the named characters that took to the battlefield on both the U.N. Spacey and Zentradi side have been unlocked:  Rick, Roy, Khyron, and Miria.  This leaves a glaring exception being Max.  This stands out even more given that they have a "scenario" in which Max is in the title.  My guess is that in the very last days of the campaign, Palladium is going to put Max as an unlockable at a high though achievable goal to generate that final sprint of funding. 

Kickstarter: Name of the Wind Card Deck

One of the more common "games" you find on Kickstarter are decks of cards customized to a specific theme or subject.

In this example we have Name of the Wind Playing Cards.   The art on these cards are based on the book of the same name which is the first of the Kingkiller Chronicles by Patrick Rothfuss.  Personally I can't recommend the series enough.  The apparently trilogy is currently incomplete at only two books so far, but I have listened to them both (via Audible) many many times. 

As to the matter of the deck, to be sure we are not talking about some new card game, but a standard deck of playing cards. These usually work well with the Kickstarter model as they are a very producible product (effectively 53 images give or take), you can choose themes that appeal strongly to a specific, passionate,  but limited audience, and the price point is usually very accessible.  With this Kickstarter you can get the deck for $11. 

Kickstarter: Teramyyd - SKY PIRATES!

Teramyyd: Earthsphere is a tabletop game that attempts to model the adventure of being a sky-captain.   

In the game you can perform quests, find allies, upgrade your ship, cast spells, perform maneuvers, defeat monsters, and fight other players.  

The game varies each time by changing the core quest, the flagships used, and captains selected.   On top of all that the game comes with an awesome set of airship figures.

Flip Six

A simple card game with very complex rules?

Description

The overall goal of this game is to have the lowest score after 10 rounds of play. At the end of each round your score is determined by adding the value of all the cards in your play area.

Thus your goal in any turn is to eliminate cards or reduce their value.

This game consists of a single deck of cards. Each card has a printed number between 12 and -2, inclusively. There are four of each card between 0 and 12, one -1, and two -2s for a total of fifty-five cards.

 

Gameplay

To set up a round, the dealer hands out six cards to each player. The players, without looking at their cards, arranges them into two rows of three.

The dealer then flips over the top card of the deck and places it face up in the discard pile.

Play then starts left of the dealer and goes clockwise.

On a players first turn they reveal one card from their top row and one card from the bottom row.

The player then continues their turn as normal for the rest of the round by performing one of three actions:

• Replace a Card
• Eliminate a Column
• Discard the drawn card

 

Replacing a Card

To replace a card, a player draws either the card from the top of the discard pile or from the top of the deck.

The player may then replace any card in their play area, face up or face down, with the drawn card, and discard the replaced card.

 

Eliminate a Column

A player has the option to eliminate a column when they draw a card that matches a revealed card in their play area. The drawn card is placed over its match, then the other card in the column in placed on top of them. The three cards are then placed in the discard pile, in that order.

 

Discard the drawn card

Upon revealing the top card of the draw deck, a player may not want to use the card. They then have the option to discard it without changing their play area.

either drawing the top card of the discard pile or the top card of the deck.

Ending a Round

There are three end conditions for a round of play: all of a player's cards are face up, a player has eliminated all their cards, or a player declares the end of the round. Each other player takes one ore turn, then the round concludes and scoring begins.

 

Scoring

Each player reveals all face down cards and sums all the card values in their play area. This is their score for the round.

If the player that caused the end of the round does not have the lowest score for the round, their round score is doubled.

The player with the lowest total score after ten rounds is the winner.

Video Demo of Play

Coming Soon

Strategy & Tactics

 

Average Value and Card Reading

Given the randomness of available cards to draw from, turn to turn, there are limited long term strategies you can apply in Flip 6. There are however a few methods you can apply to increase your chances of winning.

The first and most basic strategy to grasp is understating the average value of a card. The average value of a card is 5.6. Given an entirely closed environment, if you must choose between an unknown card and a card that is 6 or higher, go with the unknown card. Card to card, this might not work out, but statistically it will work to your advantage.

