Caesar & Cleopatra- Indulge Yourself in Ancient Politics!

Didn't take long for me to get back to Kosmos- Rio Grande combination....did I?

Continuing the series of 2-player light games (dare I call this one a filler game, though some of them do), here I'm with Caesar & Cleopatra, perhaps a highly debated game- Do I like or Not?

If you have read my previous reviews say Lost Cities, Balloon Cup etc. This game is definitely deeper than those, however why is it that it is not highly ranked by people and lot of people want to trade it? Answers lie below!

I saw this game for the 1st time durng my visit to the game store 'Games People Play'- Harvard Square. I got interested, but did not venture out to buy this one. However after almost an year and having played Lost Cities and Balloon Cup to death decided to read about this game on the Boardgame geek and then asked a friend of mine to get it for me from the States :-)

After having played this game for more than 60 times, I started asking myself- Do I really like this game as much as I used to when I got it? The frank answer to that was a "No", but I still play it occasionally. I don't play it as often as I used to play just because I go games that are better than this. However let me take you through this interesting game and leave the final verdict to you guys :-)

Caesar & Cleopatra- by Wolfgang Lüdtke


Lüdtke is a banker by training and profession and started collecting and reviewing games and moved on to creating games now (something that I aspire to do- the creating part).

The game says this is a game of influence and politics. In this game a player can either choose to take Cleopatra or Caesar. Each one comes with a set of cards, though the nomenclature is different both sets are the same with same functionalities. Like with any other Rio Grande games the quality of cards are excellent, though the size seems very odd and makes it a little hard to shuffle. The art work is neat and very thematic with the Caesar and Cleopatra age. However this in itself is its downside as the game fizzles out on the theme. Though we are talking about politicians, winning them on your side to gain a majority, all that transaltes to having a larger sum on your side compared to your opponent(smaller sum in case of a 'Philosoper' card).

The objective of the game is to win as many Roman particians on your side using your cards, tact and skill so that the winner gets to keep Egypt!

There is definite tactical depth and variety, but the randomness seems to take away a large portion of the tactics (More about this in the next section). This game will appeal to a lot of people who would want to try out a slightly more complicated game than say Lost Cities and seek more variety. It by no means is a game that is bad or somthing that you'll absolutely detest owning (though few people have that opinion ;-)..) Not me though!

What do you get in the Box?


Cards, cards and cards. This game is all about bunch of cards:

• You get 37 influence cards for each player (Caesar & Cleopatra)
• 13 Action cards for each player- don't worry about the names, they are all the same
• 6 influence bonus cards
• 8 vote of confidence cards
• 21 patrician divided into 5 groups (3 groups of 5 cards and 2 groups of 3 cards)

A very interesting aspect is the nomenclature- they have use Latin names for charecters, which of course the moment you look at it, you'll realize are very ficticious and bad in humor. E.g. Justitianus ANUS, etc. Most names are similar, very artificial I felt!

How does it Play?

There are a few things that you do right at the beginning:

• Each person takes the influence cards for his charecter i.e. Caesar or Cleopatra and seperates out 2 sets of cards numbered 1-5. One set he places face down in front of the partcians and the other in his hand
• Each person arranges the 13 action cards in an order that he wants to use them throughout the game (this btw is a very good mechanic and gives players some tactical advantage)
• Each player also takes one influence bonus card, which tells him which group he needs to win a majority to score the bonus
• He then shuffles the vote of confidence cards and keeps them in a different stack and shuffles the rest of his influence cards

Once this is all don, you start the game play:

• On your turn, you can choose to be either active or passive (though I've not seen many being passive)
• If you are active then you can play 2 cards face up in front of any of the patrician groups or play a single card face down
  
• He may with the influence cards play an action card anytime during his turn
• If there are a total of 8 cards both sides put together, you count the toal and the higest total gains a patrician card from that particualr group (remember that you can have only a maximum of 5 cards on your side- if that is the case your opponent can have only 3!)
• There is a special influnce card called the philosopher card which reveres this rule and give a patrician card to the player with the lowest total.
• Once you place your cards on your turn, irrespective of the number of cards you draw one of the vote of confidence cards and see which group needs to be scored (this btw is a spoiler and wI'll tell you why in just a bit)

The game finishes when all the patricians are won and the score is calculated:

• 1 point for each patrician
• 1 extra point if you have a majority in a group (3 cards for a 5 member group and 2 cards for a 3 member group)
• 1 extra point if you have won all the cards in a particular group
• 2 extra points for winning a majority in a group that matches your infuence bonus card

Some unique mechanics, with 13 action cards, the philosopher card makes C&C a very entertaining game, but if your are seeking a no luck game, this definitely is not one. The vote of confidence cards can absolutely annoy you. All your plans can go for a toss if you turn up a 'no vote orgy today' card. This element takes away a lot of sheen from this game.

How long does this play?

As it is printed on the box, thi takes about 30-40 minutes. The game plays fast and keeps you occupied with very little downtime. With 13 actioncards that you can arrange it the way you want allows for a fair bit of tactics and variety. However this game is definitely not deep enough for keeping you engaged for long periods of time. This is no brain burner, but at the same time not a dud that you play it blindfolded. I would say this game is liht-medium in its weight and lies somewhere betwen a filler and a full fledged game. Requires a little bit of learning to get used to the ction cards and how to stack them.

Who would I recommend it to?


