Welcome again.
Quote:
Recap of my background: I'm best described as a jack-of-many-trades, with my strongest proficiencies in math and computer science. I am currently following / subscribed to / a member of several social media board gaming groups and great people; these include BoardGameGeek, designers, publishers, reviewers and friendly local game stores—some in and around northeast Illinois. I'm more a fanboy than a reviewer to the hobby. I tend to favor casual, family-friendly, filler, dice, roll & write, and solo-variant games. (Yes, I have analysis-paralysis.) I also enjoy listening to rock music; watching comedy/drama films; reading math, non-fiction and comic strip books; playing retro-style video games; and practically anything simple.
I include my background in these top ten lists, serving as a disclaimer of sorts. A number of hot lists (or top ten lists in general) encapsulate games that are or will be available in the location where the games may or will be released. (In this case, ease of availability in the states.) Or games that have or revolve around a favorite mechanism or theme or audience target or component. (In this case: often casual, family-friendly, filler, dice and solo-variant-included games.) Or games primarily heard about or are popular on certain media. (In this case: I follow a lot of board game groups and personalities on several, albeit questionable, social media platforms; I also keep tabs on BGG's news and hotness.) Or games that simply look promising, or should deserve some love and hype before they may fade away.Though I am limited by who and where I am in the community, I try to include a diverse variety of games, from various designers, from various publishers, featuring various artists, from various locations; not just from the top-tiered. Moreover, these games either listed in the ten or honorable mentions are games I would like to play at least once; these games are not necessarily a part of my gaming collection—before the time I write these blogs, or after, or maybe never.
Given the circ*mstances of everything, including us still in a pandemic for an undetermined amount of time (and how we will fathom after), the global shipping crisis, and establishments (gaming and otherwise) under fire for inappropriate activity, everything is up in the air and nothing is set in stone. There will be delays. There are the games we have. There are games available from our FLGS and online stores. There are games that can be played over the internet, via video chat or online platform. We have adapted thus far; just keep on keeping on for a while longer.
Lastly, you may notice that there are no roll-and-write games in this month's ten or in the honorable mentions. I've decided to start a spin-off of hot roll-and-writes. Inspired by kovray's month of roll-and-write games that helped me through another dismal August, the series will likely be a monthly or bi-monthly thing with much shorter blog articles dedicated to the roll-and-write aficionados. (Also gives me a reason to finally talk more about Hadrian's Wall instead of being honorably mentioned again.) It may later turn into a podcast thing... if and when I'm up for getting into podcasts. Expect the first one later this month or next month.
Enough about me. Lots of games to talk about, especially with the return of Gen Con, Origins and Essen Spiel conventions (among others) as well as a number of Kickstarters and revisited classics. Let's start!
#01:Kingdomino Origins
The original Kingdomino is probably the game I've taught to and/or played with the most people. I mean, the game is simple to teach and very quick and fun to play. And well deserving of its 2017 Spiel des Jahres win. It's an excellent gateway game, an excellent filler game, and will likely be on my overall top ten games for a long while.
Since its 2016 release, Bruno Cathala has made good on his word on releasing Kingdomino-related content each year. There was the heavier, gamer-oriented standalone expansion Queendomino in 2017. Then the take-that expansion Age of Giants in 2018. The two-player roll-and-write Kingdomino Duel in 2019. The print-and-play expansion The Court and youngling-friendly standalone Dragomino in 2020.
This year, we have Kingdomino Origins! The same Kingdomino gameplay of drafting dominoes and creating a 5x5 kingdom returns, except the game is set in the prehistoric era. Three different game modes come with this sequel (or prequel).
+ Discovery Mode serves as the introduction to the game, where players create their hunting territory with five different terrains, some having fire symbols (acting the same as crowns in endgame scoring); the sixth terrain in volcanoes can offer additional fire symbols to a nearby region for additional points.
+ Totem Mode plays the same as Discovery Mode, but with resources—mammoths, fish, mushrooms and flint—that are earned based on specific terrain added to one's territory—except with any fire symbols; each resource offers one point while majority totems for each resource type offers additional points for the players that own them at endgame.
