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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And if you want to know the criteria that I’m using, or the conversation starting point, you can read that article here.

My Tableau Building Games

As normal, we split it into games that I’ve played first and then games that I haven’t played yet in my collection.

Tableau Building Games I’ve Played

• 7 Wonders Duel
• Lord of the Rings Duel for Middle Earth
• 7 Wonders
• Splendor: Pokemon
• The Castles of Burgundy
• Arkham Horror The Card Game
• Marvel Champions
• Dwellings of Eldervale
• Forest Shuffle
• Res Arcana
• Meadow
• Space Base
• Faraway
• Castle Combo
• Furnace
• Aquatica
• New Frontiers
• Jump Drive
• Ancient Knowledge
• Starship Captains
• Village Rails
• Call to Adventure: Stormlight Archives
• Cafe Baras
• Terraforming Mars: Ares Expedition
• Pixies

Tableau Building Games I’ve Yet To Play

• Everdell
• 3 Ring Circus
• Ark Nova
• A Feast for Odin
• Revive
• Beyond the Sun
• Targi
• Endless Winter: Paleoamericans
• Vale of Eternity
• Expeditions
• Fantastic Factories
• The Bloody Inn
• Raising Robots
• The Witcher: Path of Destiny
• Andromeda’s Edge
• Earth

What Stays and What Leaves?

This is a tough list to really do because they are so unique. A lot of the time there is a pretty big difference between a scoring tableau game and an engine building tableau game. So as I’m looking at the list, it’s hard to say that I should keep this one or another one. Plus sometimes they didn’t really do a great job of putting like games on the BGG list. For example, Terraforming Mars, on the list, Ares Expedition, not on the list. New Frontiers is a tableau building game, but Jump Drive wasn’t part of that list. So I hope that I caught everything, but I’m sure some where missed.

What Is And Easy Leave?

So when we look at the list the ones that I have yet to play, those are generally going to stay. That means that we’re looking at what I’ve played for easy games to leave the collection. It’s not an easy list to pick from. I only have one that is an easy leave from the list. And that is I’m going to be getting rid of 7 Wonders Duel. Mainly because I own Lord of the Rings: Duel for Middle Earth. Yes, they are different, but I’m most apt to pick the Lord of the Rings themed one to play.

The other one that is going to leave is 7 Wonders. Now that might be surprising, but I bought I copy and I just don’t play it. If I want a big group drafting game, I go with Sushi Go Party! For that reason while 7 Wonders offers something quite different, it just isn’t going to stick in my collection.

What Is An Easy Stay?

Now for easy stays, I definitely am keeping Lord of the Rings Duel for Middle Earth and then both of the LCG’s on the list from Fantasy Flight Games. I know that I want to keep one of Dwellings of Eldervale and Andromeda’s Edge, but having not played the latter, I don’t know which I want to keep. I’ve heard the latter is the better game, but I like the theme for the former more so.

Space Base, Forest Shuffle, Castle Combo, Castles of Burgundy and Ancient Knowledge easily make the list as well. As does Call to Adventure: Stormlight Archives.

Everything Else

Now let’s touch on everything else and this is where I need to find a few to cut. Do I need Jump Drive in my collection if I play it on BGA so much? I had actually put it in the too sell pile but then I brought it back. And I want to keep it and New Frontiers because I really like both of them. So they stay, though with Jump Drive, it’s tempting because of BGA.

One that it tough for me is Meadow. I like Meadow a lot, but it’s also one that I play less often. I think that this means I just need to play it more to keep it in the collection. The same can be said for Res Arcana. I need to play it more because I really do love that game.

Furnace is going to leave the collection, I’ve decided. Mainly because it’s okay at two players. And I think that I am most apt to play it at two players. Because of that it should leave the collection I think. Another one that I love the theme of but thought the game play was okay so it’s going to leave is Cafe Baras. Mainly it’s super cute, but a bit too simple for my tastes. Even as a game to play with my kid, it’s not quite interesting enough.

So The Tableau Games That Are Leaving

Just to recap we have Furnace, which I really enjoy but less so at two. Cafe Baras is a bit too simple and 7 Wonders Duel is a game that has been replaced by Lord of the Rings: Duel for Middle Earth. And 7 Wonders is getting kicked out because it’s the secondary drafting game for big groups for me.

