Dominion

Dominion

The game I'm introducing this week is called Dominion. It was published in 2008, but is still often talked about. Why? It is fun, but the main reason is it's unlimited expansions. So far there are two expansions and it's said to have more than ten. Expansions are published in a speed of about once six months.

In the game, players are monarchs who desires to extend their own kingdoms into dominions. Everyone has some money and a small land at the beginning. Everyone can buy cards to extend your deck. Some cards are minions with abilities in different career you can use. Some are for you to enhance your fortress and make your kingdom more civilized. However, at the some time, there are other monarchs that have the same ambition, too. They also wants to expand their kingdom, so they will do anything they can to stop you, such as spying, cursing, or steeling. At the end of the game, the winner is the player with the biggest land, represented in cards.

Last year, I played this game for about hundred times, and after the expansion published one after another, I was tired of it. So all I did now was just appreciating those cards.

table setting example

Published Expansions
Dominion: Alchemy
Dominion: Black Market Promo Card
Dominion: Envoy Promo Card
Dominion: Intrigue
Dominion: Prosperity
Dominion: Seaside
Dominion: Stash Promo Card

Aquarius

Aquarius

left:1st edition, right: 2nd edition

The game of this week is called Aquarius. There are two editions and the 1st one is no longer available, Which I really want to have one

There are three types of cards: Elements, Goals, and Actions. There are five kinds of elements: air, earth, fire, water. ether; and each of them represents a goal. To start the game, palyers draw a goal card and secretly look at it. During the game, every one place a element card on the table, attaching to previous ones. The point is that the elements on the both card's attaching side should be the same. The player who connects seven panels of one particular element wins. How about the action cards? Well, during the game, you can use it to disturb other players.

left:playing, right: the goals

The game is fast and interesting. You can guess other people's goals and then bluff about it. I really like this game. It's ust I don't like the 2nd edition's drawing, although many people think it's not big deal.

Pow Wow

Pow Wow

As usual, the game I'm introducing this week is called Pow Wow. You may have seen it on TV that people attach poker cards on there forehead so they can't see their own number and have to guess the sum of all of the cards. I wonder if the show copied this game. However, the different point of the game is the theme: Indian, native American Chieftain. The numbercards are made in leather shape, attached to colorful headbands, which makes everyone looks like Indians.

The other specialty of this game is the number and function of the cards. There are not only positive numbers but also negative numbers, zero in addition. That makes the game more exciting.

Every turn, after everyone attached a card on their forehead, the bidding and bluffing and the guessing begins... can either challenge the previous player's bid or increase that bid. Just like the TV show, you can use your tool to pass or reverse the players order, or draw another card and put it on other players head. When a challenge inevitably occurs, everyone takes off their feather cards and totals up the values to determine whether the bidder or the challenger has lost. If the challenger lost, he has to put a lost token on his headband. When a person collected three tokens, he loses the game.

That's not the end. The game has a punishment forthe loser. Others put all the card on his head and then take a picture of him as a chieftain.

I played this game several times and it is really a exciting game. Luckily I seldom loose. Haha.

Further punishment can be discussed.
This is a example of my friend being punished, but he didn't have all of the cards on his head obviously.

Dixit

Dixit

The game I want to introduce today is called Dixit. It was published last year and was soon sold out. It won;t be available until this May. The reason why it is so popular is because of the beautiflul pictures which rarely appears around board games.

Each player at his turn plays the storyteller. He is given a single picture, while the other players get a hand of six pictures.The storyteller says a sentence or a word connected to his picture, then each player chooses one of his pictures to bet upon. All pictures are showed face up, and every player has to bet upon what picture was the storyteller's. If nobody or everybody finds the correct picture, the storyteller scores 0, and each of the other players scores 2. Otherwise the storyteller and whoever found the correct answer scores 3. Players score 1 point for every vote gotten by their own pic. The game ends when the deck is empty. The greatest total wins the game.

The other attraction of this game is the scoring meeples are Rabbits. I think it was first seen and they are so cute!

I have played this game several times, but it turned out not so fun. People say short words and aren't high. I don't know how to make this game funner. I tried to say more things when I was the storyteller, but it was really hard to express my card and to make it funny.

Gene Pool

Gene Pool

A whole new semester comes, and game introductions will keep on, so stay tuned!

The game I'm introducing this time is Gene Pool. This first version was published in Fall 2006 as a limited edition of 200 copies. The second edition was available October 2009 and was sold out immediately.



The designer, Mark Goadrich, is an Assistant Professor and the Broyles Eminent Scholars Chair in Computational Mathematics at Centenary College of Louisiana. He teach courses in both Computer Science and Mathematics. He made this game just for fun, not for profits. That's why it's an limited edition.

The game is for only two players, who are DNA engineers that are fighting against rare genetic diseases. Players repair important genes with gene therapy by modifying and rearranging a common DNA sequence. Using strategies and spatial thinking to mutate, invert, delete and insert DNA. Compete with the other player to see who is faster in finishing researches, and the winners wins the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine and the game!

I like this game because it is really brain exercising. It takes a little strategy. You have to try to complete your own task in fewest moves and opponent's move must be considered. I didn't win often and we played the wrong rules at first, but I still like this game.

However, I don't have much time playing games this semester, but I'll do my best to make the blog content.

Das Magische Labyrinth

Das Magische Labyrinth

The new game I'm introducing this week is Das Magische Labyrinth, which means the magical maze in German. It's a new game published just this very year. The game is a memory game for children. I love this game at the first sight because of it's blue cover.

In the game, players are magician apprentices that have lost some objects in the magic maze. They have to find all of them before the master notice anything, but there are invisible walls in the maze. They have to remember the path and collect the objects fast.

The playboard of the game is not just a board. It's in 3D, and of the size of the box. Open the box and you can see the whole constructure. Take out the objects and the characters, each with a magnetic ball. There is the secret of the maze: wooden walls. hen the magicians are passing with their magnetic ball, the wooden walls are invicible for them and will make the balls fall , so they must remember them everytime the ball fall.

To begin the game, everyone put their characters in place, and the first player draw an object, find the picture on the board and put the object on the picture.

Then all the players take turn to find the way to the object and get it. If one hit the wall, one must go back to the starting corner. The first one to collect five objects is the winner.

As I said above, I love this game at the first sight. Last week, I finally got the chance to play it. It was interesting, but wasn't as attracting as I expected. I don't think I will buy one.

San Ta Si

San Ta Si

The game I'm introducing this week is San Ta Si. Try to pronounce the name. You may know what it means. It's a small game that can end in ten minutes, and it's for two people.

The game contains a triangle wooden board and tubes in two colors in various sizes. The Obeject is to let one's own tube be seen when the game ends. However, you can put one another's tubes also. The other things is that the tube you put on the board must touch the other tubes. It can only be a size bigger or smaller. The game ends when all of the tubes are all put.

It's a little game that two people can use to kill time. It's not my favorites though, with interesting players, the game can be interesting.