This is a simple strategy that will work for most players, however serious competitors can make more informed decisions by adjusting this value as cards are revealed. This is effectively counting cards.

Remember that you can always call for the end of a round. Before your turn is over, look at your opponent's play areas and assume any face down card is the average card value. Thus if an opponent has a 2, 5, 9, -1, and two face down cards, it is wise to assume they have a total value of about 25.2 on the table. If you call the end of the game they will have one more turn in which the most likely outcome will be that they will replace their highest value card with the average, for 5.6 for a total of 21.8.

Keep an eye on the person to your left

The person to your left is always going to have the option to use your discarded card. You really can't do a lot about this, given that, in the course of the game you will “blindly” discard several cards. You should however be aware of what impact your revealed cards will have when discarded. If they could use the card you are considering discarding to eliminate a column, do the math and make sure that your play will server you better than the discard will help them.

Don't be scared of a high value card in your play area

This is more about psychology than anything else. Over the course of a round, people are going to be discarding high value cards and keeping low value cards. This activity will ensure that any card, not blindly discarded, will likely be of an above average value. This greatly increases your chances of eliminating a column.

If one of your first two cards flipped is a 10 or higher the impulse will be to replace them immediately. However, if you bide your time and use drawn cards to replace unknowns, it is very likely that before the round is over, the person to your right will discard a matching card allowing you to eliminate a whole column. Even observing this, most people will not keep a 10, 11, or 12 just to keep you from having it.

To temper your nerves with this strategy, remember that you can always replace this card in your last turn if you don't have a chance to eliminate the column.

 

Kid Value

Although the advanced tactics of this game are beyond most children, it is easy to team up with kids to have a fun learning experience.

Playing the game with a youth encourages relative number values, simple math, number recognition, and reading (thanks to the the value being written out on the card) for children in the 4-5 year age range.

You can keep your child partner engaged by having them do the physical tasks of drawing, flipping, replacing, and column eliminations.  Additionally, and even more important to the kids, if you don't care what face down card you want to replace, you can let them pick.  This gives them a deep sense of participation without significantly affecting the outcome of the game.

GlenBricker's Opinions

I really enjoy this game.  Ten rounds go by really fast once you get a hold of the basics.  Although the probabilities can inform you of the best moves to make, their is always a small thrill in flipping over a card...When you draw, is it going to be that low card you are hopping for?  When you are discarding from your play area, is going to a high one???  The game is just filled with these little surprises and gambles.

I tend to shy away from totally random games, but the randomness aspect of the game is tempered out by the significant number of rounds (10), allowing for luck to sometimes dominate rounds but skill to win the war.    

The instructions, as written are atrocious, Pin and I worked hard in our description above to make them more readable and I think we did a good job if I do say so myself.  Besides the instructions my only problem with the game is the packaging.  The box is twice the size of a deck with a plastic cradle inside.  I recommend getting a new case for this game.

At $6 this game a laughably good investment.

Pin Bricker's Opinion

I've really liked playing this game.  I did enjoy the two player more, because it was faster paced.  When we first read the rules and it said that you played 10 rounds I thought it would take forever.  A two player, 10 round, game moves quickly and is a lot of fun.  A four player game moved way too slowly for me.  Although, it did allow for a lot of conversation.  It was great to play with friends we hadn't seen in a while!

Stats

Price	$6
Age	x
Players	2-4
Length	x
Style	Single Deck Card Game, Probabilistic Determination, Simple Math, Card Draft
Randomness	Moderate, but tempered over several rounds of play
Portability	High (best with after-market case)
Stopability	High

Pirate Plank

Pirate Plank is a bit of an odd duck as far as most Lego games go.  It is probably the most attractive one I have seen yet but it is also distinctively not German family style. 

That being said, it is one of my son's favorites and is a good break from complex games. 

Stats

Price	$15
Pieces	116
Age	7+ (4+ with variants)
Players	2-4
Length	10-20
Style	Random Action, Aggressive Gameplay
Randomness	High but with little effect on endgame.

