Game Reviews

Apples to Apples is one of those games that went from obscurity to commercial success without being sold by Milton Bradley. It's available in all the mainstream department stores.

It's no wonder. Apples to Apples is so simple it's hardly a game, but no matter. You'll enjoy it even without keeping score. Players are dealt seven red cards face down from a deck of noun cards featuring the name of a person, place or thing. For example, "Robin Williams, The Mafia, Weddings," etc.

The judge for each round of play places a green card face up, an adjective that describes a characteristic of a person place, thing or event. For example, "Nasty, Luxurious, Adorable, Distinguished," etc. As soon as the green card is turned, players scramble to place the card they think matches up best. The last player to place is shut out, although friendly house rules can permit all to play.

The judge gets to choose the winner. If your card is chosen, you score a point. The more the merrier in this game. So with 8-10 players, the first to capture four cards wins, or whatever you decide on.

The original Apples to Apples has expanded to a kids version and of course there are many more cards available from the original set, and after a while you'll need them. The cards are topical, so with time the people and events mentioned will be out of date. Don't worry, expansion sets will be printed, for all eternity.

Designer(s): Matthew Kirby, Mark Alan Osterhaus

Manufacturer(s): Out of the Box Publishing

Artist(s): John Kovalic

Time: 20 - 30 minutes

Milton Bradley owns the Avalon Hill trademark and it was applied to this game series in recognition of Avalon Hill's heritage for wargame development. I can't think of a better introduction to wargaming. It teaches history, geography, as well as resource management. With five players, each takes a country -- U.S., Britain, or Russia for the Allies, and Germany and Japan for the Axis. With two players one side is Axis and the other plays the Allies.

The objective is world domination for the Axis. They need to capture two of the three Allied capitals or win by having 84 economic points. The Allies need to capture both Axis capitals to win -- Berlin and Tokyo. The board shows the world with many, but not all, countries. Units represent infantry, tanks, battleships, submarines, transports, aircraft carriers, fighters, bombers, antiaircraft guns, and factories. You purchase units using "Monopoly" money. The amount of money you receive each turn depends on the number of countries (worth resource points) you own. Dice are used for battle, and the type of unit determines its chance of getting a hit and knocking out an enemy unit.

Axis and Allies is not a short game. Allow at least two hours for play, and about 15-20 minutes for setup. The rules may seem daunting at first for beginners, but it doesn't take long before they're memorized.

I've played many games with my kids and we never tire of it. There is also Axis and Allies Europe, and Axis and Allies Pacific, both WWII themes. The rules have been tweaked dozens of times by hard-core gamers, but I find the rules that come with the game are plenty good. Of course it is an abstraction of WWII, but in many ways it will give you a feel for the decisions faced by our military commanders and leaders.

One issue you will have is that some of the areas (countries) are small and it can get crowded when there are large battles. Use the poker chips provided. They're essential to represent units because there are not enough and even if you did have enough units, they would clutter the board.

For the Axis to have any hope of winning the game, Russia has to be captured early on. Otherwise the U.S., with its much larger resource potential, will eventually grow powerful enough to topple Japan and invade North Africa as it moves on to Europe. History repeats itself here.

Designer(s): Larry Harris

Manufacturer(s): Hasbro, Avalon Hill

Year: 2004

Players: 2 - 5

Time: 120 - 180 minutes

Ages: 9 and up

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This is a football game played in the far-distant future in another galaxy. The aliens somehow adopted our game of football (or was it the other way around?), but as with any football game, there's a lot of ball movement and broken bones. In this case though, the players are knocked out of the game for good.

The hand-painted pieces are top-notch. Each team gets three running backs, a tackle, heavy tackle, two linebackers, two safeties, and two linemen. Dice are used for movement and "combat" or tackling if you will. Running backs roll a 20-sided die, whereas the heavy tackles only roll a six-sided die, but they get to roll two of them.

Teams try to move the ball downfield and score. There's passing, determined once again by a die roll. When tackling, you have a chance to capture the ball from your opponent. Lowest roll wins. Roll a 1 though and a player is seriously injured and removed from the game. Great fun for kids and adults alike.

