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Trajan
Set in ancient Rome, Trajan is a development game in which players try to increase their influence and power in various areas of Roman life such as political influence, trading, military dominion and other important parts of Roman culture.
The central mechanism of the game uses a system similar to that in Mancala or pit-and-pebbles games. In Trajan, a player has six possible actions: building, trading, taking tiles from the forum, using the military, influencing the Senate, and placing Trajan tiles on his tableau.
At the start of the game, each player has two differently colored pieces in each of the six sections (bowls) of his tableau. On a turn, the player picks up all the pieces in one bowl and distributes them one-by-one in bowls in a clockwise order. Wherever the final piece is placed, the player takes the action associated with that bowl; in addition, if the colored pieces in that bowl match the colors shown on a Trajan tile next to the bowl (with tiles being placed at the start of the game and through later actions), then the player takes the additional action shown on that tile.
What are you trying to do with these actions? Acquire victory points (VPs) in whatever ways are available to you – and since this is a Feld design, you try to avoid being punished, too. At the Forum you try to anticipate the demands of the public so that you can supply them what they want and not suffer a penalty. In the Senate you acquire influence which translates into votes on VP-related laws, ideally snagging a law that fits your long-term plans. With the military, you take control of regions in Europe, earning more points for those regions far from Rome.
All game components are language neutral, and the playing time is 30 minutes per player.
Read MoreCatacombs
Catacombs is the award winning fantasy, dexterity board game that was first published in March, 2010. Three expansions were released for the second edition: Catacombs: Cavern of Soloth, Catacombs: Dark Passageways and Catacombs: Horde of Vermin. Note: Sands of Time Games has merged with Elzra. The same creative team is still in place.
A very successful Kickstarter campaign was completed in April 2014. A third edition of Catacombs featuring new content and the artwork of Kwanchai Moriya is now in production and scheduled for release later this year.
Read MoreFunemployed
Funemployed is the satirical job application party game for 3 or more players. Make your best pitch for different jobs using four qualifications not fit for any real job interview. Creativity and the ability to spin a good story are key. It is tricky to justify your “burrito” qualification when applying for the job of astronaut.
After all players have had their “interview,” the interviewer selects the person who created the best story out of their qualifications. That person wins the card and a new round starts.
It’s not always easy to explain why Fairy Dust, Jacked Forearms, Treats, and a Time Machine make you the most qualified to be a Competitive Eater, but we have faith you can do it.
Read MorePodcast #30: An Opera of Toys
You ever eat Nerd Rope? Just an endlessly long, glutinous tongue, speckled with sour little gobbets? That’s basically the 30th ever SU&SD podcast. On this lengthy journey of no less than one hour and one minute, we discuss the absence of bitterness in the magnificent Forbidden Stars. We chat about the sheer joy of Funemployed … Read more
Read MoreInterview: Volko Ruhnke’s Modern Wargames
Thrower: Do you find numbers scary? Do you dread the pointy 1, the razor-sharp 7, the misery of an unsolved sum? If you do, you’ve probably realised that most board games are just fearsome equations wearing friendly grins.
Designers, however, understand this, and more. They welcome it, glory in it, roll in it like pigs in mathematical mud. Because it’s what they use to build the foundations of something fun, yet something real.
Take Volko Ruhnke, designer of contemporary wargames Labyrinth and the Counter-Insurgency (or COIN) series. “Most board games and video games that are about something are models,” he told me. “Trading games, railroad building games, shooting games, strategic war games. They all communicate the game designers’ model of certain aspects of human affairs.”
Read MoreGames News! 06/07/15
Paul: This is a disaster. How much food do we have left? How many days can we go? Will we even get rescued out here?
Quinns: I’m sure it’ll be fine, just keep sending up the flares and don’t put any limbs in the water. Look, I managed to salvage a few of the more intact parts of Matt, which we can probably cook, and then there’s the…
Paul: What?
Quinns: The Games News. I’m really sorry, Paul. We’re going to have to eat the Games News.
Read MoreReview: Spyfall
The English language version of Spyfall is finally available! …And stock has immediately drained out shops the world over like a vodka martini through a sieve.
Don’t worry, friends! Operating in a dangerous web of international intrigue, and with a little help from Starlit Citadel, Team SU&SD has secured a review copy. At last, we’re here to tell you if this party game live up to the hype.
Read MoreCockroach Poker Royal
As in its parent game Kakerlakenpoker, Kakerlakenpoker Royal has nothing to do with poker – except that the game is all about bluffing, but with cards showing cockroaches, rats and stink bugs instead of queens, 10s and aces. To set up the game, shuffle the deck and deal the cards out to players. On a turn, a player takes one card from his hand, lays it face down on the table, slides it to a player of his choice, and declares a type of critter, e.g., “Stink bug”. The player receiving the card either:
Accepts the card, says either “true” or “false”, then reveals the card. If this player is wrong in her claim, she keeps the card on the table in front of her face up; if she is right, the player who gave her the card places it face up before him.
Or passes the card to another player, peeking at it first, then keeping it face-down and either saying the original type of critter or saying a new type. This new player again has the choice of accepting the card or passing it, unless the card has already been seen by all other players in which case the player must accept it and make a true/false claim.
The game ends when a player has no cards to pass on his turn or when a player has four cards of the same critter on the table in front of him. In either case, this player loses and everyone else wins.
To this, Kakerlakenpoker Royal adds new rules and new nasty “royal” critters to create more options for players during the game.
Read MoreReview: Cockroach Poker Royal
Quinns: Catch Team SU&SD at our most tired and soul-blasted, when we’re done walking the halls of a giant convention, and there’s a single game we’ll always still be able to play. It’s Skull.
It’s the arsenic-laced wafer thin mint of board gaming, and there’s always room for its lies and laughter. The one thing more impressive than Asmodee daring to call Skull “the very quintessence of bluffing” is that actually, I don’t think they’re wrong.
Two months ago I was in a pub with a friend who I trust completely. “If you like Skull,” he said, “Then write this down. ‘Cockroach Poker’. Best £10 you’ll ever spend.”
Today I’m the proud owner of one “Cockroach Poker Royal”, the en-complicated 2012 sequel to 2004’s Cockroach Poker. And I’ll tell you what! It’s not just a great game of lying to your friends. It’s a great game of lying with your friends.
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