+ Tribe Mode plays the same as Discovery, but features cavemen tiles that can be purchased with different resources (similar to what The Court expansion offered); each hunter-gather earns points based on the resources, fire symbols or other cavemen tiles on the eight squares surrounding them, while warriors each have different power values that earn points in the orthogonally-connected group they are in—number of warriors multiplied by the sum of power.
Truly, anyone who wants more gameplay and variance out of Kingdomino, but that is less complex than Queendomino, should find Kingdomino Origins to be a welcome addition to their game collection.
#02:Cascadia
From one tile-laying & tile-drafting game to another, we have Cascadia: the second game by publisher Flatout Games that is similar to their first game Calico. I got to play Calico for the first time at this year's Pop-Up Gen Con. As simple as the game looks and plays, it is a brain-burning puzzle to optimize one's score with a limited set of available tiles to draft. So many ways to score points in a closed space already surrounded by patches of various colors and patterns. A complete point smorgasbord that may not appeal well to those with analysis paralysis, but it plays quick and has a beautiful quilting and cats theme with beautiful artwork by Beth Sobel.
Cascadia shares a lot of similarities with Calico, but its primary difference is the explorative gameplay and theme. Players expand their wilderness by drafting and adding multi-habitat hexagon tiles along with its adjoining wildlife token. Nature tokens may aid players in taking the habitat and wildlife combination to benefit them on their turn. Each of the five types of wildlife are scored based on their arrangements detailed on each of their scoring cards; while each type of habitat is scored one point per tile in their largest contiguous corridor, with majority bonuses for the largest habitats.
Out of Calico, Cascadia and the upcoming Verdant (currently on Kickstarter), I would like to play and likely own Cascadia. I enjoy the natural, explorative theme. I like the similarity to other simple and filler tile-drafting and tile-placement games, namely Kingdomino, Between Two Cities, Bärenpark and the like. Most of the Cascadia Kickstarter pledges have been fulfilled, and the game is expected to be released this October.
#03:Flamecraft
Dragons are probably the mythical creatures I find the most fascinating, shaping bit parts of my life even if it just by name. Dragon Warrior was my first JRPG video game, and I've enjoyed the Dragon Quest series more than any other jRPG. Thoroughly enjoyed the How To Train Your Dragon film trilogy by Dreamworks. Exploring and learning about dragon lore in the Dungeons and Dragons universe, including the in-game game Three-Dragon Ante.
So a game about being a Flamekeeper to ideally utilize artisan dragons to aid shopkeepers should be up my alley? Yes. Played on an oblong fabric board, players take turns placing their dragon token at a store to either gather resources or upgrade the store with their resources. Both actions evolve the stores, offering more resources to future visitors and may open up new stores that may offer even more. Players primarily earn reputation (in hearts) when playing dragon cards to certain store locations, upgrading stores, giving resources to other players (via plant dragons), and earning fancy dragons that offer one-time or endgame bonuses. The player with the most reputation will be known as the Master of Flamecraft.
Flamecraft pledges totaled an amazing $2 million during its Kickstarter run in August. As of now, late pledges are open with fulfillments expected to begin next summer.
#04:Dungeon Decorators
Let's talk more Pop-Up Gen Con 2021!
In 2019, I was informed upon the games to be featured at my FLGS' Pop-Up Gen Con event ahead of time, so I may research and see which ones I can help demo. That year featured games like Point Salad, Mental Blocks, Trapwords, Medium, Curios, We're Doomed!, and my personal favorite of the bunch in Hadara. This year was the same in learning more games to possibly demo at the store.
Of course, under the circ*mstances, Pop-Up Gen Con this year may (and did) end up being low key compared to the being-at-the-game-store-the-whole-day fun in 2019. It was primarily everyone demoing the games at their own leisure towards possibly winning prizes from the store. This year's line-up of games included Gravwell: 2nd Edition, Taco Bell Party Pack, , and Dungeon Party. Other games I've looked into and/or played that event were The Search For Planet X, Root, Calico, and Super Mega Lucky Box. (Quick note: do not sleep on the Taco Bell game, even if you don't care for their food IRL.)
