Few things say Halloween fun more than zombies, and with the night of mischief only days away, here is a new offering by designer Max Holliday.
Eaten By Zombies! is a brand new (2011) offering into what is admittedly a rather crowded field of zombie-themed boardgames. There are literally dozens that fall into the basic premise of players trying to avoid the rotting hordes of undead, and Eaten By Zombies! doesn't stray from the idea either.
Then again Hollywood, and 'B' filmmakers have churned out dozens of zombie films and we still go to enjoy the carnage of Resident Evil or the dark humor of Shaun of the Dead.
But back to Eaten By Zombies! which has some nice elements which make it one of the newer zombie offerings worth a look.
To start with it's a card game, and that generally means a bit lower cost that a full boardgame.
Eaten By Zombies! also accommodates two-to-four players, and that allows some nice versatility, allowing a couple to play it, or to have the neighbours for a game.
The game is also stated to play in about 20-minutes. The company estimates, in this case Mayday Games, usually anticipate players knowing the game fairly well, so in most cases games are likely to last longer, but will still be nice, quick plays.
Players start off with an identical 12 cards, from which they draw six as a hand. The basic hand includes cards which add to attacks on a zombie, help flee if that is your choice, and a couple of sandwich cards as a resource.
With six cards in hand you draw a zombie card, from a deck of 25. You then decide if you want to fight or run, and use cards in your hand to enhance your chance of doing whichever action you choose.
If you are successful you get to collect useful items, guns, crowbar, ammo etc., which go to your hand and then you draw back to six cards.
If you flee then the zombie card goes to the zombie discard pile, so when you need to reshuffle your draw pile, you will get zombie cards which can only be gotten rid of if you play them into the zombie horde attacking another player, making it tougher on them. This aspect makes three and four player games a bit less of a head-to-head, get the other guy contest.
Death is all but inevitable, but if you are the last player standing you win. If at any time the entire zombie deck is depleted, because the players have killed all of them rather than using flee, all remaining players alive win together. That creates a unique cooperative/competitive aspect to Eaten By Zombies! You can better survive by cooperation, but the need to rid your hands of zombies forces you into competition with other players.
All told there is some definite ghoulish fun to be had with Eaten By Zombies!
Check this card game out at www.maydaygames.com
-- Review appeared in Yorkton This Week newspaper October 26, 2011 - Yorkton, SK. Canada
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Review -- ENDICOTT EPIDEMIC: INFECTIOUS CONTAGION
Nothing conjures up thoughts of Halloween more than a horde of mindless zombies bent on having a snack on some poor guy's brains.
Now personally I'm not sure zombies exist, so the best option for exploring the craze around the mindless critters is to play one of the many board games created around them.
Which brings us to Endicott Epidemic: Infectious Contagion, a card game where survivors fight hordes of zombies, race the clock to find the cure before an atomic bomb wipes out the town, and generally scratch and claw to survive.
Created by Douglas Harvey in 2010, Endicott Epidemic packs a lot of positive aspects into a single deck of cards.
To start with the game can be played solitaire, although the chance of winning is a razor thin one, or by up to eight players. That really gives the game a broad range, and can hit the table in most any situation.
The next positive is that the game has three eventual outcomes, so games can take decidedly different paths.
As a group -- each player takes a character card with special attributes on the game -- you can find the 'cure' to the zombie plague and win, with ultimate bragging rights going to the player with the most zombie kills.
The countdown can get you, where the four cards are turned over which result in the nuclear bomb striking. Game over.
Or players can all be turned into zombies, again game over.
On our first play night we had all three outcomes. That seems pretty nicely balanced.
The game also has levels of difficulty. There are 10 extra tough zombies that are much harder to kill. The easiest game has two of these big baddies involved. Four is harder, seven harder still, and all 10, a suicide operation.