I think that there will be others to leave once I play more. But it’s tricky getting all the tableau building games to the table. Some I maybe shouldn’t keep, like Res Arcana just because when will I play it again.

What is your favorite tableau building game?

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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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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 Lost Cities

Lost Cities set collection game. You want to collect the best cards of numbers in five different colors and have the most points after doing that a set number of times. It is possible to play it just once, but most of the time I think that three is what people play.

The turn you take is simple. You play a card from you hand to one of two spots. And then you draw a card to your hand from one of a few spots. You keep on doing this until the deck of cards, one of the spots you draw from, is empty. Then you tally up the points.

Scoring and Playing Cards

The main element of the game to know about is the scoring. In Lost Cities you score points for any of the colors here you play cards at. However, there is a penalty for playing cards at a location. The first card you play down sets that locations value to -20. Though, if you play a number card that negative value is going to be less.

There are two types of card for each number. The first is multiplier cards. These double, triple, or more depending on how many you play, the value of the cards. But it also doubles or triples the value of the negative as well. Then there are number cards. These number cards go from two to ten. And as you play out cards, the multiplier cards need to be played first, and then cards in ascending order. For example, if you play out a four or blue, it is no longer possible for you to play a two of blue or a three of blue.

Discarding and Drawing

So I mentioned that there are multiple places to play to and discard to. Let’s use the example of having a blue two after already playing out a blue four. That card has no value for you. So on your turn you might discard that into the blue pile between the sets you and an opponent are collecting. On the other hand, if your opponent were to discard, for example, a green multiplier and you hadn’t started scoring on green yet, you can draw from there. So you either play to the collection on your side, or the middle for that colors discard. And you either draw from one of those color discard piles or the main deck.

What Doesn’t Work

It’s an abstract game where it is possible to just be dealt a hand that is not great to start out with. It might either be so spread out across all the colors you don’t know what to go for, or it might be so high in numbers that your scoring potential is lower as you don’t want to toss those cards. It isn’t that it doesn’t work, it is just that sometimes you might feel like your starting hand is kind of dead, or you might think, with multiple multiplier cards going into a color is smart idea and then never draw that color.

What Works

Now, that negative I just spoke about, that is also a positive for the game. Lost Cities is all about figuring out when to get into a color so that you don’t end up with negative points. And yes, it is very possible to end up with negative points on a round. Lost Cities reminds me of Hanamikoji in that both of them you work off of imperfect knowledge. And you need to make the best decisions that you can.

Game Speed

I like the speed that the game plays at as well. Now, I say that, I play asynchronously on BGA, so some games do take longer than others. But when the players are on at the same time the turns are simple enough, play and draw, that it moves quickly. So the game speed is good, but to tie it to above, it doesn’t just play itself which means sometimes you end up with a turn that takes a bit longer when you aren’t in the middle of a series of plays.

It is also nice that Lost Cities is played over three rounds. Again, this ties into that negative and why it isn’t much of a negative. When you play Lost Cities over three rounds you get a chance to come back. That allows you to play with a bit more risk sometimes and less other times. But there is almost always the chance to recover.

Meanness and Tightness

Finally, as a two player game this is very back and forth. I know, generally, what you want to get. So that might mean that I hold cards in my hand to try and keep you from scoring as well. There isn’t take that, but I might ruin your plans for a round. But that is also true for what you are doing to me as well. So while the game has elements of being mean, it works, as that sort of thing does better at two players.

But with that comes a fun part of the strategy or something you’ll stumble across. As I play out cards and you collect what I might want, you find that you all of a sudden can get a positive score in that color. So it is possible to pivot in the game like that. But with the deck running out as the timing mechanism you can’t overextend yourself because you might not have enough turns to play everything you need. That challenge and balance works very well.

Who Is Lost Cities For?

Obviously this game is for two people. But I think that this is the sort of game that works well for couples even if both of them maybe don’t love board games. The game is easy enough to learn, there is strategy so it isn’t too light, but it’s simple to play. So it’s a good game for couples and you can play a round in a short time, so it is that evening game as well for when you want to do something and not watch TV.

My Grade and Final Thoughts on Lost Cities

Lost Cities definitely impressed me more than I thought it would. I want to compare it to Hanamikoji because there is that element that I don’t know what is in your hand and you don’t know what is in my hand. It is only based off of what we play that we gather information about the other players hand. And that is true for both of the games, plus the row in the middle, but that is not actually similar in how it is used.