The Build

This game's mechanic really only requires some microfigs and a lane for each player, but the aesthetic of this game is top notch.  There is a 16 x 16 base-plate with a very attractive micro scale pirate ship.  The ship has two main sails and a jib.  The vessel is completed with a cannon and a captain microfig wearing a full scale, unprinted Captain's hat.  There are four more microfigs for play that are reminiscent of classical Lego pirate figures.


From the ship are four planks and light grey cheese wedges are put on the baseplate for sharks.

Video of Game Construction

Gameplay

Most Lego games follow the tenants of what is refereed to as "German style family game." This game is very different with the goal being to eliminate the other players by moving them off the board and winning by being the last player in the game.

Each turn you roll the traditional Lego die.

• If  you roll the Skull and crossbones, you can choose to move back two spaces on your plank or more any other player forward on theirs.
• If you roll a blank side, you may choose an opponent and place one of their movement squares on the die.   
• If you roll a side with movement squares you may do one of the following:
•  If there is at least one available space you may put an opponent's movement square on the die, unless all 9 of their squares have already been placed
• You may move a single opponent forward a number of spaces equal to the number of movement squares on the face of the die. 

The game mechanic of adding movement squares to a side of the die is common to many Lego games.

When all but one player has been forced off their plank, a total of 9 studs, then the game is over.

Video Demo of Gameplay

Tactics

A player's choice of action is based on a random die roll, so options are limited for strategy.

Independent of a player's roll a players choices are limited to the following:

• Selection of opponent
• Choose to move an opponent forward
• Choose to add a movement square

In a two player game, selection of an opponent is already determined.  With three or four players the social dynamic becomes the dominant factor of the game.

This leaves the only real discussion to be the option of moving a player forward or adding a movement square.  A simple statistical analysis can help decide on the best answer.

There are two extreme strategies, one is to put a single square on any side without one and always choose to move the opponent forward when the option is given.  This is the fastest possible way to win the game, but not the most likely. 

I wrote some code to assess different strategies.  Ignoring the skull and crossbones side,  I iterated how many turns it would take to get to 9 spaces based on strategies of putting a maximum of 1, 2, 3, or 4 movement square on a side.  So with one, you put one token on and any time you roll that you choose to move the opponent forward.  For two, you would put up to two tokens on a side before moving forward, etc.

Here is what I found

• 1: 12.9 turns
• 2: 12.1 turns
• 3: 12.4 turns
• 4: 13.2 turns

So all games are going to take about 13 or more rounds.   In all likelihood,  a player will roll and use at least one skull and crossbones roll to go back 2 spaces.  So, an opponent must be moved forward 11 spaces rather than just 9.

For 11 spaces we get these values

• 1: 14.9 turns
• 2: 13.3 turns
• 3: 13.5 turns
• 4: 14.0 turns

For 13 spaces we get these values

• 1: 17.0 turns
• 2: 14.5 turns
• 3: 14.6 turns
• 4: 15.0 turns

Now, this is all rather simple and one sided examination, and not complete but the best strategy appears to slightly favor putting no more than two movement squares on a side.  The longer a game goes the more it favors adding squares, but for the viable length of a two player game, two sides stays the leader.  

Playing with Younger Children

I am rather surprised that Lego puts the age so high on this game. My four year old loves it, and the statistics, as you can see indicate that choosing between putting a square on or moving a person forward have relatively little impact on the end result. 

You can fix any age issue by preloading the die though.

For a two player game I suggest the following sides (colors can be changed out of course)

• 4 Red
• 3 Red 1 Yellow
• 2 Red 2 Yellow
• 1 Red 3 Yellow
• 4 Yellow

For a three player game I recommend

• 3 Red 1 Tan
• 1 Red 3 Yellow
• 3 Tan 1 White
• 1 Red 1 Tan 1 White
• 1 Red 1 Tan 1 White

For advanced players this might seem a bit like you are just rolling a die and moving a play piece around.  That is absolutely correct.  That is what games for very young children (Candy Land, Hi Ho! Cherry-O, etc...) tend to be.  This method results in a game that is fun for young kids and not so long to drive their parents a little crazy.

