Games for Travelers

GAMES FOR TRAVELERS (IN TIME AND SPACE)

So you have travelled to a far off country, or maybe just to next province, and you have some time to kill while waiting for your connecting flight. Maybe you are on a business trip with some colleagues, and need something fun, and light to do in the middle of conference meetings. Or maybe that darned weather man said it would be beautiful tropical sun, but instead you got two days of utter downpour. Well traditionally you would go to a local bar, or read a book (or five), that you packed along for just such an occasion, but those tried and true methods can sometimes get redundant. Well they are other geeky ways you can spend your time with some nice light travel games.

The biggest thing about travelling, and bringing your own entertainment is packing light. You don’t want to be lugging around a bulky box, nor do you necessarily want a game that takes so long to set up you are just done unpacking it when the announcement for your flight boarding comes over the loudspeaker. Well don’t worry, there are quite a few games that travel well; from light hearted and speedy, to thematic, and slightly deeper strategy.

DICE GAMES

Dice Games are the most portable; there is no worry of pieces blowing in the wind. The other great thing about dice games is most of them play for two people, upwards to as many as you can fit in a room. The most well know would be Zombie Dice. You are a zombie trying to eat the most brains before being blown away by the humans escaping your clutches. Martian Dice is another where you are a Martian abducting various creatures: human, livestock, etc. and you are trying to beat other Martians (your opponents) to get the most points from your abductions. Chupacabra is another, sensing a theme here anyone? In this one you are the goat sucker, trying to suck the blood out of local livestock, and be the most successful chupacabra by stealing other chupies livestock.

CARD GAMES

Card games have come a long way from the traditional Euchre, and 500. Those are still good fun games but if you are looking for something new, there is certainly lots to choose from. Gloom plays two people but gets a lot more interesting with more and can play up to four, more with expansions. You are in control of a family and you are trying to give them the worst life possible, and kill them off when they are down as far as they could be. Keeping in mind you opponents are trying to do the same with their family and thus may play cards on your guys to make them have a happy, and fulfilling life.  Hanabi is a cooperative game that plays up to four people. You are trying to put on the most fantastic fireworks display. The trick is, you don’t get to see your cards but everyone else does; so you are trying to give the best information to your team mates before they play a card. Being careful not to set your display off too early and losing the game. Munchkin, plays 3-6; although I have played it just two people and works pretty good. There are more cards in this game but it travels light in its own skinny box. A very tongue in cheek game where you are all dungeon crawlers, trying to get to level ten by defeating monsters, all the while pilfering rooms, and amassing treasure you can use. Additionally this game has many expansions in almost every geeky theme, so you are sure to find something that you like.

BOARD-ISH GAMES 

What is a board-ish game? Well something that doesn’t fit in the above categories exactly but isn’t weighed down by a big… well, board and tons of pieces. Starting us off is Six. Solely a two person game where you are trying to create one of the three distinct winning patterns by placing an individual hexagonal tile each turn against your opponent; a simple mechanic with loads of strategic fun. Dungeon Roll, comes in a box shaped like a small treasure chest. You are a character trying to get the most victory points after three rounds. You are dice rolling to defeat monster dice, with the number of monsters depending equaling to the level of the dungeon you are exploring. You can stop at any level to guarantee you don’t lose all your possible points but there are only three rounds to accumulate the most and win so sometimes you may have to press your luck. Love Letter comes in a small velvet bag so travels well. You are a member of the royal court trying to get your love letter to the princess before the other suitors. A game of deduction, and luck meant for two to four players that fits in your pocket. The Resistance, a bluffing game that is best suited for more and plays up to ten players. There is an Arthurian themed version, Avalon as well. You are the good guys, maybe. There are one or more traitors amongst your group, and you need to complete missions all the while finding the traitors in your midst; who are hell bent on foiling your missions and winning by making you lose. Last but not least, King of Tokyo is a fun game of monster on monster destruction, for two to six players. A dice game, but with a tiny board of Tokyo. Monster(s) in Tokyo attack monsters outside and vice versa. Be the last monster standing, or the first to twenty victory points wins.

So when you are packing for that weekend conference, or looking at an extended stay in the Caribbean make sure to grab a game or two for a change of pace on your regular down time activities. Game on!

Married, with four fur babies, Tracy has recently rediscovered her love of board games, and has acquired a wonderful collection. Being new to writing, it is just one more newly discovered world she is exploring. At the age of 37, Tracy now proudly shows off her geekiness, through her love of crafting and creating; well, at least until she defeats Ganon with the master sword, she finds the blue crystal staff, or the TARDIS shows up on her front doorstep.