I've seen Battleball for as little as $8 in some toy stores. At that price it's a steal!

Manufacturer(s): Hasbro, Milton Bradley

Imagine taking Tetris pieces and putting them onto a board like that used in the game Go. That's Blokus.

I've played this game twice and immediately liked it for its simple play with plenty of decision making.

The first player starts in one corner by laying down a piece, which come in uniquely configured blocks of 5, 4, 3, 2, and a 1 square. Each player, up to 4, starts in his/her own corner.

The next piece you put down has to butt up against a CORNER (NOT A SIDE) of the first piece you put down. And so it goes throughout the game until you can't put down any more pieces. The player with the fewest remaining pieces wins, or the last to have a legal move.

As the game develops, you find yourself fighting for territory. Initially you want to spread out, but at some point you wind up clashing with your opponents and then need to defend the territory you've marked.

There's a good selection of pieces to make the game interesting. The board quickly fills up and your choices come down to a few at most, and some of those choices get eliminated when someone ahead of you plays.

The game only takes about 20 minutes for four players.

Designer(s): Bernard Tavitian

Manufacturer(s): Educational Insights

Time: 20 - 30 minutes

As someone whose love of cycling rivals that of gaming, Breaking Away has a special place in my game collection. However, don't think it's just about the theme, because the game is a great play even if you don't know a thing about track racing.

I can't think of a better simulation that's so easy anyone can play, as long as they understand numbers. There's a lot of counting in this game and the number angle may turn off some gamers.

The somewhat flimsy board, shown here, represents an oval track. The plastic pieces depict rider and bike, with various colors for team identification. Each player receives four riders with varying strengths. The best rider has thirty points to start the game, followed by rider two with 25, rider three with 20, and rider four with 16. These points have to be portioned out into four sections on a sheet of paper, with 30 points spread over 3 or 4 columns and not exceeding 15 to start. The numbers are divided up similarly for your other three cyclists.

The players randomly position their pieces in rows on the board to start the game on the 40 step track. Each point you use moves the rider forward one step. At the start of the race, riders are wise to have one play that uses only a couple of points because, as with a track race, it starts out slow as you jockey for position. After the first round of play the counting begins. The lead rider gets points for being ahead of the next rider equal to the spacing on the track, while other riders get points for being "behind" other riders. The idea here is that they're saving their energy for a breakaway. The replenished points are recorded on your paper for the appropriate rider.

At some point you'll have some riders with many points and the timing for using this high-point play is crucial. It could put you ahead of the pack long enough for a win. Along the way there are two crucial sprints for victory points, so you could use one of your riders to pick up these points and perhaps not finish, having exhausted points and falling behind the pack. Once you're behind the pack it's almost impossible to catch up, as in real racing. This is very much a team sport, so your riders need to work together if they're to win.

Designer: John Harrington
Manufacturer: Fiendish Games
Players: 2-9 (better with more)
Age: 8 and up

Coda is a numbers game, but don't fret. If you can count to 10, you can play. Up to four players draw face-down tiles with numbers on them from 0 to 10, including one dash (wild card). Tiles are white or black, equal in number and with the same mix of numbers on them. Like Stratego, you can't see what your opponent has; the object of the game is to guess what numbers your opponent has.

On your turn you draw a tile. If you guess a number right, you get to draw another tile and guess again, but if you miss you have to expose the piece you drew and place it in order with your other numbers. It's hard to guess at first, but after a couple of rounds the clues pile up and you can make an educated guess. The dash throws a wrench into the game though; keep it in mind.

Designer(s): Eiji Wakasugi, Phil Orbanes Sr

Manufacturer(s): Winning Moves

Richard Borg, originator of this unique game play with a board segmented into a left, center, and right flank, has released another version, this one with an ancient warfare theme. I like the game mechanic because it's easy to learn and play, although this system has more than its share of luck.