Variation to remove the Aggressive Gameplay

In this game you are always moving your opponent out of the game, I have no problem with that but the gameplay is a bit aggressive for younger players.  If that is not right for your kids you have a very simple change that changes this game to a race.

Use some Lego to put some land at the end of the planks.  When you roll one of your movement squares, you get to move forward that many spaces.  When you roll skull and crossbones, you can choose to move your piece forward one or push another player back two.  

Opinions

The building aspect of this game is one of the best yet.  The gameplay is very simple with luck and social factors being strong elements.  These factors combined with the pirate motif makes this a hit with younger kids.  When the game gets old you still have the fantastic miniscale pirate ship, so still, a winner.

Elements of Note

Part	Id	Quantity
Misc Pirate Microfigs	misc	5
Black Minifig, Headgear Hat, Pirate Bicorne	2528	1
Skull and Crossbones Tile	3068bpb310	2

Kickstarter Short Order Heroes: Light RPG and Character Generator

 








 
Short Order Heroes can be used as a stand alone Light RPG / Story generator or a gaming aid.
 
The content of this project is simple, it is a deck of cards with an adjective and a number.
To create characters you draw three cards to get a collections of adjectives.  NPC's you encounter while threading your tale get from three to one attributes.  When the conflict arises in the tale, the DM and the Player discuss how the attributes of all the characters affect the conflict.  So if your character is "Cute" and "Foolish" and you are trying to get past a guard who is "Clumsy" and "Romantic" you could try straight diplomacy which no adjective affects ( difficulty 4).  You could try to leap past the guard who is clumsy (difficulty 3), or you could try to charm the romantic guard with your cuteness (difficulty 2).  You determine the result of the conflict by drawing a new card and using the number.  If the number is equal to or greater than the difficulty, the character "wins" the conflict.  The adjective of the card adds flavor to how the action is actually performed.  For instance if the player attempts to charm the guard and draws "Wise" with a 6, the player gets by the guard, perhaps by having a disarming conversation about philosophy or maybe just complimenting the guard on their wisdom.

The game looks like it will be a lot of fun for low key RPG activities.  It can also of course be used with more traditional RPGs to add some quick flavor or to more open ended story telling games (like Tell Tale) to give it more direction.

Scrabble Slam

Scrabble Slam.  A fast paced game of word generation. 

Description

Scrabble slam is an easy,  low stakes game of word generation.

The only mechanic to the game is a deck of 55 cards.  Each card has a wood like printing that makes it resemble the classic Scrabble letter tokens.

The difference between these cards and the tiles is that, excepting for the blank card, each card has a different letter on the front and back.  The two letters are displayed in the top left and bottom right corners (see picture).

The Game

 The game is very simple.  All the players decide on a word, usually with four letters like "SLAM" but you can vary the length without changing the style of gameplay.

The remaining cards are then split equally between the players.  When the game starts the players look through their hand of cards, either side,  for a single letter which will change the word.  For instance C could change SLAM to CLAM.  The player calls out the new word and places down the card covering the old letter.  Each play must change the spelling, that is to say, you cannot place an S on the S in SLAM, however you can reuses words.  so you could go SLAM, CLAM, SLAM.

There are no turns, you just call out the word and place the card as fast as you can.

SLAM, CLAM, CLAY, PLAY, PRAY, TRAY, TRAP, TRIP, TRIM, BRIM, GRIM, GRIT, etc...

When you play a blank card you declare a letter and it is treated as that letter.  

The first player to run out of cards wins the round.  If nobody can play a card, then the person with the least cards wins the game.

Video Demo and Review

Strategy

First and foremost,  know your words.  That is pretty much the most important part of any word game of course.  There is more to it than that though.

Try to get a good feel for the letters in your hand.  Many players get hung up on finding the letter first, then declaring the new word, then playing the card.  Players who have a better grasp of their cards can declare the new word first, then find the card, shaving off valuable seconds.


Sometimes two players will play a fast game all the way to the point that someone runs out.  Much more common though is that people will burn through the easy letters quickly, then play will slow down considerably when people have a handful of difficult last letters and cannot figure out how to play them.

