So this past weekend I had the pleasure of attending a small board gaming convention in Hudson, OH called the Groundhog Day Gaming Retreat. This was my second time in attendance and I got to meet up with quite a few friends and strangers to do what I love most: play board games. In this brief post, I'm going to talk about the games that I got to play and offer some mini-reviews of them. I'm going to restrict this post to some of the "lighter" games that I got to play as opposed to the super complex games I usually adore. Here we go!
Cover Your A$$ets | This quick card game was a total surprise to me. In the game, you are trying to accumulate the most money by putting down pairs of cards. Instead of putting down a pair, you can attempt to steal someone else's pair by playing another card of that same type. However, once you have put down a second pair, players can only steal the most recent pair you have played, hence Cover Your Assets. Silly little game without a lot of strategy, but a good filler game none-the-less. Great for people who aren't really into board games, but like games like Skipbo or Uno. |
Roborally is a game in which players program actions and then carry them out in a certain order. For example, you would pick your 5 movements with cards and then one by one players carry out those actions, bumping other players, getting hit by lasers, and generally not going where they intended. The game was really random with 8 players and it was ruined by one of the worst players I've ever played a game with, but that's another story. I would consider trying this again with a laid back group, but the experience was ruined by the one player. Definitely not my favorite game of the convention. | Roborally |
Terra | Terra is a party-style trivia game in which players have to answer questions about different places/structures on Earth. One player gives a clue like "Mount Rushmore" and then list off the questions: Location, Height (in meters or feet), and year it was created. In Terra you don't need to know an exact answer to any of the questions, you put cubes in a general location, or along a timeline, or on a number line. You get points for being right, but you also get points for being adjacent to the correct answer. It's a very good party game that often requires guessing by everyone, which is better than straight-up trivia. Definitely a solid choice for gamers and families. |
The best way I can explain Karuba is that it's grown-up Bingo. Players start out with identical tiles and end up with a very different path at the end of the game. One player will call out tiles and the other players will lay a tile on their grid to try to get an explorer to a temple on the other side of the board. This game is a really enjoyable, laid-back experience in the middle of a bunch of brain-burning games. The rules are simple, the tile-laying is puzzly but fun, and the overall presentation is top-notch. The company that makes the game, HABA, is usually known for kids games but this one is great for kids, adults, gamers, and non-gamers. Very highly recommended. | Karuba |
| Finally, my favorite lighter game of the weekend is definitely Secret Hitler. The theme is certainly a little controversial, but the game plays a lot like a popular social game called The Resistance, which is another one of my favorites. In Secret Hitler, there are two teams, the Liberals and the Fascists who are trying to enact policies to win the game. The problem is that the Liberals don't know who the Fascists are, and they definitely don't know who Hitler is. As the game wears on, Fascists can win by either enacting enough policies or by getting Hitler elected Chancellor. This game is super fun and causes chaos by getting everybody turning on one another. I'm not sure if it's better than The Resistance, but they are certainly on the same level. If you want to lie, bluff, and try to fool your friends and family, this is definitely one worth trying. |