Accessible Games

Game Day September 2010: Cleopatra

The next morning we kicked off a game of Cleopatra, a Days of Wonder game, after breakfast.  Cleopatra is another resource management and building game, but varies quite a bit from Catan.  In this game, each player is an architect in Ancient Egypt, trying to build parts of a palace for Cleopatra herself.  During the game, players will collect resource cards, build different structures, and occasionally play special “character” cards to try to help them earn the most Victory Points.  However, some of these building pieces come at a cost: use of sub par resources or interaction with shady characters may help you build faster but will earn you “corruption points” at …
Continue Reading Game Day September 2010: Cleopatra

Game Day September 2010: Catan Germany

It was getting pretty late when we finished A Touch of Evil and many folks either went home or went to bed.  Three of us stayed around to start one final board game of the night, though: Catan Geographies: Germany.  This game is very similar to other versions of Settlers of Catan but uses its own unique game board and ahs a number of key differences.

If you’re not familiar with the popular Settlers of Catan game franchise, you might want to look it up.  It is probably one of the most well-known German board games that have been ported to English, and for good reason.  Catan …
Continue Reading Game Day September 2010: Catan Germany

Game Day September 2010: A Touch of Evil

A Touch of Evil is a huge game that would be difficult to sum up in just a paragraph or five.  Instead of trying to describe it all myself, here is the game’s description:

“Tis’ the dawn of the 19th century; an age of science, superstition, and witchcraft. Howling fills the night as a full moon rises over the small, secluded village of Shadowbrook. Gruesome murders have become a daily occurrence and terror haunts the streets at night. An evil creature has taken up residence here and the countryside is engulfed by a tide of darkness. But all is not lost…not …
Continue Reading Game Day September 2010: A Touch of Evil

Game Day September 2010: King Me

I hadn’t played King Me before, but ever since my girlfriend played it with the rest of that same group, she’s been interested in getting me to try it.  Everyone thought it would be a great game to try out for someone with a visual impairment, since the game seems simple enough and there isn’t a lot to keep track of.  While I appreciate the simplicity of the game and did have a lot o fun with it, I still had a bit of trouble picking it up and playing immediately.  I can see how a few modifications would make the game more enjoyable for someone who is visually impaired, and I think overall it would …
Continue Reading Game Day September 2010: King Me

Game Day September 2010: Overview

September 18^th, 2010.  My girlfriend and I missed our opportunity to attend the annual Portland Pirate Festival (http://www.portlandpiratevestival.com ) and our group’s bi-weekly movie night fell through, but the day wasn’t a loss.  Instead of movie night, some friends threw together an impromptu board game night, so we packed a bag full of games and headed downtown for a night of entertainment.

We were told to bring as many as we could, since everyone was dying to try something new and they knew our library of board games was starting to get quite large.  I remember that we brought Ivanhoe, Grand Tribunal, Knights of Camelot, Middle Kingdom, Settlers of Catan: Germany, Cleopatra, and Dork Tower.  There may have been one or two more, but it ended up almost being irrelevant.  We had just arrived at our friend’s apartment when another movie night regular called.  He and two others were also …
Continue Reading Game Day September 2010: Overview

Cape Horn: First Impressions

Game Info

Publisher: Rio Grande Games, Kosmos

Year Published: 1999

Number of Players: 3 to 5

Play Time: 45 to 60 minutes

Set-up Time: Less than 5 minutes

Ages: 12 and up

Table Size: Small to Medium Table

Impressions

Cape Horn is a sailing game based on a historical race that took place in the 1800s, in which clipper ships set out from New York to sail to San Francisco in the fastest time possible.  One of the biggest obstacles they faced along their route was Cape Horn — the bottom tip of South America where the seas are some of the most windy and treacherous in …
Continue Reading Cape Horn: First Impressions

Neuland: First Impressions

Neuland is a Civilization-style board game from Z-Man Games, originally published in 2004. We picked up the game a couple of months ago and recently cracked it open for our first session. Despite experience a bit of burn-out from teh amount of time we spent on the game, we enjoyed our initial run.