WHAT HAVE WE BEEN PLAYING – July 16th, 2020

We’re back with another week of memorable gaming experiences! Let’s jump right into the action…

Sean J:

This weekend, I got together with my family and pulled out a game that never misses: Just One. What makes it so great is its simplicity. One player chooses a number from 1-5 referring to a number on a card they can’t see. Everyone else writes down one word to help them guess their secret word. The trick is that if any two (or more) players match in their clues, their words are eliminated giving the guesser less to go on. There is a point scoring system, but I never bother with it. We just play until we’ve had enough! It is a great way to spend time with gamers and not-so-gamers alike!

(Just One also appears on Matt R’s “5 Games That Kill Cards Against Humanity”. Click here to read it!)

David W:

Got to try out Ascension: Tactics on Tabletop Simulator. It’s on Kickstarter right now from Stone Blade. Takes the deckbuilding mechanics from the still-great Ascension series and literally adds two more dimensions to it by using them to drive a tactical miniatures game. Only a couple of scenarios available online but the co-op and solo modes have already been unlocked in the stretch goals. The added layers of strategy make it really interesting and it would be an insta-back for me except for the sticker price due to the minis. I’ll wait til the retail version with cardboard stands, but if you’re a fan of the series and love your minis then I strongly suggest you check it out now.

Steve T:

I have recently opened my pandemic bubble, so now there are four of us who can gather and play games. The first games I played in my expanded bubble were dexterity games, because you just can’t play those digitally. Glad to say we kicked Menara‘s butt. Menara is like a co-operative version of the Spiel des Jahres winning Villa Paletti. Players work together to build a temple out of colour coded pillars and oddly shaped tiles.

(Click here to read “Ten More Great Games that Play in Under an Hour”, which also features Menara, and is also authored by Steve T!)

Billy C:

Tzolk’in. I have been trying to play this game for literally a year and kept pushing it aside. The rules didn’t really stick in my head from a readthrough, and I needed to give it a try to really understand how all the pieces fit together. Now that I have done that, wow do I find this game intriguing. It is a worker placement game that uses a big central gear to actually move the worker placement spots around the board. Each round you will either place out workers or pull back workers, only activating their location when you pull them back. Therefore, the longer you wait, the better a given action becomes. Figuring out how to turn actions into points was quite difficult, and while I have nothing to compare to, I’m pretty sure the 53 to 39 points that were scored in our 2 player game were not good. I can’t wait to try it again.

Jon-Paul D:

Nearly two years had passed since Sean J introduced me to RAIDS at a game getaway in rural Ontario, Canada. Finally, I’ve had the opportunity to revisit that game, and was relieved to find that it was just as enjoyable, even though I’m just as terrible at it. Many Viking-themed games are available on the market, but none is more fast and frantic than Raids. Sharing elements with Tokaido, players can progress as far as they like around the race-like track, building up their crew, losing them in monstrous battles, and of course, raiding nearby villages. Hopefully it will be less than two years before I table this one again!

(Sean J wrote a full article on Raids. You can read it here!)

Thank you for joining us for another recap of our gaming adventures! What have you been playing? Let us know on Facebook, Twitter, or even Instagram!