Several years ago, I somehow stumbled across a web page with a photograph of Saturn,
and in seeking acquisition of it, I accidentally embarked on a trek of exotic game discovery.
Recently, I actually found it available for purchase, but haven't been able to talk myself into buying it!
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The predecessor to King of the Elves, Elfenland apparently lacking the Crushing
Spite factor that can make King of the Elves feel very different with higher numbers of
players.
German Game of the Year for 1998!
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Deadwood, from the surprisingly-well-established Cheapass Games, presents several
rather novel game mechanisms, which enable the game to be fascinating to play even if the
successful humor were to wear thin. Deadwood also seems to be well balanced,
permitting opposite strategies to have comparable efficacy.
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A fascinating boardless board game, Hive
pits two players against one another in a fascinating competition.
You lose when your queen bee is surrounded by creatures on all six sides, which can include
your own units.
Once in play, a unit cannot be eliminated, but once your queen be has been deployed, on
your turn, you may opt to move a creature instead of introducing a new one.
The rules are nicely explained in the colorful, succinct rulebook.
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I freaked out when I saw this game, because its playing pieces are set up in a fashion
similar to that in a game idea I had, but couldn't develop.
The pawns are in chained pairs.
A player can use her chained pair to pin down her opponent's pair, simply by walking her
chain over her opponent's chain.
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Diceland: Deep White Sea is a boardless tactical game in which the units are
represented by "dice", and actually thrown like dice.
This, to me, is a very intriguing concept!
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Strange Adventures in Infinite Space
comes to the physical world in the form of
Diceland: Space: Garthans vs. Muktians!
Now, the Garthans, Muktians, Tan Ru, and even the Kawangi can battle it out on your
tabletop without the aid of a computer.
...but it still only takes about 20 minutes!
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Diceland: Space: Terrans vs. Urluquai
brings the Terrans, Urluqai [shudder], Zorg (not to be confused with Jean-Baptiste Emmanuel Zorg), and even the Klackar into
your game room!
Delightfully, all the Diceland dice are compatible with one another!
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What a cool concept!
PitchCar (a reincarnation of Carabande) is a disc-flicking game (Think "carroms"), yet it's a racing game (Think "Formula Dé").
Players flick their "race cars", in turn, around the track.
In some places, there are handy walls to keep the cars in play;
in others, handy gaps to enable cars to easily crash.
Did I mention that the track is assembled puzzle-style, to allow you to customize it?
If everyone had a set, we could have these unbelievable races around ludicrous tracks!
Of course, our fingers would be but mere stubs at that point....
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PitchCar L'Extension (the Carabande Action Set's reincarnation) is an aptly named expansion to Carabande.
This set introduces some nasty little segments of track.
Imagine what we could do if everyone had one of these sets!
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I can't get enough of Noe Venable. The World Is Bound by
Secret Knots managed to
sneak under my Venable radar with its release on the fourteenth day of August, 2003,
but what tiny portion of it I've since heard is exquisite. Noe's songs are
lyrically and musically a pervasive poetry, which saturate the listener's essence.
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Unbreakable Heart is a tremendous selection from Sue Maskaleris,
singer, keyboardist, composer, lyricist, arranger, producer, and winner of numerous
awards and competitions, including a talent search judged by Bob James and Dave
Brubeck.
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One listen to Happy Whatever You're Having is sufficient to put a smile on
your face and a chuckle on your navel. I suspect I'd enjoy any CD from these
self-proclaimed "lone star psycho musicologists."
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Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon Superbit DVD remained the best-selling DVD through the Internet Movie DataBase for weeks before its June 4, 2001 release
date. ...and is it any wonder? Classical concepts, gorgeous visuals, and exquisite stuntwork elevate a traditional B-movie theme to a real work of art, stunning to behold.
This movie has won many awards around the world, and has been nominated for many more. I agree.
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Oh My Goddess! Volume 1 DVD is the first 60% of a charming tale of Keiichi, who was calling to order some food to be delivered to his dorm, but somehow found that he'd reached the Goddess Hotline, and has been granted one wish. He wishes to have a girlfriend like the goddess before him, and in the simplest answer of that wish, she becomes his girlfriend. (Of course, our friend Keiichi has failed to remember that his dorm is a strictly men's dorm....)
