I’m interested in DI, reviews have been mixed. I’m excited to hear what you think as it looks awesome!
I have only played one game of Dinosaur Island, and I enjoyed it. I am considering picking it up, but I need to check if there’s anything substantial missing from the non-kickstarter version (I hate kickstarter exclusives to the point of not buying games that have gameplay exclusives, unless I really enjoy the game).
Based on my one play, it seems like a competent worker-placer with a lot of places where you make interesting decisions. The boards, cards and tiles drip with theme. The color choices are bad, though, to the point of making it hard to differentiate the different DNA-types at a glance. The randomized objective cards and plot twists (special rules for each game) seem to add a lot of replayability. The game also has modes for short, medium or long games.
There’s a bag mechanic where you draw customers that some people hate. If you don’t care for that sort of random, you might want to see a video playthrough to get a feel for it. It didn’t really bother me.
I had possibly the best social experience ever with a game yesterday. We were at Universal Studios and while we were in an hour plus line, my father-in-law pulls out a regular deck of cards and says, " okay mr. gamer what can we play?" Knowing he’s not a gamer and the fact that we’re in a line and have kids with us, I suggest we play The Mind. What happened next was nothing short of a Christmas Miracle.
I explain the rules and then we start. Several failed attempts but then we get one. People in line around us are getting interested. So we invite them to play with us. Now we’re playing this game with people from China, Europe, and India. Some of them don’t speak English and are communicating through their friends and family. None of them have played this game before. Win, lose win. We get up to 3 cards each and we succeed. We cheer out loud. We didn’t think much of it, but then everyone in line starts cheering as well. While we have been playing and moving in line more and more people have been watching us play and lose and win. The hundred plus people around are all cheering. I’m sure some of them were either making fun or just cheering because someone near them was. Maybe they thought the line was moving faster, but a lot weren’t. In fact I had a lot of people come up to me and ask me how to play the game and what it was called afterwards. I know it’s a very silly story and The Mind isn’t a terribly difficult or interesting game to most gamers, but when it works it truly does create some magical moments.
Great story! Board games can heal the world - need more of this. I played Dead 1876 and Salem 1692 with in-laws the other night and it was a bit more disruptive!
That was an awesome story. Put a smile on my face:)
Me too, that was great! I also really like The Mind. When it works, it’s so much fun.
I played one game of DI and was not a fan… after I backed DI, liquid and duelosaur. Whoops. Will give it another shot soon.
Hey dudes, I tried to post this in the 2018 board game thread but kept getting 502 errors. Anyway, I’ll be playing these in the New Year, so -
I got two board games for Christmas! Got a copy of Wasteland Express Delivery Service (which I’ll refer to as WEDS going forward) and Axis and Allies and Zombies (let’s just go with AAZ there).
Haven’t had a chance to play either yet, just opened both and looked lovingly at all the included pieces. I have to say, WEDS appears to have a wonderfully elegant and compact set of storage compartments that stack neatly in the box. It looks pretty great. AAZ has lots of tanks, planes, soldiers and … zombies. Awwww yeah.
Got a copy of 18CZ for Christmas and managed to get in half a game yesterday with my wife. Its only the third 18XX game I’ve played, but I think it is already my favorite. Love the different sized companies and their train mechanics. I also love how simplified private companies are and how the game plays a set length (instead of playing until the bank runs out). Really hope I can get a full game of this in soon!
Is this a two player 18XX game?
It has a really good 2 player mode, where there is a simulated third player that you share control over.
There is also a 2/3 player print and play available on BGG, 1800.
Technically this game relaeses in 2020, but there 15 hours left on the Kickstarter and I think I might be caving. I like the idea of a heavily story based game like this. Seems like it’s combining the the features of a choose your own adventure game like Legacy of Dragonholt with some exploration and combat mechanisms.
I think it looks awesome, and (if it’s good) it’s looking like a hell of a value proposition. Always a gamble with prepurchasing though.
I will say AR hasn’t let me down yet. I just don’t want to spend 200 dollars on a game.
Well hell, I’m in for $1, just to keep my options open later. Looks pretty neat.
Well, the main pledge is more like 90. You don’t necessarily need the addons and definitely don’t need the monster minis.
Just saw New Frontiers on a best-of-2018 list. Had no idea that there was another RftG game coming. It was recommended, but I didn’t get a very good sense for how it’s different from all the other games in the series. If you get a chance to try it, let me know what you think.
I was wondering what New Frontiers was all about, I’ve never heard of it. I like the Race for the Galaxy games though, sounds interesting.
I find it amusing that they started with PR, turned it into a card game (San Juan), reworked that into another card game (RftG) expanded that rework multiple times as well as making it into a dice game, and now they’re turning it back into a board game. Why go through all that just to get back to where you started?