ISSUE 442 -OCTOBER 2012 ISSN 0257-361X Volume 36

THE GAMES JOURNAL www.gamesjournal.at

INTERNATIONAL EDITION: IN THIS ISSUE WE PRESENT 55 GAMES OUR REVIEW u SNOWDONIA

tures the mountain as a central element, TO THE PEAK OF YR WYDDFA albeit only slightly indicated so that the areas of the board are better visible. In the left-hand lower region you find the starting SNOWDONIA town of Llanberis, where each player puts A RAILROAD TO THE MOUNTAIN TOP one of his men. A second man is placed into the adjacent Pub. Beginning in Llanberis, the stations are dis- Smiling a bit to myself when reading the trips due to its picturesque scenery and this played in ascending order of their numbers! first lines of the rules, because they are talk- might have been one of the reasons for the Please note that in case of 1, 2 or 5 players ing about mountains, whose peaks can only decision, made at the end of the 19th cen- a different arrangement of stations is used. be suspected within the low-ranging clouds tury, to build a cog railway to the top of Mt. You play with the yellow side of the board, - the highest mountain, the Yr Wyddfa or Snowdon, with a track width of 800 mm. the blue one belongs to a version. How to Mt. Snowdon (is not pronounced like snow/ This railway is the only cog railway in all of set up the game is described on two very Schnee, but with an “e”) is about 1.085 me- Great Britain. The construction was started extensive pages in the rules which answer ters high. We are in Wales, to be more exact at the end of 1893 and after a bit more than all possible questions. Simply keep to this in the north of Wales, in the third biggest a year the first train reached the peak station set-up and implement it step by step, then British National Park. The region also goes in January of 1896. The official opening took the set-up will not be a problem and you by the name of Snowdonia or, in Welsh, place at Easter of the same year. This game will not keep guessing what the symbols Eryrr, which translated into English means tells about the creation of this cog railway. might mean, like we did before we finally Eagle’s Lair. The box cover shows a team laying track to decided to consult the rules. This region is a favorite destination for day the top of Snowdon. The game board fea- Onto the track cards you place the number

Color codes, target groups, features, icons and GABIS are 2 ISSUE 442 / OCTOBER 2012 explained on page 5 and at the bottom of pages 36 and 37 www.gamesjournal.at SNOWDONIA / 40 LINES FOR MEEPLES t OUR REVIEW

of brown rubble pieces according to the players are public and therefore can always number on the card. In the stations, too, be counted and added up. Why inflict a you place the indicated number of brown penalty if someone makes a counting error? stones onto the top buildings. 7 iron, 4 Resources in such exchanges go into the stones and 2 coals are placed on the three bag; rubble is taken out of the game. resources areas and the action areas are Action D enables you to lay down track. adapted to the current number of players. How many sections of track you can place The course of the game is simple and ex- is again determined by the speed-of-work plained within 10 minutes. In turn, you track; either one or two sections will be pos- place your two workers into the seven ac- sible. For each rack card that you place and tion areas. With the exception of the last that is already free from rubble you discard area there is a limit of worker capacities in one unit of steel and turn the card over to its all those areas. It is important to know that track side and mark it with your ownership when placing workers you can occupy and marker. spot of your choice marked in those areas, Buildings can be constructed using Action as the order in which the actions are then E. To be able to set up a building the track in implemented later on often is very impor- front of the station must be free of rubble. tant. The track need not be built and it is also ir- You implement actions from action area relevant if there is still rubble in the station. A to action area C under adherence to the To construct a building you discard stones or steel, score the victory points marked Kurt Schellenbauer and place one of your ownership markers. When the weather doesn’t create havoc and you don’t As soon as the action Buy an Engine is avail- 40 Lines for Meeples disappear in fog then you might achieve a plan that will able (more on this later) you can use Action Dagmar de Cassan, Editor-in-Chief stand. Knowledge of all order cards and the special bonuses connected to them is essential. E also to buy an engine/locomotive. Six out of seven locomotives are available in the With this edition of WIN we start a new game. To buy such an engine you pay one column - ENCOUNTERS, where we will order of the workers placed there. Actions or two units of steel. Locomotives have two focus on those personalities - especially that were chosen by placing a worker there functions; if you discard one coal (or two game designers - who make our gaming must be implemented and cannot be sim- coals in case of one of the engines) hire a community - and also our publication - ply forfeited. This very effectively bars a worker from the pub for the current round happen. Christian Huber will present all destructive way to play. Workers are given and can do one additional action. those people about whom it is rewar- back to their owners after implementation If you want to do this must be always an- ding to know more than the name on of actions. nounced before you place your first worker the game box. In 2013 we will meet 14 Action A yields resources from the three re- - so pay attention to the number of avail- personalities from the games community sources areas. You can never take more than able action spaces, because the worker and get better acquainted with them. one unit of coal. As resources are limited in costs you one coal and this resource is very When you, dear reader, look at this Octo- numbers it can happen that you get noth- limited during all of the game and very of- ber issue of WIN, you have recently recei- ing. The player who chose the last spot in ten there is not enough of it. ved our special Essen issue. With this issue Area A will be the next starting player. The second function of a locomotive is al- we will the gap that was created with the Action B allows players to remove rubble. lowing you additional actions or improve- last issue. And we are already working on The amount of rubble you can remove ment of actions when implementing them. the next issue. depends on the speed-of-work track. The So you can remove more rubble (B), receive You will receive lots to read over the next marker on this track indicates the amount more resources (A), may build more tracks weeks and that is necessary, because al- of 1-4 pieces. You take those pieces into or pay only 2 iron when exchanging re- ready in February the International Toy your personal stock. sources instead of 3 iron, and so on. Fair Nuremberg will bring us yet another Rubble cannot be removed in any way that Action F enables players to take one of the lot of new and wonderful games! you like; you must always start on the track openly displayed action cards. Those cards So have fun with reading this issue and if card next to the starting station and work give you an instant action in the course of you want more information, take a look at your way up the mountain to the peak sta- the game which is limited to one action or our database LUDORIUM, at http://www. tion. Stations along the track are also freed sometimes limited to the current round. ludorium.at. of rubble. For freeing spots on the stations a Each card has also a presetting for addition- WIN The Games Journal can be read player scores the number of victory points al victory points which you score at the end now as an eBook and as Kindle (in Ger- marked there. Should there be no rubble to of the game. And, finally, in Action G you man and English) and therefore even ea- remove the action is replaced by a building move your marker away by one step from sier to read than a PDF file on the respec- action (more on this in a minute). the starting station. This marker is called tive modern devices. Action C enables you to change resources Surveyor and can reach the next station If you like our WIN, please take out a up to three times, either 3 orange iron units even when there is still rubble on the track. subscription. We have a PayPal account; into one steel unit or 2 rubble units into Should there be an order card still in posi- so payment of € 6 for a One Year Subscrip- one stone unit. You can also combine those tion 1 it is discarded and the display is re- tion is easy and safe, please check http:// two exchanges. You must consider that the plenished to three openly displayed cards. www.gamesjournal.at stone is drawn from the black resources The card now on top of the draw pile of The printed edition of our games Hand- stock bag and you must pay attention if one order cards determines which weather disc book GAME BY GAME is published and is available from there. For me this restric- is activated. Possible weather discs are Sun, can be bought at the SPIELBOX-SHOP. In- tion is pure nonsense, as the resources of Fog or Rain. The two weather discs on dis- fos: http://www.gamescompanion.at 

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play are moved to the left and the new disc railway into a game that is easily playable. that the game holds a lot of components. is added behind them. Each of the locomotives and each of the sta- This might be an argument for a higher The disc on Position 1 changes the weath- tions are historically documented, and I will sales price and at first one is happy about it, er. In case of Sun the two markers on the pardon the designers for inventing a few but when the setting-up phase then is end- speed-of-work track are moved to the right additional stations, that is, adding them to lessly the enchantment vanes quickly. and result in the possibility to build more the track in order to create a playable track. The game plays nicely with all numbers of track or to remove more rubble in the next All locomotives carry their historical names players, but still I cannot get enthusiastic round. In case of rain those discs are moved and it should be mentioned as an aside about the solitaire game as I believe it to in a way that you will be less productive in that today there are still four of the original be unnecessary. It might help to get better the coming round. In case of Fog the ac- locomotives running, one other needs only acquainted with the flow of the game and tions of removing rubble and build track are a boiler repair and yet one other is ready to better understand the interactions of not available. Then you discard the disc on for a museum. Only locomotive #1 was de- the order cards with the game and maybe Spot 1. stroyed at the opening day of the railway some time in the future championships At this point in the game the storage places due to an accident. might happen, for which you then can train are refilled. Depending on the number of Due to the near-to-reality use of weather alone in your room. Otherwise I prefer the players you blindly draw resources from the you can nicely re-live how it is to build in rain PC when I have nobody to play with. resources bag. It can happen that you draw or sunshine or must stop work due to fog. As one or several of the five white event cubes. you know the coming weather three rounds During Spiel at Essen four promotion cards Those cubes are placed on the event track. in advance (surely not possible when the were available - two trains, Ivor the Engine, This track contains one spot which makes real railway was built) the chance element Jimmy and the Little Old engine, a station the locomotives available; from this mo- provided by the weather is small. But, yet, with an endless name and an additional ment on you can by locomotives using we had one game when we had six times action area H. These items are still available Action E. Other spots on the track result in fog out of eight rounds and that lengthens from the homepage of the publisher and removal of rubble and building of track by the game incredible, because you have to are sent for a small remuneration for post- outside contractors. Such companies also think very carefully about how to distribute age. can complete stations. One of the spots on one’s actions usefully after such a phase, be- Finally, I can only congratulate Lookout and the event track also demands servicing the cause one is in danger of having the game the designer on this game, because in a very locomotives. When you cannot manage to run away due to the outside companies close pack of good games at Essen it was comply with this servicing of locomotives building nearly everything- one of the outstanding ones..  you must discard them. The rules are not only clearly structured but Kurt Schellenbauer These events considerably speed up the also easily understood and in case of ques- game, but for my liking the chance factor tions you quickly find the relevant passages in that is a bit too high. One is planning on for clarification. One small incongruence INFORMATION the next and next but one round and then has turned up, though: For locomotive #6 PLAYERS: by chance two white cubes are drawn and the rules state that the worker in the pub Designer: Tony Boydell 1-5 without a by your leave the cleared tracks costs one coal, the card names 2 coals as the Artist: T. Boydell, C. Paull, K. Franz AGE: might be gone or stations might be fin- price for the worker. As the additional action Price: ca. 40 Euro 10+ ished. of this locomotive is very powerful I would Publisher: Lookout Spiele 2012 TIME: The game ends at the end of the round in imagine that the price stated on the card is www.lookout-spiele.de 90+ which the last track section of the railway correct. has been built. In case of two players the As my esteemed readers correctly suspect, end can happen earlier, that is, then when yes, I like the game. I like it when the back- EVALUATION players run out of ownership markers to ground story fits, the historical dates are cor- Worker Placement with a railway topic place. For scoring the game provides a pre- rect and the mechanisms interact well. This With friends Version: multi printed sheet on which you can enter your is absolutely and 100% the case here. Aside Rules: de en fr it scores and which helps you not to forget from that we had good fun in all games and In-game text: yes any points. with all age groups playing. If there is some- Comments: You score the ownership markers on track thing to say to the game’s disadvantage it is Historically authentic, nice topic * All build one track together * Chance ele- and stations (buildings), the locomotive #4 the the rather abstract flair of the turns. And ment is not a deciding factor earns you 9 points and the surveyor the yet, worker placement games, so the new points for the station where he happens name for this kind of games, need not be Compares to: Basically all track building games to be located, the higher up the mountain dry and abstract, as proven by Agricola. the more points the scores. For completed The reason for this may be that you do not Other editions: order cards you score different amounts of really build something in Snowdonia that Currently none points, those are manifold and to describe you can touch. In Agricola you have a farm them would certainly exceed the scope of which you expand and you set up fences this review. The winner is the player with and breed animals on your land. In Snowdo- the highest score; in case of a tie there are nia all build at the same track and the only several winners. think you have in front of you are the re- During my career as a games player a did sources and accordingly the game reduces play lots of games with a historical topic, itself to the actions and that comes over as but for this one not only extensive and dry and abstract exact research was done, but one has But as in all games there are different ap- achieved extraordinarily well to combine proaches to Snowdonia, too, for instance

historical events and the flair of building a the notice on the box mentioning proudly My rating:

Color codes, target groups, features, icons and GABIS are 4 ISSUE 442 / OCTOBER 2012 explained on page 5 and at the bottom of pages 36 and 37 www.gamesjournal.at GRIMORIA / GABIS t OUR REVIEW

MAGIC BY THE BOOK GAMES BUYER INFORMATION SYSTEM - GABIS

STRUCTURE Each game review also features an evaluation which can GRIMORIA help you to find the game that best suits your tastes. The color accompanying each game title represents the USER USE THE BOOK AND COMPANIONS Group. The headline also contains icons for age and number of players. The BAR in the evaluation box displays color codes for up to 10 features of a game. The world of Magic enchants all ages from in this color. Each player has one coin as his young to old. To do magic can be learned starting capital. The Magic Book contains all USER GROUP We have defined 4 target groups (color accompanying the by using different means, a magic wand, a spells that can be cast and it starts with the head line) magic hat or a magic book. Such a Book of easy ones and ends with the difficult ones. Magic is used in Grimoria and is meant to Children: Games for children an educational games. Adults can play demonstrate the magic of books. There are limits from the start what spells in a guiding function. can be cast, and those limits are indicated Families: Children and parents play together, all have the same The rules are very short and concise, which by the level of magic represented on the chance to win and have fun. is due to Grimoria not being a complex board. Depending on the number of play- Friends: game at all, which is a clear bonus. Anoth- ers in the game the game starts with a dif- Young people and adults play together as equals Experts: er advantage is that the rules, contrary to ferent level of magic. When three are play- Games with special demands on rules and playing time. many others that can be found in games ing the starting level of magic is at position Especially for game geeks nowadays, are very well structured and Five. This means that players can only cast Please note for the user groups Children, Family and therefore easily understood. the spells One to Five from their Book of Friends: Children who love to play can be ahead of their Magic. The number of a spell is indicated by peers! Please note that our target group “families” does not imply the classical concept of „family games“! Furthermore, Setting up the game takes maybe a tick a number in the top left-hand corner of the our user groups can overlap. The choice of suitable games longer, but setting up also provides a few book. always depends on your playing partners and your fun important clues for the progress of the with games! Games that are especially eligible for Solo play or for 2 play- game. Before we can start to play the game The board also shows spots for spells; those ers or Large groups of players are marked with an icon. order markers are set on the correspond- spots are used by players to indicate the ing spots on the board, the start-up turn spell they want to cast with their markers. FEATURES Each game targets preferences for different features in a order is determined by random placement player, therefore each game is not suitable for each player. of the markers and is not important; turn Isabella Schranz We have listed 10 features players note when deciding Grimoria is not the most complex game ever, but if you on a game. Only if a player finds his preferred features in order changes during the game. Who will a game he will enjoy the game. The color code marks the take which position on the order track will want to try something new, this short game is a good start! dominant features. Educational games train the highlighted be determined in each round by the spells preference. chosen by the magicians. Empty boxes: This feature is neclectable or not present This is important because the spells you One colored box: This feature is present, but not essential Before the adventure cards are placed they want to cast determine the order of play. Two colored boxes: This feature is present and important in the game are shuffled well and then stacked for a Three colored boxes: This feature is dominant and essential draw pile. Next to this draw pile one card is Game play in Grimoria is based on rounds. Chance: placed face down and then you place ad- Each round is played in the same way, com- The game is influenced by dice, cards or any other form of ditional cards, according to the number of prising three phases. Each Phase must be random generator players, open-faced all in their respective complete before the next one can start, Tactics: Take decision, short-term planning, planning based on places. The adventure cards are made up which also means that all players are always one move from Companion cards, which bring ad- in the same round. Strategy: vantages to the players, and Location cards, Think ahead, long-term planning, planning for several moves which tell us that only Companions have an The first Phase is the Spell Phase. In this Creativity: effect. Both kinds of adventure cards yield phase all magicians play simultaneously The player has to provide words, phrases, images and other creative efforts different amounts of victory points. by deciding on a spell that is within the Knowledge: range of available spells. To choose a spell Cultural and educational knowledge, long-term memory Another kind of card to be found in the magicians place their Book Marker into Memory: Remember, learn by heart, short-time memory game is treasure cards, which are also shuf- their Book of Magic and lay the book down Communication: fled and stacked for a draw pile. This stack closed. This indicates that the selection is Talk to each other, negotiate, inform is placed on the table next to board. The complete. When all players have laid down Interaction: Influencing each other, bluffing, auction treasure cards also comprise two different their books, all open the book at the marked Dexterity kinds of cards; there are some that result in page, also all at the same time. Now each Motor skills Action: an effect and are of advantage to the player, magician takes his marker and places it on Body movement, balance and reaction and there are cards that simple award vic- the corresponding spell spot on the board. tory points. The Taler/coins are placed next It is possible that several players cast the ADDITIONAL INFORMATION Version: The edition of the game on which the review is to the board. When you receive coins in same spell. based the course of the game they always have a Rules: This lists the languages in which rules are available or value of 1. Money is not kept secret; it must Then the new order of play is determined. are included in the game, often even more translations can be found on the web. always be visible for all. First all players, who chose a spell with a In-game text: A YES marks a game with language- low level of magic and did chose that spell dependent components that cannot be played without  Players choose a color and receive a Magic alone, on position 1 of the order track - for translation or knowledge of the language. Book, a Book Marker and a playing marker instance, if player Blue did choose Spell #1

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As you can see, basically all that you acquire during the game can be scored for victory points, which enables you to try different strategies to win the game. You can choose to rely on Companions and their abilities or collect money or locations. But, not surpris- ingly, a strategy using a well balanced mix- ture of all three „pure“ strategies will work best.

