Driving Under Vertigo (Tokyo Highway)

The biggest problem in a crowded city is affordable housing.  But the second is traffic.  It can be daunting trying to get to work down the street when that street is blocked by a car every other step.  So, the Road Building Committee (totally a real name) has decided to hire some lucky people to design and build a roadway to help avoid the traffic, no expenses spared.  And where better than the busiest city in Japan?  It comes down to you to design this "Tokyo Highway" and make life easier for all.  Except the banks, construction workers, actual drivers, etc.

BACKGROUND:  Tokyo Highway is a dexterity game originally designed in 2016 by Naotaka Shimamoto, Yoshiaki Tomioka, and Yoshiaki Tomioka, and published by itten for 2 players.  Build rising roadways and attempt to place cars without knocking over the roads.

GAMEPLAY:  Each turn, a player builds a pillar by stacking each pillar piece that is one higher or lower from a road they built, and put a road piece between so that both ends are centered on the pillars.  Then, a player may place a car on the road if it is crossing over an opponents road that has no roads over it, or crossing under an opponents road that doesn't have any roads under it.  Roads cannot touch or cross over any other pillars, or touch any roads outside of the ends on the pillars they rest on.  If their pillar is one high, a player can create an exit, which connects to the table, but they cannot progress on that road any longer.

YELLOW:  Yellow pillars are placed on the top of pillars, and are used to create Junctions.  Junctions do two things; they allow players to create an additional road from that pillar, meaning one road in, two roads out, and they can be used to connect a road to a pillar of any height.

WINNING:  This is a game of dexterity, so if you knock over any of your opponents pieces, you must hand over your pillars as a penalty, one per piece.  If a player cannot place pillars, they must pass their turn and wait if and when they're able.  The first player to put all their cars down wins.

CONCLUSION:  Tokyo Highway is a wonderful mess.  This game can be difficult, but not necessarily in the way you'd initially think.  It starts out as a 3d puzzle, to find optimal pathways and routes to get the most cars on the board, but that's only half of it.  Doing it can be the best, and most frustrating, aspect of this game.  With something like Jenga or Kilter, if you knock it over, it's easy to continue.  This game, you have to know exactly where something is.  And if you make a big screw-up, players can get discouraged and just end up conceding.  However, there's a certain joy in making something, and this game pushes you to build something crazy and wonderful.  If you have the patience, drive by and check out this monstrosity.

ADDENDUM: The version I played included the 4 player expansion.

Pandemic 2: Electric Bugaloo (Pandemic: The Cure)

Note dated Jan 18, 201X (discovered on USB in Antarctic station)
So, the first Pandemic wasn't enough for you?  You had to go and cause another outbreak?  Fine, I've washed my hands of this mess.  If that's too much for you, you can go find the specialists who can stop this thing.  Oh, it's not as bad this time?  That's what you said last time, and we literally decimated the world.  It's your fault, you clean it up, you go find The Cure.
--XXX

BACKGROUND:  Pandemic: The Cure is a card and dice game for 2-5 players.  It was created in 2014 by Matt Leacock, Bernard Bittler, Philippe Guérin, Chris Quilliams and published by Z-Man Games, Inc. A rework of the popular Pandemic, players transport to different places to cure diseases.

GAMEPLAY:  Each turn, that players roll their dice and can either reroll them if it's not a Biohazard, or use the action on die.  Biohazards are used immediatly and raise the Infection track by one.  The syringe allows the colored dice to be moved from the locations to the Treatment Center in the middle of the table, or back to the Infection Bag.  The bottle is used to hold samples by taking the colored die and the sample die and putting them on the players card, which prevents them from using that die.  Once all their actions are done, the player can give samples to other players.

WINNING:  Once all that is done, players can roll the colored die in their sample bottles.  If they get a 13 or higher, one of those dice is placed on the "Cured" card, and the rest go back into the bag.  Rolling a 12 or less means that the dice used for samples are still unavailable to roll.  Then, once all 4 dice are on the Cured card, the players win.

INFECTION:  After a player chooses whether to roll for a cure or not, they then roll to Infect the regions by pulling dice equal to the Infection Rate on the board and rolling them.  Any crosses rolled are put in the CDC to be spent on face-up Event cards.  If at any point there would be more than 3 dice on an location, the Outbreak Meter rises, and that die is put to the next space.

LOSING:  Like most co-operative games, there are more ways to lose than to win; if there are 8 Outbreaks, if there aren't enough dice to draw from the Infection bag, or if the marker reaches the top of the Infection Track.