Definitely not to everyone. This is a game that people who do not want very heavy games like. It can be entertaining and exercising your grey cells a little bit. I would say this game is suitable for people to play it once in a hile, if they don;t want to play very light games. You play this and then perhaps move onto something more serious (just to se the mood right hahahaha). This game can be a good get away game as it is just a set of cards and hence good to carry along- though you have to like it first.

People who play a lot of 2 player games may find this a nice change and addition to their collection as simpler to 'Hera and Zeus" (Don't quote on me as this is what people say, I don't have Herta and Zeus so can't take a stab at that one)

Any Downsides?

Apart from the odd sized cards and funny names, the game has some serious shortcomings:

• The vote of confidence can absolutely annoy you as it is completely random and can screw up your plans (mind you for people liking randomness this is great). The great idea of having action cards that adds so much variety is in a way lost out due to the vote of confidence cards
  
• There is no theme and you end up using just the numbers, so the entire artwork goes waste
• Requires some learning as the action needs to be arranged smartly, else you can pay quaite a hefty price as you cannot have more than 5 cards in your hands and having an action inappropriate to the game situation can really hurt you (say having a scout right at the end)

Final Thoughts!

This game is another one which blows hot and cold for me. Up until recently I used to like this game a lot, but after playing Battle Line and some other games that I'll talk about in the coming weeks the interest level has gone down. But I don't see myself getting rid of this game any time in the near future as this keeps hitting the table once every couple of months!

For more detailed reviews please visit http://www.boardgamegeek.com/forum/63/thing/132

Battle Line- Draw Your Battle Lines and Get Ready for the War!

Knizia is back and this time with a BANG! If you read my previous post on Lost Cities I've mentioned about Knizia and his games- prolific game designer is all that I'm going to reiterate.

Well for the 1st time since I started writing my reviews this is not a Kosmos-Rio Grande combination! This one is by GMT games another company that produces some very interesting, retro styled games- Commands & Colors: Ancients being one of their most popular works (I'll be writing about this game much later though). You can identify GMT games by their typical cards- hard, with a parchment coat on it, most of the text are in a retro styled font, pretty basic pieces- not that they are of bad quality, but just that compared to Fantasy Slight Games, Days of Wonder or Rio Grande games, their pieces and materials may not be that appealing (I feel it that way, anyway!)

But make no mistake folks, this is one game I RECOMMEND EVERYONE TO HAVE! Awesome, awesome game. Again a 2-player card game; I would say one of the best card games designed by Knizia!

This game also happens to be the 1st one that I'm reviewing that is ranked in the top 100 games on Boardgame geek- 61 in fact. Tom Vasel (A very popular game reviewer) who rates his top 100 games every year (thedicetower.com) rates it at a very high 29th in his list.

Now, don't assume that I'm raving about this game because of all these rankings, you know that I really like Odin's ravens or Balloon Cup in spite of not being raked high! It is just that this game deserves all the accolades.

Knizia originally brought this game out by the name Schotten-Totten. This was further expanded and revamped to provide more tactical options; basically make it more exciting!

Battle Line- By Dr. Reiner Knizia

This is not a war game! Yes this is just the preparation for the war i.e. you build your troops to show off strength before the war begins to gain tactical and psychological advantage. Well that is what the theme is supposed to be. But as with most Knizia's games the theme is relatively weak or in fact non-existent! Yes it is about battle line formations, but seriously it is just putting down a set of cards- numbers, colors of cards and tactical special cards- this is what this game is all about. Again don't stop reading because it sounds so simple, because here in lies the paradox of great tactical depth and very simple mechanics!

As I've already told you about Knizia, I'll straight away jump into the next section on the game components.

What do you get in the Box?


This game come with Cards and 9 small wooden pegs and that's it.

• 60 Troop cards- numbered 1-10 in 6 different colors
• 10 Tactics cards- Special cards that provide variety, depth and brings in the uncertainty element to the game
• 9 wooden pegs- 9 flags for which players fight for!

The dsign on the cards and the graphics are a little retro (which btw I like). The cards are thick and hard with a coat of parchment on them, which I don't like.

How does it Play?

This works in a very simple way. On your turn you play a card from your hand and draw a card from either the 'Troop card' deck or the 'Tactic card' deck that's it!

The objective of the game is to make formations of 3 cards on each side of the flag and the most powerful combination of 3 cards wins the flag (one of the pegs). If a player wins 3 adjacent pegs the game finishes immediately (called a breakthrough) else player winning 5 out of the 9 pegs wins the game (called envelopment).

• There are various combinations that work in the game like- 3 cards of consecutive value and of the same color called the wedge is the most powerful combination (but unlike Lost Cities, you don't need to play these cards in the ascending order)>3 cards of the same value but of different colors (obvious as each number is unique to its color)>3 cards of same color but not consecutive>Consecutive numbers of any colors>Any other formation
• To make this interesting we have 10 tactics cards each affecting the game in a different way- e.g. A leader card can be used to represent any number and any value, A traitor cards enables a player to discard one card from the opponent's formation etc.
• Once the cards pack run out, you play with the cards in hand (7 cards is what you are dealt with and that is the maximum number)

What makes this game so fascinating is the fact that you don't remove cards that have been played and leave it as is. It is just the peg that is taken. This means all the information you need to place your card is available in front of you- This is very important as there is a provision in the game to prove that your opponent cannot win no matter what card he plays even before all the cards are played on both the sides (3 on each side)- so for example a player has completed his formation of 3 cards can use the available information by the face up cards lying to prove it to his opponent who has played just 2 cards that he cannot win no matter what card he plays. But the really interesting part is the fact that players cannot use the information from their hand to prove this!

