Jungle Speed

Jungle Speed



Another week and another good game. The star this week is called Jungle Speed. It's like the poker game Heart Attack that challenges your reaction.

The game consists with a totem and a pile of cards. To start the game, put the totem in the middle of the table and then divide the cards equally to the players. Players take turn open a card, and if there are two cards with the same picture, the two players have to grab the totem. The faster one win the turn and give the other one his opened cards.



It's a really exciting game. Some of the cards looks similar so someone will make a mistake. Although I didn't win the game everytime, I still love this game; but my friends don't like to play little games very much, pity.

or maybe you want to try this...

Halli Galli

Halli Galli

I think this may be the most well0known game between beginners in Taichung. It's called the German Heart attack in Chinese, because it is very similar with the poker eart attack.

There are 56 playing cards showing four kinds of fruit in groups of 1 to 5 and a bell of the type found at hotel reception desks. The deck is distributed evenly between the players. Hold your deck face down; deal one face up in front of you. As each player reveals their next card, the instant you see a total of five of one kind of fruit on the table, hit the bell. If you're correct, you pick up all the played cards and put them into your deck. If you're wrong, pay the others a card each. When you run out of cards, you're out. When 2 players are left, they have one more strike, and then the taller deck wins.



It's not my favorite game, and I played only a few times. However, I think it is worth introducing.

Animal Upon Animal

Animal Upon Animal
I think Taiwanese still think Jenga the most classical stacking game, which means there are still a lot of stacking games without wooden bars. And this week, the game is called Animal Upon Animal. When i first met it, it's titled in German, Tier auf Tier, which means the same. Maybe it's because it's in English, so I feel it's not so...elegant. It maybe be worse if we translate it to Chinese directly by it's meaning. In some place, it's called the animal pyramid or tower.

Well, the point is, the game consists with 29 wooden animals and 1 die. The die is different with usual dice that marks dots. The six surfaces show 1, 1, 2, a hand, a question mark,and a crocodile. I'll explain the meaning later. The crocodile is the base of the pyramid. First, put the crocodile in the middle of the table, put the crocodile in the middle of the table, divide the rest animals equally to the players, and then the game begins.

When it's your turn, roll the die. Numbers means the animals you have to place ON the crocodile parallely. Hand means you can choose an animal and then choose a guy to place it on the crocodile for you. Question mark means others will choose an animal for you, and you will put it on the crocodile yourself. Crocodile means you can put your animal BESIDE the crocodile, still, parallely.

Whenever the pyramid falls, the current player has to pick two animals from the ruin. When someone has no animals, he is the winner and te game ends. Or sometimes it ends when someone doesn't wants to continue. It's a happy party game and it's very suitable for beginners.

more funny pictures:

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/image/454785/animal-upon-animal

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/image/418598/animal-upon-animal

The Stars Are Right

The Stars Are Right

(click the cover to see the big picture)

(If your don't to read my article, you can just watch the unboxing video below)
In this game, there are 25 stars on the table in a 5*5 square. Players take turn to flip the star, push them in a row, or exchange their places. If they are in the place you want, you can invoke the creatures in the myth. With or without their help, your choice, you can summon the Great Old Ones. Every creature has its points. You have to get ten points to win this game.

After I heard about this game, I had looked forward to play this game because it is just my type. And after I have played it once, I still like it although I didn't win. However, many people don't like this game, because the down time, the time you use during your turn, is too long. You have to wait a long time for your next turn, and when it is your turn, others already mess up your stars.

The game sounds easy, but it's difficult to decide your moves, and that's why it take times.

The guy on the right is the publisher.