How To Play Up Or Down

Up Or Down is an open drafting game where you are trying to get numbers in order. If you want a board game comparison, it reminds me of Ohanami, but more complex drafting and simpler scoring.

In Up or Down you create three columns of cards and those are your scoring columns. But once you start building on a column the numbers either need to go up or down. So if you start at 9 a 1 or 2 is not going to be useful for that column. Now, if you can’t take play a card or don’t want to add it to a pile you can trash a pile and score 1 point per card.

But let’s talk about how to get cards. In this game you have a circle of cards from high to low. When you play a card you add it to the circle of cards. And you slot it between the numbers it falls in numerical order. So if you have a 42 it goes between the 32 and 45, for example. Then you take one of those two adjacent cards to add to your columns. Remember you add but you always add in the direction it was started in, either increasing or decreasing.

Then you draw a card and your 42 is added to the cards. The game goes like that until all the cards have been played. That means on your last turn you have a single card to play.

Scoring

So we know you get one point per card. But everyone ends up with the same number of cards. Each column is going to score one point per card in the column. And then you multiply that by the most common card color in the column. So a column with only five cards but four of them are the same color that is going to score you 20 points. As compared to a column with 10 cards but the most common color is only a two, that also gets you 20 points.

What Doesn’t Work

There is some luck in the game. Now I say some luck because you don’t know what your opponents are going to do. And the blind draw of cards, into your hand of three, can leave you stuck with numbers that are in a range that limits your options. Let’s say you get the 35, 42, and 44. In my example above, all of those cards fall between 32 and 45, so you only get two options on cards. That said, that happens to most people once during a game, so it’s not a massive limiting factor, and it’s all about pivoting.

What Works

Firstly, I like how simple the game is, but the card playing mechanism, in terms of the card you get for your column is clever. If you could take anything, it would be too easy. But it would also be too limited if you couldn’t take many cards. I think most of the time I have around 4 cards I can take that are unique when you play. Yes, it could be all six, but that’s unlikely with how the hands of cards work out.

The scoring is very good as well. I compare this game to Ohanami, but that game is much harder to teach the scoring. And while the drafting is simpler in Ohanami, the game takes longer to teach. So I like how Up or Down makes it that you just need to pay attention to colors. It is also going to make some interesting choices. Sometimes you look and you want to make a large jump to get the color you want. But when is the right time to make that jump, or is someone going to take the card you want.

Who Is Up Or Down For?

This is a good filler game. It is not extremely fast in it’s play, but it’s easy to teach and learn and turns are that fast. It is mainly that you go through a good number of cards. And the game is nice in that it gives you a long and short way to play it. So that is going to make the game tailored to how long you want it to be. I think that this is a solid filler for a good variety of players.

Final Thoughts on Up or Down

I enjoy Up or Down a lot in person and digitally on BGA. It is one of the BGA games that I find that I come back to pretty often. And because it’s so simple, it’s easy to jump back in without forgetting the rules to it.

The card playing is what really makes me like this game and why I picked it up. That manner of getting cards is just clever and it isn’t too complex. It feels like the right complexity and choice for the type of game that it is. I think that the same is true for the scoring of the cards in the game. Sometimes you make three really great columns of five cards, four of one color in each. Or sometime you have one column that scores one point per card and another that scores 4 points per card and has 10 cards.

I do really recommend this game. If you want a fun filler, this is a good choice. And it’s one that I think both my parents will understand and it’d be easy to play with them and other people who maybe don’t play as many games.

My Grade: B+
Casual Grade: A
Gamer Grade: B-
Luck: 2.5 out of 5
Strategy: 2.5 out of 5

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How To Play Magical Athlete

In Magical Athlete you are drafting racers and then trying to win races and get points as you go. The player at the end of four races who has the most points from stars and trophies is going to win the game. But let’s talk about how the game itself works.

In the setup for Magical Athlete you set out a group of racers that is twice the number of players. Like Hot Streak, you are going to do a snake draft. And you do a snake draft twice, actually. As you draft, you take one athlete with their power and you add that to your group of racers. Once each player has four racers you are almost ready to race.

Before each race you pick your racer for that race. Each racer can only race once. And each race is going to be worth more points for your finish, if you win or come in second. Then you start rolling, in turn order, starting with the loser of the previous race first, or randomly for the first race. You move that far forward, activate your ability if you can, and that is your turn. It goes like this until someone wins.

Then you repeat the process drafting a new race. The twist is that the board flips back and forth between races. So you start on a simple track and then on a track with move forward, back, fall over, and other spaces on it.

What Doesn’t Work

This is a roll and move game. Expect to have some dud rolls and maybe even some dud races as you play. Now it is four races and each racer is going to have a different power. But sometimes your rolls won’t match up with the abilities of the racer that you have for that race.

The other thing is that the races are well balanced in terms of length, but if everyone is rolling low it is going to take a little bit longer to complete the race. So it is less of a fast experience than you get for Hot Streak. And I think that is something to know because it’s going to be just fine for most people, but might feel a little slow/long for others.

