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Okay, in an effort to include as much info and coverage of Origins as possible (but let's face it I'm still not doing it justice here), get ready for a rapid-fire rundown of everyone I spoke to at Origins!! Aaaaand GO!
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By Firestone
On Thursday we were excited to bring you the newly released list of nominees for the Origins Awards. But as I looked over the list, I couldn't help but wonder what in the world they were thinking...
Let's start with Best Board Game. We have understandable nominees, such as Kingdom Builder, Lords of Waterdeep, and Mage Knight. Then there's Hot Rod Creeps from Cryptozoic Entertainment. "That's weird," I thought. "I've never even heard of that game. Maybe it just flew under the radar." So I went to the Geek and saw that it had flown under everyone's radar. The game has only 57 ratings. It's ranked 3656. Why would that game make the short list of best of the year? And speaking of year: Kingdom Builder and Mage Knight are both from 2011. So are these the best games of...recent years?
And then we have Best Gaming Accessory, which includes things like Dungeon Tiles, miniatures, cool dice, and...The Wizard's Tower from Castle Panic? What?! It's not an accessory; it's an expansion. The Tower isn't even a...thing! It's a deck of cards. And it came out in 2011!
And there seem to be an inordinate number of Cryptozoic games. I'm not saying they're not good games, but where are games from some of the other publishers—like Rio Grande and Z-Man and Fantasy Flight? Does Origins only nominate games that were sent to them by the publishers? That seems like a crazy way to determine the best games of the year. Or of recent years...
The next category in our Gift Guide is Family Games. This is kind of a tough one to land on, because the notion of "family" will vary depending on the makeup of your family, whether or not you have kids, how old your kids are, or if you even like playing game with your kids... (Kidding.) And some games from our Kids Games list could have gone here, too (like Sorry Sliders, for instance). But it's our list and our blog so we'll be coming at it from the viewpoint of people with two boys under the age of 10.
Castle Panic—All of our kids love this game. It's a cooperative game where you're trying to fight off hordes of baddies trying to attack your castle. You can adjust the difficulty up or down depending on how old your kids are; and there's an expansion that adds some more difficulty, options, and monsters. You can check out our review of the base game right here.
Cost: ~$27
Available From: Amazon
Ages: 6 and up
Forbidden Island—A great game of adventure, treasure hunting and team work! Players in this co-op are a group of treasure hunters searching for 4 different treasures on an island that's sinking into the sea! A great bonding experience as players have to work together to accomplish the task of defeating the game—all of the players win or lose together! If you have kids who are a little older, check out Pandemic. It's very similar to Forbidden Island, but you're trying to stop diseases from spreading across the planet. It's more complicated, has some more things going on, and is harder to win.
Cost: ~$14
Available From: Amazon
Ages: 8 and up (10 and up for Pandemic)
Hike—A fun card game that simulates a hike in the woods. Players take turns playing cards representing a segment of the hike. It's great for young kids because all cards (except the special cards) are icon/art-driven, but fun for the family because of the special ability cards, which add another layer of strategy. It plays like a thematic Uno game, with less luck involved.
Cost: ~12
Available From: Amazon
Ages: 6 and up
Zooloretto—You're a zookeeper, trying to create the best zoo by buying truckloads of animals and putting them in your pens in the most efficient way possible. It's bright and colorful, and kids love animals. There's also a slightly more complicated sequel called Aquaretto that has you running an animal water park.
Cost: ~$30
Available From: Amazon
Ages: 7 and up
Snow Tails—Race games make for good family games. They're usually not too complicated, they usually have some randomness, and races are just fun! (And parents, it'll force your kids to do some simple arithmetic, but they won't even realize they're doing it!)
Cost: ~$35
Available From: Amazon
Ages: 8 and up
King of Tokyo—In this game, you're one of a group of monsters who are trying to become the King of Tokyo by beating up on your opponents. There lots of randomness and crazy special powers, so it's just the sort of game that works well for families. Check out our review right here!
Cost: ~$35
Available From: Amazon
Ages: 8 and up
Memoir '44—This is a 2-player very, very light wargame that my (Firestone) 8-year-old LOVES. You'll be able to re-create battles from World War II, with each person playing a side of the conflict. There are LOTS of expansions, so you can play in Normandy, Russia, and the Pacific. If you have a kid who loves WWII history, consider this gem.
Cost: ~$40
Available From: Amazon
Ages: 7 and up
Pirate's Cove—In this game, each player is a pirate, who travels to different island to grab some treasure. But if you end up at the same island as another pirate, you fight! And there are some Legendary Pirates floating around, looking to challenge you for your treasure. The production values on this one are fantastic.
Cost: ~$45
Available From: Amazon
Ages: 8 and up
Somewhere in the Bizzaro Universe while Castle Panic! was being developed, Storm the Castle came into existence, and made its way to our reality--well, at least it will if Giant Goblin Games has its way.
Storm the Castle is a 1-4 player semi co-op battle game where, unlike Castle Panic!, players are joining forces to lay siege and conquer the castle. Over on Kickstarter there's still plenty of time to jump in on the campaign, and there are a TON of stretch goals waiting for you (all the way up to $100k).
The game looks interesting and the concept sounds really fun! The premise of "being the bad guy" is always an interesting twist on your gaming experience. Giant Goblin is promoting this as a kid/family friendly game, although to be honest, I'm not sure I'd be cool with my 6-year-old taking control of the "Undead Horde."
The Kickstarter Campaign looks like it will be funded, so jumping in now is just one step closer to the next stretch goal! Head on over and check out their campaign, and we'll see you next week with another Kickstarter Weekly!
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