Kickstarter Weekly—August 1, 2013

Well it's Thursday and you know what that means... It's not yet Friday. But never fear because we're here with another installment of Kickstarter Weekly, the place where we make our recommendations and let you know what's a poppin' over on Kickstarter. Let's jump in, shall we?

King's Forge - Clever Mojo Games

Go back this project! We have both played the prototype (and will be posting our written AND video Double-Take on it soon!). This dice-builder offers up lots of great decision making moments, a bit of a take that element, and lots of ways to tweak your dice rolls. It's super easy to learn, play and teach. A pledge of $39 gets you a copy of this game and it's money well spent! Check out the full campaign here!

A Duel Betwixt Us - Game Salute

This nifty little 2-player dueling card game takes card dueling into the realm of an old-timey gentlemen's duel. Loaded with lots of humor and jest, the one looks like a lot of fun! In just about 24 hours the campaign is over 60% funded, so you can bet there's going to be all kinds of stretch goaly goodness coming for this one! A $35 pledge gets you the game shipped to your door in the US and UK! We'll be interviewing the game's co-designer Laurence Honderick next week so stay tuned for that! You can check out the campaign here, and be sure to watch the entertaining and informative video on this one!

Giant Meeples - Gamelyn Game

Gamelyn Games founder Michael Coe has found a great niche with these awesome, sturdy, and just super-cool-to-look-at meeples. They were introduced to the gaming world through Dungeon Heroes, and since then Gamelyn has been releasing different sets of meeples for gamers to use, give to kids to play with, use in story telling, or display proudly. The latest installment in this line is a set of GIANT MEEPLES! These things look great, could be used as a set of book ends, or a centerpiece in your medieval dinner party, or... well you can decide. You can pledge $12 and get one, or $40 and get 5, and there are dozens of them to choose from! Check out the campaign right here!

Click-Clack Lumberjack - Mayday Games

Also known as Toc Toc Woodman 2.0. Click-Clack Lumberjack is a dexterity game that puts a dangerous weapon in your children's hands. Ok, it's a plastic axe, but to my children I'm sure it would be a ninja ax, or a bat-ax or something to wield in a quest to eradicate evil... Anyway, there's this plastic tree and you're trying to knock the bark off of it without knocking the wood off of it. Bark scores points, wood scores negative points. An interesting pledge level of $17 gets you the game shipped in a flat rate box and the game box is collapsed to make everything fit. If you want it uncollapsed you can pay an extra $5 and get it shipped that way. Check out the full campaign here!

Dungeon Attack! - Attack Dice Games

Attack Dice, creators of the dice roller When Zombies Attack! are back at it with a dungeon themed dice-apalooza! Dungeon Attack! Looks like a game that takes a straight-forward dice roller and adds some depth and tweaks the scoring mechanism a little. I (Jeremiah) loved When Zombies Attack—it's a filler that comes out quite frequently with my group and is way better than Steve Jackson's Zombie Dice (which is basically a zombie-themed Farkle). This campaign is already funded and there are some sweet stretch goals in the future for backers! $20 gets you in on a copy of the game for this one and it looks well worth it if you're into rolling dice! Check out the full campaign here!

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Kickstarter Weekly: Game Salute Special!

Well, like we said: Game Salute is busy powering a bunch of Kickstarter Campaigns, and bringing a bunch of games to market! So we thought we would dedicate an entire post to campaigns that wear the Game Salute brand, so here we go!

Magnum Opus - Clever Mojo Games

We'll be reviewing this title here on TOG very soon. Magnum Opus is a deck-builder with a cool matrix of cards to research and select from! You can jump on board with this one for $35, which is a great value! But! If you go in for $200 you can also receive one of the 8 prototype copies that are being sent out to the reviewers. (Including the one sitting on Scott's shelf and the one sitting next to me (Jeremiah) right now!) How cool is that!? You can find the full details and lots of videos and such right here!

