Chinese Tricks (Gang of Four)

Green, Yellow, and Red.
The Dragon and the Phoenix.
This is Gang of Four.



BACKGROUND:  Gang of Four is a card game for 3 or 4 players.  It was initially developed in China by Lee Yih as a metaphor for the four powerful politicians that rose to power in China in 1966 to 1976, as well as previous rises in power.  It was published in America by Days of Wonder in 1990.

GAMEPLAY:  Every player is dealt a hand of 16 cards from the 64 card deck.  Starting with the player who went out last, or the player with the multicolored 1 card, players go around playing combinations of cards in order to get rid of their hand first.  Players may pass at any time, but may still play again when it comes to their turn.

TRICKS:  Each time a player plays a "trick" or a card combination, it must be able to beat the previous numbers, beat matching numbers with colors.  Yellow beats green, and   A pair of red and green 2's can beat a pair of yellow 2's, but cannot beat anything higher than a pair of 2's.  Poker hands like Straight or a Full House are some of the higher combinations, but a group of 4 cards, the titular Gang of Four, is the highest, and can only be beat by a higher Gang of Four.



SPECIAL:  In the deck are 2 Phoenix cards and 1 Dragon.  The Phoenix beats any numeric card, 2 Phoenix's beats any pair, and a Phoenix pair may only be in a group of 5 as a Full House.  The Dragon beats any single card.

WINNING:  Once a player has gone out, the other players count their cards, and score that many points times the scoring charts indicated number.  For example, players with 8 cards will double to 16 points, and players with 16 will quintuple to 80 points.  The first player to get to 100 points ends the game, with the player with the lowest score winning.

CONCLUSION:  Gang of Four is a tricky game to review, as it has a significant place in history, and reviewing it would be like reviewing Chess or Go.  However, Gang of Four is a pretty solid game, akin to games like Hearts or Cribbage.  It's the kind of game you play with a group of friends who want a nice, slow game that's easy to understand but hard to master.  That being said, this is the kind of game that you'd want to play with older friends, or your parents/grandparents.  Gang of Four is a pretty good game, but not one that will click with a lot of people.

Been There (Scene It)

Movies, Tv, sports and more, how many points can you score
when your choices for theme are Friends, Twilight, or Disney?
When random trivia is what you get,
The question remains: Have you Scene It?



BACKGROUND:  Scene It is a digital trivia game designed by Screenlife for 2 to 4 players or teams.  Initially created in 2002 for popular movies, it gained popularity and has various "editions" and themes, such as Star Trek, Harry Potter, and Disney to even FIFA.

GAMEPLAY:  Scene It has a short and long mode, depending on the size of the board upon set up, and a DVD for certain game modes.  During their turn, the player rolls both the 6 and 8 sided dice, and moves along the space according to the numbered die.

CATEGORIES:  The 8 sided die determines what trivia or event occurs.  If the player guesses correctly, they can roll again:

• My Play:  The player will usually watch a clip of a movie or show and need to answer a question at the end, before it shows on the screen.
• All Play:  Everyone watches the screen and has a chance to answer the question.  If another player besides the turn player guesses, they may give a Buzz card to any player or move forward 1 space.
• Trivia Card:  There are generally 3 types of trivia cards, which another player will read to the turn player with the timer on in the back.
• Buzz:  Special cards which have an event and flavor text.  Drawing or giving out one of these ends the turn immediately.

WINNING:  Once any player gets to the end, choose All Play to Win.  Same rules apply as in All Play, but the stakes are higher.  If the player guesses it first, they win.  If another player does, their turn ends, and they move to Final Cut 3.  These are basically My Play, but the player needs to guess them all correctly to win.  If they fail, they move to Final Cut 2.  Failing that moves to Final Cut 1, where they stay and attempt on their turn each time until either they or another player wins.

CONCLUSION:  Scene it is, at its core, a simple trivia game.  And like most trivia games, the strength lies not in the gameplay, but in the categories and questions.  The nice thing about Scene It is the fact that there are different themes, with different strengths.  I have a friend who dominates in Disney edition, but I'm still king in Star Trek and Simpsons.  My biggest problem is, like most popular culture trivia, we HAVE to include Behind the Scenes trivia.  But I'm sure others would revel in that.  Take it for what it is, a good trivia game with a gimmick that works out for itself.

AFTERTHOUGHTS:  The Scene It franchise is no longer available to purchase in stores, but there is a version for iPhone and Android.

