13th May 2022

Friday the 13th continues and we in Farnborough for some more after work gaming goodness.

Many games have small components that could be considered choking hazards, that however is not the case with... Joking Hazard, a game inspired by the Cyanide & Happiness comic strip.

What's in a game?

• Cards: Joking Hazard has a deck of 250 cards.
  Most cards feature a black border and some features a red one.
  All the artwork is inspired by Cyanide & Happiness artwork and each card is a single panel of that style of cartoony art and usually features 1 or more stickmen, often dong something offensive - which will be no surprise to anyone who's read the strip.

That's it for the components.

There's not much more to say about the cards, they're quality is pretty good, considering the game's origin, the artwork is exactly what is expected and the game uses no iconography.

How's it play?
Setup

• Cards: Shuffle the cards into a face-down deck and deal 7 cards to each player.
• First player: Determine a starting player.

On to play
Individual cards in Joking hazard essentially have no context and this is a game about putting them into  context by constructing jokes out of 3 comic panels, only the comic panels will be to some degree randomly created.

• Draw card: The active player draws a card from the deck. If it has a black border, then it will be a normal round. If it's a red-bordered card, then it becomes a bonus round.
• Normal round: The active player puts the card face-up into the central playing area.
  Add card: Then the active player takes a card from their hand and places it to the left or the right of the first card, creating the first 2 panels of the comic strip.
  Other players: Each other player then chooses a card from their hand which will become the 3rd panel of the strip and plays it face-down to the right of the first 2 cards. Basically creating the punchline.
  Judging: The active player reveals the face-down cards one-by-one. When they've read all the card, they choose the card which created the 'best' or 'funniest' joke and that player is awarded a point.
• Bonus round: When a bonus round occurs, the active player puts the red-bordered card into the playing area face-up.
  Unlike a normal round, the active player does not add a 2nd card.
  Other players: Now the other players add 2 cards in any order they wish in front of the card to create a comic strip.
  Unlike the normal round where the other players create the punchline, in a bonus round they create the set-up and the red-bordered card becomes the punchline.
  Judging: As with a normal round, the active player decides who has created the best or funniest gag and awards them a point.
  
• Draw cards: Once judging for the round is over, all players draw back up to 7 cards in hand.
• Next player: Play progress to the person on the left who now becomes the active player.

Endgame

The first player to win 3 points, wins!

Overall
Joking Hazard is an accessible party game that can be played by up to 10 participants and is equal parts mildly amusing and mildly offensive. Well... as offensive as the Cyanide & Happiness comic it's based on. So I guess if you're easily offended, you might want to give this a miss.

From a gameplay perspective, you would be forgiven for thinking Joking Hazard is just the same as other 'you be the judge' games. However, Joking Hazard differs because individual cards have no context. There is no statement A and answer B. The players create context themselves, which gives the game a slight edge.

Is it any good though? The answer is; sort of, which to be honest, is not a good answer really and a bit of a cop-out.
But the truth is; this games clearly sits in the domain of beer-and-pretzels. If you're going to be playing it with a bunch of slightly dour-faced gamers who usually play 6 hour empire building, resource managing, epoch spanning games, no one's going to enjoy this.
However, if you play it with some work colleagues or non-gamers who's only understanding of games is 'Is it like monopoly?' then they'll probably have a blast, especially if they've had a drink or two and that's who the game is targeted anyway.

5th April 2022

It's a Tuesday and we're at The Sovereigns with the Woking Gaming Club for some gaming goodness.

'I enjoyed Muffin the Mule.'
'You can get locked up for that.'

No wait, this isn't about Muffin the Mule, its about Muffin Time.
'I enjoyed Muffin Time.'
Not sure that sounds better? (Apologies for the old Goodies joke.)

Muffin Time is a light, off-beat party game that's easy to pick up and player with supposedly 20 minute play time.

What's in a game?

• Cards: Muffin Time features a lot of cards in 3 types and that's it, there are no other components.
  The types are:
  Action cards: These blue bordered cards are played during the active player's turn, generally they benefit the active player or punish other players, frequently in the form of acquiring extra cards or forcing opponents to discard them.
  Counter cards: Green bordered counter cards can be played at any time and can affect other players' card plays.
  Trap cards: What do these red bordered cards do? They're played face-down and trap other players!

The cards are finished in a sturdy-feeling plastic coating and will probably stand up well to a lot of use.

The game utilises comedic and cartoony black-line illustrations with a dash of bright colour for the borders and card titles that suitability fits the game's style.