The game has already spawned a couple of expansions, a modest six-card one which comes with a deluxe edition, and Endicott Epidemic: Infectious Contagion Expansion #1: Black Ops, an 18-card expansion which adds the MBI Black Ops squad, a team of five deadly Soldiers under the command of the ruthless Chrissy. They know the bomb is coming and will wipe out all traces of their crimes, but on the small chance that a survivor escapes with the Hermit and his Intel, they are out to get the survivors (players) first.
In correspondence with the game designer, two other expansions are on the horizon; a scout pack allowing players tools to look through the play deck to see what is coming, and a 'Radioactive Rumble" which will give players another hazard to overcome, the possibility of radiation poisoning.
The game is evolving, and growing, another positive, since it keeps the game fresh.
A perfect game for the Halloween season, or any night as a fairly quick 45-minute, zombie-fest.
Check this great card game out at www.togentertainment.com
-- Review appeared in Yorkton This Week newspaper October 19, 2011 - Yorkton, SK. Canada
Now personally I'm not sure zombies exist, so the best option for exploring the craze around the mindless critters is to play one of the many board games created around them.
Which brings us to Endicott Epidemic: Infectious Contagion, a card game where survivors fight hordes of zombies, race the clock to find the cure before an atomic bomb wipes out the town, and generally scratch and claw to survive.
Created by Douglas Harvey in 2010, Endicott Epidemic packs a lot of positive aspects into a single deck of cards.
To start with the game can be played solitaire, although the chance of winning is a razor thin one, or by up to eight players. That really gives the game a broad range, and can hit the table in most any situation.
The next positive is that the game has three eventual outcomes, so games can take decidedly different paths.
As a group -- each player takes a character card with special attributes on the game -- you can find the 'cure' to the zombie plague and win, with ultimate bragging rights going to the player with the most zombie kills.
The countdown can get you, where the four cards are turned over which result in the nuclear bomb striking. Game over.
Or players can all be turned into zombies, again game over.
On our first play night we had all three outcomes. That seems pretty nicely balanced.
The game also has levels of difficulty. There are 10 extra tough zombies that are much harder to kill. The easiest game has two of these big baddies involved. Four is harder, seven harder still, and all 10, a suicide operation.
The game has already spawned a couple of expansions, a modest six-card one which comes with a deluxe edition, and Endicott Epidemic: Infectious Contagion Expansion #1: Black Ops, an 18-card expansion which adds the MBI Black Ops squad, a team of five deadly Soldiers under the command of the ruthless Chrissy. They know the bomb is coming and will wipe out all traces of their crimes, but on the small chance that a survivor escapes with the Hermit and his Intel, they are out to get the survivors (players) first.
In correspondence with the game designer, two other expansions are on the horizon; a scout pack allowing players tools to look through the play deck to see what is coming, and a 'Radioactive Rumble" which will give players another hazard to overcome, the possibility of radiation poisoning.
The game is evolving, and growing, another positive, since it keeps the game fresh.
A perfect game for the Halloween season, or any night as a fairly quick 45-minute, zombie-fest.
Check this great card game out at www.togentertainment.com
-- Review appeared in Yorkton This Week newspaper October 19, 2011 - Yorkton, SK. Canada
Review -- GRAVE BUSINESS
So Halloween approaches.
Well Minion Games has an offering tailor-made for the upcoming spook night.
"In ages long past, the Master taught you the dark secrets of undeath. You could no longer perish, and as long as you had fresh body parts available, neither could your loyal servants - who were coincidentally made somewhat more loyal by the zombification process. But now the Master has fallen! ...Again. And this time those vile heathens have taken the inconvenient extra precautions of separating and inhuming some integral pieces of his unliving remains," relates the company website (www.miniongames.com )
"In these dire times, one has to look after his own, and you're a necromancer who is more dangerous than most; you're a necromancer with a business plan. Your zombies will dig up graves and loot valuables, and while they're at it, they'll grab fresh body parts so you can make more zombies to dig up more graves. Sounds good, right? Unfortunately, it's so good that other necromancers are after the same cemeteries you are!"
