How To Play Turing Machine

Turing Machine is a game where players compete to complete a three digit code. There are specific scenarios that you can do in the rule book. Or there is an app that has a ton more including daily challenges you can do for yourself.

So how does this work? Well, each player in secret creates a three digit code. Then they compare that against three (or fewer) of the criteria. Based off of the results, whether is passes or fails the criteria, someone either guesses or you keep going and create new numbers. The person who can solve the puzzle in the fewest rounds and queries is the winner.

So How Does It Work?

When you create a number you take some tiles. These tiles correspond with the number and color. You start by layering your first number on the bottom and stack up from there. Then you take the criteria card and flip it over so that the back side is on on the back of your number. It will show you a single opening which is going to correspond to a true or false assertion.

Which now asks, what are those assertions? It might be something like, the purple number is even or odd. Or it could be, there is a pair or numbers in the number, true or false. Now those both are very binary in nature. Either it is true that there is a pair of matching numbers or not. But others might be more complex. Is the yellow number greater than purple and blue, or is purple greater than yellow or blue, or is blue greater than purple or yellow. That has three options. So when you check, you know if only one of those is true or false, the one you are testing for based on your number.

Deduction and Guessing

As you test things you start to eliminate numbers and options as you go. The order is always the same as to what color number is first. And the rules will always let you nail down a single option. One of the big learning elements of the game is about figuring out how to create numbers that maybe make a certain assertion irrelevant because you figure out that answer another way.

When you decide that you know it, you get a guess. If you make your guess you complete it. If multiple people guess on the same round of the game, you check and see who completed it in the fewest number of checks. And if it is the same, both people tie.

What Doesn’t Work

I got nothing for this section. But the possible negative for the game going to be talked about in who it is for. Because it’s not really a negative, it is just important information.

What Works

The quality of the system is great. Now I only have played it on BGA, so I don’t own it, yet. But it is one that I want to get. And I want to get it because it is slick how it sets up and how you can play. They do a good job of making everything clear for setting up a puzzle without giving anything away.

That leads into ease of play. Being able to grab a scenario from online at the difficulty that you want is great. And it can go from standard, to harder to extremely hard depending on what parameters you put it. But no matter the difficulty level they make it easy to set-up.

I appreciate the changing difficulty levels as well. It really let’s me puzzle through at the level I want for a given play of the game. And it definitely does ramp up the challenge. I know people who would quickly be up for the challenges at the higher level. I also know people who would probably never want to move up to a higher level. Or at least it would take a while. So I like that selecting the level.

Who is Turing Machine For?

This is a hard logic puzzle. This doesn’t mean that it’s hard, per se. What is means is that there is nothing more than logic in the game. If you don’t like just sitting down and puzzling out what is happening this game is not for you. And it is a brain burner. I think it is a game that some people will know they won’t like. I think it is a game that after playing once you know if you like it or not as well.

Final Thoughts and Grade on Turing Machine

I find that I enjoy this game a lot. Turing Machine is a lot of fun, in doses. Now, I think I want to own a copy of it. Mainly because I want to, when I have an office space, set it up and leave it set-up so I can play the daily puzzle every day. And once in a while I might take it down to play with others, but it’d be a good brain burner to start a day with.

That said, I also know that this is not a game for everyone. So as I think about adding it to my collection, it is more about adding it for myself versus adding it to play with others. It is a great puzzle and thinky game. The downside is that it is purely a game where you are doing logic and deduction. It is great for some people and horrible for others, it just depends on how your mind works. And for me, I can make it work.

My Grade: A-
Gamer Grade: A or F
Casual Grade: A or F
Strategy (out of 10) – think logic: 9
Luck (out of 10): 0

Obviously a note on that gamer and casual grade. This is not a game that distinguishes between gamers or non-gamers. You might be better off being a gamer to learn the rules. But if you love a good logic puzzle but aren’t a gamer, you might love this game. If you are a gamer but you hate logic puzzles you won’t like this game. It is hard to give a grade beyond how much I like it, which is quite a lot.

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How To Play Imhotep

Imhotep is a pretty simple game to play. On your turn you take one of three actions. You either add a stone from your quarry to a ship. You sail a ship to one of the locations. Or you gather more stone so it is ready for you to use. That’s it, the three actions that you do, and you do them over six rounds until all four ships have sailed to locations.

When you sail a boat you go to one of those different locations. But you can’t sail a boat unless it has enough stones on it. And you can sail any boat. You don’t need stones to be on the boat to sail it. So let’s talk about the locations you can sail to.

Locations

The main part of the game are the five locations. Each one of them is going to give you something different to do, but generally it’s about placing your cubes and scoring points. There is one that is different that we’ll get to, and how each scores points is different.

Obelisks

The Obelisks will be the first location that I talk about. When you sail to that location you add your stones to your obelisk as do your opponents. Whomever at the end of the game has the most stones on their obelisk is going to score the most points, and then fewer points as you go down in height.

Tomb

Next up there is the Tomb. The tomb scores at the end of the game and you score for your areas in the tomb. The larger the area that more points it’s going to score for as scoring scales. And each of your areas is going to score separately at the end of the game. Stones for the tomb and the rest of them are always placed in the order they come off the boat, front to back.

Temple

Then we have the Temple. The temple scores each round. And you score points for each of your cubes visible from the top. Depending on player count the temple is longer and offers more scoring each round that way. Once the temple reaches it maximum length for the player count, you start a second row.