There's no iconography in Muffin Time to speak of and the game's filled with unusual or unique cards and rules exceptions. Consequently, all cards contain specific text on how they function.

How's it play?
Setup

• Cards: Shuffle the cards into a face-down deck and deal 3 to each player face-down.
• First Player: Determine a starting player.

That's it for setup, barely worth the bullet points!

On to play
The objective in Muffin Time is for a player to acquire exactly 10 cards at the start of their turn.
The game uses a typical turn order, at least it does at the start with the active player acting and play progressing to the left.
There are 2 phases to each turn.

• ​Trap: The active player may play a trap card in this phase. Trap cards are always played face-down and contain a specific condition and a penalty, when this condition is met by another player, the trap card is revealed and that player suffers the penalty, typically the penalty involves discarding cards.
  A trap might be triggered by putting cards down on the table or laughing at a joke on a card and so on.
  A player may have up to 3 trap cards in play at any time.
• Action: In this phase the active player can perform 1 of the following 2 cards.
  Play card: The active player may play a card from their hand and then resolve its action.
  Draw card: The active player may draw a card from the deck.
• Next player: Once the active player has had their turn, play progresses to the left.

Other rule

• Counter card: A counter card can be played at any time, even another player's turn and multiple cards can be played, including by multiple players.

Endgame
Play continues until any player has acquired exactly 10 cards in hand, upon which they must immediately shout 'It's Muffin Time!'
If, when that player becomes the active player they still have exactly 10 cards, then they win the game!

Overall
Despite being a rules-light game, there's a couple of interesting elements at play in Muffin Time.
Firstly and most obviously, are the trap cards: They require players to pay attention to the behaviour of their opponents in order to trigger traps. However, there's also a higher level of play at work, where participants can try to induce other players into falling into their traps, such as my aforementioned attempts to get the other players to yawn. It add an unusual and interesting facet of playing the player and not the game to the mix.

Secondly, is the action economy: Play a card or draw a card, it's a simple rule but it has an interesting effect. Essentially, playing a card gains the player whatever benefit that card gives them but it also loses them that card from their hand, thus making their goal 1 step further away. Does the benefit of playing it outweigh the cost? The answer will always be contextual, especially since some cards do stuff that's just funny and players will end up playing them just for the sake of playing them. The same quandary is actually also true of counter cards.

The core gameplay is highly situational, it requires players to adapt to unpredictable turns of play and exploit events as they occur with the cards they have in hand. This is not a game of planning ahead too much.
It's also bit of a silly game with some silly card actions such as 'Last player to stand up discards 2 cards.' There are also cards that may change the win condition, turn order etc.
If this sort of thing is an anathema to you, Muffin Time is probably one to skip.

Otherwise there's not too much to add about Muffin Time really. it's an easy to learn, pick and play party card game that can be a lot of fun if you don't take it too seriously and allegedly has a 20 minute play time and can be a good filler or finishing game.
I say allegedly 20 minutes because circumstances and certain card plays can dictate otherwise - games can go on considerable longer, is that good or bad? Muffin Time can be very enjoyable but it can also outstay its welcome. So, YMMV.

Don't let that put you off though. I feel that Muffin Time is good party game when played with the right mindset and is worth trying.

13th March 2022

It's a Sunday evening and we're logged into Board Game Arena for some gaming fun.

As the title implies, Stella - Dixit Universe is a offshoot of the game Dixit and while it is different, it does share some elements with its predecessor, mostly notably having artwork on cards which share the same almost abstract, dreamlike quality.
​In fact in the physical version, both games share the same backings for these cards, meaning they're interchangeable between the two.

Caveat: We've only played Stella - Dixit Universe digitally.

What's in a game?

• Dixit cards: Stella - Dixit Universe comes with 84 cards. As anyone familiar with Dixit will know, they all feature distinct, eye-catching and quirky artwork.
• Word cards: There are 96 'word' cards in the game, each card has 2 words for a grand total of 192 words.
• Game board: The game features a tall, narrow board with spaces numbered 1-10, it's not really a game board in the conventional sense though as it's used only to track some numbers.
• Personal boards: Each player will have a board displaying a 5x3 grid that matches the game's card layout (More on this later.), there are 3 'stars' adjacent to each space in the grid which a re used to track scoring.
• Tokens: Various types of tokens are used throughout the game.
  Round tokens: Stella - Dixit Universe is played over 4 rounds, not only do these double-sided tokens track the rounds, they determine which line of cards are replaced at the end of each round.
  Player tokens: Each player has a token, also double-sided, one side is 'light' and displays 2 stars, while the other is 'dark' and only shows 1 star.
• Markers and cloths: While this is not a 'write' style game per se, the physical game does make use of dry-erase markers and wipe-cloths to track player decisions and scores.