If this is the case with your game play, there are two very good strategies to try.  First, if you know it is very likely that the game will slow down, then you may wish to prioritize expending difficult letters early in the game as you will have plenty of time to get rid of easy cards later later.

The second strategy is that if the game slows down, stop placing cards as fast as you find words.  Plan out your moves as far as you can.  Also, unless you agree not to in advance, look at your opponents cards.  Make sure none of your plays would benefit your opponent more than you. 

Take note that it is perfectly allowable to alternate back and forth between the same word: CLAM, PALM, CLAM, PALM, CLAM.   So, if you find a run of valid letter pairs in your hand, you can get rid of these quite quickly.

For  really serious players, in Scrabble, it is useful to memorize all the Q words and such.  As you have two options for every card (except one card that strangely has A on both sides) this is less important.   There is another word memorization strategy for Slam though.

In Slam words can change dramatically, but the location of vowels rarely changes, this is often the case because to move a vowel you must first remove one or add one then get rid of the existing one.

There are many four letter words with one vowel or two vowels, but there are only a handful with three vowels, and even fewer that can be derived from other four letter words. 

This means that knowing the words with three vowels in a row is very useful.  Here are a few :

AGON to AEON
BEAD/BEDU to BEAU
LIED/LIES/LIER/LIEN to LIEU
LULU to LUAU
MOTE/MOVE/MODE/MOKE/MOLE to MOUE
QUAD to QUAI
RAID/RAIL/RAGA to RAIA/RAYA
TOES/TOFU to TOEA

A few of these will even help you transition the locations of vowels in a word, which is infrequent in a game of Scrabble slam. 

Variant for Balancing the Game

With the popularity of Scrabble and Words with Friends, and vocabulary skills in general being inconsistent from person to person, it helps to have a balancing mechanic to prevent the game breaking down when one person is consistently much better than everyone else in the game.

If you have a word fiend in your group then here is a simple, quick balancing strategy.  At the end of a round of Scrabble Slam, find the person with the largest hand of cards remaining, this is very simple in a two person game.  Take half of these cards and set them aside.  Reshuffle the remaining cards and set up a new game as usual.  Prior to starting the new round though, give the stack of cards set aside previously to the word fiend.  They now have a larger set of cards they need to get rid of in order to win the round.

Younger kids

The minimum age for the game, as the rules stand is accurately at eight years.  However this can be a really fun game to play with kids when you partner them with an adult and the player/teams take turns.  This is really great at teaching spelling and introducing new words.

For  kids in the pre-spelling phase these cards can double as letter flash cards. 

Opinions

Simple rules, quick set up, quick game play, and sub $10 price range make this game a hit for parties, casual gaming, or for serious game nights, killing a few minutes while waiting for another game to get over.  Bonus points for doubling as flash cards and a solitaire, personal challenge game.

The package it comes in quickly breaks down though, so if you want it to travel, I suggest getting a robust card case. 

The random distribution of cards has little impact on a couples game but becomes a larger factor as you add players, thus limiting their card choices. 

Stats

Price	$6
Age	8+ / 4+ when teamed with adults
Players	2-4/ 1+
Length	15 minutes
Style	Quick Card Game, Quick Word Generation
Randomness	Low to Moderate
Portability	High (best with after-market case)
Stopability	High

Lego City Alarm

A deceptively complex game of Cops versus Robbers.

Stats

Price	$20
Pieces	247
Age	6+ (4+)
Players	2-4
Length	10-20
Style	Head-to-Head Strategy, Differentiated Goals
Randomness	Medium

The Build

The layout of this game is a rather quaint metropolis.  With the game board element from Lego it looks a bit reminiscent of how one might assume a "Heroica City" game.  The set could serve as a decent, if simple introduction into micro building techniques as it has no less than 10 unique structures, not including the prison.  Most buildings are easily identifiable by minifig scale elements that, in effect, act as signage, such a  money tile, pizza, or coffee cup.  Then you have a light house and post modern architecture for another two leaving a couple that you can identify however you wish.  The helicopter is probably my favorite build though.  

