I'm just done with PAX and taking a day off. I should probably record all the games I've played just so I remember them. This blog is as good a place as any.
Here is a list of all first look games in the Olive 8.
I played this two player which wasn't as fun since it is a game played with a "guessing side" and a silent side. With two players there is no guessing collaboration so it felt a bit flat. It was a quick play and kind of fun but I'm not into deduction games.
This was some direct attack two player card game that I played with Eric. I can't remember the name. Eric was interested in the co-op version but we didn't have it available when we played. I have no interest in these games so it was hard for me to judge. Eric wasn't impressed.
A very interesting remake of Tigris and Euphrates
Some thoughts:
- having the leaders have extra power when off the board can help balance out the losers of battle
- having the catastrophe action only remove a tile and not replace it with an unbuildable tile makes this action not very catastrophic; often the target player can easily rebuild the destroyed piece
- the merchant action of tile selection helps to round out the bad hand problem of T and E.
- the new behavior of war (external conflict) is not nearly as devastating as it was in T and E. Often the nation is left intact and only a single leader is displaced. It also doesn't reward a huge number of VP. This has a terrible side effect of allowing players to gain VP in a balanced manner. In T and E it was common to win a war and have all the VP of one color that you need for the entire game. Players who notice this can then anticipate your actions.
Both games are good but due to the war behavior I think I like T and E more.
Amazingly asymmetric player abilities. Definitely worth a play. The politics/hate of the player interaction makes the rest of the game worthless.
Pretty pictures in a very light push your luck game. The build mechanic seems out of sync with the rest of the game. I don't know who this game is for.
A push your luck game where you put potion ingredients into a bag and draw them into a cauldron and hope you don't make a mess. Not a deep game but there is something I liked about the bag mechanic.
I very pretty worker placement game that is broken by many complex (and random) cards that are built throught the game.
A fast paced building game. Mostly heads down--you really don't care about what the other players are doing. The art is an awful mix of illustrated and photos of ugly Warsaw.
A deduction game with lots of story and a web element. Massive kudos to Fraser for walking us through this late at night. Dana would love this.
We sat down to play this and just couldn't make it through the rules. This is not a judement of the game but there are some games that are too complex to learn cold at a convention.
Petrichor noun: a pleasant smell that frequently accompanies the first rain after a long period of warm, dry weather.
A gorgeous area control game that has you playing as clouds and rain that waters plants. I love the mechanic of playing a card that takes an action and simultaneously votes on future weather events. Lots of player interaction without hate makes this game interesting.
The designer responded quickly to a rules question.
I want to buy this but it's not yet available!
A really fun auction game. Some cool aspects:
- losers of the auction get consolation money based on how high the bid was over the starting price; this gives players the incentive to overbid
- lots of price fluctuation with a little control
- deadly end game with all tulips dropping to zero
My hope is that this is a quick fun game. I bought it!
A very fast engine building game with a gimicky marble hopper mechanic. It's way to simple and random for me. Is this a good intro game to expose someone to an engine building mechanic? It may be too fidly.
A new Knizia game that really feels like multi-player go. Halfway through the game I was saying "atari". It is a bit of a point salad game but isn't too bad. It is fairly easy to play and besided the random setup has no hidden information and still manages to not have analysis paralysis.
I should buy this but I didn't like the way the game made my brain function.
Adds a lot of complexity to the basic 7 wonders game to make it interesting for two players. In only one play I was struggling to figure out all the icons but if you've played seven wonders then you should pick it up fairly quickly. It would be fun to play this a lot with a partner.
Matthew has played this to death. I should ask him what he likes and doesn't like about the game.
Super light game. I can's see playing this again.
Pretty little game with fun weapons that you attach to your meeples. Seems to add lots of needles complexity.