This unique mechanic, coupled with the 10 tactics cards makes the game play, very tense and enjoyable.

How long does this play?

Usually a close game should go on for about 30-40 mins, but if the player is careless or naive to let you win 3 adjacent pegs, then you can finish the game in less than 20 min (very unlikely). Throughout the game it requires the players to be ery attentive and smart about playing their cards and because people play just one card at a time, you can do some bit of planning (little strategy element here)

Who would I recommend it to?

I would say everyone should have it. This is a game which is right up there in terma of tactics, doesn't play too long, easy to learn but offers good depth to keep coming back.

Any Downsides?

As mentioned above the materils may not be the greatest out there (pretty decent ones though). A little lapse in concentration or careless gameplay will see a very quick and one sided game. Sometimes and I really mean sometimes (rather some players) tend to over analyze the situation which might make some players impatient. A little learning curve (1-2 games), just to understand the tactics cards and when to use them to your advantage may be required.

Also as I said before you draw cards from the face down pile, so randomness and luck is going to be there. This is not one of those 'no luck' pure strategy games out there- but this is high on tactics (there is definitely a method to play and win games) and very high on fun!

Final Thoughts!

Everyone who has played this have come back to play it again (more than Odin's Ravens). This hits the deck far more often than most other card games that I have. I wouldn't say this is exactly an introductory game nor a filler game (but because it is so short, you can use this as a filler if you will), but definitely can be used as one due to its simple mechanics. Just discard the box and you can carry it easily to any place- so a great get away game. Due to the tactical depth that this game provides offers very high replayability. Knizia has got a winner here!! Go get your copy now!


For more detailed reviews please visit http://www.boardgamegeek.com/forum/63/thing/760

Odin's Ravens- Are you ready for the Crow Race?

Odin the father of God's sends his 2 ravens to watch over the world! So you choose to play one of these ravens or crows and race one another!! Arrr.......Well Crow race? In any case we are all in a rat race, why a crow race....we I understand any other race, but racing using crows?? Sounds the least bit interesting right!! Well that's what I thought so too, in fact even after playing for the first 2-3 times! But now that's all behind me and I LOVE to RACE THE CROWS!

Being in India though very disadvantageous specially if you are a board game lover has some unique advantages- yes I say unique because you are pushed to do certain things which you would not normally do if things were available easily- for starters research!! Yes Game research!! (Though I'm not saying that people in the western world and other parts where boardgames are available don't research), it is just that I do tons of reading up before deciding to buy a game. Of course you have to when the average price per game is around Rs.1500, you can ill afford to go wrong!!

Anyways, now coming back to the game- This is one game I had read abut and heard it from another boardgame collector in India - Mr. Sanjay Subramaniam- name rings a bell?? Well yes he is the very famous Carnatic singer and I got to know him through Boardgames (only occasional mail contact- he still can't recognize me if I stand in front of him :-)..). After going through some reviews I finally decided to buy this game as it 'sounded' fun. I tend to buy a lot of two player games as I don;t have a huge gang to play games with. I usually end up playing it my wife, cousin, a friend who might visit and you'll see that there are plenty of two player games.

Yes, Odins Ravens is another 2 player game from Kosmos and Rio Grande (I decided to go for this trusting their combi ;-)..and of course the game mechanic).

One of the reasons I'm writing the review now is this is just a little more complicated compared to the other 3 (Others don;t get me wrong, this is purely from an Indian context where we don't have many boardgames in the market- and the complexity levels are completely subjective- I felt it hence writing it).

Don't think this is going to be a brain burner, definitely not; it is still very simple, just that it offers more variety which you need to get a hang off! I will talk about it a little later, but first a couple of lines about the author!

Odin's Ravens by Thorsten Gimmler

Thorsten Gimmler is a game designer and electrical engineer who has been employed as a product manager for Schmidt games since 2005. His game Thief of Baghdad was nominated for the Spiel des Jahres award in 2007. (Straight from Boardgamegeek ;-)

As I mentioned before this is a racing game where each player takes a raven marker and tries to reach the end of landscapes as fast as possible. Players play multiple races until one reaches a score of 12. Players score points on the number of spaces he/she finishes ahead of his/her opponent. Also players score 3 points if they have the maximum number of cards on the magic way cards (will explain each term below).

Fairly easy to learn and play, however requires a little bit of learning curve to get familiar with Odin cards and how everything works together.

What do you get in the box?

Unlike the previous games, this game doesn't have a game board. It is just cards:

• You get one set of flight cards/landscape cards representing different landscapes for each player (in 2 different colors)
• Set of land cards that is laid out for ravens to move on and race
• 8 Odin cards for each player (these are special ability cards that affect the game greatly!)
• Magic Way cards which needs to be drawn for each race to determine the 3 points (will talk about the significance of this later)
• 2 wooden raven markers
• 1 Odin marker
  

Again as with any other Rio Grande game, the quality of the components are very good!

How Does it Play?

Well this is where this game was very different to the previous Kosmos games. For the first few games (2-3 games i.e.) I almost felt this game was very simple and had nothing to interest me until I went back to the forums to find out what was so good about this game. After a little reading up and playing this a few more times, I can tell you the design of this game is very very elegant- meaning it plays very subtly and really interconnected. The game mechanic is simple:

• On your turn you can play upto 3 cards from your hand and upto 3 more cards from your auxiliary stack
• You can play these cards to advance your ravens over the landscapes or play it on the magic way cards
• You can at the end of your turn increase the length of the race by one card!
  