What Works

Firstly, all the powers of the racers need to be talked about. You draft your racer thinking it is going to be good. Then you get into the race and you don’t roll right for it and you think another is overpowered. But if you roll right for yours everyone will think yours is over powered. Yes, some are better than others , but the dice is a great mitigating factor. The only one that I dislike is M.O.U.T.H. who can eliminate someone from a race. Otherwise, all awesome.

While there is a lot in the game to keep track of with powers, you don’t need to keep track of them all. The hardest part, the part with most thinking, is really who you draft. And it is tricky, with 12 racers to keep track of all the powers to draft. But once you draft one only maximum of six to know. That is going to make it way simpler. So yes, it is a lot, but you mainly need to know your powers.

The races are a solid length. I mention that with poor rolls it might be a bit long. But that is going to be a lot of players rolling poorly. And a lot of the powers mitigate that so it can’t take too long. Plus you want a little bit of time for your racers to show off what they cando.

I also think that this is a good racing game too, as my final positive. A lot of racing games tend not to move that quickly. Formula D, a fun game, is a solid example of that, especially as you add in more players. But Magical Athlete is fun with six players and is not too long. Turns are snappy, simple, and fast.

Who is Magical Athlete For

Like Hot Streak, this is a great game for playing with more casual people and for something to do. Another beer and pretzel style exciting game as you play it. It won’t be for people who want a ton of control. But I think that you can plan a little strategy as to when you use a racer. A decision here or there in the game, but you won’t have a ton of control.

Final Thoughts on Magical Athlete

I like Magical Athlete a lot. Mainly I love it for what it is. It’s a simple game with nice production that is easy to learn and play. Even the most complex elements or slow moments, like drafting, aren’t that slow. And once the drafting is done, which happens at the start of the game, it is mainly silly racing ttime.

What stands out to me about the game is that it is a racing game that moves quickly. Games like Formula D or Heat are great racing games. And they offer so much more control in your racing. But Magical Athlete is a game where you generally feel the speed of a racing game. Just roll and move.

My Grade: A-
Casual Grade: A-
Gamer Grade: C+
Strategy: 1.5 out of 5
Luck: 4 out of 5

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How To Play Hot Streak

Hot Streak is a racing and betting game with almost an auto-battler element to it. In this game you are trying to win the most money by betting on three mascot races. In each race you flip over cards from a race deck to see who finishes first. Then players are paid out money based off of where the four different racers finish. But let’s see how we get there.

The race is split into three parts and there are three races. Each part is pretty simple. At the start of the first race you flip over four starting cards and then a number of cards based off of the number of players. These are the majority of the cards that are going to be in the deck. Each player also gets three cards, and one of those cards they will add to the deck.

Then in turn order, you decide what that is to start, and it’s lowest money total after that, and you snake draft betting cards. These cards might be for where the different racers finish, or it is going to be for a prop bet. Once each player has two tiles then every player adds a hidden card to that deck of racer cards.

Then you flip cards from the deck doing what it tells you. It might cause the racer to swerve, potentially off the board, or fall over or turn around. You go through the deck, shuffle up again as needed and repeat the process until all the racers are eliminated or finish the race. Bets pay out, deal one card from the deck back to the players and repeat the process.

What Doesn’t Work

This is a chaotic game and you need to be okay with that. I don’t think that it doesn’t work in the game, but it is something to be aware of. You want to try the game, you need to understand that the game is going to be chaos as it goes. It might look like the Hotdog, Hurly, is going to be racing really well so you bet on them, but if someone turns them around or knocks them down and they don’t get up, that can change everything. So that randomness is what makes the game fun, but also is going to be challenge to some players.

The other negative I have is the board. Now I like the board a lot and how it rolls in, but the board is backwards. What I mean by that is that with how racers get eliminated, it would make sense to roll the section back in. But they race towards the box. And just that one little tweak to the design would deal with the one minor usability complaint that I have.

What Works

The chaos is also something that works in the game. I don’t think that it doesn’t work, it’s more that it’s an awareness for it. And you can’t take the game seriously. Angler, the fish, runs off the board, you can’t get upset about that because that’s just how the chaos of the game works.

The game is also the right weight and length for this sort of chaotic game. You don’t have much control in what is happening, so the races and between races need to go by quickly, and they do. They even make it so that if someone doesn’t move much they can be eliminated as the track rolls back up, so to speak. So a race that could take a little bit does a good job of eliminating it’s competitors to keep that game length tight.

The abilities on the cards are easy to understand as well. This probably ties into that weight and length of game, but I want to be able to teach the game in a few minutes. And that is something that I can do with Hot Streak. And then you play and that is what matters. For a silly light game that overhead needs to be very short, and it is.

Finally the sculpts are amazing in the game. I like the eyes on everyone and it makes sense. You see the mascot eyes as they race because they don’t line-up with the suit. And they are colored and nice and big. It makes the game have massive toy presence but also works for the game.

Who Is Hot Streak For?

