Games We Play - Dice Games

I am pretty much in love with dice games.  Don't get me wrong I LOVE games in general, but with dice games we can sit down after a long day and just play a couple of rounds, throw the dice back in the box and get on to bed.  They (mostly) don't require a lot of set up and (mostly) don't require a lot of brain power which is especially awesome after a long, stressful, exhausting day.  

While looking for games to keep us occupied while waiting in line at PAX I came across my first TableTop Episode, it happened to be This One which showcased Tsuro, Get Bit and Zombie Dice.  We decided not only that Zombie Dice would be awesome for line waiting, but we had to run out and get these games the next day.  Essentially that episode of TableTop is what set us of on this game playing journey :) 

But anyway, I digress.  This post is, after all supposed to be about the games we play, not what got us started playing them. 

So on to Zombie Dice this game is super simple to play, skill level is low,  learning curve is basically zero and it is most definitely not a cooperative game.  The idea is that, well, brains are good!  You like to roll brains!  Runners you re-roll, so they are the neutral party.  Shotgun blasts are bad, three blasts and you are gone AND you loose all your brains, stop rolling before you get to that point :) 

This is a pretty well played game for us, we probably play it at least once a week.  Plus it's pretty portable so I throw it in my purse when we go out on date nights, it's nice to have something we can play so we don't end up both playing on our phones for half the night!

The next game is called Pig, though I've been trying to come up with a new name for it since the Pig game we usually play is a card game we play with my Mom-in-Law.  But anyway this game is also super easy with no learning curve.  The rules of the game are simple, be the first to get above 100 and you win.  You can roll as many times as you want before you stop, but make sure you stop before you roll a 1, if you roll a 1 and your turn is over and you don't get any points, roll snake eyes and you loose all points you have collected up to that point.  

The first time we played this we played with normal six sided dotted dice, but I decided it would be more interesting to play with some different dice so I pulled out some others.  The hardest part about this game is adding up the points when your exhausted, other than that it's great fun! It will be an excellent one to introduce to the girls for number recognition and counting.  

The last game here I got as a mother's day gift, and I love it!  This one takes a bit more thinking and effort and is a bit more involved than the other two but it's still easy to play and it's loads of fun (though Hubby will disagree with that statement since I kicked his butt...).  Essentially you are rolling the dice in this game to build Roads, Settlements, Cities and Armies.  Now neither Hubby nor I have ever played any of the variations of the board game of Settlers of Catan so we didn't know really what we needed to build any of these items so it took us a while to figure out what we actually had or needed with each roll.  It took us about 40 minutes to play instead of the suggested 15-20 minutes on the box.  

I like this one the best of the three I think.  It's got just enough extra that it's not just about the luck of the roll, but also it's not so involved that we can't just play a quick game after we put the girls in bed and before we go to bed ourselves.

When I was researching this game I found that a lot of people out there don't really like it, but mostly they are people who had already played and love the full version of Catan.  Never having played that version I didn't have anything to compare the dice against.  I think in the future we will absolutely be adding Settlers of Catan to our collection, but I think this will still get more play time since it's a) quick and b) portable.  Love those portable games.

(Pint Size) Games We Play - The Sneaky Snacky Squirrel

For Mother's Day I got two games ;) one to play with the girls (The Sneaky Snacky Squirrel)  and one for hubby and me to play (Catan Dice).  So far we've only been able to play Sneaky Snacky Squirrel, but the girls are addicted :) 

The game itself is beautiful and very vintage looking.  Everything is nice and sturdy and, well, just plain adorable.  To play the game you spin the spinner and it lands on an option to use the squirrel tongs to take nuts from the tree or from another player, skip a turn, or (much to C's horror) have all your nuts blown back into the tree.  

This is an excellent game for the little ones, it's great for color recognition and motor skills and the spinner is fun!  Plus it helps to start teaching them how to loose gracefully...or at least not throw a tantrum if all the nuts they collected get blown back into the tree or they have to miss a turn...

Final Verdict?  LOVE this game, it has already made it into our nightly rotation.  It's a game that kids and adults can both play and nobody gets bored :) 

Games We Play - Ticket to Ride Nordic Countries

We recently picked up Ticket to Ride, Nordic Countries and the verdict?  Love it but it's going to take some getting used to :)

The first time I ever heard of Ticket to Ride was on an episode of Tabletop (seen here), then we borrowed it from the PAX library and played it there at PAX.  I really liked it then, but it seemed to be a game that a) took a while to play and b) needed more than two players to really have a good time playing.  Which will be great when the girls are old enough to play, but not so much right now. 

But then we were browsing games at the Comic Book store and I found Ticket to Ride, Nordic Countries.  This version of Ticket to Ride is specifically designed to be played by 2-3 people.  I opened the box expecting it to be pretty much the same as the original version but smaller and with Nordic Destinations, that expectation was kind of quashed the second we started setting up and reading the directions. 

First thing I noticed was the board doesn't read from left to right but from top to bottom.  Cool, but confusing when trying to find destinations lol.  Then they also add in the concept of Ferries and Tunnels which are a great addition to the game, but most of the first part of the game is spent building up your hand so you get all the locomotives you need to purchase a ferry route or building up the colors in your hand to lay down a tunnel route. 

