Gigamons Review

Gigamons is a game by Johann Roussel and Karim Aouidad, published by Blue Orange Games. It is for 2-4 players. In this game, players will be trying to master the Gigamons. To do this they’ll have to collect enough Elemons to be able to summon one to their side. They’ll have to be careful though as their opponents can steal their newly acquired Gigamon from them. The player that can summon 3 Gigamons first will be declared the winner.

To begin, all of the Elemon tiles should be shuffled together face down. A 3 x 3 square is then created from a random selection of tiles. The remaining tiles are placed in a face down stack to the side of the main play area. The 7 Gigamons and 3 Rock tokens are placed where all players can reach them. Each player is given a reference card that explains what each Elemon does and which Gigamon it summons. The first player is chosen and play now begins.

The game is played through a series of turns. On a player’s turn they will flip over 2 tiles. If the tiles are different, they are flipped back over. If a Polymon is one of the 2 tiles flipped over, this counts as a match. If the 2 tiles match, the player takes the 2 Elemon and places them in front of themself. The Elemon’s power is then triggered. There are 7 different types of Elemons, each with a different power.

Polymon: Acts as a wild Elemon and will form a match with any other Elemon. However it does not activate the other Elemon’s power that it matched with.

Floramon: Allows the player to take a tile from the top of the draw pile and adds it to their other Elemons in front of themself.

Aeromon: Allows the player to swap an Elemon tile in front of themself with another tile in front of another player of their choice.

Pyromon: Allows the player to choose an Elemon tile in front of another player and remove it from the game.

Hydromon: Allows the player to peek at four of the face down tiles in the 3 x 3 grid.

Geomon: Lets the player place a rock tile on one of the face down Elemon tiles in the 3 x 3 grid. This rock tile makes it so that no other player may pick up the tile below the rock until the player who placed it takes their next turn.

Electromon: Gives the player an extra turn.

As soon as a player collects 3 Elemons of the same type, they are then able to trade them in to summon the Gigamon associated with it, placing it in front of themself. If an opponent has the Gigamon in front of them, the player is able to steal it and place it with any of their other summoned Gigamons.

Once the player has either made a match and used the Elemon’s power or had to flip both tiles back over because they didn’t match, play then passes to the next player in turn order. This continues back and forth until one of 2 things happens. If a player summons all 3 Gigamons to their side, they win. If the stack of Elemon tiles is emptied, the game ends and the player with the most Gigamons is the winner.

COMPONENTS
This game has some of the most adorable and cute looking pieces that I’ve ever seen. The tiles are all thick and sturdy cardboard as are the large standups and rock tokens. The tiles have all the different Elemons that make up the 3 x 3 grid. The standups represent all the different Gigamons that you’ll be trying to summon. The rock tokens are used to block others from flipping a certain tile. The artwork on all these is really fun and cute. I love the look and feel of the game, so does my daughter. She loves the cute character styles. Of course she had her favorite Gigamons that she just had to have. She got a little upset with me when I got them before she did. There’s also some great reference cards that help you remember what each Elemon does and which Gigamon it summons when you collect 3 of them. I really think this is one of the most adorable games. About the only problem that I had with this game’s components would be the box. It’s a rather odd shaped box that doesn’t exactly fit the best on the shelf. Of course, that’s only a small gripe and is something that I can deal with easily. Overall the game is really cute.
9 out of 10

RULEBOOK
The rulebook is really nice looking. It’s very colorful and easy to read through. It’s got plenty of great pictures and examples. I really like how nice the book is. It only takes a couple of minutes to read through as the game isn’t very difficult. I really like the look and feel of the book and think that it covers everything really well. Overall it’s really well designed.
9 out of 10

GAMEPLAY
This game is just SO adorable. It made me think of Pokemon when I saw it, except cuter. My daughter and I are not big fans of memory style games. I was hoping that since this game involved special powers, that it might change our minds. Boy, was I right! This is so much fun. Even I enjoyed it. It’s fun collecting the different Elemon and using their powers as you try to get enough to summon a Gigamon. My daughter absolutely loved playing the game. However, she didn’t like the stealing aspect of certain Elemons. She let me know that stealing was wrong. Wow, I guess even us adults can learn from a kid. I’ll say that the whole memory aspect of the game felt a lot less boring and inconsequential to me as it does in other Memory style games. I’d say that if you hate Memory games, then this one might actually change your mind. It works great with younger players like my daughter and yet it was actually fun enough that I enjoyed playing it. It doesn’t take long to play either, only about 10 minutes or so. My daughter repeatedly asked to play it again. I will say that some times you can get a runaway leader if they make certain matches as some of the Elemon are a bit more powerful than others. I only had that happen like 1 time but it is something that you should be aware of. This is a great game to play with your kids. The cuteness of the game will attract the younger players and keep them entertained. I highly recommend this one as a great family game. My daughter loved the Gigamon so much that after we got through playing, she started playing with the Gigamon by themselves, telling stories. Looks like I got the added benefit of this encouraging creating thinking as well as improving her memory skills. It’s a really great game.
9 out of 10

OVERALL
Gigamons is a cute memory style game with special powers. It’s really quick and simple to play. Most games last around 10 minutes or so. The components are really good quality and very durable. The artwork is super adorable and cute. My daughter absolutely loves the Gigamons. She even starting telling stories with the standups after we finished playing. This game helps improve memory skills and in my case, helped my duaghter’s creative thinking as well. It’s a great game that younger players will be drawn to thanks to the cute artwork. It’s a wonderful family style game that both younger players and adults can both enjoy. I’m not a fan of memory style games but I love this one. I highly recommend this game and think it’s one that families with younger players should definitely own. My daughter and I both approve of this one. It’s Giga-FUN!
9 out of 10

For more information about this and other great games, please check out Blue Orange Games at their site.

http://www.blueorangegames.com/

The Captain is Dead: Episode III – Lockdown Review

 

The Captain is Dead: Episode III – Lockdown is an expansion for The Captain is Dead game by Joe Price and JT Smith, published by The Game Crafter, LLC. It is for 2-7 players. This expansion adds new roles, new systems and a completely new scenario to play through.

For more information on the base game and how to play it, please follow the link below.

https://jlnelson73.wordpress.com/2016/09/20/the-captain-is-dead-review/

First off it should be noted that the character and alien pawns, as well as the board are the only components that whttps://www.kickstarter.com/projects/thegamecrafter/the-captain-is-dead-episode-3ill be used from the core box. It might also be helpful to have the original rule book handy, just in case. From there, we’ll move on to the changes in setup.