I think that Lost Cities is a game where it is possible to really do poorly at, though. But it is a game that is simple enough to learn. I feel like since I enjoyed the premise at the start it was fine even with my first game going poorly. If I hadn’t, I’m not sure I would have loved it as a concept for a game. Mainly because it is possible to get stomped. So if the puzzle doesn’t draw you in, Lost Cities is unlikely to work. Because the theme is not going to draw you in.

My Grade: B
Gamer Grade: B
Casual Grade: B
Strategy (out of 10): 7
Luck (out of 10): 3

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How To Play Jump Drive

In Jump Drive you are racing to a point total, generally 50 points, in your empire. Each round you are gaining cards and then playing out cards to build out your space empire. These cards are split into two categories, planets and technologies. Both of them are going to give you more income, cards, and points possibly from playing them. And all of this is done simultaneously.

Turns

On your turn you pick up to two cards to play from your hand. You play either a technology or planet card or you play both. But to play a card you need to have enough other cards in your hand to discard to play them. If you play one card, either a technology or a planet and not two, you draw a card to add to your hand.

If you don’t have enough cards in hand to play a card you can choose instead of explore. When you explore you draw a number of cards to your hand and then discard so you add two new cards to your hand. The number of cards you draw varies depending on how many eye symbols, explore symbols, you have on your cards already in play.

One last thing about the rounds is military. There are military planets that you can conqueror with your military force in the game. Unlike planets where you gain them peacefully, you don’t need to discard cards are for gaining a military planet. Instead, you need to have enough strength in military in play to conqueror them.

Between Turns

Once you play out your planet and technology two things happen. Firstly, you gain points. You gain points for the total number of points that your empire is generating. That means points that you gained from this round and previous rounds.

The other thing is that you gain cards. Like I said, each planet and technology has two main stats. One being your victory points mentioned above. The other is your card draw. Like victory points, you look at your total card draw and draw that many cards into hand. Now, you only are allowed to have 10 cards in your hand at the start of your turn. So if you draw a greater number than that, you discard down to 10 cards.

You continue with this loop of turn and between turn until someone reaches or surpasses the point goal for the game. If multiple players pass on the same turn, which can happen with the simultaneous play, the player with the most points is the winner of the game.

What Doesn’t Work

There is a decent chunk of luck in the game. Now I say that, I think there are some ways that you can work around it and you always have something to do. But if you don’t draw planets and technology that work with the engine that you started, you might need to pivot hard and fast. And even if you do that, it might be too late in the game as the game normally lasts between 6-8 rounds.

The amount of satisfaction from building up your engine is sometimes cut short as well. You might be looking at building out a great engine, but because of the point total is not that high, your engine might just start really working and then the game ends. I think if you want you can play higher, but it still is going to go by very quickly.

What Works

The speed of the game is impressive. Each turn and decision is meaningful. But because of how it limits the number of cards you have in hand, it is limited in what you can do. So I like that the game is very fast. Now that is a negative if you want to build up a great engine. But I like that you play once and it is very easy to shuffle up and play again.

I like set-up for the game. It is just cards and some tokens for points. So it is super fast to the table. And that is going to make it easier to keep around. Now it is even faster on BGA with your turns and figuring everything out. But it is not a game where BGA is doing a ton of heavy lifting getting it to the table, like some others. But instead, this is a very easy and fast game to table in person.

Engine Building

The engine building element is solid in Jump Drive as well. Now, that is the whole game, you build up your engine. And you decide how quickly you pivot from cards/income to points in the game. And you need to do so quite quickly. But if you want to play a game that is just engine building, this is going to work really well for you.

I also like the early game in this a lot. That is where the biggest strength and decision space for the engine building comes in. You need to figure out how to get your engine up and running extremely quickly. If you need to explore a round, it should be in the first two rounds. If you explore after the first two rounds, you might find that you fall too far behind.

Solo Campaign

Finally, I like the solo campaign. Mainly because it is giving you different goals to shoot for in each version of the campaign. It is not super complex, everything you do is pretty easy to keep track of, but it is different each game. Is it much of a campaign, no. But it is a good way to make it into a solo game versus just see how high a score you end up with in seven rounds. It is fun to add just a little bit of extra to what you are doing.