A core advantage of this game is that the rules do not leave one single question un- answered. The rules are clearly structured and you can find any information in the spot where you need it and where it works best. Again, this is something that is sadly missing in lots of games that were pub- lished recently.

The game mechanics are put together very simply and are made up from standard mechanisms: On one hand the mecha- nisms familiar from Trading Card Games employing Companions who help the player to make progress in the game, and and was the only one with this choice he is ions, like the witch, can be used anytime. on the other hand the game board which the new starting player for the next phases. The Messenger, for instance, allows you to brings more variety into the game. Due to The other players who were the only ones take a coin from stock when the player is its simple mechanism the game is quickly to choose a certain spell are ranked behind first in turn order. Should a player have the explained and you start to play after a very him depending on level of magic they have same companion laid out more than one he short explanation. chosen. If a spell has been chosen by several can use the abilities as often as he has that Isabella Schranz magicians those magicians are ranked be- special companion. hind all those who were alone in choosing INFORMATION a spell. Whoever was in front in the previ- The last move of each player in this phase PLAYERS: ous rounds will be ahead now again, so that allows you to take an adventure card from Designer: Hayato Kisaragi 2-5 for those players the course of the games the display, but not from the discard pile. Artist: Eckhard Freytag AGE: doesn’t change much. All the same, this Here it is important to know that the display Price: ca. 20 Euro 10+ variation of the turn order makes the game is not replenished with new cards. When the Publisher: Schmidt Spiele 2012 TIME: interesting, because it ensures that rounds chosen card is a Companion you place it on www.schmidt-spiele.de 30+ are different, especially as you do not want on the table, a Location card is taken up into to use the same spell in every round, but your hand without revealing it. want to vary them. EVALUATION Phase Three is the preparation for next Fantasy card game Then the second phase begins; the Adven- round. The adventure cards still remaining For families Version: de ture Phase. In this phase the turn order is of in the display are discarded open-faced and Rules: de en jp great importance. The difference between new cards are laid out. The discard pile is In-game text: yes Phase One and Two is, that players do their open-faced because you can look through Comments: their turn simultaneously in Phase One but it anytime you want. New edition of Grimoire, One Draw, play in turn order in Phase Two, they do all 2010 * Winner of Essener Feder 2012 for the rules * Winner of Graf Ludo 2012 for their possible moves before passing the The last step in this phase is the raising of the graphics * Easy entry into the game turn to the next player. the level of magic by one level, so that play- Compares to: ers have a wider selection of spells at their Fantasy games on magic spells in general; Each player can do three moves: The first disposal for the next round. When the mark- trading card games for mechanisms move is to execute the spell that you chose er of the level of magic reaches the red spot Other editions: and placed. It can happen that a player of the track the last round begins and when Z-Man Games, USA, One Draw/Japon casts Spell #2 which forbids any kind of that is complete the game ends. Brand, Japan Black Magic for the rest of the round. This of course also goes for players who did choose To score the game each player adds his vic- black magic; their spells cannot be cast in tory points and the player with the highest this case. The second move allows a player total wins. Victory points are accrued from to use the abilities of companions laid out coins, the values of acquired treasure cards in front of him. One must pay attention to and values of the adventure cards and also the fact that abilities of some companions, from the values of the effects which can re- like the Messenger, can only be used in this sult from adventure cards.

move and that abilities of other compan- My rating:

Color codes, target groups, features, icons and GABIS are 6 ISSUE 442 / OCTOBER 2012 explained on page 5 and at the bottom of pages 36 and 37 www.gamesjournal.at SEASONS t OUR REVIEW

Points (VP – called “crystals” in the game) THROUGH THE SEASONS WITH A DICE ROLL! and we all agree that it is too small for this task. Each player has an individual board used to keep track (with the help of three SEASONS wooden cubes) of the collected resources, A GAME WHERE LUCK IS VERY IMPORTANT the maximum number of power cards that the player may have in front of him and a “bonus track” that may give some advan- When I learned the … basic concepts of and I think that I will not return again to this tages to the player in exchange for the loss SEASONS I was very curious to test it a.s.a.p.: game. Please note that this is my personal of VP at the game’s end. a game that combine a phase of “card draft” opinion and that some of the other players (like 7 WONDERS), a “resource collection” involved in our test liked the game instead 20 big “season dice” in four colors (Blue for with dice and the use of cards to generate so this it is only a question of “tastes”. Winter, Green for Spring, Yellow for Summer special action (as in “MAGIC”) should have a and Red for Autumn) will be used to show certain appeal, I thought. All that said I have now to justify this bad which and how many resources are avail- opinion and of course I will do after having able every turn and how much the turn So we rushed SEASONS on our gaming explained how the game works. Usually I marker will advance at the end. Every die tables and we tested it a few times: unfor- never write reviews on games that I do not has a different combination of icons and tunately I must admit that this IS NOT MY like as I stop playing them after the first or GAME and the final note at the end of this second game and therefore I do not have Pietro Cremona review will explain my disappointment. enough experience to judge them. But Sea- A game with too much luck for my taste, but for which I can If the game had a play time of, say, 30-45 sons has a wonderful rating on BGG (7,73 see why others might like it and will like it. minutes (like 7 Wonders) probably my note at the time of writing, in October 2012) and could have a couple of points more, but be- some of my friends (old players of MAGIC) tween novice players you have to consider were enthusiastic about it. the availability of the different resources about 2 hours to play Seasons, and even af- changes from color to color: for example ter 4-5 games the playing time is surely over Inside the inviting box of Seasons we find you may find more green “Earth” resources the 60 minutes written on the box. Prob- a “round board”, used to show the passage in the green dice than the other colors, and ably the 60 minutes target may be reached of time (four seasons of three months each) so on. Four sets of cardboard round tokens after many more games, knowing by heart and the selling price for the different re- represent the four different resources (red all the cards and most of the best combos, sources (they vary in each season). A second Air, blue Water, yellow Fire and green Earth) but unfortunately I surrendered after 5 test board is used to keep track of the Victory and the player will pick up them following

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the dice results and/or the card powers. A source in winter will guarantee 3 VP, etc.). doctor engineer I learned something about few round tokens are used to keep track of The player may also play a card from his the “probability laws” and I know that on the the “reserve” cards for the second and third hand on the table (just in front of him) if he long run luck tend to be well distributed, “year” of play (more on them later). already has the required resources/VP to but what statistics do not say is the if you spend. pass the first half of your game with bad Finally there are two sets of 50 POWER dice and therefore you cannot play your CARDS that are the real heart of the game as Cards may be used in three ways: every turn, best cards you will never recover even if luck they are used to change its course with their if they have a “permanent” symbol; every comes back in the second part of the game! effects and to collect VP. They are divided turn “upon activation” (spending resources in two categories: “magical items” (purple or VP) if they have an activation symbol; And Seasons unfortunately is one of those symbol) and “familiars” (orange symbol). or just once if they have a “play when en- games where luck is so important. As I said Each card has a name and shows the cost ter” symbol. If necessary players may also at the beginning this could not be a real (in resources and/or VP) to play them on the activate the special bonus that they have problem if you spend only 30-40 minutes table, its effect and the VP (called Prestige available on their individual boards: trade per game and then, probably, you would Points in the game) granted at the game’s two resources for two different ones; add like to immediately have your revenge, but end. one resource to the sales; add one point when I must spend 80-90 minutes under to your summoning track; draw two Power the inconstancy of luck I do not have any The game has three levels: beginner, in- cards (select one and discard the other). The will to start everything again ! termediate and advanced. The difference first “bonus” will cost you 5 VP at the game’s is determined by the number of different end, the second 12 VP and the third 20 VP: SEASONS of course has his own “good cards that are used: the “beginner” level you may use always the same bonus or any points” for players that like this kind of uses only some of the cards from 1 to 30 combination of them, one per turn. games: most of my friends were more than and the set-up is fixed for each player (9 se- happy to search for gaining super “combos” lected cards); the “magician” (intermediate) The other players do exactly the same ac- and give great damage to their opponents level uses all the cards from 1 to 30 and a tions and the turn ends moving the turn and I do not forget that a lot of enthusiast random distribution of 9 cards to each play- track 1-2-3 cases (as indicated by the pips on players voted SEASONS on BGG, so … I er; the “arch mage” (advanced) level uses all the fifth die). Then the FIRST PLAYER marker leave the game to them without a cry and the cards (including the more complex one is passed left-wise and the game goes on I search for something more suitable to my between 31 and 50) and the usual random as we have already seen. When the token tastes.  distribution of 9 to each player. The unused pass the last Autumn case and re-enter the Pietro Cremona cards form a reserve deck. Winter season for the first time the players take the 3 extra cards for “year nr 2” in their The game start with a draft phase: each hands. When it passes the year end for the INFORMATION player look at his 9 cards, select one of them second time the last 3 cards are added to PLAYERS: and pass the other to his left neighbor, then the hand and when it passes for the third Designer: Régis Bonnessée 2-4 a new card is selected and so on until every- time the game ends. Artist: Xavier Gueniffey Durin AGE: body has again 9 cards. Now each player Price: ca. 35 Euro 14+ must divide his cards in three mini hands As you have already understood to be com- Publisher: Asterion 2012 TIME: of 3 cards each: the first 3 cards are used on petitive in Seasons you must know very well www.libellud.com 90+ “year nr.1”; 3 more cards are added at the all the cards and their effect (as it happens in beginning of “year nr.2” and the final 3 cards MAGIC) as you must select the best possible are taken at the beginning of “year nr.3”. combo during the draft phase: if you have EVALUATION too many useless cards you will not get the Fantasy card game Set up is finished: the turn marker is placed best bonus and you will surely lose, even if With friends Version: it on the first case of winter and a first player is you may draw some extra cards during the Rules: de en fr it pl decided: he takes the five blue dice (or less game. Unfortunately also those extra draws In-game text: yes if the number of players is 2 or 3) and throw are subject to lady luck and too often our Comments: them on the table. Then he select one of the table was remarked by someone crying Good basic mechanisms * Implementa- tion too chancy for me * Playing time dice, followed clockwise by the other play- “hurrah !!!” when getting some good cards too long for the chance element * If you ers: the fifth die is not taken but the number or “porcaccia xxx …” when poor cards were do like that you will play a good game of “pips” printed on his face under the icon discovered. Compares to: (from 1 to 3) will indicate the number of Magic cases that the turn marker will move at the You also need good dice rolls during the end of the present turn. game in order to take the right resources at Other editions: Asmodee, Germany, Libellud France, Rebel.pl the right moment: unfortunately the “bet- The first player performs his season die ac- ter” dice results are selected by the first or tions: he increases his summoning gauge second player, so you are obliged to take (the number of cards that he may play) if a what they leave to you … but “of course” “star” is printed on the die and collects re- when you are the first player the infamous source tokens or one new card as indicated Murphy’s Law will guarantee that you will on the die. If the selected die has a “circle” never get the right results. So sometimes around the printed icons the player may sell players may only look at the opponents resources to the bank, earning VP as indi- building good combos and/or attacking cated on the round board for that resource them without any possibility to react until

in that season (for example and “earth” re- lady Luck will come to the rescue. Being a My rating:

Color codes, target groups, features, icons and GABIS are 8 ISSUE 442 / OCTOBER 2012 explained on page 5 and at the bottom of pages 36 and 37 www.gamesjournal.at AFRICANA t OUR REVIEW

The cards comprise adventure cards, expe- FROM KAIRO TO CAPETOWN dition cards and company cards and also travel cards and assistant cards. Assistant cards and travel cards come in five colors AFRICANA corresponding to the colors of the symbols TREASURE HUNTING IN AFRICA next to stations on the board. At the start of the game you are assigned a color and re- ceive on explorer marker and four company Back to the 19th century - expeditions on red line across Africa and thus separates the markers, all made from wood. Other game the African continent create interest from northern half from the southern half. Next components are silver and gold coins. All in different companies and the former colo- to each station you find one or two symbols all the board is prettily done, the cards are nial powers race each other to acquire the which are repeated on the travel cards; you clear and the various components are clear- most remunerative exploration expeditions need such cards to travel to stations. In two ly structured and easily recognized. and treasures. corners you find a picture of a book, that’s where you place the wooden books which As so often, in Africana too, the aim of the The game board shows the continent of Af- hold the order cards. Finally, in the bottom game is to acquire most victory points. Each rica with many locations depicted as single part of the board you find areas to display stations on an overlaid network of connect- expedition cards and the board also offers Astrid Willim ing routes. The equator is marked with a an overview of the points you can score. Africana is a game in which several components are joined - a little planning is necessary to find the best route and yet the chance element is very strong due to the random- ness of the cards. You must be involved everywhere early enough to avoid lagging behind. Timing is one of the most important elements of the game.

of your turns offers you three different pos- sibilities: You must decide if you want to draw two travel cards, buy an adventure card or move your explorer marker. You choose a starting player; he is assigned a certain color, that is, colonial power which is Italy. This determines how much money he has at his disposal at the start of the game. The colors and colonial powers for the re- maining players are assigned according to seating order (Italy, France, Germany, and England). You begin with a joker card and an additional travel card. These cards come in five different colors (Magenta, Turquoise, Gray, Orange and Violet) and different sym- bols. You use those travel cards to move your explorer. The symbol on the card must correspond to the symbol located next to the station you want to reach. You cannot leave out a station, but can travel to several stations in one turn. Each travel card you play to move your explorer is discarded at the end of your turn. When you move your explorer, do not forget to join one of the ex- peditions that are laid out. As soon as you travel to the starting point of an expedition you can place one of your company mark- ers on the card of this expedition in the bottom part of the board. This grants you the corresponding award which is marked on the board above the card - either one or two coins or an additional travel card. When you are first to reach the final station of an expedition all company markers on the card are returned to their owners and you take the expedition card and place it underneath your own company card. You also earn the number of coins noted on the expedition card.

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Should you have played the joker card from your score - two assistants cost you five by planning, each player can easily plan or an assistant card which are played like points, three or more assistants lose you 10 his moves in advance - you must assess if travel cards, you take them back in hand victory points. Additional victory points are maybe an opponent can reach a target first at the end of the turn. Assistant cards can earned with each pair of gold coins (= 10 and eventually aim at an additional target be bought as an adventure card and when silver coins), for any two travel cards and for or another target yourself- you complete such a card you cat the cor- each uncompleted adventure card showing The principles of the game are easily responding assistant for use as a travel card. an artifact. Should there be a tie in the score learned and the rules are very well written. The adventure cards also offer artifacts for victory points the winner is the player The game mechanisms are already famil- which are important for a special scoring at with most silver coins. iar from previous games, also by designer the end of the game. As soon as you com- Michael Schacht, and rouse memories of plete such an adventure card by visiting That’s it. As you may have gleaned so far it is games played. If you want to try your hand the station marked on it the card is placed very important not to overlook the expedi- at a game with a measured element of underneath your company card. In case of tions on display; it happens too often that change and easy planning elements I can an assistant you can use the card instantly one travels to a station and find out later absolutely recommend Africana to you.  and you take the card back in hand after that you have missed participating in an Astrid Willim each use, as you do with the joker card. You expedition, because one is so busy to plan can change the color of a travel card to any ones travels and which adventure cards other color by paying five silver coins. There one wants to complete that one forgets to is a limit of five cards you can hold, a surplus pay attention to new expedition cards in must be discarded at the end of your turn. the display. Another important factor in the game is timing. Only if you manage to take The third choice you can make for your turn part in many expeditions you will be able is to buy adventure cards. These cards are to collect enough coins to acquire the cov- located on the wooden books in the cor- eted assistants. As soon as there is enough ners of the board. At the start of the game money in circulation the run for cards with only the top adventure card is visible. Each the assistant symbol begins. You must pick player may, when he decides to buy, turn the right time, before others have bought over one card for free in any direction, each up most of the assistants and as soon as one additional card he wants to turn over costs has enough money to buy at least two ad- one silver coin. When you decide to buy you venture cards. The assistants are usually the can only buy the two visible cards. It is also deciding element in the game. You should important to know that you can only buy acquire at least one of them, two would be cards in that half of the board where your even better. Don’t be deterred by the pen- INFORMATION explorer marker is currently located, but alty points for assistants at the end. If you PLAYERS: that the targets of those adventure cards acquire three helpers, you can forget the Designer: Michael Schacht 2-4 are always in the other half of the board. Ad- drawing of cards for the rest of the game. It Artist: Franz Vohwinkel AGE: venture cards you bought you must display must be mentioned that it is essential to pay Price: ca. 35 Euro 8+ openly, you can in theory buy as many as attention when adventure cards are bought Publisher: Abacusspiele 2012 TIME: you want and can pay for, but should you to the cards that have been turned, because www.abacusspiele.de 60+ have more than three such cards on display then you can assess where assistance might at the end of your turn you must discard be found - each stack holds five assistants, the surplus. As soon as you reach the target one of each color - or which items are still EVALUATION station noted on the adventure card, you available to complete your collection - each Card-driven collecting game might be able to acquire - depending on artifact is present twice in each stack. You For families Version: de the card - coins or an assistant; completed should actively prevent another player from Rules: cz de en es fr hu adventures are placed underneath your buying a third artifact of a kind, so buy them In-game text: yes company card. You can look at them any- on time, even if you have to discard it. In a Comments: time and score you victory points at the end game of two players this is not such a big Standard mechanisms nicely combined * Good timing is essential * Expeditions of the game. problem, but in a game of four players the must be taken into account * Do not pressure to complete expeditions and to underrate assistants The game ends when you cannot replenish buy adventure cards is much bigger. Compares to: empty expedition areas. The current round Valdora is finished, so that each player had the same So, all in all, the game is rather chance- number of turns. Then the game is scored. driven, as it depends on the cards at your Other editions: Z-Man Games, USA, Lautapelit, Finland, Each player adds the victory points on the disposal if you can complete certain expedi- Filosofia, Canada, Albi, Czech Republic cards that he has collected underneath tions or if it takes too long and somebody his company cards. Then you score the ar- else reaches the target station first. If you are tifacts: If you acquired two artifacts of the lucky, the available expeditions fit together same kind, you score six points, three iden- perfectly so that you can complete more tical artifacts score 12 points; each pair of than one in one turn. But of course the exact different artifacts is worth two points and opposite can also happen. Searching for the a set of four different artifacts is worth 10 perfect adventure cards depends on luck, points, but you can use each artifact only too, it can happen hat all your money goes for one score. Should you hold more than into searching the cards in the book. one assistant card, you must deduct points All over the chance element is mitigated

Color codes, target groups, features, icons and GABIS are 10 ISSUE 442 / OCTOBER 2012 explained on page 5 and at the bottom of pages 36 and 37 www.gamesjournal.at AEROPLANES: AVIATION ASCENDANT t OUR REVIEW

tions and implements it, and then the turn BUILD AIRPORTS AND TRANSPORT PASSENGERS passes to the next player.