I already talked about it some. Hot Streak is not a game for people who want control. But if you want a game that is a party game but isn’t a traditional party game, Hot Streak is great for that. It’s a beer and pretzels game without the dice rolling. It is the game that you play with the cousins you see every other year around the holidays. That is the sort of time that you want to pull out this game, or when you want to kick off a game night with something that gets everyone energized.

Final Thoughts on Hot Streak

I really like Hot Streak. I think that combination of ease of play and speed of play is great for the game. And the chaos elements of the game don’t bother me at all. It isn’t a game that I plan on playing every game night, but it is a good ice breaker game. I mention in who it is for that it gets everyone energized and it does. It is like Ready Set Bet in that way.

And I want to talk about it with Ready Set Bet as well. Both of these games are racing games but really betting games. And I think there is a good reason for someone to own both. Hot Streak is the light version of what Ready Set Bet does. And it is easier to teach and get to the table. But, I think that Ready Set Bet is a game that has more stand-up moments as you play it and that is awesome for a game. People laugh with Hot Streak, but stand-up as Ready Set Bet finishes.

My Grade: A-
Casual Grade: A
Gamer Grade: C+
Strategy: 1 out of 5
Luck: 4 out of 5

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How To Play Yaxha

Yaxha is a pyramid building game. You are going to make a selection of cubes that you want to add to your pyramid. Then you stack those cubes onto your game board. A lot of the game is going to be about how you choose the cubes and how the cubes score for you.

Getting Cubes

In BGA you select the card that has the cubes you want on it. Every player does that at the same time. In person you use a card to indicate which of the groups of cubes you want. Again, everyone does that at the same time. If you match with no one, you get those cubes to add. If you and someone else match, you then see who has the lowest tie breaker card. That person gets that one and the other person gets the leftover one. Finally you swap your tie breaker card so you won’t win a tie with that person the next time.

Placing Cubes

Then the other big part of the game is placing out your cubes. You need to place them on the lowest level or a a spot on a higher level that is completely filled in. You place starting at a 4 by 4 grid, then 3 by 3 and up to a single cube on top.

On the first level you place cubes however you want. That is going to change based off of how you score in the game. But we’ll talk about scoring next. After the first level, you must place a cube adjacent to a cube of the same color. That might be adjacent below, but if you can’t, you discard a cube.’

Scoring

Once your pyramids are built, you score them. There are two different scoring areas. The first way to score is special bonus scoring cards. These give you objectives as to how to place out your cubes. It might be something like all five colors visible on the bottom layer and you get five points. But they vary in what they are.

The other, bigger, scoring way is that you look at your different colors visible on your pyramid. You find your biggest group of visible cubes for each color and you score them. The larger the group, the more points you are going to score. But keep in mind, cubes in the middle of your pyramid on levels one and two, the 4 by 4 and 3 by 3, don’t count for scoring. The player with the most points is crowned the winner.

What Doesn’t Work

This is a really simple game. I think for a lot of people it is going to feel a bit to simple. Even the gamer-y type elements like the bonus scoring, that is pretty simple in what it is doing. Though, I might play with a kid without them, everyone else is going to understand them really quickly, even if they aren’t gamers. This is going to mean that it won’t work for a lot of people who want a bit more meat on a game. But I plan on talking about it as a positive as well for the game.

What Works

The game is simple to play and get to the table. In fact, it’s simple to teach as well, and that is going to make a good game for a lot of situations. I like a game that has fun elements to it, like stacking up your pyramid while still giving you a few fun choices to make. And Yaxha does that by knowing what it wants to be as a game without adding in too much to it.

I think Yaxha also makes a smart choice with how you get your cubes. That element of deciding do I go for a group I really want but someone else might really want or try for my second best option is good. It’s a simple decision but one that adds a little bit to the game. You might wonder how. I sometimes decide to go for one my opponent will get just so I can get a lower number. Yes, I might miss out on my second best option, but I control my choice for the future.

The game is also good with the scoring and the placement rules. They are simple, and I want that in a game like this. If it were to be much more, it would feel overly complicated for how simple the game is. But I still need to make a choice every now and again about how I place things. And knowing when to start the second layer and how to hopefully not lose out on playing cubes is good in the game. It isn’t a standout element, but one that works.

Who Is Yaxha For?

Yaxha is a great game for the holidays. I talk about holiday games fairly often where on Nerdologists.com. But what is a holiday game? It’s one that is easy to teach and play with basically anyone. It is great for those times when you don’t want to play a party game. So you play something like Yaxha because everyone is able to learn it. Now it is limited to four players, but for that smaller holiday gathering, it is one that works well.

It isn’t going to be for the people who want to play a really heavy or involved game. But those are for when you want to game. Yaxha is for when you want something to do but also want some time to chat around the table.

Final Thoughts and Grade on Yaxha

I think that Yaxha is a fun game. Is it a game that I want to own, maybe. Is it a game that I’ll play all the time, that is unlikely. But it really does have a nice niche for a game. And it is a game with a small footprint. I talk about it as a game where you play it at the holidays with that smaller group and chat. IT is also one you could take to a brewery or coffee shop and play as well as you have a chat. And that is the type of game I like to own a few of so I don’t get board with the ones that I own.