Chaos & Alchemy - Clay Crucible Games

There seems to be a lot of games delving into the realm of alchemy lately and we see another example of that here! The game is listed as a quick-playing card and dice game for 2-5 players, and seems to feature a fair amount of decisions on each players turn. You use dice to give the players actions (play cards, etc.). You can get in on this one for $25, and with plenty of time left they've already funded, so there should be some sweet stretch goals in the future for backers! You can check out the full campaign, right here!

Zoo Fu - Closet Nerd Games

After a long day in the zoo, animals go full out in a samurai battle royal. This card battle game pits players against each other in an attempt to be zoo champion! When the deck runs out the player holding the most chi tokens is crowned Zoo Fu champion! A super inexpensive game to jump into at $15, and looks like a fun, light family game! They need a good boost to get to their funding goal on this one! You can check out the full campaign here!

KerFlip! 2nd Edition - Creative Foundry Games

KerFlip is a fun fast paced word game that we reviewed a few months ago. (Read that review here!) But wait...there's more, because with the help of Game Salute, Creative Foundry Games is upgrading KerFlip for a second edition! It's really quite simple: If you have the original version, for a $10 bill you can get a conversion pack, or if you back it for $25 you'll get the 2nd edition of the full game! The campaign is right here!

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Kickstarter Weekly—July 25, 2013

Hey everyone! Welcome to yet another installment of Kickstarter Weekly! There are a lot of projects on Kickstarter asking for your hard-earned dollar—some are good, some are great, and others... We write this piece every week to let you know which ones we're excited about and hopefully give you some useful information along the way!

Let's get started -

Pack of Heroes - Adventureland Games

Set in an alternate vintage comic book universe (that totally doesn't exist) Pack of Heroes is a 2-player head-to-head card game battle. Using your heroes and their abilities the goal is basic: Defeat your opponent! If nothing else this game looks super stylized and has awesome fake retro art! $20 gets you a copy of the game and all unlocked stretch goals. They've already funded so every backer will push them onward toward those stretch goals. Plus there are some sweet add-ons including T-shirts and action figures! You can find the campaign here.

Pigpen - Island Officials

We told you about this one last week, but wanted to remind you to check out our interview with designer Kevin Kulp, and developer Jason Tagmire RIGHT HERE! This is an inexpensive family game that we think you'll enjoy! Our Double-Take Review is on its way too! Check out the campaign here!

Byzantio - LudiCreations

This 4-player board game takes places in a realm that finds itself without an emperor, and no heir apparent. As one of the noble houses you will try to gain control of the throne. The 4-player game is said to take only an hour (and that includes teaching the game!). They've already funded within the first 2 days and are on their way to knocking over stretch goals! You can still get in on the early bird funding price of $38 to have it shipped to the US and EU. Check out the campaign here!

Privateer - Ensignia Games

Well you know I (Jeremiah) especially have a soft spot for pirate games, and this one looks like a winner! Claiming lots of player interaction and shifting circumstances that keep all players involved even while players are not taking their turn, the goal is to increase your captain's infamy by way of buying, selling, and stealing cargo and goods. You can get in on a few early bird levels—right now the lowest level is $43. Check out the campaign right here.

Shuriken - Awesome Enterprise

This modular tile board game boasts a battle between 2-5 ninja clans and 250 plastic ninja miniatures. Along with the modular boards comes the possibilities of special scenarios and unique setups to increase replayability! This one is a bit pricey, coming in at $75 for the game, but all those pieces parts will quickly run up the cost of a game like this! You can check out the campaign here.

Congrats!

VivaJava: The Coffee Game: The Dice Game - Dice Hate Me Game

A big congrats to the folks at Dice Hate Me for crushing the campaign for VJTCGTDG! They managed to unlock 5 stretch goals in the process, which means Angry Dice are on the way! Be on the look out for this fun dice roller, and we'll be sure to check in with designer TC Petty III and Chris Kirkman of Dice Hate Me to keep you up to date on all things VJTCGTDG!

Thanks so much for reading, and check back tomorrow for an special installment of Kickstarter Weekly as we feature nothing but games powered by Game Salute! Yes, they have that many games in the pipeline that we're giving them their very own post! So, don't miss it!

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Epic Death—A Preview

By Jeremiah “You only live twice: Once when you're born And once when you look death in the face.”  ― Ian Fleming, You Only Live Twice

And thrice when you get brought back to life by a resurrect card...