Who Is Jump Drive For?

This is a good filler engine building game. I don’t think it is going to be a game to build your game night around. But I think it is a solid game for when you want a filler game that does a bit more. Often times with a filler game the decision space is very limited. Here is it is pretty limited but not completely limited and what you decide matters. And because it is so fast, it fits in as a filler or a game you play two times in a night. So if you want a filler game with a bit more to it, I think that is a game that can work well.

Final Thoughts and Grade on Jump Drive

Now, I say it in the video, I might sell my physical copy. That is not because I don’t like the game, I think it is fun. But it is so fast solo and asynchronously on BGA, that I might just play it there. But I also think I have a few people I game with who might enjoy the game. So that might keep it around. And I like that even with the expansion is fits in a small box so that means that it takes up less shelf space.

Now, the downside to the game is that sometimes you just end up with a bad game. I mentioned it in what doesn’t work. And it is generally the combination of two things. It is that you have a bad game. But it is also then that someone has a great game. So while you end up with 10 points after six rounds, someone else is past 50 because they got what they needed. This is sometimes frustrating, in a BGA tournament for example, but generally I find it okay because it is so fast to play that I just play again. So for that reason, that luck is a not a big deal to me.

My Grade: B-
Gamer Grade: C+
Casual Grade: B+
Strategy (out of 10): 5
Luck (out of 10): 6

Now, just a note on luck. I mention twice how it can bite you. Once in my thoughts and once in what doesn’t work. But I only give it a 6 out of 10 for luck. The reason is you need to pivot and sometimes it won’t work. But the option to pivot helps negate some of that luck.

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10 Played Games for My Gaming Day

10. Pirates of Marcaibo

I love this one on BGA. I want to play it in person and see how that goes. It’s a bit more of a rules teach, but it shouldn’t be too bad to get played. And I think once the game gets going it moves fast. Plus fun theme and easy sell.

9. Lost Ruins of Arnak

Lost Ruins of Arnak is a game I love. I own everything for it. So I want to get it in the big box and try out the new tracks in the game and see how everything works together.

8. Mistborn

Another one where I really like the game and it’s been a while since I’ve played it. That is going to be the case for a lot of the games. I think the people who are invited thus far are going to enjoy a game like this as well.

7. The Great Split

See above, really. But after playing New York Slice for the first time it made me realize that I just want to play The Great Split because that game is a brilliant I split and you choose game.

6. Terraforming Mars: Ares Expedition

Yet another one where I just want to play it again. Terraforming Mars: Ares Expedition is a great engine building game and good for a longer game day. Like Lost Ruins of Arnak, though, I need to get it sorted out.

5. Strike

I play this one a lot. It’s on the list because it’d be a great group game there. Plus it’s a good filler/take a break from bigger games game.

4. Can’t Stop

The same can be said for Can’t Stop. Though Can’t Stop can’t support as many people. But it works well and it’s an easy one to teach and play. A good filler for when maybe one group finished before another.

3. Trekking Through Time

I’ve played this one two players and I really enjoy it two players. I want to try it with more because it’s just a fun game. It’s also a simple one to learn and play.

2. Skyrockets

You might not even know I played this game. And it is kind of a cheat to be on this part of the list. Played it two years ago at Gen Con when it was still a prototype at the Floodgate Games event. But it’s a fun real time game, so I want to play it again.

1. Heat: Pedal to the Metal

I love this game. It isn’t the easiest I think to learn. But once you wrap your head around it, it’s pretty simple to play. And it is a good game because it plays a lot.

10 Un-Played Games for My Gaming Day

10. The Gang

Now we’re in the new games. This is a cooperative poker game, so I want to give it a whirl. Plus I know it plays at higher player counts so a good one for the list.

9. Critter Kitchen

Critter Kitchen has just been sitting there waiting to get played. I want to take it a lot and see if I can get it played, but I need to open and sort it for that to happen. And it is one I probably need to learn to take along.

8. Maple Valley

Maple Valley is the follow-up to Creature Comforts. I like Creature Comforts as a good simple worker placement game. I am curious to see what Maple Valley does. They are very different games, but same great artwork and in the “same world”.