This my friends is the most confusing part, as the rules do not state how each action of yours are interconnected! And here in lies the beauty of Odin's Ravens! There are 4 aspects to this game that makes it very interesting:

• Players draw 5 cards from their shuffled pack and on their turn they can play a card to advance their raven or place it on the magic way card to win the 3 points or start placing it in a face down stack in front of them as their auxiliary stack. This mechanic is very different as you know which cards you are placing on your auxiliary stack and you can play 3 extra cards after you have played the 3 from your hand!! Huge advantage!
• You can play your card on the magic way card to score 3 points- if you think that you are going to loose a particular race or simply maximize the points this is an excellent way- just place it on the magic way cards
• From your draw pile, you get 8 Odin Cards- Special cards that come with different effects to change the game complexion itself- some allows you to change the landscape cards, some allows you to pull your opponents ravens back or move yours ahead by one step, some allows you to keep an Odin marker to block your opponent, some allows you to cut short the length of the race by one card etc. Overall it brings in the surprise element that can completely put your opponent off guard!
  
• Also by careful usage of cards you can stack up similar landscape cards one after the other to move over multiple cards using just one of your landscape card!
  

And this is Odin's Ravens for you in a nutshell (please beware that this is not an exhaustive rule set, for that please visit http://www.boardgamegeek.com/forum/63/thing/4396)

What makes this game so fascinating is the interconnectedness of playing cards to advance your ravens, playing it on the magicway cards and playing from the auxiliary stack. It offers very good depth and scope to explore strategies!

How Long does it Play?

I tend to agree with the time put on the box i.e. 30-40 min, though in some cases I've see it go up to about 50 min in case of very close competition. Though this is definitely not a brain burner, it does require some quick thinking from the players to seize opportunities and play real smart!

Who would you recommend it to?

I would say this is a good game for anyone who are tired of playing Monopoly or some other brain dead games(no offense to these games though) or have had enough with filler games (though some might say this too is a filler game). I would also like to mention that people wanting to try serious Euro Strategy games can start off with this and some of the other games to follow- though the strategy element is fairly basic, it does give players a very good flavor and experience.
Any Downsides?

As mentioned before this games requires little bit of learning and understanding how your actions are interconnected and how to balance everything at the same time. There are multiple strategies to victory, but you'll learn them as you go along. I would say this learning might be a little frustrating up until you pick up the cues, but this is very simple once you play it 3-5 times.
Final Thoughts!

I feel after playing a game of Odin's Ravens makes me refreshed and I talk about it with the other player- 'Hey you know, I should have done this rather than that move or you screwed it up here or that's a nice strategy' etc. etc. Its that sort of a game, leaves you feeling really nice, but just learn it once and you'll keep coming back to it. Though boardgamegeek does not rank it very high, I see this hiting my table very often with players who have played this before!

Kahuna- Are You Ready for Some Voodoo Magic?

Back with my 3 review! This time it is "Kahuna" another 2 player game from Kosmos. Well what can I say about Kahuna...hmmm... It is something like you either like it or hate it, well that's what I found people telling me. As with me, well of course I like it!

I saw Kahuna for the 1st time in a game shop called "Games People Play" near Harvard Square in Boston. Though I was quite intrigued by the game I went ahead and bought Lost Cities, which I felt was more 'in your face' confrontation :-)

But as time went by, I read more people talking about the game and decided to buy it before trying it! But I'm glad and don't regret this buy :-)

Kahuna by Günter Cornett

Günter has published some games that became very controversial because of their theme. Killing Baby seals!!! Well let's not get into that right now as I don;t know much about it ;-)
But Kahuna was originally published way back in 1997 as Arabana-Ikibiti by a small game publisher, but later Rio Grande and Kosmos published this game in 1998 with all new artwork and became quite popular. Again Boardgamegeek does'nt rank this very high, but I guess they are right as well. This is not a game where you'll play and end up saying "Wow that was some game!" but you'll definitely walk out saying "Very interesting and fun as well".

This is again one of those easy playing short games, easy to teach and play.

What do you get in the box?


The 1st thing you notice is the hand shaped island picture on top of the box, which I feel is cool. The box come with a very nice board (the islands and connections), 24 island cards, the control markers, small wooden sticks which forms the main element of bridges. The artwork is cool and I really like it! As with any Rio Gande Games the components are of very high quality.

How Does it Play?


This is a very simple game. Each player starts off with a hand of 3 cards and his set of markers and brdges. On his turn he/she can play upto 5 cards (or not play any) and connect bridges from the island card he plays. Each island has 3-5 connecting islands and he can connect any island when he plays that island card. That's it!! Really if the game was only this, I would not have bothered to write a review. But the fun part is on their turn players can play 2 cards (of the same island or 1 card each os 2 connecting island) to remove an opponents' bridge. Now this brings in a whole lot os tactics and fun ekement as the person who has more than half the number of bridges from a particular island controls that island.

Now with some clever play plaers can remove just one bridge that can lead to a chain reaction where players loose control of more than one island!! That is a brilliant mechanic in this game. Because the game has just 24 cards the round finishes when the last card is taken (players take cards after they are done with playing cards).

