Luck Be a Lady Tonight (Rollers)

We see the players coming here, a piece of paradise.  Welcome, everyone to the years championship as we play down from 4, to a champion.  Ladies and Gentlemen, this is Rollers.



BACKGROUND:  Rollers is a dice game published by USAoploy for 2 to 5 players.  Rollers exclusive to Target.  Players attempt to make combinations of rolls to score points.

GAMEPLAY:  Each player is given a board and and 5 white and purple coins.  During a players turn, they roll all dice up to three times, and may not roll any dice they wish to keep.  If a player rolls a lightning bolt, they cannot keep any dice rolled, but all dice previously kept are set.  Any stars rolled are wild.



BOARD:  Each board has an Open and Closed section in the middle and bottom, respectively.  Once a matching combination is made, they may put a marker in the board  In order to "close", or put a marker in a closed slot, there must be a marker placed in the open slot.  If at any point a player has a section closed, they get coins equal to those numbers from all players who do not have that number closed.

WINNING:  Once a player closes all sections on their board, the round has ended.  The player who closed gets 2 points, with points indicated on the top of the board.  The player with the most coins gets 1 point.  Players reset the bottom and middle of the boards, and start again.  The player to hit 5 points first wins.  If multiple players hit 5 points, the player with the highest coin value wins.

CONCLUSION:  Rollers is a game of mostly chance, just like most dice game.  There is a small bit of strategy of when to keep and when to roll, but it tends to be a push your luck game.  It would find a home for people who love Yahtzee style games.

The Sad Panda Garden (Takenoko)

Japan has entered diplomatic talks with China, and it looks like they are finally on the mend.  I have been given an exclusive interview with the Chinese ambassador.  I can only imagine that they will be a kind, sensitive soul with...wait, you're telling me the ambassador is a panda?!



BACKGROUND:  Takenoko is a board game published by Bombix for 2 to 4 players. 

GAMEPLAY:  Each player takes a turn by first rolling the weather die and applying the effect, then selecting 2 different actions to take in any order they wish.  Players may build more land and place a new colored tile down, move the farmer or panda figure to grow or eat 1 bamboo if possible, respectively, irrigate the land so bamboo may grow, or draw new objectives.

WEATHER:  The die rolled at the beginning has various effects depending on what was rolled.  This does not count as any action.

• SUN:  The player gains an an additional action that is different to the others.
• RAIN:  The player may grow bamboo on any irrigated plot, up to 4 sections tall.
• WIND:  The player may choose to take the same action twice, or keep the two seperate actions
• STORM:  The lightning scares the panda, allowing the player to move the panda and have him eat a Bamboo section.
• CLOUD:  The player gains an improvement to put in their reserve.  Improvements cannot be placed on tiles with an improvement on it.  Improvements can either prevent the panda from eating in that tile, allow a tile to grow without being irrigated, or double the amount of growth for bamboo.
• QUESTION MARK:  The player chooses what weather action to take.

OBJECTIVES:  Each card has an objective to complete.  Plot objectives require the land tiles to be built and irrigated in specific patterns.  The Gardener requires 1 or more bamboo shoots to be grown in a specific color, amount, and with or without certain improvements.  The Panda objectives require you to eat specific colors of bamboo and return them to the pool of bamboo  The Emperor is given to the first player to hit a required number of objectives, and gives every player one more turn until the end.  If at any point an objective is finished, a player may place and score their objective card, regardless of turn order.

WINNING:  Once all players have taken their last turn, players discard any objective cards not scored, and total up the points on each objective card scored.  The player with the most points wins.  In the event of a tie, the player with the most Panda objective cards wins.

CONCLUSION:  Takenoko is a deceptively simple game that evolves rapidly into a deep strategy game.  It's simple enough on the surface that children can easily grasp the idea and just play, with simple colors and movements. However, it can easily become a cutthroat game of planning and prevention of other scoring with a group of older teens or adults.  The fascinating thing with this game is, even with as much strategy as this game has, games will seldom exceeds an hour.  This is a great game for dipping your toe into more obscure board games, or even just to play with a group that loves them.

A Day Late and a Dollar Short (Cover Your Assets)

Easy Larry here down at the EXPO OF AWESOME STUFF!  We got Cars, we got Homes, We got Mattresses stuffed with cash that we don't know how it got there!  So come on down, supplies are limited.  We're practically giving this stuff away!



BACKGROUND:  Cover Your Assets, alternatively known as Big Deal, is a card game published by Grandpa Beck's Games for 2 to 5 players.  Players build stacks of cards to gather as much money in assets as possible.

GAMEPLAY:  Each player is dealt a hand of cards, varying on the amount of players.  Each turn, a player must either stack a pair of matching cards in their hand, or a matching card from the discard pile and in their hand, in front of them on top of their asset pile, or discard a card or attempt to steal.  Players will then draw back up to their hand size after playing or after a steal attempt.  Gold and Silver are wild cards, and can match anything except other wilds.

STEAL:  If another player has a group of assets a card another player has in their hand, the player may attempt a steal.  The player places the card down, and the defending player must either play the matching card or a wild.  If either player cannot, the stack and cards used in the steal attempt go to the winning player on top. 


WINNING:  Once all cards are drawn and played or discarded, players add the face value of the cards together.  Players mark their scores until at least one player hits or passes $1,000,000, with the player with the highest score winning.

CONCLUSION:  CYA is an easy to learn, luck driven game with little strategy.  You definitely won't have long sessions of deep thought about this game, but that doesn't mean it doesn't have its place in a game night.  This is a breather, in between, game that due to its luck based system, means that games of CYA won't stick around too long in peoples minds.  It's a game that is right down the middle, not great, but still worth playing a few rounds in for a more relaxing session.

The Leaning Tower of Sanity (Wonky)

A man walks into a review board, dressed in his finest brown top hat and purple jacket.  He pulls out a deck of cards and a set of cubes.  "What's the meaning of this, where did you come from?"  Asks the head of the board.  The man grins mischievously, and replies, "Sir, I have a game that is so different, so unique, I have to sell it to you.  I made my fortune in candy, and I can make yours."  He proceeds to pitch the game.  The man, after hearing all this, says, "Sir, this is an interesting game, but it's bonkers."  "No sir," says the purple dressed man, "It's absolutely Wonky."



BACKGROUND:  Wonky is a card focused dexterity game published by USAopoloy in 2015 for 2 or more players.  Players attempt to create a stable tower out of unstable blocks using cards in their hand.

GAMEPLAY:  Each turn, players play a card in their hand.  Most of these cards tell you to stack a certain type of color of block.  If at any time all a players cards are only able to stack blocks that have already been stacked, they will draw until they can play.  If at any time the tower falls on a players turn, there turn ends immediately and they have to draw 3 cards.  The tower is reset, and play continues.

SPECIAL:  There are two types of special cards, Action and Combo.  Action cards allow a player to either pass without stacking a cube, or reverse the direction of play.  Combo cards will allow you to play a cube of any size and color, and either reverse the direction of play, or make the next player draw a card.



WINNING:  The goal of the game is to get rid of your entire hand, with the last card played not being an Action card.  However, if a player manages to place the 9th block successfully, that player automatically wins.

CONCLUSION:  Wonky feels a bit like Uno mixed with reverse Jenga.  This is a very simple game with a solid game play.  It won't set the world on fire, but it's great for a game with a bit of a different twist, like Kilter.  There is also an "Adults" version, which causes players to get drunk, making the game a little bit harder and apparently more interesting.  In the end, Wonky is a pretty solid game.