And therein lies the fun lure of the 2011 release Grave Business from designer Andy Van Zandt.
The premise of the game is such a fun one you can't help but be drawn into this one which accommodates two-to-four players.
So the first impression from the description was a good one.
The light-hearted cartoon-ish art makes this one softer for a family than the name might imply.
Then I opened the box and was greeted by a pile of card board sheets that I had to punch a bigger pile of cardboard pieces of out of. Now I recognize games need pieces, and cardboard 'chits' are a reasonably priced option, and when thick as these are, they will last.
But when there a dozens of chits, and I do mean dozens, I can't help but see lost pieces down the road. How many Scrabble sets are complete a year after purchase?
The concern becomes worse if you travel your games to local club events, or the neighbours for a night of fun.
Past that the components are solid.
The game mechanics are pretty straight forward, although you can imagine moving and piling and tracking chits is a rather large of things. For me that takes away from the game a bit, but most will accept it as the norm.
The game is essentially one of competing with other players to collect treasure and body parts, just some good ghoulish fun, especially for this time of year.
-- Review appeared in Yorkton This Week newspaper October 12, 2011 - Yorkton, SK. Canada
Well Minion Games has an offering tailor-made for the upcoming spook night.
"In ages long past, the Master taught you the dark secrets of undeath. You could no longer perish, and as long as you had fresh body parts available, neither could your loyal servants - who were coincidentally made somewhat more loyal by the zombification process. But now the Master has fallen! ...Again. And this time those vile heathens have taken the inconvenient extra precautions of separating and inhuming some integral pieces of his unliving remains," relates the company website (www.miniongames.com )
"In these dire times, one has to look after his own, and you're a necromancer who is more dangerous than most; you're a necromancer with a business plan. Your zombies will dig up graves and loot valuables, and while they're at it, they'll grab fresh body parts so you can make more zombies to dig up more graves. Sounds good, right? Unfortunately, it's so good that other necromancers are after the same cemeteries you are!"
And therein lies the fun lure of the 2011 release Grave Business from designer Andy Van Zandt.
The premise of the game is such a fun one you can't help but be drawn into this one which accommodates two-to-four players.
So the first impression from the description was a good one.
The light-hearted cartoon-ish art makes this one softer for a family than the name might imply.
Then I opened the box and was greeted by a pile of card board sheets that I had to punch a bigger pile of cardboard pieces of out of. Now I recognize games need pieces, and cardboard 'chits' are a reasonably priced option, and when thick as these are, they will last.
But when there a dozens of chits, and I do mean dozens, I can't help but see lost pieces down the road. How many Scrabble sets are complete a year after purchase?
The concern becomes worse if you travel your games to local club events, or the neighbours for a night of fun.
Past that the components are solid.
The game mechanics are pretty straight forward, although you can imagine moving and piling and tracking chits is a rather large of things. For me that takes away from the game a bit, but most will accept it as the norm.
The game is essentially one of competing with other players to collect treasure and body parts, just some good ghoulish fun, especially for this time of year.
-- Review appeared in Yorkton This Week newspaper October 12, 2011 - Yorkton, SK. Canada
Review -- PUMPKING
So we are into October and that means thoughts of Halloween, and that means it's time for a look at a few games which fit the season, starting with one which has not been published, so if you want to play you need to be a little crafty.
The game in question is Pumpking, a 2008 release by designer Bobby Doran.
The game is essentially an abstract strategy game for two players with a definite Halloween theme pasted on.
Generally abstract strategy games with pasted on themes, games such as Hey! That's My Fish are a total turn off, but with a soft spot for Halloween this one is all right.
Pumpking, in terms of mechanics was inspired by the ancient game Latrunculorum, which is considered about 2000 years old.
Latrunculorum was known to be played by the Romans, and versions of the same game may have been played before by the Ancient Greeks and Egyptians, and afterwards by the Persians. That said the exact rules of the game have been lost to time, leaving various experts arguing game board size, number of pieces etc.