Pyramid

After the temple is going to be Pyramid. The pyramid is built up throughout the game. You start with a three by three base level. Then as you move up it goes to two by two and then a single one on top. Each of the spots has a specific value associated with it. And if more stones are brought to the pyramid than can be placed, each extra stone scores a single point.

Market

Finally there is the Market. The Market doesn’t give you points directly. In the market you gain cards. The cards might give you a special action, bonus scoring for a location, an immediate affect, or set collection scoring. The two scoring you just keep by you for the end of the game. The action will take place instead of your main action. And the immediate affect is, well, immediate.

After six rounds are played the total scoring is tallied. And the player with the most points is going to win the game. I’m sure that there are tiebreakers as well, but you can figure those out when and if you need them.

What Doesn’t Work

I do think there is one flaw that can happen in the game. The game can get stuck in a rut if players aren’t being a bit daring. What do I mean by that? It is probably to your advantage to fill up a boat before sailing it. Because that’s going to limit the number of cubes you can get out. If everyone does that, though, then the game can become stale. Yes, it matters where you end up with your stone still, but it loses some of the fun of the game.

I have only played a game where this became an issue. And I think that is because once a player starts doing it, all other players need to follow suit at least somewhat. Otherwise the one player is potentially going to run away with the stone advantage. Now, you can also stick them in spots, especially just giving them the most stones on the obelisk, but it does make the game less fun.

What Works

So that is a flaw with the game up there. But otherwise I really think the game can sing when played as it’s meant to be played. The game works really well when players are sailing boats early, either to optimize their scoring or the hurt others. And that’s the great cat and mouse of the game. You play a single stone into a boat that holds a single stone, I might sail that to the spot that is least useful for you. It really works best when you get in the other people’s way.

I also like how all of the scoring is different. Each location is going to give you some solid points throughout or at the end of the game. And the scoring you can get from the market, like a point for every three stones in the temple, for example, helps you formulate a strategy because those bonus points can help a lot. It also means that your strategy can be different every game if you want.

Next up, I think the game nails the game speed of play and game length. You feel like you get to do a bunch Imhotep. But it always feels like you want to do just a bit more. Especially when you see a partially filled ship sail, I always wish I could have gotten one more stone on it. But turns go fast, and the game with six rounds lets you do a lot and really optimize some scoring.

Who is Imhotep For?

I think this is a good game for a lot of people. Mainly because it is simple to learn what to do in the game. Then as you play you get to explore more scoring options and challenges of the game. And because there isn’t a ton of variety in the game, it’s going to be one that is easy for people to pull back out and play again.

Final Thoughts on Imhotep

I very much enjoy this game. In fact I picked up a copy of it. And when I can find the New Dynasty Expansion for it I will. The downside is that the expansion is not easy to come by so it’s not that cheap. And the most reasonable priced ones that I found on eBay didn’t ship to the US, to bummer for me.

But that is it that got me to buy the game? I think it’s the different scoring mechanisms. Each of them really does give you a great new way to play the game. And while they are fixed, so I’m a little bit worried that it might become stale over time, it is an easy to play and table game. It falls into that category of a game that I’ll like to pull off the shelf once or twice a year when I don’t know what else to play and I want to a puzzle to get to that is going to be different each time.

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

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How to Play Luxor

Like I said above, Luxor is an archeologist movement game where you are trying to to collect sets and other scoring tiles. You start with two archeologists, and then you play a card to move one of them. That determines how far they move which will determine what tile they land on.

Gaining Tiles

The tiles are where the set collection and scoring come in. Some of the tiles require a certain number of archeologists to get them. If you are the one to get it, you add it to your collection of artifacts. Each artifact has an in game scoring point total, higher points require more archologists, and can be part of a set at the end of the game. Tiles also give you other things like a key, scarab, a wild token, or a better card to add to your hand.

Hand Management

Now, there are some special rules for playing and getting cards. When you play out a card you must pick it from either end and you can’t rearrange your hand. And when you get a new card it must go in the middle. So as you take turns the cards will get pushed from the middle to the outside of your hand.

Archologists

Also as you move further into the pyramid, you unlock more archeologists. Those archeologists get moved from their unlock spot to the starting location.

End Game

The game is going to end when two archeologists reach the final chamber. To move into the final chamber you need the exact number and a key. Now keys can be worth a point at the end of the game as well, but generally you get it to try and make it into that final chamber. There you grab a sarcophagus which is going to give you more points. And once two archeologists are in the final chamber, they can both be from the same player, the game end is trigger. And game end scoring occurs for sets and other hidden scoring.

What Doesn’t Work

This is a game that says it’s for 2-4 players, and I think it’s like a lot of more puzzle and planning games interaction changes at different player counts. At two or three I can plan out my moves a bit more because I know generally what range my opponents can move and where I stand with them. At four players the game is going to feel a lot more random in what you do because there is so much that can change. Sure you might plan some, but it’ll be less.

To add to that, at higher player counts it eats into your scoring as well. The number of tiles in the game doesn’t change. And I think that additional randomness and lower scoring make it feel a little bit less fun. Now it’s more adaptive and gives you more reactionary planning and the player who is best at that will win, but it’s not as streamlined into good strategy and setting up turns.

What Works

Decision Space

Firstly, I really like the card system. It makes the game really simple to play. As a player I can play one of two cards. I decide which one to play and then I look at my workers and see which one to move. So, let’s say I unlock all my archeologists at the end of the game, I am limited to 10 total choices. Two cards and five archeologists. It’s never too much, and you know that some are just not worth moving no matter what.