Today we're looking at a prototype of the card game Epic Death, from Waits in Graves; the game was successfully Kickstarted by Springboard—Game Salute's Kickstarter juggernaut.

Let's talk about how the game plays...

The Components

Cards... Lots of them.

20x Adventurer Cards—These are flavorful, but un-unique, otherwise—no one adventurer has any special abilities or stats.

57x Loot Cards—This is one of two ways you score points. Again there are no abilities or bonuses given through collecting these cards.

38x Fate Cards—These cards make up your player hand, and basically allow you to increase your chances of completing a quest, or decrease the chances of your opponents completing quests on their turns. Speaking of Quests...

40x Quest Cards—These are split into two types: Quests (ordinary run of the mill quests) and Epic Quests!

16 Six-Sided Dice—I had to use my own for the preview version but they say these are going to be epic in the final version!

The Setup

Each player selects five adventures—unless you're playing a 5-player game then you select four, because you know...math. Separate the Epic, and Regular Quest cards, placing the stack of Regular Quests on top of the Epic Quest cards; this makes the Quest deck. Then deal a line of 5 Quest cards out from the Quest deck.  Shuffle up the Loot cards and Fate cards separately to make the Loot and Fate decks, and then deal out 5 Fate cards to each player.

The Gameplay

On a player's turn he or she selects a Quest from the lineup, and then players can play Fate cards on the active player's company, starting with Death/Resurrection cards and proceeding to "before dice are rolled" cards—before the active player rolls the dice—and then "after dice are rolled" cards—after the dice are...well I think you get it. Let's break those down a little bit:

Death/Resurrection cards—These cards are assigned to a specific adventurer; a Death card results in that adventurer being killed if the quest is failed. A Resurrection card will result in bringing a deceased adventurer back into the game if the Quest is successfully defeated.

Other Fate cards—The majority of Fate cards that are played before or after the dice are rolled either add or subtract the amount of dice rolled for the quest. Or force a player to re-roll after they've been rolled.

After the Fate cards have been played, the active player rolls the dice (starting with 10, and then +/- by the modifiers of the Fate cards). If they are victorious, they collect the reward, which typically consists of Loot cards and Fate cards. If they fail, then the Quest card is placed under one of the adventurers, exposing the bottom of the Quest card and the "Fail" points attributed to the card. If there is a Death card on an adventurer, that adventurer gains the "Fail" points and is killed (turned face down).

How do you defeat a Quest? Each Quest has a type and number of victories required to defeat it. A trivial victory is any die showing 4 and up, a mighty victory is 5 and up, and an exalted victory is a die showing 6. So a Quest requiring 4 mighty victories requires 4 of the 10 dice you're rolling to show a 5 or 6. Rewards and Fail points are scaled appropriately for the type of Quest and victories needed to defeat it.

Loot cards gained by defeating Quests are assigned to your adventurers by playing them under the adventurer cards showing the "Epic" score on the top of the Loot cards.

The Epic Quest Phase—Once you've gone through the regular quests the Epic Quests will populate the line up and will shake things up! Defeating an Epic Quest will still reward you with some Loot and Fate cards. But if a player fails an epic quest, they kill off a hero and gain the Epic score on the Quest card (placing it the same way you do a Loot card). Once an adventurer is killed off you can no longer place loot (points!) or quest cards (fail or points) on them.

End Game

Once one player's adventurers are all dead, the game is over, and the score is tallied. Players only count the scores of those adventurers who have met glorious, "epic," or maybe not-so-epic death in battle. Whoever has the most points wins.

My Thoughts

Components—While the copy I reviewed is only in the prototype stages, the artwork is mostly complete. From what I saw it's very well done in the cartoony fantasy style, and looks great. The flavor text is humorous and packed full of  great genre-crossing references!

Gameplay—I enjoyed the change-up halfway through the game—just when the turns seemed a little redundant, the Epic Quests come out and you find yourself actually trying to take dice away from your roll so you can kill off an adventurer and score a bunch of Epic points for your Epic Death! The potential (and I suppose the expectancy) for gang-up situations is huge in this game. Those seem to move the game along well though, so be prepared and bring your thick skin!

