Features Archive

Space Alert coming to the U.S.

Rio Grande Games LogoCzech Games Edition, the publishers of Galaxy Trucker, has announced that Rio Grande Games will be the distributor of its 2008 hit, Space Alert in US.

One of the most popular games at last year’s Essen show, Space Alert is a cooperative game that can be played by 2 – 5 players.

Here’s Czech Games description of the game:

“Players become crew members of a small spaceship scanning dangerous sectors of galaxy. The missions last approximately 10 minutes (hyperspace jump, sector scan, hyperspace jump back) and the only task the players have is to protect their ship.

And there’s the catch. The game really lasts just 10 minutes. On 2 CDs (or Scenario cards if you don’t have a CD player available) are 10-minute soundtracks that represent central computer announcements about the presence of threats. These vary from space battleships and interceptors to different interstellar monsters and abominations, asteroids or even intruders and malfunctions on the board of the ship. Players have to agree who will take care of which task and coordinate their actions (moving around the ship, firing weapons, distributing energy, using battlebots to deal with intruders, launching guided missiles etc.) in real time to defend the ship. Only a well working team can survive 10 minutes and make the jump back to the safety.”

Thanks to Boardgame News for the link.

Hasbro Updates the Classic Game of Clue

The murder mystery game of Clue has been on shelves for over 60 years, but recently game publisher Hasbro decided to give the game a new look as well as brush up the mechanics for modern audiences.

The setting has changed from a dinner party at a manor house to a party at a modern mansion. The new rooms include a theater, a spa and a guest house. The lead pipe is gone, replaced by a baseball bat. There’s also a trophy, a barbel and an axe bringing the number of weapons up to nine. The characters have been updated as well. For example, Colonel Mustard has become a former football star. Victor Plum, formerly a professor, became a dot-com billionaire.

In order to speed up the game, the designers have included a deck of Intrigue Cards. These cards may allow players to solve the mystery faster, but they may also lead to a second victim.

The game is recommended for ages 9 and up and retails for around $16.00 The game is out now.

Fantasy Flight Announces Battlestar Galactica Board Game

Fantasy Flight Games has announced that their board game adaptaion of Battlestar Galactica will be shipping in October. Playtesters of this game have been giving it excellent reviews.

Battlestar Galactica Board Game

Here’s a quote from Fantasy Flight:

“Battlestar Galactica: The Board Game is an exciting game of mistrust, intrigue, and the struggle for survival. Based on the epic and widely-acclaimed new Sci Fi Channel series, Battlestar Galactica: The Board Game puts players in the role of one of ten of their favorite characters from the show. Each playable character has their own abilities and weaknesses, and must all work together in order for humanity to have any hope of survival. However, one or more players in every game secretly side with the Cylons. Players must attempt to expose the traitor while fuel shortages, food contaminations, and political unrest threatens to tear the fleet apart.

The game includes 10 character cards, 32 highly-detailed plastic ships, high-quality card board tokens, hundreds of cards and a game board with resource counters.”

The game will be $39.95 at retail.

If it’s the best game ever, why haven’t I heard of it?

What’s the best board game ever? Ask around and you’ll probably get an assortment of names we all grew up with. The game we played over and over with our friends and family.

But if you ask someone who’s made a hobby of games. Someone who’s closet and bookshelves are straining under the weight of hundreds of colorful boxes. Well, your probably going to get a very different answer.

There’s a huge online database that is attempting to list every board game ever made. It’s called Board Game Geek, and it not only lists the name of the game, but a large amount of other information about it as well. Readers of the site can contribute additional information, such as pictures, reviews and strategies for playing the game. Another thing readers of Board Game Geek can do is give ratings to the games, and for many years one game has continually held the title as the highest rated game.

The game is called, Puerto Rico.

Puerto Rico box cover

You haven’t heard of this game? That’s not surprising, almost no one outside the board game hobby has. It’s an obscure game full of strange mechanics. For example, there’s no dice rolling and no pawns to move around the board. The theme of the game is even stranger. You play as a 18th century plantation owner in Puerto Rico trying to decide what crop to plant.