It is also interesting in a good way with how you add cards into your hand and how cards flow through. Sure, I talked about the simplicity of knowing what moves you have, but you see your upcoming moves. You know next two the two cards that you’ll have. So there is more strategy there, and that is why I called out the added randomness at four players. To me, this is probably ideal at two or three players, probably three, for that bit of randomness and more interaction of racing for spots, but not too much. Because I like to plan with my cards.

Game Speed

The game is also a quick game. I talked about how there is limited decision making on the turns, so it means you take your turn quickly. And while you might bog down once or twice during a game, that is going to be mainly limited. That means for a game with a number of moving pieces, it moves along quite quickly.

Scoring

I also like the scoring in the game as a final thing. There is a good amount of open knowledge for scoring, and there is hidden scoring too. That is a nice balance for me because I like to know where I’m at, but not how it’s going to end. So if I fall behind, I know when to push, if I’m ahead, I might push for the end game. Or I might push for more hidden scoring to keep people guessing. But it is also nice because that means end game scoring doesn’t take too long.

Who Is Luxor For?

For me, this is a game for people who like games with some strategy. It isn’t going to be heavy strategy, but enough strategy that as you play it, you feel like your brain is working. It’s almost an introduction to strategy games with just a little bit on top with the card system. But generally it is going to be something a lot of players can enjoy and share with others.

Final Thoughts on Luxor

I enjoy this game a lot. It’s that light plus weight strategy game for me. And I think it works well for me because I don’t feel like I’m overwhelmed with anything in playing it. I know my decision space at the end of each turn, and I work with it from there. Yes, you might mess up a plan, but then it’s a pretty quick pivot for the game.

I do think it does suffer a bit more at four players. While four players isn’t bad, it does feel like you can plan less. And with the hand system that it uses, I want to be able to plan. I want to feel clever for what is in my hand, and while it’s almost always an obvious move, it’s still nice to pull that off.

My Grade: B+
Strategy Grade: B+
Luck Grade: C-

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How to Play The Pirates of Maracaibo

Firstly, this isn’t going to be an 100% overview of everything. There are some solid videos on that. And I’ll link one of those down below because there is a lot going on in this game. The basics of the game are pretty simple. Collect the most points and you win the game after three times sailing in to Maracaibo.

Movement

To do that, your general turn action is going to be pretty standard in everything that you do. You move your ship from left to right, and you always need to move at least one column right towards Maracaibo. You can move it up to three spaces, but, like I said, one needs to be to the right and it can be up and down in the columns as well.

Then you end on a spot. The spots offer various different things. There are upgrades of three types, goods, ship, and crew that you can add to your ship. Those will give you either an immediate action or an ongoing bonus. If you buy that card, you add it to your tableau and a new card replaces it.

Or the spot might be an adventure spot, I guess I’ll call it. This allows you to place an upgrade cube on your ship and then you take an action or grab some money, depending on what the options are. This card, however, doesn’t leave it’s spot. And we’ll talk about what those actions can be in a second.

Or you might land a spot that is a residence of sorts. These have a cost associated with them, but they will give you a scoring bonus if you take certain actions in the game.

Location Actions

There are a number of location actions, but generally, they are limited to a few things. So we’ll cover the most common ones here.

You can explore. There is an exploration track that all players move on. When you explore you explore a given distance, based off the card you are activating. It might be the spot you are on, or it might allow you to move a maximum number of spaces. This can be modified by any upgrades that you have. And you don’t need to move the whole distance, so you determine the spot you end on, and that gives you a bonus.

Next you can combat. The combat is not combat against other players. It is how you get treasure in the game. So you roll three dice, one yellow, one green, and one white. They each represent a different treasure type. You select one of those rolls and you spend the pips on the dice, and any bonus you might add to it, to gain gems, points, and coins, and possibly more.

I am going to stop here. There are definitely more spots where you can go and do different things. But generally, these are going to be the ones that standout as some of your bigger options.

Scoring Points

You score points in a lot of different ways in the game. At the end of the game you get points for the treasure you have and you have buried. Burying gives you a fixed number of points per treasure. The treasure in general though, each one has a “market” that goes with it and that is going to score you points.

You also score points at the end of each round for upgrades you have. Some upgrades are going to give you money, some give you points. And each round ends when someone reaches Maracaibo.

Another way to get points is by completing quests. Quests have two different scoring options. There is a easier option and a more difficult option. The more difficult option, generally just getting more of or going further on a track than the easier option. And these are scored at the end of the game.

If you want to know more, watch the video above. But that is some of the basics as to how this game works.

What Doesn’t Work

It’s not a negative so much as a beware for the game. There is a lot going on in the game. And the strategies can very greatly. So there is a lot to keep track of and think about as you play. I’ve played quite a number of games and I’m still finding strategies and realizing things that I should or could be doing in the game. And I try different strategies often in games. But it is going to feel overwhelming at the beginning and it is going to not be for some people because of that.

The game also has potential turns where you don’t do much. Now, you generally don’t do much because you ran out of money. And the game gives you money when you can’t do anything. But it doesn’t feel as good as when you can do something, obviously. So it might feel like you waste turns, and it kind of is, if you are just grabbing money and putting yourself behind the eight ball so to speak.