Those five possible actions are: AEROPLANES: AVIATION ASCENDANT RAILROAD GAME WITH AIRPLANES 1. Buy an airplane Next to the board there always is a display of airplane cards laid out. These airplane cards Aeroplanes - once more a game by Martin again with a few selected cities or countries have different prices and either yield one Wallace! He has published quite a number or regions with 2 spots for airports for each. or two airports of the development stages of games with different publishers. This one To the left of this we find two spots for air- I, II or II, give you 0 or 1 victory point at the has been published by Mayfair Games, and ports for North and South America serving end of the game, have a transport capacity that, too, is not a new constellation; Steam as long distance destinations. of one to six passengers or are fit for long or Automobile, published with the last few Between the cities, countries, regions and distance travel or not. years, come to mind. continents colored lines are printed, which In Aeroplanes players try to develop an air are important for the setting-up of new air- Markus Wawra transport company in the start-up times of ports, but more on this later. The expert player within me does not like the sometimes commercial air travel. The game is played over three eras, which deciding chance element of tolling dice, for an in-between- game or for the casual player the game clearly is too The graphic design of the board reminds of basically all follow the same schematics, demanding, so I am missing a target group. games that were published in the Treefrog the only difference between them is the line, and yet this time the artist is not the amount of money that is handed out to regular artist Peter Dennis who is respon- players in the ears - in the first one you re- If you choose the action „buy an airplane“ sible for it, but Patricia Raubo. The board is ceive 12 money units, in the second era you take one airplane card of your choice not especially pretty but very clearly struc- you get 22 and in the third you are given 32 from the display, pay the price and place the tured and well-defined. The board shows units. card together with the airport tiles of your parts of the world, also a scoring track and Each player chooses a home airport, se- color, pictured on the card, in front of you. a few more areas and tables. Europe is dis- lected from six cities in Europe (Paris, Am- Then the display of airport cards is replen- proportionally big with some important sterdam, London, Zürich, Rome and Berlin). ished. As the cards are always sorted by cities and 2 to 3 spots for airports for each. Then the era begins with the starting player. numbers at the start the order in which Underneath Europe, clearly smaller in rela- During an era players in turn have actions. those cards come into play is always the tion, one finds Africa, Asia and Australia, Each player always chooses one of five ac- same.

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2. Build an airport the starting city and in the destination city costs you lots of valuable actions that could The airport tiles can be placed on the world as well as an airplane that has enough trans- be put to better use. map with this action, and of course there port capacity left. The passenger tile is then are some rules for this that must be adhered placed on the corresponding airplane card But, players who do not like the usual pos- to: Starting from your home airport or other and blocks capacity of the plane according sibilities to plan ahead in typically European airports of your own that have already been to the number on it. games will love that chance element; in placed on the board, you can place any Aeroplanes you even roll dice to determine number of your own airport tiles, which are 4. Buy a Bonus tile the starting player. sitting on airport cards in front of yourself, For one money unit per tile you can acquire on adjacent cities. Adjacent is defined by bonus tiles, for instance pilot tiles which For casual players the game seems much being connected by a colored line. can be added to your roll of dice, or main- to laborious, and the playing time is rather Those lines have different colors and those tenance tiles which allow you to discard all long, even if you can remain clearly below colors symbolize and indicate the difficulty engine damage tiles. All such bonus tiles the 2 hour mark, at least with three players. of the new route of flight. When you want to can be used only one and are then put back Very bad, unfortunately, are - in my opin- use any other than a white line - and those in general stock. ion - the English rules, which, again in in my white lines can only be found in Europe - opinion, leave some gaps in the rules. And you must roll the dice to determine if you 5. Acquire subsidies there are some details that I noticed which have reached the new destination and if At the start of each era 8 coins and a black leave a slightly unfinished impression. Why, you can build there. marker are placed into the subsidies area. As for instance, is Zürich given its German To do so you roll three dice. Those three dice an action you can take one of those coins, name, but Rome, Vienna, Warsaw, Moscow show the usual pips 2 to 6; instead of the 1 or, if all coins have already been taken, the and Copenhagen their English names. I they carry a symbol for engine damage. The black marker. Taking of the black marker im- have also found a printing error in the name total of the pips you rolled must surpass a mediately results in the end of the current of an airplane. Yet all in all the airplane cards certain threshold value which is dependent era. are the highlight of the game components. on the difficulty of the route, to be able to At the end of each era there is a scoring All airplanes correspond to historic types build the airport. When the total is too low, and you score majorities for the number of and are very prettily drawn. For 46 cards this you can add to the total with money or pilot airports in Europe, Asia and Africa and the took a lot of research and drawing efforts, tiles to be able to build all the same. If you profit generating of the airlines. similar to Automobile.  do not want to pay or if you cannot pay you For this profit making capability you add the Markus.Wawra cannot place the airport tile and you must number of transported passengers and sub- put it back on the airplane card and the ac- tract the unused capacity of the airplanes. tion ends instantly. Both numbers are only valid for the current INFORMATION The engine damage symbols equal a value era, because after scoring all passenger tiles PLAYERS: of 0 and give you tiles for engine damage, are removed and all airport cards are turned Designer: Martin Wallace 3-5 too. When you - while trying to build - roll over; unused airport tiles and passenger ca- Artist: Patricia Raubo AGE: and acquire your 4th engine damage tile, pacities can be used in the next eras. Price: ca. 40 Euro 12+ you must stop your building actions in- With the end of the third era the games Publisher: Mayfair Games 2012 TIME: stantly and must discard the airport tile you ends and after a final scoring - some air- 120+ wanted to place together with the four en- plane cards and passenger tiles score addi- www.mayfairgames.com gine damage tiles. Airport tiles on airplane tional points - you win with the highest total cards capable of long distance flights are of points. EVALUATION deemed to be long distance airplanes. Railway game despite the topic Such long distance airplanes allow you to Resume With friends leave out cities, but for this you must roll Build routes and transport passengers and Version: en the dice once again, even inside Europe. collect victory points for doing so, that Rules: en In-game text: no Furthermore, some routes, for instance for sounds like a typical classical railways game both Americas, can only be managed with and that is also the flair Aeroplanes emits. I Comments: Well-arranged design * Some mistakes long distance airplanes. do not want to know how often I said rail- in details * Airplanes lovingly designed Basically airport tiles are always placed on way station instead of airport when explain- with historical details * Long but free airport spots; should a city be com- ing the game! incomplete rules plete, you can upgrade an airport, that is, re- Aeroplanes is a nice game, where you must Compares to: place it with a tile of a higher level. This can permanently make lots of small decisions. Steam, Age of Steam, Ticket to Ride result in ousting players from a city. Can I wait for one more round with build- Other editions: ing an airport in order to build more later on Currently none 3. Transport passengers or will I be too late to acquire all necessary In order to achieve commercial success passenger tiles? Can I buy another airplane airlines must transport passengers, natu- or will I be lacking passengers for them and rally. For this purpose there is a randomly will the unused capacity ruin my profit mak- drawn display of passenger tiles. Those pas- ing score? senger tiles are always assigned to one of And on top of that you need to keep an eye the six starting airports (Paris, Amsterdam, on your fellow players. London, Zürich, Rome or Berlin), show and But, as an expert and frequent player, I do target and also a number between 1 and not like the high chance element from roll- 3. As an action you can take one of those ing dice, even if this can be minimized by My rating: tiles, but only when you have an airport in busily collecting bonus tiles, because that

Color codes, target groups, features, icons and GABIS are 12 ISSUE 442 / OCTOBER 2012 explained on page 5 and at the bottom of pages 36 and 37 www.gamesjournal.at INKA + MARKUS BRAND t ENCOUNTERS

MB: It is important that all have fun to- INTERVIEW WITH gether; then it is unimportant if it is a party game or a strategy game. When the group you are playing with is having fun INKA + MARKUS BRAND the game has fulfilled its purpose. WINNERS OF DEUTSCHER SPIELEPREIS 2012 WIN: In which of your games did you achieve this best? MB: In general we hope that we achieve The interview with Inka (IB) and Markus switch from the casual player to the real this in all of our games (both laugh). If (MB) Brand has been recorded on the 21st gamer. would be bad, if not. We have quite a of October 2012 during Spiel 12 at Essen. MB: When I think back to childhood it was range of different games. In the genre of rather Monopoly-dominated. But I would party games I could mention „Was klotzt WIN: Good morning. say that game playing in general has im- du“, which always results in lots of laugh- IB, MB: Good morning. pressed me, I would not chalk it up to a ter among players. “Village” could be WIN: The first question takes you back to special game. I have always liked to play named for a strategy game, which gives a your childhood, which board game was very, very much and realized that it is a lot of pleasure too, in quite different way. the first that you did play and how old main hobby of mine. And so I ended up You don’t laugh so much, but it is fun all were you at that time? with it eventually. the same. And in the genre of children IB: The first game was Malefiz, but how WIN: What does turn a game into a good games I think of Monsterfalle, because old I was I do not know any more. Maybe game for you? you love to play it again. six or seven. IB: It always depends on what I want from WIN: What is the typical developing pro- MB: I know that I had a big cardboard a game. When I want to play a strategy cess for your games? From the first idea to cube that featured a board game on each game I of course want it to be balanced, the first prototypes? As a couple, are you side. My favorite game was the Gooselad- to be demanding. When I happen to be in doing this together? der game, a roll & move game. I was about a party mood it must be funny, I want to IB: Exactly. One of us always has a first five or six. laugh a lot. And when I want to play with idea and then we talk about it. First thing WIN: How much has that first game the children then it must be thrilling. It to decide is do we go further ahead with impressed you or which game has im- always depends on who you play with at it or not. Then we start rather soon to pressed you most so for? the moment. make first sketches and to establish first IB: In my childhood the first time of which WIN: So, generally, the whole range? basic rules. Then we make up the game I thought that I definitely want to play it IB: Exactly. We like to play everything. I very simple, with a few basic compo- again was Rummy. A simple card collect- would not like to define if something is a nents, which can even be post-it sheets. ing game, that is. Later it surely has been good game or not, it always depends on And then, rather quickly, there are the first Settlers of Catan, which provided the who else is sitting at the table. test games. We are very pragmatic in this. When we realize that is might be worth while we make a sensible prototype with the help of the computer and with rea- sonable graphics. MB: The nice thing is that we get imme- diate feedback due to working together, which speeds up the process. Therefore our development time for individual proj- ects is noticeably shorter then with others who work alone. This is an immense ad- vantage. WIN: They must always find players to to be able to test the games. MB: Exactly. They get feedback from many test groups. We have Inka1 and Inka2 versus Markus 1 and Markus 2 (Both are laughing again). IB: Especially as we have both children around, who meanwhile are 10 and 12, too, and always test play with us. And we have a good network, with nursery and elementary school having testing groups, so that we can test anytime. WIN: What are Inka1 and Inka2 and Markus1 and Markus2 doing? MB: We are four at the table and test our games (both laugh). We simulate games with four players. That can be really com- plicated, if you have to do it alone. To think for four players. For me it is already complicated with two. We very often

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play a three-player-game only; Inka1 and we can really relax, and play normally. But WIN: I just thought myself that that Inka2 against Markus (laughter). Because playing games has its significance. From means you did discard a lot of ideas. Markus can’t manage this otherwise. the seven days of week we definitely are MB: Yes, that too. When we now look at WIN: Typically male and typically female. busy with games at four days and if it is our prototypes in this chronological order Women can concentrate on several things only playing other games. we can see what happened in the early at the same time. WIN: How many of your prototypes and years. And that causes us to flush, that MB: (puts up his thumb, laughs) And I ideas do you quickly discard or later in the we dared to show something like this to only on one thing. development process? an editor (Inka laughs), and that we were WIN: Here I would like to link in another IB: We have a rate of about … well, one convinced about it, even rudimentary. In- topic - how much room does this take up game out of four can be published, ap- credible. in daily life? Testing games, developing proximately. We number our prototypes, IB: But we also have learned. We did pub- games. No the children are involved too which has the nice effect that we can rank lish nothing for seven years, during that and are included, and - as one can see - our games chronologically. We do now time we have learned a lot. successful themselves. have … (looks at Markus) MB: Exactly. This you can see very well, MB: We have a fixed playing group on MB: 203 did we reach this year, it was pre- you can recognize the learning curve in Mondays, at a friend’s house. They are sented at Spiel. The ratio is much better the prototypes. testing for us all that is current. They suffer now, but as we keep counting from the WIN: When you think back to your child- a lot and have to play lots of games that start, that is since 1999, when we devel- hood, how was it at home with your par- are not too good (laughs again) and we oped the first game together, the ratio ents? Did they play at lot with you? are very grateful for this. They always give was much worse than, about 1 in 35 or MB: No, not at all. My parents never did us direct, very fair feedback. And when so (both laugh), and no it is roughly one have much time, they were both working. nothing is urgent, during the summer, game out of four that is published. I did play a lot with friends, and with my

Color codes, target groups, features, icons and GABIS are 14 ISSUE 442 / OCTOBER 2012 explained on page 5 and at the bottom of pages 36 and 37 www.gamesjournal.at INKA + MARKUS BRAND t ENCOUNTERS

cousins, at family gatherings. I wanted to WIN: (to Inka) What do you read? should go on, for many, many years! develop games, too, at that point. And I IB: I like medieval novels, but also books WIN: Many more games events …? believe that the reason for this was the for adolescents … right all over the place, MB: Exactly! Everywhere in the world! lack of much games play happening in Fantasy, too, different series, I love this. WIN: Will you come to Vienna? To the the family, that I was keen on it. And then I am on the road a lot with Games Fair? IB: My parents did play with me now and children’s sports. I take care of a team in MB: When the children are older we will then. Rummy and Incognito at that time, Handball. That’s fun, too. start to visit games fairs outside Germany but for me it always felt like not being WIN: This then turns up again in your But at the moment it is complicated to enough. At some point I, too, started to games. Fantasy and history? find someone to look after the children play with friends. IB: Exactly. This was how Village emerged. outside from holidays. WIN: Now to another, completely differ- Simply, because you read books on a top- IB: At the moment we stringently select ent question. Place three personalities ic, and of course that inspires you. where we can go and where not. Where that you think important, from the pres- MB: We rather often read books for chil- can we take the children? There are so ence back to the roots of history, at a table dren and adolescents, when inquiries ar- many events, game fairs etc. which we and tell me which game you would play rive for a game based on a book. You have would like to see. We would like to enjoy with them. to read this for research purposes. so many more of them, but at the mo- MB: Well, I would have liked a game with WIN: What would be your perfect holi- ment it is not possible. We still have a fam- Alex Randolph. I keep to the games com- day? Where and how do you relax best? ily, for what it is worth! munity for my answer; I would have liked IB: (sighs) My perfect holiday is beach and WIN: You have already published a lot of to have him at my table. The day before sun, mixed with a lot of sightseeing. I love games covering a wide range; see strat- yesterday we met Wolfgang Kramer in to travel, love sightseeing in cities that I do egy games, children games and so on? person. That was our Fair highlight. I not know yet. But I love to lie at the beach How important is it to you to cover that would add him to the table. And then, too, for a day or two with a good book. wide range? Klaus Teuber. To play a game of Village Yes, with the children present, that would MB: Very important. The point is not that with those three that would be marvel- be the perfect holiday. we must cover it, but that we want to ous. I would like them to tell me their MB: But then that’s it. Because.. . well, I … what we like to do at any given time. opinion of it. (Both laugh heartily). well a pure beach holiday does not work IB: I think this simply mirrors what we our- WIN: When they then say …. for me, that is much too boring for me. selves like to play, that is, everything, and MB: … then we have arrived! I need a bit of action, I must be on the if you do not allow yourself to be catego- WIN: But when one has been awarded road - only sunbathing and doing nothing rized, „I do not like party games“ or „I do the Deutsche Spielepreis, then one has would drive me out of my mind. not like to play this and this“ but simply arrived, too, hasn’t one? IB: We are different in this aspect, because are open for all then you can develop in MB: Yes, that is a huge honor. you could play games every day in your this way, too. IB: At this time, too, when we see how holiday, too, and I like to take a break from WIN: And it is important that the band- many people play it at the fair, and we playing games. When we are on holiday I width is extensive? thought, okay, it’s nearly one year old, sometimes have the urge not to play at all. IB: Yes, we are comfortable in this BRAND- that will not get much attention anymore. MB: Well, in our last holiday we devel- width (Inka invents a new word quite ca- On the contrary, it is very much present! oped Saint Malo (both laugh). Well, when sually) That is very nice! an idea crops up, it is not set aside or put MB: BRANDwidth (both laugh heartily) WIN: (To Inka) Have you thought of three on hold, then we work at it, even in our WIN: We can call it that from now on. personalities? holidays. Because developing games is IB: Yes. (laughs) But, I think, because all in IB: No, I would also stay within the gam- not really work, but a hobby and a passion our group think in this way. ing community, and would arrive at a and then it does not matter if we are on WIN: Star Wars - Angriff der Klonkrieger is similar result. I cannot really imagine play- holiday or not. your latest oeuvre? ing a game with Frau Merkel, or someone WIN: Are you doing this already as a full- MB: Yes. like her (both laugh). Too absurd. What I time job? WIN: Is this your first cooperative game? might find interesting would be to play MB: My full-time job is insurance broker, IB: Let me see … with some of the CEOs of publishing com- working at the office from morning till MB: Monsterfalle is semi-cooperative be- panies, but … night, and when I am at home and the cause it is played in teams, but yes, as a WIN: Doesn’t that happen? children are asleep, then we usually sit purely cooperative game Star Wars is the IB: No, so far we have only met editors, down, when ideas are in the pipeline and first one. which are involved in the topic, but it get creative. Collect ideas together and WIN: We look forward to this despite the would be interesting with the bosses. talk about them. And Inka, during day- fact that I am not really a cooperative WIN: DO you have other hobbies that you time, is responsible for making up proto- player. spend time on? Aside from games? types, writing rules, corresponding with IB: The topic somehow suggests coopera- IB: I love to read … publishers, and so on. tion. We could not imagine setting Jedi MB: I love American TV series …. WIN: At the end of our ten questions a Knights against each other. That had to be WIN: Knightrider? bold vision of the future! How do you cooperative. MB: No! The more modern ones, but think games could improve the world? WIN: Thank you kindly for taking time to across the whole range - from crime series MB: That can be seen very well here at talk to us! to comedy, all inclusive … the Internationale Spieletage. Here is IB, MB: You are very welcome! WIN: CSI and such? peace, joy, and all is hunky-dory. Here are The interview was conducted by Astrid Wil- MB: Exactly. How I Met Your Mother, Big people from many, many nations and all lim and Christian Huber. (Picture by Chris- Bang Theory… Yes that can take some sit together at tables and play. And that is tian Huber)  time. exactly what games should cause. And it Christian Huber und Astrid Willim