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Oh My Goddess! Volume 2 DVD is the second 40% of the story of Keiichi and his girlfriend, the goddess Belldandy. ...and her elder sister, Urd, and youger sister, Skuld, and the roles they play in Belldandy's relationship with Keiichi.
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The goal of Siesta, as with so many games, is to score the most points.
Singular to this game is that the points a player scores come from the shadows cast over her roofs.
Yeah, now your curiosity is roused, too.
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I admit that the cool, big pieces of wood used in Caprice are much of its allure;
however, the game itself sounds a little unusual, as you and your opponents attempt to make the stacks of blocks similar to your goals.
At the end of the game, you rearrange your goal tiles to best match what is actually on the board.
This seems like an intriguing game.
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Cabale employs a fascinating movement, blocking, and scoring mechanism.
To quote Pat Brennan,
"A turn consists of moving your marker as far in one direction through open territory as you like, stopping, excreting a disk and then moving off that hex in another direction (you can't reverse) through open territory as far as you like.
If you excreted a disk on a hex valued 10 for example and you manage to have it still there at game end, you'll score 10 points."
It sounds delightfully unusual!
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I would love to get the English version of Babel.
It is a tricky, sneaky power struggle for two players.
The cards represent different peoples, each having their own special abilities with in a group.
Interestingly, though, each time a special ability is used, that group is diminished, preventing abuse of any one special ability.
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GIPF, at first description, might sound like another rehash of the Tic-Tac-Toe, or
Go-moku, or Pente notion. Refreshingly, it introduces some subtly insidious notions,
and, more importantly, the intent for this game to be integrated with others in the GIPF Project.
Were GIPF a stand-alone game, I would let it do just that: stand alone on the shelf.
As the foundation for a network of game rules which can be combined in custom ways, it should
be a worthy, sturdy root.
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TAMSK employs timers as pawns. If a timer runs out, it is retired from play.
Limited treading upon the spaces lends its own mischief to the mix.
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GIPF Project Set 1 integrates TAMSK with GIPF.
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Though I've not yet played ZÈRTZ, having played DVONN, and experiencing the epiphany
of the intended integration of the games of the GIPF Project, my mild curiosity of the game
has escalated to a driving curiosity. I am especially anxious to see how all these
games unite.
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Until I played DVONN, I regarded the GIPF Project from a distance. Upon
actually experiencing DVONN several times, however, I quickly became charmed by its
unusual combination of traits, and the limitations they inherently impose on the players.
The number of "stones" in the stacks your discs top determines whether you win. It also
specifies the exact distance that stack may move. Tall stacks are worth more,
yet unable to evade capture by small stacks. Additionally, separation from all three
power stones can eliminate a continent of stones from play. Since stacks may engulf
and move the power stones, the surprises in this two-player game can be many!
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GIPF Project Set 2 integrates ZÈRTZ and DVONN with GIPF, as well as
providing additional "board" real estate for ZÈRTZ itself.
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YINSH, like its predecessors, combines some fairly mundane concepts in an
insidious fashion, which provides for tricky strategic analysis, and intense tactical
adaptation to the situations which arise.
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Wil Wheaton's writing belies deep personal reflection, and hits home in a
disturbingly personal way. Dancing Barefoot is a collection of
five true, personal tales. I yearn not only to read these accounts, but also to
support such a talented author.
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Yali is a table game that has called to me for a long time now, but
I kept brushing it off, convinced that the fulcrum factor of the game was
little more than a poorly implemented gimmick to make the game seem more
original. More recently, however, I came to understand a little better
how integral the balance is to the play of the game: The goal is to
get your eight balls to the opponent's starting positions (as in "chinese"
checkers) — the catch being that as long as the board tilts toward you,
it's your turn. Of course, as you're moving toward the goal on the
opponent's side, your turn is more likely to end with every move, and moving
backward is not allowed! But still more recently, I played a Java
incarnation of the game (click on the image to do so, as well), which added
still more intrigue to its mechanics: In the basic version of the
game, every ball you get to its destination allows you to move one of the
balls of your color on the sideline toward you, as a sizeable reward!
In the advanced mode of play, this reward comes from simply jumping over
an opponent's ball, which weighs heavily upon strategy. |