Andy VZ
@andyvz
Tabletop game dev/project manager for over a decade, currently with Trick or Treat Studios. Opinions my own. Fantasy, sci-fi, comic, & video game enthusiast. He/him.
"Marrakesh" by Stefan Feld. Point salad + cube tower. Choose 3 zones to send your workers to, and add corresponding octoboxes to the cube tower. Take turns claiming/placing the ones that come out, then activating your workers for effects based on how many octoboxes you've accrued in that region.
Y'know, household string. For your household. You do household things with it.
Thunder Road (1986 edition) by Jim Keifer. Roll dice and assign them to cars for movement. End behind someone and you can try to shoot them; enter their space and you can try to ram them. Good rolls recover wrecked cars. Last one standing wins. Wacky hijinks and dice-chucking. #boardgames
Have you ever felt lost and confused because you didn't have a metal box for your sticks? Say goodbye to that chaos and uncertainty with this new product - a box for sticks!
Midterm given online, students had high grades (yellow dots). Final in person... 1 student improved, all the rest did WORSE (grey dots). 27 declined to take the final. Any place that's doing non- proctored tests and not having students present/defend projects/papers is not an academic institution.
Pushed to infinite this season in Marvel Snap with a Namora deck. Hulkbuster and Symbiote Spider-man are definitely the weakest slots, and could be tech/disruptive cards instead. Echo + Supergiant or Goose + Storm probably. If you're missing any of Lasher/Herbie/Frankie, Sebastian Shaw is good too
"Acquire" by Sid Sackson, published in 1963(!) Take turns adding tiles to groups representing hotel chains and buying stock. When 2 chains touch, the smaller one is absorbed, and people can sell stock and get bonuses for having the most shares in the absorbed chain. Most money wins. #Boardgames
"Sorcerous Futures", by Adam Blinkinsop and PD Magnus. A social deduction auction game, played with the Decktet. Each player knows the value of 2 different suits, and has a secret bonus suit they don't know the value of. Cards are auctioned from the deck. To do well, pay attention to player's bids.
"Between Two Cities" by Ben Rossett and Matthew O'Malley. Each round you select 2 tiles from a group and add 1 to each city on your right and left, which are shared with your right and left neighbors. Tiles score points in different ways, and the player with the best 2 shared cities wins.
"Notre Dame" by Stefan Feld. Draft cards to place cubes in sections of the city, and perform a corresponding action that gets stronger based on how many cubes you have there. Make money, score points, fight off rats. Holds up really well for being almost 20 years old.
This palmistry "game" from 1919 has a paragraph at the start of the rules assuring you that it is totally fun and definitely worth the time of reading and following the rules. So I reckon struggling to get people to sit through rules explanations has been a thing for a long time now 😉
And to be clear, this turkey just kept at it for 10+ minutes, until I went outside and he decided I was too scary.
I'm in the house alone Hear banging noise in the basement Go down to investigate...
And to urge perambulation 'yond the witching hour? What bespoke terror must have spurred this patsy to such unseemliness?
Man, what is this record gonna do to me when it's unsealed? What eldritch horrors must be contained here-in? Shadowy whispers of a world too frightful for mortal reasoning, I do not doubt.
Auditor: "yes, I have some questions about this expense for your break room here..."
"Landmarks" by Rodrigo Rego and Danilo Valente. 1 player has a card detailing where treasures, traps, water, curses, and the exit are. They write single words on tiles to give clues to players, who must place the tiles on the board to show their path. The clue giver tells them what they encounter.
If you're printing from the images in the photos section on BGG, I would recommend using the PDF from the files section instead, and making sure "actual size" in the print dialogue box is selected.
"Fits" by Reiner Knizia. Flip over cards to see which Tetris piece everyone will slide into place next. Uncovered gaps lose you points at the end of the round, and you earn points in different ways each round. Best score after 4 rounds wins. Light and fast simultaneous play, so no downtime.
"Samara" by Corné van Moorsel. Pick up tools and build buildings - further out ones require sending your worker farther, to the corresponding column of the time track. Taking things from higher rows requires multiple workers. 30 to 40 minute playtime, no random elements after setup. Hidden gem, IMO.