The game is played over 3 rounds similar to Lost Cities (my 1st game review) and score points as follows:
1st round- winner gets 1 point
2nd round- winner gets 2 points
3rd and last round- winner gets as many points as the difference in the number of islands players control

The game mechanics are very simple, In fact one of the somplest, but offers a lot of depth to show your smartness :-)

How long does it play?

Each round may last for about 10 mins, so 3 rounds should take somewhere between 20-30 min depending on how fast you play. Occassionaly some players drag it out to about 40 mins :-) but still is a short game. The thing I like about this game is the smartness in using your cards! Really cool.

Who would you reccomend it to?

Here's where I would like to emphasize that this game may not be for all. On the outset the game may appear boring and lacking in depth. Some don;t like the fact that it is so simple- and that is true to some extent; because if you don;t play against an aggressive player, this might appear one sided and easy. However this is a very different 2 player game that can be a very good adition to your game collection. I would sugest you guys to play if you get a chance and then decide to buy this game.
Any downsides?

As I said this might not appeal to everyone and if you noticed I haven't spoken anything about any vodoo magic right? Well that's right there isn't any! This is an abstrast game with little theme. This game is based on graph theory (yes, mathematics theory) and preceeded a lot of other games in this genre. So this abstractness may be a put off for people.

Final Thoughts!

Of all the 2 player games I have Kahuna is quite different as it can blow absolutely hot or cold depending on your opponent. This game is fun though and a real nice change from the rest of the 2 player games. As a variety to your game collection Kahuna really is good, but then you should 1st like it to buy it!


For more detailed reviews and thoughts you can check http://www.boardgamegeek.com/forum/63/thing/394

Balloon Cup- Be Smart In Landing Your Balloons!

Here we go with the 2nd game- Balloon Cup! Another 2 player light strategy game(though the word strategy should be very loosely associated). What I forgot to mention in the previous post for Lost Cities is about "Kosmos". Kosmos specializes in 2 player games and I have quite a few from their stable! Most of them play short and is a lot of fun. Balloon Cup is no exception.

Balloon Cup by Stephen Glenn

Stephen Glenn is a high school teacher and has a passion for strategy board games. This was his 1st game, post which he also designed a game called You must be an Idiot! a fun based trivia game.

Today though we are talking about his 1st game Balloon Cup, which was nominated for the Spiel Des Jahres award (you can say this is like a boardgame Oscar).

This is another game that is a very good introductory game. I played for the 1st time at my friend's shop Brew Haha with my wife and she loved it. It was only after this that I got this game. Now having played this game for more than 35 times, I can tell you that this game is pure fun. Very very light, fast, but definitely fun. In fact I would say most people I have played it with find this more fun than Lost Cities (that is because Lost Cities asks you to take some though decisions on discarding and playing cards). I'll come to the playing bot in just a moment, but first the components.

What do you get in the Box?

Really nice components. What you come to expect from any Rio Grande Games (who BTW is one of the most popular game publishers). Nice cards 45 cards with Colorful Balloons (5 different colors) 5 trophy cards, a cotton bag with 45 cubes in 5 different colors and 4 tiles (double sided tiles)

How does this play?

Really simple rules. Each player gets 8 cards and on their turn they can either play a balloon card on their side or their opponents. Well the 4 tiles are laid out with alternating diagrams- Mounts and Plains ( Each tile has a number 1-4 and cubes are randomly chosen from the bag and placed 1 cube on the tile 1, 2 cubes on tile 2, 3 on tile 3 and 4 on tile 4). Players need a high total to win cubes on a mountain tile and low total to win the cubes on the plain tile. The tile number is also the number of cards required on both the sides to decide the winner (Eg: 3 cards on each side to win 3 cubes on Tile three)

The fun element in the game is the fact that you can completely screw up your opponents plans as you can play a card on his/her side as well :-), so the game constantly changes after every card is being played and tensions rise as people start winning cubes. After a tile has been decided it is turned over- a mountain is turned over to get a plain and vice-verse, which means the kind of cards that you have in your hand might have to be used differently :-). So all in all it is really fast paced and people continue to play up until they achieve the required number of cubes for a particular trophy. Say 3 gray cubes for Gray trophy. The 1st to 3 trophies wins the game.

There is also another cool mechanic in that if there are cubes of a particular color for which the trophy has already been won, you could use 3 of those to make up for one short of another trophy. So is a person has 3 gray cubes (and gray trophy card has been won) and the player is having 3 blue cubes (blue requires 4 blue cubes), you could now use the 3 gray cubes as a joker to say so and win the blue cube. So all in all lots of fun!

How long does this play?
This typically takes between 30-40 minutes max. Though Lost Cities is more competitive I have seen that Balloon Cup hits the table more than Lost Cities whenever I give an option for players :-). I guess compared to Lost Cities the decision making is easier and the game is lot more forgiving (meaning even if you commit a mistake on one tile, you can make in the other, as opposed to Lost Cities, which can be very unforgiving.

Who would you recommend it to?
I know that this game is not really ranked high up on Boardgame geek, but who cares, I really like this game in fact over Lost Cities and highly recommend it for everyone. Lots of fun!

Any downsides?
As I said before this is a fast paced game high on tactics and low on strategy. Not deep at all an a lot of randomness as players can play on either sides, that makes planning almost impossible. Some people might not like this dynamism and randomness.

Final Thoughts!
Go get this one and enjoy landing your balloons. This game is for fun and not brain burn. I would say any casual/hobbyist should have this in their game collection!

