Sorry for the delay on getting this new article out. But we are back to talk about games. And in particular, those new to me games. This is, of course, still on my way to having rated 1000 different games on Board Game Geek. Right now that number, with expansions, is at 998. And if we remove expansions it is 906, so we are getting ever close. But what are the new ones to September? It is a lighter month, so only one post.

New Games in September

Koi-Koi

This is a game that you play with Hanafuda cards. There are a lot of games that you can play with them, but this is the one that I picked to play, and I thought that it was okay. It’s all about trying to remove cards from your hand by matching them to ones on the board. The ones on the board and in your hand all align to a month, so you are matching that. Then you collect those cards and they create different scoring opportunities for you. You can score or you can push further. If you push further, you can score with a multiplier. But if you don’t score and your opponent gets a scoring hand you miss out.

Arctica

Arctica is a game that is actually crowdfunding now. It’s kind of rare of games like that to show-up on BGA before they are even out. But it is also a way for people to see if they are interested in the game. I think that Arctica is an interesting game with a lot of moving pieces. I mean that literally as it does have rotating cogs that you place pieces or or that change up the actions that you can do. This is one that I want to like more than I do. I think I mainly don’t like it, though, because it’s a game that is just okay to learn on BGA. There is enough going on with that I think it would be easier to learn and play in person.

Pondscape

Do you like frogs? Do you want to play board games about frogs? Than Pondscape is going to be for you. I think that it’s another one of those interesting games. And it does a lot of things like I like with tableau building and drafting. But I am also less sold on it compared to some other tableau building games. It is complex enough that it won’t work for everyone, but not as complex as some others that I like better. It’s one that I’d gladly play more and figure out more, but isn’t one that I love.

Manoir Bizarre

Manoir Bizarre is a fun game with some good choices in it. But not one that I loved. It’s about building out a weird manor to match the wants of guests and score points for completing different things. The big cool thing that it does, compared to other tableau building games, is that you are passing cards, but not drafting cards. So as you pick from your starting hand of cards you pass one to the left and one to the right and keep one for yourself. So you can try and send cards that your opponent won’t want to them.

Number Drop

Number Drop is a game that I owned but then sold. And having played it no on BGA, I’m not sad about that. There are a lot of games that use Tetris shapes. And this one is about dropping them down in Tetris style. You want to score points for getting rows completed and also for creating runs and sets of numbers. Is it fun, yes. Is it one that I want to play all the time, no.

The Builders: Middle Ages

This is an engine-ish building game. You are building your Middle Ages buildings and you need workers to do that. You can get new workers and send them to work, but you are limited by coins and action points as to how to do that best. I like games that push you to make smart and tight moves. You can’t just get all the buildings and workers and assume that you won’t spend actions just getting money. And just getting money is not helping you complete buildings. But the game is very simple, so that’s just okay.

Reflections in the Looking Glass

I really wanted to enjoy this game. I thought it sounded like a cool two player game, but in terms of two player games, it fell kind of flat for me. You are drafting in a 7 Wonders Duel sort of drafting way. And you want to win rounds by being the furthest from 0 that you can be. This is either positive or negative. The thing is, it’s hard to keep track of all of that. And because of how you draft and open things up there are sometimes that you just get stuck with it. I thought the decision space would be more than than it was, at least for me.

Chicken!

I like push your luck games. Though sometimes they are a bit too simple. This one is a nice balance of giving you push your luck but also a little decision making. You are just rolling dice and then seeing how many eggs you get. The more eggs the farther you go along the track. But as you roll you also get other symbols which add more dice. More dice, more chances to get eggs, but also more chances that you bust. So you sometimes want to stop sooner other times not so much. Because if you stop sooner you give all the dice to the next player and now they have more to roll.

Tangram City

This is a pretty fun little game of building out your city. You want your city to be part green and part brown and you want them as even as possible. Is there a theme, certainly not. But it’s still fun as you are trying to build out these areas and match the colors to get more points. But also build it as square as possible. I like what it does, but again falls into the category of a game that doesn’t blow me away with what it does. And I think that is mainly because of how simple the game really is.

Atrah

Finally for September is Atrah. This is another one of the new games that is coming out soon. A smaller game from CMON about fishing. I feel like I kind of understood my play of it. But I think I should play it some more to really figure it out. You are catching fish and then collecting fish from what you caught. Some of them give you abilities as well, and there is a set collection element. The game doesn’t feel bad to play but it also didn’t blow me away with the game play.

Top 3 Games

Normally I do Top 5 games for the month. But this month with fewer games, and it’s been busier at work so less brain space for games, it is just a Top 3 games. And even that is a little bit tricky.

3. Arctica

I do enjoy Arctica when it comes to the games from the month. I even am playing it more just so I can try and figure it out better. But like I said, there is enough going on that it is hard to play on BGA. I want to see it in person and try it there. But I also feel like it’s not a game that if I backed it I’d play often. So maybe someone I know will back it, but otherwise it’s a try before you buy for me.

2. Pondscape

Pondscape is one of those games that is just fun. I said it falls into an odd spot for me too complex for a simple tableau building game and too simple for a complex one. That might sound like a sweet spot, but it is likely the spot of games where it just isn’t going to get played that often. So yes, I’ll play it on BGA, but it won’t be one that I pick-up.

1.Manoir Bizarre

Manoir Bizarre is the one that I would consider picking up. I like how you split up the cards. And I think that the theming is fun as you play. But it also is not that unique in what it does. So while I like all the parts of it, when it comes to games to add to my collection or ones that I’d play a lot. I just don’t think it would do well for me in that area.

So is September maybe a little bit of a pass when it comes to games for me. Yes, but the more games that you play the harder it is to find the ones that you are super excited for or ones that will supplant your favorites. But still, look for tomorrows article about new games to my collection.

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