Because ancient warfare involves masses of soldiers lined up in neat rows, this game system lends itself well to ancient warfare. The game just feels right for ancient warfare. You have mass charges, elephants stampeding, chariots, cavalry, bowmen. It has all the elements of ancient warfare.

Game play is similar to Battle Cry and Memoir 44. Cards are drawn for actions on the flanks or center, or type of units. Dice are used to resolve combat. What's interesting about ancients is the devastating effect of retreats. They can easily wipe out your unit. Cavalry are especially susceptible because they have so much movement.

Now there's an expansion edition for Greek, Persian wars. However, the expansion does not include the map, terrain, or the original set of rules. Each game offers at least 15 scenarios, so there's plenty of replay value here.

Designer(s): Richard Borg

Manufacturer(s): GMT Games

Artist(s): Rodger B MacGowan, Mark Simonitch

I played this game in November 2005 and immediately saw its simple appeal. It's the old axiom of bidding games: "buy low, sell high."

For Sale is a card bidding game. The Alvin Madden artwork adds to the game's enchanting appeal. You've got everything from the high-value space station (30 points) to the box house (1 point), outhouse (2 points), and sewer hole (3 points). With your $14 you bid for living space. When the bidding is over, you use your acquired point-valued cards to bid for real estate cards that have values from zero to $15,000. An outhouse, in the right situation, can make you thousands of dollars. Very clever design, elegant artwork, and 20-minute play time make this game a winner.

Designer(s): Stefan Dorra

Manufacturer(s): Uberplay Entertainment

There isn't a better car racing game in publication. With its long print run, you can buy many different race tracks. The quirky artwork included on every track adds to the enjoyment. Enjoyment is what this game is all about. You do have to track some aspects of your car's condition, but the check boxes are few and not a burden.

The game is one big die-fest, with a different die for each of the gear selections. Higher gears offer the opportunity to go far, but there's a trade-off in that you might overshoot a corner, or blow an engine with a bad die roll. Time has to be spent in corners − up to three die rolls − and that's where lots of drivers crash.

You've got fuel, tire wear, brake wear, weather − all of the usual car racing fixtures to worry about. Cars can be tailored to your driving style. The game really shines when you run a series of races and keep track of victory points.

Designer(s): Eric Randall, Laurent Lavaur

Manufacturer(s): Eurogames Descartes USA

Time: 60 - 360 minutes

Simple to play, but full of possibilities. This game is great for a quick warm-up. The hardest part is laying the 60 hexagonal "ice floe" pieces. Each hex has one to three fish. Your goal is to move your penguin piece and capture fish. The player with the most fish wins. With each move you pick up the tile you leave and add it to your collection.

In the process, isolated ice floes result and if a piece is located on one of these floes, the player captures all the fish in the floe. They may or may not be good, depending on how big the floe is. It's an abstract game that is either deterministic depending on your strategy or luck. It's hard to say. All I can tell you is that it's good fun.

Movement requires that penguin pieces be moved in a straight line. You can't jump other pieces. My strategy is to try to stay in the center of the floe and try to isolate a large floe on your own. Isolated pieces without penguins are removed from play and don't count toward scoring.

Designer(s): Guenter Cornett, Alvydas Jakeliunas

Manufacturer(s): Mayfair Games

Mensa named Ingenious "Game of the Year 2005," and for good reason. It's extremely fun and addictive. I play with my wife all the time and she usually wins, which is why I always say, "It's luck." Yes, there's luck, but that's life. On balance, there's as much skill as luck, so two evenly matched players should have about the same win-loss record against each other.

This is another fabulous game from Reiner Knizia, a famed game designer who has produced many titles. He's one of the few designers in the world who actually designs games full-time and makes a decent living.

The board has a hex pattern on which you place tiles, covering two hexes, with two symbols, a yellow sun splash, red splash, green circle, and three other colors/shapes. Tiles of a like shape/color placed next to one another score points. Scoring is the hardest part about the game, so read the instructions carefully. It's easy enough to learn.