Games For Two

GAMES FOR TWO

By Tracy Thillmann

Many people think that board games are for parties, or big groups, so often stay away from them when there are just two of you. Not so, in fact many games nowadays play well with two people, and some even have a single person option. So if you are a pair of roommates, a young duo, or a couple of empty nesters looking for something new and social to do together, well look no further than today’s modern board games.

Most games can play two people, but often they have a variant, or are ‘more optimal’ with 3-4 people. Rulebooks can sometimes be short novels so learning a new game, and then learning a variant as well is a bit daunting. So where do you begin, you ask? Look no further than right here; a compiled list of some of the games that work great for two players as well as when you have more company, and also how they work.

TICKET TO RIDE

Who doesn’t love trains? Well okay, maybe not to the point of Sheldon-esque proportions but most everyone understands the concept of trains. And admit it; you love trains just a little. Ticket to Ride is a beautiful game with easy to pick up rules.

The goal: To lay out your train tokens, and complete destination tickets. By collecting cards of certain colours, you play the cards to complete routes that help you finish your tickets. The game ends when a person gets down to two trains, then there is one last round for everyone to complete tickets. You can always collect more destination tickets to earn more points at the end of the game, but beware, any tickets you don’t complete count against your score.

The great thing about this game is the different maps you can buy, some are base games, and some are expansion maps that need the trains/cards from the base set, but play on their own. They all play well with two and some can play up to 5 so great when you do have company.

CARCASSONNE

A tile based, worker placement game that has a nice, simple base set with many expansions to change up the strategy. You draw individual tiles and place them to build roads, towns, monasteries, and farms. 

The Goal: You place tiles to fit the existing placed tiles on your turn, and then you can choose to place your Meeples (wooden workers) on that new tile to take control of one the four choices that may be on it. With exception of the farms, your Meeples return to you once the project is finished. You score points for the length of road, the size of the town, the monastery being surrounded by tiles. The farmers stay on the farms until the end of game scoring so the trick is to make sure you don’t place too many farmers down or you won’t have Meeples to place to score points throughout the game. The game ends when the last tile is placed, and final scoring begins.

This is a fantastic, gateway game that is often one of the ones that people first play when getting into modern board games. It plays quite well with two, and can play up to five people.

VIVA JAVA: THE DICE GAME

A dice game about coffee; Yes coffee! A simpler, more compact version of the original board game, you roll dice to make blends with the various coffee beans on the dice.

The Goal: You can strategize to pool your dice and make blends of different types of beans. Some allow for quicker points, some are an investment which gives you points over a few rounds. Your blends will degrade but with the right combination you can maximize greater points. The game ends when someone is the first to get to twenty-one points.

It is nice and compact, so travels well. It can even play one person but plays better with two or more. The dice game can play up to five players; if you are feeling like a more involved game, the board game can play up to eight people, but isn’t as good for just two because there is some collaborating that goes on, and thus works best with four or more.

RIVALS FOR CATAN

This game only plays two players but it is a fantastic game but has lots of playability. It is a territory

building game that uses cards to create your own villages; which have resources, trades, and people.

The Goal: Starting with one village, two roads leading horizontally out of the village, and starting with six resources spaced above and below, you gather points through the various trades, buildings, and people that you purchase with the resources gathered. More villages being built, and upgrading villages to towns also get you points. The game ends with the first person to reach a certain fixed amount of points, the base game is to seven victory points, with expansions increasing the difficulty and the total points to end the game.

This isn’t a game for more than two people, but it adds a different feel to the traditional Settlers game, and the base game has two expansions, plus there are two more than you can get to add on.

Other games that can play well with two players: Helios, Pillars of the Earth, Agricola, Blueprints, Gloom Smash Up.

With the massive amount of games out there nowadays, there is so many that can play just two people. In some cases there are variants to allow for the lower number of players. This may make some shy away from trying them, but once you have the basics down of certain styles of games you can pick up the basic rules, and add the modifications in quite easily. So when you are at home with just two of you, two words: board games!

Married, with four fur babies, Tracy has recently rediscovered her love of board games, and has acquired a wonderful collection. Being new to writing, it is just one more newly discovered world she is exploring. At the age of 37, Tracy now proudly shows off her geekiness, through her love of crafting and creating; well, at least until she defeats Ganon with the master sword, she finds the blue crystal staff, or the TARDIS shows up on her front doorstep.