To begin, the board should be placed in the middle of the play area. The 9 system cards are placed on their corresponding location on the board with the “Locked” side face up. External Sensors are replaced by Surveillance Scanners. Torpedo Tube is replaced by Grenade Locker. Grenade cards are place on top of the manufacture 1 torpedo spot. The 5 system upgrade cards are placed near the Science Lab on their inactive side. The 3 Alert decks are shuffled separately before being placed on their appropriate spot on the board with red on the bottom, orange in the middle and yellow on top. The Battle Plans deck is shuffled and placed face down on it’s spot on the board. The Concealment Level and Ship Control cards are placed on their proper places on the board. Concealment Level replaces Shields and Ship Control replaces Jump Core. A yellow status clip is placed on the Concealment Level 100% space. A yellow status clip is placed on the Ship Control at the appropriate space based on the level of difficulty chosen before hand. The scent bombs and honey pot cubes are placed beside the board. The hostile alien pawns are sorted by icon and placed beside the board as well along with the alien reference card. The skill deck is shuffled and each player is dealt 5 cards. 2 cards are then dealt to the cargo pod. The remaining deck is placed on the discarded skills location. Players are dealt a Veteran Ability card. Players choose or are randomly given a colored player pawn. The remaining pawns are placed back in the box, not to be used. Each player is then given the role cards along with the other pawns that match their colored pawn. Players then choose their role and take the matching pawn. The remaining pawns are then returned to the box. Players are then able to discard their Veteran Ability and draw a new one if the ability is not compatible with their chosen character role. The remaining Veteran Ability cards are returned to the box. Players discard 1 of their skill cards to the cargo pod. The tool cards are then placed in there as well. Players place their character pawn in it’s starting position. Most players will begin in the Infirmary. The top 5 Alert cards are resolved. Usually this involves adding and/or moving aliens around on the ship. The first player is chosen based on the character’s ranking. The lowest ranking officer goes first. Once this is established, play now begins.

Now then, let me explain a bit about what this expansion adds in terms of how the game is played. To begin with, as noted above, there are 2 new systems; Ship Control and Concealment Level. These replace the Jump Core and Shields on the board. The Ship Control is much like the Jump Core. If you want to win the game, this system has to be repaired to the “Win” level. The Concealment Level is reduced by 10% any time an alarm sounds. This happens any time an alien is killed, a player is returned to their starting location, when a system is hacked, when an alert is overriden, when repairing a systems affected by a honeypot, or when a system is relocked. If the Concealment Level is ever reduced to “Set to Kill” and a new alarm goes off, the characters are killed and removed from the game.

Another new addition to the game are the Grenades and Scent Bombs. These are cards that count against your hand size, just like tools. They are able to be deployed trough a door into an adjacent space. Grenades will kill any and all aliens in a room, however each alien death will trigger an alarm. Scent bombs will attract the aliens to the room it was deployed into from up to 2 rooms away.

Aliens have been upgraded in this expansion. There are now 5 alien ranks, some of which will require 2 actions to kill instead of just one. At the end of all alerts, the aliens will perform a series of actions. If they find a character in a different location from the one that they started in, Concealment Level drops and an alarm is triggered. Any characters in the room are then returned to the Infirmary by the lowest ranking alien. Some aliens will even injure the characters. Patrol aliens will move around the board looking for characters, which will repeat the process above if any are found. Hacker aliens will lock down systems. If all 4 Commander aliens make it onto the ship, the Concealment Level automatically drops to the Set to Kill level, making for a pretty much no win situation.

The game also includes 3 new roles; the Hacker, Sympathizer and Spy. The hacker is good with systems. The sympathizer is an alien that is not seen as a threat by the other aliens but he also won’t kill any of his own kind. The spy is able to understand alien languages and has a large hand size to keep up with lots of stuff.

The last new feature is one that’s optional to the game, Contraband. These cards don’t count against the hand limit and are given to a player when they trigger an alarm by performing an action, if they don’t already have one. It gives the player a special ability that they can use outside of their normal turn. If they talk about to any of the other players or reveal it, they lose it. Once it’s used, it’s lost also.

COMPONENTS
This expansion not only adds a lot of new stuff to the game, but also radically changes the gameplay. I’ll discuss the latter in the gameplay section. Much like the original game, there are lots and lots of cards. There are the battle plans, 3 different alert decks, role cards, veteran cards, contraband cards, system cards, upgrade cards and tool cards. These have the same style design and look as those from the core game. There are also some larger reference cards that explain alien patrol movement as well as the different ranks of aliens. Also the same size are the Ship Control and Concealment Level cards. These replace the previously mentioned systems on the board. Each one also has an explanation of how to use them. There are some plastic status clips that are bright yellow and work nicely with the new system cards, as well as 3 bright yellow honeypot cubes. These are good quality and look nice. The final pieces are the pawns and stickers. There are replacement stickers for games older than the most recent version of the original game. These stickers show the new alien ranks. Overall, I really like the new additions and think they add a new feel to the game without changing things too much.
8 out of 10

RULEBOOK
Much like the original game the rulebook for this one looks well done. There are plenty of pictures on almost every page. There’s a short example of gameplay as well. There’s a full page picture of all the game’s components as well as a detailed setup for getting started. Each of the new systems and items are covered in great detail. Also included is new information on the alien ranks and how they work in the new game system. The last couple of things that are covered in the rule book is the contraband which I pretty much explained earlier and a new mechanic that I didn’t cover which is player elimination. This just explains what happens when a player dies and how to replace them in the game. Overall the book covers everything you need to know to play the game and it’s simple enough to read. I like the look and think it’s well designed.
8 out of 10

GAMEPLAY
I really enjoyed this game. It’s a great co-op that not only improves on the original game but it offers a completely new challenge as well as new mechanics. Even the thematic feel of the game is different. Instead of trying to deal with a Star Trek style mission, this game feels more stealthy and hide and seek like. It kind of makes me think of the Metal Gear Solid video games. I almost expect to see an exclamation point pop up over their head when an alien walks into the room with my character. Much like the original there’s a good bit of tension, however it feels a bit higher in this scenario. For me, this is more of a gamer’s version of the game, whereas the core game was more of an introductory style game. There’s still only so many actions that you can choose from, so it’s still not a difficult game to understand. That said, fans of the original The Captain is Dead, should really enjoy this one, especially if they like more stealth in their missions. Any players that enjoy a good Sci-Fi theme or that like good co-op games will enjoy this one quite a bit. As it is, this is a great addition to the Captain is Dead and one that I would definitely recommend picking up.
8 out of 10