What Works

All the choices work in the game. I know I just said there is a lot going on in the game. But that’s more in terms of, this might look like a pirate game that you want to play, but it might not work for some gamers. We’ll talk about that more later. But the choices are fun and all of the choices, unless you get stuck gathering coins, can help progress a strategy. And you decide which way you want to go and how deep you want to go into all of them as you play.

That said, there are a lot of choices but the game is not too complex. I appreciate how straightforward a turn is. You move your ship and you do that action whether it’s explore, purchase a card, gain treasure, whatever it might be. You need to strategize in the game, but it isn’t so overwhelming that it bogs the game down because the turns are so straightforward.

The game also is a nice length. This is something that I think could get lost in it. It says it’s about 25 minutes per player, and that seems about right. So a four player game is going to take a while, but with the number of turns that happen in the game, it isn’t going to be excessive downtime, just a bunch of turns. And for a game with this much going on, there is a chance that you could end up with a lot of downtime if you aren’t careful.

Who is Pirates of Maracaibo For?

I think this is a game for people who enjoy a good thinky game. It reminds me of the weight in some ways of Lost Ruins of Arnak. And I think I think of it some because of the theme in the game. But also I think of it because that one has a bunch going on in the game, and you need to know what they are, but generally a single turn isn’t highly complicated. If you like Lost Ruins of Arnak, I think that Pirates of Maracaibo is going to be a good game for you.

Final Thoughts on Pirates of Maracaibo

So finally, let’s talk about it, is this game for me? This is one of a few games that I’ve gotten because I’ve played them on BGA. The other three being River of Gold, Cacao and Pyramido. I very much enjoy this game and I think it’s that sweet spot for me. Now, I love Lost Ruins of Arnak. I don’t know that I love Pirates of Maracaibo that much, but it’s still an amazing game.

For me it’s that depth of strategy in the Pirates of Maracaibo. And while you start out all being the same, you quickly become different as you gain cards and upgrade your ship. That is another really nice thing. I don’t feel like I’m always fighting over the same thing as another player. Sure in four players you might, so I might prefer it as a two or three player game (and you can play solo) but at three, which I’ve played a handful of times, you don’t get in the way too much. Sometimes enough that you might need to pivot on a planned turn, but never to the point where you are locked into luck in the game.

My Grade: A
Strategy: A
Luck: D

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How To Play ROVE

ROVE is a solo only game where you are trying to complete seven missions. In each mission you need to configure the placement of various modules from the ROVE lander that has broken. To do this, you spend energy. One energy allows you to activate a card. So let’s talk about how it works with the modules.

Each module has a specific way that it can move and a special power. The special powers, however, are only a single use per game. And you need to complete seven missions. So you plan carefully when you use those powers. Otherwise the modules move in different ways. One needs to cross over another module but it can move in any direction. A couple others can just cross over modules but might move only diagonally, for example.

Once you complete one mission you flip out a new mission card and you refresh your energy cards so that you have five, on normal, or fewer, four or three for hard and impossible settings. You do this until you have seven cards into play for missions and you either have run out of energy trying to complete a mission or you complete them all. If you do, you win.

What Doesn’t Work

This game takes up a bit of space. As you move all of the cards around things are going to shift a fair amount. So for a solo game that is just 18 cards, and six of them really in play that take up so mush space, it’s a bit of a table hog. Now that said, it’s really not that much space. But let’s say it’s not a game that you could easily play on a TV tray or something like that, it needs more space.

What Works

I like the different levels that you can play the game at. I played twice and the second game, on hard, I felt like it was actually a bit more challenging. When you get energy cards and you have two three energies available, you never really feel the crunch of movement. But with four cards and you just have twos and ones, well there is more intensity there. I think that hard is probably where I’ll play the game most, though I’m sure I’ll dabble with impossible and lose quickly.

The game is also fast. I was worried when I pulled the game off the shelf and learned the rules that with seven missions it’d be a very slow game. But it’s definitely not a slow game. I got through two plays in about half an hour. And that’s a great amount of time for a game like this. Each mission is it’s own puzzle, but you quickly figure out how to solve them as you go and you come up with a plan before you start moving cards around.

Finally, it’s a silly little thing, but I like how the cards create a picture, or panorama as you go. And you get to see what the silly little robot is doing, that’s a great fun element to the game. It takes what’s really a very mechanical puzzle of a game and gives you a goofy little element to it to inject the theme. It’s something that works well, and is just that nice little bit of flavor.

Who Is ROVE For?

This is going to be for that person who loves solo games. Sometimes a solo game could maybe be a two player game if you want to just work together and talk through ideas. But ROVE is really focused down on figuring out that challenge as to where you place everything. And because of that it’s a bit of a quieter game. Obviously I talked through it all on my video, but off camera, I think I’d just play it as a quieter time, so it’s truly a solo puzzle of a game.

My Final Thoughts on ROVE

I enjoyed ROVE quite well. The theme is fun and it is really bolstered by the little artwork in the game. Without that, the game really focuses on functional cards, which isn’t a bad thing, more just a statement of how the cards are in the game.

I want to know what the expansions add to the game. Because, I didn’t mention this as a negative, because the game balances for it, I feel like the game is a bit easy on the normal mode. Hard feels like a normal mode to me and I think that impossible could even be a good challenge from time to time, though I do expect that to be near impossible. But if the expansions add a little bit of complexity to the game, where it feels like the challenge would be harder, than I think my grade on the game would go even higher.