The Pop-Up Gen Con 2021 game that I was enthusiastic for the most—that I researched rules for, looked through its components towards the end of the event, did not get a chance to play then, but did purchase a copy from the store—was Dungeon Decorators. From publisher SlugFest Games (well known for Red Dragon Inn), players take on the role of creating cozy underground spaces to fulfill their villainous clients' needs. They do so by drafting a la Kingdomino (choosing a more valuable tile means choosing later in the next round) double-sided tiles: one side having a hallway or dead-end room, the other side the decorations players can place on the walls next to hallways or rooms. Complete many goals to earn as many points, before three hourglass tiles are drawn which triggers endgame.
I've mentioned in the June '21 Hot 10 blog that Castles of Mad King Ludwig is a good game, but organizing the prices for each available room tile as the master builder could be a tribulation to some. Dungeon Decorators' drafting of numbered (by their value) tiles makes the game more straightforward. That along with other cinch features like storing up to two tiles, drafting tiles with assistants, and utilizing architects to move and/or rotate an already placed tile makes Dungeon Decorators a worthy fun-for-the-family game that I'm excited to play.
#05:Juicy Fruits
In Juicy Fruits, players operate on their tropical islands to gather five types of fruits to fulfill ship orders and purchase business licenses. The game offers an unique but simple engine building mechanic in the form of a tile-sliding puzzle. Players start with a constricted five-by-five grid with ships occupying the beaches and the five fruit collector tokens arranged in the center. On one's turn, they first move one of their tokens orthogonally a number of unblocked spaces and (frequently) earn fruit equal to the spaces the token has moved; they then can use their acquired fruit to either supply a ship to open up space on their island or purchase a business token to add to their island for an additional benefit. Fulfilling ship orders, acquiring business tokens and moving ice cream cart tokens to produce ice cream and milkshake are the primary methods to score points in this game. There are also advanced rules featuring a juice factory, where players can spend fruit to advance their disc along a track to earn even more points.
Altogether, Juicy Fruits definitely has a lot of family appeal with its simplicity and theme. Despite its title, please refrain from eating any of the components.
#06:Onitama: Light and Shadow
Onitama is undoubtedly one of the best two-player abstract games out there. Simplified chess, on a five-by-five board, with five pawns (four students and one master) per player, and only five of many movement cards circulated between both players as they are used. Sixteen movement cards come with the base game, with sixteen more in the first expansion Sensei's Path. The second expansion Way of the Wind introduced a neutral game piece in the wind spirit, that moves with its own movement cards and can swap places with a student pawns if it moves onto one.
The upcoming third expansion Light and Shadow introduces hidden movement with ninja pawns and lanterns. Ninja pawns are utilized behind a player's screen, hidden from their opponent. Lanterns are used to help detect the location of their opponent's ninjas. The expansion can be played either symmetrically, with each player having and operating a ninja, or asymmetrically, with one player using both ninja pawns and the other the five original Onitama pawns. Details on additional gameplay changes will come soon, but otherwise this expansion should offer an intriguing twist to this modern classic.
#07:Dice Realms
We have news on the long-awaited Dice Realms!
First announced and demoed by Tom Lehmann at Gen Con 2019, Dice Realms follows a similar format to the designer's engine-building classics such as Race for the Galaxy, New Frontiers, The City and Res Arcana. This time, the gameplay is derived from rolling chunky dice with removable die faces—introduced in Rattlebones and later used in the Rivalry expansion for Roll for the Galaxy.
In the game, each player controls a small realm—represented by their two starting dice—seeking to improve and enlarge it. Along with the standard types of die faces (representing victory, farming, commerce, defense and upgrades) included in every game; five of 35 random tiles are drawn to determine the extra die faces—offering over 320,000 unique starting setups. During the game, players roll their dice to collect grain, coins and importantly victory points; players can upgrade their die faces and purchase additional dice during the course of the game; but they should beware losing grains, earning misery (negative victory point) tokens or replacing die faces with "destroyed" faces due to opponent attacks or the fate die. And similar to previous Lehmann classics, the endgame is triggered when one of the initial amounts of victory point, misery or grain tokens is depleted.