OVERALL
The Captain is Dead: Episode III Lockdown is an expansion for The Captain is Dead. It adds several new mechanics as well as new roles, new systems and a new scenario. The game is a bit longer with this expansion. Most games sessions last at least an hour and a half, usually longer. The artwork fits in well with the original game and carries over the same theme throughout the new pieces. The game is a bit more tense and feels like a step up from the original game. The new scenario feels more stealthy and less Pandemic like. The addition of this expansion adds a lot more replayability to an already good game. Fans of Sci-Fi themed or co-op games should really enjoy this one. Owners of The Captain is Dead will love adding this to their collection. It’s a great addition to the base game and one that I would definitely recommend. Now somebody come get this stinkin’ alien off my ship.
8 out of 10

For more information about this and other great games, please check out the Gamecrafter at their site.

http://www.thegamecrafter.com/

You can also back it on Kickstarter right now by following the link below to the campaign page.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/thegamecrafter/the-captain-is-dead-episode-3

Dr. Eureka Review

Dr. Eureka is a game by Roberto Fraga, published by Blue Orange Games. It is for 1-4 players. In this game, players are scientist working for the famed Doctor Eureka. They’ll be trying to help him complete his experiments by placing the right elements together in their test tubes in the correct order. The player that can complete the challenges the fastest will be declared the winner.

To begin, the Challenge cards are shuffled together and placed face down in the center of the play area. Each player is given 3 plastic test tubes and 2 balls of each color. The player places the 3 test tubes in a line in front of them. They then place 2 purple balls in the left tube, 2 red balls in the center tube and 2 green balls in the right tube. Play now begins.

The game is played over several rounds. Each round begins by flipping over the top card of the Challenge deck. Players must then race to arrange the balls in their test tubes to match the order shown on the card. If the player accidentally touches or drops one of the balls, or if they incorrectly announce that they have completed the challenge, then they are removed from the rest of the current round. The tubes and the balls must be in the correct order. As soon as the player has correctly arranged their tubes and balls, they must call out, “Eureka!” Players must then agree that the challenge has been correctly completed. The player is then given the completed Challenge card which counts as 1 point. The player must leave their balls and tubes where they are and may not reset them. A new round then starts with a new Challenge card being flipped face up.

The game continues with new Challenge cards being revealed and players trying to arrange their test tubes and balls in the correct order. Once a player wins their fifth Challenge card, giving them 5 points. The game is over and that player is the winner.

COMPONENTS
This game comes with some really sturdy and great looking pieces. Seeing as the game is intended for younger players, everything is designed with durability in mind. The test tubes are made of thick see through plastic. The balls are very solid and brightly colored. The cards are a little thicker than normal so they too are good quality. The cards are well illustrated so that you can easily discern what each test tube should have in it. I really like the different pieces and think the durability and quality here is top notch. Everything is really nice looking and just the right size. Overall I like what you get with the game.
8 out of 10

RULEBOOK
The rulebook is rather small and folds up nicely to fit inside the same slot as the cards. The book has some cute scientist pictures as well as a couple of gameplay pictures. Everything is laid out really well with nothing that will be difficult to understand. Also included in the rules are some variations for playing the game a couple of different ways. There is an expert mode, puzzle mode and even a solo mode for playing by yourself. Although I don’t really get why anyone would play it solo. Still, it’s there if you wanted to. The cute artwork and fun look of the rules is really nice. Overall it’s pretty good.
8 out of 10

GAMEPLAY
This is a light dexterity style kid’s game. It’s super easy to play. However if you’re a bit clumsy or fumble fingered like myself, you might have just a small bit of problems. As long as you don’t get in a too big of a hurry, the balls shouldn’t fall out of the test tubes. I think it only happened to myself, a couple of times. Even my daughter at 6 dropped a ball a couple of times. It takes a bit of time for the younger players to get the balls arranged just right, so as an adult, I simply go slow and really take my time to give her a better chance of completing the tasks first. The bright colored balls and the test tubes really captivated her attention. She really enjoyed it. This is not a strategic game or one that’s going to take up a lot of time. Needless to say, if you have younger players at home, this might be one that your kids will really enjoy. I would recommend it to parent’s of younger kids.
8 out of 10

OVERALL
Dr. Eureka is a simple and easy game that involves speed and dexterity. The game doesn’t take very long to play. Most game sessions last no more than 15 minutes. The components are top notch and really appeal to younger players. I have to say that I was intrigued by them myself. My daughter is a big fan of this game and loves playing it. It works really well with younger players. Teens might be ok for a game or two but after that it kind of becomes less interesting. I would recommend this game for parents with young children. It should really help them to develop some fine motor skills as well as their ability to process information and focus on a task. The best thing is that it entertains while doing it. Overall this is really well produced and great fun for the kids.
8 out of 10

 

For more information about this and other great games, please check out Blue Orange Games at their site.

http://www.blueorangegames.com/

The Captain is Dead Review

The Captain is Dead is a game by Joe Price and JT Smith, published by The Game Crafter, LLC. It is for 2-7 players. In this game, players take on the role of a crew member of an elite starship. The captain of which has just died of inexplicable causes. If that wasn’t bad enough, the ship’s Jump Core just went offline and a hostile alien ship is trying to destroy them. Players will have to work together to get the Jump Core back operational to survive the alien onslaught. If they can somehow manage to do this, they will be declared the winners. Otherwise they’ll become just another casualty in space.

To begin, the board should placed in the middle of the play area. The 6 system cards should be placed on their designated spot with the “Online” side face up. The 5 system upgrade cards should be placed near the Science Lab with the “Inactive” side face up. A yellow status bar is placed on the Jump Core at the chosen difficulty level. The 3 alert decks are shuffled separately and then placed face down on the designated space on the board. The cards should be arranged so that red are on the bottom, orange in the middle and yellow on top. The top 2 cards are drawn and placed face up beside the section of the board marked for the Face Up Alerts. The Battle Plans deck is shuffled and placed face down on the designated space. The Skills deck is shuffled and placed face down on the designated space. 3 Skill cards are drawn and placed face up next to the appropriate space on the board, just like the alert cards. Each player is then dealt 5 random Skill cards from the deck. Each player chooses one of their Skill cards and places it in the Cargo Pod, along with the 5 Tool cards. The orange blocker bar is placed near the Engineering section of the board, to be used later. The 12 hostile alien pawns are placed near the board, also to be used later. 5 of the red torpedoes are placed on the red torpedo icons on the board beside the Armory. The remaining torpedoes are placed beside the board to be used later. Players choose or are randomly given a colored player pawn. The remaining pawns are placed back in the box, not to be used. Each player is then given the role cards along with the other pawns that match their colored pawn. Players then choose their role and take the matching pawn. The remaining pawns are then returned to the box. Players place their pawn in the corresponding room that matches their pawn’s color. Alert cards are drawn from the face up Alerts and read aloud. The card is resolved and then the process is repeated until 5 Alerts have been resolved. This is the initial damage that the ship has taken before the game begins. The first player is the lowest ranking officer as designated by the role cards. Once this is determined, play now begins.