My Grade: B
Strategy: A
Luck: D

Just a reminder, that I changed up the scales so that you can know how lucky or strategic a game is. ROVE is very strategic in nature. Not maybe for super long term planning, but when it comes down to have everything works. And there is some luck in what is flipped, but it’s very minimal for the game. It’s more that you need to be good at having reactive strategy.

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How To Play Rallyman Dirt

Rallyman Dirt is a rally racing game. What you need to know about that is that it’s not like Nascar or F1 where you have all the cars on the track at the same time. This is still about going the fastest, but blocking people and passing isn’t a part of what you’re doing.

Plan Your Route

On your turn you plan out your route. This means that you lay out your dice from gears 1 through 6 and two for coasting. You decide how many you want to use to create your route. You probably won’t use all of them because you need to hit certain speeds at certain corners otherwise you go out of control. And you still might go out of control because once you plan out your route you have a choice on how to roll your dice.

Rolling Your Dice

You either roll all out or you can roll a bit more safely and strategically. Why might you not want to do the safer option? Well, because you get a bonus if you go all out. When you go all out you grab all the dice from your route and roll them all at once. If you get three (or more) hazard symbols you’re going to lose control. So you plan back out your route, figure out where you lose control and draw negative things, which might be using fewer dice. But you get negative seconds for going all out.

Or you can roll more safely. That involves rolling one die at a time. So you decide when you want to stop and that means that you can stop before it goes out of control, but if you get two hazards early, you might still choose to push yourself further so that you can get a higher speed, because of your time, which I’ll talk about next.

Your Time

After you roll your dice, you get your time. This time card is going to give you a time that you add together at the end of the race. As well as it lets you know what gear you finished in. The faster you go, the shorter the time. In fact, if you’re in sixth gear, at the end, and you go all out with five dice, you get a 10 second card, for sixth gear, and negative five seconds for going all out.

Each gear is going to give you a different amount of time. But if you lose control, they are all (kind of) the same. If you lose control you flip over the card, from the gear you were in, and you get one minute added to your time. And then you draw out some tokens that might have negative effects.

Game Structure

The structure of the game is pretty unique. If you are the first player, you go twice in a row. That means that you should be far enough down the track that other people won’t catch you. Then the second player goes, but they go once. If you play with more than two people, turn order then goes back to the first player and then the second player before the third player. This is so everyone stays evenly spaced on the track.

You also can play a single race. But that generally puts the leader at a disadvantage. They go first to set the track, basically, and that means that their coasting dice are riskier than other players. So often you play a rally in several stages. Whomever has the fastest overall time at the end of a stage is the leader for the next stage and gets the riskier dice. This helps balance a couple of things. First it means you are less likely to get a runaway leader. But it also is meant to simulate how the first driver on a course won’t know it as well.

What Doesn’t Work

So, I think there are a couple of elements that might be a bit tricky for some players. First off the turn order is weird. It’s not a massive negative, but it’s an interesting thing to explain. I feel like it works best when I explain what rally racing is. Otherwise people thing racing, everyone is on the track at once. Nope, that’s not how this is going to work, and players need to understand that to some extent. It also means in a higher player count game, someone might be about finishing a leg of the rally by the time the last player is starting.

The dice are also a bit tricky to teach. Not too bad once you get into it, but there is a bit that needs to make sense about plotting out your path and seeing how far you go and how much you want to push your luck. And also the difference between the dice, or how you want to calculate the odds that you’ll crash or not.

What Works

Firstly, the push your luck works really well. I love to grab that handful of dice, probably five or six, and roll it and push my luck to get those negative seconds. Does it workout all the time, most certainly not. But I really like that element of the game because that’s where you get that high speed feel to the game.

I also really like how you need to plan out your movement. You know what the whole course looks like, and you know the speeds you want to hit. You want to go as fast as you can and as far as you can. But sometimes you need to think about how you can slam it into the corner, do you use the brakes to slow down faster? Of course, slamming on your brakes gives you more of a chance to lose control. It is important to figure out that rhythm for the track that is built.

The timing is another area that I like. I like how if you go out of control on a lower gear, it’s less bad. Sure it’s more time, but you draw out fewer potentially bad tokens. But even if you go far, ending in first gear as compared to even third gear is a difference of twenty seconds. So you need to play around with what gear you want to end up in, how far you want to go, and how it sets you up for future corners.

Who is Rallyman Dirt For?

Firstly, I think that people who like racing games will enjoy this game. But along with that, you can’t just like racing games, you need to enjoy push your luck. Yes, you might just be able to play it safe and get around without crashing. But if someone is pushing their luck and does that, they will have destroyed you with their negative seconds. So you need to be at least somewhat comfortable with that.

My Final Thoughts on Rallyman Dirt

I really enjoy this game. I want to quick talk about the BGA implementation of this. It’s great, with the caveat of it’s great on the computer. On a phone selecting which late you want to be in or if you want to be drifting when you can versus just driving hard into the corner, that’s hard to get clicked. But that’s only an issue with the game online and only on your phone.

In person the game is great as well. I do think that there are elements of it that are maybe slightly better online. Especially in a higher player count game, you might be sitting there for a little bit. But to race a whole rally, let’s say three games in a night, and determine the champion, that is a ton of fun. And Rallyman Dirt, while it gives you a lot of fun challenge with dealing with corners and other hazards, is really a beer and pretzels game. By that I mean you want to push your luck, you want to roll a big handful of dice and you want to see what happens.