Final Thoughts and Recommendations—Munchkin and Gloom had a baby and named it Epic Death. If you know those titles, and you enjoy those titles, then get on the Epic Death bandwagon. The theme is set in a Munchkin-ish comedic fantasy realm where everyone gangs up on everyone else, and the scoring mechanism (i.e. placing points on a character and killing them off to score them) is very reminiscent of Gloom. That being said there is some fun to be had with the randomness of the dice rolls and a good touch of strategy when it comes to deciding if you want to play a fate card on an opponent or keep it to help your chances.

Put It on the Table—If you enjoy a slap-sticky dice-roller with lots of ganging up and a big take-that factor. Just know that this is that kind of game, and if you're into that, you'll love Epic Death—it does that very well! Casual players will be able to grasp the game concepts pretty easily as well, and the flavor and geeky references in the game will hit folks on many levels.

Leave It on the Shelf —You might want to leave this one on the shelf for family game nights, or with a church or youth group. While all of the artwork is stylized and non-threatening, there are a lot of Necromancer, demon-ish type cards in there—what you would expect for a game called Epic Death—so you might want to have a good look at the cards to determine what settings are appropriate for the game. Younger players might have a tough time tracking the change of strategies midway through the game as well.

Overall: Put It on the Table!

We'd like to thank Game Salute for loaning Jeremiah a prototype of Epic Death, which in no way influenced the review of this game.

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Kickstarter Weekly—July 17, 2013

Here we go with another installment of Kickstarter Weekly, we've got lots to talk about so let's give in!

Currently Running!

Frog Flip - Sprocket Games

We gave you a sneak peek at this campaign last week, and the mini game designed by Jason and Claire Kotarski funded within the first 12 hours of the campaign—coincidence? Probably. They're looking to knock over some stretch goals, which will only add to the value of your pledge. Check out our review of the game here. The game costs you a pledge of $14; you can check out the campaign right here.

PigPen - Island Officials

Pigpen is a take-that, family strategy card game for 2-4 players. Players will take turns trying to build their pens, gather pigs within them, and also do what they can to destroy their opponents' pens! Designed by Kevin Kulp, and developed by (friend of the blog) Jason Tagmire, this one looks like another fun family game we are sure to enjoy! Stay tuned for our Double-Take Review of this soon! But in the meantime check out the campaign, and consider placing a $20 pledge to grab a copy of this one.

Incredibrawl - Vision 3 Games

Incredibrawl is subtitled "A chaotic, casual card game," and that is exactly what you'll get with a copy of the game (which is just a pledge of $25!). The game is very well suited for family play or casual play. We just reviewed this game here. They are two-thirds funded with 23 days to go (the campaign ends on Aug. 10, 2013). You can find the campaign here.

Casual Gamer Magazine Year 2

Casual Gamer has become a strong voice in the casual gaming industry, and they've launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund their second year. You can get a PDF subscription for $15 and a print-and-PDF subscription for $25. Check out the full campaign here.

NanoBot Battle Arena - Derpy Games

A fast-paced tile-placement/card game set in the epic battle arena of a petri dish. NanoBot Battle Arena claims to have a one-game (10-15 minute) learning curve and is for 2-4 players. You can take a look at the campaign here, and a pledge of $25 gets you a copy of the game!

This is just cool!

Darkling Plain: An Augmented Reality Miniatures Board Game - Nocturnal Media

Okay, Just watch the video. For $55 you get the full game board, AR app, and some army cards. They have a very high goal to get the game to market, but the game looks pretty well thought out and the AR just looks cool! You can check it out here.

Thanks so much for reading, please don't forget to take our reader polls, and don't forget to subscribe this week for your chance to win a free copy of Boss Monster! And as always look for us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube!

CarmaRace—Kickstarter Preview

Even though we already had a Kickstarter Weekly post this week, we wanted to give you a quick preview look at a campaign being launched by Board to Death TV. That's right, some board game reviewers decided to try their hand at design, and CarmaRace was born.

