Sand game

Doesn't look like much... but this is a very interesting little... "game"... click the image to check this little time-waster out...

Rick T. plays Caylus Magna Carta

Rick Thornquist (formerly of boardgamenews.com) has posted a nice (brief) review of the new card game version of Caylus Magna Carta.

Here's a snippet from his review:

"This is basically a card game version of Caylus. The major changes involve using cards for the buildings instead of a board and tiles, simplifying the rules, and shortening the playing time.

In Caylus Magna Carta, each player gets their own deck of building cards. You start with three in your hand. A couple of neutral buildings cards start on the table to start the road - the rest of the buildings will be built from the player’s hands. On your turn, instead of placing a worker, you can draw another building card, exchange all of your building cards for new ones, or build a building by playing one from your hand to the table at the end of the road. "

And his summary:

"It might be useful to make a comparison to some other games that have card game versions. For example, I found Caylus and Caylus Magna Carta much closer to each other than Puerto Rico and San Juan are." "I think this would be a good game for those who want shorter, simpler version of Caylus. I would prefer to play Caylus, but if I was pressed for time I would be quite happy to play Caylus Magna Carta."

There you have it. No word on availability yet, but I am sure it will be soon. And you know it's on our wish lists, right Kevin?

The Police

Not game related, but certainly from the 80's, my formative years in gaming.

The Police. Madison Square Garden. August 1st and 3rd.

Be there.

Alert: Barnes and Noble clearance!

Just spotted this Geeklist over at Boardgamegeek - apparently it's finally time for Barnes and Noble to blow-out all those Euro games that they've been sitting on since the holidays. Word is that they are starting at 50% off - adding 6% sales tax, that's still cheaper than Thoughthammer.

Several spot-checks there in January by Kevin and myself indicated that the staff had no idea of what they were going to do with games, and we heard claims that they could not send them back to their distributors.

There are several games that would be of interest to us, including Puerto Rico, Settlers, Roborally, etc. Check out the Geeklist for descriptions and ratings, and report back if you find any!

CATAN LIVE is coming

Well... it may be time to think about getting an Xbox 360. Catan is coming to Xbox arcade.

Here's a quote from their home page:

"As announced at the recent Leipzig Games Convention, Settlers of Catan, the legendary board game from the mind of Klaus Teuber, is coming to Xbox Live! Arcade. Developed by Brian Reynolds and Big Huge Games, Catan is slated for release in Q1 2007.

Catan places the player in the role of colonists on the newly discovered imaginary island of the same name. Through strategy and trading, 3-4 players vie for control over the valuable territory and resources of this uncharted wilderness. With ten million copies already sold, Settlers of Catan is the rare board game that appeals to casual players as much as hardcore enthusiasts."

Brian Reynolds, designer of Civilization II and Rise of Nations computer games, was spoken of very highly by Settlers of Catan designer Klaus Teuber: "I had no doubts that Brian Reynolds would do a great job, and the first version of the game exceeded my highest expectations. The AI is so clever that I even lost several games in a row! Hands down, this game for the Xbox Live! Arcade is an amazing achievement."

Here are some of the features of the game:

• Precision AI offers realistic challenges to even the most seasoned players.
• Immersive 3D "Living World" environment.
• Addictive and fun gameplay for up to 4 players.
• Play online versus friends or go up against 8 unique AI personalities.

The screen=shots are pretty awesome... I really like the 3d view, and the animation and sound will no doubt be excellent.

Perhaps the best feature that is missing from the Zone.com version ("Catanonline.com") is the fact that it is only 3 players - "Catan Live" has 4 player implementation.

There are some icons that you earn for accomplishments in the game, which I assume will appear in your game profile, such as number of games won with the "largest army" and "longest road", and also the number of opponents defeated and such which is also a nice touch.

It remains to see what the cost of the game will be on Xbox Arcade, but if this and the rumored Alhambra and Carcassone games also come to the 360, it makes it very tempting.

Power Grid: Britain

All you Power Grid fans... must check this out.

Games played 2007 Geeklist

I created a Geeklist for the games I played in 2006, along with comments about the experiences. Very cool feature of Boardgamegeek, check it out at the link below:

*** Link deleted, due to a system crash at boardgamegeek.com on 2/8/07

8-player Nexus Ops?

This clever dude has put together a nice article on how to play Avalon Hill's Nexus Ops with 8-players, using a second set. Kevin has a copy, I have 2 copies, Tab has a copy... hmmm...

Several photos in the article about possible set-ups, and a discussion of the implications of various features of the board.

We may have to try this at the next GOF...