You advance six small wooden pieces on a track matching tile colors. If you score the 18-point maximum for a piece, you exclaim to your opponent(s), "I'm a genius," and move again for being so smart. The winner is the player with the most advanced piece with the lowest point count. So you want to be sure to move all your pieces. You may be a genius several times over, while your opponent(s) isn't a genius at all, but he/she could still win.

When you become more skilled, you'll start looking for opportunities to block tile colors/shapes your opponent's need. You'll know then you're truly addicted to Ingenious.

Designer(s): Reiner Knizia

Manufacturer(s): Fantasy Flight Games, Sophisticated Games

Time: 30 - 60 minutes

An accurate simulation of a bike race has been achieved on cardboard. On top of that, it’s FUN. That says a lot. The key to this game and to any simulation of a bike race is the peloton. Developers Christophe Leclercq and Alain Ollier got it right. The peloton in many ways dictates the pace of the game even though it has no real part in the action.

The components are worthy of the $40+ game price. Thick hexagonal cardboard terrain tiles allow you to make any number of courses with hills, mountains, flats, and descents. The player pieces look just like bike and rider, although they’re fragile. No fist pounding.

Just like a bike race, the key to winning is picking the right time to break away from the peloton. As in real life, early breakaways usually fail. If there’s a flat run to the finish line, it’s probably best to keep your sprinter fresh for the final charge.
The game allows 2 to 10 players, even more. Fewer players, more bikes to handle. Riders start with an “energy supply” or movement points. The start points are dictated by board combinations. Each tile has a number. Add up the numbers on all the tiles in play, and that’s the movement points to start the game.

In the peloton, riders don’t burn points often, so they conserve energy. Once they leave the pack, they use points after exhausting free moves, which vary according to the type of rider. It’s hard to regain points, although you can pick up a few at a feed station somewhere on the course.

Not surprisingly, there are rules for exhaustion (crack), crashing, flatting, special abilities (climbing and sprinting), and drafting. The rules also accommodate stage races, if you’re really into it.

All in all, Leader 1 has the feel of most race games, but the peloton adds a nice wrinkle and captures the spirit of a bike race.

Manufacturer(s): Rio Grande Games, Ghenos Games
Year: 2008
Players: 2 - 10
Time: 60 minutes
Ages: 14 and up

Liar's Dice is one of those ancient games that has been repackaged a thousand times by various companies. I own Call My Bluff, but with the exception of components, the rules are the same. You may also find slight variations in the rules.

Up to six players receive five dice each, with #6 being a star (wild), although it could just as well be a six. The first player, after looking at his hidden dice, places something (a red die in this case) on a board with numbered squares 1-20 and numbered stars. On the first turn with 30 dice, you can expect about 10 numbers being the same, so you might bid 10 ones, or four stars. The next player either ups the bid or challenges your number. If challenged and the number of dice is less than or equal to the bid, the challenger wins. Ties are irritating because everyone except the bidder loses a die. If there are more, the challenger loses the number of dice he missed by.

After a failed challenge, the round ends and a new round begins, with the winner placing the first bid. In a tie, if you only have one die left, you keep playing.

Designer(s): Richard Borg

Manufacturer(s): Endless Games

Have you ever played a cooperative game where players work together to reach a goal? Probably not. Now you can and it's doubly great if you're a fan of Lord of the Rings. Reiner Knizia captures beautifully the Lord of the Rings in game form, and the quest of Frodo and the Fellowship to return the ring to Mount Doom.

This game is complicated and takes a fair amount of time, but the richness of play and the cooperative aspect make it a classic. My kids have played it many times and they never tire of it.

Players adopt characters like Frodo, Sam, and Pippen. Sauron is a black piece with a red eye that nobody controls. It moves according to instructions during the game. Players use cards to move their pieces along a track in each of four stages, Moria, Helm's Deep, Shelob's Lair, and Mordor. You're also drawing chits with good and bad results. If you can't stop a bad result by playing cards or other pieces, you have to suffer consequences, including moving your piece closer to Sauron, or Sauron moving closer to you.