CarmaRace, from first glance, looks to be a humorous card-driven board game. You're moving on the board as a hitchhiker, and the cards you play affect your movement, as well as your opponents.

Here's the catch: When you play a card that hinders your opponent, that opponent can then take that very same card into their hand. So, yes, what goes around, comes around! The luck you're pressing in this game is in the form of your opponents' good graces! Yeah, good luck with that...

The game looks very well done—we've included some preview art in this post—and they'll be launching the campaign July 18, and early birds can get a copy starting at $45. You can check out their launch event on Facebook here.

Thanks for reading, and don't forget to look for us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube!

Kickstarter Weekly—July 11, 2013

Hey! Kickstarter Weekly is back! And boy is there a ton of stuff going on in Kickstarter Land, so let's get started! VivaJava: The Coffee Game: The Dice Game - Dice Hate Me Games

The follow up to Dice Hate Me's coffee game, the dice game appears to be more than just a dice version of the original VivaJava, but introduces new game play themes and concepts. The campaign funded super fast and they've already knocked down a couple stretch goals, with plenty of time left! $30 gets you the game and any stretch goals as well! You can check it out here! You can also check out our interview with designer TC Petty III right here!

The Agents - by Saar Shai

The Agents is a card game based around a series of characters who are all decommissioned secret agents who have been reactivated. The game play invovles playing agent cards and choosing to either score points, or use their ability—the catch is that whichever you choose, the other effect works in favor of your opponent. We'll be getting the latest prototype of this game and let you know our full thoughts very, very soon! Check out the campaign here; it just launched and you can get in on the early bird deal, which scores you the game for $15!

Ancient Terrible Things - Pleasant Company Games

Game Salute is powering another Kickstarter Campaign, and they're doing it very well (as usual)! Ancient Terrible Things is a dice roller with some meat on its bones. A good level of resource management adds some nifty decision making elements to the game. Check out Jeremiah's video preview of the game here. You can check out the campaign here, it's been funded and they've also hit several stretch goals. A pledge of $45 will score you a copy of this fun dice-roller!

Coming Soon!

Frog Flip - Sprocket Games

Jason Kotarski has designed a mini game, along with his daughter Claire, that plays in just a few minutes. We've reviewed the game, and it's a great kids game! The campaign doesn't begin until tomorrow (Friday, July 12) but you can get a sneak peek ahead of time, right here!

Congratulations!

Princes of the Dragon Thrones - Clever Mojo Games

We're super excited for Clever Mojo, who just brought this one in under the wire! This is yet another successful campaign by Game Salute. This game has been a long time in the works, and we're glad to see that it will make it to the marketplace soon! Jeremiah was fortunate enough to play one of the prototypes, you can read his full review here. Want more Dragon Throne goodness? Check out our interview with Fred and David Mackenzie here!

Council of Verona - Crash Games

The first in Crash Games' Pub Series of games, that feature small games with big game play! The campaign funded at 303% hitting over $27k! That unlocked what Patrick says is the most exciting stretch goal - a 5th-player expansion! We haven't played this yet (unreal!) but we LOVE the idea of the game, and see a smash hit coming to market with this game's arrival! Congrats Crash!

Thanks so much for reading, as we continue our 1-year Blogiversary! Don't forget to subscribe to the blog over on the right, and you can win a copy of Clever Mojo's game Sunrise City! And look for us wherever social media is happening, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube!

Guile—A Double-Take (P)Review

Is 2013 the year of the tiny card game? I dunno, but we've already seen some corkers in the form of Coup and Hanabi. The guys at Terra Nova Games sent us a preview copy of their new Kickstarter project Guile, and we're here to give you our impressions. Please note: The copies we reviewed were preproduction prototypes. Artwork, rules, and...well, everything might change before the final game is released. This review is based on what we received, with the understanding that tweaks (minor or major) may happen.

Components

8 Knight cards—four of Arthur and four of Mordred

10 Influence cards—three 1's, three 2's, two 3's, and two 4's

1 Cycle card

1 Turn card

3 Victory cards

Setup

Decide which player will play Arthur, and which will play Mordred; there's no gameplay difference between the two of them. Just know that if you're the Mordred player, deep down you're a rotten, thieving, low-down scoundrel. Place the Knight cards in a circle on a table—alternating between the two players' Knights. This will create a Round Table—see what they did there?!