My Grade: A
Strategy Grade: C
Lucky Grade: A

So I switched up my grading just a little bit. I am going from gamer and casual. While I like those metrics, not all people steeped in the hobby love heavy strategy games. Likewise, people who are more casually in the hobby might like strategy a lot. So I think that strategy and luck scores are better to let you know if it’s a game for you.

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How To Play River Valley Glassworks

How To Win

In River Valley Glassworks you try and collect the most glass, or really glass in the best columns to score the most points. Scoring is done in both rows and columns. When you score a column you score your two highest columns, and if there is a tie, the ones further left, because they give fewer points. And for rows, you score each row that starts on the left edge and then as far right as you can until you hit a gap. That’s mainly it for scoring, you might end up with negative tiles, but how you do that, we’ll talk about as I go through how you play.

Your Actions

On your turn you place one tile from your bag onto the river. When you place the tile you place it on the tile with the matching shape. The only way to break this rule is place out two matching shapes onto any location. Basically, two for one for a wild resource. Then you take the glass from either of the adjacent river sections. You place those pieces onto your scoring board. Each new color goes in a new column, and a repeated color goes to the next highest available row for that column.

When you are down to one glass piece tile or out of glass piece tiles you take four of the five glass pieces from the lake. That’s your other option and then you continue playing as normal. And you keep track of your glass pieces until you get up to 17 on your board or someone else does. Then everyone completes the round and there is one more round after that.

One thing you need to be aware of is filling columns and rows. It is good to do because you gain more points. However, if you take a piece of glass you can’t place, that goes into your trash area. Your trash counts for negative three points at the end of the game.

What Doesn’t Work?

I find that most of the game works for me. I think there is one element that is trickier to remember. That is keeping track of the stones. They give you a nice spot to tick that up, but it is trickier to remember. So it is something that only works so well. It’s not a major negative. But I think it is a piece that is easy to forget. So when you play River Valley Glassworks, it’s a rule to be aware of.

The other rule to be aware of, and again not a major negative, is the row scoring. I try and explain the row scoring at least twice. Why, because it rarely gets understood the first time. Or it is rarely understood until you play a few stones out. Maybe that is the best way, don’t teach the rule until everyone has taken two turns. For some people that is going to work. For other people, they want to know it right away.

What I Like

River Valley Glassworks is good for me because it is a simple game. I wrote out the actions and that is it for them. There is not a more complex action that I skipped. You either play out glass or you take glass from the lake. And then as you place on your board, that part is simple as well. So I love how easy it is to teach and play the game, besides the rule for scoring rows.

To go with that, River Valley Glassworks is a fast playing game. This is definitely because of limited options. But once you know what to do, you just figure out your best play and go for it. Sometimes it might require a little math in your head, but never too much. And the number of options is small enough that no single turn is going to take too long. And the longest turns happen at the end of the game in those last two rounds when you know it will end soon and you want to get as many points as you can.

I also appreciate the balance of luck and strategy. Some of it is that you get lucky with what is one the river sections. But there is some thought and strategy as to how you place it on your board. Certain colors of glass are less common. So I want those earlier because the more common are better later. Why, because they give you more points if you get a taller column. But at the same time, you want them earlier because that might mean you get more rows filled in. So it’s a nice balance of figuring out your strategy for that game and the luck of the glass.

Who Is This For?

I think that this is a great family game and a great filler game. Because of the ease to teach the game, it can come to the table fast. And there is basically no language in the game that you need to worry about. So as long as a kid can understand the scoring, they can play the game. What I want to do soon is try this as a soli game and see how that goes. Because it’s easy to get to the table and a lot of fun to play with all sorts of different groups.

Final Thoughts on River Valley Glassworks

I enjoy this game because it is that balance of luck and strategy. You certainly can plan to go one direction in the game, rows of columns and find that you pivot part way through because things weren’t going your way. But if things really seem like they aren’t, that’s okay. The game is fast and you just play it again. It’s nice for being a filler that way, or one that you might play multiple times in an evening.

I want to explore the solo mode still as well. I think that it will be one that I stream maybe next Wednesday (8/21/24) on Malts and Meeples. Because I want to know if it’s as fun, or if it’s less fun, because I can see it going either way.

And while I expect it won’t be for some people because of the luck. I think that a lot of people will enjoy it. And with the nice tactile nature of the game, this is one that should be popular. The question will be, is it a game that will break into the masses. Because it has that mass appeal to it, I think, which a lot of more hobby board games, or especially crowdfunding board games, tend to miss.

My Grade: B+
Casual Grade: A
Gamer Grade: C+

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How to Play Forest Shuffle?

In Forest Shuffle, you try and build the forest that is going to give you the most points. To do this, you need to play out trees and then surround them with animals and other vegetation. Each card has a cost and some benefit to scoring. When all three winter cards are drawn, the game immediately ends. And the player with the most points wins, as I said.

On your turn you either play a card from your hand using other cards from your hand to pay the cost, or you draw two cards. When you play out cards there a few things to note. Firstly, there are three types of cards, left and right divided cards, up and down divided cards, and tree cards. To play the first two, you already need a tree in place. And when you play a tree, it costs one card from the deck of cards. And with a few exceptions you play only a single card above, below, and to the left and right of your tree. You do so that half the card is covered up by the tree.

Dual Purpose (and more) Cards

Cards get used for basically two things, you either play them out to score points in your tableau or you use them pay for other cards. But there is a risk with that. As you pay for cards it goes into a discard row. When that discard row gets to 11 or more cards, it wipes. But until then, those cards are ones that players can pick up with their draw. So you need to pay attention to what other players are doing to try and avoid setting them up.