The Rules

The great thing about this game is that it starts very simple but it actually has complex strategy that evolves as the game progresses.  I have included a video at the bottom of this section that describes the rules with visuals if you want to skip the reading. 

The goals differ based on what side you are playing.  The thieves are attempting to a collect 10 cash tokens.  The police are trying to catch all the thieves.

Each turn a player flips over one of seven movement tokens. These tokens have the numbers 1 through 6 as well as a "train."  If you get a number, you select one of your microfigs and move them exactly that number of squares without doubling back.  If you get the train you can move your figures to any one of  seven "train stops" which are indicated by white squares.

If a thief ends their move adjacent, but not diagonal, to a building, they may attempt to rob the building.  To do this they roll a Lego die.  Two double cash sides will grant the player two cash tokens.  The three helicopter/cash side will grant the thieves one cash token and allow the police to move the helicopter.  The one helicopter side will result in no cash for the thieves but allow the police to move the helicopter.

The significance of the helicopter is that a building with a helicopter on it cannot be stolen from.  This is relatively weak early in the game and very powerful late in the game.

The police also flip over a movement token on their turn.  They want to end their movement exactly on a square occupied by a thief.  If they do so, they remove the thief from the board and place them in the prison.

When all seven movement tokens have been used, they are all flipped over and "shuffled" again for a new round. 

The Strategy

The core strategic element of the game is counting the cards.  When a  new round starts there are seven face down movement tokens.  But each turn reveals a movement token and reduces the uncertainly of possible moves available for the rest of the round.

The player who can utilize this information to best effect has a very strong advantage in the game. 

 

The Thieves side

Five of the six sides of the die results in cash with two of those sides resulting in double, this means, on average it will take 9 robberies to win the game.   Early in the game you have many thieves but you can only move one at a time.  In the first few turns it is very difficult NOT to loose microfigs because the police have many options open to them.  In my experience, while you have four or three thieves it  works best to spend most of your moves in high risk situations trying to get cash.

Try to get all your thief units off of the white squares early, as a police using the train can snap up thieves on train squares.  Do not however, prioritize this over robbing.

When you get down to two thieves, it appears to be set to swap to a cautious strategy.  Unless you are way behind, don't take a risk on robbing a location if chances are high you could get caught.  Remember that by reading the movement tokens you can see where the Police might be able to get to.  So choose moves that land you in squares that will not be reachable by the police.  Also, do not fall into the habit of viewing proximity to the police as an inherently bad thing.  A thief can be directly adjacent to a police officer, but if the 1 token has already been used for the round, then you are perfectly safe.

The Police side     

Early in the game there are many slow moving targets to choose from and it is generally easy to acquire the first two thieves.   It is hard to use the helicopter to good effect early on though because, with all the thief units, they have many options.

The thieves tend to be attracted to the Bank and Lighthouse because they offer four sides to rob, so one of these buildings is a solid target for the helicopter early in the game.

As the game continues and you whittle down the thieves the helicopter becomes critical to success.  When you can move the helicopter, determine what moves the thieves have remaining to them for the round and try to place the helicopter on a building that would be possible for them to steal from.

That is to say.  If the 1,2, 5, and 6 have been revealed then that leaves that means the thieves could rob a building that is 3 or 4 moves from a thief piece.  Look for such buildings and put the helicopter on them.

When moving your police units do not get caught up in getting as close as possible to the thief units.  If you can put your officer two squares away from a thief, but the 2 movement token has already been used for the round, then they will very likely get away.   If you can't land directly on a thief, check to see if one of the upcoming movement tokens could allow the thief to reach a business.  If your move can put you in front of that business, preventing it from being robbed, then that is likely the smarter move. 

Randomness

There are technically two elements of randomness in the game, the die roll and the drawing of the movement tokens.   The randomness of these elements do not, however, dominate the game, which allows strategy to win out most of the time.

The die has five of six sides that result in the thieves at least some cash, so it should always be assumed they will walk away with something.  Also four of six sides result in the option for the police to move the helicopter, so it is relatively safe to assume the option will be available to them.

