You know what they say: the family that steals together, stays together.
I think I’ve heard that, anyway.
Maybe we’ll find out in the app version of the great board game from Tim Fowler, Burgle Bros.
Ok, maybe the characters in the game are not all in the same family, but it would be cool if they were!
Quite a variety of characters!
In Burgle Bros, you play as 1-4 different characters who are all participating in a heist. Could be a bank heist, or an office heist, or even Fort Nox! I’ve only tried the bank heist, and that’s for one reason:
Every year, just before GenCon, Fantasy Flight Games makes a bunch of new announcements that get the game world buzzing.
Last week there were two: the Fallout: the Boardgame announcement (for which I’m pumped) and the announcement of Twilight Imperium 4th Edition (which didn’t do much for me since I’m not into 10-hour games…and yes, I exaggerate….a little).
This week, just a couple of days before GenCon opens, you can add another game to the list.
Also arriving in late 2017, Sid Meier’s Civilization: a New Dawn is another world-building civilization game (hey, maybe that’s why they named it that…you think?)
This is a cool-looking title with a map of the world that you create every time you play.
I have fond memories of playing cards on Christmas Eve down at Grandma’s house. The Roy family would gather there, open their presents, have a lovely dinner, and then a bunch of us would get around the table and play cards. Usually Push Rummy or something like that.
We used to laugh when Grandma would get so many cards that she’d have to put some of them down on the table because she couldn’t hold them. Then she would “forget” she had them.
A hilarious time was had by all. That laughter is one of the many joyous memories I have of her.
As a gamer, I play a lot of more complex games now, games that people who aren’t gamers will look at and say “No way do I want to play that!” (not that they couldn’t understand them, but they don’t have the desire to put that much effort into it)
But I’ve always been on the lookout for a good card game that will cater to the non-gamers in the family, that can be brought out on occasions such as this, be easily explained without a lot of fuss, and then we can get going.
This game is designed by Thorsten Gimmler, with art by Oliver Freudenreich, Dennis Lohausen and Atelier Löwentor and published by Asmodee & 999 Games (and I think currently published by Mayfair games, if the BGG image is to be believed).
Video games and board games have often had a bit of cross over (though I’m waiting for the First-Person Shooter version of Catan, myself).
Titles like XCom: the Board Game come to mind as games based on video game franchises that actually end up being pretty good games (or so I’ve heard, as I haven’t played this particular one).
So imagine the shouts of glee upon seeing the Fantasy Flight Games announcement that Fallout: the Boardgame is coming in 4th Quarter 2017! I know I did a double take, and started drooling a bit after reading more of the announcement on their site.
Paperback is a wonderful combination of word game and deck-building card game where you are trying to form words from the letter cards in your hands. The letters have money value when you play them, and you use that money to buy more letter cards that will help you even further. Some cards also have special abilities that will give you more bonuses.
This card’s ability will help you next turn.
Or you can use that money to buy Fame cards, which also function as wild letter cards when you use them in a word but give you victory points at the end of the game.
Is “Slarno” a word?
The game ends when two of the Fame card stacks (in the top right corner of the picture) are depleted.
I really do like this game, and the app is extremely well-done (especially once they put the rules of the game in, which actually weren’t there when the app first came out). The AI can be a bit wonky though, and we’ve always been restricted to playing the AI, or playing opponents via Pass-and-Play games (which I don’t like, unfortunately).
That all changed with the update that landed a few days ago, though.
Now you can play against your friends anywhere in the world, and you can play them asynchronously! That’s right, you don’t have to be logged in at the same time to play your game. Which will be a huge boon for me and will be getting me to play this app a lot more than I had been.
You can create open games for anybody to join or you can send invites. You can even add AI players to games if you only have one friend but want a 4-player game.
Since you have to create an account, I assume the multiplayer is cross-platform, but I actually don’t know yet.
So if you’d like, hit me up for a game! I’m whovian223 on there, just like in most other places.
The Paperback app is available on both iOS and Android for $4.99 US.
There’s something to be said for a really good filler game, one that can be really short or longer if you have the time, but it doesn’t take much energy or too much thought.
There’s also something to be said for a good dice game. We all like chucking dice, right? (Put your hand down, Jason. I know you don’t)
What a perfect combination of all of that in Würfel Bohnanza, the dice version of the classic bean-harvesting card game.
This game is designed by Uwe Rosenberg, art by Björn Pertoft and published by Amigo Spiel Games and 999 Games.
I know what you’re saying. “Dave, I just don’t get it. How can harvesting beans be fun?”
It was a fairly lean month for new games, which involved me missing one of my game days due to illness.
But four is not a bad number! I love doing a mix of old favourites and “new to me” games. But I’m not “Cult of the New.” It doesn’t have to be a new game necessarily. Just new to me.
As you can see from a 4-year old game on my list!
Once again, there is one semi-brain burner on my list. It seems that I always have to challenge myself at least a little bit.
