Let Your Lights Shine (A Review of Candle Quest)

This year Hanukkah comes to a close tomorrow, December 5, at night-fall.  The familiar – at least in name – celebration commemorates the rededication of the Temple which the Jewish people wrested back control of from the Seleucid Syrians during the Maccabean Revolt.  Today I review Candle Quest, a light card game not about that revolt or politics or history; but instead acquiring candles with which to light the menorah so famously associated with the holiday.  There may not be any tactical, political intrigue and big battles.  But you’ll need a dash of strategy in spending your shekels wisely before your opponents snuff you out.

Tricked-Out! (A Guide to Trick-Taking)

I have such found memories of sitting around the card table at big family gatherings that it’s almost unfathomable to consider that others from my generation (and earlier) never experienced the same joys.  But sure enough, every so often I encounter someone who has never played any classic, traditional card games.  They think “tricks” are pranks played in college.  And you might as well be speaking Greek when trying to explain them, because terms like trump, ruff, kitty, stock, marriage, bower, revoke, slough, and “shoot the moon” and “going alone” all mean something very different to them, if anything at all!  Today, it seems like those time-honored card games are getting rarer and rarer.

So, if you’re looking to re-kindle an old flame and introduce these oldies-but-goodies to your friends and family, here’s our guide to the mechanic that comprises the vast majority of traditional card games and how it has infiltrated the modern hobby.

[*Note: For gamers who are familiar with the hobby, I will not be discussing climbing games, which are close cousins to trick-taking games and are often categorized as such for convenience, yet play very differently. This is why you will not see titles like Tichu, Haggis, or Frank’s Zoo, etc.]

Bidding, Bribing, Blackmailing, and Bludgeoning (a review of Revolution!)

It's the French revolution, and you are the leader of an opportunistic faction seeking to control Paris. In order to gain control of the city, you will have to enlist the help of various powerful personages...but doing so isn't cheap. And while revolutions are built upon principles, you'll have to throw your scruples out the window to gain traction with those who can help you. Of course, those who can help are equally unscrupulous and will just as easily serve your rivals if the price is right.

But this is revolution! Down with the king! It doesn't really matter who wins the revolution...as long as it's you.

What's It Worth to Ya? (a Guide to Auction Mechanics)

It's no secret around these parts that I love auctions. Love them. Love, love, love them. In games, in real life. If I can find a way to maximize the value of a deal, I'm in. So I jumped at the chance to write about auction mechanics.

Are you curious about auctions? You should be, because auctions are awesome. And you've come to the right place to find out more.

Feel the Burn (A Review of Cavemen: The Quest for Fire)

In the land before time – because early man hadn't yet invented swatch watches – our knuckle-dragging ancestors lacked many things like bows, baskets, and trapper-keepers.  Indeed, you may wonder how the species survived without Tupperware, pedometers and koozies, but times were even darker than that - literally.  Until, that is, one momentous, undocumented moment.  Now, Rio Grande sends you back in time – way back – to be a part of arguably the greatest achievement in human history: the discovery of fire!  Can you lead your small tribe of cavemen to grow and prosper, being the first to patent the roaring flame?  Can you do better than our distant cousins?  Well, let’s hope so, considering that their IQ was smaller than the number of fingers you have on one hand.  And s'mores-eaters and Kumbaya-singers throughout history will memorialize you forever more!

He Who Controls the Spice (A Review of Rex)

REX! Starring: Lions

The final days of the Lazax began in the seventy-third year of the war. 

These words can be found buried in the introductory chapters of Fantasy Flight Games' flagship title Twilight Imperium.  The words continue: Without warning, an alliance of Sol, N'oor, and Hacan attacked Mecatol Rex itself.  Of all the planets in the galaxy, no planet was more war-torn than Mecatol Rex.  Over the course of only a few years, the planet's ecology was ravaged by bombardments, its population decimated, and its green fields blasted into a toxic wasteland.

It is in this scenario which players find themselves during the course of Rex: Fall of an Empire, the prequel game to Twilight Imperium. Storyline-wise, TI takes place after a long period of galactic disarray and a vacancy in the seat of power; Rex occurs thousands of years before this, during the fall of the Lazax, the once-great empire that ruled the galaxy for untold ages. But does it capture the feeling of chaos and destruction described in the paragraph above? And more importantly, is the game fun to play?