Lost Cities- A High Tension Adventure Game

As mentioned in my previous post, I'll take up a game and share some details that might give you an overview of what that particular game is and might help you to buy/play it.

I'm starting with a segment of games called as 'filler' games. Filler games are essentially small games that get over under an hour and you generally play them while you are awaiting more friends to join you for a larger game or you want a quick break from something that you are doing.

The next few posts talk about such filler games- specially 2 player card games.


The 1st one is "Lost Cities" by Reiner Knizia.



1st a little about Knizia- Perhaps the most prolific game designer in the last 12 yrs or so, Knizia has designed more than 500 games. He is a PHd in Mathematics and was teaching for a while before he took up game designing as a full time profession (since 1997). Most of Knizia' games are abstract games, though there is a theme behind every game. Some of the most popular games from Knizia are: Tigris & Euphrates, Through the Desert, Modern Art, Lost Cities, Lord of the Rings: The Confrontation and many more.

Today you'll get to know about Lost Cities. A 2 player light game, with little depth but high tactics- very high tension!

Lost Cities is one that I use to get a lot of people introduced board gaming. In fact it is not a boardgame in the truest sense. It is just a card game. A game where you build your deck (set). There is a theme for the game in that it is an exploration game where the players set out to explore ancient cities by building a card deck.

What you get in the box: You get a set of 60 cards, a game board ( well more a discard board than anything else), a rule book
How does it play?

Very simple rules- players have 8 cards each and on their turn play a card (either on their side to build the route or discard) and pick up a card (either from the discard pile of the supply deck). On every turn players do this until the supply deck is exhausted, when the game ends. Pretty simple and basic hmmm....

But the catch here is when you extend the route each card placed by you has to be ascending the previous number (see the illustration). This makes the game really interesting, as you keep asking yourself, should I go ahead and place this card or should I wait for it to come from the supply pile or my opponents hand. It is a constantly changing game where each player tries to outsmart others when it comes to discarding the cards.

The other aspect that makes Lost Cities enjoyable is the hand cards or the betting value. remember you are exploring- in case you are more confident of exploring the route you take greater risk to gain reward. This is what makes the game really interesting. You start your route by plaing a bet on that- a multiplication factor of 2, 3 or 4 times the score you make after the game. But what makes it interesting is not about placing the bet right at the beginning with so much uncertainity but the scoring pattern.

When you go out exploring you do spend resourses and hence you need to subtract 20 points (add up the numbers on the deck you've built) from your total as your expense and then score points. So if you have placed 3 hand cards which will give you a multiplication factor of 4 (hand card+1= multiplication factor) and end up scoring 40 points. You subtract 40-20=20*4= 80, but if you end up at say 12 points. you get 12-20=-8*4=-32. This element makes it really fun. This is where you use all your tactics to increase your points and decrease your opponents' score.

In case you need a more details review on the game mechanics, please visit http://www.boardgamegeek.com/forum/63/thing/50

How long does this play?
I would say this takes about 12-15 min/round and you play it for 3 rounds usually (you can play just 1 round as well. You are looking at around 35-45 min for the whole game and trust me, you usually don;t stop at one!

Who might like this game?
I would recommend this one to anyone and everyone. Very simple to learn and lots of fun to play. Even kids can play it and you can compete with them with the smae level of intensity as you would with anyone else!

Of course I would reccommend this to anyone with a spouse as it is extrememly competitive and emotions tend to flair up (personal experience here :-))

Any down sides?
The cards are odd sized and some may find handling them a little hard (in fact this isn't a negative, but anyways). The theme is weak. I didn't like the artwork that much as compared to the others that I have. It is essentially the numbers that matter and there is no element of exploration, but hey, don't worry about the fun bit. You'll thoroughly enjoy it. Element of luck and randomness quite high, that makes it unpredictable (can be both +ve or -ve)

Final Thoughts
For people looking at a deep game, this in not a deep game. It is a very fast moving 2 player, light game (award winning game- 6 awards) with couple of interesting tactics. Gives you an adrenalin rush as you approach the end of the game. A big thumbs up to Lost Cities and Knizia!

My tryst with Boardgames

Statutory Warning: If you are looking for a review of a game, please wait it will start from my next post. If you want to know my story of how I got into gaming read on.

As they say everything in life has a story- this is one story from my life :-)

I wanted to write this not so much for others as much for myself. I though it would be good to capture thoughts that I contemplated really long and hard and hence this post :-)

Not so long ago I was contemplating and thinking to myself, how come I became so passionate about boardgames? I love cricket and play it/watch it to death. I play badminton as well, love outdoors and how come boardgames feature in between.

I say this because my collection up until March 2007 was just about 5-8 games! But today as it stands I have 62 games (which by the way is not too big J) and a wishlist of more than 10!

I found it very hard to believe that I acquired this unique taste (I say unique as I don’t know many who are as passionate about boardgames as I’m) over the last 2.5 yrs; hence began a retrospection session going back as much as I could right down to my childhood days. Guess what, it was not surprising that I love boardgames so much as it was in me al throughout; just that it got a vent and push in the right direction over the last couple of years (hahaha).

Let me take you down the memory lane in the next few paragraphs. As with most kids my exposure to boardgames started with “ಪರಮಪದಸೋಪನಂ” or Snakes and Ladders. (Though this is the South Indian version where children get to learn value systems through game play- you land on every good virtue- a ladder, land on any bad virtue snake’s head. Elders play with you and teach you these as you play along; I had my grandmother who played and thought me this.)