Place the Turn card above one of the Knights on the outside of the circle; then place the Cycle card sword-side-up below that same Knight card on the inside of the circle.

Next, shuffled the Influence cards, deal four to each player, and set aside the remaining two unseen. Each person looks at his or her Influence cards, and players simultaneously place one Influence card onto each of their Knight cards, so that there a bit of the Knight card peeking out from under the Influence card.

Gameplay

You'll play at least two, but no more than three, rounds, and each round will consist of eight turns for each player. The player whose Knight is above the Cycle card (in the game, this Knight is called the Knight-Errant) begins. On your turn you can do one of two things:

Look at the Influence card currently on top of the Knight-Errant, and then place it back.

Swap the Influence card currently on top of the Knight-Errant with any other card—without looking at either one.

Then just move the Cycle card one Knight clockwise, and it's now the other player's turn. When the Cycle card gets back around to the Knight under the Turn card, the game is halfway over, and you flip the Cycle card from the sword-only side to the side that shows the sword and some gold. This signifies you're in the second half of this short round.

You continue alternating turns until the Cycle card gets back to the Turn card again, and the round is over. Flip over the Influence cards currently on your Knights and count up Influence. The person with the most wins one of the three Victory cards, and the first person to win three Victory cards wins the game.

One of the 4 cards—and one of the 3 cards—has a dagger stuck into the number. If there's a tie on Influence, the player with the highest card with a dagger in it wins the tie. (The 3 card has a dagger just in case both 4's happen to be the two cards that are out this round.)

If no one has won, you move the Turn card one Knight clockwise and do it all over again—including dealing out all-new Influence cards to each player—but the other player will start this round.

That's it!

Recommendations

Youth Group Game? Not really! The biggest barrier for this is that it only plays two players. But if you're meeting a student for a soda, and looking for a quick game to play, go for it!

Party Game? Not really! Again, only two players, so unless you're at a party where everyone but you and a friend is playing Apples To Apples for the 1,000th time, this won't really work.

Family Game? Sure! Not the whole family, but we each played this with our oldest sons (7 and 8), and they both liked it.

Gamers' Game? Depends! My group didn't care for it much, but your group might.

The Verdict

Firestone—I'll start with some aesthetic things: I really think the back of the Influence cards should be uniform. It's not that each card back is different, but if you look at the image above, the whole thing tapers toward one end of the card, and the colors alternate.  I'm not sure if they're asymmetrical so that people can create some sort of private orientation scheme to keep track of which card is which, but it just seems that on games with trackable information it's almost always better to have the card backs look the same—there's a reason standard card decks have uniform backs.. (Again, these are prototype cards, so that might change before it's final. I hope so!) It's also weird that the darker-colored Knight is the Good Guy, and the bright one is the Bad Guy. But that's not a complaint—it's just odd and surprising.

Jeremiah— The asymmetrical backs didn't bother me so much; I mean, what's to stop your opponent from spinning them and blowing up your foolproof plan anyway? I was a little confused as to the color scheme of the knight cards, These aren't things that "break" the game—as Firestone said, they are aesthetics, and prototype aesthetics at that.

Firestone—I played this with a few gamers, and their reaction was mostly neutral. It's not that they didn't understand it, or want to give it a chance...they just felt there wasn't much there there. I had much better luck getting my 8-year-old to play. He enjoyed it quite a bit—especially after we talked about some things to do to move it beyond just playing Guile as a memory game. Once he started bluffing (which he's hilariously terrible at), he liked it even more. He was able to hold his own, too, because his chaotic, unconventional, 8-year-old gameplay completely threw me off and made it really hard for me to keep track of where my good (and bad) cards were. So often the VP reveal was an utter surprise...

I'm not saying this would only work with kids, or that your game group wouldn't enjoy it. This was just my experience.