As for the movement tokens, yes, when they are all upside down, it is totally random what will be drawn, but with each flip, the uncertainly is reduced until it is zero.  Savvy players will be able to reduce the impact of this uncertainty and utilize it to their advantage.

Solitaire and Underage Play

While there is turn to turn strategy in the game, the randomness does make it difficult for complex stratagems that last several turns and the revelation of a movement token provides a very finite set of possible actions.  Thus it is possible to play a solitaire version of this game where you play each side based on statistically ideal moves...if you are into that.

Similarly and for the same reason, I have found that, although the minimum age is reported to be six, a four year old can get a lot of enjoyment out of this game.  Yes, they don't understand predicting the movement tokens, but if you point out what squares their characters can land on each turn and leave it to them to decide the specifics, that, and the games narrative of Cops and Robbers,  is usually enough to keep them quite happy.   

 

Elements of Note

Part	Id	Quantity
Dark Orange Croissant	33125	1
Cash Tiles	3069bpx7	13
Die Tiles for 1-6	misc	1 set of 6
Pizza Tile	4150p02	1
Thief Microfig	85863pb073	4
Police Officer Microfig	85863pb074	2
Orange Lego separator	96874	1

Spot It!

Spot it! is the ideal game for quick competitive fun on an outing or at home.

Description

 The actual rules and game play to Spot it! are a bit loose but they are all based on a fundamental mechanic.  The game consists of 55 cards, each with 8 cartoonish symbols.  The unique thing about the cards is that each has one and only one symbol in common with any other card.   These symbols may vary in size and orientation, but are otherwise identical.

The variations of games you can play with the Spot It deck are all based on how quickly an individual can spot the matching symbols, thus the name of the game.

You can try out the mechanic with this online demo.

The most common "mini game" we play is to deal each player a card.  The rest of the deck is then put face up in the center of the table.  Players then call out a match between their own card and the card on the top of the deck.  This action wins them the card which they then put on top of the card in hand. Everyone continues play with the new card on the top of the deck.  When all the cards are taken, you compare card stacks.  The person with the tallest stack wins the round.

Variations for Younger kids

Spot it! claims it is for ages seven plus.  We have recently learned that there is a Spot It Junior with fewer symbols per card, but with some simple variations we have never really had a problem playing with our children, even before they were three.  The main variation is to play the game as described above, but to take turns, which ended up teaching taking turns very well at the same time.

Usually you will be able to find the match before your kid, so if they need help, you can point to one symbol at a time and ask if it matches.  We usually would throw in a few red herrings to keep it from being too easy. 

Opinions

It is quick to learn, quick to set up, quick to tear down, and with the metal tin, it travels very well and is safe from most destructive forces, including one year olds.  When nobody else is available to play with you can challenge yourself solitaire style.

This is mostly a game of skill.  Although each pair of cards is selected randomly, this has little impact on the strategy one uses for matching.  Sometimes you will encounter a run of cards in sequence that all share the same one element and this tends to lead to a sweep by that player but it is rare and usually does not affect the outcome of a game significantly. 

An additional benefit for any gamers with kids is that the game play does not deteriorate severely if a few cards are lost.

Also, in a real pinch the tin with cards can double as a rattle/drum/tambourine.

For around $12 this game is worth its weight in gold.

Stats

Price	$12
Age	7+ / 3+
Players	2-8/ 1+
Length	10 minutes
Style	Quick Matching
Randomness	Low
Portability	High
Stopability	High

Kickstart: Small World 2 Coming to an End!

The Small World 2 Kickstarter will be ending in a little more than 24 hours.  The game is proven on the tabletop and you can still get it at a great price for a great price on the Ipad, Android, or PC at a great price.

Kickstarter: Torment: Tides of Numenera

Torment Kickstarter  has less than two days left.  Planescape Torment was a game that played like a novel.  This new game is attempting a similar challenge where all your actions have consequences.  Patrick Rothfuss fans (Name of the Wind) should take note that he is on the design team and will be doing some writing for the game.