But it’s also dual purpose in that the non-tree cards are split in two. Either a top and bottom halves or left and right halves. Each half is going to score in a different way. So I pick which side I want to use, and that side is the cost that I need to pay. Some some might be free, but is their scoring as good or is it worth it to pay more? That all depends on the synergies that you have.

Bonus Powers

Let’s do a little aside on the bonus powers you can activate. This is a trickier element of the game, but as you play out cards they might have a color symbol on them that’s kind of an arrow or chevron. If you pay for that card with cards that have that color, you get the bonus. And that bonus is sometimes great. It might be draw more cards, or take a whole next turn. But they make it good and tricky so you can’t just play the card, you need to set your hand up with the right colors to spend.

Luck Level

I think it is important to talk about the luck level in the game as well. I find that it is a nice balance of luck and strategy. Often times the strategy that you pick to start the game, let’s say, I want to get hares, or butterflies, or lots of trees, that is a valid strategy throughout your game. But there is an element of luck and the potential need to pivot.

So you can also just push for what you need. You never can have more than ten cards, but with ten cards there is always something you can play. So you might just find that you draw to get the strategy that you want to work. If you need more hares, you draw two cards blind and hope you get them. Eventually you’ll find what you need.

But there is a level of luck to the game. And at times you might find that you need to pivot. If all I see are people discarding bats, maybe I should start collecting and synergizing around bats. But the further you get into the game, the more focused you are apt to be in what you play.

Is There A Lot To Take In?

That, I think, is both a yes and a no. At the start of the game, there is a lot to take in, especially in your first game. The more games that you play, the less you need to read because you just know a lot of the time. But when you start, you often need to spend some time with your hand trying to figure out what direction it is leaning.

And the more you play the game, the easier it is just to know with a quick glance, nothing is that complex about the game. So as you gain familiarity with all the symbols, which there aren’t that many, the game is a whole lot faster to play. And as you focus your strategy it becomes even faster to look and see what you need, just by the type of animal or symbols an animal or tree gives you.

Who is Forest Shuffle For?

Honestly, I think that this game is going to be for most people. It might be a bit too light for some people, but it’s a good blend of strategy and planning and then making decisions based off of what comes up. And the them is very accessible, building out a forest, that makes sense and doesn’t feel too nerdy, like a fantasy or sci-fi game. And I think even for people who like heavier games, this one isn’t too long, so it’s a good palette cleanser.

Final Thoughts and Grade for Forest Shuffle

I really enjoy this game. I like to play it both in person and on Board Game Arena. It is one that works well to play asynchronously. But in person is always better for a game. But it’s that nice balance of just enough strategy and planning without an overwhelming amount of decisions. And the game is almost always positive in what it does. Don’t get a card you want from a draw, that’s okay, those cards can now be used to pay for stuff. It’s simple, elegant and with a good theme, so a very fun time.

My Grade: A
Gamer Grade: B+
Casual Grade: A

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Moonlight Castle

We’ll start with Moonlight Castle, this is a gem collection game that is not the simplest on the list. You are trying to collect the most gems coming out of the Moonlight Castle. But to do that, you need to have the right amount of matching pebbles to be able to grab the gems. So if I want to get a 3 gem tile of green, I need three green pebbles.

To go on top of that, you need to collect the pebbles and figure out what locations to go to on the board in order to get the gems you want. The locations you can go give you between 0 and 3 new pebbles. So there is strategy as to where you go there. And then when you go to a spot, it is going to cost you pebbles. So you need to plan to have enough pebbles to get to a spot and to get the gems.

This game has nice toy factor to it. The tiles with the gems slide out from under the castle in a cool way. And the game itself flows nicely once you get started. I like how you need to plan ahead. You can’t just go to a spot and hope you have enough pebbles. That is something that a kid will need to learn as they play, but a good thing to learn.

Grade For Kids: B-

Monza

Monza is a theme that my kid loves, it’s about car racing. He is a fan of cars and of racing to do stuff. In Monza it is a race to see who can make it to the end.

This is a die rolling game. You grab all of the dice and roll them, they are going to land on different colored sides. And that will determine where you can move on the board as the spots to move up have different colors. So you need to plan and allocate your dice so that you move as far as you can.

Monza is a simpler game than Moonlight Castle, but in a good way. It still requires some strategic planning as you figure out where you move. As we’ve played, it is no longer a game for my kid of moving to his favorite colors if he can. But how can he use the dice to move as far as he can along the track. It makes you plan strategically in how you allocate the dice and plan out your turn.

Grade for Kids: B+

Dragon’s Breath: The Hatchling

The final one is Dragon’s Breath: The Hatchling. This is a gem collection game and really contract fulfillment in a lot of ways. But the mechanisms are different and fun which I enjoy about the game.

Each player takes a turn as the “fire breather”. You remove a ring from a stack of cool looking plastic gems. The gems fall off and then everyone collects them. The non-fire breather players add gems to cards in front of them to get points by collecting sets. The fire breather tries and stop them. As you complete your sets you get new cards. And once all the gems are collected a new ring is lifted off causing more gems to fall. At the end of the game it is the player who has the most points on completed cards who wins the game.

I like this game a lot because the kid was taught it and is no able to teach it. The rules are simple but it again gives them some simple strategy. How do I pick gems that are most likely to help me complete cards. Or as the fire breather, how do I block others from completing cards. It is a strategy that my kid already sees in the game which is fun.