Jeremiah— Truthfully I haven't played a ton of these 2-player mini-games; to me it seems that designing a game of this type would be a more difficult task than say a larger board or card game. Everything is so incredibly streamlined that the slightest tweak can destroy the core of the game. That being said, the two actions a player can take are a very precarious balance. The "look at the card on your current knight" action seems to be only useful for about half of a round. If you can remember your first one or two cards, there's no need to look at them. But if you put a lower card on the first one or two and switch them right away, by the time you get a chance to look at the card you switched for, it doesn't matter anyway because you can't do much about it (only switch it with the card on your next knight). I kept hoping for a 3rd turn in a round to make the game go more like this: strike, gather information, then counter-strike. It may just be the "big game" gamer in me...

Firestone—Yeah, the thing I kept thinking in this game is that there's not really time to act on the information you're given. In the early game you know what's out there, so if you have a low card, you'll probably swap it, assuming the one you swap for is more valuable. But if you know the card on turn is a 4...what do you do with it? Bluff with it? Swap it with another of yours? Just feign ignorance and look at it? The early game was full of turns where I didn't want to do anything, and later turns moved too quickly to act. I completely agree with Jeremiah—it seems that adding a third round of play would give me a chance to do something with the info I glean. Maybe that would wreck my ability to track cards, though...I dunno.

Jeremiah— I love that this is a game that is super easy to learn, and teach, because it is so streamlined. This style of game is going to do a lot for the industry in capturing the casual gamer. In the case of Guile the downside is if memory based games aren't your thing, there's not much else to grab onto here. The upside is if you like games with a memory based core mechanic, you're going to LOVE this game!

Firestone Final Verdict—I've enjoyed playing this with my son; I wish I enjoyed playing this with my game group. We love small filler card games, but this one just fell flat for us. It's more than just a memory game, but the meta game aspect isn't given enough time to percolate...

Jeremiah Final Verdict— I'm very happy that games like this are becoming popular. I love simple mechanics, and quick-playing games that cause a lot of tension for the short amount of time you're playing, and Guile certainly delivers that! I'm really rooting for this game; I feel with a few small tweaks the game can move from good to great!

There's only a week left in the Kickstarter campaign, and the game has funded! So you can get in on the fun for only $15—or $20 to get the game and some extras, such as variant cards. (We didn't play with these variants, but they look interesting. The Guinevere one, for instance, changes things if she's on Lancelot at game end. I think cards such as this one could really make the game more interesting. Again, it would be nice to have another round to maneuver her...)

Thanks so much for reading, and joining us in this 1-Year Blogiversary week! Don't forget: We're giving away some cool stuff—including a copy of The Great Heartland Hauling Company tomorrow—and all you've got to do to enter is subscribe via email, over on the right.-------->

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An Interview With Frontier Skies Designer Chris Castagnetto

Today we're pleased to bring you an interview with Chris Castagnetto. He's the designer of the just-put-up-on-Kickstarter game Frontier Skies, from Game Salute.

Hi Chris! Thanks for agreeing to answer some questions.

No problem at all. Thanks for your interest in Frontier Skies and for asking for the interview.

So, first, tell us a little about yourself.

I was born in southern California and have been a big gamer for most of my life. I started hobby gaming back in 1994 with the original Star Trek and Star Wars CCGs, and have been a hobby gamer ever since. Throughout high school I worked as a volunteer for a number of gaming companies, at conventions working as official representatives for their companies, and I also participated as a play tester for a number of their products. During college I got more involved in video gaming and MMOs while still maintaining weekly game nights for our local table-top crowd. After college I moved to the bay area where I was lucky to land a position at Gaia Online, an online game publisher where, over the past 6 years, I've had the unique opportunity to try my hand at everything, including game development, marketing, business development, licensing and many other elements of the gaming industry. In my free time I've been spending the majority of my time back in hobby gaming, both as a player as well as a designer and playtester. I worked closely with the designer of the Star Trek Deck Building Game as well as the Star Trek Continuing Committee where I also won the 2012 Continental Championship.

Have you always been a game designer of some kind, or was this a recent endeavor?

Game Design has been something that I have been involved with since 2007, both with designing and developing my own games, and working with other companies and designers to help design and play test their titles.