That said, it is simple. And I know that it is not going to be a game for a bunch of people because of that simplicity. But I think without the scoring objective cards it is one that I’d enjoy and my kid could play. So know what you are getting into with Yaxha. And I say try it on BGA if you can because it’s that good sort of game that is just fun to play around with. But it might just be that, try it a couple of times and move on.

Grades

My Grade: B-
Gamer Grade: D+
Casual Grade: B+
Strategy (out of 10): 4
Luck (out of 10): 4
Plan or Adapt: Adapt

I’ve added in something else to maybe help clarify my thoughts a bit more. This is the plan or adapt. I’ll put this disclaimer down to clarify. But is the game, Yaxha, one that you plan from the start and come up with a whole strategy, no. This is a game that you adapt to what is happening and the cubes you get.

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How To Play Tag Team

Tag Team is an autobattler game. What that means in this case is you flip cards and those cards do affects. Your goal is to knock out one of the other players fighters before they knock out one of yours. But let’s talk a little bit more about how that works.

The Fighters

Each player is going to get two fighters. These fighters offer different ways to play the game. Some are more support characters while others are damage dealers. You pick your fighters in a few different ways. One is to just randomly assign or assign “starting” difficulty characters.

The other ways are drafting. You may draft the simple or competitive way. In the simple draft you select one character from your hand of cards and then swap with your opponent and select another character there. The competitive way is to select like before and then discard a character. Then you swap hands and select a new character.

Combat

Combat is simple, you create your deck or two cards to start and you put them in an order you choose. You each flip your first card and do what that says. Then you flip the next card and do what that says. And that is how combat works.

Between Combat Rounds

The meat of the game is in the choice here between combat rounds. Between rounds you draw from your action deck. The action deck consists of the non-starting cards for your two characters. You draw three of those cards and you select one to add to your deck.

When you add a card to your deck it must slot into the deck as it already is. So when you pick your third card, after the first combat phase, you can put it on top, between the two cards, or the bottom of the deck. This is because the deck never gets shuffled, so the order is maintained between rounds. The only way to change up the order of your deck is where you slot the new card in, and that changes it in comparison to your opponents deck possibly.

What Doesn’t Work

The decision space is limited. I think that is going to be a negative for some people. Mainly because the decision space is also based off of imperfect information. I know what and where you cards are from the previous round. I don’t know where you might add something in. So if you play a strong attack, I might move to block it, but you can play a card above it to push it down further. So it feels like guess work, or it might to some.

What Works

Firstly, I want to talk about the characters. This is like Dice Throne in that each character is going to be different. And like Dice Throne there are going to be elements that might feel similar between characters. It’s about blocking and attacking at the right time. So yes, that is something that exists in all decks. But each character is going to have a little twist on it. I plan to do my ranking of all the characters in the future. I want to do that because the characters are different.

The ease to the table is also great for the game. Every card does a good job of explaining what is on the card. So while they give you a little booklet to learn about the characters, that is not needed when you play. All the information to play the characters is on the card as you flip it. And they do this with text and symbols. So I use the text as a learn a character and then symbols after that because it’s faster.

I like the decision space a lot as well in the game. It is a fun head game to try and figure out where you place a new card into your deck. I know that you know I know where you best attack is, so you move it one lower. But I know that you know so you are going to adjust it so I adjust where I place my defensive new card. Unless of course you try and trick me and don’t adjust it.

Finally the speed of the game is great. It is fast to get to the table and it is fast to play. I think it is one that I rarely will ever play one match-up in a sitting.

Who Is Tag Team For?

I think Tag Team is for people who like a good head to head game. When you play it, it’s easy to learn and easy to play, so it’s a good one to play with people who like lighter games. I also think that it’s a great game for people who often want to play a game but find they only have a short time. It has good moments in the game as you block a big attack or sneak one through, but it is also really fast, so you can play multiple times in a sitting.

Tag Team Grade and Final Thoughts

I really like this game. I think that Tag Team works as a fast battling game to the point where it is going to likely get played more than Dice Throne. Now I love Dice Throne because there are more decisions to make in the game. But I thought that an autobattler could maybe only kind of work. But it is a game that works really well.

I think the big reason that it works so well is the different characters. Each one feels different and you need to plan out how you add cards and how you plan in the game. And it is so fast of a game. I think we played two games in person last night and it was maybe 10-15 minutes tops for each battle. The second was faster than the first even with more complex characters. It is going to go high in my Top 100 next year if I keep on playing it a lot because it’s that good.

My Grade: A
Gamer Grade: B-
Casual Grade: A
Strategy (out of 10): 4
Luck (out of 10): 5

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How To Play Moonshine

Moonshine is an engine building game where you are racing to 12 points. To do this, you need to score patrons to your speakeasy by meeting their requirements. On the turn where one player gets 12 points, the game ends and whomever has the most points, as you can go over 12, is the winner of the game.

A Turn

Turns are pretty simple. You roll three dice, possibly more, and then per the rerolls that you have, you start with one on your speakeasy, and you try and get combinations to complete the patrons you have at your speakeasy. To do this you need to match symbols. The symbols are money, music, drink, and moons.