Post this it was the regular stuff, ಛೌಕ ಭರಃ, ಕೈ ಮೇಲಿ ಕಾಶಿ etc. However when I was in my middle school- roughly between my 5^th and 7^th standard, my dad used to subscribe a magazine called “Misha”. Not sure how many of you have heard that. I think it was a Russian children magazine that had some fairytales, jokes, craftwork etc. But the most important aspect of every issue (monthly) was the center page that had a new boardgame. They were all small racing games to be played with dice. Each of them had a different theme- if one was a forest adventure, the other was riding on the cloud, but all irrespective of their theme were racing games- meaning who reaches the destination 1^st. It might sound boring, but I loved it and remember to have played it a lot with my neighbour’s kids. In fact I do vividly recollect how I used to cut the sheet out from the magazine and stick the sheet on a carbboard! Had a whole bunch of it.

Later it was during a trip to Delhi that my parents got me “25 in 1” a box of 25 different games. It had all games like Ludu, Pachisi, Cricket, 9 Man Morris, Horse racing and a lot of others that I didn’t even know how to play (hahaha, no instruction sheet mind you!).

Fast forwarding a few more years (I don’t remember what happened between 7^th and 9^th std- I guess that is whn I got Lotto Housie and my 1st carom board). During my 9^th std, I got Business World (The Indian version of Monopoly) after I played it in my friend’s house. My brother and I used to play it a lot, in fact we played it so much that I had to stick every note on a KG Cardboard to prevent it from getting destroyed! Almost at the same time, my boardgame collection got a boost- thanks to my dad’s colleague who used to visit us from Muscat. He introduced us to Careers- a game of achieving money, fame and happiness using various routes and options- again a dice throwing game (will talk more about why I specify the type of the game). Though I really did not understand the balance between fame, money and happiness. I knew that to win, you needed a balance between the three J

He also got us introduced to the very famous UNO, and it was always a family favorite. All of us including my parents used to play this a lot. During this time, I had moved away from Bangalore (it was Bangalore then guys!) to Hyderabad where I got a taste of Trump Cards, Lexicon etc. WWF, Convertibles, Supercars, Fighter Planes, Cricket etc. Well I had become so addicted to these that my classmates and I used to play a round of Trump game during lunch breaks! In fact I had a hand made set of trump cards (I still have it!)

After this sudden surge there was a long period of lull. Between my 11^th and till the end of my engineering the only boardgame that I was playing and that too occasionally was Carom board (which I got it when I was in 7^th or 8^th I think, but used to play occassionaly) and was fairly ok at that (Used to bunk classes to get a game of caroms chuckles). After my Engineering I had in fact forgotten what boardgames were and was sailing in the same boat as- “Oh Boardgames are for kids”. It was not until sometime in the 2^nd half of 2004 that I got introduced to Boardgames again. This was when I was doing my MBA in Melbourne, Australia. Rajesh Hariharan was his name, an Indian classmate and I were out shopping some stuff at Big W (similar to Target) when I noticed the boardgame section. I used to live with my uncle during that time and he had come back home to India for a 5-week vacation. So I was all alone and getting bored. Rajesh suggested I pick up Cluedo (Clue) and that he along with his wife would join me in playing this. I had never heard of this game before and found it extremely interesting. This again rekindled my boardgame sprit! After that I found out that there was a boardgame shop right next to my Uni and started visiting that to get myself familiarized. I wanted to know if there were games where luck played a minor role and got to know such games. After much of deliberation I finally got Puerto Rico, spending a fortune (A $130) acquired Tycoon, Stock Market Tycoon and Risk. But for Cluedo I did not play any other game. Post this again there was a break though I was in touch with the boardgame world though Internet (to be more precise www.boardgamegeek.com :-))

After I got back to India in 2005 all these games were shoved into a cupboard where they sat for the next 2 years. In March 2007, Fidelity sent me to Boston for a 5-week trip. This was actually my turning point. I visited a games store in Harvard Square, spent 4 hrs talking to the guy and got so much input that completely changed my perception on Boardgames. My inclination to collect boardgames started at that instant and got 3 games- Thurn and Taxis, Caylus and Lost Cities. After that as they all say has been history. Anyone in the known circle going out would get me games! Of course they curse me for that! But I can’t help LOL

But I should thank each and everyone for having being kind enough to carry these games for me.

People in Bengaluru might have heard the [place Brew Ha Ha run by 2 of my friends Sreeram and Mansor (both IIMA pass outs). This was a boardgame café, where people could play games and eat some really good food. Again my circle of influence grew. I used to frequent this place and almost became a part of the team- teaching people boardgames, suggesting which games to buy and which one to play etc. etc. Brew Ha Ha closed down early this year, but we continue to meet and have fun!

Today I love playing Euro Strategy Games that really test your grey cells, however I’m slowly beginning to relish Fantasy games like Arkham Horror, Descent etc. I’ve started trying out some RPG’s (Role Playing games) and LARP’s (Live Action Role Plays).

I keep reading about the latest developments in the boardgaming world and contribute my 2 cents to this fascinating world through reviews, session reports etc.

What I wish to do in this blog from my next post on is to take a game talk briefly about the game mechanics, theme, bit about the rules (will refer you to the reviews on Boardgame geek where people have done better job than I do), provide a little but of info on the author, share my feelings about the game which might help you to decide if you want to give it a try (you can always come to my place to try- Up for a game always!) or buy it!

