Pads & Panels

2010 Holiday Gift Guide – For the Board Game Fan…

By P&P Staff

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Pirate Versus Pirate

Yeah, we’re all sort of tired of the never-ending battle between pirates, ninjas and zombies for the crown of who is trying too hard to pointlessly thrust themselves in the middle of nerd culture. But a good game is a good game. Last year, we gave Ninja Versus Ninja a positive review, but suggested it felt more like a work-in-progress toward Pirate Versus Pirate, a three-way battle of risk and reward with a Chinese Checkers sort of layout. The results are entertaining fun with two good friends. (more…)

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Origins Game Fair

Report by Jason King

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This year’s Origins Game Fair, from June 23-27, was a blast. I love board games – probably too much since, unlike video games, they take up a lot of space very quickly – and play them as much as I can. Video gamers are often surprised to find out that board game culture is very vibrant and expansive. I’ve been going to GenCon (largely a board, card and role-playing game convention) for many years, but had never been to Origins Game Fair before. (more…)

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Title: Letter Roll

Publisher: Out of the Box

Players: 2-8

Ages: 8+

Time Per Game: 20-30 Minutes

MSRP: $24.99

Description

Letter Roll is one part Boggle, and one part Scattergories. Players are given seven letter dice – two white (frequently used letters), three blue (less frequently used) and two orange (least frequently used). One player rolls four of them. Another removes one, then everyone has either 1 minute or 2 minutes (depending on which timer is used), to come up with as many words as they can that contain at least those three letters. When the time runs up, players compare lists, eliminating identical words and receiving a point for each unique word that remains on the list.

The roller and eliminator roles then shift clockwise to play out the next round. The duration of the game is a set number of rounds, determined by how many people are playing. After players cycle through the final round of play, they add up their points to determine who is the winner. (more…)

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Title: Bezzerwizzer

Publisher: Mattel

Players: 2+ (2-4 Teams)

Ages: Adult

Time Per Game: 45 Minutes

MSRP: $29.99

Description

Bezzerwizzer sounds like something a drunken friend might say, but it’s actually Danish for “know-it-all.” This makes a little more sense, and sheds some light on the creation of Danish trivia game buff Jesper Bülow, whose game was brought to the United States by Mattel.

Like many trivia games, Bezzerwizzer allow players to fend for themselves or form 2 to 4 teams, answer trivia questions and progress around a board by getting the answers right to win. Bezzerwizzer divides its questions into 20 categories, but the twist on its Trivial Pursuit gameplay is that no dice are involved. Players randomly pull four category tiles from a bag before each round, and then some strategy comes into play. (more…)

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Title: Connect 4X4

Publisher: Hasbro

Players: 2-4

Ages: 8+

Time Per Game: 10 Min

MSRP: $19.99

Description

Connect 4X4 takes the classic gameplay of Connect 4 – drop chips down columns to try to outwit an opponent in an-ever-so-slightly advanced game of Tic-Tac-Toe by making a row, column or diagonal of four connected pieces – and adds a second layer of depth to the board. The goal remains the same, but players can try to weave their rows, columns and diagonal chains through the two layers. But opponents can do the same, and this time up to four players can take each other on. (more…)

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Title: Backseat Drawing

Publisher: Out of the Box

Players: 4-8

Ages: 12 to Adult

Time Per Game: 30 Minutes

MSRP: $24.99

Description

In Backseat Drawing, players divide themselves into two teams. Each team receives an erasable white board and marker. One person draws for each team per round, but the two opposing artists don’t know what they are drawing. It is up to the rest of the team, who glance at the word card secretly drawn from the box, to describe the image to the artist until he guesses the word.

It sounds simple, but players cannot give descriptive words like “fire,” for instance, if the word is “fireplace.” Players have to stick simply to shapes, sizes, arrows and directional cues, such as up, down, parallel, perpendicular, etc. The first artist to guess the word takes the card for his team. The directors and artists rotate for the next round, and the first team to collect seven cards wins. (more…)

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Title: ZenBenders – Dragon

Publisher: Out of the Box

Players: 1

Ages: 8 to Adult

Time Per Game: 2 to 5 Minutes (Per Puzzle)

MSRP: $9.99

Description

ZenBenders is a fun, travel-friendly game that challenges the player to mimic the pictures provided on the puzzle cards. It takes some practice to learn, but once figured out, it is a breeze to fly through the challenge cards. The ZenBenders game also comes in four different designs: “Dachshund,” “Dragon,” “Quilt” and “Race Track.” (more…)

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Title: Key Harvest

Publisher: Rio Grande Games

Players: 2-4

Ages: 10 and Up

Time Per Game: 90 Minutes

MSRP: $49.95

Description

The object to Key Harvest is, like many games, to score the most points. But scoring those points is going to take strategy and maybe even marketing skills. Key Harvest, at its core, is about economics and board control, with a required focus on a balance between the two elements.

Players each have a board that constitutes their farmland. In the middle of the table is the town, where events take place and additional workers can be hired. Players try to acquire and connect field tiles on their farm. These tiles can be harvested for multi-colored crop counters, which are used as a currency in Key Harvest. (more…)

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Title: Fast Flowing Forest Fellers

Publisher: Rio Grande Games

Players: 2-5

Ages: 8+

Time Per Game: 30 minutes

MSRP: $39.95

Description

Fast Flowing Forest Fellers, created by Friedemann Friese (for anyone looking for more alliteration), sees players taking control of a group of lumberjacks and trying to make sure theirs are the first to make it to the end of the river. (more…)

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Title: The Chain Game

Publisher: Out of the Box

Players: 2-8

Ages: 12 to Adult

Time Per Game: 15 minutes

MSRP: $24.99

Description

With the slogan “The Quick-Thinking Linking Game” adorning its box, The Chain Game provides players with a fairly simply concept – link compound words until one player cannot in the fast-paced round-table action.

The set provides 36 chain links, 216 compound word cards and a horn. Players divide the links and rotate the position of judge, who first pulls a card and reads the compound word – catfish, for instance. Moving clockwise around the table, the next player must come up with a new word based on one element of the previous – catnap, for example. Meanwhile, the judge counts in five-second intervals. (more…)

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