If after your roll or your opponents roll you cannot complete a patron’s requirements, you choose from two other options. First is you can choose to get a moon. If you do, you cover up a moon spot on your speakeasy or one of the patrons. I plan to talk about that more in the engine building section. The other option is that you draw patron cards and may replace one of your patrons.

Engine Building

The engine building is done in two ways. The first is with the moon tokens. When you get moon tokens from rolls or for your turn option, you place them on a moon location. These offer some benefits. On the speakeasy it is either unlocking a blue die to use or a wild symbol for money, music, or drink.

The patrons also might have one as well that you can spend into. When you spend into those, you gain that benefit for as long as the patron is waiting at your speakeasy. Once a patron is complete, they go to your speakeasy. They offer two things potentially there. The first is points, some patrons have a fixed number of points, some have no points, and others offer a variable number of points based on card color.

The other thing that patrons add is symbols. These can be symbols like money, music, drink or moons. These symbols are permanent and let you more easily complete other patrons’ requirements. Or it might be access to the blue or orange dice. It is also possible to get access to looking at more cards when you gain a new patron or three patrons waiting at your speakeasy versus just two, or additional rerolls.

What Doesn’t Work

This is one where i don’t find a ton that doesn’t work. As normal, in that case, I want to talk a little bit about luck. There is luck in this game with what you draw. Now you always draw a few cards to look at and choose one to add to your waiting patrons, but that is not always going to give you what you want. So it is possible that you just need to draw patrons again after a role.

And the other minor thing is there are a few patrons who when you gain them, they give you a moon and remove a moon from your opponents. There are not many and it doesn’t set your opponents back too far. But that is a negative player interaction that might feel tough for a player.

What Works

I like how simple this game is. The dice are easy to understand what symbols they give you. And it is easy to see what you want to roll for. I like it when a game can get to the table very quickly and is very easy to teach. There are a few symbols but those are really easy to understand after a turn or two in the game.

I also like the interactions in the game. I mention the few cards have that negative interaction. The game is also going to offer a chance to mess with your opponents on your turn when you roll the dice. But this is not too negative, they still get to take a positive action, get a moon or replace a patron, if they can’t fulfill a patron’s requirements. I like that the game isn’t purely solitaire though because you can set up your roll or pick your patrons in such a way to maybe fulfill them on an opponent role.

The engine building is Moonshine is good as well. It is simple, I liken it to Splendor. But that goes back to how simple the game is. I know how to leverage my engine pretty quickly once it gets going. And that moment of when do I stop building my engine and go for bigger points is nice. And because it is a simple engine, it keeps the game moving. Moonshine doesn’t stall out.

Who is Moonshine For?

I think this is a good game for people who like Splendor. And I think that this is a more enjoyable game than Splendor. So maybe for the people who think that Splendor is a bit slow in getting going, Moonshine offers a lot of the same engine building style, but is faster to get to it. And there is a bit more in terms of strategy, I think, than with Splendor but just a tiny bit more. So if you want to introduce someone to engine building concepts, this is a good game for that.

Final Thoughts and Grade on Moonshine

I very much enjoy Moonshine. It is a game that I already have played at least five times and have a few more games of it going on BGA. I also think it is very possible that it is a game that will start to feel similar. Your engine is not going to massively change from game to game. So it is never going to feel wildly different as you play it.

This is a bit of a negative, but it is also something to be aware of what type of game it is. Mainly, Moonshine is a great game for BGA because there isn’t too much going on. At the same time, if you want heavy engine building it is going to feel a little bit lacking and won’t stick around as long because of that. But it is meant to be an easy to get into and play engine builder, and it is great for that and for that reason I like it.

My Grade: B
Gamer Grade: C+
Casual Grade: A-
Strategy (out of 10): 4
Luck (out of 10): 5

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How to Play Arigato

Arigato is all about getting the most points that you can. You do this in a few ways, by sending workers to deliver their offering. You get points for artisans in your village, potentially, and you get points for completing the main objectives. At the end of 12 rounds, the person with the most points is the winner.

10 of the 12 rounds are going have those main objectives to complete. The objectives might be about having a number of artisans in your village with offering tokens, different or same resources, or total of number of artisans who have given an offering and more. The more of them you complete, the more points you get from them.

Morning Phase

You play the game over a few phases. The first one is the morning phase. In the morning phase you get five artisans and you split them into three groups. One artisan goes into your village. Each artisan is limited, and the card shows, as to where you can place them in your village. If you want to place an artisan and a spot is blocked you can discard an artisan from that spot to place them.

The other divide the other four two and two. Two artisans will get discarded for resources based off of their color. And the other two artisans get passed to your opponent at the start of the next day or round. Those will be used to create their new hand of five artisans.

Day Phase

During the day phase you flip over your cards, all are played face down, and you gain resources for them. You check and see if any of the artisans in town have an ability to trigger. Generally these abilities either give you more points or they give you more resources. Some abilities also trigger in the dusk phase, but we won’t cover that phase right now.