WEM's news in early August yielded a tentative release date of December 2021 for Dice Realms, with a rulebook available on Rio Grande Games' website. And you read that right: it has a $120 MSRP tag. The game includes 668 custom die faces (plus trays to sort them accordingly) that will be often removed and added to the customizable dice, thus lasting quality became a major cost factor. (The Roll for the Galaxy: Rivalry expansion was $80 MSRP for the same reason.) The question is... will you be purchasing this relic of a game?
#08:Machi Koro 2
One of the first games I've learned six years ago was Machi Koro with the Harbor expansion. A simple city-building game driven on dice. Players taking turns rolling one or two dice, triggering their establishments matching the rolled value as well as possibly their opponents' establishments, then purchase more establishments or build one of their landmarks to gain special abilities. First person to construct all their landmarks wins.
Since Machi Koro's release, several games have adopted the roll-and-earn mechanism; among them Space Base, Valeria: Card Kingdoms, and My Farm Shop. Machi Koro also had sequels in Bright Lights, Big City—a sort-of greatest hits of cards from the base game and two expansions—and Machi Koro: Legacy. And now we have Machi Koro 2, to be released in November. So how does Machi Koro's gameplay differ than its predecessors?
The primary difference lies in the variability of the setup. First, similar to Bright Lights, the cards are sorted into three decks: establishments with #1-6, establishments with #7-12, and landmarks; then five unique cards are revealed from each deck. Yes, twenty unique landmarks are now purchased from the building row; each landmark has three different build costs depending on which landmark (first, second, or third) is being built, as well as immediate or ongoing effects for the builder or all players once built. Second, instead of each player starting with a bakery and wheat field establishment, players start with five coins and take turns to purchase and build up to three establishments. The first player to build their third landmark wins.
This new sequel offers a new fresh take of the Spiel des Jahres-nominated classic. Do note that Machi Koro 2 is not compatible with any of its predecessors, but I hope expansions will soon follow.
#09:Dice Miner
Dice Miner is designed by fairly new designers Joshua DeBonis and Nikola Risteski, and published by Atlas Games. Atlas Games are mostly known for Gloom, Once Upon A Time, and several role-playing and story-driven games; so a standalone dice-drafting game feels new territory for the publisher.
Dice Miner is played over three rounds. Players take turns drafting a die from the top of the mountain (or share a beer—gifting a beer die to another player to reroll—to draft two dice from the top or sides). Then players can use magic dice to reroll any of their accumulated dice, score all their dice, then prepare for the next round by rerolling all their accumulated dice and refilling the mountain with more dice.
And yes, the look and gameplay is similar to another favorite game Sushi Roll. The five types of dice and limited reroll opportunities can make Dice Miner a bit more luck based. But it does offer some intriguing, unique tidbits. Such as each player starts with a unique hero that provides die faces that can be utilized or scored with in each of the three rounds. The hazard dice (cave-ins and dragons) yield negative points, or positive points if a player has the right tools (pickaxes and shields) from the available tool dice. And the aforementioned drafting system akin to pyramid solitaire and 7 Wonders Duel, but the option to gift a die showing a beer mug to another player to take two dice from not just the top but also the sides of the mountain. And last but not least, an intriguing beat-your-score solo mode.
#10:Tutankhamun
Reiner Knizia's Tutankhamen originally came out in 1993. In the game, 69 artifact tiles are laid out randomly in a long serpentine trail. Players take turns moving down the trail to collect any tile they wish, noting they can never turn back to collect tiles they passed. There are fifteen sets of tiles in the game; when a player collects the last tile of a set, the player with the most tiles of that set scores points, with second most scoring half. Along with the tile sets include tie-breaker and buy-from-another-player tiles. Overall, an optimization puzzle of holding majorities and the risk vs. reward of passing crucial artifact tiles.