CONCLUSION:  It's a Pandemic game, first and foremost.  While it would seem that there would be a lot different with the dice mechanic and the events, there really isn't much different.  I will say that this is a little easier to win consistently, since it's easier to get to locations.  It also takes up way less room and time, if that becomes a factor in your game-playing decisions.  It takes exactly what worked in Pandemic and refines it, makes it smaller.  Any problems players might have with this game can be traced to Pandemic, so check my review there to see if this disease is fun for you to fight.

Gotta Get Back (Time Breaker)

Good morning, agent.
You have been selected by the Time Repair Agency to travel through time and engage in a most dangerous mission.  Your goal, to capture a meddler in time, one who is altering history at a whim.  We have contacted other agents to apprehend them, but know that due to the high profile of this case, only one person can claim the reward for capturing them and returning them to the TRA.  Good luck, agent, and stop this Time Breaker!

BACKGROUND:  Time Breaker is a card game for 2-5 players, and was designed by Andrew Looney and Derek Ring, with publisher Looney Labs.  Players travel to different points in history and attempt to capture the Time Breaker first.

GAMEPLAY:  Each player takes a turn by drawing a card, and either playing a card, drawing and playing that card, or moving by following the green arrows on the tiles to different Gates.  Over the course of the game, some Gates can be Crashed (removed from the table), in which case when a player lands there when it's Crashed, they return to the center.  However, some cards allow players to move different directions, which allows them to instead skip those empty tiles, and wrap around the board.

WINNING:  Once the Time Breaker is in the same space as a player, they announce that they are moving with the Breaker. They then move as normal with the Breaker, using cards or travelling to a Crashed Gate to bring the Breaker to the center to win, but can only carry the Breaker on their turn.  If the player is moved on an opponents turn, the Breaker does not move with them. If the Breaker is sent to the center by themselves, the Breaker turns themselves in, and the game is lost.

CONCLUSION:  Time Breakers is a simple card game that is easily accessible to a lot of ages.  The game is a bit confusing once you start introducing breaking Gates, but nothing too hard or complicated that most people can't figure it out.  That being said, the simplicity might seem like a big turn off to more dedicated players, but the level of strategy is a lot higher than expected.  If anything, that should and might be the biggest reason to avoid this game.  The amount of planning and moving to counter the opponents can get tricky, and it's easy to lose the Breaker in one turn.  The game is fun, and doesn't have to be overly strategic with the right group, but can be.  So go ahead and break out this game, and give it the time you think it deserves.

Four Precious Baby Dragons (The Tea Dragon Society Card Game)

As you sit down for Tea, little Chamomile comes up and flops on your lap, sleeping and loving the warmth.  Ginseng starts playing with a leaf they found, and soon all the little ones start swiping and blowing on it, except sleepy little Chamomile.  Cham just yawns.  And you thought the Teddy Bear Picnic was the cutest thing you'd see.  Well, it's time to start this week's session of the Tea Dragon Society.

BACKGROUND:  The Tea Dragon Society Card Game is a deck builder for 2-4 players.  Originally a graphic novel by Katie O'Neill, it was designed by Steve Ellis, Tyler Tinsley, and Josh T. McDowell, and published by Renegade Game Studios in 2018.

GAMEPLAY:  Each turn, players may either draw a card from their deck, or buy a card from the Market or Memory Lane.  Whenever a player draws a card, they put it in their Hold in front of them, and apply any effect on that and any other cards in the Hold once.  To buy a card, players discard cards from their Hold whose numbers in the top left leaf (also known as Growth) equal or greater to the cost of the card in the top right mug.  Cards bought from the Market go to the Hold, while Memory cards are sent to the discard.  Any time a player has no deck, they shuffle their discard pile.

WINNING:  Each time there is only 1 Memory card, the season is over, and new Memory cards are drawn to replace the old one.  Once all 4 seasons of Memories have been bought, with one Winter memory left, the game is over.  Players tally up their points in the bottom teapot or circle, and the player with the most points wins.

CONCLUSION:  The art on this game is adorable.  It is well done, and the dragons are all precious.  That can only take you so far, though.  The gameplay is...lackluster.  It doesn't have anything mechanically different or unique from other deck builders.  There isn't a ton of replayabilty either, as it's easy to get through most of the cards in the market.  If you or a group are just getting into deck builders, or the theme and art really appeal to you, take a look at this game.  However, for most everyone else, this is one tea party I suggest passing by.