Then you spend your resources to place offering tokens onto your artisans. Just because an artisan has an offering token on it does not mean you need to move it to deliver that offering immediately. You might find that you don’t have the right combination of resources to complete offerings. If you want, you can trade two items in for one of another type. Once an artisan has an offering token on it, you can send them to deliver that offering whenever you want.

Dusk Phase

At the Dusk Phase a few things can happen, but the biggest is you check and see if you completed the objective for the day. If you did, you mark that with taking a token. And you also check and see if any of your artisans have things that would be triggered at dusk. The final thing that happens at dusk, though I might be off on order, is you discard your resources to get down to seven total. This is fairly rare that you will find yourself with more.

The game, like I said, ends after twelve days. You check to see your score for all the main objectives you completed. Then you add up the points you have taken during the game, and the points on the artisans who have delivered offerings. The player with the most points is the winner.

What Doesn’t Work?

The one negative I can think of is that there are a good number of symbols. On the artisans in particular you need to know what each section does and when the village ability is going to activate and what one it is. This is an issue only at the beginning playing on BGA because the more you play, the more you know just from looking at the symbols.

My hope, though, is for the physical version of the game, there are player aids. You don’t need anything much for it, just let the players know what the symbols are for because there are enough of them that it’ll be annoying to reference the rule book or pass around the rule books.

What Works?

Phases

I think that the different phases work quite well. Mainly because everyone is doing them at the same time. So it is generally a solitaire game. That means, though, that no player is going to have that much downtime. It’ll mainly just be waiting for the other players to complete their phase. And the phases are simple enough that it shouldn’t take too long.

With that comment about solitaire, I do want to comment about how it’s not purely solitaire. It is best to select cards in the dawn phase that is best for yourself. But if you find that you are not getting what you need, you also are able to pass on cards so that your opponent next turn is less likely to get what they need. It is a minor interaction, but can be a useful one at times.

Scoring

I really like the scoring in the game as well. All three elements work well in Arigato. I like that I can plan for those main objectives to get them, though, it’s improbable that you’ll get them all. But if you just go for those objectives, someone can score a lot of points from the artisans in their village and make up ground. And also getting a lot of artisans to deliver offerings is worth a lot of points.

Engine Building

Finally, the engine building in the village is fun. It adds to what you are thinking about when you pick which card to add or what cards to pass or keep for resources. You can go for a village that kicks out a ton of resources and rotate that and really focus on getting offerings delivered. Or you might go for one that doesn’t produce as many but is going to give you a lot of points from villagers. It’s up to you, and I like that variety.

Who Is Arigato For?

I think that people who like engine building are going to like like Arigato. But it is nice that it is not a massive engine that you build. It is only ever four artisans and often fewer. So this one is going to work well for that engine building but also for people who want to learn engine building. The drawback is, of course, the symbols, but that is common with engine building games.

Final Thoughts and Grade on Arigato

I really like Arigato. Even though my first play is not great, because of all the symbols, every play after I feel like I learn more and more about the game. And it is fun to explore the engine building that is done. Especially since it is possible for it to go different ways and how you can use them to your advantage in those different ways. If the village were larger it might feel like a lot of upkeep, but four artisans in your village is the perfect amount for the game.

It is also nice that all the turns are at the same time. Again, that often lends itself to being a bit more solitaire in nature. But in Arigato that isn’t a bad thing. Like I said, it is possible to toss some cards to your opponent that they might not want. But that is not the focus of the game. I like a game where it feels like what I do is awesome, and I can mess with you a little bit. Arigato is a game like that.

My Grade: A
Gamer Grade: B+
Casual Grade: C+
Luck (out of 10): 4
Strategy (out of 10): 5

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What Is To Be Hero X About?

Imagine a world of superheroes. We can do that, we know Marvel and DC comic worlds. But instead of these heroes just having powers their powers are stronger the more people love them. That is the world of To Be Hero X. And Hero X is the hero who is most loved.

The show is all about those heroes and the ones who are in the top 10. They all want to be Hero X or at least will be taking place in the tournament to see who will become the new top ranked hero. The show is all about their stories and how they got there.

And I won’t go into more detail than that.

Who is To Be Hero X For?

Firstly, I do want to comment on fan service in this, because that will determine some of it is for you or not. But really, I like to do that all the time because people’s tolerance levels are different. There is very little fan service in this show, and it is never dwelt upon if it happens.

I think that this show is for people who are up for some fun animation. But there is more to the show than that, this is a show that is for people who want that slower build into characters and to delve into them at a deeper level. Is it heavy with plot, there is a lot of story throughout that connects to the whole, but it is also very focused on the characters.

What Didn’t Work For Me?

It is a bit jarring the first time you finish up the story with one character. Mainly because you get to like the character and then you move on to the next one. This is not a bad thing, but it is somethin to be aware of when going into the show.

It is also a bit tricky to keep track of the timelines and when it falls into line with certain characters. Generally you can make sense of it, but they reference events that might be occurring at a different point in other characters stories. And they do a solid job of giving you dates for things, but that is still a lot to remember.

What Worked For Me?