Players will take turns performing a series of actions in turn order based on rank, as mentioned earlier. Each player may take some or all of their actions on their turn. Each player can perform one of the actions listed on the back of their role card. Unless a player is injured, a hostile alien is in the same location or some other effect specifically states that an action is unavailable, then these actions are available at any time during the player’s turn. Most players have 4 actions, also listed on their role card. These actions can include moving, repairing a damaged system or attacking aliens on board the ship. They also have a certain number of skill discounts that make it easier for them to perform certain tasks. The player can use these discounts to perform an action for free. However if the player doesn’t have the appropriate skill discount to perform the action, then they will have to spend skill cards from their hand equal to the cost. It should also be noted that each role card assigns a player a certain hand size. This is how many cards including skills and tools that they can hold at one time before having to discard. Once the player has finished with their turn, they will draw a new Alert card and read it aloud. The card is resolved and then play passes to the next player.

The game continues with players taking turns performing actions until either the game is won or lost. To win, the players must repair the Jump Core to “Engage” status. They can lose the game if one of the following conditions occur. If the shields are lowered to 0% and the ship takes another hit, the ship is destroyed and the players lose. If a player is told to place a hostile alien somewhere on the board, and there are no more alien tokens left to place, the players are overran and they lose. If they get to the Red Alerts of the deck, there are numerous ways that this deck can kill the players. However, if the players somehow manage to get through all the Red Alerts alive, and then if another Alert card must be drawn and there are no more cards to draw, the hostile alien ship destroys the player.

COMPONENTS
This game looks really cool. Everything has that Star Trek like feel to it, from the character role cards to the board itself. The board looks like the layout of a Federation starship. Each section is color coordinated and matches the characters that belong in that area. The board has a very informative look to it that’s really streamlined for ease of play. Everything you need to keep up with is right there. The many different card types are really nice. There’s a bit of iconography that you have to deal with but it’s not difficult at all. I like that each of the character role cards has an actual artistic rendition of that character. The game also comes with a couple of wooden pieces much like the fences in Agricola. These are good quality and brightly colored. There are also some plastic torpedoes that are really cool looking. Much better than just having a cube or a cardboard token. I like the added touch that was given here. The final pieces are the plastic pawns and stickers. Like those character role cards, these stickers have that same artistic design that looks great. The pawns are brightly colored and look great moving around the board. All in all, I’m really thrilled with the look and feel of the game. It definitely draws you in to the theme.
8 out of 10

RULEBOOK
The rulebook for this game is rather well done. There are lots of pictures throughout the book. There’s even a full page example of gameplay. The first several pages consist of full color pictures of the components and set up instructions. The next couple of pages center around how the game works in a very basic overview. The next several pages go more into detail on each of the different roles and systems as well as more details about how skills and actions work among other things . Further in the book details all the bad stuff in the game and how the rules affect each part. Finally, the last sections give a really cool strategy guide for getting the best out of your actions as well as several variants to the game. The back cover has a quick reference to the system actions used in the game. It’s pretty simple to read and I didn’t see anything that confused me or gave me any problems. Overall, the rules look nice and they get the job done.
8 out of 10

GAMEPLAY
This is a good game. As a co-op game, it works quite well. The game has a really great Sci-Fi feel to it that feels like you’ve stepped onto the bridge of the Enterprise. There aren’t a ton of decisions to make, but even so there’s quite a bit of strategy involved. As things start breaking down, you have to prioritize what’s the most important thing to get done. There’s a good bit of tension involved in the game and you really have that sense that time is against you. You will find yourself wishing that you had more actions available so that you can do more things before the next wave of alerts hits. In a lot of ways, I get the same feel with this game that I do from playing Pandemic, just a different theme. Fans of co-op games like Pandemic should enjoy this one as well, especially if they like Star Trek or the Sci-Fi theme. This is a great introductory game as the limited amount of choices makes it easy for new players. I have to say, I like this game, especially the numerous amount of different roles that a player can choose from. It’s like the whole crew of the Enterprise is available to choose from. The only real negative that I can offer is that if your game group suffers with the Alpha Gamer syndrome, then you might have a problem playing this game. Other than that, things work really well and I would recommend this game as a introductory co-op game. Overall, it’s well designed and fun to play.
8 out of 10

OVERALL
The Captain is Dead is a co-op game with a Star Trek Sci-Fi feel to it. It doesn’t take a very long time to play. Most games sessions last about an hour and a half, give or take. The game looks nice and is very streamlined in it’s design. I really like the artwork on the character role cards and the board. It really gives that whole Star Trek like feel to it. The theme is pretty spot on. There’s plenty of tenseness during the game, much like you would feel in a game of Pandemic. Fans of Pandemic or other co-op style games should really enjoy this one, especially if they like the Sci-Fi theme. The game has a lot of replayability due to the randomness of the bad things that happen during the game and the many choices of character roles. This is a great introduction into co-op games and it’s one that I would recommend. I enjoyed it quite a bit and think you will too. Now somebody come get me, the Transporter is down…AGAIN.
8 out of 10

For more information about this and other great games, please check out the Gamecrafter at their site.

http://www.thegamecrafter.com/

The Networks Review

The Networks is a game by Gil Hova, published by Formal Ferret Games. It is for 1-5 players. In this game, players will take on the role of owner of a local television network. They’ll be trying to acquire new shows and stars to fill their time slots with, as well as ads to pay the bills. The player that can best work the ratings to score the most viewers will be declared the winner.