We’re unfamiliar with Gaia Online; can you tell us about that?

Gaia Online is the leading online hangout for teenagers and young adults. More than three million visitors come to Gaia Online every month to make friends, play games, and participate in the world's most-active online community. Gaia Online provides a fun, social environment that inspires individuality and creativity. With everything from art contests to discussion forums on poetry, politics, celebrities and more, to fully customizable profiles, digital characters and cars, Gaia Online is a place where you can create your own space and express your individual style. For more information, visit www.gaiaonline.com.

Frontier Skies is described as a “steampunk-themed minigame.” Is it a minigame from Gaia Online that’s been blown up into a full-fledged board game?

Exactly. In 2009 we had one of our most-popular mini-game events on Gaia Online, which was a steampunk-themed mini game called Frontier Skies. Ever since that event our fans have been wanting us to bring back the characters, fun, and adventure to Gaia. With all the feedback and popularity of the game we decided to take the theme, characters, and art from the game and bring the fun and adventure off the screen and into the living room and convention floor by creating the card game.

Does someone need to be familiar with the Gaia Online universe in order to appreciate Frontier Skies, or does it stand well on its own?

Frontier Skies is a completely stand-alone game. Although the characters, world, and art are the same as the online game they also stand along as a completely independent adventure game.

How were you introduced to “Euro-type” games?

I have always been a big fan of hobby gaming. When I was younger I was really into Magic, Star Trek, Pokemon and Ameritrash board gaming, but in 2006 when I moved to the Bay Area I was introduced to Euro Gaming and haven’t been the same since. No more Risk for me—now it's Agricola, Puerto Rico, Ticket To Ride etc., etc.

Looking at your Boardgamegeek profile, it looks like many of your favorite games are worker-placement games. What is it about those that you like so much? Are there worker-placement aspects to Frontier Skies?

I love the control that Euro Gaming provides, and especially worker-placement and role-taking games. I am not a fan of dice or randomness, so games with more user control and player interaction are the ones for me. Another element I love about Euro Gaming is how in most games all players have perfect information about everything around them and can strategize accordingly. In Frontier Skies, players always know where they stand when compared to the other players and it’s that perfect information that you have that helps guide your strategic choices to help put you ahead of your

opponents and block those crucial upgrades that they want to make.

As a Christian, what have been some of your challenges with staying true to your beliefs in while working in the video game world?

That’s a hard question. In the online gaming world there are a lot of companies and people out there who are always looking for a quick buck and a way to partner together to later take advantage of you. I would say the hardest thing to do is find good companies and people to partner with to create partnerships that are beneficial to both companies in a positive way.

Are there any upcoming game designs you can share with us?

I’m currently working on another game for Gaia Interactive that I’m really excited about. I can’t share much about the game or the brand or who will publish it, but we are all really excited at Gaia about this project and can’t wait to share more with the community over the next few months.

Here’s our One-Word-Answer section!

Favorite Disciple?

Peter

Favorite pizza topping?

Olives

Favorite game designer?

Uwe Rosenberg

Favorite episode of your favorite TV show?

Stargate SG1: "There But for the Grace of God"

Coke or Pepsi?

Cream Soda

Chris, thanks for joining us today. Make sure you check out Frontier Skies over on Kickstarter!

And make sure you subscribe for your chance to win sweet prizes!

You Can Finally Party Like a Wok Star!

by Firestone

Back in 2010 I got to play a neat little real-time co-op game called Wok Star. It was a self-published, 500-copy indie game where you and your teammates own a restaurant and you're trying to get ingredients and make meals before the timer goes off—otherwise, the people eat for free and you lose money.

After some false starts with other publishers, designer Tim Fowers has partnered with Game Salute to bring you a new edition of this game—it's already funded on Kickstarter, so head on over and join in the fun. Designer Fowers says, "I’ve used the time to improve the game and make it quicker to play, but still maintain the tough choices and frantic pace. Also I feel the addition of an electronic timer will make the game fantastic. I’m excited to finally get it out to everyone that has been asking for it all these years. The game is a unique experience that transforms a group of players into a team."

Thanks for reading!