What does seem agreed to in the case of Latrunculorum is that capture is made when a piece has opposing pieces on either side of it. The idea of sandwich, or custodial capture is the mechanic used in Pumpking.
Pumpking has each player with six pumpkin warriors which move as chess rooks, two bats moving as chess knights, and a prince which moves as chess queen.
The game is played on a 6X11 board, and uses the Latrunculorum method of capture.
The game plays quickly, but there is room to employ strategy, although the smallish board means an error can be deadly.
So as stated this is a game you must craft. The rules and a nice board to download can be found at http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/38426/pumpking
As for pieces, Halloween is the perfect time to find suitable things to use. Head to the Halloween shelves in a store. That's where I found cheap plastic pumpkin whistles that with a quick trim, I was able to weight with a marble and glue into a pop bottle cap.
The bats were from cheap give-away rings that glued to a thread spool as if they were clinging to a pillar.
I used a gaming miniature for the princes, but there would be lots of options for the key piece (capture the prince and win).
Whatever you do to craft Pumpking, the effort will be worth it for the fast-playing abstract strategy game with its roots in ancient boardgaming history.
-- Review appeared in Yorkton This Week newspaper October 5, 2011 - Yorkton, SK. Canada
The game in question is Pumpking, a 2008 release by designer Bobby Doran.
The game is essentially an abstract strategy game for two players with a definite Halloween theme pasted on.
Generally abstract strategy games with pasted on themes, games such as Hey! That's My Fish are a total turn off, but with a soft spot for Halloween this one is all right.
Pumpking, in terms of mechanics was inspired by the ancient game Latrunculorum, which is considered about 2000 years old.
Latrunculorum was known to be played by the Romans, and versions of the same game may have been played before by the Ancient Greeks and Egyptians, and afterwards by the Persians. That said the exact rules of the game have been lost to time, leaving various experts arguing game board size, number of pieces etc.
What does seem agreed to in the case of Latrunculorum is that capture is made when a piece has opposing pieces on either side of it. The idea of sandwich, or custodial capture is the mechanic used in Pumpking.
Pumpking has each player with six pumpkin warriors which move as chess rooks, two bats moving as chess knights, and a prince which moves as chess queen.
The game is played on a 6X11 board, and uses the Latrunculorum method of capture.
The game plays quickly, but there is room to employ strategy, although the smallish board means an error can be deadly.
So as stated this is a game you must craft. The rules and a nice board to download can be found at http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/38426/pumpking
As for pieces, Halloween is the perfect time to find suitable things to use. Head to the Halloween shelves in a store. That's where I found cheap plastic pumpkin whistles that with a quick trim, I was able to weight with a marble and glue into a pop bottle cap.
The bats were from cheap give-away rings that glued to a thread spool as if they were clinging to a pillar.
I used a gaming miniature for the princes, but there would be lots of options for the key piece (capture the prince and win).
Whatever you do to craft Pumpking, the effort will be worth it for the fast-playing abstract strategy game with its roots in ancient boardgaming history.
-- Review appeared in Yorkton This Week newspaper October 5, 2011 - Yorkton, SK. Canada
Review -- MURUS GALLICUS
When it comes to board games there are those you buy in the store. Lots of those have been reviewed here through the months.
Then there are the kind where you need to be a bit crafty. The game rules exist, but no publisher has picked up the game, so if you want to play, you have to fashion the board and pieces. It's not that such games are poor. In fact many are better than some you pay good money for. Understanding the vagaries of why some get published and others do not is fodder for a treatise best left to other outlets than this.
And, then there is a third option for finding a great board game to play, and that is the realm of games where rulesets are created for games utilizing existing game boards and pieces.
Most gamers will own a checker/chess board and a set of checkers. It is about as fundamental element of a board game collection as you can get.
With those simple items there are a wide range of games which can be played simply by accessing online rules and digging out the board and checkers.