WIN The Games Journal now also available as eBook! www.gamesjournal.at For all information on that check our website. ISSUE 442 / OCTOBER 2012 15 PLAYED FOR YOU u AUF DIE NÜSSE! / AVVERSO

track into the bottom wood INFORMATION square, the #2 area of the board. PLAYERS: AGE: TIME: AUF DIE NÜSSE! When then the necessary num- 2-4 8+ 30+ THERE IS A PRICE TO EVERY NUT! ber of squirrels is present in an area you store the correspond- Designer: Michael Feldkötter ing nut card in your storage area. Artist: Loic Billiau Price: ca. 19 Euro Squirrels are sorting and re- After start-up preparations - all When then there are opposing Publisher: Amigo Spiele 2012 plenishing their nut stores, but players but the starting player squirrels in the area you move www.amigo-spiele.de unfortunately Raccoon David is can place squirrels - each player those squirrels one level up into pinching nuts! In order to col- in his turn rolls all three dice, the higher area. In those #3 and EVALUATION lect nuts you roll dice and use chooses one white die, adds it #4 areas you harvest nuts when the results to enter squirrels to to the green die and places a three or four squirrels are in the Dice- / acquisition game For families a square; a certain number of squirrel on this number on the area and have a wider selection Version: de squirrels deliver - depending on starting track. If you roll a num- of nuts. Nuts that were taken are Rules: de the square - a number of nuts ber already taken your turn ends. replaced with new nuts from the In-game text: no to your storage, each player has If you stop voluntarily you move draw pile. On area 7 you get the Comments: eight storage areas. the squirrels from the starting raccoon and can also steal nuts Topic corresponds nicely to the mechanism * Nice fam- from other players, but you can ily game * Tactic provided only steal out of not completely by dice selection filled storage areas. You win with Compares to: most victory points from your All games using dice combinations for placements personal storage areas. Other editions: This is a dice game that only Currently none seems simple, but in which quite some tactic is hiding, as you probably will provide benefits for other players. A nice family game with a twist, simple and sophisti- cated - fun to play! 

gons. Each player either places INFORMATION one of his opponent’s pieces on PLAYERS: AGE: TIME: AVVERSO an empty border hexagon or 2 10+ 30+ WORLD, UPSIDE DOWN! places the piece on an occupied border hexagon and pushes all Designer: Henri Morast the other pieces in line for one Artist: Christine Conrad Price: ca. 40 Euro In 2010 at Clemens Gerhards, the board and whoever plays the space. A row can only be relo- Publisher: Pegasus Spiele 2012 now at Pegasus: Avverso - the dark pieces must connect the cated in a straight line by one www.pegasus.de game starts with an empty board left and right side of the board. hexagon and you must place a made up from 25 hexagons in When the colors have been as- piece on a border hexagon to do. EVALUATION an rectangular arrangements, 2 signed you play with the pieces The direction in which you must sides of the board are marked of your opponent. The starting push is given by the new piece. Abstract position game With friends with a red line for left and right. player is the player placing the If a row is full from left to right or Version: multi You try to be the first to connect light pieces to make a connec- top to bottom it cannot be relo- Rules: de en two opposing sides of the board: tion with the dark pieces. The cated, because you cannot push In-game text: no The player of the light pieces starting player now puts a first a piece off the board. But only a Comments: must connect top and bottom of piece on any of the border hexa- row of one markers of one color New edition * First edition Clemens Gerhards 2010 * only ensures your win! Unusual idea with a highly Place a red piece and use it to challenging mechanism push white pieces so that white Compares to: pieces are connecting top and All abstract position games bottom of the board and the Other editions: Clemens Gerhards 2010 red player red does not profit from the move is a lot harder than it sounds, especially on the rather small board. Good spatial imagination is needed, as is fast rethinking based on the drasti- cally changed situation on the board after each move. 

Color codes, target groups, features, icons and GABIS are 1216 ISSUE 442 / OCTOBER 2012 explained on page 5 and at the bottom of pages 36 and 37 www.gamesjournal.at BEZZERWIZZER DELUXE / BOP IT! SMASH t PLAYED FOR YOU

cards show symbols that tell INFORMATION you how the question must be DELUXE PLAYERS: AGE: TIME: BEZZERWIZZER posed; if there are several sym- 2-4 8+ 60+ QUESTIONS POSED BY A XYLOPHONE bols, their sequence must be ad- hered to: For instance, turn over Designer: Jesper Bülow timer, look at the card, then roll Artist: not stated Price: ca. 45 Euro Bezzerwizzer deluxe is the sequel ry, remember a story, remember for the number of the questions, Publisher: Mattel 2012 game to Bezzerwizzer, intended words, remember a sequence, and so on. Two of the categories www.mattel.de for families and also bigger remember details, motley, mu- use the xylophone provided groups of players, as you can play sic, nature & geography, play a with the game; you must find EVALUATION with up to four teams. melody, play tones, sports, litera- the missing sound or guess the In Bezzerwizzer you answer ture & language and television. melody correctly. Questions t to Quiz game For families questions and can take over For each round you draw four of 10 on the cards are intended for Version: de questions put to other players. those category stones for your children; when a child rolls one Rules: de The game comprises category personal board. You answer one of those numbers, adults cannot In-game text: yes stones for the categories of pic- question for each category and use their Bezzerwizzer piece and Comments: tures, colors & shapes, film, histo- score points for it. The question cannot answer, when children Elegant design * Attractive questions and categories and adults are together in one * “listening” question from team. Once in the game you can the xylophone swap categories or play a Bez- Compares to: zerwizzer piece to answer the Bezzerwizzer and other quiz games opponent’s question. If you are Other editions: Currently none first to complete a trip around the board you win the game. In this edition, too, Bezzerwizzer offers superb quiz fun, standard mechanisms have been varied elegantly and interestingly; the xylophone is a surprising and challenging detail. 

“Solo” version you smash and INFORMATION score depending on the color of PLAYERS: AGE: TIME: BOP IT! SMASH the zone that is lit up, one or five 1+ 8+ var CATCH THE LIGHT! points. When you stop the light outside the hit Zone it counts as Designer: not stated a mistake; the third mistake ends Artist: not stated Price: ca. 20 Euro The series of reaction games limited, too - you can only smash, the game. Publisher: Hasbro 2012 under the name of Bop it! has that is, press the ends of the unit Each blue light, that you manage www.hasbro.de offered some witty and chal- inwards as if you would like to to catch, returns one life. “Hand lenging ways to play in past slide them together. This action on” is intended for more than EVALUATION years. Bop it! Smash is the latest is also used to start the unit. one player -. You hand to unit to addition to the family, yet again After starting it Bop It! Smash of- the next player when it bids you Reaction game For families featuring an elegant futuristic fers three different ways to play, to do so. If you are last in play Version: de design and rather minimalistic basically always with the goal to you win. Rules: de en demands, as this time you only catch the wandering light point In the “Party” version you play un- In-game text: no play with light. in the middle of the catch zone, til the signal “hand on” comes, are Comments: The possibilities for actions are the so called hit zone. In the out with three mistakes and win Variant of Bop It * Only challenge is to catch the if you are the quickest smasher. light As each variant of the game so Compares to: far, Bop it! Smash too, is an excel- Bop it, Simon and other lent training for reaction speed; reaction games of this kind and if you believe that it is easy Other editions: Bop it Smash, Hasbro USA to catch the point of light exactly where you want to - go ahead and try! And again! And again - at long last! Managed! Scored one point! So let me try again …and again .. and if the battery has not run out …. 

WIN The Games Journal now also available as eBook! www.gamesjournal.at For all information on that check our website. ISSUE 442 / OCTOBER 2012 1317 PLAYED FOR YOU u CARCASSONNE / CASTLES

meadows and monasteries. INFORMATION Seven meeples are put on tiles PLAYERS: AGE: TIME: CARCASSONNE just placed, but only in a type of 2-5 8+ 45+ WINTER EDITION landscape which, seen from the point of view of the newly placed Designer: Klaus-Jürgen Wrede tile, does not yet hold another Artist: Anne Pätzke Price: ca. 13 Euro Carcassonne is one of those Wrede has simply changed the meeple, and score points when Publisher: Hans im Glück 2012 games that develop a life of setting and transferred events this type of landscape is com- www.hans-im-glueck.de their own and seem to put ideas on meadows, in cities, on roads pleted. Meadows are scored at for expansions and extensions and around monasteries into the end of the game. The winner EVALUATION into the head of their designers winter; the standard well-known is the player with the highest to- themselves. The basic idea was rules have stayed in place: Play- tal score. Placement game For families so simple that each expansion ers in their turn place landscape Carcassonne Winter Edition is a Version: de somehow seems logical and tiles next to others already there, well made variant of high allure, Rules: de es necessary. adjacent edges of tiles must for me it is fascinating to see how In-game text: no With this Carcassonne Winter correlate. This results in an ever- much the design has changed Comments: Edition designer Klaus-Jürgen growing network of cities, roads, the flair of the game; all in all I New edition of the basic game * New design with w think I like the winter landscape winter topic * 12new tiles better than the greens of sum- with animals * Expansion mer. This new edition is a nice “Lebkuchenmann” idea for all friends of the game Compares to: All other editions of Carcassonne who are pleased about a bit of and all placement game with edge change while being able to play congruency the familiar game, including 12 Other editions: new tiles with animals on them. Devir, Spanien And because it is so pretty there comes the first expansion, Leb- kuchenmann aka Gingerbread Man. He moves when a tile with his symbol is placed and leaves gifts in the city he vacates for the knights there. 

according to the rules means: INFORMATION always with a connection to the PLAYERS: AGE: TIME: CASTLES base line, sky to sky and wall to 2-4 13+ 60+ AVOID RUBBLE AND BLUNDERS wall, wall not adjacent to the border and the base line can Designer: Harald Bilz, Marco Pozzi be treated as sky or wall at your Artist: Erika Signini Price: ca. 20 Euro King Schneebart wants to build spots. Then all wall tiles of all choice. If you land your neigh- Publisher: Heidelberger 2012 a home for Princess Wolke to go players are shuffled and laid out bor with the tiles you must draw www.heidelbaer.de with her beauty. The only prob- face down for the quarry. two new ones which you must lem for the builders is the not In your turn you take two tiles place! Tiles that you cannot EVALUATION always suitable material! from the quarry and decide if store or build you must place as Each player has his own build- you keep them, or hand them a blunder. At the end of a round Placement game With friends ing site, a castle and a gate tile to another player for his dump all players with wall tiles on the Version: de and a set of wall tiles. The build- or if you get rid of them for good. dump must place them, store Rules: de it ing starts with placing the gate Tiles that you keep are either them or discard them as rubble. In-game text: no anywhere on the base line with placed according to the rules Tiles in store can by placed any- Comments: the exception of the two edge or stored open-faced. Building time. If someone has a complete Nice topic * Good combina- tion of mechanisms and palace or if the quarry is empty of chance and planning the game is scored; tiles in the * A bit of naughtiness is castle score +1, every 2 parts possible * Versions for ad- ditional building rules are listed in store are -1 as are unfinished Compares to: walls in the castle and blunders. Carcassonne and other placement The beauty of Wolke must be games with the goal of closed doubted in the face of some formations Other editions: buildings, but it is fun to land Post Scriptum, Italien one’s neighbor with the battle- ment + flag, because you do not want it on the base line - to bad that you draw another one im- mediately …. 

Color codes, target groups, features, icons and GABIS are 1418 ISSUE 442 / OCTOBER 2012 explained on page 5 and at the bottom of pages 36 and 37 www.gamesjournal.at CENTRAL MARKET / COBRA TWIST t PLAYED FOR YOU

In the sales phase in turn you INFORMATION choose and name a product PLAYERS: AGE: TIME: CENTRAL MARKET without playing a card and bids a 3-5 8+ 45+ CARROTS INSTEAD OF TOMATOES price; all other players must pass, if they do not own the product or Designer: Edgars Zakis do not want to sell in this round, Artist: Linda Årende Price: ca. 12 Euro You are a trader with a stall in the can sell your planned amount or they bid a brice which must be Publisher: Brain Games 2012 Central Market and try to attract first. But there are limits for to- lower than any already bid so far, www.braingames.com customers, but of course your tal amounts that can be sold, so but only if they own the product. competitors have the same idea you must offer a good price to be Then the product is sold by all EVALUATION and try to succeed with the best able to sell for profit at all. Profit is who are able to, for an income price or dirty tricks. changed into victory points and that equals kilos times price bid Auction Game With friends In each round you display several you win with most of those. with adhering to limits; each Version: multi different vegetables for sale and Seven rounds comprise three product can only be sold once Rules: de en compete for the best price. Offer- phases each: In the delivery per round and only a total of 10 In-game text: no ing the best price gives you an phase each player is given four kilos per product and 10 kilos of Comments: advantage with customers you product cards from the stack. products per players in a round. Sophisticated auction mechanism * Limits Each player can use three action demand intense consid- cards during the game - tour- eration of bids * Simple ists cancel limits, Rotting halves basic rules product amounts and Cheating Compares to: All auction games with several valid allows you to bid without hold- bids ing the product. Other editions: Central Market is a sophisticated Currently none auction game which demands a lot of tactic and a nose for the right moment, because three ac- tion cards are used much faster than you think! 

angle for the puzzle. Each puzzle INFORMATION shows the colors of the cubes PLAYERS: AGE: TIME: COBRA TWIST you must use and the number 1 7+ 10+ 3D SNAKES of snakes that you must form, complete with head and tail, Designer: Ariel Laden and separate from each other! Artist: Tema Games Price: ca. 20 Euro 40 puzzles in four different levels and bent parts, snake heads and Three of the cubes show a snake Publisher: HUCH! & friends 2012 of difficulty demand, in analogy snake tails, but not every cube head, a fourth one is sometimes www.huchandfriends.de to the mechanisms already used shows all those parts, and the pictured on the card, but the in Cobra Cubes, to form one or parts are not always connected. maximum number of snakes EVALUATION several snakes. Each of the puz- An elliptical positioning device demanded is three. zle cards shows a base area of 3 x is placed so that the triangular You place the necessary cubes Logic puzzle For families 3 squares and a different number gap points away from you and onto the black squares on the Version: multi of snake parts, which must be then you place the puzzle card puzzle card, in the difficulty Rules: de en fr included in the snake(s) formed. with its number into that gap; levels of A and B those squares In-game text: no The four cubes in yellow, red, this ensures that you have the show the colors of the cubes, in Comments: blue and green show straight correct and necessary viewing level C and D the colors are not Solitaire game * Four dif- ferent levels of difficulty * marked. You turn and stack the Trains spatial thinking cubes until you have formed the Compares to: necessary number of snakes, Cobra Cubes from head to tail. Level D de- Other editions: mands an additional condition; Smartzone 2010 all snakes must be visible in a 360° turn. In this second edition of the snake cubes the snakes are again a real challenge for your abilities in logical thinking and spatial imagination, a real tidbit for fans of logical thinking and abstract challenges. 