To begin, place the left and middle scoring tracks in the middle of the board on the appropriate sides. The corresponding right scoring track is placed on the right side of the other boards to create a cohesive track. The season marker is placed on the season 1 space of the season track. The show cards are separated by season and shuffled into piles, one for season 1, one for seasons 2-3 and one for seasons 4-5. The season 2-3 and 4-5 stacks are set aside for later. The corresponding number of season 1 cards are drawn from the deck and placed face up below the scoring track as indicated on the board. The ad cards are shuffled and the indicated amount of them are drawn and placed face up above the scoring track. The same thing is done with the star cards, with them being placed face up above the ads. The advanced and interactive cards are removed from the network deck. The network cards are then shuffled together and placed face down below the show cards. Players choose a player board and take the corresponding colored starter cards, scoring square and turn order disc. They also are given 4 black cubes. Players place their starting ad and starting star in their green room on the left of their player board. They then place their starting shows on the right side of their player board, each on a separate time slot. They then place a black cube on the top viewer slot of each starting show. The final cube is placed near their player board to be used later on the scoring calculator. Players then place their scoring square on the 0 space of the scoring track. Their turn order disc is then randomly placed onto the turn order track. The player that is furthest on the left of the track is the first player. Each player is given a certain amount of starting money as indicated by their turn order and indicated on the board. The 300 viewer token and 100/200 viewer tokens are placed on it’s space on the board. Play now begins.

The game is played over 5 seasons. Each season, players will take turns starting with the first player and continuing in turn order. On a player’s turn they will perform an action. The actions that they can take are develop a show, sign a star, land an ad, take a network card, attach a star or ad and drop and budget. The first thing a player can do is to develop a show. Of course, it’s also the most important action. To do this, the player must first have the prerequisites, for the show this could be a star or an ad, and be able to pay the development cost. The show is then taken from the face up cards and placed in a time slot beside the player’s board. The show card in that slot is then rotated upside down and placed beside the reruns section of their board. Any attached stars or ads are discarded to the bottom of their corresponding deck. Starter cards are returned to the box. The prerequisite star or ad is then moved from the green room to beneath the show, lining them up so that they track is visible on the right side. The scoring cube is then placed on the top row of the show on top of the eye symbol. Once a player has collected a certain number of shows from the same genre, they will receive a genre bonus. They automatically score 5 viewers regardless. They then are able to choose from drawing 3 star cards and keeping one or drawing 3 ads cards and keeping one, gaining the landing bonus of the two that weren’t kept instead. These choices are available if a player gets 3 matching genres. For 5, they gain a third option on top of the previous two. They can choose to draw 3 network cards, choosing one to play or keep. Any unkept cards are returned to the bottom of their respective decks. After the 5th show, the player is also allowed to convert money to viewers at a rate of $4 million to 3 viewers.

Another action that is available is to sign a star. To do this, the player takes a face up star card and places it into their green room. They then pay the signing cost associated with the star.

Yet another action is to land an ad. To do this, the player takes one of the face up add cards and ads it to their green room. They then receive the landing bonus associated with the card.

Taking a network card is much like the previous card taking actions. The player takes a face up network card and unless it has an immediate action symbol on it, the card is placed face up in front of the player. Immediate network cards are used immediately and then discarded to the bottom of the network deck. Some of these cards may be used only 1 time, while others have effects that last the rest of the game. Some cards only affect end game scoring. Network cards always supercede any other rules.

Players can also take an action to attach a star or ad. As long as a player has a show that has room for either a star or an ad and they have one of them available in their green room, they they can attach one to the show by sliding it under the show card. This action can also be used to replace a star or ad. The old card is discarded to the bottom of the appropriate deck.

The final action is to drop and budget. Much like passing in many other games, this ends the player taking any more actions. To do this, the player moves their turn order disc to the leftmost space on the drop and budget track. They then collect the reward on the space that was taken. If the space shows multiple rewards such as viewers and money, then only one reward may be chosen. Once all players have performed this action, play proceeds to the end of season.

At the end of each season, a series of 4 steps are taken. The first step involves income and expenses. Ads will provide income to pay any upkeep expenses from shows or stars. As long as the player’s income is more than the expenses, they gain the excess money from the bank, If their income is lower, then they must pay money. If they have no money or not enough, they keep their money and must pay their expenses in viewers. The next step involves scoring viewers from the lineup and reruns. Viewers are calculated by adding viewers from stars and promo ads attached to the shows as well as the rerun values of any shows in the rerun section of their player board. Anything in the archives or in the green room do not count towards the viewer total. It should be noted that the player can use the scoring calculator on their player board to keep a running total for each season. Once the viewer total is determined, the player adds their total to the their score on the scoring track. If a player scores at least 100 viewers, they take their 100 viewer token from the board. If they get more than 200 viewers, they flip it to the 200 viewer side. If a player scores 300 or more viewers, then they take the 300 viewer token from the board. Once this step is done, the players move to the next step and age their shows. This is done by moving the scoring cube on each of their shows down one viewer slot. If the cube is already at the lowest spot on the card, then it stays there for the rest of the game until the show is cancelled. The final step is to set up the next season. This step is followed unless it’s the end of the fifth season. In that case, this step is skipped and the end of game scoring takes place. To set up the next season any shows in a player’s rerun area are moved to their archives. Any unused show, star, ad or network cards around the board are discarded to the bottom of their respective decks. New cards are drawn for shows, stars, ads and network cards determined by the number on the board. These cards are placed in their proper place around the board. Each player’s turn order disc is moved from the drop and budget track to the turn order track and a new turn order is determined. If this is the end of season 1, the right scoring track is flipped over so that the scoreboard continues to wrap around the board. The season marker is moved to the next space on the season track and a new season begins.

Play continues until the end of the fifth season. Once this happens final scoring occurs. After season 5 scoring has been determined, viewers are scored once more for the end of the game. Income, expenses and scoring reruns are ignored. However shows still age after season 5 scoring. Players then score 1 viewer for each star in their green room. Network cards that score viewers at the end of the game are then scored as well. Players compare their viewer totals and the one with the most viewers is the winner.

COMPONENTS
This is a really humorous looking game. All of the different cards have really great looking art. There are lots of humorous parodies of stars and shows, as well as the hilarious ads. It doesn’t take much to understand what each card is a parody for, shows like Doctor What or Person of Disinterest. I really like this fun style of art and the cards themselves are designed really well with a satin style finish to them. The wooden pieces are all really great too, as well as being bright and colorful. The player boards, viewer tokens and scoring track boards are all made of cardboard, as are the money chips. They designs are all really great, I especially like the uniquely designed player boards and the cardboard money. However, with all the things I like about the components, there are a few things that I found to be an issue. For one, the money tokens sometimes tend to separate from the cardboard they’re printed on. Not all of them are like that but even with the best removing techniques, some of them will unfortunately tend to pull up a bit on the corners. It’s not a major issue but one to be aware of. Another problem is that the colored scoring squares and turn order discs don’t exactly match the colors on the player boards. I mean it’s easy to figure out which ones go with which board, but I felt like I should be able to place them side by side without there being any differences. In my copy the purple tokens were almost navy blue and the pink tokens were more red than anything. Like I said, you can figure out what goes with what, but I’d have preferred a little better matching job. In any event, these are only minor gripes and nothing to get all worked up over. The main thing is that for the most part, you get some great looking decent quality components. For me, that’s good enough.
8 out of 10