Murus Gallicus is one such game.
The game is played on a rectangular board consisting of 56 cells (8x7). A standard checkerboard is 8x8, so you simply ignore one row and away you go.
Each player starts with a set of 16 tokens referred to as stones (the checkers).
At the start of the game, each player takes a set of stones and stacks two stones on each of their eight squares nearest them.
The game is supposed to reflect Romans versus Gauls, so the Roman player uses the light pieces, and the Gaul player uses the dark ones.
The basic units of the game are towers and walls. A tower consists of two like-coloured stones in a cell (the starting formation is all towers), and are the only pieces which can move in the game.
A wall is a single stone in a cell. Walls block movement and can also act as stepping stones which can be used later in the creation of new towers.
A tower moves by a sowing method. Pick up the two pieces and seed forward, one each in consecutive spaces, which can include on top of single wall pieces of the same colour.
Tower stones can be used to remove adjacent opponent walls, through a sacrifice, so both players lose a piece sacrifice.
A player is stalemated if unable to move/sow or sacrifice at the start of his or her turn.
The game sounds simple, and it is in terms of rules, but elements such as set formations, learned as you gain experience, make strategy important.
As examples there is the Gallic Wall consisting of orthogonally connected walls (and sometimes towers) requiring the opponent to go around the wall or blast his or her way thorough using a sacrificed stone; The Chariot consists of a tower, wall and empty space aligned, and he battering ram consists of two towers and an opponent wall aligned whereby sacrificing a tower stone, the opponent's wall can be removed.
Overall Murus Gallicus plays like a much older game. You actually get the feeling Romans might have played this in the shadow of the Hadrian's Wall. That is praise, at least in my books, for game developer Phil Leduc who captured such a classic feel when designing Murus Gallicus in 2009.
So if the checker board has been gathering dust search Murus Gallicus online for the full rules, pull out the board and pieces and explore a new game with simplicity and depth. (There is a commercial set available through a European company, although why one would invest in one given the easy use of a checker set escapes me).
-- Review appeared in Yorkton This Week newspaper September 21, 2011 - Yorkton, SK. Canada
Then there are the kind where you need to be a bit crafty. The game rules exist, but no publisher has picked up the game, so if you want to play, you have to fashion the board and pieces. It's not that such games are poor. In fact many are better than some you pay good money for. Understanding the vagaries of why some get published and others do not is fodder for a treatise best left to other outlets than this.
And, then there is a third option for finding a great board game to play, and that is the realm of games where rulesets are created for games utilizing existing game boards and pieces.
Most gamers will own a checker/chess board and a set of checkers. It is about as fundamental element of a board game collection as you can get.
With those simple items there are a wide range of games which can be played simply by accessing online rules and digging out the board and checkers.
Murus Gallicus is one such game.
The game is played on a rectangular board consisting of 56 cells (8x7). A standard checkerboard is 8x8, so you simply ignore one row and away you go.
Each player starts with a set of 16 tokens referred to as stones (the checkers).
At the start of the game, each player takes a set of stones and stacks two stones on each of their eight squares nearest them.
The game is supposed to reflect Romans versus Gauls, so the Roman player uses the light pieces, and the Gaul player uses the dark ones.
The basic units of the game are towers and walls. A tower consists of two like-coloured stones in a cell (the starting formation is all towers), and are the only pieces which can move in the game.
A wall is a single stone in a cell. Walls block movement and can also act as stepping stones which can be used later in the creation of new towers.
A tower moves by a sowing method. Pick up the two pieces and seed forward, one each in consecutive spaces, which can include on top of single wall pieces of the same colour.
Tower stones can be used to remove adjacent opponent walls, through a sacrifice, so both players lose a piece sacrifice.
A player is stalemated if unable to move/sow or sacrifice at the start of his or her turn.
The game sounds simple, and it is in terms of rules, but elements such as set formations, learned as you gain experience, make strategy important.