WIN The Games Journal now also available as eBook! www.gamesjournal.at For all information on that check our website. ISSUE 442 / OCTOBER 2012 1519 PLAYED FOR YOU u COUP: CITY STATE / DER HERR DER RINGE DAS KARTENSPIEL

fluence you must turn over one INFORMATION card of your choice. PLAYERS: AGE: TIME: COUP: CITY STATE In a round you chose one action; 3-6 10+ 45+ COUNTESS TO COUNTER, DUKE FOR TAXES if it is not challenged or deflected it succeeds automatically. You Designer: Rikki Tahta name the role and by doing so Artist: A. Higgins, T. Lam Price: derzeit ausverkauft Italy in the era of the city states: Duke for income, Assassin for at- you state that you own the face Publisher: La Mame Games 12 Each player takes on the role of tacking, Captain for taking coins, down card corresponding to www.lamamegames.com head of a family in such a city Ambassador for new cards and the chosen action and you can state which it ruled by a weak Countess for blocking the assas- bluff or tell the truth. When you EVALUATION and corrupt court. Every player sin; for each role there are three acquire a third role card due to tries to take control of the city cards in the game and each an action you must discard any Bluffing game with cards With friends by bluffing, scheming and brib- player is dealt two cards which of the three. If you start your turn Version: en ing in order to seize power and they lay out face down. Cards with 10 coins you must choose Rules: de en fr to defeat and unseat the other laid out before players represent the Coup action, it is automati- In-game text: no families. influence on this role when they cally successful. The player at- Comments: There are five roles in the game - are face down; when you lose in- tacked with Coup loses influ- Sophisticated mix of mechanisms * Memory ence. If you lose influence due for cards can help * False to being defeated in a challenge doubts cost you dearly you must turn up one role card Compares to: of your choice; when both are Liar’s Dice and other games with believe-or-doubt mechanism revealed you quit the game. The Other editions: last one in play wins. Currently none Negotiations are allowed, agree- ments are not binding. The 15 cards of this game offer a surprisingly attractive mix of bluff, strategy and negotiation; the forced Coup actions prevent too frequent evasive actions like income and Foreign Aid. 

symbols on Fellow cards in a INFORMATION group correspond to symbols on PLAYERS: AGE: TIME: DER HERR DER RINGE enemy cards on display, you can 2-4 8+ 30+ DAS KARTENSPIEL lead the group into a confronta- FELLOWSHIP VS. MORDOR tion and use special abilities of Designer: Andreas Zimmermann Fellows in the group. Defeated Artist: S. Helmigh, F. Tuning Price: ca. 8 Euro Players are entering the fight card stack. enemy cards are discarded and Publisher: Kosmos 2012 against Sauron und send out In turn you can then either place the display of enemy cards is www.kosmos.de groups of fellowship cards to a Fellow card from your hand in augmented to three. If you have defeat the enemy. one of your own groups and fewer than five cards in hand you EVALUATION There are 21 enemy cards, three then lead this group into a con- may dray a card: A Fellow card of them are laid out openly; and frontation or you can draw a card you can keep, a Mordor card is Set collecting game For families then you deal three of the total from the Ring card deck. You can laid out from left to right under- Version: de of 31 Fellow cards to each play- start any number of groups and neath the enemy cards; the first Rules: de er. Then you shuffle 12 Mordor can add any number of cards to two are ignored, the third such In-game text: yes cards into the remaining Fellow a group, but you cannot relocate card is implemented and then Comments: cards and thus form the Ring cards between groups. When removed together with the en- Topic nicely implemented * Simple basic rule * Clever emy card above it. Mordor cards use special card abilities is cause loss of cards from your essential hand or from a group laid out or Compares to: loss of a defeated enemy card. Set collection games with modifica- tion of cards by other cards When all enemy cards have been Other editions: dealt with, you win with most Currently none victory points from defeated en- emy cards and Fellow cards you received. The game offers a simple set col- lecting mechanism; clever use of special abilities can save you cards. The topic and its flair have been nicely implemented. 

Color codes, target groups, features, icons and GABIS are 20 ISSUE 442 / OCTOBER 2012 explained on page 5 and at the bottom of pages 36 and 37 www.gamesjournal.at DIAVOLO / DIXIT 3 t PLAYED FOR YOU

difference - you grab the devil in INFORMATION the color in which the dice result PLAYERS: AGE: TIME: DIAVOLO in the biggest difference be- 2-6 10+ 15+ HELLISH FUN WITH DICE tween highest and lowest value. The demands of biggest number Designer: G. Lehmann, C. Lebrat of uneven numbers and highest Artist: not stated Price: ca. 12 Euro A bar counter in hell - the little by the diavolo die and quickly single value need no explanation Publisher: Asmodee 2012 devils are thirsty because of the grab a little devil of that color. and for Position of Dice you grab www.de.asmodee.com heat, want a drink and roll dice to The diavolo die may demand the devil which corresponds to determine who will have to pay. any of the following: the die situated nearest to the EVALUATION Ten little devils are displayed; Largest total - you grab the devil diavolo die. When more than corresponding to the color of Dice and reaction game each player is given five rubies. If one color corresponds to the For families it is your turn you take all 10 dice those dice that total up the demand you must grab the gray Version: de and roll them. All players look at biggest sum. Smallest total - in devil. Rules: de the result and silently decide for analogy you grab the devil corre- If you do not grab a devil or grab In-game text: no themselves, which color of dice sponding to the color of the dice the wrong one, you discard a Comments: corresponds to the demand set with the lowest sum. Biggest ruby and only if you grab the Fun dice game * Needs intense attention and gray devil and are correct you speedy reactions * Very win a ruby; but you can never simple rules own more than five rubies. If Compares to: you are out of rubies you are out All reaction games with dice of the game and if you are last in Other editions: Currently none play you win the game. You need hellish reaction speed for that game if you want to grab the correct devil, and five rubies are not a lot! So concentrate hell- ishly, please, if you do not want to stand the drinks! 

and all those who chose his card INFORMATION score 3 points and all other play- PLAYERS: AGE: TIME: DIXIT 3 ers score 1 point for each vote 3-6 8+ 30+ 84 NEW ADVENTURES FOR YOUR MIND that was given to their card. When all guessed correctly or all Designer: Jean-Louis Roubira guessed wrongly the narrator Artist: Xavier Collette Price: ca. 18 Euro Players are given six out of 84 im- or book or anything else. The does not score at all and all other Publisher: Libellud 2012 age cards, one set of voting tiles other players select a card from players score 2 points. www.de.asmodee.com adapted to the number of play- their own hand which they think The expansion Dixit 3 provides ers and a marker to put on the goes best with the statement of 84 new cards and can be com- EVALUATION scoring track. One player is nar- the narrator and hand it to him bined with the basic game and rator, chooses a card, lays it out face down. The narrator then other expansions. Creative communication game For families face down and comes up with a shuffles the cards and lays them So far so simple - but this descrip- Version: de statement about this card; this out in a row. All others now vote tion does not do credit to the in- Rules: de en fr can be a product of his imagi- which card is that of the narra- credible fascination of this game. In-game text: no nation, a sound, one or more tor. If some of the players guess We still love to play it and love to Comments: words, a quotation, a title of film correctly, the narrator scores - he play again and are pleased to Wonderful images by a new artist * Promotes have a new set of cards. Another imagination and creativity artist, new ideas - what can you * Expansion for the core say about a chess board with a game * Can combined with Dixit and Dixit 2 dove between the lines of the Compares to: start set-up? Again imagination All communication games on ac- is in demand and the more of- cordance ten you play the game with the Other editions: same people the more imagi- Dixit, Dixit 2 nation you need, because then you must invent new clues for the cards. Beautiful, creative, surprising, challenging - a grab bag of ideas! 

WIN The Games Journal now also available as eBook! www.gamesjournal.at For all information on that check our website. ISSUE 442 / OCTOBER 2012 21 PLAYED FOR YOU u FACE 2 FACE / GOLD ODER PECH

two tiles and place them on top INFORMATION of each other, the one with a hole PLAYERS: AGE: TIME: FACE 2 FACE on top of the one without a hole. 2-4 3+ 5+ LION WITH ELEPHANT EARS When the tiles correspond, you take the pair and may turn up Designer: Kok, Visschedijk, Gielen two tiles again. Artist: G. Derossi, H.-G. Schneider Price: ca. 15 Euro Closing time at the zoo - visitors contours of an animal’s head Toddlers of age 2+ can play Fun- Publisher: White Goblin Games 12 are leaving to go home and the around this hole. Those tiles can ny Faces; you just combine one www.whitegoblingames.com animals go back into their cages be used for different games, in tile with a hole with a tile without or enclosures. But in this game three of them you win with most a hole. EVALUATION they do not go there to go to pairs of cards. First Face is a reaction game sleep, but to change for the par- Face 2 Face is a version of the for children of ages 5+. All tiles Memo-/Reaction game For children ty. The animals love to dress up classic memo mechanism for with a hole are spread out open- Version: multi as other animals. children ages 3+; you place all faced; the tiles without a hole are Rules: de en fr nl The game comprises 16 tiles tiles with a hole into one grid stacked face-down. Then the top In-game text: no showing the head of an animal, and all tiles without a hole into tile from the stack is turned over Comments: and 16 tiles with a hole and the another grid. Then you turn over and all search simultaneously for Very pretty animal images, easily recognizable * Nice the correct contour among the version of the memo tiles with a hole. Whoever finds mechanism * Several ways it first, receives the pair. to play for different age groups In Peek a boo for children of Compares to: ages 6+ you stack 12 pairs in four All memo and reaction games stacks; in your turn you move a Other editions: tile from one stack to another. If Currently none you make up a correct pair when doing this you take the pair. Face 2 Face offers very pretty ver- sions of standard game mecha- nism; the idea with the frame tile is nice and trains re-thinking and imagination. 

take the top card from the stack INFORMATION on the dice card corresponding PLAYERS: AGE: TIME: GOLD ODER PECH to the die result. The instruction 2-6 3+ 20+ WHO WINS WITH FRAU HOLLE? on the card is implemented; if you must hand over a piece of Designer: not stated gold or a lump of tar you choose Artist: not stated Price: auf Anfrage Goldmarie and Pechmarie in the a piece of gold or a lump of tar the player to whom you want Publisher: Werraland Werkstatt 12 Fairy Tale about Frau Holle – this as well as six dice cards with the to give gold or tar. If you do www.werraland-wfb.de game uses cards to tell part of dice symbols from One to Six. not have gold or tar to execute the story and to enact it, you win The dice cards are laid out in the card nothing happens. A EVALUATION if you end the game with more numerical order and all other 72 stop card you may keep and gold pieces than lumps of tar. cards are shuffled well. Then you use when you do not want to Dice game with event cards For children The game comes in a wooden distribute the cards randomly execute a card in the course of Version: de box holding 72 cards, comprising face down on the dice cards, 12 the game. When two of the dice Rules: de stop cards, cards for taking one per card, the dice symbol must cards are empty you check who In-game text: no or two pieces of gold or lumps remain visible. has more gold than tar and this Comments: of tor and cards for handing over In your turn you roll the die and player is the winner. Created and manufactured in the Werraland Workshop The idea for a game based on for Handicapped * Very a story of the Brothers Grimm simple rules * Pretty il- and the implementation as well lustrations as the finished product come Compares to: All dice game with event cards from the Werraland Workshop Other editions: for Handicapped Persons. The Currently none rules also feature the story it- self for telling or reading. The game mechanism is a simple dice game; the introduction of the cards makes it more exciting and much more graphic and a felicitous and simple extension for a classic Fairy Tale. 

Color codes, target groups, features, icons and GABIS are 22 ISSUE 442 / OCTOBER 2012 explained on page 5 and at the bottom of pages 36 and 37 www.gamesjournal.at HOME SWEET HOME! / JUNGLE BRUNCH t PLAYED FOR YOU

current total number of visible INFORMATION animals. Then you draw a card PLAYERS: AGE: TIME: HOME SWEET HOME! from the stack. When the total 2-4 8+ 15+ BUT NOT KRAKEN TOGETHER WITH CRABS number of animals after your turn is 12 or higher, you take the Designer: Annick Lobet stack and distribute the animals Artist: Christophe Swal Price: ca. 10 Euro There are problems with housing most of the sea dwellers. Each according to their number on Publisher: Gigamic 2012 space at the bottom of the sea; player is handed five diving bells the cards to your diving bells. www.gigamic.com kraken and crabs do not want to of values One to Five and places The drawback is that crabs and live together. them in adjacent order on the ta- kraken cannot be placed into EVALUATION The game comprises 30 cards ble before him. The animal cards the same bell. Should the stack showing kraken and 30 cards are shuffled and each player is you just took hold a #3 crab, but Set collecting game For families showing crabs as well as 20 div- dealt four cards; the other cards should there already be a #3 Version: multi ing bells of values One to Five. are stacked face down. kraken sitting in your #3 bell, you Rules: 20 languages You collect sea dwellers in your In your turn you choose one of cannot put the #3 crab there, but In-game text: no diving bells and win, when all his cards, put them in the mid- must discard the #3 crab and also Comments: cards have been played, with dle of the table and name the one #3 kraken card as a penalty. Simple Rules * Lots of Tactics possible * Also When the draw pile is empty, playable as memo version the round is finished; should with face-down cards in there be less than 12 animals in the stack the stack after the turn of the last Compares to: Set collecting game with limitations player of the round the stack is Other editions: not distributed. You win if you Currently none did collect most animals in your diving bells. Home sweet Home is a some- what different set collecting game; you must deliberate care- fully if a stack is lucrative despite possible discarding of penalty cards. 

ones are turned up simultane- INFORMATION ously. Bats and snakes on display JUNGLE BRUNCH PLAYERS: AGE: TIME: are put into effect first and then 2-5 6+ 30+ THE ELEPHANT EATS FIRST! the other animals eat according to stringent rules: The strongest Designer: Luca Bellini, Luca Borsa one eats first; an animal that Artist: Mauro Pelosi Price: ca. 20 Euro In the guise of animals players of each kind is visible and the eats takes plant cards or other Publisher: Giochi Uniti 2012 are looking for food, but must minimum number of cards de- animals accordingly. When an www.giochiuniti.it take care not to be eaten them- pending on the number of play- animal has to eat a hunger card selves by predators and always ers; hunger cards count for this then the vulture, if present, eats EVALUATION decide again if they want to eat total, surplus card not, but they the first buffalo or monkey who first or be safe in a group! remain visible, albeit set aside a eats a hunger card. If you play Card game For families Each player holds a deck of 22 little. In a round all choose two w two identical animals you have Version: multi animals of a color and draws cards from their hand in turn and a group; it is safe from predators Rules: en it six of them. In each round the lay out one of the open-faced, and is immune from bats and In-game text: no jungle is laid out by turning over the other face-down. When all snakes, but eats more slowly Comments: plant cards until at least one card cards are placed, the face-down and later. Very pretty design and components * Mul- When the animals are used up, a tiple stone-scissors-paper last round is played; should there mechanism not be enough plants for the jun- Compares to: gle, the game ends instantly. If All games with chains of events or reactions you have then most food points Other editions: from plants and animals in your Currently none food stack, you win. This is a pretty and colorful ver- sion of a multiple stone-paper- scissors game, the face-down cards bring a strong element of change, but can you really plan for opponents in the jungle? 

WIN The Games Journal now also available as eBook! www.gamesjournal.at For all information on that check our website. ISSUE 442 / OCTOBER 2012 23 PLAYED FOR YOU u KORSAR / LAND UNTER

in case of several captains used INFORMATION the last one played counts; the PLAYERS: AGE: TIME: KORSAR admiral is played to defend your 2-6/8 6+ 45+ PIRATES VS. MERCHANT SHIPS own merchant ship. You win a ship if your own ship Designer: Reiner Knizia has not been attacked for one Artist: not stated Price: ca. 10 Euro 25 merchant ships and 48 pirate the card. Several players can complete round of the game or Publisher: Asynchron 2012 ships are shuffled and each play- play a pirate ship to a merchant if you hold the highest value of www.hds-fantasy.de er starts with six cards. In your ship, even the owner of the mer- fighting strength at one of your turn you draw a card or play a chant ship. Each color can only own or at an opposing ship for EVALUATION card. A merchant ship is played be used by one player to attack one whole round. Ships that you in a way that the stern of the ship the same merchant ship, but you win you lay out in front of you. Card collecting game With friends points to the player who played can play additional cards of the When the draw pile is empty you Version: de it. Pirate ships are played next color in later rounds to the same must discard a card if you do not Rules: de fr to a merchant ship to conquer ship. Pirate captains are stronger play a card. If someone plays his In-game text: no it, again the stern of the ship than any ship but may only used last card possible conquests are Comments: points to the player who played if you played a pirate ship first; implemented and then you win Simple basic rules * Some tactical possibilities * Card with the highest total from gold memory can be of help from ships you won minus ships Compares to: still in your hand. All card games where you In this new edition, too, the fast play cards to win cards game is still alluring, the use of Other editions: Asyncron, France cards needs to be considered Heidelberger Spieleverlag 2002 carefully as regards to invest- ment/result; a good card mem- ory is of help for tactical con- siderations and several cheaper ships are easier to conquer and can yield the same amount of points easier than one expensive one. 

ever played the second-highest INFORMATION card takes the second one; both PLAYERS: AGE: TIME: LAND UNTER are laid out and this water level 3-5 10+ 30+ WATER LEVEL AND SAFETY BELTS card goes on top of any other water level card you might have Designer: Stefan Dorra taken earlier. Whoever then has Artist: O. + S. Freudenreich Price: ca. 8 Euro In this new re-edition the game water level cards of value 1 to 12 the highest water level card on Publisher: nsv 2012 still is one of the best „annoyance are stacked face-down. display must discard one of his www.nsv.de games“ of recent years. Number One turn of the game comprises life belt cards. If you cannot do cards from 1 to 60 show half a 12 rounds and each round five so you must resign for this turn. EVALUATION life belt, one life belt or no life steps: For each round 2 water After 12 rounds or with only two belt. You are dealt 12 weather level cards are turned up and players left, you score the turn: Card game For families cards and and are given the you choose one of your weather Each remaining life belt scores Version: de number of life belts pictured on cards and all are revealed simul- one point, each resigned player Rules: de the weather cards as safety belt taneously. If you did play the scores a penalty of -1, the player In-game text: no cards - the worse your hand the highest card, you choose one showing the lowest water level Comments: more safety belts you have. 24 of the water level cards; who- scores +1 point. Then each player Easy access to the game * Interesting due to „I will do hands his hand to his left neigh- better with your cards!“ * bor and you play another turn of High replay value * Excel- 12 rounds until each player has lent family game played each hand once. Then Compares to: Earlier editions of the game; Santa the player with the highest score Cruz and other games using the play- wins. again-with-your-neighbor’s hand „Land unter“ is a very quick and mechanism. very good card game, topic and Other editions: Zum Kuckuck, F.X.Schmid, 1997 mechanism go together exceed- Land unter, Berliner Spielkarten, 2001 ingly well, the rules are simple Land unter, Amigo, 2002 and allow quick accessing of the game, the fun is huge as is the annoyance, sometimes. 

