PROFESSOR NOGGIN'S NATIONAL PARKS -- Outset Media

Card Game
2-8 players -- 7+
designer: unlisted
artist: unlisted
publisher: Outset Media
list price: $9.99
play time: 30 minutes

A trivia game with U.S. National Parks themed questions.

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I'm not entirely sure how long this game has been sitting in our game closet, un-opened, untouched, but it's been many, many years. On a recent family game, after the kids were arguing over a rather complicated game, I decided to break out this 'new' game. My wife and I have spent many camping trips in National Parks, but the kids -- not so much. We bought, the wife and I, on one of our many trips to a National Park. Being both supporters of the National Parks System and gamers, we thought that this might be a nice way to support eh parks and have some continued recreation.

INITIAL IMPRESSIONS:

The box itself is of a rather standard size -- typical for a card game that holds two stacks of cards, side by side. However, once opening the box, we realize that the cards are nearly twice the size of standard cards, and on a thicker card stock.

Removing everything from the box we get a quick glance at the components (30 game cards) and we feel that this is very simple.

APPEARANCE:

One thing that strikes us immediately is the quality of the artwork. It is simple. Perhaps 'simplistic' might even be a better adjective. It has the look as though it were done by an average high school student.

This brings its game rating done a great deal.

Our National Parks are so incredible and filled with the opportunities for spectacular, natural wonders, that to have such simplistic art takes away not only from the games, but from the Parks system itself. For instance...Yosemite national Park is famous for the 'Half Dome' mountain and for the incredible, long waterfalls, and yet the art on the card front is a child-like painting of a field, with red flowers, and mountains (that don't look anything like the Yosemite I remember seeing) in the background.

It is sad to admit that the appearance, or the art, on a game can have such a strong effect, but truly, playing with these cards, we don't get a strong feeling that we're playing with high quality materials.

GAME PLAY:

This is nothing more than a common trivia game, with the 'unique' factor being that all the trivia is about National Parks.

Each card is divided in to two parts, each part with three questions. There is the 'easy' set of questions, and the 'difficult' set of questions. Decide ahead of time which set you and your gamers will read from. On your turn, you roll a six-sided die (included) which is only numbered 1-3, twice. The person will read whichever question matched the number on your die roll. Answer the question correctly and you get to keep the card. Miss the answer, and the card is discarded. When all the cards are read once, shuffle the discard pile and continue, until all cards are dispersed. The player with the most cards at the end of the game is the winner.

To spice up this game just a little bit, some of the cards, instead of having a question for #2, give the player the right to steal a card from another player. We chose not to play with this rule and instead offer a chance for the reader of the question to choose the question of his/her choice.

We found the questions to be very appropriate for our children (ages 13-17) and for my wife and myself (in our very early fifties).

Some questions we knew outright, some we could make educated guesses at, and some that we just didn't know.

The game play moved along quickly and we easily finished up in under half an hour.

OTHER NOTEWORTHY ITEMS:

One aspect that you really shouldn't over-look is the educational value of the game. While it was clear that while we knew a lot about our National Parks -- more than I thought we would -- there were enough questions to make us realize that we were learning something here as well. I carefully watched my children's faces and I could see that this was making them think and learn (which, fortunately, they enjoy doing).

It's actually a fun way to learn about our National Parks.

THE RESULTS:

As we finished the game (my 13 year old the winner), each of us said that we enjoyed the game, more than we expected to. There is certainly something positive to be said for a game which makes you use your wits, rather than a game in which you simply move around a board based on a die roll. 

But despite playing it, it is not a game that anyone will be begging to return to. In part, because it's so simple, but also, in part, because after 30 cards, we've already had a feel for all the cards and questions. There isn't much new to be gleaned from the game. 

For a National Parks system with nearly 400 parks and monuments, you might think that the game designers could have put together a few more cards full of trivia.

Fun, moderately challenging, this is NOT a game we'd recommend to any serious gamers. In fact, we probably couldn't recommend it to anywone, even though we enjoyed it. There's just not enough game here, and the art is just dreadful.

Rating:

THE BOOK OF GREEK MYTHS POP-UP BOARD GAMES --Tango Books

Board Game/Book
2-4 Players -- 12+
designer: Brian Lee
publisher: Tango Books -- ©2000
list price: $24.99
play time: 30 minutes

Four simple board games with a Greek mythology theme.

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INITIAL IMPRESSIONS:

In many ways, this would seem inferior to a board game that comes in a box -- it is, after all, a book.  However, how many boxed board games have wonderful three-dimensional gaming appeal?  Very few.  Most games lie flat on the table and we either move small pegs or meeple around the board, or we play cards.  In either case, our games are generally flat.

One of the first things you might notice about this book/game is that when you open it, the board games inside make use of the pop-up technique to create unique boards.  Towers that must be climbed or rooms that must be navigated or even labyrinths that must be surveyed.  There really are some nice, albeit simple, designs here.

The artwork is fair.  It is not outstandingly stunning, but it is also not cutesy or cartoony -- something I would worry about in a book of this sort.