The ring bearer needs to be protected at all costs, so you can be eliminated in the latter stage of the game, but the team can still win if Frodo delivers the ring.

Designer(s): Reiner Knizia

Manufacturer(s): Fantasy Flight Games

Artist(s): John Howe

Time: 60 - 90 minutes

Ages: 9 and up with adult supervision

Milton Bradley (MB), the world's largest game publisher, cranks out games at a dizzying rate. They are known to produce some good games for a very low price. I picked up this game for about $10 at one of the large retailers years ago and the kids and I have played dozens of times. It's a great game for kids and a great value. I can't say the same for the original Jurassic Park from MB.

The colorful board accommodates 10 cardboard buildings you assemble yourself. They're fragile, so you need to treat this game with care. The human player has 12 pawns to move from the Main Building cross-board to the Helicopter Pad. The human player wins if he can get three pieces to the pad. The opponent has 1 T-Rex and 4 raptors to stop the humans.

Area movement is based on die rolls. The human rolls two dice, one that determines how far a human can move and the other determines if the player can roll again or has to stop. When a raptor lands in your area, you're dinner. The buildings are interesting because you can take refuge in them. You're relatively safe here, but the raptors can still come in at certain locations. The human can leap building to building in some instances, but needs a lucky die roll.

The human has one safe area where dinosaurs aren't allowed, in the middle of the board. The idea is to move the raptors to the Main Building as quickly as possible. The human player wants to get as many pieces as possible to the safe area at first. Then they leapfrog between buildings to reach the copter pad. It's great fun.

To make the game balanced, I removed a "Stop" label from the human die and added "1 More." The human player can move one more time before losing his turn, so he can plan ahead and move a player to a safe area that may be in danger. It balances the game. Otherwise the raptors usually win.

T-Rex moves to the Main Building only. Once he's there, any humans inside are eaten.

Out of print; try eBay and Board Game Geek for used copies.

Year: 1997
Manufacturer: Milton Bradley
Players: 2 to 4
Ages 5 and up (but 6 is more like it)
Time: 20-30 minutes

Card games can be predictable in structure, with the theme being the main variation. Not Mamma Mia! It's a card game unto its own, in which memory is key, but even if that's not you're strength, this game is just plain fun.

Each player is given eight cards with the same pizza types that are to be filled from the deck. The deck contains cards showing pepperoni, mushroom, pineapple (looks like cheese), green pepper, and olive artwork. On your turn you can play one or more like ingredients from your hand of seven cards (one or more pizzas-to-build must comprise your hand of seven), and a pizza order card, before drawing back to seven cards. Scoring begins when the deck has been played.

Every player has the same pizzas to build, except there's a unique favorite pizza depending on the color of cards you're playing. Memorizing the cards played helps you decide when to throw down a pizza order during your turn. However, during the three scoring rounds you can play cards in your hand to complete a pizza, if the deck is lacking all the ingredients. Best played with four or five.

Designer(s): Uwe Rosenberg

Manufacturer(s): Rio Grande Games, Abacus

Time: 30 - 40 minutes

This is one of the first, if not the first, "German family" games I bought. It came out in 1994 and won game of the year (Spiel des Jahres). My wife and kids have played at least 25 games. You know a game is popular when the cards are worn. This is one of those games that people who do well with spatial concepts will enjoy. The board is divided into six cities, represented as a square divided into a grid of nine smaller squares, where you stack buildings from one to four stories. Each player always has four cards in hand, which have the same nine-square pattern, with one square red to show where you can place your building. You play the cards according to your orientation with the board.

There are four rounds, in which each player plays six city pieces, followed by scoring. You can place on any square, but it's always fun to place on top of another player's piece, robbing him of a point and getting you a point. You score points for each uncovered building, control of a city (most buildings on top), and tallest building.

With two players, each has two colors of buildings. Mayfair Games also published this German game, now only available new from Mayfair. The games are exactly alike except for the boards. I prefer the German board's graphics, but it's a matter of taste.