But, for experienced gamers, this title has some of the aspects we most value in a game. It has a lot of different strategies for winning. It doesn’t eliminate players partway through the game, and most of all, it presents interesting choices to the players. When a player chooses to improve his or her plantation by buying a new building or hiring new workers, then all players at the table also get to do that same action. So, each player is continually asking himself, “Would doing this action help my opponents more that it would help me?”

By the end of the game, each player has built his or her own little working plantation, turning crops into refined goods and selling them for cash or sending them back to Europe for fame (and victory points). The player with the most victory points at the end is the winner. But, even when you don’t win, you can still be proud of the economy you’ve built. It gives you a feeling of accomplishment, especially when you didn’t have to force another player into bankruptcy to do it.

Will everyone love this game? Certainly not. The rules are complicated and unlike any other game the average person has played. But, if your weekly gaming group wants a challenge, a game they can really plot and plan and strategize over, then there’s no higher recommendation.

What’s the best board game ever? One that exactly matches the group of people playing.

Photos by Rio Grande Games and KitAy

Making your passion into your career

I met a local barista for coffee at Intelligentsia Coffee last weekend. I had mentioned to her that I was planning to open my own shop and she wanted to give me some advice. Now, advice from experienced professionals is always welcome and this person was trained and worked at some of the best cafes in the country.

Sure, I wanted as much practical advice as I could get; where to place the place the espresso machine, the number of grinders, the shape of the counter’s edge (yes, we did talk about that.) But I also had a much more personal question in mind, “How do I make my passion for coffee into a job without burning myself out?”

Making coffee for myself and my friends is a long way from doing it for a living. The coffee may smell great now, but what’s it like after years of it? Coming home after being on your feet all day with the smell of coffee in your clothes and grounds under your fingernails.

The answer turned out to be education. Keeping myself always learning more about coffee and coffee culture, as well as educating others. Is there a lifetimes worth of knowledge to be learned from a single hot drink? Well, but the wine aficionados seem to be doing just fine. As do the Scotch lovers.

The education of the general public to coffee’s culinary aspects is only just beginning.

Photos by Tonx

What’s so modern about modern board games?

When I rediscovered board games a few years ago, it was clear to me how far they had come over the years. The art was vibrant and of a much higher quality than the games of the 70′s and 80′s. Instead of simple plastic pieces, these games had sculpted figures. The game boards were heavy instead of thin and fragile, and the rules sheets had gone from simple black and white to rich color full of examples and pictures.

But that’s just the physical aspects of the games, what about the gameplay? The influence of games from Europe, mostly Germany, has had a big impact on games. So big in fact, that many still refer to a whole category of games as “German Style”. These games often allow the players to work together rather than be in direct conflict. Each player takes actions that help themselves, but also might help other players. As a result, there’s a lot less conflict, and fewer hurt feelings. This also allows players to talk about the game more as a lot of the information is pubic to everyone playing.

Also, most modern games have gotten rid of the old rules on eliminating players from the game. Players can now play, and be competitive right up to the end of the game. Game designers now go to great lengths to make sure that no one person can “run away” with the game, without having to penalize the person doing the best.

The Future of Board Games How about games that come with a DVD explaining the game? If that sounds too expensive, then how about posting the video to your web site, or to YouTube. And what happened to electronic components in games? Sure, they were crude in the beginning, but why didn’t they evolve? Electronics could be doing so much more than they are now, keeping track of the score, playing opponents in solo play or in co-operative games, or adding atmosphere through sound and visual effects. Microsoft Surface and other tabletop computers hold a lot of promise for interactive games. Surface is computer built into a glass topped coffee table. As well as being able to display images on the glass, the computer has the ability to recognize objects placed on the table. Unfortunately, these devices are currently too cumbersome for anyone but commercial spaces like hotels and casinos. Microsoft’s XBOX 360 comes with a built in service to allow players to connect to anyone else in the country and play the game together over the internet. No need to go to a web site or play a special online version of the game, the connectivity is built into the game. Why play games where there is so much else to do? While it’s true that hobby games compete for people’s attention along with movies, video games, the internet and such; it’s also true that many of these diversions are designed for a single person. Games are a social experience. One that’s been bringing friends and families together for a long time, and will for a long time to come.

Photos by gadl and Martin Cathrae

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