As examples there is the Gallic Wall consisting of orthogonally connected walls (and sometimes towers) requiring the opponent to go around the wall or blast his or her way thorough using a sacrificed stone; The Chariot consists of a tower, wall and empty space aligned, and he battering ram consists of two towers and an opponent wall aligned whereby sacrificing a tower stone, the opponent's wall can be removed.
Overall Murus Gallicus plays like a much older game. You actually get the feeling Romans might have played this in the shadow of the Hadrian's Wall. That is praise, at least in my books, for game developer Phil Leduc who captured such a classic feel when designing Murus Gallicus in 2009.
So if the checker board has been gathering dust search Murus Gallicus online for the full rules, pull out the board and pieces and explore a new game with simplicity and depth. (There is a commercial set available through a European company, although why one would invest in one given the easy use of a checker set escapes me).
-- Review appeared in Yorkton This Week newspaper September 21, 2011 - Yorkton, SK. Canada
Review -- SPLUT !
It's getting to that time of year when the sun goes down earlier and that means longer evenings to fill. Of course boardgames are a good option.
So too is crafting the board game before playing it.
Which brings us back to the realm of print 'n play, and web published games. There aren't commercial versions of the games available, so the only way to play them is with a bit of work ahead of time.
In many cases the extra work is well worth it, and actually adds a lot to the gaming experience because you have had to create the board and pieces.
One game well worth the effort, and relatively simple to create is Splut!
To start with how cool is the name? It conjures a certain image, and in this case it fits as the premise of the game is to have one of your pieces toss a 'rock' game piece onto your opponent’s primary piece.
But before we get to the cool piece array of Splut!, I should mention this is an abstract strategy game which can be played by two, three, or four players. In the case of abstracts the best, chess, Go and others are two-player only, and frankly in terms of strategic play Splut! is best as a two-player game.
That said, an abstract that even allows a three, or four-player option is rare, so that is a huge bonus with Splut!.
Splut! grows more chaotic, and near impossible to plan strategy with four players in action.
Chaos is not a bad thing in this case, since Splut! is a fantasy-themed game with its roots in chess.
Players compete in an arena (the board) with each participant controlling a team consisting of one stonetroll, one dwarf, and a sorcerer.
Designer Tommy De Coninck has done a nice job with the mechanics. During a turn players have three moves to make, as they attempt to get your stonetroll to a rock (four Rocks are provided in the arena) and let him throw it onto an opposing Sorcerer. This will eliminate that team.
The stonetroll, dwarf and sorcerer each have unique movements.
So back to fashioning a set. The board, in fact several interpretations of the board, can be found online and printed for personal use. Start by checking out www.toco.be/splut
The pieces are a matter of personal taste. Some opt for using gaming miniatures, and there are a huge variety of trolls, dwarves and wizards available from a range of fantasy wargame lines.
Another option is to go for the representational look, which can be easier to achieve. In my case a variety of wooden thread spools painted up nicely with different sizes representing the troll, dwarf and sorcerer.
Whichever approach you take to crafting Splut! it is worth the effort since the game is simple to learn (full rules are online), and a riot to play.
-- Review appeared in Yorkton This Week newspaper September 14, 2011 - Yorkton, SK. Canada
So too is crafting the board game before playing it.
Which brings us back to the realm of print 'n play, and web published games. There aren't commercial versions of the games available, so the only way to play them is with a bit of work ahead of time.
In many cases the extra work is well worth it, and actually adds a lot to the gaming experience because you have had to create the board and pieces.
One game well worth the effort, and relatively simple to create is Splut!
To start with how cool is the name? It conjures a certain image, and in this case it fits as the premise of the game is to have one of your pieces toss a 'rock' game piece onto your opponent’s primary piece.
But before we get to the cool piece array of Splut!, I should mention this is an abstract strategy game which can be played by two, three, or four players. In the case of abstracts the best, chess, Go and others are two-player only, and frankly in terms of strategic play Splut! is best as a two-player game.