RULEBOOK
The rulebook is really well designed. There are lots of great pictures and examples throughout the book. I really like how well the rules are covered in a very step by step manner. There’s nothing difficult to understand at all. The rules do a great job at covering every step so that you’ll be able to play the game properly. Also included are some sidebars the explain how to change the game for 2-3 players as well as playing a more advanced game. Each of the different card types are explained thoroughly with very detailed pictures. Another thing included in the rules are the rules for playing solo and with only 2 players. There’s even an almanac that covers several of the different cards. If that’s not enough for you, the back page has a solo player game log where you can write down the date, your name and final score from your solo play throughs. Overall, it’s a well written and thought out book. I’m very pleased with the final results.
8 out of 10

GAMEPLAY
This is a really fun game. It’s card drafting at it’s finest. It’s fairly simple to learn and play. There aren’t a ton of decisions to choose from so it’s not one that’s going to burn your brain. Even so, there seems to be just enough to choose from to make it interesting. I really enjoy the euro style gameplay where most of the focus is on your own network and making it the best you can. However, you might want to keep an eye on what your opponents are doing as well. Just so you don’t allow them to take something that might catapult them past your own network’s ratings. I’ve played this one several different ways and found that the best gameplay is with 3 or more players. The solo game I’m glad that it was included. However, I found it to be impossible to win. Maybe I wasn’t playing it right or just had horrible luck. Whatever the case, I would much prefer to play with other players. I would not recommend getting this game simply for the solo player option. 2 players was a bit better but still not as enjoyable and fun as a fully immersive 3 or more player game. With 3 players, I had a lot more fun. I must also address the theme for a moment. I’m sure there will be some players that will compare this to Prime Time, another game about running a TV network. While the game play isn’t the same, the game does have similar feels in a sense. The major difference is that Prime Time is much better with 2 than Networks is. Still, with 3 or more players it’s a very close race. I like both equally well and feel like there’s no reason that you couldn’t own both. If you’re a fan of Prime Time, then you’re sure to enjoy this one as well. For me, it depends on what I’m feeling like at the time. If I want more of a straight up card drafting experience, I’ll pick this one no doubt. As far as rating this game goes, I would recommend it.
8 out of 10

OVERALL
The Networks is a card drafting game about running a TV network. It doesn’t take an extremely long time to play. Most games sessions last about an hour or so. The artwork is very humorous and fun. I really enjoy the cartoon style humor on the cards. There are a few issues with some of the components though. The scoring squares and turn order discs don’t exactly match the player boards and the money tokens have a tendency to separate from the cardboard when you’re punching them out. Nothing major to worry about but something that should be noted. The game is quite fun especially with 3 or more players. Fans of the network building game Prime Time should enjoy this one without feeling like they’re buying the same game. I would recommend this game as a multiplayer game but not simply for the solo game option. It’s fairly simple to learn and equal in many ways to the previously mentioned game, Prime Time. This is one that I look forward to enjoying for quite some time.
8 out of 10

For more information about this and other great games, please check out Formal Ferret Games at their site.

https://gil.hova.net/

Preview Review of Brides & Bribes

Recently I was given the opportunity to preview an upcoming new game that is currently available to back on Kickstarter. I received a print and play copy of the game and rules. These are my thoughts and opinions on the presented materials. Enjoy!

Brides & Bribes is a game by Andrea Gallazzi, Elisa Lenardi and Pietro Navarotto, published by Spaceballoon Games. It is for 3-5 players. In this game, players will take on the role of one of the influential families in Genoa during the Renaissance era. They will be trying to become the new Lord of the city known as the Doge. They’ll have to send family members to the different boroughs of the city to perform tasks all while trying to gain influence by marrying the daughters of local Lords. Of course their opponents will be trying to earn the Lord’s trust as well which might end up leaving them with nothing. In the end the player that can best balance increasing their richness and growing their influence will be declared the winner.

To begin, the board should be placed in the middle of the play area. Players randomly chose boroughs to be in play based on the number of players. The port must always be chosen regardless. Each in play borough then has the corresponding worker of the matching color along with an influence token, randomly chosen first bride and randomly chosen second bride placed on them. The common characters deck is shuffled and placed on the corresponding borough. The top card is flipped face up. In the port, the assassin is always placed on top. A Lord that has 3 prestige is chosen for each borough. These are then shuffled together and randomly placed on each of the in play boroughs in the correct space. The boroughs are randomly assigned to each player. They then take a player marker of the appropriate color and place it in the 0 space of the influence track. Players then place a player marker of their color randomly in the top dock of the Doge’s Favor track. The influence tokens, coins and workers are placed in separate piles next to the board. The workshop cards are placed in decks of the same kind in descending order along with their corresponding objects next to the board. Each player chooses a family and is given the corresponding residence and loyal characters, along with 3 coaches of the player’s color, 2 Ducato coins and a worker of their choice to start with from a borough that is not in play. Depending on the number of players, an extra coin is given to certain players and a white coach is given to a different one. The specifics on this are in the rule book. The player that has the white coach is the first player. Play now begins.

The game is played over 6 rounds or till a player reaches a certain amount of influence points. Each round is made up of 4 phases; tile placement, distant colonies, borough resolution and end of round. The first phase is the tile placement. Beginning with the first player and continuing in turn order, each player will 2 take actions from a list of 4, or they may pass. Player can send a delegation to Genoa. This is done by placing one of their tiles face down on a Genoa borough. One of the player’s coaches are placed on top of the tile. They can choose to send a delegation to the distant colonies. To do this they simply place one of their tiles face down on an available ship. One of their coaches is placed on top of the tile. Players can reinforce a delegation. This action allows the player to add one of their tiles face down under one of their already placed delegations. This can be done up to a maximum of 3 tiles. The last action they can take is to ask for the Doge’s favor. This is done by showing the other players one of their available character tiles. It is then discarded in their residence alley. They then are able to move their colored disc to the first available position on the other Doge’s Favor track. Finally the last thing they can do is to pass. If a player passes, they are not allowed to take any more actions during this phase and must discard all their tiles that are left in the residence alley. These tiles are out of play for the rest of this turn. The Doge’s Favor track is then adjusted by moving discs in order to the other Doge’s Favor track.

