by A.J. Coltrane

The premise of Angry Birds is simple:  Use the slingshot to launch birds and attack structures that are hiding pigs. The object on each level is to “pop” all of the pigs before running out of birds.

Different birds do different things: some split into pieces, some explode upon impact, and so on. Each offers a different twist on demolition strategy.

I purchased this as a $3.99 download for the PSP, and I’ve gotten way more mileage out this title than most games I’ve spent actual money on. It’s sort of a spiritual successor to Artillery for the Apple 2e — I’ve been looking like a game like that for ages.

Download it for your favorite platform, it’s hours of addictive fun!

In closing, isn’t the resemblance uncanny between the Angry Bird, and:

by A.J. Coltrane

Title:  Munchkin

Game Type: Lightweight Card Game

Number of Players: 2-6. Best with 3-5.

Complexity of Rules:  Low

Time to Play:  45-90 minutes. Longer with 6 players who are operating at less than 100% functionality. Sometimes much longer. Believe me.

The Concept:  Munkin is a silly, spoofy, screw-your-neighbor card game. Here’s an excerpt from the publisher’s description:

This award-winning card game, designed by Steve Jackson, captures the essence of the dungeon experience… with none of that stupid roleplaying stuff. You and your friends compete to kill monsters and grab magic items. And what magic items! Don the Horny Helmet and the Boots of Butt-Kicking. Wield the Staff of Napalm… or maybe the Chainsaw of Bloody Dismemberment. Start by slaughtering the Potted Plant and the Drooling Slime, and work your way up to the Plutonium Dragon…

The original version of Munchkin has a D&D theme to it. Later editions include spy/(James Bondish) spoofs, superhero spoofs, sci-fi/(Star Trek) spoofs, and horror/Cthulu spoofs. In the original edition the idea is pretty straightforward:  The players take turns opening dungeon doors. Behind each door there’s a monster that could be anywhere from easy to impossible to defeat. At that point the player may choose either to fight the monster, ask other players for help fighting it, or run away. The other players may either respond to the request for help, or tell the first player something like “Sure, I’ll help, but it will cost you one of the two treasures you’d get when we win.” Alternately the other players may decide to help the monster instead!

Everyone starts at level 1. Each time a player defeats a monster they go up a level and they get phat loot, which helps the player defeat bigger nasties. The first player to level 10 wins.

Why I like it:  The screw-your-neighbor element is fun. It’s a good game that isn’t too “serious.”

Boardgamegeek page here.

Available at Gary’s Games and Hobbies in Seattle.

This Recommendation is dedicated to the guy who always threatens to help the monsters, unless we’d rather give him the treasure we would earn by defeating the monster. You know who you are.

by A.J. Coltrane

Title:  Last Night On Earth:  The Zombie Game

Game Type:  B-Movie Zombie Horror Strategy Game

Number of Players:  2-6

Complexity of Rules:  Low-Medium

Time to Play:  About 90 minutes

The Concept:  It’s a zombie B-movie!  Players play either the zombies or the heroes in one of a number of scenarios provided with the game.  

The heroes are all drawn from horror movie archetypes such as The Sheriff, The Jock, or the Farmer’s Daugther.  Both the heroes (by searching in the buildings) and the zombies get access to cards that represent items and events that mess with the other side.  (See the Chainsaw, below right, for an example of a hero card.)

The heroes’ focus is to survive the zombie horde long enough to accomplish the scenario objective, such as “Find Two Cannisters Of Vaccine”, or, “Save The Townsfolk.”

Why I Like It:   

1.  The game board is modular and randomly assembled, so each game evolves a little differently.

2.  The heroes win or lose as a group, so teamwork is needed to defeat the zombie player.

3.  Flying Frog Productions (the publisher) did a great job with the artwork and capturing the feel of being in a B-Movie Horror.  (These guys are local.  They’re based in Kirkland.)

4.  It’s a fairly lightweight game that is easy to learn and plays reasonably briskly.

5.  The rulebook is well put-together and well worded.

6.  Shotguns, Chainsaws, and Zombies — how can you go wrong?

BoardGameGeek page here.

Available at Gary’s Games in Seattle.

by A.J. Coltrane

Title:  Dominion

Game Type:  Hand management, deck building, card game. 

Number of Players:  2-4 (2-6 with expansions.)

Complexity of Rules:  Medium/Low

Time to Play:  20-30 minutes with two people who have played a few times.  Up to about 30-50 minutes with more people.

The Concept:  From the Amazon.com product page-

In Dominion, each player starts with an identical, very small deck of cards. In the center of the table is a selection of other cards the players can “buy” as they can afford them. Through their selection of cards to buy, and how they play their hands as they draw them, the players construct their deck on the fly, striving for the most efficient path to the precious victory points by game end.

That’s it in shorthand.  Longhand, there are basically three types of cards in the game:

1.  Victory cards (“Lands”).  There are three values of Land cards that can be purchased.  The higher value cards are relatively more expensive, but also more desirable because they are more “space efficient” than the cheaper lands.

2.  Kingdom (Action) Cards.  These cards allow the player to do things like draw more cards, buy more stuff, and/or mess with the other players.  (Example of an action card to the right.  Village allows the player to draw one more card and play two additional actions.)  Each game uses a cross-section of the available Kingdom cards, and the cards all behave differently.  This means that no two games will play quite the same way.

3.  Money Cards.  Much like the lands, the more desirable cards (Gold) are relatively more expensive and more efficient than the junk the players start with (Copper.)

Ultimately the point of the game is to buy more Victory Points than everyone else.  The “twist” is that everything that a player buys becomes a part of his deck for the rest of the game — the Victory point cards just get in the way of the “productive” stuff (Money and Actions.)  Play requires a balancing act between accumulating points and getting things accomplished down the road.

Why I Like It:  Dominion is fast paced, and strategic without allowing so many choices that players get “analysis paralysis.”  It’s basically a CCG (Collectible Card Game) without the ongoing expense that the CCG genre entails.  (Read:  Magic The Gathering can be an expensive game to play.)  As stated above, replayability is high because no two games are the same.  (Even if you play exactly the same set of Kingdom cards the games will still evolve differently each time.)  It’s a good “gateway” game for casual gamers, and it’s compatible with beverage consumption.

It’s the #8 rated boardgame at BoardgameGeek.  (The Intrigue expansion is #6.)  BoardgameGeek page here.

Available at Gary’s Games in Seattle and Amazon.com.  Note that there are *many* expansions.  Start with the base set, and if you love it then buy the Intrigue expansion.  (The expansion also allows for 6 players.)