For everyone who patiently ploughed through this seemingly never ending story, my posts from here on will not be as long J

See you all with a game next time around!

The World of Boardgames!

In this new era of co-operative video games, 3D graphics, motion sensors, virtual gaming community etc. etc. What place does boardgames have? Most of us ask this question when you see a boardgame in any near by store. I have observed most of them dismiss the category of boardgames as being boring, mundane and just for kids!

Whenever I go and share that I love boardgames and that boardgames are for real people and fun. I kind of get a very quizzical look- Something like boardgames ಅಂದ್ರೆ ಹಾವು ಏಣಿ ಟೈಪ್? (meaning snakes and ladders?) A slightly more educated comment would be "You mean boardgames like Monopoly?" Well I really don't have anything against these games, in fact I grew up like many others with these games, but boardgames are way beyond these games.

I started this blog to share a few thoughts from this fascinating world of boardgames!

Let's first start of by understanding what boardgames really are?
As the name suggests most of the boardgames are played with a board, dice, tokens, cards, different varieties of game chips etc, However boardgames are not limited to just this. Even your age old favorite (in fact one of my favorite too!) ಛೌಕ ಭಾರಾ (Chauka Barah- a 5*5 or 7*& matrix with tokens going around to reach the centre), ಕೈ ಮಯೇಲ್ ಕಾಶಿ (a simple game played with sea-shells), ಮೇಕೆ ಹೂಲೀ ಆಟಾ (that you find engraved on temple ಪ್ರಕರಾಸ್) comes under the boardgame domain. Lot of modern games don't even have a board, they are purely card games. Some of them are just a set of books with host of instructions and a few dice- you just develop a character and build a story out of it (this specific category is called Role Playing Games or RPG's in short and extremely popular in the western world). The art work for many modern day boardgames have gone beyond imagination with minuaters representing tokens and game pieces bringing in a whole lot of realism to the game play experience.

In India though the market for boardgames has been fairly limited. I do see an influx of a few more international games into large stores like Crossword, Landmark & Sappire toys (Bengaluru), but bye-and-large the range is limited that gives grown ups a perception that boardgames are for kids.

Sure it is for kids, in fact there are thousands of them desogned just for kids, but there aremore than 30,000 designed for adults as well. Yes, more than 30,000 differnt games and this is an ever growing list by the day and month!

If there are 30,000+ games how come we don't see them? Unfortunately in India the culture of playing boardgames is very limited- may be because of our lifestyle, which is already highly interactive, maybe because of cricket (haha),or maybe we were just not exposed to them!

I find it hard to believe that the modern day child does not even know ಛೌಕ ಭಾರಃ, ಪಗಡೆ (Pachisi or Indian version of the Ludo) etc. Most of us get into the video game mode at a very young age and outgrow the available boardgames. Again I'm not against video games, in fact I own a Nintendo Wii and love it. However there is this "something extra" that boardgames bring in and that something is interaction, bringin in people closer, having fun together, making noise and laughing out loud, using your grey cells to outwit your friend (for a change not the computer) and having a laugh about it even days after you've played the game. Getting in the family to enjoy an evening by forgetting eveything around. This is what I see boardgames doing. The collective fun experience for eveyone involved.

Let me talk you through some of the popular games available in the Indian market today:

Monopoly: Business World as we knew it during our days ;-) popular even among adults even to this day. I saw a group of teens at Landmark pick this up and asked out of curiosity why did they pick this up- the answer was ' We know this is fun, and we've played it', we have a few friends coming over and we thought we could have good time'. Recently my friend acquired a copy of this (the Indian Edition) and played it with his entire family (wife, brother, parents) and said he didn't even know that his parents liked such games.

Clue: This is a Parker Brother's classic detective game popular ever since 1957 if I'm not wrong. Details of this game in another post.

Life: Another popular family entertainer with loads and loads of fun

Taboo: One of the party games that is extremely popular- something like Charads you could say, but more fun

Pictionary: Game of drawing pictures

Scrabble, Riversi, Mastermind, Dr. Wood's series of games etc. etc

I can go on and on with this list, but the point is the market for the "Real Boardgames" are non-existent in India. I'm sure there are only a handful of us in India who have heard of Puerto Rico, Caylus, Notre Dame, Setlers of Catan, Carcassonne, Thurn and Taxis, Agricola, Race for the Galaxy, War of the RIng, Descent: Journeys Through Darkness and thousands of others right?

The above mentioned list is just the tip of the ice berg in the world of boardgaming. Boardgames where you develop economy, manage resources, bid fr items, use strategies to upset your opponents and not sheer roll of dice, plan your every move- this is the world of boardgames that I've come to know in the last few years.

A world that is so fascinating that everytime I introduce anyone to any of the games that I own- they have surely given a nod to play another and ready to take up more complex games. It has become a regular feature in any of the outings that I go with my friends, friends, relatives and others wanna play games over the weekend and borrow some to take them home to try out with their families :-)

I would be sharing in this blog about these games- Games that I own and aspire to own etc. I would start by giving you a brief history of how I got into boardgames :-) (of course it is my blog!!) and then start by taking one game at a time and writing musings on them- be it game mechanics, components, length of play, fun element etc. etc.

Hope more people start playing boardgames and make these games available in India rather then a few of us who shell out a fortune to get a game imported or beg someone to bring it along whn they come to India!!