Happy Thanksgiving!

One of the things I am thankful for -- my new job -- has kept me away from updating this blog. However, I have still been playing games and I definitely want to talk about them. I'm also waiting for a few new-to-me games that I picked up on eBay to arrive. So have a good meal, count your blessings, and join me back here after the holiday for some new content!

Game review: Ghoulash

This week I received a review copy of Ghoulash, Scenario Pack 1. Ghoulash is a pen-and-paper dungeon crawl for 2 players. The company website also refers to it as an advanced version of Battleship, and I would say that is accurate. Both players get an identical scenario sheet with grids on it. Each player places items, obstacles, and ghouls on her obstacle grid which she hides from the view of her opponent. There is a movement grid above the obstacle grid where each player marks her movements as she calls them out to her opponent. As soon as she hits something, the opponent lets her know and her turn is over. In play, my kids sounded a bit like this:

"I'm moving north 4 squares, then I'm turning left and walking two squares until I get to the door. Then I'm going south --"

"Uh, oh! You hit a debris field and got hit in the head with a block of concrete. Take a wound point!"

The bad guy of the game is the ghoul. He would be the equivalent of your battleship, in that you want to sink him. Each ghoul is divided into 6 zones. When you find a ghoul on your opponent's map, she secretly decides which one of those zones is the soft spot. Then you call out numbers one at a time trying to find the soft spot. When you call out the right number, that is a hit and the ghoul splatters.

To win, you either have to meet the goal of the scenario (in the sample, you have to be the first to find the cache of food and return to the shelter) or outlast your opponent. When I say "outlast", I am referring to the wound points. At the bottom of your sheet there is a wound meter. Each time you fire at a ghoul and miss or hit a debris field, you get a wound point. If you rack up 15 wound points, you lose. However, there are first-aid kits hidden out in the field. Each kit can only be used once. The strategy the kids used is to find the kits but don't use them until they were close to death. You can't pick them up and carry them with you, so you have to run back and get them. This is where marking your path accurately comes in handy!

The scenario pack itself resembles a comic book. There is a slick cover and the pages themselves are newsprint quality. The basic rules are in the front of the book followed by enough charts to play each of the 3 scenarios 4 times. They are perforated so you can easily rip them out of the book for play. The book also contains a 4-page comic and special rules for each of the 3 scenarios.



Here you see my daughter M (top right) and my son DJ (bottom left) with 2 of their friends enjoying the game. We found that game boxes set up between the players are perfect for shielding your obstacle grid. The game designer recommends putting the sheet on a clipboard for more portable play.

So what do I think of the game? It plays a little long for me, but I wouldn't mind playing it with my kids every once in a while. It sure beats Go Fish! I don't think I could get my adult gaming buddies to play it; they prefer more raucous games with a party-game feel. M, DJ, and their friends enjoyed it, though; I ended up printing a copy of the sample scenario for one of the friends so he could play with his dad. The kids liked it from the very first play, but reading the comic and the scenario briefings added more life to the game. Now I have more of an inkling of what experienced gamers mean when they talk about a theme fitting with the mechanics. The kids were able to visualize themselves going into different buildings and fighting ghouls. I didn't think Ghoulash would be something that they would play a lot, but both my kids and their friends have requested it several times after the initial play test.

Ghoulash scenario packs (pack 1 is available now and pack 2 is due to be released shortly) are sold at game shops around the country as well as online. At $6 a pack, they are inexpensive enough to make a novel stocking stuffer for your kids. If you want to try before you buy, the game creator informed me that a PDF of the sample game should be back up on the Ghoulash site shortly.

Game Carnival #8 for 17 Oct 2007

Welcome to the Game Carnival! Have we got some special rides for you! Try not to eat too much cotton candy, though; I really don't want to clean up that mess :-).

Seriously, we have gaming-related entries from all up and down Blog Street. Click on all the links -- maybe you'll find your new favorite blog.

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BOARD GAMES

James Lewitzke presents Top 10 Awesome Monopoly Variations posted at Toptenlisted. It is a list of Monopoly variations he would like to see created. Googopoly might get me to play the game one more time :-).