As with all Dixit games, artwork on the cards is colourful and fantastic, a wide variety of images and themes filled with lots of weird and wonderful details that allow for multiple interpretations and meanings.
There's minimal art elsewhere.

The game's iconography is also minimal to the point of being almost non-existent.

How's it play?
Setup

• ​Players: Give each player a token and player board in their colour.
• Game board: Put out the game board with the long edge vertical, the numbered spaces increasing as they go up. Put the round tokens on the board.
• Dixit cards: Shuffle the Dixit cards into a face-down deck. Deal 15 cards into a 5x3 face-up grid along the right-side of the game board.
• First player: Determine a first player and give them the first player token.
• Word card: Shuffle the word cards into a face-down deck. Deal 1 face-up and choose which of the 2 words to use.
  This is the word that will be 'used' during this round.

On to play
Similar to its predecessor, Stella Dixit Universe is word association game, but here, the word is chosen by the game.
4 rounds are played during the game and each round has 3 phases. The first 2 phases are essentially performed simultaneously, with the 3rd phases occurring in turn order.

• Word association: Each player now looks at the 15 available Dixit cards and should determine which cards, in their opinion can be associated with the word for the round, players can associate 1-10 cards with the word.
  Then secretly, each player marks their choices down on their player board.
  Once this is done, the game goes to the next phase.
• Count associations: All players declare how many associations they made (But not what they are.).
  Then everybody puts their player token on the matching numbered space on the game board with the light side face-up. If a single player has chosen more cards than anyone else, they should flip their player token to the dark side and they are now considered to be in the dark. This may effect scoring in the next phase.
• Reveal associations: This phase is played out in turn order, starting with the first player.
  The active player must reveal one of the cards they chose by pointing to it in the central playing area. This will have 1 of 3 outcomes.
  Spark: If 2 or more other players also chose the card indicated by the active player then they all score 2 points, all matching players should mark off 2 stars on their player boards adjacent to the card revealed.
  Super-spark: If only 1 other player has also chosen that card - even better! Both players score 3 stars.
  Fall: If no other players also chose the indicated card, then the active player has fallen. This means that they can not score this card or any further cards later in this round, nor can they reveal anymore cards this round. Although other players may still score off their cards.
  In the dark: If the player who is in the dark also falls, then any cards they have already scored this round have their values reduced by 1. Thus their scored cards will only be worth 1-2 points instead of 2-3.
• Next Player: Once the revealed card has been dealt with, the player on the left becomes active and reveals a card.
• Next round: Once players have revealed all their cards or have all fallen, play progresses to the next round and the following occurs.
  Score: Players should record their scores for the round and wipe their personal board cleans in preparation for the next round.
  New Dixit cards: As determined by the current round token, 1 row of 5 cards is discarded and replaced by a new randomly drawn cards.
  New word card: The current word card is discarded and new one is randomly drawn in its place.
  New first player: The first player token moves to the player on the left.
  A new round begins with choosing associations again.

Endgame
Once the 4th round has been completed, players should total their scores from across all 4 rounds.

Points are tallied, highest score wins.

Overall
Like it's earlier iterations, Stella - Dixit Universe can be a divisive game, its core mechanic is acutely subjective in nature and it can be a real love/hate thing! Certain types of gamers; those who enjoy the heavier, analytically and mathematically driven games may well be frustrated with a game about trying to guess what other players might think of a particular word. Social skills are important here, it's more about playing the player than playing the game, understanding how they think and what they'll pick.

As with its predecessor, Stella - Dixit Universe uses a mechanism to score more VPs when making a slightly more obscure choice which can trigger a super-spark. I feel the game has the same quirk with the rule as well; players who know each other well will be at a advantage here.

Other than trying to predict what other players will do, there's also a balance between how many associations to make with a word.
Too few and players risk scoring less, while too many could end up costing points, generally it's prudent to err slightly on the cautious side and avoid being the player In The Dark.
It obvious why the rule exists, it's to stop players haphazardly selecting too many words but it's still a little frustrating and also a bit of a finicky rule.

That brings me to the one real bugbear I have with the game and that's the rule with Falling.
If a player Falls, they immediately stop scoring, so if a player falls at their 1st reveal, they score nothing for that round - and worse, other players can still score off them! Conversely, if they fall with their last choice, the damage is minimised.
I know that choices on the order to reveal cards are part of the game and cards which are seen as less risky should be selected fist and the rule offers a genuinely meaningful decision but even so, I found it immensely irritating.