7. Ruins

Ruins is one that people were talking about going into Gen Con. It is a reworking of Custom Heroes. It is a card shedding game where you upgrade cards throughout the rounds. So I am curious to know how that system is going to work.

6. Ito

Ito is going to be one of the bigger games or party games on the list. I want to learn this one and it seem easy to play. From what I know of it, it is a good ice breaker game as well. Or maybe more of an ice breaker than an actual game.

5. Emberleaf

Emberleaf is the card dancing game. Basically a game where you play cards into a grid and then you activate the grid. The cards then move in that grid, some dropping out, others activating various affects. I like the sound of the game and great cute artwork.

4. Ghosts of Christmas

First of three trick taking games. Ghosts of Christmas sounds like a brain burner of a trick taking game where you play three tricks at once. And depending on how the previous trick goes that determines the led suit for the next one. With a Christmas Carol theme, how will it work for the past, present, and future tricks.

3. The Six of VIII

The Six of VIII is going to be a fun one to try as well. It’s about the six wives of Henry the VIII. And each trick the trump suit is going to be one of the wives. But it is more than that because how long a wife was alive is going to impact how many rounds that suit is trump. I like how thematic they managed to make a trick taking game.

2. Tricky Kids

Now, Tricky Kids is a new game as well. I would have put both Tricky Kids and Cat in the Box on the list, but I’m playing Cat in the Box on BGA right now. It is very possible that Cat in the Box will come along as well. But Tricky Kids is trick taking game where the cards don’t have a value on them. So you need to set the value, but you only have 21 points to allocate over 7 cards.

1. Expeditions

Finally, let’s go with something different and big with Expeditions from Stonemaier games. I like the idea of trying this one in a bigger group, or maybe not with everyone but with some. And I believe that one person in the group owns it and has played it before. It is nice to bring along games like that so that I don’t need to learn the rules. Or more so, so that no one needs to learn the rules because I’m not going to learn them all.

Final Thoughts

Now that is a lot of games to bring along. And I know that all of them won’t make it, but I plan on bringing a big mess of games. There are other smaller games too that are going to be stuck in because they are smaller games. So stuff like Flip 7 or Push are really likely to come along. New games like First-Class Letters and Trinket Trove (as I want to play that one with more) will come along. But this is a good list for me to start planning on what to bring. But it sounds like a good gaming day to me.

If you were to do a full gaming day, what games are you going to take off of the shelf?

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How To Play Can’t Stop

Can’t Stop is a simple game where you push up tracks to try and reach the top of three of them. You can also play a longer version of the game where you reach the top of five of them, but at lower player counts, 2-3 players.

On your turn you roll two dice. And then you create two combinations of two dice. And you move up on those tracks. So if you roll a two, three, five and five, you could move up on five and ten or seven and eight. Then you can keep pushing your luck. But on a turn the most you can move up on is three differently numbered tracks. So once you are locked into those three.

Then you decide if you want to keep rolling. If you do and you get a combination that works to move up on one of the tracks, you get to choose again. However, if you can’t create a combination of one of those three numbers you lose all your progress.

What Doesn’t Work

This is a purely luck based game. Yes, you can calculate your odds of a given roll, but you are rolling dice. Now, this is something that will also go in the what works section as well. Why, because it is what the game is. You know if you hate luck and risk, then Can’t Stop is probably all negative for you. If not, it’s a positve.

What Works

So let’s just say what I said, this game keeps the game streamlined for it just being push your luck. It’s simple but it works with that because it doesn’t try and over complicate things. Do I roll dice or not, that is the question. And with rolling two dice you generally know the odds of rolling a number.

I like that the tracks vary in length. It’s nice because obviously some combinations are longer. But now that I only need to move up three on two or twelve that makes it more tempting. At the same time, you never want to count on it. So it becomes this fun moment of getting a twelve or a two and deciding if you just want to stop because you’ve made progress.

The game is also quite fast. I say quite fast because while a single turn won’t take much time, the game could take a little bit. But that all depends on how much your people believe in the title of the game. If you can’t stop, then Can’t Stop might take a while to play.

The game also provides a lot of fun moments. Push your luck generally does when someone is on crazy streak of climbing up on column. Then there is either emotion of joy if they make it or heartbreak if they bust and lose all that progress. It’s something that is true with a lot of push your luck games, but it works well and provides good moments more often than some in Can’t Stop.