That said, an abstract that even allows a three, or four-player option is rare, so that is a huge bonus with Splut!.
Splut! grows more chaotic, and near impossible to plan strategy with four players in action.
Chaos is not a bad thing in this case, since Splut! is a fantasy-themed game with its roots in chess.
Players compete in an arena (the board) with each participant controlling a team consisting of one stonetroll, one dwarf, and a sorcerer.
Designer Tommy De Coninck has done a nice job with the mechanics. During a turn players have three moves to make, as they attempt to get your stonetroll to a rock (four Rocks are provided in the arena) and let him throw it onto an opposing Sorcerer. This will eliminate that team.
The stonetroll, dwarf and sorcerer each have unique movements.
So back to fashioning a set. The board, in fact several interpretations of the board, can be found online and printed for personal use. Start by checking out www.toco.be/splut
The pieces are a matter of personal taste. Some opt for using gaming miniatures, and there are a huge variety of trolls, dwarves and wizards available from a range of fantasy wargame lines.
Another option is to go for the representational look, which can be easier to achieve. In my case a variety of wooden thread spools painted up nicely with different sizes representing the troll, dwarf and sorcerer.
Whichever approach you take to crafting Splut! it is worth the effort since the game is simple to learn (full rules are online), and a riot to play.
-- Review appeared in Yorkton This Week newspaper September 14, 2011 - Yorkton, SK. Canada
Review -- ZOXSO
When a boardgame has the tag line 'The New Ancient Game' on the box it accomplishes two things, at least in my case; it draws my attention, and sets a very high bar for itself.
When it comes to abstract strategy games many of the best have been around for decades, if not centuries; games such as Go, chess, Camelot and Shogi.
The tag line on ZoxSo suggests it wants to be thought of in terms similar to the aforementioned classics.
That is a pretty 'heady' expectation. Those games have stood the test of time, and in all likelihood will be played a 100-years in the future.
Will anyone but maybe my descendents know about ZoxSo, if this game warrants being placed in my legacy trunk, a collection of games I am hoping will stay in the family long after I am gone?
Well that is a tough question to answer for a game released only in 2009, and from a smaller publisher at that.
Indie released games take some time to grow an audience. Arimaa is managing to attract growing interest, and yet as fantastic as that game is, it is far from being chess yet in terms of players and interest.
ZoxSo has a long way to go indeed to be a true hit.
That all said, there are many elements designer David Weinstock has put into ZoxSo which remind of older games.
There are bits of checkers and yes chess here. You hear that statement often about new abstract strategy games, but in this case they are warranted. For example the Ma piece actually moves as a knight, so the comparison is obvious.
So let's start with the components. The board is heavy, folding cardboard. In time I'd expect the folds may crack, but still solid enough. A rollable board would be a step up.
The pieces remind of poker chips. They are plastic with stickers on each side. Again quite functional, although if the game catches on a metal engraved set would be amazing.
Each player has 10-disks, four Ma, five Dao and one Xing. Each piece has a silver (Zox) side, and a colour (So) one.
The board too is divided into points called Pearls and then Stones. There is a further division with an inner and outer area.
Only Zox pieces are allowed on Pearls, and move one Pearl to the next, a single space at a time. A Zox piece cannot move, or capture across the 'wall' dividing the inner and outer areas.
The game starts with players taking turns placing the Zox pieces anywhere on pearls outside the 'wall'.
Then the real game begins, with capture by replacement.
When flipping a piece up to the Stone, the So side becomes active. As stated the Ma moves as a chess knight on the Stones, the Dao as rook, and the Xing as a one-space rook. So pieces can move across the entire board ignoring the 'wall'.
The goal of the game is to get your Xing to the centre stone, or to capture the opponent's Xing to win.
There are a couple of other rules, including a rather devious chain movement and capture mechanism. From the ruleset, "On the Pearls, a group of at least two adjacent pieces of the same colour (dark or light) form a “Zox-chain”. On any given turn, one piece in a Zox-chain may make a legal move or capture for another piece in that chain, in its stead. Such ‘chain movement” is legal only for pieces that occupy Pearls."
