Labour Day Gaming!!

I recently posted about a new board game cafe called Snakes and Lattes, which has since opened its doors to a swarming mass of game-hungry enthusiasts. Not wanting to be left out of the funtimes, a small group of us decided to spend a lazy, rainy Labour Day trying out some new games at the cafe. Unfortunately, we weren't the only ones with this bright idea. The place was pretty packed, so we toyed with idea of about-facing outta there, but there were SO MANY GAMES!!! We decided to browse the games and after about ten minutes, most of the line-up had left, so we just waited it out. The kind folks that run Snakes and Lattes are extremely accommodating. I'm sure they weren't fully prepared for the amazing turnout in their first week of business! After shuffling around some tables and moving smaller groups to smaller tables, we sat down and started our mini-gaming marathon. :D

First up: Dream Factory(!!)

The title of this game is really only accurate if you dream of making big time movie-films!!! But, even if you don't, you might still enjoy playing Dream Factory. It has very unique game mechanics that are easy to learn (none of us had played it before) and the strategy is simple enough that you can just dive right in and go for the gusto! It's also fun to read the spoofy (and mostly cheesy) names of some of the movies, directors and actors: Backpack to the Future, Woodland Alien, and Tom Spanks (these are the only ones Myles could remember...I couldn't remember ANY!!). The caricatures on the actor and director tiles are pretty entertaining, too. Basically, you run a movie studio and you're trying to complete as many movie scripts as possible by hiring directors, actors, and adding special effects and music. You are up against the other studios (players) and get involved in bidding wars to win the tiles you need to fill your script cards (it makes a lot more sense when you see the game pieces...I probably should have brought my camera, heh). Once you complete a script, you calculate the the movie's rating (each tile - actor, director, composer, etc. - has a star value that raises the movie's overall rating), and at the end of each of the four rounds, trophies are awarded for the best (highest rated) script. These trophies are worth points to determine the winner, and there are a few more trophies that you can earn at the end of the game, including a raspberry award for worst film! It's a very quick game - probably less than an hour with four players - and I think it has a lot of replay value. In fact, I'm strongly considering buying it for myself!!

Game 2: Citadels

Citadels (which Myles and I have played before) is another quick game that's pretty easy to pick up. It's card-based, and the objective is to build districts which are worth a range of points at the end of the game (anywhere between 2 and 8, I think). And how do you do this, you ask? Well, first you take on one of 8 roles, each with a unique ability: assassin, thief, magician, king, bishop, merchant, architect, and warlord. In a four player game, one role card is buried, and two more are removed face up. Then, the first person to choose is the King who picks one of the remaining five roles and passes the rest to the person on his left. This means that the King knows which card is buried, and the last person to choose knows which card was left over (i.e. the one they did not choose). Again, this all makes more sense when you play the game.

The next phase is to take turns in numerical order according to the roles chosen (see how the Bishop is number 5??). So, the Assassin, who is number 1, always goes first, which makes sense since he gets to call out any other character to 'assassinate'. The person who chose the named role has to skip his turn. Pretty evil, huh? But, the Assassin could easily make the mistake of calling a role that has been buried that round. In this case, nothing happens, and the player moves on to the next phase of his turn, which is either drawing cards or taking money. Once they have completed that phase, they can build a district from the cards they hold in their hand. There are five differently coloured districts (some roles get benefits based on the colour of the districts you have built ---> see how the Bishop gets extra money for his blue districts?), and there is a bonus at the end of the game for players who have built a district in each of the five colours. The rest of the roles resolve - the Thief gets to steal money from a named player, the Magician can trade their cards with another player's or discard and draw a new hand, and so forth, until all players have had their turn. The first person to build their 8th district ends the game and at the end of the round, the player with the most points wins! Easy peasy!!!

And, finally: 1313 Dead End Drive!!

Okay. I wasn't too sure about this game. I went to the bathroom and when I got back to the table, everyone was busy assembling the board for this pretty retro game. Actually, I looked it up and this game is an updated sequel to 13 Dead End Drive. I only vaguely recalled the commercial for the original game, so I found it on youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dE1JzmqgktY





















This was totally one of those, "I always wanted to try this game" sort of things, so we decided to let the little kids in us out to play. In this version of the game the falling chandelier and the broken bookcase ladder traps are replaced with a falling mounted boar head and a safe that drops a piggy bank on your head when the trap is set off. Basically, there are 16 heirs who are trying to get out of the mansion in order to collect their inheritance. Whenever one gets killed by a trap, their money goes to the next heir in line, so each player (with four of us, we each played 4 heirs) tries to kill off the other heirs while making a run for the exit. Myles describes it as a "playable Mousetrap", which he believes was impossible to play because it took too long to set the mousetrap, and then it never worked. I'm pretty sure he was doing something wrong, though...1313 Dead End Drive was pretty fun, and I'm sure I would have LOVED it if we had it as kids...almost as much as I loved Payday!

Snakes and Lattes is a great place to spend a day, but right now, there are no in-and-out privileges, so you REALLY spend the day there. It's not so bad, though - they have awesome sandwiches and snacks (prosciutto, brie and spinach croque monsieur for $3.50!!) that they bring right to your table, so you don't even have to stop playing your games. They're still trying to figure out if the five dollar 'play all day' rate is the best way to go. My vote is for a 10-play punch card, or something like that. I'm fairly certain I will end up there at LEAST ten more times.

OOOoooOOOoo...I forgot. I think Myles' highlight (and to a lesser extent, my highlight) was the sneak peek we got of the new Dominion expansion set, Prosperity. One of the girls who works there had a preview copy and let us look through the cards. It will be out in November and should add some new flavour to the already awesome game. We're gonna have to make some room in our Dominion long box! Wheee!!!!