Destroying Relationships Through Programming (Robo Rally)

Good evening Lug-nut bots and Automatons!  Tonight's going to show an exciting race, that's for sure!  Rivalries have been flaming on the production line all week, and there will be no punches pulled!  But who will go back to their pod with the gold, and who will need the weekend to repair?  Find out in Robo! RALLY!



BACKGROUND:  Robo Rally is a board game designed by Richard Garfield and published by Avalon Hill Games originally in 1994 for 2-8 players, and was republished in 2016.  Players take control of automotive factory robots that race each weekend after the factory closes, with sabotage and fighting abound.

GAMEPLAY:  Players are dealt a hand of cards from one deck that determines how their machine moves, either forward, backwards, or turning.  Everyone sets up their initial 5 card movement and on their board, or register, and discards all other cards.  Then each player flips their first movement card.

MOVEMENT:  The players move according to the highest priority number located at the top right.  Once all players move, the board elements like conveyor belts and spinning gears move all robots accordingly.  Continue until all 5 cards are flipped and played, then redeal each player an appropriate hand size.



DAMAGE:  Once all players and the board have all moved, any lasers on the board, and all robots will fire.  If they hit another robot, that player marks damage on their board, and is dealt less cards.  Enough damage locks in the players movement to any card still on their register.

REPAIRS:  There are two ways to repair a robot.  Players can, instead of taking cards for the round, shut down their robot, clearing any damage at the beginning, but they may still take damage from another player or a board laser.  There are also Wrench tiles and Wrench & Hammer tiles.  Landing on one of these will heal 1 damage from a robot, while landing on the latter gives the player an Option card, which have various effects.



WINNING:  All around the board are Flags.  Players must land on each flag in numerical order, and move their Archive token from the either initial starting square or the previous Flag to that space.  If a robot gets knocked off the board or into the pit or takes 10 damage, they respawn on that square at the initial deal phase.  The first player to make it to all the flags and

CONCLUSION:  For this review, I played the 1994 version of this game.  The 2016 republish has apparently altered some rules such as having each player have their own deck and damage cards shuffled into the deck instead of losing cards, but I won't be discussing it here.  Robo Rally is a lot of fun for people who are into games where you plan strategy long term.  It reminds me of a turned based version of the British show Robot Wars, which I loved watching growing up.  This game also has a lot of longevity, as there are multiple suggestions in the manual to set up the boards, with even more combinations as every board can be mixed and matched in the way the players want.  My only mild complaint is if you ever wanted to play with every board, you'd need to buy 2 copies, as the boards are double-sided.  I enjoyed this game immensely, and thanks to my friend Duane for introducing it to me.

Chiming the Upcoming 365 Days (Buzzword)

Happy 2018 all, and welcome to a new year, full of new experiences and attempts to make this blog expand and grow to help people make great game choices.  This year will start with a slight revamp of the format, and an attempt to upload more consistently.  This week's review will start simply with an easy party game called Buzzwords.



BACKGROUND:  Buzzwords is a party game published by Patch Products for 4-12 players.  Players guess words or phrases bases on clues given.

GAMEPLAY:  Players are split into 2 teams.  During their teams turn, a player will take a card, and read off the category at the top.  Then, the opposing team will flip the timer while the guessing team reads off the 1st clue on the left.  The rest of the team will attempt to guess the correct answer located on the right.  If they guess correctly, the reader gives the next clue.  If the team is stuck, they may pass and the reader gives the next clue.

STEALING:  The team continues to guess until either all 10 clues have been either guessed or passed, or time runs out.  If a team passes on any clues, the opposing team has a chance to steal those points and guess on those clues.  The team may also guess on the last clue given if it was read but not answered when the timer ran out.  The opposing team then takes their turn.



WINNING:  While a team is guessing, the other team passes the scoring cards in order to keep track of points, starting at 1.  Players may keep track of points on the white board.  The first team to guess 50 words correctly over the rounds wins.

CONCLUSION:  Buzzwords is a simple game with simple mechanics and a weird, difficult way of thinking.  Depending on the edition, some of the clues might be impossible just because of some of the popular culture references you'd need to know.  It can fill in some time in between more mechanically deep games, and there's some fun clues given, but this is a game mainly for people who enjoy wordplay.

AFTERTHOUGHTS:  Hey, if you like or dislike the new format, feel free to leave a comment below, as well as any other games you'd like me to review or even be aware of.  Thanks, and here's to a great new year!