Designer(s): Andreas Seyfarth

Manufacturer(s): Hans im Gluck

Reiner Knizia has a way of making his games intriguing, yet simple to play. Medici appeals to anyone who enjoys bidding. You're collecting wares - pewter, porcelain, dye, fabric, and spices. The board shows the wares, each on an eight-level pyramid. Players take six colored pieces to be positioned on the pyramid during the three rounds of play.

Players start with 40 points to be used for bidding purposes. You're bidding for up to five of 36 cards representing the five wares. The first player starts turning over the cards one at a time (up to 3 cards) and opens the bidding. Each card has a point value. The player with the highest point value on the cards scores a point value, and the cards have a ware type, which are used to move your pieces up the ware pyramids. These also score points for players.

The intrigue in the game is the bidding − you don't want to pay too many points − and the ware selection. You want to key on a ware or two to move up the pyramid for maximum points. It's a clever game.

Designer(s): Reiner Knizia

Manufacturer(s): Rio Grande Games

Artist(s): David A Cherry

Time: 30 - 60 minutes

I ordered this game from publisher Days of Wonder before it came out. I was not disappointed. Based on the classic Battle Cry game system, Memoir 44 offers 16 scenarios, and many more are available on the company's website from avid gamers. This is a beer and pretzels wargame that can be played in about an hour. Hard-core wargamers from the Avalon Hill days won't be impressed, but they will play again and again and that's what it's all about.

You get soft plastic units and a hexed board with really large hexes and terrain pieces shaped like the hexes. Each player gets 4 to 6 action cards. The board is split into a left, center, and right flank and the card mix offers one of the three, or all. Will you draw the right card? You better, or your offensive will stall. Dice are used for combat. Victory conditions usually call for destroying six units. Many scenarios are available from gamers on the Days of Wonder website.

Designer(s): Richard Borg

Manufacturer(s): Days of Wonder

Artist(s): Julien Delval

Time: 30 - 60 minutes

In a modern world consumed with fears over global warming, along comes a game to give perspective. Power Grid will not solve the world's problems, but it will take your mind off the Earth's imminent demise and let you explore "what if" scenarios for building power plants. Do you go for the cheap and dirty coal, or invest in the pricier nuclear and alternative energies? There's even "fusion" energy.

A classic resource game, players compete to see who can light up the most cities with their power plants. Power plants burn coal, oil, garbage, uranium, hybrid (coal and oil) or alternative energies yet to be developed. We have a map of Germany on one side and the U.S. on the other. The number of players determines how much of the board gets used.

The power plants are auctioned off, so you have to know what resources are in demand and decide how much it's worth to you as you build out your power plants. Resources to fuel the plants must be purchased. Players compete for locations to build on the board, and that's where your best laid plans can be for naught. Dirty power plants (coal, oil) have cheaper resources, but they're less efficient at lighting up cities. Linking up cities on the map has a cost, which varies with the "distance" between locations.

Your success depends in large measure on how well you choose your opening location. You have some control over this, but not as much as you'd like. There aren't really any lessons here in terms of which power plant is better for the Earth. Those real-world decisions would just get in the way of this truly enjoyable game.

Designer(s): Friedemann Friese
Manufacturer(s): Rio Grande Games, 2F Spiele
Artist(s): Maura Kalusky
Year: 2004
Players: 2 - 6

I think of Qwirkle as Scrabble with shapes rather than letters and words. It's one of those games with few rules but an abundance of strategy. You'll do well at this game if you recognize patterns and can think deeply. Each player draws six overturned tiles from a pool of 108. Each tile has a pattern, which comes in six different colors and shapes, three tiles for each shape and color -- stars, star bursts, squares, circles, diamonds, clovers. Red, green, blue, yellow, orange, purple.

On your turn you lay down tiles in a row, building on other tiles as in Scrabble. You must play similar shapes, different colors, or different colors, same shape. That's it. When a row of six is made, the player doing so scores a 12-point bonus. Like Scrabble, the tiles you draw can make you or break you. If you get frustrated, you can spend a turn dumping tiles and drawing new ones. Good luck.