Resource Management Games: An Introduction

RESOURCE MANAGEMENT GAMES: AN INTRODUCTION
By Tracy Thillmann

When you think back to your childhood, remembering all those fond moments of dice rattling in a cup, arguing with siblings over who wins because they have the most money, or puzzling out what your dad is drawing when all it looks like is a demented duck in a tutu.

So Many!

Fast forward a decade or two; you have decided to try out board games again. So you walk into the local game store, and are dumbstruck by the sheer volume of choice. Dice, deck building, cooperative, zombies, dungeon crawls, and then most daunting of all… the worker placement/resource management (WP/RM) strategy games.

The WP/RM games are by far my favourite games, despite the fact that learning them sometimes make me feel like I have had a two hour brain freeze. Yet don’t let that stop you. From Settlers of Catan to The Village, or Lords of Waterdeep to Noblemen, there is a game for any level of play experience.

*hands of the audience snap up into the air*

“What is a WP/RM game?”

“There are so many, where do I begin?”

“How many…?”

“What about…?”

Don’t worry; by the end of this article, you should be ready to tackle the, often daunting, WP/RM strategy genre.

So where to begin… 

DEFINITION 

A WP/RM game is a strategic, competitive style game. They often involve Meeples (little wooden people, or even little wooden animals, food shapes, ships, and so many more), as well as cubes representing gems/elements/minerals/etc. And who doesn’t love Meeples.

MEEPLES!

Traditionally they are played over a defined number of rounds, or until a goal is met. In Noblemen the game plays over three decades, Lords of Waterdeep is over eight rounds, Hermagor is when you have no more action tiles, and the list goes on.

PLAYERS

So what if you are a couple who often have to play just the two of you, or you are a big family trying to find a game for everyone? Strategy WP/RM games are great for groups of most sizes.  Most are traditionally designed for 2-5, where some play, with expansions, up to 6 players; and some even have solo options. Traditional age range is usually 12+ but some allow for younger players to catch on quickly.

With so many fantastic games coming out every year, the hardest decision is where to begin. Even an experienced gamer can open up a new game that was thought to be a nice, easy strategy game and sees that the rule book is a small novella. The size of the box, the art, the description can all be deceiving. A hard game looks easy or vice versa. I have yet to find an easy way to tell one from another until I start to play; now to be fair I thrive on the heavy brain hurt games. As a teacher of games at a local lounge I have begun to compile a list of beginner, intermediate and advanced list; which I will post at the end of the article. When in doubt, just ask a friend who plays them, or an online group/page; and if by chance you pick a heavier than expected game, there are so many great walkthrough videos that I have used many times to help figure out those sometimes-not-so-clear rulebooks.

STRATEGY

The biggest strategy to a strategy game; don’t take on too much. Often there are more action/play options than there are action turns. You often want to try to do everything to try to gain more points. You usually spread yourself too thin, and actually make a lot less points than focusing on one or two parts in the game. This gives the games lots of playability, because next time around you can try a different strategy, and then a third, and so on. Mix it up; get out of your comfort zone.

The WP/RM style of game has a sea of choices, and so many play mechanics that one article can’t do them justice. All I would say is don’t be daunted by them. Read the rule book, take your time to learn, and have snacks at hand.

The artwork for these games is always so beautiful and unique to the theme.

AS PROMISED: THE LIST

Beginner Games: Settlers of Catan (a great gateway game; and most gamers have played it so you can probably find someone who has a copy), Stone Age, Lords of Waterdeep (D&D based), Pillars of the Earth.

Intermediate: Belfort (made in Canada), Helios, Agricola (many would argue it is an advanced game but the base play is quite quick to catch onto), Valdora.

Advanced: Noblemen, Archipelago, T’Zolkin, Hermagor, Dungeon Lords (you get to be evil dungeon lord fighting off the dungeon crawling adventurers), Glass Road.

Hurt your Brain Hard: Keyflower, Troyes, De. Vulgari Eloquentia, Terra Mystica, Caverna.

.. And my favourite you ask? Hands down, it is The Village. You use time as payment to kill off your people to gain more victory points. It is a strange mechanic, so technically makes it an advanced game, but the strategy itself is more intermediate in level.

No matter your likes, the WP/RM strategy game genre is so varied you will probably find something in a style/genre you enjoy. So go ahead, grab some Meeples and just have fun

Married, with four fur babies, Tracy has recently rediscovered her love of board games, and has acquired a wonderful collection. Being new to writing, it is just one more newly discovered world she is exploring. At the age of 37, Tracy now proudly shows off her geekiness, through her love of crafting and creating; well, at least until she defeats Ganon with the master sword, she finds the blue crystal staff, or the TARDIS shows up on her front doorstep.