Table(top) For One

Board games with player counts of exactly one comprise the tiniest speck of stardust in the expansive board game universe. While games designed solely for solo players become more emergent in the hobby, it's still rarified air and the search to find a great one can be as epic as a grail quest. So when a new solo game makes an impression as big and as confidently as The Dead Eye – designed by Robert van Zyl and Simon McGregor and published by Pleasant Company Games – one (player) can’t help but notice. The Dead Eye is the delight: solid mechanics and replay value, eye-popping graphic design, and a deeply immersive theme packaged into a card game. It’s a solo gaming standout and one of the better additions to any 1-player board gamer's shelf.

The Dead Eye launches on Kickstarter in June, 2020.

[caption id="attachment_21133" align="alignnone" width="730"] The Dead Eye's pulp, post-apocalyptic palette – now in 3D![/caption]

Cast Away

In The Dead Eye your spaceship crash-lands on the titular planet, irradiated and shrouded in toxic gas clouds that render it virtually uninhabitable (to you, at least). Stranded in this hellish, dystopian landscape, you must make a long and perilous pilgrimage…

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In our Board Game Horoscope series on Meeple Mountain we cover the twelve signs of the zodiac and filter their unique characteristics through a board gamer’s lens. This month we look at Sagittarius!

• Sagittarius (November 22 – December 20)
• Symbol: The Archer
• Element: Fire
• Colors: Blue, Purple

[caption id="attachment_16152" align="alignnone" width="478"] Credit: Stefan Stenudd[/caption]

Sagittarius - An Astrological Overview

Sagittarius is represented by The Archer. Imagine as they aim and fire an arrow at a closed door. The arrow travels at great speed until it strikes the door. The arrow marks the Sagittarius' interest in discovering what is behind that door and the door itself represents a life experience. It’s the Archer’s quest to open as many doors as possible with their full quiver of arrows.

Sagittarius is known to possess an adventurous spirit and yen for endless questing. Not only will they be one of your most-traveled friends, they will be your friend that is the most knowledgeable about the widest range of topics. There isn’t a subject they won’t want to learn about or a realm they won’t be willing to explore.

The hardest thing to do if there’s a Sagittarius in your board game group is schedule a game night when they aren’t already busy. Sagittarius is…

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In our Board Game Astrology series we cover the twelve signs of the zodiac and filter their unique characteristics through a board gamer’s lens. This month we take a look at Scorpio!

• Scorpio (October 23 - November 21)
• Symbol: The Scorpion
• Element: Water
• Colors: Black, Crimson Red, Burgundy

[caption id="attachment_14891" align="alignnone" width="538"] Credit: Stefan Stenudd[/caption]

Scorpio - An Astrological Overview

Scorpio is one of the most intense signs of the zodiac. Scorpios feel everything in their orbit very deeply. Scorpios can’t help but imbue their emotional enthusiasm and passion into everything they see, say, or experience.

It’s because of this intensity that Scorpios thrive on meaningful connections in their relationships – whether family and friends or the barista at Starbucks. No matter how big or small the interaction, Scorpios want it to be resonant and real. They don’t care for small talk.

A Scorpio’s highly-charged emotional ecosystem is ever-present – even though they will normally appear calm on the surface. As befitting the scorpion that represents them, Scorpios keep their powerful emotions undetectable from the outside – lurking under the surface of their (scorpion’s) protective shell. This makes Scorpios the textbook definition of  “mysterious.”

Scorpios are so inscrutable that this emotional sea ever-roiling within them will seem like a…

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Imagine two circles on a Venn diagram: one representing board game fans, the other representing those that love birdwatching (or birding). Now imagine these two circles orbiting closer until they overlap and achieve a total eclipse. It’s within this perfect circle where you’ll find Elizabeth Hargrave’s board game Wingspan — a surprise smash hit and 2019 Kennerspiel des Jahres winner that has made her a household name for gamers and birders alike.

Wingspan is an engine-building card game where players collect birds and play them on their tableau of “habitats” in optimal combinations to collect food, lay eggs, attract more birds, and score the most victory points. The deck is comprised of 170 cards, each depicting a unique bird species found in North America. The detailed and original artwork by Natalia Rojas and Ana Maria Martinez Jaramillo conjures a beautiful, Sibley Guide-style.