The next phase is the distant colonies phase. This phase begins with the first player in turn order that sent a delegation to a ship. They are able to take the corresponding action a number of times equal to the character tile that they placed on it. First they must show their tile to their opponents. They are then able to perform the corresponding action based on the ship that they chose earlier. They can exchange a worker to take a different one of another color. They can exchange 2, 3, or 4 coins to take a worker of their choice of any color.

The third phase is the borough resolution phase. Beginning with the first player in turn order, each player activates and resolves a borough of their choice. Any player that have an active presence in the borough, choose a character as their guide. This character is then revealed simultaneously and placed face up in the borough with their coach next to it to show ownership. This phase consists of 2 steps; borough turn order and actions. The first step is the borough turn order. This is determined by the player married with the first bride, player married with the second bride and then highest guide prestige value. Players can then used tiles with the I symbol on them.

The second step is the actions step. In this step starting with the player chosen in turn order, each player will declare an action from one of the following; marry the first bride, marry the second bride, employ workers, hire the common character, collect influence tokens, or collect one Ducato. Once the action has been declared, the other players that are active in the current borough can then mess with that active player using tiles with the II symbol on them. Here’s how each action works. Marrying either the first or second bride works the same. For a player to marry a bride, they must meet a set of conditions. A loyal character must be the guide for their delegation. Only that guide can marry a bride. The guide must also have a prestige value that is equal or higher than that of the Lord. They can however lose influence points to raise their character’s prestige value higher at a rate of 1 to 1. The guide must also have a charm value equal or higher than the chosen bride. A player can spend an equal amount of Ducato coins to raise their charm value higher. If the character is able to successfully marry a bride, they place the character tile face up on top of the bride tile. The loyal character is then out of play for as long as the relationship lasts. The marriage gives the player 2 influence points, the dowry as indicated on the bride tile and additional influence points of either 3 for a first bride or 1 for a second one. Employing workers is done by taking all the workers available in the active borough and placing them in the worker placement area of their player board. Hiring a common character is done by taking the common character from the borough and placing the tile in the alley placement area of their player board. Collecting influence tokens is done by taking all the influence tokens that are available in the active borough. These are then scored on the influence track and discarded to the token pile. Collecting a Ducato is done by simply taking one from the pile and adding it to the Ducato placement area of the player board. Once the active player has declared their action, the other players that are present in the borough can play one of their tiles in turn order. The active player can then counteract by playing one of their tiles. This can go back and forth until no more counteractions are done. The next player in turn order can then play a tile which can be counteracted as well, if the player has any tiles to use. Once players have taken an action each, the turn ends. Players retrieve all of their tiles that are still present in the borough, in front of them and from their hand and discards them to their alley on their player board. A new borough is then activated and the same steps as above are taken. This continues as long as their are boroughs to be resolved. The third phase ends once all the boroughs have been resolved.

The final phase is the end of round phase. This phase follows the Doge’s Favor track and in the following order. Each player receives a Ducato coin for each worker that they have in their residence. They must pay 1 Ducato for each Common character that they own. If they can’t pay for the character, it must be discarded to the box. Players can then pay a Ducato to buy back every used object that comes from a workshop that they own. Players can build a workshop and then take the corresponding object into their alley on their play mat. However, only one per type once per round can be built. Players then check to see if the victory conditions have been met. If so, then the game ends. If not, then a new round starts. Before a new round starts, there are a few cleanup tasks that must be done. For each borough, any untaken face up common characters are discarded to the box and a new one is turned face up. A worker of the corresponding color is added, as well as an influence token. The white coach is passed to the next player in turn order. Players then retrieve their tiles from their alleys. A new round then starts.

The game continues until during the check for victory conditions, one of the following conditions has been met. If the sixth end of round phase has been completed, the game ends. It can also end if during a 4-5 player game, a player reaches 20 influence points or if they reach 25 points in a 3 player game. Once the conditions have been met for the end, each player then adds 1 influence point for every 5 Ducato coins that they have in their residence. Players then compare influence points and the player with the most is the winner and becomes the new Genoa Doge.

There are a couple of things that I didn’t really cover earlier in the overview, that I feel should be pointed out. Brides can be assassinated by an active player by playing an assassin or poison tile in the active borough. Of course, this can be prevented by the player trying to wed the attacked bride by playing a tile that is present in their delegation. The other thing of note is the workshops. These can be bought if the player has the correct workers that are indicated on the workshop card. These are then placed beside the player’s residence. Workshops will then provide an object that can be used later as well as an amount of influence points that are marked on the influence track.

COMPONENTS
Since the only thing that I had to do this review from was the print and play files, I won’t go into a lot of detail here. If you want to know more about the actual components, I’ll point you to the Kickstarter link below. This will give you a better idea of the actual components and pieces that you’ll receive with the game. I can say that the artwork is really top notch and that it looks really great. Looking at the campaign page, I’ll say that the quality appears to be there. The design is a little different looking from any other worker placement game that I’ve played. However, that’s not a bad thing. It’s nice to see a new design. The different character tiles are especially nice looking. I think they’re really well done. Overall, I think you’re going to be getting a really nice looking product.
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RULEBOOK
The rulebook falls into the same category as the components, print and play quality. I’ve been told that the version that I received is a bit off in it’s translation and that the design company is aware of this. They plan to have things all cleaned up and fixed prior to the game’s actual release. It’s not that things were difficult to understand, just that there were a few words or concepts here or there that you had to figure out what was being implied. There are lots of great looking pictures and examples throughout the book, so that’s a plus. Each of the different phases is laid out in great detail so that you shouldn’t have any problems with the rules. There is a great appendix section devoted to all the different tiles, character, borough and object abilities. There’s also a list of the workshops and their features. This is very helpful as the iconography takes a bit of getting used to. I really liked having this section in there. Overall, I think like the components, it should end up looking quite nice.
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GAMEPLAY
This is a really intriguing game. It’s kinda like a mixed box of chocolate, it all looks the same but every part is different. This game is at it’s heart a worker placement game but there’s so much more to it than just that, plus it’s introduced in a completely new way. Each decision you make is going to be important and you better make the right decision before your opponents do. Otherwise you’re gonna get left out in the cold when it comes to scoring points. There’s actually quite a bit of strategy involved in the game, deciding which boroughs to go to and which actions to take with which character. If that wasn’t enough to think about, you have to worry about your opponents messing with your plans. So there’s a bit of a take that feel to it as well. Then there’s the bluffing aspect of the game as well. You don’t have to always place a character, sometimes you can use an object in it’s place to really get into the head of your opponents. There’s really a lot to think about. If you’re AP prone, then this might be a bit of a hard game for you. That’s what I like though, there’s so many decisions available. You want to do them all, but you can’t. Needless to say, this is one of the most unique worker placement games. Fans of games like Village, Orleans or Kingsburg should really enjoy this one. This is a game that I recommend, especially if you’re a strategy minded gamer like myself.
8 out of 10