Who is Can’t Stop For?

Do you like push your luck? Can’t Stop is a game for you. Do you hate push your luck? Don’t get Can’t Stop. There, it is that simple.

Final Thoughts and Grade on Can’t Stop

I like this game. I think it works really well on BGA, and it is going to be one that I play a ton of on BGA. Especially at two players it is a game that just flies asynchronously. And it’s always fun to come back and see where you opponent has gotten to.

The game also just provides a lot of great moments. Can I sneak in and steal a number from you if I get really hot. Or do I risk it to keep rolling once I have made some progress because I’m on five, seven and eight and the odds or one of those coming up are good. And that is just fun.

Really, I think that best describes my time with Can’t Stop. The game is just fun with how it plays. It isn’t complex, it isn’t long, but it just works. It is what you want for a push your luck game. Some push your luck games try and add in too much and lose being fun. Others have it as smaller parts and works, but this one is that right level of just pushing your luck.

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

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How To Play Verso

Verso is a push your luck run collection game. You create runs of numbers in three different colors and then you trade them in for points. Or you can also get points if you complete a 3 by 3 grid of cards, three of each color. Though you can have more of each color when you create that grid.

Player Turn

On your turn you have a decision to make. You take the top card of the deck and you either add that card, or you flip it and add that card. The cards are double sided so there is always a card that is face up. When you decide to flip a card you can not flip it back to the side it was on.

But you know something about it before you flip it. The number is always going to be one higher or lower, though the numbers do wrap from 1 to 6 or 6 to 1. And it is going to be one of the other two colors. If you flip it and it is the same number as another one in your grid, you discard that card and you don’t add it to your play area.

Scoring

Instead of playing out a card, you can score a run of cards. You score points for each scoring symbol on the cards in the run of cards. And then you discard the two highest valued cards from the run. When you score a color, you also cause your opponents to flip the highest value card they have of that color. So it is possible that will help them complete their 3 x 3 grid or cause them to discard a card or just give them a card in another color.

When you complete a 3 x 3 grid you score seven points.

End Game

As I said, when you end the game the player with the most points wins from scored cards. The game is over when the deck runs out of cards. Then players have one last turn to bank another run of cards.

What Doesn’t Work

The game is fairly basic and a lot of the decisions generally play themselves. There is a push your luck element where you can decide to flip and it might be discarded, but it might help. Because of that, the luck of the game is relatively high. Is the top card of the deck of cards one that is good for me, great, if not, too bad, hope it flips into something good, or maybe I’ll start collecting another color.

What Works

The game is fast. Because that decision space is limited games, even on BGA, being played asynchronously go by very quickly. That means it is a solid filler style of game.

The game also offers multiple scoring of cards which is interesting. Because you can create a long run, say two through six, it is possible to score that, lose the five and the six from the end and then next turn score two through four.

Pushing your luck is also interesting in the game. A normal run of cards, say you score a run of three cards, is probably going to be either seven or five points for you. So do you push to try and complete that 3 by 3 grid of cards? Seven points from that is a fair number of points.

Who is Verso For?

I think it’s a good at a brewery filler sort of game. It is so simple that it’s easy to play wherever and it won’t take up mush room to play. And it’s one that is easy to shuffle up and play it again. For a number of people, though, I think that Verso is going to be too light and have too few decisions in what you do in the game.

Final Thoughts and Grade on Verso

I think that this game is fine. Like I said, it in some ways plays itself at times. And because it isn’t a couple of cards that you have options to, that element of the game is just a bit too simple. The decision space is really around, do I push for a complete grid and do I flip this card even though I can play it because it might be better if it’s this, but I might lose it if it’s that. And generally, it’s probably just better to keep it as it is in that case.

Mainly, I think that Verso, while being a little filler is going to be one that doesn’t have the shelf life of other fillers. When I think and compare it to Ninjan or Scratch & Catch, two other small card games I’ve learned recently that are fillers, both of those have more interesting game play to them. Yes, I am saying that rock, paper, scissors is more interesting. But it’s more this games game play never feels like it changes. Nor does it give you stand-up moments of “I can’t believe you did that.” or “That worked perfectly.”

My Grade: C
Gamer Grade: D-
Casual Grade: B
Luck (out of 10): 7
Strategy (out of 10: 3

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