There is a lot going on here in terms of movement options, although the number of options make defence a challenge. As a result the game plays fast, under half an hour. That is good that multiple games can be achieved at a sitting, but may limit exploration of the diverse game play offered by ZoxSo. Some of the creative play options mean quick ends to game, which can be a bit under-satisfying as a slower game would create more time to truly develop the rich options the ruleset offers.
Still this is a game worth delving into and one which with repeated game play may grow to be a definite keeper among modern abstracts at least.
Check it out at www.mindspanlabs.com
-- Review appeared in Yorkton This Week newspaper September 7, 2011 - Yorkton, SK. Canada
When it comes to abstract strategy games many of the best have been around for decades, if not centuries; games such as Go, chess, Camelot and Shogi.
The tag line on ZoxSo suggests it wants to be thought of in terms similar to the aforementioned classics.
That is a pretty 'heady' expectation. Those games have stood the test of time, and in all likelihood will be played a 100-years in the future.
Will anyone but maybe my descendents know about ZoxSo, if this game warrants being placed in my legacy trunk, a collection of games I am hoping will stay in the family long after I am gone?
Well that is a tough question to answer for a game released only in 2009, and from a smaller publisher at that.
Indie released games take some time to grow an audience. Arimaa is managing to attract growing interest, and yet as fantastic as that game is, it is far from being chess yet in terms of players and interest.
ZoxSo has a long way to go indeed to be a true hit.
That all said, there are many elements designer David Weinstock has put into ZoxSo which remind of older games.
There are bits of checkers and yes chess here. You hear that statement often about new abstract strategy games, but in this case they are warranted. For example the Ma piece actually moves as a knight, so the comparison is obvious.
So let's start with the components. The board is heavy, folding cardboard. In time I'd expect the folds may crack, but still solid enough. A rollable board would be a step up.
The pieces remind of poker chips. They are plastic with stickers on each side. Again quite functional, although if the game catches on a metal engraved set would be amazing.
Each player has 10-disks, four Ma, five Dao and one Xing. Each piece has a silver (Zox) side, and a colour (So) one.
The board too is divided into points called Pearls and then Stones. There is a further division with an inner and outer area.
Only Zox pieces are allowed on Pearls, and move one Pearl to the next, a single space at a time. A Zox piece cannot move, or capture across the 'wall' dividing the inner and outer areas.
The game starts with players taking turns placing the Zox pieces anywhere on pearls outside the 'wall'.
Then the real game begins, with capture by replacement.
When flipping a piece up to the Stone, the So side becomes active. As stated the Ma moves as a chess knight on the Stones, the Dao as rook, and the Xing as a one-space rook. So pieces can move across the entire board ignoring the 'wall'.
The goal of the game is to get your Xing to the centre stone, or to capture the opponent's Xing to win.
There are a couple of other rules, including a rather devious chain movement and capture mechanism. From the ruleset, "On the Pearls, a group of at least two adjacent pieces of the same colour (dark or light) form a “Zox-chain”. On any given turn, one piece in a Zox-chain may make a legal move or capture for another piece in that chain, in its stead. Such ‘chain movement” is legal only for pieces that occupy Pearls."
There is a lot going on here in terms of movement options, although the number of options make defence a challenge. As a result the game plays fast, under half an hour. That is good that multiple games can be achieved at a sitting, but may limit exploration of the diverse game play offered by ZoxSo. Some of the creative play options mean quick ends to game, which can be a bit under-satisfying as a slower game would create more time to truly develop the rich options the ruleset offers.
Still this is a game worth delving into and one which with repeated game play may grow to be a definite keeper among modern abstracts at least.
Check it out at www.mindspanlabs.com
-- Review appeared in Yorkton This Week newspaper September 7, 2011 - Yorkton, SK. Canada
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