CARD GAMES

You didn't think I was going to run a carnival and not set up my own stand, did you? Scroll on down to read my post about Fluxx.


VIDEO GAMES

Over at The tr00f, Matt is already predicting that Bioshock is the Game of the Year.

Alfonso at Valhalla TV is conducting an experiment in making money with online videos of exhibition games.

Keira Peney presents Does a pretty box cover mean good sales? posted at Write the Game. It looks like a bit of research went into the writing of this post.

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Thus concludes the eighth edition of the Game Carnival. If you are interested in hosting an edition of the carnival or contributing a post, contact Jeff over at Play2Relax. See ya in two weeks!

Game Review: Fluxx

Fluxx starts out with one simple mechanic: draw one card, then play one card. No other rules are given at the outset, which truly makes this a game that you have to play to understand. Whenever we bring it to the table, newcomers go "Huh?"

Basically, the 84-card Fluxx deck can be broken down into four categories. There are Actions, Goals, Keepers, and Rules. The Rules cards change the "draw one, play one" mechanic. The Action cards can cause people to do things like switch hands or draw extra cards. No one knows what the winning condition of the game is until someone plays a Goal card, but it usually involves someone having a certain combination of Keeper cards in front of them on the table. That's it!

There are several varieties of Fluxx. The rules are the same but there are a few different cards thrown in based on the theme. The creators appear to be aiming at all segments of the gamer community because they have Christian Fluxx and Jewish Fluxx alongside EcoFluxx and Stoner Fluxx. The biggest departure from the basic game is their new edition called Zombie Fluxx, which adds undesirable keepers called Creepers to the mix. I've been thinking about adding another Looney Labs game to my collection, and I think that Zombie Fluxx may be it.

I will acknowledge that Fluxx is a game that gets a lot of flack from serious boardgamers because of all the randomness. In my opinion this is a game isn't for them; it is for new gamers. It has a sense of whimsy that isn't bogged down with heavy strategy. I've also noticed that kids pick up on this game much more quickly than adults do. If you are a fan of unpredictable play in your games, then I would recommend Fluxx.

Friendly Local Game Store vs. Online Shopping: A Compromise?

I was on the website for the game Ghoulash looking at their retailer list. I don't think I have a game shop in my area but I've learned from my experience with the online knitting community that if I check the websites of products, I find local stores that I didn't know existed.

Anyway, I didn't find a shop in my area but there is a game shop in Durham that takes online orders. It occurred to me that this might be a good compromise for me. Part of the argument for shopping in a brick-and-mortar store is to support local business. Shopping online at at North Carolina store keeps the money in the state and that is better than nothing, right?

Game Carnival in one week

Gameguy, the owner of the game carnival over at Blog Carnival, has asked to me to host the next one on 17 Oct. So if you have written a game-related post on your blog recently, send me a link so I can add it to the carnival post. This carnival is about all kinds of gaming -- card games, board games, video games, whatever. I would prefer it if you didn't send a link to a year-old post, but if you think you have a well-written post from the days when only two people were reading your blog, go ahead and send it!

Back and ready to play!

I'm back in full effect! Unfortunately, I didn't get to play any games on our cruise but we did introduce the idea to our traveling companions. Of course, as soon as we said "Let's play cards!", the first thing the women said was "I'm no good at cards." That's because everyone around here automatically assumes that playing cards means poker or spades or (in the case of our black friends) bid whist. I can understand why the women hesitate. I don't play spades with ABM. He has so many years of experience playing that game that he is unable to play it casually any more and gets frustrated with me when I mess up. That is one of the good things about introducing people to new games; the women are more likely to give a game a try once they realize that the men don't have the advantage over them. Anyway, since our cruise buddies live in our subdivision I think we will be able to coax them over to the house for a game night.

I have several games lined up to try. It is just a matter of finding time to play. With ABM working extra hours to cover the loss of my regular paycheck and the kids having more homework this year, it seems like no one has time to play with me :-(. However, I will find a way to squeeze a few games in and report back to you guys.