So I recently found a cool Board Game Cafe near my house, and it was super cool, and I intend to go back fairly often. Each time I do, and I play some new games, I’ll make a quick post about them. I tried this about a year ago when I did a game night at a friend’s house, so this will hopefully be a more regular thread.
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Deblockle
Deblockle is a casual strategy game of tips and turns for two players. Take turns tipping your blocks into adjacent squares and then moving them across the board. Be the first player to successfully remove all of your blocks by maneuvering them onto the final square on the board, and you win!
This was a simple game, that was super easy to learn enough to get started. You roll a block into a nearby square, and then move the block again depending on what side of the block is now facing up. There are different symbols on each face, with it’s own movement rules. Our movements were very random at first, as we just would roll, and the block would tell us what to do next. As we learned the different options, we wanted to strategize, but without memorizing the positions of the different faces, it was difficult.
This feels like the perfect game to have at a group picnic, simple large wooden pieces, quick to learn and play.
Jaipur
Trade and sell goods to become the most wealthy merchant in this short game for two.
This is a fun two player card game about being a Silk Road merchant. The game has three basic moves, Buy, Trade, or Sell. Your hand is your current inventory, and in between the players are five cards that are available in the marketplace. You can Buy more inventory, up to a maximum of 7 cards, Trade 2+ cards from your inventory for the same amount of cards in the market, or Sell matching cards from your inventory for money. There are lower value items (silk, spice, leather) and high value items (gold, silver, ruby). Obviously there are fewer of the high value items available, and more of the lower value items. You also get a bonus for selling in Bulk, 3-5 pieces of the same good at the same time.
There are two twists, one is that there is one more of each good than there is corresponding buyers, so if you sell the final gold card, you won’t get anything for it, which represents the market being saturated. The other twist is your camel herd, whoever ends the market week with the biggest herd gets a bonus. You add all your money up, and whoever has the most wins that match, best 2-of-3 wins the game.
This is a great fast-paced game. I think this is going to go on my buy-list.
Unmatched: Battle of Legends
Heroes and villains of legend (and their sidekicks) fight to the death.
This is a cool 2-4 player tactical game, that apparently has tons of spinoffs. In it, you pick one of the heroes, in this game the Medusa, King Arthur, Alice (of Wonderland), and Sinbad (the Pirate), each with their own skills and a sidekick. The game has a two-sided board for two different battle arenas. Each turn, you move around the board and use abilities from your hand, including attacking (from range or melee) and defense. You pick your ability secretly, then reveal at the same time, to see who has the higher score, and what special actions your ability comes with, and whether or not you win the fight. First player to 0 health loses.
Being a two player game, not only could we play it 12 times without having the same battle, but then we could flip the board and play another 12 times and never repeat the game.
Like I said, there are tons of spin offs as well, many with cool IP:
- Volume 2 – Sun Wukong (the Monkey King), Yennenga (African Warrior Princess), Bloody Mary (appears in mirrors after you say her name three times), and Achilles (Greek mythological hero)
- Buffy the Vampire Set – Buffy, Willow, Angel, and Spike
- Cobble & Fog Set – Sherlock Holmes, Jekyll & Hyde, The Invisible Man, and Dracula
- Tales to Amaze Set – Annie Christmas (Louisiana folklore), Jill Trent (comic book detective from 1943), The Golden Bat (Japanese superhero from 1930), and Nikola Tesla
- Robin Hood and Bigfoot
- Little Red Riding Hood and Beowulf
- Houdini and The Genie (from Arabian Nights/Aladdin)
- A Marvel Line
- Redemption Row – Luke Cage, Moon Knight, and Ghost Rider
- Hell’s Kitchen – Daredevil, Elektra, and Bullseye
- Teen Spirit – Squirrel Girl, Ms. Marvel, and Cloak and Dagger
- For King and Country – Black Widow, Black Panther, and Winter Soldier
- Brains and Brawn – Spider-Man, Doctor Strange, and She-Hulk
I had fun with the original, and I will definitely look for some of those Marvel sets.
The Nerdd 
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