One of the first games I purchased at my then-new FLGS was Tsuro, a simple tile-laying game that challenged players to not fall off the edge of the board as the ever-winding path they laid in front of their pawn took numerous twists and turns. It supports up to eight players, has zero text, has a pleasing aesthetic, and barely takes more than fifteen minutes regardless of the number of people involved. As such, it is less of a game and more of a palette cleanser between actual games. With no real strategy other than “don’t commit suicide until you can no longer avoid it,” it is one of those titles that I really couldn’t talk about in this space without maybe dedicating a column to multiple quick-bite games… unless I had an ulterior reason to bring it up, like now. READ MORE
Beyond its solid cooperative mechanics and modular gameplay, what really makes Sentinels of the Multiverse a great experience is the way the guys at Greater Then Games incorporate classic comic book tropes into its design. Where the base set covered a lot of Silver Age basics, Rook City touched on the “grim and gritty” era and Infernal Relics addressed mystical forces, the latest expansion brings one of the most classic comic themes: time travel and alternate realities. Aptly named Shattered Timelines, this new package of environments, villains and heroes will warp your experience in interesting ways. READ MORE
In one of my very first Unplugged columns (and again a couple of years ago), I mentioned Cheapass Games, the quirky brainchild of James Ernest that published several bare-bones board and card games back in the late ’90s and early 2000s. The company went into a self-described hibernation for several years, but came back in late 2012 with a Kickstarter for a deluxe version of one of its most popular original games, Unexploded Cow. While a free print-and-play version of this and other titles are still available on the company’s website, the deluxe edition includes features like cardboard money and quality cardstock, not to mention an actual box. READ MORE
Last time I discussed Pandemic, and while I was on that train of thought, I figured I might as well discuss another cooperative game featuring emergency professionals in Kevin Lanzing’s 2011 offering Flash Point: Fire Rescue (published by Indie Boards & Cards). As might be surmised from the title, Flash Point is a game about a team of firefighters battling a burning building while trying to save the victims trapped inside. Why there are so many victims (as many as ten) in that building is never explained, but fortunately that’s not really an obstacle to enjoying the game. READ MORE
I’m pretty sure I’ve mentioned Pandemic a few times before, most notably in my review of Matt Leacock’s other major cooperative offering Forbidden Island. It also made a brief appearance in my Best of 2008 list, but I’ve never given it a column to itself. Now seemed like a good time to correct that, as a new edition has just hit the shelves of your local game store — and, perhaps more visibly, your local Target and other mainstream retailers as well. READ MORE