Color codes, target groups, features, icons and GABIS are 24 ISSUE 442 / OCTOBER 2012 explained on page 5 and at the bottom of pages 36 and 37 www.gamesjournal.at LIKE / MAKE ‘N’ BREAK PARTY t PLAYED FOR YOU

do so you hand the tag wall to INFORMATION this player and bid a minimum of PLAYERS: AGE: TIME: LIKE one fan marker- The challenged 3-8 12+ 45+ THE SOCIAL GAME player must accept and also bid at least one fan marker. Those Designer: M. Almini, M. Pierangeli Artist: Francesco Trivella markers represent the number of Price: ca. 25 Euro You are a user of STATUS, the card randomly. The phases of a fans you are using; both players Publisher: Cranio Creations 2012 most popular social network, round are Update, Discussion, flip their fan tokens, the number www.craniocreations.com and challenge other users as a New Friends, Help from the Web of “likes” on them decides the troll by tagging them in embar- and Change of Troll. You can outcome of the challenge. You EVALUATION rassing postings and you try to name cards and play them any can add more markers anytime win the challenge. Then you can time and cards of both kinds, Party game on social networks and also enter into temporary With friends use “reputation“ to make your profile and postings. You can- alliances in order to motivate Version: multi profile the favorite and to have not give cards to other players players not involved in the chal- Rules: en it most friends, because you will or lend them to others or trade lenge to use fans. As a helper you In-game text: yes win with most friends. cards. Once in a round the Troll cannot raise your bid later. Comments: Each player is dealt a profile can challenge another player - to At the end of the discussion/ Up-to-date, unusual topic * Mechanism rather chance- challenge allies of the winning driven, can be mitigated side take back their fans and get by cards the promised reward, the los- Compares to: ing side gets nothing. Whoever First game on the topic; mechanisms are standard strength comparisons, did place fans can now buy new influenced by cards friends; in this phase no card can Other editions: be played. Currently none The unusual and interesting fea- ture of this game is its topic, the mechanisms in the end result in a chance-driven comparison mechanism, but used attractive- ly and wittily. 

plus avoiding taboo word, blind INFORMATION building or constructing terms, PLAYERS: AGE: TIME: MAKE ‘N’ BREAK PARTY for instance ball pen. When you 3-9 10+ 30+ ONE TALKS, ONE BUILDS! construct such a term the rest of your team must guess the term Designer: Steinwender, Lepuschitz correctly; the builder can sup- Artist: Kinetic, P. Becker + Team Price: ca. 30 Euro The game comprises build- You play in teams; the active port his construct by miming, Publisher: Ravensburger 2012 ing cards with specifications to team takes the building blocks - gesturing and noises, but cannot www.ravensburger.de copy: 80 cards demand building one member of the team builds, use words. The Timer is activated 3D constructs, 20 cards show fa- the others describe to him what according to the current mode; EVALUATION cial expressions which must be he must build. The other team while the timer runs the team copied by laying them out on checks the correct set-up and can try to execute cards and Building and party game For families the table. The term cards show the timer. The location of your scores for correctly completed Version: de two words in two colors; at the marker on the board determines cards within the time frame. The Rules: de start of the game you choose the the mode for building: Building team that has completed a tour In-game text: yes valid color for the duration of the according to description, Build- around the board first, wins. In Comments: game. ing according to description general, the game is targeted at Game mechanics from the original game * Different two teams with a maximum of game modes introduce three members each; in variants changes in details * Build- modes for three and for up to ing following a description demands exact talking and careful nine players are given. listening This party version is a good ex- Compares to: ample for careful extension of a Make ‘N’ Break and other construction brand and a game mechanism; games with specifications you still build under pressure of Other editions: Currently none time according to the original idea of the Lawson Brothers, but terms and taboo words intro- duce a completely new flair to the game - how do you create a ball point pen from cylinders, blocks and arches? 

WIN The Games Journal now also available as eBook! www.gamesjournal.at For all information on that check our website. ISSUE 442 / OCTOBER 2012 25 PLAYED FOR YOU u MAYA / MEINS!

cannot be moved and the stele INFORMATION blocks the two pyramids that are PLAYERS: AGE: TIME: MAYA adjacent to it. The eagle blocks 2-4 8+ 20+ POLYCHROME TURNS MONOCHROME all levels in all pyramids that are on the same height as his wings. Designer: A. Mainini, A. Branciari When levels have been switched Artist: Mariya Pchelnik Price: ca. 22 Euro In colorful Maya pyramids with other black. Player Black puts the the stele is moved between the Publisher: Sirius 2012 levels in different colors you try eagle on the stele, at a level of his pyramids involved in the switch www.hutter-trade.de to switch levels to join levels of choice, and places the stele be- and you adjust the wing height the same color. Aim of the game tween two orthogonally adjacent of the eagle to the level that was EVALUATION for two players is to create mono- pyramids. just switched. chromatic pyramids. Player White starts and switches You cannot separate two levels of Abstract placement game The pyramids are set up, one per between one and four levels of the same color. When you create For families square, each level is smaller than orthogonally adjacent levels, al- several levels of the same color on Version: multi the one below and no color can ways in a block including all lev- top of each other in a switch you Rules: de en ru be present twice in a pyramid. els above the ones you want to place one of your ladders next to In-game text: no One player chooses white, the move. The bottom pyramid level the pyramid, but only at pyramid Comments: Transposition of a logical sides with a path and without puzzle into a game for ladder. When the switch creates a more than one player * monochromatic pyramid, you put Attractive components * Different winning condition for two, your priest on top of it; the pyra- three or four players mid cannot be changed anymore. Compares to: If a player cannot make a move, Towers of Hanoi and other shunting you score for majorities of ladders puzzles at pyramids and priests on top Other editions: Currently none of pyramids. For 3 and 4 players there are special rules featuring task cards instead of ladders and priests. Colorful, abstract, good and more of a challenge than you might think! 

Then you can acquire exhibits us- INFORMATION ing acquisition cards from your PLAYERS: AGE: TIME: MEINS! stock or - once in the game - up- 2-4 8+ 30+ PURE COLLECTORS MANIA grade your mansion. Acquisition cards you used are discarded and Designer: A. Pelikan, A. Pfister the grid is replenished from stock Artist: Klemens Franz Price: ca. 8 Euro As a member in the „Club of cards necessary to pay for them. for the next player. When a player Publisher: Amigo 2012 Hunters and Gatherers“ you Between players category cards puts the 3rd exhibit next to the www.amigo-spiele.de compete for exotic exhibits and are laid out, so that two players same side of his mansion his the title of „Collector of the Year“, share one such card. Those two turn and the current period of EVALUATION which you must win for yourself players compete for that card. the game end immediately: All by clever use of money, connec- Finally, each player is given a players must discard - rounded Set collecting game For families tions and other methods. mansion. down - half of their acquisition Version: de Four exhibits are laid out and You always take one row of ac- cards and four new exhibits are Rules: de also nine Acquisition Cards in quisition cards from the grid, laid out. In-game text: no a 3x3 grid. The exhibits show horizontally, vertically or diago- After three such periods two Comments: kind and number of acquisition nally, and place it in front of you. players compare their exhib- Nicely implemented topic * Simple rules * Acquisition its with the category card they Cards used for a chance share - if you have more exhibits element in the category you take the card Compares to: and then you win with most vic- Protzen tory points from exhibits, catego- Other editions: Currently none ry cards and upgraded mansion. Meins! is a nice set collection game, the allure is in the decision of you enter in the competition for the category card or rather collect the 2 victory points it grants via exhibits and also in the chance factor due to availability of acquisition cards. 

Color codes, target groups, features, icons and GABIS are 26 ISSUE 442 / OCTOBER 2012 explained on page 5 and at the bottom of pages 36 and 37 www.gamesjournal.at MIA AND ME / MONSTER FACTORY t PLAYED FOR YOU

of your color that you drew from INFORMATION the board in this turn, put them PLAYERS: AGE: TIME: MIA AND ME on your Elf board and put parts 2-4 5+ 15+ DER MAGISCHE TRUMPTUS of other players back into the board. If you draw a Munculus Designer: Inka + Markus Brand part you lose all parts that you Artist: Anke Loose, Olga Cress Price: ca. 17 Euro In the land of Centopia the elves You roll the die: For a number drew in this turn; the Munculus Publisher: Schmidt Spiele 2012 are searching for parts of the you draw the same number of part is placed on the Munculus www.schmidtspiele.de magical Trumptus; when it is parts from the board and place board. When you roll the Mun- complete the instrument will them next to your Elf board. culus symbol you hand all parts EVALUATION oust Panthea and her Muncu- Then you can again roll and draw that you did draw in this turn lus warriors. At the start of the or stop. This choice between roll- over to their owners, your own Spotting-/Memo game For children game all players together place ing and stopping is possible as you can keep, too. If you are first Version: multi all parts randomly into the board long as you do not draw a Mun- to have found all 8 parts of your Rules: de fr it and each player takes one Elf culus part or roll the Munculus Trumptus, you win. In a game for In-game text: no board; if only two are playing, symbol. If you stop voluntarily two players you must completely Comments: each player takes two boards. you keep all the Trumptus parts fill both Elf boards with Trump- New license topic * Standard mechanisms, tus parts in the correct color in nicely varied * Paying close order to win. When the board attention is helpful of Panthea is completed first, all Compares to: players lose the game together. All spotting games with memory mechanism Standard mechanisms have Other editions: been nicely varied for this new Currently none license topic of Mia and Me, featured in a TV Series which is a mixture of live action and CGI animation; if you watch closely when parts must be put back into the board you can later draw your own parts unerringly. 

thick purple part of a monster or a INFORMATION thin green part or an empty edge. PLAYERS: AGE: TIME: MONSTER FACTORY When you place a tile all sides that 2-6 5+ 20+ THICK ON THICK, EMPTY ON EMPTY border another tile already placed must concur with those tiles’ edg- Designer: D. X. Vaccarino, N. Paley es. You can place empty next to Artist: Nina Paley + Team Price: ca. 26 Euro Players are building monsters and down. In your turn you draw a empty, but such a tile must border Publisher: Rio Grande Games 12 place tiles for their own monster face-down tile and then place it at least one more tile with thick/ www.riograndegames.com or that of an opponent; you want next to any monster. If you can thick or thin/thin. to create a big monster, but one place a tile anywhere you must When a monster has no more EVALUATION that big that you cannot finish it. do so and you are not allowed to thick or thin sides at its edges it is At the start of the game each discard a tile that you could play. complete and its owner immedi- Placement game For children player chooses one of the 88 tiles When a tile is not playable accord- ately chooses a new starting tile Version: en for his starting tile; tiles with con- ing to the unanimous decision of for a so called minion monster. At Rules: en nections to three or four sides all players it is put back into the any given moment in the game In-game text: no are a good choice for this. The box and you a draw a new one. you can only work at one monster. Comments: remaining tiles are heaped face- Each side of a tile shows either a When each player has completed Nice topic for children * Wonderful drawings * at least one monster or when all Simple rules * Interest- tiles have been placed you score ing tactics due to minion one point for each tile in your first monsters monster and one point for each Compares to: Carcassonne and placement games tile showing eyes in your com- with completing of contours pleted minion monsters and you Other editions: win with the highest score. Currently none The first game for children from Donald X. Vaccarino, and a roaring success, too, as seen in practice; it is simple, enchantingly illustrated and has that certain something due to the minion monster mech- anism. 

WIN The Games Journal now also available as eBook! www.gamesjournal.at For all information on that check our website. ISSUE 442 / OCTOBER 2012 27 PLAYED FOR YOU u RAINBOW 7 / RONDO

by collecting all colors for that INFORMATION chosen direction. Each player PLAYERS: AGE: TIME: RAINBOW 7 is given eight cards, the rest is 3-5 7+ 20+ COLLECT ALL COLORS stacked. Now each player lays out a card face-down. From now Designer: Pascal Park on you always hold seven cards; Artist: not stated Price: ca. 10 Euro The Queen of Sheba is visiting But the clues on where to find the card laid out determines the Publisher: Deinko 2012 King Solomon, famous for his the rainbow were strewn all over starting player - if you placed www.deinko.com wisdom, and asks him for the the land. the first color in the rainbow source of this his wisdom. He Each of the four cardinal direc- sequence you are the starting EVALUATION answers her that after the Great tions - North, South, East and player. Flood the first rainbow appeared West - has its own seven hints In your turn you play a card from Set collecting game For families and if she could find it she could corresponding to the seven col- your hand and draw a card, ei- Version: multi acquire the same wisdom. This ors of the rainbow - Red, Orange, ther from the draw pile or from Rules: en kr answer became known all over Yellow, Green, Blue, Dark Blue the discard pile of another play- In-game text: no Jerusalem and many set out to and Purple. You choose a direc- er. When the draw pile is empty Comments: find wisdom and the rainbow. tion and complete the rainbow you only draw from other play- Set collecting game with mechanisms from UNO and ers’ stacks. If you play an action Rummy * Nice background card, you use its effect. Whoever story * Simple mechanisms plays his last but one card calls Compares to: “it’s raining”, if you place your last Other set collecting games with draw card/discard card mechanisms card you call “Rainbow” and lay Other editions: out the complete rainbow from Currently none your hand. A version of Rummy, that is, collecting a pre-set sequence while using action cards similar to UNO, this best describes the mechanisms of Rainbow 7 - a pretty family game with an un- usual topic. 

in the color of the piece. The first INFORMATION piece you place in a turn must be PLAYERS: AGE: TIME: RONDO placed next to any other piece 2-4 8+ 30+ DISCS IN CIRCLES already on the board or next to the starting spot. Should you Designer: Reiner Knizia place more than one piece, you Artist: Eckhard Freytag Price: ca. 27 Euro A new abstract family game by side show different number dis- must place them in a row and Publisher: Schmidt Spiele 2012 Reiner Knizia - two concentric tribution. can only change direction once. www.schmidtspiele.de circles are interconnected by All pieces in all five number col- Each piece that you place scores paths and thereby connected ors are but in the back and you the number it covers for points EVALUATION to a center spot, marked as the draw two at the start. Then, in and you can place several pieces starting spot. The spots on paths your turn, you can either draw of the same color on a spot and Placement game For families and circles - some of them with two pieces or place one or more earn the corresponding multiple Version: multi a grey background - show num- pieces on the board and then score. You are allowed to cover a Rules: de fr it bers from 1 to 5 in five colors; all draw one piece. number, for which you do not In-game text: no numbers are present in all colors. A piece can only be put on a free have a corresponding piece, Comments: The boards on the front and back spot which must show a number with a face-down piece in order Very attractive design * Simple rules * Two different to reach a spot of higher value. boards There is a limit of five pieces that Compares to: you can hold at a time. When all Placement games to collect pieces are placed or when all points grey spots on the board have Other editions: Currently none been covered you win with the highest total score. Rondo is an abstract game and a very attractive game and offers a lot more tactic than you would suppose at first glance. To pass up on a number and hopefully draw the right pieces for multiple placements is one of the tactics to win. 

Color codes, target groups, features, icons and GABIS are 28 ISSUE 442 / OCTOBER 2012 explained on page 5 and at the bottom of pages 36 and 37 www.gamesjournal.at SEMIRAMIS / SLAVIKA t PLAYED FOR YOU

tion, with one exit to the middle INFORMATION path. The Queen sets you 24 dif- PLAYERS: AGE: TIME: SEMIRAMIS ferent puzzles in four different 1 8+ 10+ RESTORE ORDER TO THE QUEEN’S GARDEN levels of difficulty, in each puzzle the starting set up is given as well Designer: Oliver Schaudt as the number of moves which Artist: not stated Price: ca. 25 Euro The mythical Queen Samurais shape comes in 3x green, 2x or- you need to achieve the correct Publisher: Clemens Gerhards 11 fancies a very special arrange- ange and 2x white, the next one arrangement; in each puzzle www.spiel-und-design.de ment in one of her famous gar- in 2x green, 3x orange and 2x only 12 pieces are used. You can dens, and you should arrange for white and the third shape in 2x move a piece along a line on the EVALUATION it - no plant can sit next to a plant green, 2x orange and 3x white. board to the free spot; you can- of the same color or the same The board shows 13 spots: eight not jump over other figures. The Logic puzzle With friends shape and the free spot should on the outer rectangular path, solutions are given on the back Version: multi be in the middle of the garden. four in a middle circular path of the puzzles; the positions on Rules: de en There is a total of 21 playing piec- with one connection each to one the board have been numbered In-game text: no es in three shapes and three col- of the middle positions on the in the solutions and the solutions Comments: ors, but irregular amounts; one outer path, and the middle posi- list the numbers of positions in 24 tasks in four different levels of difficulty * Solu- the order you vacate those posi- tions are given * Wooden tions. There is a little trick: At the components * Planning is end you can have pieces of the the better way than trial and error same shape or color to the left Compares to: and right or the top and bottom All other solitaire games with forma- of the middle position, as those tion forming tasks spots are not connected by a di- Other editions: rect line. Currently none Semiramis is - as all games from Gerhards - an elegant, classy and interesting game, ideal for friends of logical puzzles and wooden components. 

up behind other heroes already INFORMATION present in the region and uses PLAYERS: AGE: TIME: SLAVIKA applicable special abilities, the 2-5 10+ 30+ HEROES PROTECT THE LAND same goes for monsters. When the number of monsters in a Designer: Marcin Wełnicki region equals the limit for the Artist: Jarek Nocoń Price: ca. 15 Euro A shadow has fallen across the player is dealt five monster cards region a battle is fought. You Publisher: Rebel.pl 2012 Slavic Lands - the Amulet of for his hand. sum strengths of heroes and www.wydawnictwo.rebel.pl Slavika is powerless until the A player’s turn comprises three monsters taking into account daughter of the late regent can actions - a Hero is played into all special abilities of region, EVALUATION undergo the binding ceremony a region, if possible - A hero is monsters and heroes. When the with the amulet. Until that date placed into another region, if heroes are stronger fame points Fantasy card game With friends the leading families must protect this is not possible, you play a are awarded; whoever contrib- Version: multi the land from Evil. monster - A monster from your uted most gets most fame and Rules: en pl Players hold six hero cards, in hand is played into a region dif- all treasures unless a thief is In-game text: no each region the corresponding ferent from regions used in the roaming the region. When the Comments: treasures are laid out and each first two actions. The Hero lines monsters win nobody gets any- Knowledge of the card is an advantage * Interesting thing, monsters are discarded, with extensive active use heroes go back to their players of card abilities * Standard and new treasures are added to fantasy topic the region. When four of the five Compares to: All cards with a fantasy topic and Month cards have appeared you comparison of strength win with most fame points. Other editions: Basically a simple comparison of Currently none card strengths, the allure is in the specific placement of heroes and monsters and the equally spe- cific and selected use of special abilities and interdependencies. 