Although perhaps I'm not the best judge, I can be ambivalent with this type of game, it generally doesn't suit my style of play and and maybe I'm a bit too harsh. When I remember to adopt a particular mindset to playing it, there's definitely fun to be had.

Stella - Dixit Universe plays with 6 and veers into party game territory, it's a light crossover game that's pretty easy to pick up and play and will allow non-gamers to get stuck in and enjoy themselves
Treat it as a fun diversion more than a serious game and Stella - Dixit Universe is an enjoyable experience.

4th March 2022

It's a Friday and I'm in Farnborough with some workmates for some evening games.

The first game of the night is essentially 3 Wise Monkeys: The Game, known as Team3, although I'm not certain any of us are particularly wise?

What's in a game?

• ​Blocks: Team3 comes with 2 sets of 5 chunky plastic blocks shaped like tetrominoes. These blocks are used to construct the shapes shown on blueprint cards.
• Cards: The game has a 2 sets of square cards:
  Role cards: There are 3 role cards in the game, The Architect, The Supervisor and The Builder. Each role is illustrated by one of the three wise monkeys.
  Blueprint cards: There are 70 blueprint cards and each one displays a shape configured from the tetrominoes. The blueprint cards are divided into 3 decks labelled with 1, 2 or 3 stars which represent easy, medium and hard difficulties.
  Finally, each blueprint has a that shows the cards orientation.
• Plastic standee: A little plastic stand to hold a blueprint card.

There's not much to say about what few components there are to the game.
The blocks are made of sturdy colourfulplastic and feel very tactile, handling and playing them feels quite satisfying. Otherwise, the cards are pretty standard quality.

The game's art is monochrome and only appears on the role cards. The 3 illustrations are slightly cartoony looking but also fairly good.

Other than the images on the blueprint cards, there's no other iconography in the game.

How's it play?
Team3 can be played cooperatively as a team if 3 or competitively as 2 teams of 3. The 2 play styles are practically identical, the only real difference being how the blocks are allocated.
For the purposes of this blog, I'm going to describe the competitive game and point out how the cooperative game is different.

Setup

• Teams: Divide the players into 2 teams of 3.
  Cooperative: There is only 1 team of 3 in cooperative.
  Roles: Choose or randomly assign a role to each player. The 2 people playing architects should sit next to each to each other.
• Blocks: Give 1 set of blocks each to the builders.
• Blueprints: Sort the blueprint cards into their relevant types and shuffled them into face-down decks.
• Draw card: For the competitive 2 team game, only the 1-star cards used.
  Draw a card and place it on standee, position it so that only the architect players can view the diagram.
  Cooperative: In the cooperative game, the team decide which difficulty of blueprint to yse.

No the teams are ready to go.

On to play
Both teams play simultaneously and have the objective of putting together their blocks in the shape/configuration shown on the card which was drawn. However, there are some complications to this...

• The Architect: The only player on a team that can see the blueprint card is the architect.
  The architect must describe the configuration to the supervisor but without using words or sounds! The architect can speak no evil and can only use gestures to explain what needs doing. The only time the architect can speak is to confirm their team has completed the shape.
• The Supervisor: Since the supervisor cannot be spoken to, they hear no evil. Using the information provided by the architect, the supervisor in turn, must tell the builder how to put the blocks together verbally.
• The Builder: The builder can see no evil and therefore must keep their eyes closed for the entirety of the game! The builder must actually put together the blocks by following the verbal instructions from the supervisor.
• Point: Whichever team puts their blocks together to match the blueprint first wins a point!

Endgame
The team that reaches 6 points first, wins. Although this limit is fairly arbitrary and players can choose whatever score limit they want.

Cooperative
In the cooperative game, the team gets 3 minutes to complete a blueprint, if they take longer, they fail.
3 minutes might seem a lot, but the 2 and 3 star difficulties get much more complex.

Overall
There's little strategy that can be adopted when playing Team3, that's not a criticism though, Team3 is sort of a hyped version of charades that's all about communication and interpretation between teammates. As with actual charades, players will probably very quickly adopt some standard gestures to represent certain things.
It's also worth adding that the game comes in 2 versions Green and Pink, which can be combined to support up to 4 teams of 3 players.

There's not much more to say about the Team3 really. It's a light party game that is easy to learn and will have a lot of crossover appeal, it's not something to be taken seriously. If you looking for deep gameplay, look elsewhere.
With the right people though, Team3 can be a fun diversion or a good filler game.