OVERALL
Brides & Bribes is a worker placement style game that incorporates several other mechanics to make for a truly unique experience. The game takes an average amount of time to play. Most game sessions last about an hour and a half, give or take. The game looks quite nice, even in a print and play format. I really like the character designs and the board. The game is full of decisions. Knowing which ones to make and when to make them is difficult. AP prone players will have some difficulty with this one. However that should not sway your judgement in a negative way. It’s just that there’s so much to think about. Trust me, that’s a good thing. The mixture of mechanics will entertain lots of different gamers. Fans of worker placement games like Village, Orleans and Kingsburg should enjoy this one too. It’s really well done and should be even better once it’s produced. I look forward to seeing this one once it’s finished.
8 out of 10

For more information about this and other great games, please check out SpaceBalloon Games at their site.

http://www.spaceballoongames.com/

You can also back it on Kickstarter now by following the link below to the campaign page.

 https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/spaceballoongames/brides-and-bribes

King of New York: Power Up! Review

King of New York: Power Up! is an expansion for King of New York by Richard Garfield, published by IELLO. It is for 2-6 players. This expansion adds a new playable character, as well as adding Evolutions for the previous King of New York monsters. It also adds Evolutions for those same monsters to be played in King of Tokyo. For more information on how to play the game, as well as information on the basic setup, you can check out my previous review of King of Tokyo which gives a lot of the same basics of gameplay.

https://jlnelson73.wordpress.com/2016/07/01/king-of-tokyo-2016-edition-review/

First off as I just mentioned, the expansion adds in both Evolutions for King of New York and King of Tokyo. Before playing with the expansion, you should decide which game you want to play and take the appropriate backed Evolution cards for your chosen monster. The players will then shuffle the cards and draw 2. Players then choose 1 of the cards to keep in their hand. The other card is returned to the deck. The cards are then reshuffled.

Now then, let me explain what this expansion adds in terms of how the game is played. As I mentioned earlier there is a new character, the Mega Shark. He can be used with either King of New York or King of Tokyo without the Evolution cards. However like I mentioned earlier, this expansion also includes Evolution cards making it possible to play him in either game WITH Evolution cards.

If you’re unfamiliar with these games, let me explain what the Evolution card is and how it works. Basically, when rolling your dice if you’re able to roll at least 3 hearts your then able to draw 2 Evolution cards. You pick one to keep in your hand and one to discard. The hearts are still able to be used to heal wounds, as long as your monster is not in New York or Tokyo. The Evolution cards are kept in hand until the player decides to play them. Evolutions can be temporary which means they are discarded after use, or they can be permanent which means they are played face up in front of the player and continue to give benefits as long as they’re in play.

COMPONENTS
As I mentioned earlier, this expansion adds Evolution cards for all of the King of New York monsters. There are cards for these monsters to be played in both King of New York and also in King of Tokyo. King of Tokyo Evolution cards have a white border on the front and the green backs that fit in with the other Evolution cards from that game. The King of New York Evolution cards have a new design on the back and have black borders on the front. That way you don’t get things mixed up. I think that was an excellent idea on the part of the designer. I’m really glad that both sets where included with the expansion. I’m now able to use my monsters together to play in Tokyo. Needless to say, I’m ecstatic about that as I love having more characters to choose from. The expansion also comes with the new Mega Shark character which has a cardboard stand up and plastic stand along with a monster board just like the other monsters in the game do. I have to say, I love the look of the new monster. He’s pretty darn awesome and fits in well with the games previous monsters. Overall, I’m thrilled with the components and love how it looks.
10 out of 10

RULEBOOK
The rulebook for this expansion is rather small. It has a few pictures and a couple of examples inside. There’s a full page that explains the details of the Evolution cards. The back page of the book even includes a variant that allows for a more competitive game using a drafting style mechanic for determining a character’s Evolution cards. I think that was a really nice addition that I’m glad was included. The book is really simple to read through and only takes a couple of minutes. Overall, the design is nice and it fits in well with the game.
9 out of 10

GAMEPLAY
If you’ve already read my review of King of Tokyo, then you know how much my kids and I LOVE it. This just adds even more to an already great game. The thing is that you can add this expansion to either King of New York or King of Tokyo. The best part is that if you have both games, you can now play New York monsters in Tokyo as well as the new Mega Shark. I can’t express my happiness enough about this. I fully expected there to only be Evolutions for King of New York since this was the Power Up expansion for that game. You can imagine my surprise when I found out that it had both. Anyway, enough about my excitement. The new cards add quite a bit to the game without overpowering it. Of course some evolutions are a bit better than others. For instance, Kong has a permanent evolution that allows him to roll 3 dice when he reaches 0 health. If he rolls at least 1 heart, he doesn’t die and he gets 2 hearts back. There are also specially themed evolutions that deal with the boroughs as well as the different facings on the dice that are exclusive to King of New York. Mantis has an evolution that allows him/her to take back Superstar. The King of Tokyo cards are a bit more simple as there’s not as much to deal with in that game. Such as evolutions that deal 1 damage to a monster leaving Tokyo, or adding 2 attacks to a roll if the player rolls four of a kind. Like I’ve already stated, I really love the expansion. Fans of either game will be happy to add this to their collection. I highly recommend it. For me, it’s a must have.
10 out of 10

OVERALL
King of New York: Power Up! is an expansion for both King of New York as well as King of Tokyo. There is really a very small amount of time that this adds to either of the base games. Setup is also straight forward and only adds an extra minute or so. Like the original games, the artwork is outstanding for this expansion. I love the new character and was overjoyed to find Evolution cards that allow the King of New York monsters to be played in King of Tokyo. If you’ve played King of Tokyo with the Power Up expansion then you kinda know what to expect here. This is a lot like that expansion except focused mainly on King of New York instead. The new Evolutions really enhance the game quite a bit and add more fun in my opinion. I really like the expansion and I would highly recommend it. If you have King of New York, you absolutely will want to get this too. It is a must have addition. If you have both King of New York and King of Tokyo, then you’ve probably already bought it and you don’t need me to tell you how great it is. In any event, I love it and so will you.
10 out of 10

For more information about this and other great games, please check out IELLO Games at their site.

www.iellogames.com