Wingspan was released by Stonemaier Games in March 2019 — and soared instantly. The game’s unique pairing of bird-watching theme and collection/engine mechanics had irresistible crossover appeal. The first printing promptly sold out. As did the second, third, fourth, and fifth, with a flock of future printings promised. Wingspan-watching has become as common as birding, as eager fans peep for new copies in the wild — everywhere from The Audubon Shop to Bed, Bath,…

The post Taking Flight: Interview With Elizabeth Hargrave, 2019 Kennerspiel des Jahres Award Winner appeared first on Meeple Mountain.

I was all balled up. My key witness was afraid to sing. The informant fizzled like a firecracker in a gimlet - maybe the hitman got to them first. I was even conned out of a C-note by a two-bit grifter like it was my first day at shamus school.

The one-way, dead-end clues I sprinkled all over Star City wouldn’t tangle up the other gumshoes’ laces for much longer. It was only a matter of time before they bloodhounded the East Side Strangler’s scent - and found him before I did.

I was fresh out of corners to cut and down to my last bent cigarette in a crumpled pack of Luckys. And I didn’t trust myself to light the match.

There was one last gasp: I could see Dr. Xyko in the big house. Maybe he had more secrets to share. Missing evidence, or details about the killer. The catch? Talking to Dr. Xyko meant inviting him inside; and I don’t mean my office. The longer he spent in my head, toying with my mind,…

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Strange Invaders

It’s mass hysteria as aliens descend upon Earth… and my stars, are they hungry! UFO’s hover overhead as the starving aliens (chased by Men in Black) shamble all over town, causing widespread panic among the citizens and their pets. What do these ravenous extraterrestrials want? Is the human race their primary source of nutrition? Nothing so sinister, as it turns out. These aliens come in peace but crave one of Earth’s most precious resources: our tasty hamburgers!

In each round of Nine Tiles Panic, 2-5 players puzzle over nine double-sided tiles, racing in real-time to build their town tableaus and juggle the humans, aliens, canines, and other board elements on them while targeting variable scoring conditions in order to gain the most points.

Arrival

Players are given identical sets of nine bite-sized, double-sided tiles and a matching wooden alien scoring meeple . The three-part scoreboard is “assembled” sequentially, and all scoring meeples are placed at the bottom of this snaking score track.

[caption id="attachment_13675" align="alignnone" width="730"] The player's scoring meeples are reminiscent of Pac-man ghosts![/caption]

The sand timer is…

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In an unprecedented decision from the Spiel des Jahres jury, 1994 prize winner The Settlers of Catan was stripped of its “Game of the Year” award after the release of gamer Hoffman “Hoff” Cexley’s findings that the classic board game is “totally broken.”

The Spiel des Jahres - known as “the Academy Award of boardgames” - is decided annually by a jury of German game critics and is considered one of the highest accolades in boardgaming.

In the 41-year history of the prize no game on the awards list had ever been removed until Mr. Cexley, 38, successfully lobbied the Spiel des Jahres jurors to reconsider Catan’s status.

“That Catan is mortally broken and nigh unplayable shocks me based on its vast popularity and evergreen reputation as a gateway game to the board gaming hobby,” said Mr. Cexley, 38. “I shudder to think of all those poor, misinformed gamers that don’t realize they’re fans of such a terrible game.”

Mr. Cexley discovered Catan’s fundamental design flaws while playing the game with his wife, Wren Cexley (37) and their twin daughters Samantha and Dolores (both 13).

It was the first-ever game of Catan for Mr. Cexley and his family.

Mrs. Cexley and the twins didn’t notice Catan’s egregious mechanical…

The post “Settlers of Catan” Spiel des Jahres Award Revoked After Area Gamer Deems Game “Broken” appeared first on Meeple Mountain.

There is a language, little known,
Lovers claim it as their own.
Its symbols smile upon the land,
Wrought by nature’s wondrous hand;
And in their silent beauty speak,
Of life and joy, to those who seek
For Love Divine and sunny hours
In the language of the flowers.
–The Language of Flowers, London, 1875

During the 19th century the “language of flowers” was not merely poetic license - it was a form of communication known as floriography. Friends and lovers sent flower bouquets to each other encrypted with secret messages. The secret messages were the flowers themselves.

Different flower types signified the sender’s emotions. Additional subtext was based upon flower color or the combination of flowers included in the arrangement. To the untrained eye a dozen roses were exactly that - but to those that were “fluent,” the flowers contained visual and colorful clues that deciphered one’s romantic feelings. Red roses were love or desire. White roses could mean innocence or thoughtfulness. A combination of the colors could mean liking someone as a friend, or “LIKE-liking” them. Best-selling flower dictionaries were published that deciphered this floral code.

Essentially this fad was the Victorian-era equivalent of emojis. Because one could hide messages in plain sight…

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