Upon opening the book, you will note that all the game components that you might need in order to begin playing are included.  A spinner is attached and movement counters are shaped tag-board figures unique for each of the four games.  There is also a storage pocket built in to the book so that you never have to worry about where all the pieces are.

A very nice additional feature is the inclusion of velcro tabs to hold each pop-up page in place.  Without these tabs, the pages would surely be closing while trying to play.

APPEARANCE:

As already mentioned, the artwork is fine.  It is well detailed and each board is busy with art and patterns.  This is certainly nicer than a plain white background.  It is not so busy, though, that we lose sight of the path. It is well-balanced in this way.

The pop-nature is very attractive.  This really is what makes this game/book worth playing.  It turns a simple movement game into an attractive movement game.

In addition to the pop-up structures in each game, there are a variety of flaps to lift throughout each board.  The only things missing that you might find in non-game pop-up books are wheels to turn or tabs to pull.  It actually would have been relatively easy to incorporate these into the game, which might have added to the game play itself.  Of course it probably would have been a horrific cost to manufacture the additional items.

One other aspect that must be taken in to account is the book's size.  While the book itself is larger than an ordinary hardcover book, the board feels small and cramped when trying to play.  Players must sit close together.  For a two player game, this was not a problem, but for a four players game, it would feel very crowded.

GAME PLAY:

The game play is where this book falls short.  Really, with all the grandeur and attractiveness, this is nothing more than a simple move-around-the-spaces game.  Spin and move the appropriate number of spaces.  Some spaces send you backward, some propel you ahead, but you have no control over any of the action.

One bit of variety is the Minotaur game.  In this game, one player is the minotaur, who moves about, trying to capture the other players.  Once captured, the other players are out of the game.  The minotaur wins if he captures all the other players, they players win by avoiding the minotaur and being first to arrive at their destination.  The minotaur has a definite advantage by being able to move in any direction, while the players must move along their pre-destined route.

My thirteen year old son and I played this and we completed all four games in about 40 minutes.

OTHER NOTEWORTHY ITEMS:

One factor that must be included with this game is the educational factor.  Being a book of Greek Myths was definitely a selling point for me.  I've always liked studying the various myths and I remember buying this (many years ago now) because I thought it would be a good way to introduce my children to some mythology.

Now, with the best-selling Percy Jackson books, I don't have to worry about my children learning mythology, in fact, as we played this, my 13 year old was tell me who each of the characters were.

THE RESULTS:

Personally, I'm not a fan of movement and luck oriented games, so this would rate,at best, 2-1/2 out of 5 stars.  However, it is clearly not a game geared to a 51 year old gamer.  It is geared toward a younger generation.  If you are looking for simple games to play with your children, this is a very nice alternative to the mass market board games found in big box stores.

**1/2

MONOPOLY -- Parker Brothers

Board Game
2-8 Players -- 8+
designer: Charles Darrow and George S. parker
artist: Charles Darrow
publisher: Parker Brothers, Hasbro
list price: $18.75
play time: 2-1/2 hours

The classic real estate game. Buy properties, build houses and hotels, collect rent from fellow players. Repeat as necessary until everyone else is bankrupt.

*****

If you haven't heard of Monopoly, then looking through this blog is probably not for you.  This is the original 'bad-ass' board game.  It takes forever to play and you win by completely dominating (or bankrupting) all the other players.  

There's not a lot of thought that goes in to this -- you march around the board based on your dice roll and if you have the money, you buy property when you land on it.  If someone else already owns it, you pay rent for the time you are there. The owners try to collect property of the same color.  When they own all of one color, they can begin to build houses, and ultimately hotels on their property, making the rent more expensive for the other players.

I've never been much of a fan of the game, even as a youngster ... it just takes too darn long to play!  Two and a half hours is not unusual.  And you are generally at the mercy of the dice rolls as to whether or not you land on property that you can buy.  Generally, those who own the pricier properties win the game, which makes sense, but certainly eliminates what little strategy there might have been.

Once again, one member of the family really enjoys Monopoly.  The rest of us prefer a number of other games.

Rating: * * *

RACE FOR THE GALAXY -- Rio Grande Games

Card Game
2-4 players -- 12 and up
publisher: Rio Grande Games
list price: $34.95
author:  Thomas Lehmann
artist: Martin Hoffmann; Claus Stephan; Mirko Suzuki

In the card game Race for the Galaxy, players build galactic civilizations by playing game cards in front of them that represent worlds or technical  and social developments.  Some worlds allow players to produce goods, which can be consumed later to gain either card draws or victory points when the appropriate technologies are available to them.  These are mainly provided by the developments and worlds that are not able to produce, but the fancier production worlds also give these bonuses.

*****

This strikes me as one of the harder games to learn, but if you can get your family and friends to sit down and actually learn and play the game, you  could have a lot of fun.

There are a lot of aspects to learn, even though nearly everything you need to know is actually printed on each card, it takes some time to decipher what all the codes and images mean.  But after playing it, even just once, it comes much more quickly and the game really should move along at a good pace.