All in all it's a pretty great game for a small game night or even a stay at home date night, It's slow to start while you are building up your hand but once everything gets going it goes fast, about 20-25 minutes in all. Last time we were really getting used to the board and special routes, but next time I think we will start getting a bit more competitive. 

PAX East 2013 - Part 2

Day 2 was a bit more laid back and relaxed, since we had really seen everything the day before that we really wanted to see we skipped the line and instead watched from above as the masses were let into the Expo Hall.

 

After that we took in a panel on Education Gamification, a concept that was pretty much completely new to me, I mean maybe it was there before but now I had a name to put to it.

 

When the panel was over we decided to take a walk through the indie game section, and boy was that place packed!! But it was well worth it to muddle through the crowds.  Most of the games that were out there were made for iOS systems and it was pretty amazing to get to meet with the teams that had developed these games and graphics, it will be interesting to follow some of them to see how successful they become. 

 

We next met up for lunch with my cousin, this time the food was better but it was a wicked long wait!  From there we decided to wait in *just one more* line.  This time it was because Moga was giving away their Moga Pocket Controller for free, you just had to show them your Android phone (no it doesn't work with iOS devices *yet*) and they would give you one.  It was too good a deal to pass up so we headed down.  The line wasn't that long a wait, maybe a half hour or so, and you got to watch people getting made into some pretty awesome zombies in the meantime. 

 

After that was all taken care of we went back down to the table top area to spend our last couple of hours :) we played some Timeline, Nuts! and Ubongo Extreme.  All were awesome games. 

 

So all in all this year was a pretty great year.  Can not wait till next year when we will absolutely be getting 3 day passes :)

 

 

Revolution 60 was a choose your own adventure type game for the iPad that was developed by a group of women, can't wait to get it once it comes out, low learning curve, it's simple and intuitive.  A nice easy game I can see myself playing through till the end.  (something that has never happened...)

 

Another game that seemed pretty cool to try was Colliding Forces.  We didn't get a chance to play this one since the line was too long, but we got to watch in and it was described to us as Air Hockey with Elements.  Will absolutely try it when it comes out.

PAX East 2013 - Part 1

So yeah, this is a pretty pic heavy post and in the pics didn't upload in order so I'll just leave them be at the bottom...

 

We may have had a good time at PAX last year, but this year was amazing.  Last year we were a bit overwhelmed by everything there was to see and do, it was Easter weekend, and it was our first time being away from the girls over night.  This year was totally different.  We had passes for both Saturday and Sunday, we arrived in Boston on Friday and just let ourselves relax.  We walked around for a bit, got some dinner then went back to the hotel and watched a movie (Wreck it Ralph and it was great!)  Saturday we got an early start and through a series of fortunate events (in the guise of security officers making their job more efficient by making use of each and every door that could be opened) we ended up in the very front of the line. 

 

When "doors" opened we made it straight for the Blizzard both to test out their new game Hearthstone.  Which happened to be pretty awesome, I love the fact it is going to be available as an iOS app because, well, I can play those :).  The colors and graphics on it are amazing and the learning curve seems pretty low so I think we will definitely be getting this one once it comes out. 

 

The rest of the day we pretty much did the line waiting thing, we checked out the popular titles that seemed like they would be fun to play...and you know what?  I don't really remember any of those titles lol. 

 

I do remember we stood inline for an hour plus to watch the 6 minute video for the new Assassins Creed and well?  I *really* was not that impressed.  Pirates are cool, but that's about it... I realize that I have never played this game in any of it's previous variations before, but if it's the fourth generation of the game I really thought the graphics would have been much better.  But anyway, we got to sit down for 6 minutes and a free set of blow up swords for the girls to play with so yay for swag :). 

 

Last year we were home by 5, crazy how different this year was.  We had teamed up with my cousin about half way through the day.  After the Assassins Creed wait we decided to head out to find some food because wholly jeeze the prices at the convention center were outrageous, but anyway we had some awesome burgers and fries and then, wait for it, went back.   

 

When we went back it was like a whole nother world after dark lol.  We checked out the "vintage" game room (I'm sure there is a better name for it, but I have no idea what that is so that's what I'm calling it.) They had all the classic game consoles going in there, it was great :)

 

After that we headed down to the tabletop area, I had no idea this place even existed last year and it was *A-may-zing*.  I mean it, I think the Table Top play was my favorite part of the weekend.  Since the Expo hall was closed by this point everyone pretty much migrated over and grabbed a game and a table and started playing.  There were venders there selling their games, but there was also this PAX library that had all sorts of games you could borrow and try before you actually bought anything.

 

Games we tried were ~ "We didn't play test this at all" (probably the most completely random game I have ever seen) and "Ticket To Ride (Loved it!)

 

And that was pretty much it for the night...Day 2 post still to come! 

 

This Woman *made* her dress out of Magic the Gathering Cards, it was just amazing.

 

 

Table Top Gaming area, was completely mobbed all weekend...