For two players the game can be a bit long. You may want to play to a certain number for a shorter game. Some interesting combinations can lead to high scores. People who mull over their moves may find this game challenging for themselves and for others -- waiting their turn.

Here's another one of those games where former grocery baggers will do well, unless of course you're playing my wife, who always seems to beat this former bagger. In this game you're an Aztec stone builder erecting temples. Your pieces are plastic (yellow, green, blue, red). You win if you can place your stones in such a way that when viewed from above, they outnumber your opponents'.

The shape of the Rumis (means stones) pieces resembles those found in Blokus, only this game is three dimensional. Each player starts with 11 stones. On your turn you play one stone and after the first round of play your subsequent pieces have to touch at least one face of one of your other played pieces. There are four boards (cardboard) that sit on a "Lazy Susan" turntable, letting you turn the board for a better perspective. The stacking height limit varies by the board.

Note that the two boards have the stack height printed on them. The Coricancha is the most abstract − a pyramid. The stack height is the same between the two numbers. Remember, you're building a pyramid.

I like this game for its simplicity, yet the play options are infinite. No two games will be alike. It works better with two players if you use all the stones. Be careful when placing your pieces to start, especially on the Pisac board. It's easy to get blocked early, eliminating further chances to play.

My only gripe with the game that children will have a difficult time placing the pieces without knocking them over. The plastic is slippery.

Designer(s): Stefan Kogl

Manufacturer(s): Educational Insights

If you have 8 to 10 players, you must have Saboteur for 30 minutes of fun. Although you can play with fewer numbers, it's not nearly as fun. In this game two or three (up to four) players are saboteurs trying to stop dwarves (the other players) from digging tunnels to a pot of gold. The player with the most gold after three rounds wins. The round ends after going through the deck of 71 cards.

This is a card game in which you play one card in your hand of four to six cards (depending on number of players) representing tunnels or cave-ins, and other action cards like lanterns and pick axes. The dwarves, and saboteurs, play cards that lead to three cards placed face-down seven card-lengths away. Only one of the three cards is gold and nobody knows which is which. You can find out for sure if you draw two cards that have a map (which looks like a leaf).

The saboteurs play cards too, but they usually reveal themselves by playing tunnel cards that don't go in the best direction. A clever saboteur will make up all kinds of excuses for playing a bad card, which you may or may not believe. If you suspect someone of being a saboteur, you can play a nasty action card on them that prevents them from playing. A fellow saboteur (or unwitting dwarf) can bail them out with a card that undoes the blocking card, or the saboteur, if he has such a card, can play his to unblock himself, although he can't play until his next play.

Saboteurs automatically win two pieces of gold each for stopping the dwarves from completing their tunnel. You can be a saboteur one round and a dwarf the next round.

Designer(s): Frederic Moyersoen

Manufacturer(s): Z-Man Games, Amigo

Artist(s): Andrea Boekhoff

It's the little things that count in gaming, including the playing pieces. Samurai has some of the most beautiful artwork and pieces you'll find in any game. The shiny black plastic pieces − high helmet, rice paddy, buddha − remind me of obsidian. The hexagonal playing tokens are equally attractive, depicting ships, warriors, and horsemen of the era.

In Samurai you're a fighting for control of the cities of ancient Japan on a hex-patterned board that pieces together like a puzzle. Instead of rolling dice for combat, cities are captured by the player with the most influence points, as printed on play tokens. Once all the hexes of a city are occupied, the city falls to the player with the most points. Those black plastic pieces located in cities are captured by the player with the most points.

Victory conditions are typical Reiner Knizia. The player with the most captured tokens doesn't always win. Basically, to be in the running you have to own a majority of high helmets, rice paddies, or buddhas. You win outright by having a majority of two. In case of a tie, you need to have the most figures of the remaining type. There's more to it.