Grade For Kids: B+

Final Thoughts on Moonlight Castle, Monza, and Dragon’s Breath: The Hatchling

These are kids games, I’m not going to pretend that they aren’t. That means that for an adult, it is not always going to be fun to play them over and over and over. However, as I said in the beginning, compared to something like Candy Land there is a lot of fun in these games. And the fact that my kid can teach two of them, Monza and Dragon’s Breath: The Hatchling, it is very cool to see.

I obviously love board games. And I like to see him take an interest in board games. It is a hobby that we can share and there are many more that we already to spend time with. But to see him have an interest in it is fun, and dangerous. Dangerous only because now I am interested in getting more games. But also with the handful of games that he has, it’s now a chance for him to really learn those games which I want to encourage as well. And also encourage to not overwhelm him with new games.

Which of these three games looks the best to you?

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How To Play – Via Magica

Like I said, Via Magica is a bingo style game. Or maybe more Super Mega Lucky Box style game, though, Via Magica came out first. In this game you are trying to capture animus to open different portals, all very magical. What that means is you have three portals in front of you and as a player draws out tokens, you match the animus type, colored white, blue, red, brown, green, and black, to the animus needed on that card. There are wilds, and when that is drawn, you reset the bag of tokens and draw some more.

However, you only have a limited number of crystals. You put them out and you might have two near completion but no crystals left. Depending on what is drawn, you can move crystals around to get a card completed. When you complete a card, you pick a new card. And once someone has completed seven, the game is over.

But it isn’t just that, each card has a power, or a lot do. It might be that you score two points for each green animus that you have. Or it might give you 12 points but be a hard card to complete. And some might make a color wild or allow you to place animus of a certain type for free. So you try and build up combos that will help you get the most points. Because at the end of the game, most points wins.

What Don’t I Like?

I have played this at two and it plays up to six, so I want to play with more. The reason I want to play it with more is that the market of portal cards is pretty static with two players. I might complete a portal, take a new one, and then complete a second one with only one new portal being available. This isn’t a major issue, but with more players the market would be in flux more. It’s a minor quibble with the game, though.

I also wish that the tiles that you draw were nicer. In my final thoughts I’ll talk about how this gives me a bit of a Splendor vibe. Splendor has great chips in the game, and then fewer other components. I wish this one has Splendor like chips as you do draw them from a bag, so as they are handled they will start to wear out. Not as fast as Quacks of Quedlinburg, the chip here are handled less. But it’s worth noting.

What Do I Like?

Simplicity

I like the simplicity of the mechanics. The game is easy to setup, easy to teach, and easy to play. It says 30 minutes, I think in lower player counts that is a bit long for the game. Two players probably takes 20 minutes, unless you get really poor draws. So it falls easily into that category of from box to teach to table in 10 minutes tops. And if everyone knows how to play, probably five minutes.

The game is also going to scale really well. I draw an animus tile, everyone puts down on their portal, if they can or if they want. So while with more players it’ll take longer because it’ll take more time for people to pick portals. This is not going to be a long game ever. Maybe at the full six players it’d take 40 minutes in a slow group. Goes back to that simplicity of the mechanics.

Strategy

I also think, that while it is simple to play, there is strategy and choice in what you are doing. Not tons of a complex level, but when you finish a card matters. I play down onto a portal that lets me place out two crystals on blue animus immediately. Well, if I don’t have two open blue animus in play, that is a waste of my play. Or in the last game I played, I got three colors to be wilds for me which wasn’t a ton of points, but gave me a ton of flexibility early in the game to then go for bigger points.

I think this is an area that people will overlook. They will see it like Super Mega Lucky Box and see such a simple game but not realize the strategy that you can have. And probably lose their first game because of that. There is a lot of luck in the game, what is pulled out of the bag. But there is strategy or thought that goes into which portals you do and when you try and finish a portal.

Who Is It For?

This is a good filler game for gamers who want something quick while waiting for more people to show up. Or maybe as the game night is winding down. Not some party game, but a game with decisions that is fast to play and get to the table.

But, this is also a good game for when you are with non-gamers. The artwork is cute, the rules are so simple, and it plays fast. I could see pulling this one out with family and playing it twice or three times in a sitting, because the game is that easy to get to the table. And it is that level of a Splendor where the rules are simple, animus is drawn, you place a crystal. But as you play you learn more of the game.

Final Thoughts on Via Magica by Hurrican

I really enjoy this game. In fact, I prefer it to Splendor. There are a few games, Century Golem Edition, and now Via Magica, that I put in the same weight as Splendor, same depth of strategy as it were. And I prefer both of them to Splendor. Both Century Golem Edition and Via Magica have more strategies that you can try. And while I might eventually feel like I’ve played enough of either, it’ll take much longer than it did with Splendor.

Now, it isn’t going to be a game that works for everyone. It is a very simple game, but treating it as such should entertain most people. It is a great filler where it isn’t just a lucky party game. And there is no scaling to worry about for the game. So it will never play longer, which I love in games. That way it falls int some of those roll and write categories like Super Mega Lucky Box. But it is also like Sushi Go Party! that way with decisions but not too many.

I want to always have a game like this in my collection. The type of game I play with anyone. It might not get played all the time, but it will get played. It is like Ticket to Ride or Small World in that way. I play those once a year, maybe. But they come off the shelf, and I keep them because they will always find time to get played.

My Grade: B+
Gamer Grade: C-
Casual Grade: A

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