Games that really should not have to be in a sale
Some of the games that are excessively cluttering up the place are ones which I personally like, so it is rather distressing to have to provide an extra incentive for you to buy them; you should have bought them already! These are some which immediately spring to mind in that regard, I have given few details here as a quick click on the link takes you to those, and I am trying to be brief, if only to prove to the many doubters that I can be.
Cinematique
A beautifully made, exceptionally well thought-out film quiz/party game. It
was stunning value at the original price.
Safari Rush Hour
We bought lots when Ravensburger dropped it, then they brought it
back! A long-time favourite for keeping children quiet, and is good fun for
adults too.
Beowulf
A re-make of an earlier reputable game, themed to go with the film.
The film has gone, the game is still well worth playing.
Tara, Seat of Kings
This is a very neat tactical game with a different twist. Its only problem
was that the short production run and high quality pieces made it expensive for
the type of game - first time round it was about £25. £18.99 still appears to
be too much, so it is now £12 - a serious bargain.
Atlanteon
Sally and I were introduced to this one by one of our regulars, and took to
it straight away. It is a fairly straightforward tactical two-player game,
one of those which is easy to pick up but requires a bit of concentration,
and I find its appearance rather attractive (not that I am normally accused
of having taste). A typical Reiner Knizia game, simple but a bit devious, and
for me, sufficiently different from the several other of his games that I regularly
play.
Chizo Rising
I suspect that this falls
between two stools from a marketing viewpoint, not quite a collectable card
game but close enough to scare off
those who avoid
them automatically. Two one-player starter sets give an adequate selection
of tiles for varied and interesting games, and what stands out is how two people
with very different taste in games – one an avid Magic:
The Gathering
player and one who plays few games, none of them collectable - both enjoyed
themselves immensely when introduced to it together. Essentially a positional
game like Atlanteon, but with extra twists.
Express Chess:
Safari + Express
Chess: Space Exploration
I have always liked this
game, but it didn't catch on – as chess variants
often don't – so I am finally accepting that it has got to go. Two decks
give you a fairly normal chess set-up plus a degree of customizability, for
a tenner you can have four decks and experiment with all manner of options.
It uses the basic chess moves but the set-up puts the two sides already very
close so it is quite short and bloody. Hence the name..
Prompt
OK, I admit that I have not played this Shakespeare based game, but it looks
gorgeous and must be worth a look at under a tenner.
Who Stole Ed's Pants?
Sally and I like this game, in fact I must get our copy out for one of our
Wednesday evening gaming sessions soon. It has been around a while so it is
continuing to sell somewhere, but has gone quiet for us. I believe that it
was the first game by Eight Foot Llama, several more have followed so they
seem to be doing OK.
The essence of the game is that you are trying to pin crimes on your fellow
players using your witnesses. On your turn you can change the plausibility
of your witnesses, the evidence, or the facts themselves; the interaction between
the three is really quite complex, so it is more of a gamers' game than it
first appears to be. We've trimmed the price to tempt you.
Who?
As a sort of 20 questions with
some nice twists and an arrangement that makes it every man for himself instead
of a team game, I had expected
this to go
well. It didn't really catch on, and we have three left – as the years
roll by it is becoming less and less suitable for younger players, with the
erstwhile contemporary characters coming from an increasingly distant past.
Still good fun for older players.