WIN The Games Journal now also available as eBook! www.gamesjournal.at For all information on that check our website. ISSUE 442 / OCTOBER 2012 29 PLAYED FOR YOU u SMASH UP / SOLUNA

ing. Finally, you draw two cards INFORMATION up to a limit of 10 cards in hand; PLAYERS: AGE: TIME: SMASH UP if necessary your discard pile 2-4 12+ 45+ ALIEN, ZOMBIE OR DINOSAUR? is shuffled for a new draw pile. Then you execute card abilities Designer: Paul Peterson that are activated at the end of Artist: T. Rowland, K. Fitzgerald Price: ca. 15 Euro This game has a simple goal - down stack. a turn. Publisher: Pegasus Spiele 2012 control the world by destroying At the start of a turn you acti- Bases are destroyed and scored www.pegasus.de bases with your own creatures. vate abilities of your cards in when the total value of all crea- 160 cards feature eight differ- the display and then you can tures played at the base totals or EVALUATION ent factions; you choose two of play a creature, an action or an exceeds the destruction value those factions and shuffle the to- action and a creature. Creatures of the base, again with taking Card game With friends tal of 40 cards together into one a played next to a base and you into account abilities that are Version: de deck; then you lay out a number implement the card text. When activated by “scoring”; the active Rules: de en of bases equal to the number of creature and/or action are player begins and also decides In-game text: yes players plus one and each player played, you check all bases on - in case more than one base Comments: draws five cards from his face- destruction and possible scor- needs to be scored - on the or- Variant of deck building games, you shuffle a fixed der of scoring bases. Players with deck * Clever use of card the most, second most and third abilities is the deciding most creature points at the base factor score victory points equal to the Compares to: Card placement games with points left, middle or right number on accumulation and card interaction the base card. You win, if you are Other editions: first to acquire 15 victory points. Smash up, AEG, USA Not a deck building game, but a deck shuffling game with nicely combined standard mechanisms of the genre; the game is decid- ed by clever use of the cards you happen to have in hand. 

height, that is, comprise the INFORMATION same number of discs, or both PLAYERS: AGE: TIME: SOLUNA towers must show the same 2 7+ 20+ STACK SUN ON MOON symbol on top. Both conditions can be, but need not be, com- Designer: Bruno Faidutti plied with at the same time. Artist: Steffen Mühlhäuser Price: ca. 12 Euro Soluna is a stacking game; play- separately on the table, each disc A tower can never be split again, Publisher: Steffen Spiele 2012 ers use 12 wooden discs show- constitutes one of the 12 start- that is, you can never move part www.steffen-spiele.de ing celestial symbols on both ing “towers”. The younger player of a tower, but must always move sides, and there are also seven decides if he wants to begin or a complete tower and place it EVALUATION stars used for scoring. rather would have the second onto another tower. When one One player takes up all discs move. player cannot make a regular Abstract placement game With friends and drops the cautiously onto Both players move alternately move in this way he has lost the Version: multi the table; this creates 12 „tow- and choose a tower to place it game and the other player wins. Rules: de en es fr ers“ showing different symbols on another tower while observ- The winner takes a star and the In-game text: no - there are sun, moon, stars and ing at least one of two rules: The towers are dismantled in a way Comments: shooting stars. All discs must lie two towers must be of the same that the starting mixture of vis- Fast elegant game * Simple rules * Tactic only! ible symbols is the same, that is, Compares to: you do not turn over any of the Staking games with speci- discs to the other side. The loser fications chooses if he wants to begin. If Other editions: you are first to win four stars you Currently none have won the game. Soluna is another typical Stef- fen game and fits seamlessly into the series of elegant simple game with lots of depth, offering tactical fun with a celestial topic and mundane aggravation be- cause you did not think ahead far enough. 

Color codes, target groups, features, icons and GABIS are 30 ISSUE 442 / OCTOBER 2012 explained on page 5 and at the bottom of pages 36 and 37 www.gamesjournal.at SONNE UND MOND / SPOOKY SPELLS t PLAYED FOR YOU

placed- When you place a card INFORMATION showing an animal you must PLAYERS: AGE: TIME: SONNE UND MOND place another card in the same 2-4 8+ 20+ A VERSION OF RUSSIAN BANK turn. Eclipse cards are placed on top of cards already placed and Designer: Jacques Zeimet interrupt an opponent’s row; Artist: Johann Rüttinger Price: ca. 11 Euro 68 cards with 29 x Sun, 29 x card or remove a row, you must Eclipse cards can be annulled Publisher: Drei Hasen in ... 2012 Moon, 5 x Solar Eclipse and 29 do one of those two actions. An- again by a fitting card. When you www.hasehasehase.de x Lunar Eclipse are well shuffled other restriction is that you can have five or more cards in an un- and stacked face-down, each have only one sun row and and interrupted row you can remove EVALUATION player draws five cards from this one moon row on display. You this row in your next turn. Those stack. In turn players lay out one can place a card in your own removable cards can be part of Card placement game For families card to start a row or continue a row or also in an opponent’s row. a longer, interrupted row, but Version: multi row. You only draw cards again Both kinds of cards are placed in must be free of Eclipse cards Rules: de en fr it when all your cards in hand are adjacent order at the left or right themselves. If you have no card In-game text: no placed. end of the row, a card is never that you can play anywhere and Comments: In a turn you can either place a inserted between cards already cannot to a move, you destroy Wonderful graphics * Unusual idea * Darkness yourself and lose cards in hands cards for irritations and both rows, and then draw Compares to: five new cards. When nobody Placement games with row can play anymore, removed, that formation is, collected Moon and Sun cards Other editions: Currently none score one point each, cards still on display -1! A neat little game, in which de- stroying yourself can be a useful tactical move, if you can initiate it; it is a card game typically for designer Jacques Zeimet, fast, unusual and interesting, annoy- ance potential inclusive! 

no cards available, the stones are INFORMATION yours for the time being and the PLAYERS: AGE: TIME: SPOOKY SPELLS turn passes to the next player. 3-10 8+ 20+ ESMERALDA IS THROWING STONES When all players must pass in a row, the game ands and all play- Designer: Dave Choi ers add the values of their stone. Artist: not stated Price: ca. 10 Euro The evil witch Esmeralda is throw- Each player is dealt four cards Should you have the highest Publisher: Happy Baobab 2012 ing Magic Stones and if you have and you play in rounds in clock- score you are the loser of the www.happybaobab.com to take most of them you are un- wise direction. At the start of your game. der her spell. At the start of the turn you check if you have Magic In the advanced game players can EVALUATION game players decide together on Stones in front of you. If not your look at their cards and choose one an action for a “spell” which must turn ends and passes to the next to implement in their turn. The Party game For families be executed by whoever loses the player. Good for you! rules recommend one game of Version: multi game - sing a song, stand a round Should you have Magic Stones, the basic version and one game Rules: en kr of drinks, do some gymnastics or you turn up the top card from using the advanced rules and In-game text: no call everybody by a special name your stack and implement the in- determining the loser with the Comments: or … structions on it. Should you have highest total from both games- Nice example for games from Korea * Simple rules * The cards determine if you receive Basic game solely chance- stones or cards or if you have to driven * Some tactic pos- hand them over; the Magic Book sible in the advanced game markings on the cards tell you Compares to: All chance-driven allocation games who will give you stones and to Other editions: whom you will give cards. Currently none With this funny, completely chance-driven game the Ko- rean publisher provides a nice party games for family or larger groups; ideal in any case for chil- dren birthday parties and similar events and also interesting as a representative for games from Korea. 

WIN The Games Journal now also available as eBook! www.gamesjournal.at For all information on that check our website. ISSUE 442 / OCTOBER 2012 31 PLAYED FOR YOU u THE ENIGMA OF LEONARDO / TRICK OF THE RAILS

bols and there are Key cards for INFORMATION every Symbol. PLAYERS: AGE: TIME: THE ENIGMA OF LEONARDO The card that you play replaces 2-4 10+ 50+ ROWS OF SYBOLS FOR A KEY a card of your choice in your display; the card you remove is Designer: Sergey Machin put into the display of your left Artist: not stated Price: ca. 10 Euro 2011 Rightgames for the first are dealt 10 cards face-down; neighbor, in the same location Publisher: Rightgames 2011 time did bring Russian Games you choose five without look- it took up in your display. The www.russianboardgames.com to Essen, among them The Enig- ing at them and lay them out on ousted card of your neighbor ma of Leonardo: In Leonardo da the table in the shape of a cross; is discarded. When your own EVALUATION Vincis estate incredible amounts then all cards are revealed and display then shows three iden- of illustrations and drawings you take up your five remaining tical symbols in a horizontal Set collecting With friends were found. Players are tasked cards. or vertical line, you receive the Version: multi with deciphering the meaning In a turn you first play a card, re- corresponding Key Card. With a Rules: en ru of such drawings by finding all ceive - maybe - a clue/key card card that comes into your display In-game text: no seven keys. and draw a card from the draw from the display of your right- Comments: All cards are shuffled and you pile. Each card features two sym- hand neighbor you cannot earn Very attractive component and design * Standard a Key Card and you cannot col- mechanisms interestingly lect more than one Key Card for varied due to including one kind of symbol. Once in the neighbors game you can take any Key Card Compares to: All set collection games with arrange- of your choice if you assemble ment specifications five identical symbols in your dis- Other editions: play and you win the game if you Currently none own seven different Key Cards. The Enigma of Leonardo is basi- cally a set collecting game, the challenge of the game lies in taking into account the display of your neighbor; a tactically places card can block your neigh- bor from acquiring a Key Card. 

of the trick line; depending on INFORMATION the kind of card he acquires a PLAYERS: AGE: TIME: TRICK OF THE RAILS share or places a locomotive or 3-5 10+ 45+ WIN THE TRICK, PLACE A LOCOMOTIVE city next to a company. In case of exchange cards and shares the Designer: Hisashi Hayashi cards that were played remain Artist: ryo_nyamo Price: Derzeit vergriffen In this card game players em- cards in a given order; this is with their owners as shares of Publisher: Okazu Brand/Japon Brand 12 body American investors who called the trick line. the company. Should there be a www.okazubrand.seesaa.net issue shares of companies and The current starting player leads reservation card in the trick line run the companies with the aim a card and you must, if possible, you replace it with the card that EVALUATION to get as rich as possible. play a card of the same company did win the trick; in all other cas- You start with a given display for to the led card; if you don’t have es the winning card is taken out Railway game with cards companies and nine company such a card, you can play any of play. In case of a locomotive With friends cards in hand. Another row of card. You cannot pass. The high- or city card as first card the win- Version: multi cards is laid out with exchange est card of the company led wins ner places it next to a company Rules: en jp cards, city cards, locomotive the trick and the winner of the and then all players place the In-game text: no cards and share reservation trick implements the first card cards they played to the respec- Comments: Few rules * Sophisticated tive companies. When all cards mechanisms * Interesting have been played, the company interconnections between value according to the locomo- winning a trick and used cards tive is calculated and you score Compares to: for shares accordingly. Basically trick taking games, first Neat, compact, sophisticated game as regards to combination of and offering a lot of fun in a very mechanisms and topic small card game! You do not Other editions: Currently none know at the start of the trick if you will keep the card as com- pany share or if it will end up in the company to enhance com- pany value. 

Color codes, target groups, features, icons and GABIS are 32 ISSUE 442 / OCTOBER 2012 explained on page 5 and at the bottom of pages 36 and 37 www.gamesjournal.at TRIOVISION MASTER / WE WILL WOK YOU! t PLAYED FOR YOU

draw pile always shows one of INFORMATION the playing pieces. PLAYERS: AGE: TIME: TRIOVISION MASTER All play at the same time and look 1-6 7+ 20+ LOOK AND MOVE A PIECE at the open-faced cards and try FOR A FORMATION to make up one of the formations Designer: Susanne Galonska pictured on those cards. Shapes Artist: Team Huch! & friends Price: ca. 15 Euro Formation forming is a funda- stract thinking and the solving without color represent a piece Publisher: Huch / IQ-Spiele 2012 mental ability as well as the of mathematical problems. of this shape in any color, color www.huchandfriends.de recognition of positions and Nine playing pieces in three spots any piece in this color. To ways to find a solution. Triovi- colors and three shapes - each arrange for a formation you EVALUATION sion has used this principle for shape is present in each of the can only move the piece that is pictured on the top card of the Placement/Logic game a game and it is now used again three colors - are placed ran- For families in Triovision Master, which also domly on the board. Ten cards draw pile. If you see a solution Version: multi trains anticipatory planning and are displayed open-faced, the stops the search, points to the Rules: de en fr nl hu constructing as a prerequisite rest is face-down draw pile, and card and relocates the piece. In-game text: no for planned actions, logical-ab- the back of the top card of this When the solution is correct you Comments: receive the card and a new one Well-known mechanism very well implemented * is laid out from the stack. Mirror- Challenging due to forbid- image solutions are not correct den mirror image solution solutions. If you are first to own and pre-setting of the piece to use * Versions listed 12 cards you win. Compares to: Versions suggest playing all cards Triovision, Digit and other abstract and you will win with most cards; placement games on formations or you can form several draw Other editions: piles and move any of the pieces Currently none visible on the top; in the solo ver- sion you simply play against time. Triovision is a well-made sequel to Triovision; abstract thinking re- sulting in correct moves come in felicitous combination and train spatial thinking.

ent!) or take a wok card. You are INFORMATION not allowed to pass. Empty rows PLAYERS: AGE: TIME: WE WILL WOK YOU! are replenished; coins go back 2-4 8+ 30+ BROCCOLI FOR ROCK MUSICIANS! into the display when you buy ingredients. Wok cards are taken Designer: Sebastian Bleasdale by laying out ingredient cards; Artist: Michael Menzel Price: ca. 13 Euro Wok cooking during the Wok five different ones - Fortune you do not discard those cards Publisher: Pegasus Spiele 2012 Festival with Wok Musicians! Cookie, Spoon, Bowl, Eating but keep them on display. The www.pegasus.de Small wonder that ingredients Sticks or Star, the star is a joker ingredients you lay out to buy are missing! Always problems for all the other symbols. a wok must show four identical EVALUATION with the competitor! Ingredients, woks and coins are symbols. You cannot use those You collect coins in order to buy arranged in rows and groups ac- ingredients later in the game to Card collecting game For families ingredients which you then use cording specifications based on acquire another wok; you need Version: de to acquire woks. Six ingredients the number of players. In your ingredients from your hand for Rules: de are available in varying quanti- turn you have one of three ac- a wok. If you take coins you re- In-game text: no ties and each ingredient cards tions: Collect coins, buy a row of duce the price for a row; if you Comments: shows 0, 1 or 2 symbols out of ingredients (not a single ingredi- buy a row you place the coins Funny topic * Simple rules * Interesting money acquisi- next to it and raise the price for tion mechanism this row. Compares to: When two rows of ingredients Set collection games are empty, you allocate ingredi- Other editions: ents on display, ingredients from Currently none your hand and the Man-at-Wok (The Cook) to your woks and win with most points. The allure of this set collecting game comes from the price mechanism, its ups and downs, and the dilemma that you only can acquire money by lowering the cost of ingredients for your opponents. 