There's a great deal of strategy involved in the choice of cards, the cards played, the order that you decide to play them and so forth.  I could see that I was two rounds away from a big score and maybe finishing the game when my youngest son surprisingly finished the game on us, AND won with the most points.

There is also some luck involved in the cards that come to you, though I've seen a good player win repeatedly no matter what the cards, by playing to his hand strength, rather than trying to draw cards he wants.

if you consider yourself a gamer and want a great game with lots of components involved, this is maybe one of the best.  If you are a new gamer, maybe sit in on a few rounds with a friend.  In either case, this is a game to look forward to!

Rating: * * * *

FIVE CROWNS -- Set Enterprises

Card Game
2-7 players -- 8+
publisher: Set Enterprises
list price: $12.99
designer: Marsha J. Falco

Five Crowns is rummy, with a twist. The set collection aspect of rummy is basically the same; with groups of 3 cards in either runs or denominations making a valid meld. The difference is that in each hand the number of cards increases, from 3 cards in the first hand to 13 in the last. The game, therefore, consists of 11 hands. In each of these hands, in addition to the 6 Jokers, there are other wild cards. These are determined by which hand it is. In the first hand 3s are wild in the second hand it's the 4s, and so on until in the last hand the Kings go wild. This is made easy to remember because the wild card is the same as the total number of cards you hold. (ie. in the first hand 3 cards, 3s are wild). A hand finishes when someone can meld all cards in their hand (after the discard) and, as the designers say, "the game isn't over 'til the Kings go wild!" [from BoardGameGeek.com]

*****

This is one of our favorite card games!  It's a good family game, the rules are basic and don't need much reviewing (even if you haven't played in awhile) and it moves along pretty quickly.  We like to play this as a family when we feel like doing something but are too tired to think too hard (so many of our favorite games require a great deal of concentration and strategy (which is normally a good thing).

The artwork on the cards themselves is nice, and color for the suits!  How great!  Blue diamonds, green clubs, red hearts, yellow stars!  Yes ... there is a fifth suit, which is what makes this a nice deck to have, and why it isn't all that easy to play this with an ordinary deck of cards.

It doesn't cost too much.  It's portable, which makes it a handy game for us to pack for away trips and camping.

Rating: * * * * 1/2

PERFECT SENSE -- Patch Products

Board Game
3-6 players -- 12 and up
publisher: Patch Products
list price: $29.99

Perfect Sense is packed with clever and witty riddles to tease your brain. The five riddles on each card describe the same object and each riddle relates to one of your five senses. Amaze other players and yourself by solving the riddle after the first clue. Stumped? No problem! Four more riddles will lead you to the correct answer. How quickly can you solve these Riddles That Make Sense? For 3 to 6 players.  [from Amazon.com Product Description]

*****

We received this game from the publisher and were asked to test the product.  

My family of five enjoy gaming, and, as one might expect, it's rare for us to agree on what game to be played as we all have our favorite games and our favorite types of games.  Perfect Sense is popular for one family member.

The game is played such that each card that gets drawn has an item on it, and for each item there is a short, well, poem, for each sense (sight, touch, taste, smell, hearing) that somehow describes, or at least, should lead you to be able to identify the item.  If you guess the item right away on your first poem, you get to move ahead six spaces.  If it takes you two poems, then you move ahead five spaces, etc.  The first player to reach the end of the path wins.

What I don't care for about this game is that the descriptions (poems) tend to be a bit of a stretch.  After all, how do you describe the taste of a a vacuum cleaner or the sound of grass or the smell of nothing?  In some cases, the descriptions are so incredibly easy and obvious that we groan at the luck of the player who gets the clue, and sometimes the descriptions are so generic or unclear there is no way on earth that you would guess the item.  This randomness to the game is frustrating.

It's a little simple for me, and the idea that some cards are nearly impossible to figure out out while others are so obvious makes this less than fun.  However, as long as my young teenage son wants to play it, we'll keep it in the game closet for those family togetherness nights.

Rating: * *

KILLER BUNNIES AND THE QUEST FOR THE MAGIC CARROT -- Playroom Entertainment

Card Game
2-8 Players -- 12+
publisher: Playroom Entertainment
list price: $30
author: Jeffrey Neil Bellinger
artist: Jonathan Young

Be the bunny with the most carrots at the end of the game, and you are the winner.  But watch out for killer bunnies and a whole host of wacky weapons and other death-inducing traps.

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We love this game!  The youngest (ten) asks for this game the most, and generally nobody turns down the chance to play this game.

What are the attractions?  Humor, strategy, challenging other players (not just trying to out-play someone), and the fact that it's different every time we play (different cards in our hands really changes the way it's played).

And the downsides?  It's not a 'simple' game.  As four of us discovered on New Year's Eve, trying to play this on a standard card table, it takes up a lot of space.  We were cramped, th four of us, with cards layered on top of one another.

We find that we will play this game over most others if we have the time (forty-five minutes to an hour).  We've also established a tradition -- we play this game on Easter!

A fun game!

* * * * ½