Designer(s): Reiner Knizia

Manufacturer(s): Rio Grande Games, Hans im Gluck

Artist(s): Franz Vohwinkel

Winner of numerous awards when it came out in 1997, Take it Easy deserves every accolade, and more. It is one of the simplest games to play, but offers endless entertainment. It appeals to all ages. Grade school kids can use it to learn multiplication and addition. Adults will enjoy the challenge of achieving the perfect score -- good luck. The game consists of a board two row of three hexes, two rows of four hexes and one row of five hexes. Each player has 27 pieces, although only 19 will be played. They're turned over and mixed up by a designated player, while everyone else just leaves their pieces face up. The player with the flipped pieces turns over one and places it on his/her board as the number sequence is called out. Everyone else finds the same piece and places it wherever they like on the board. Once placed, a piece can't be moved.

During placement you have to try to maximize your score. Each piece has a colored stripe vertically and two other crossing stripes. Each stripe color has a point value. The challenge, and frustration, is to line up a solid color the length of a row. Higher point value colors are desirable for the longer rows, usually. Of course, you will not always get the piece that helps your cause.

Scoring calls for adding up only the complete rows of a like color. The game can be played solitaire.

Designer(s): Peter Burley

Manufacturer(s): FX Schmid USA

Artist(s): Peter Zafris

This is about as light as you can get for a "train" themed game. Most train games are fairly dense, with the exception of the popular Ticket to Ride. In TransAmerica players are dealt five cards, each card color coded to represent a region of the U.S. To start, each player in turn puts down his starting location bit in one of the junctions. The U.S. is overlain with a pattern of up-down diagonal and horizontal lines on which players place two railroad "ties" per turn from their start point. (1 if crossing a river or mountain). Players are trying to connect all their cities coast to coast. Once your track joins with another player's track, you can play off their line. Eventually someone will connect all their cities, and at this point the round ends. The winner is the player who has been most efficient at connecting their lines. The game ends once someone has missed connecting their cities by 16 or more lines, so the game could be over in a round or two or three or four or five. The game is great fun and, while there is a fair amount of luck, there is also some skill required at making the most efficient route. The expansion, Vexation, is nothing more than 18 colored ties, 3 per player. Placing one of these prohibits other players from using your line, until they build a couple of ties around it.

Designer(s): Franz-Benno Delonge
Manufacturer(s): Immortal Eyes Games, Winning Moves USA
Artist(s): Marcel-Andre Casasola Merkle
Year: 2008
Players: 2 - 6
Time: 30 minutes
Ages: 8 and up

Wizard is a trick-taking game, pure and simple. It includes a standard card deck with an additional eight cards -- four Wizards and four Jesters. The deluxe edition has six click wheels, although you can play the game without them. The wheels are used for bidding how many tricks you will win in a hand. Therein lies the unique aspect of Wizard.

Wizards win automatically, and Jesters lose automatically, as long as you're the first to play those cards. An interesting aspect of the game is that each hand increases by a card until all cards are played in the final hand. Bidding is what makes this trick-taking game unique. If your bid is zero, you earn two points (or 20 if you prefer). If you miss by one trick, you lose a point, and if you win more than a trick and your extra bid is correct, you win two plus the extra bids you won and bid. A conservative player can win this game. Bidding to take more tricks can earn you more points, but if you're wrong, you lose points.

Designer(s): Ken Fisher

Manufacturer(s): US Games Systems

Zertz plays like a 3D game of checkers involving capturing playing pieces by jumping, but that's where the similarity ends. This is one of those thought games − no luck here. The game is played with 5 white marbles, 7 gray, and nine black. Each turn a player places a marble onto a disk (a row of seven, two rows of six, two rows of five, and two rows of four disks). After placing a piece you take away a disk. Or on your move you jump and capture a piece. Victory requires capturing three white, four gray, or five black pieces, or a combination of two of each color. As the board gets smaller and more marbles are played the possibilities become mind-boggling. It took a long time before I got into this game, but now I play it regularly with my wife, who beats me all too often.

This game is the third in a series that were designed to be played synergistically, although they are stand-alone games in their own right.