The animation on this show is amazing. And it should be, there are a ton of different studios working on this anime. And it shows in the different stories how there is different animation that is used. They are done to tell different and unique story beats and character stories. And there are some bonkers fight and chase scenes that use animation really well.

I also like the stories. Not all of them resonate with me quite as well, but how they intersect is really interesting. And the vast majority of the character stories are ones that I really enjoyed and I could connect with the characters. Each of them is unique as well and deals with some interesting things that unfold the larger story.

And without going into spoilers, I think the overall plot is interesting. This idea that the more people love you, the better hero you are is really interesting. And it has some very questionable implications to it as well that they dive into in the show. And where it ends, I think that is interesting and it makes me ready for a season two. I think there is a lot more world building that can be done around the main plot. But I suspect season 2 is going to focus a lot on the tournament.

Final Thoughts on To Be Hero X

This show definitely caught my interest throughout the whole show. I think the animation drew me in, but the plot and the characters really kept me there. It takes a bit to figure out everything that is going on in To Be Hero X. And I would say, there are elements that make me want to rewatch it right now to pick-up on some of the bigger story implications that I might have missed. To me, that is the sign of a good anime to watch because it kept me engaged and keeps me wanting more.

If it was one consistent animation style would it be as good? I think it would be. This is not an anime with style over substance but with the lead of BeDream making this and the animation partners, it rocks. And that is something else I didn’t mention but I feel like I always want to listen to the music both the opening and ending credits, but also the music in the show. The amount of time and effort that went into this show is very impressive and makes for a great show visually and story wise.

To Be Hero X is one of my top new anime this year. And you know from the last anime round-up that I have watched a ton of anime this year. So it is sitting pretty as a favorite.

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How To Play Tikal

In Tikal you want to get the most points. You get points for having treasures and majority at temple locations on scoring rounds. At the end of the game once all players take a scoring round the player with the most points is the winner of the game.

Two Part Turn

Turns are split into two parts, though the second part is where the majority of the turn is. So let’s talk quickly about that first part. On your turn the first thing you do is place a tile. It must be connected to another tile and accessible. To be accessible there must be a stone connection to another tile. If you draw a volcano you do a scoring round which we will talk about in the next section.

Once you place a tile you are able to do up to 10 action points of actions. The different actions cost different action points. I won’t go through all of them, just some highlighted ones.

• Place a worker
• Move a worker paying action points for stones that you cross
• Uncover part of a pyramid
• Find a treasure

Like I said, there are more, but these are some of the highlighted ones. When you uncover part of a pyramid you make it taller. The taller it gets the more points it is worth in a scoring round. And when you find a treasure, it is set collection. The more of a type of treasure that you have, the more points they are worth in a scoring round.

Scoring Rounds

The other big element is the scoring round. When a volcano tile is going to be placed each player takes a scoring turn. On your turn you don’t draw and place a tile. Instead you just spend action points to take the actions defined above, plus any of the others you want.

At the end of your scoring turn, you score points for temples that you own the majority at and for treasures you have. Then the next player takes a scoring turn. So it is possible that multiple players might score a temple as majority changes as they move workers.

What Doesn’t Work

No real complaints for this one. Because of how scoring works the area control is not too in your face. But you do need to pay attention and manage a few things based off of what your opponents are doing. Probably the biggest thing that might get some people is when placing tiles you can maybe mess or block off areas temporarily to limit how your opponent can build out. That is the most negative interaction in the game and it’s not very negative.

The other slight negative is that the treasures are less impactful in scoring. Having a lot can help, but scoring temples that are worth a lot of points is just better, for the most part. But some of my negative opinion with them might be me messing up my scoring in the first game. Still it is more luck based to see if you can create sets because sets are worth more points, if it’s just a one off, that is a wasted action to get it in some ways.

What Works

Firstly, I really like how the Tikal scoring works. I messed that up big time in my first game. That’s not an issue to mess it up in a game as long as you learn from it. But I like that it isn’t just straight area control. If I take control of an area I get the points for it. Then if you score after me, you can move in and gain control of that area. Now I might block that if I can cap it off so that the temple is completed, an action I didn’t mention, but that is limiting points in the future for me as well.

Let’s talk about that capping off action. You need majority. And it is going to cost you all of your workers there. And they don’t go back into the worker pool, they are just gone. So that is a nice tradeoff as you decide what to do. Do I want to have a ton of workers available further into the game, or if we fight over a spot is it worth spending a number of workers to lock in that scoring every scoring round?

I like the action point system in Tikal as well. I think that it’s pretty slick and easy to understand. Once you take a turn you generally know the actions. There is also nice strategy in figuring out how you want to spend your actions or when you should put out a tent, an action that costs five action points, to help you get into the further reaches of the jungle.

Who Is Tikal For?

I think that Tikal is a game for people who like that action point management and that feeling of exploring while optimizing your scoring. Now that is saying a lot. It is less of a puzzle than some games, say Lost Ruins of Arnak, with a similar theme. So this one is pretty welcoming game and easy to understand and play.