A new edition published by 25th Century Games was recently released after a successful Kickstarter yesteryear. The same setup and gameplay remains with a few changes. Players on their turn can either move down the river as far as they wish or move one tile up the river. Trailing tiles (tiles passed by all players) are moved onto a Underworld mat, which may trigger scoring if any of them are the last tiles of a set. The set of ten scarab rings immediately score one point when gained, and five points are awarded to the player with the most when scoring the set (no points for second place). God idol tiles allow the player to perform a special ability immediately when obtained. Players play until one player reaches a score threshold, based on the number of players. And lastly, all tiebreakers—from scoring sets to even endgame if two or more players reach the target score on a player's turn—are determined by the player's boat furthest upstream from the tomb.
Aside of art decisions in this new version, Tutankhamun looks to be an intriguingly unique, filler, thinky abstract game.
#11+:Honorable Mentions
In alphabetical order.
+ 7 Wonders: Architects - A streamlined version of Antonie Bauza's magnum opus 7 Wonders, with players collecting resources to improve their society and construct their specific wonder.
+ Azul: Queen's Garden - The fourth (and final?) game of the Azul series, with the goal to construct the most extraordinary garden in the Palace of Sintra for Queen Maria of Aragon.
+ Blitzkrieg!: World War Two in 20 Minutes - Described as "the perfect wargame for non-wargamers," two players randomly draw military resources to optimally allocate and build their military might.
+ Catan: 3D Edition - An immersive experience of the original classic; with hand-sculpted, hand-painted terrain tiles and intricately-designed player pieces by the game designer Klaus Teuber.
+ Clank! In! Space!: Adventures: Pulsarcade - an expansion with six modules for the popular deckbuilder game on a modular board, where players attempt to set high scores on Lord Eradikus's collection of arcade cabinents.
+ Dinosaur World - Standalone sequel to the popular theme park builder Dinosaur Island, with worker placement and dice drafting intact, but players traveling their parks to activate special effects.
+ Dominion: Allies - the 14th expansion of the popular deckbuilding series features 31 Kingdom card piles that contain allies who will provide helpful favors.
+ Happy City - A family game of purchasing and building buildings for a mini-metropolis to earn income and happiness from their residents; find the perfect balance to build the happiest city.
+ King of 12 - Compete to be the new ruler of the Kingdom of 12. Players play cards to appreciate the d12 stone's value each round in this interactive game of bluffing, mind reading and tactics.
+ Kokopelli - Stefan Feld's latest card game of starting celebrations granting special abilities; inspired by the cultures of the indigenous in the southwestern United States.
+ The Mother Road: Route 66 - A press-your-luck race across Route 66 that reimplements Sid Sackson's classics Can't Stop and The Great Races.
+ One Deck Galaxy - The newest game based on the 1-2 player co-op dungeon delver One Deck Dungeon, but in space! A space civilization-building game of scouting locations and colonizing or studying them.
+ Paint The Roses - North Star Games' latest game set in the puzzling world of Wonderland, where players cooperatively work together to finish the Queen of Hearts's palace grounds according to her whims.
+ Paleo - The 2021 Kennerspiel des Jahres winning co-op game set in the stone age is receiving a new expansion in A New Beginning, featuring new dangers and challenges to face.
+ Res Arcana: Perlae Imperii - The second expansion to Tom Lehmann's game of collecting and utilizing essences introduces pearls of power to add versatility to existing strategies and open up new paths to victory.
+ Space Invaders - Based on the retro shoot 'em up arcade game, players take turns moving their 3D shooter to destroy the invaders in this collaborative dexterity game by Kane Klenko.
+ Subastral - A sort of sequel to Stellar. Draft and collection sets of cards that represent notes on eight different biomes for a journal. Designed by Ben Pinchback and Matt Riddle.
+ TEN - A gamer's push-your-luck of attempting to create the longest run of numbers in each color. Draw cards without exceeding ten in net or currency, and use currency to purchase needed cards from the market.
#99:Conclusion
That's it! Thanks for reading! Again, keep a lookout for my "hot roll-and-writes" spin-off. Otherwise, the next general hot 10 should come during the holiday season. Stay safe, everyone!