WIN The Games Journal now also available as eBook! www.gamesjournal.at For all information on that check our website. ISSUE 442 / OCTOBER 2012 33 PLAYED FOR YOU u WHY FIRST? / WINGS OF GLORY

comprise six rounds. Each of INFORMATION these rounds comprises three ac- PLAYERS: AGE: TIME: WHY FIRST? tions: Choose a card from hand, 2-6 8+ 30+ COMING IN SECOND IS BETTER! determine order of play and play selected card. All turn up their se- Designer: Simon Havard lected card simultaneously and Artist: Simon Havard Price: ca. 10 Euro Since the dawn there has been of cards in play is adjusted to the cards are sorted by numerical Publisher: Runadrake 2012 a merciless and top secret com- the number of players. Then value of the big number in de- www.runadrake.com petition for … coming in second! the cards are shuffled and each scending order, ties are resolved Why would you want to be first player is dealt four cards. Each of by the small second number in EVALUATION anyway? the cards shows a big number the corner. You then play your Aim of the game is to collect with plus or minus in front, this card in turn order and choose a Race game with cards For families points, but not too many, be- number is repeated in the top player who moves his marker ac- Version: multi cause at the end of the game left-hand corner and then there cording to the big number. You Rules: de en es fr pt you want to be in second place. is another small number, also in can play the card on yourself! If In-game text: no Players start with their marker the top left-hand corner. you are in second position after Comments: at position 0 and the number You play five races which each five such rounds, you win the Witty variation of a standard mechanism * Not game and you note the number as simple as it seems * You in the spot with your marker; all need a 1st place to win other players do not score. with 2nd place allover For the next race the cards are re- Compares to: Card-driven race games shuffled. If you have the highest Other editions: total score after five rounds, you Currently none win, but only if you have won at least one race. Why First? Is a witty version of card-driven race games; quick calculations in your mind and a good survey of the game are necessary to come in a jubilant second in the end. 

es and others are represented by INFORMATION cards, not by miniatures. With the PLAYERS: AGE: TIME: WINGS OF GLORY exception of the number of avail- 2-4 8+ var AIR COMBAT IN WWI AND WWII able plane miniatures there is no limit on how many can play. The Designer: A. Angiolino, P. G. Paglia basic rules offer an introduction Artist: V. Auletta, D. Calì Price: ca. 30 Euro Air Combat in WW1 und WW2 the airplanes. For machines you and easy entry into the game - Publisher: Ares Games 2012 - Wings of Glory is a rules sys- need one or two WWI Airplane when you have mastered those www.aresgames.eu tem with which you can simu- Packs or a complete Starter Set. you can try your hand and the late those confrontations; the You hold a maneuver deck for somewhat more demanding EVALUATION game comprises miniatures for each of your planes; a turn of a standard rules, which add spe- the airplanes and cards for the player comprises planning and cial damage and their effects to Conflict simulation For experts maneuvers of those airplanes. three actions, which are split into the basic rules. Next come the Version: de WWI Wings of Glory Rules and movement and fire. The rules advanced rules, which introduce Rules: de en it Accessories Pack contains all that take Lines of Sight into account flight levels and corresponding In-game text: no you need for the WWI version of as well as damages and much maneuvers and which make Comments: the game with the exception of more. Ground units like trench- the game much more realistic. Striking miniatures * Copi- ous rules * Realistic simula- Other possibilities come from tions * Many scenarios the optional rules, which can be available combined with all stages of rules, Compares to: and from scenarios which offer Wings of War and other simulations more in-depth play. Additional Other editions: Wings of Glory Starter Set scenarios are available from the website and from other packs in the series. Wings of Glory is an adaptation or continuation of the Wings of War series; fans of realistic mod- els and detailed rules find realis- tic simulations of air combat in- cluding balloons or dirigibles. 

Color codes, target groups, features, icons and GABIS are 34 ISSUE 442 / OCTOBER 2012 explained on page 5 and at the bottom of pages 36 and 37 www.gamesjournal.at YAY / ZIEGE MIT FLIEGE t PLAYED FOR YOU

this you must cross out one of INFORMATION your results in the grid and can- PLAYERS: AGE: TIME: YAY not enter points. If you stop and 2-4 8+ 20+ NUMBER ENTERED IN A SQUARE want to enter a result you must TOUCHED BY DIE choose a square that is touched Designer: Heinz Meister Artist: Schachzug by one of the dice. When all num- Price: ca. 12 Euro There are lots and lots of dice ored pen. For one’s first move bers in squares directly adjacent Publisher: Noris Spiele 2012 game, and there are many dice each player rolls all three dice to the square you chose are www.noris-spiele.de game in which you add the pips into the playing area, adds the lower you can enter your result resulting from a roll and score pips and enters the sum into and cross out all those adjacent EVALUATION the total - Yay has all those char- any of the squares of his choice, lower numbers. When your sum acteristics and yet is a somewhat touched by any of the dice. Dice game is equal or lower than those of For families different kind of dice game: From your second roll on you the other players and you can- Version: de The playing are is a sheet of can roll the dice as often as you not choose another square you Rules: de paper, showing a grid of 8x8 want, but must always produce must block your chosen square. In-game text: no squares, placed into a wooden a higher result than with the pre- Next to your own numbers and Comments: frame; each player is given a col- vious roll. If you do not manage lower or crossed out numbers Simple rules * Unusual double use of dice you can enter lower numbers. Compares to: Aim of the game is a horizontal First game of this kind, or vertical row in your own color in general all dice game to complete the game. You then comparing sums of pips add your valid numbers and win Other editions: Currently none with the highest total. What a sophisticated simple game! The Can’t Stop effect is enhanced by the crossed-out results, but with low values you cannot conquer a square - so, another roll? Maybe I manage to roll one die into the square in that corner over there! 

card, places it correctly and says INFORMATION the new sentence. This is contin- PLAYERS: AGE: TIME: ZIEGE MIT FLIEGE ued until a player doubts that 2-6 5+ 15+ GOAT IN PINK HIGH HEELS the sentence is correct. Now the USES THE TRAMPOLINE top card in each stack is turned Designer: Hüpper, Koser, Nikisch up and controlled. Whoever was Artist: L.-A. Kalusky, S. Hansen Price: ca. 9 Euro Four kinds of picture cards show picture cards are shuffled and correct, receives one card from Publisher: Haba 2012 colors, animals, clothing or activi- stacked face-down. The active the stack. When all cards have www.haba.de ties. One word of each category, player draws the top card from been played you win with most represented by a picture card, the stack, looks at it and places it cards. EVALUATION is connected for a starting sen- face-down onto the correspond- In the Fex versions you either in- tence; for instance “Pink, Cow, ing card. If, for instance, he did troduce Confusion cards into the Concentration game For children Tartan and Socks” result in “the draw the beaver he places it game or you place a fifth card be- Version: multi pink cow in a tartan is knitting face-down on the cow and says tween animal and clothing. The Rules: de en es fr it nl socks”. All players memorize the the new sentence - “The pink Confusion cards are shuffled into In-game text: no sentence and you turn the pic- beaver in a tartan is knitting the pictures cards; when one Comments: ture cards over. The remaining socks”. The next player draws a turns up you either interrupt Pretty drawing * Nice and fun version of a standard play with a totally new sentence mechanism * Intense train- or each player names an animal ing for concentration and of his choice or a color and then memory the active player must say the Compares to: „In meinen Koffer packe ich…“ and currently correct sentence, and versions so on. Other editions: Ziege mit Fliege is one more en- Currently none chanting game in the Fex series; the training effect is unobtrusive as usual and intense as usual; all in all the game is a fantastic train- ing for memory and concentra- tion, intensified by the Fex effect. 

WIN The Games Journal now also available as eBook! www.gamesjournal.at For all information on that check our website. ISSUE 442 / OCTOBER 2012 35 NEW ARRIVALS u A QUICK GLIMPSE ON NEWCOMERS

CAPT’N SHARKY KNOBEL-PIRATEN CROSSBOULE C3 STRIPES DIE BIENE MAJA 4-IN-1 SPIELESAMMLUNG Publisher: Die Spiegelburg Publisher: Zoch Publisher: Studio100 Media Designer: Mark Calin Caliman

In your turn you decide on one of the specifications on your dice Variant of Boules, featuring soft balls, playable in any surround- The little lovely bee invites her friends with this collection to play sheet which you want to meet and roll all five dice. Then you ing. The small target boule is called ”Jack”; if you throw it, you four different games with her; first of all a puzzle depicting Maja set aside all dice, which you can use to meet this specification determine how everybody throws their boules, “left hand only” on a meadow of sunflowers, made with parts fitting the age of or do not want to use. You can re-roll unused dice for a second or “roll them” etc. You try to get your own boules as close as you the target group! With 2x 24 picture tiles showing images from and third roll. Dice already set aside cannot be rolled again. If can to Jack. You can play “Dog eat Dog” or in teams. First you the series you can play two classic children games: a memo you have completed a specification you put a cross in the cor- throw Jack; then each player in turn throws one of his boules. according to standard rules or a game of Lotto; each player is responding row on the sheet. When you cannot complete a task When all are thrown, you score for lowest distance to Jack and given a board showing six different images. For the domino the within a round your turn ends and you cannot mark your sheet. for combos that are formed by one or more of your boules game features 28 double picture tiles; Lotto and Domino, too, New edition in a tin. touching Jack. With 13 points you win a set, with two sets you are played according to standard rules. Version: de * Rules: de en es fr it nl * In-game text: win the match. Set for one player, three different designs. Version: multi * Rules: de fr it nl * In-game text: no Version: multi * Rules: de en fr nl * In-game text: no

Dice game for 2-4 players, ages 5+ Dexterity game for 2 or more players, ages 6+ Game Collection for 2-4 players, ages 3+

GEOFlag MEINE ERSTEN SPIELE FISCHE ANGELN ROLL & PLAY Publisher: Amigo Spiele Publisher: Haba Publisher: Thinkfun Designer: Martin Nedergaard Andersen Designer: Kristin Mückel Designer: Bill Ritchie

49 flag cards show eight flags each, and 8 continent cards depict Fishing games are among the first rules-governed games for A first game for the target group of 18 months old toddlers: A flags for some of the countries on the continent. Two flag cards toddlers; in this version fishing is combined with a die and big die made of cloth has six sides of different colors - in each are placed on the table, the remaining cards are dealt evenly to placing of parts into slots. The sea creatures are placed face-up color there are task cards from a category: Express feelings, all players to form personal face-down draw piles. On a signal into the sea, that is, the box bottom. Each player is given a board name body parts, imitate animal noises, count, recognize colors all turn up their two top cards - in case of a correlation with a and the loose toys going with it. You roll the die: For a color you or execute movement or gestures. You can let your toddler roll flag on those cards with a flag on a card in the middle you name try to catch the creature of the same color. If you manage it, you the die or roll it yourself and then you name the color together the country, place the card on the card in the middle and draw may place the toy of this color into your board. If your roll the and solve the task from the color category together or let the a card. To place a continent card on a flag card or vice versa you glitter fish and catch it, you can place any toy into your board. child have a go alone first. The presentation of the task also in name land and continent in case of a correlation. You win if you Creatures you fished out are then put back. If you are first to fill written form offers first relations between picture, language are first to be out of cards. Several levels of difficulty! your board, you win. and text. Version: de * Rules: de * In-game text: yes Version: multi * Rules: de en es fr it nl * In-game text: no Version: de * Rules: de * In-game text: yes

Card game on flags for 2-6 players, ages 6+ Fishing game for 1-4 players, ages 2+ Dice game for 1 player, ages 1½+

THE BOSS EXTENSION TOP TRUMPS SPECIALS DISNEY WARHAMMER INVASION BLUTQUEST Publisher: Blackrock Editions Publisher: Winning Moves Publisher: Heidelberger Spieleverlag Designer: Alain Ollier Designer: Eric W. Lang

In several rounds you play cards and each card brings you more Choosing your card’s best attribute, beating (trumping) your DIE VERFLUCHTEN TOTEN information on which revenue or sanctions you can expect in opponent’s card, and winning the cards played in the round – The Core Set holds four pre-constructed card decks for Empire and a city in which you have control due to majorities. If you have already a Classic! Cards are dealt evenly to all players. The active Dwarves against Orks and Chaos. With Battle Pack cards you can adapt most gang members in a town, you take the revenue or must player chooses an attribute on his top card (no shuffling of the Core Decks to your preferences and strategies. The card types in the resolve the sanctions. If you go to Chicago you must share the deck!) and calls out the corresponding value – all other players game are Unit, Tactics, Quest, Support und Draft. Aim of the game is to loot with Al Capone, The Boss. The expansion introduces a fifth check their cards for the value of this attribute – the player with set fire to two out of three regions of the opposing capital. Blutquest/ and sixth player; with five you play as you do in the core game; the highest value gets all cards of this round. In case of a tie Bloodquest Zyklus is the 5th cycle of Battle Packs. Die verfluchten in a game of six you play in three teams; play includes the new cards go on the table and the winner of the next round receives Toten/The Accursed Dead is the 3rd pack in the cycle with cards 41-60. town St, Louis and the use of the new cards for that town. those too. Themeset: Specials Disney In the heart of the Empire the dead stir because long-lost necromantic Version: multi * Rules: de en fr * In-game text: no Version: de * Rules: de * In-game text: yes foliant has reappeared. Who will have the courage to engage in battle facing empty graves? Version: de * Rules: de en es fr * In-game text: yes

Tactical bluff game for 2-4 players, ages 10+ A card/quiz game for 2 or more players from age 8 Battle Pack for Warhammer Invasion, for 2 players, ages 13+

Color codes for target groups (Headline Color) Color codes for features (Bar in Evalution box) For children + learn With friends Chance Strategy Knowledge Communication Dexterity 36 For families For experts Tactic Creativity Memory Interaction Action HIGHLIGHTS AMONG GAMES t FROM THE MUSEUM

RECOMMENDATION #83 HUGO KASTNER RECOMMENDS PLAYERS: Designer: Dirk Henn 2-4 Artist: Jo Hartwig AGE: DIE GÄRTEN DER ALHAMBRA Price: ca. 20 Euro 10+ Year: 2004 AMONG LEMON AND ORANGE TREES Publisher: Queen Games TIME: www.queen-games.de 45+ Dear reader! Already in 1993 Dirk Henn and your decisions? For one thing, Dirk Henn has Barbara Weber with their own small publishing distributed the four kinds of trees - lemon in ˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜ company „db“ (Dirk und Barbara, annotation yellow, orange in orange, palm tree in green Tactic Info+ Chance of the author), surprised the gaming commu- and lavender in purple - with a sense of abso- Even after several games the allure of the un- nity with a game which was compared rather lute fairness on the board that is partitioned expected surprise is not diminished. You just placed a garden piece, maybe with five or six poetically by a reviewer to „pure gold“: Carat. by paths, one to six trees around each path, trees with an eye on the high-value 5-Palace, At that time not only experts were convinced and always the same number of each kind and wait serenely for the scoring - and then it that this game would never be published by a on each garden piece. happens: One of the others has the luck of the draw and your scoring goes down the drain. big company, simply because it would be too This means that you can beautify a building And that keeps happening. But you must re- abstract a game despite its sophisticated ap- with your own trees, but at the same time member that - in case of an optimum distri- bution of four different tree varieties around a proach. Well, Queen Games disabused them all decorate three adjacent buildings with trees valuable building 20 points can be scored. and decided on a nearly unaltered new edition of your opponents. As soon as a palace build- Hugos EXPERT TIP of this early Dirk Henn design, which featured ing is surrounded by trees on all four sides, Do try the small version to play with three gar- den pieces - the chance element is somewhat di- tactical placement of diamonds. In 2004 a it is turned over and scored, but the points minished, the „head“ element enhanced. The tip graphically new designed edition was called only go to the player who planted most trees in the rules to let both players in a 2-player game “Die Gärten der Alhambra” providing fleeting around the building, regardless if on one or play with two tree varieties can be accepted as a welcome amendment to the four pages of rules. associations with Spiel des Jahres 2003, “Der several tree pieces. When there are two play- Hugos FLASHLIGHT Palast von Alhambra”. But don’t worry, Henn’s ers with the same number of trees, the player How many players are best for most fun with this game? Well, to be honest, I prefer the together- placement game only borrows the graphical with the next-highest score gets the points. ness to the usually week dynamic of a group. design from the successful palace and offers its It can happen that three players end up with Down times get shorter and the garden systems own high-quality dynamic as regards to game the same number of trees and the fourth you set up with some troubles and lots of tactical skill yield more fruits that way, and furthermore mechanisms. one scores. The special feature: The more you will be able to use the sophisticated version We, visitors in the Austrian Games Museum at different varieties of trees there are around to play two kinds of trees. You get a lot of play Leopoldsdorf, find an interesting game for fans a building the higher is the score: The value out of this game as strategic considerations are applied to the game. of tactical games, set in the endless reaches of of the building (between 1 and 5) is multi- PREVIEW: Andalusia. plied with the number of tree varieties sur- OLD TOWN Website: www.spielen.at rounding it. As soon as all gardens have been Rekonstruktion einer Geisterstadt The usual light our lamp illuminates up a placed and beautify all palace buildings, the square board with a surrounding Kramer game ends. If your tower is the one furthest track and 49 building tiles of values 1 to 5. ahead on the track you may call yourself These tiles are laid out face-down randomly Master of Horticulture.  in the given squares on the board. Pretty Comments to: [email protected] wooden towers in four colors are used for Homepage: www.hugo-kastner.at markers on the track. Finally, 36 octagonal garden pieces are set out next to the board. Those pieces show four kinds of trees whose colors correspond to the colors of players‘ track markers. Whatever else happens in the game, you have one goal: Place the garden pieces in a way that your own trees surround the most valuable palace buildings. You take turns to place a garden piece on any square on the board, but it must be connected to trees already there. Which practical considerations should influence IMPRESSUM Offenlegung nach dem Mediengesetz: Medieninhaber, Eigentümer, Verleger und Hersteller: Verein „Österreichisches Spiele Museum“, vertreten durch Obfrau Dipl. Ing. Dagmar de Cassan, Raasdorferstrasse 28, 2285 Leopoldsdorf im Marchfelde, Österreich, Telefon 02216-7000, mail-to: [email protected], Internet: www.spielejornal.at - www.gamesjournal.at - Chefredakteur: Dipl.Ing. Dagmar de Cassan Blattlinie: Die Blattlinie ist die Meinung aller Redakteure, freien Mitarbeitern und Gastautoren. Die Spiele zur Erstellung der Rezensionen stellt das Österr. Spiele Museum für die Dauer der Arbeit kostenlos zur Verfügung. Niemand erhält Sach-,Service-, Geldleistungen von den Verlagen. (Alle nicht namentlich gekennzeichneten Rezensionen zu den Spielen sind von Dagmar de Cassan) English Edition Version 1.0 Copyright (c) 2012 by Spielen in Österreich - Die Spiele Collection, Spiele Kreis Wien, Österreichisches Spielefest, Spielefest, Wiener Spiele Akademie, Spiel der Spiele und zwei Spiele-Symbole sind eingetragene Warenzeichen. Ihre Email-Adresse: Wir versenden oft an unsere Mitglieder, Abonnenten und Interessenten eine Erinnerung für Termine und sonstige Infos. Wenn Sie noch nie eine Email von uns erhalten haben, fehlt uns Ihre Email!

Icon explanation GABIS explanation on page 5 Solo Play Two Players Large Groups Recommended Minimum Age 37