It is not going to be a game that I’d introduce someone to as their first game. It is also probably not going to be a game where heavy euro gamers are going to feel like there is enough going on. But it’s that nice welcoming action point game for people who have played a few games, like Catan and Carcassonne, and they want a bit more.

Final Thoughts and Grade on Tikal

I really enjoy this game and system. I was not sure I was going to when I started, but it is easy to learn and play. Like I said the one thing that tripped me up was that I score at the end of my turn on a scoring turn. I easily could have gotten more points the first game had I remembered. That is a rule that I would drill into the heads of people I play with at the start of the game and then remind them at the scoring round. It is something unique about the game, so something to remind about.

This is a game that I want to add to my collection. Now, I know there are a lot of games like that which I play on BGA. I think that Tikal is a good one because there is a bit more going on to it and some things that make it feel unique as compared to other games in my collection. And I like it because it is quite easy to teach. Even with all the actions, I assume there is a cheat sheet like on BGA, that the players can see what everything costs. So it makes teaching the game faster and easier to get Tikal to the table.

My Grade: A-
Gamer Grade: B
Casual Grade: B
Strategy (out of 10): 6
Luck (out of 10): 2

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How To Play Schotten Totten

Schotten Totten is a lane control game for two players. In this game you want to either win three adjacent locations or five total locations. You win locations by playing better sets of three cards on your side than your opponent can on their side.

So What Wins?

In this game you are playing “poker” type of hands. At least you can think of that for rankings. If you play a straight flush (of three cards), that is the best, then three of a kind, flush, straight, and total value of the cards. So you can see the order is pretty similar to poker. But there is no pair options.

And when you win, for example, I play a straight flush of 9, 8, 7 – in any order, that can’t be beat. Even if my opponent plays the same thing, I did it first. So when I complete that, the token comes to my side. And at that point in time my opponent can no longer play there.

Note: The game calls them color and runs for flush and straight.

Playing Cards

So I already mentioned how you can get locked out of playing in some spots. It is also important to know that you must always play. So as you play out cards or figure out what cards are left in your hand, you need to think about where you might play in the future. And the more your opponent wins the fewer options you get.

You also need to think about the cards available in the deck. Because there are six colors 1 through 9 in each color. What is the likelihood that you are going to get a card from a middle of a run that you are trying to create? Better if it isn’t a straight flush but not great. So it is possible that you might find your opponent or you win a location simply because they are no longer able to beat what you placed down. For example, if they need a six to beat your run and you play that six, you lock them out.

What Doesn’t Work

There is a level of luck to this game. And that is needed. If it were a zero sum game, by that a mean a game where you know all the information, a player with a better starting hand would win. There is no need to play it out. But depending on your preferences for games, it might feel like too much luck. But that is kind of the point of the game.

What Works

This game is simple to learn and play. It is just laying out the tiles, which don’t matter what order they go in just that they are in a line. And then you shuffle up and deal cards. I think that I could get a new player playing Schotten Totten in less than five minutes.

Hand Management

And there is a nice strategy to knowing when to pivot from a location or when to invest more at a location. That is where the meat of the game is, so to speak. You need to know when you can still dig for a card. And you need to play out cards onto locations you might not win.

Why, because you need to manage your hand of cards. You might get stuck with three ones that don’t go anywhere, and now those are dead cards in your hand if you wait too long. And three dead cards or cards you don’t want to play isn’t that bad. What happens when it is the majority of your hand? Can you figure out which spot to maybe throw a card and lose, or do you keep everything alive.

Tension

The final thing I want to talk about is tension. The tension of that choice when you decide to give up on a location. The tension of when you want to show that you’re strong at a location and when you want to hold back. Or even when it gets down to it, the tension of the draw to see if you can get the one card you need to keep your opponent from winning three adjacent locations. The game always feels tense at some point in time.

Who is Schotten Totten For?

This is a two player only game. So I think this is a good game for couples in an evening when they don’t have a ton of time. I put it in that range of a game like Lost Cities where it’s easy to get to the table and play. But it is not going to be your whole evening. That is probably a sweet spot for two player games most of the time, and where most of the ones I play on BGA land. But that is who that is for, you do need to like that bit of luck and very head to head game play.

My Final Thoughts and Grade on Schotten Totten

I like Schotten Totten a lot. I think the games in the two player realm that I’d compare it to most are Lost Cities and Hanamikoji. It is less thinky than Hanamikoji for sure. So it is more on par with Lost Cities in terms of weight. But I like the fact it is just win locations, not see if you can get points like Lost Cities. I think that is easier to learn and teach than the somewhat complex rules for Lost Cities in terms of points. Mainly the negative points. So I appreciate that ease to the table when teaching a new player.

I personally think I like it better than Lost Cities. But it is not up there with Hanamikoji which is one of my favorite two player only games. I think that one just adds in enough more puzzle that it’s more interesting. That said, I think that Schotten Totten is likely to end up in my collection. Why, because it is a small game and one that is easier to teach and play than Hanamikoji. And I really like it for that.

My Grade: A
Gamer Grade: B+
Casual Grade: A-
Strategy (out of 10): 6
Luck (out of 10): 4

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