Tag: Hand Management

Unexpected Favorites

Bill might be sleeping, but these games are worth waking up for!

Heather’s Pick: Ticket to Ride New York

Ticket to Ride New York is a much, much quicker version of the Ticket to Ride series. Created by Alan R. Moon and published by Days of Wonder, this 2018 small box edition utilizes the same rules as the original. Players race to collect cards and claim Manhattan routes, connecting their destinations and taking in breathtaking landmarks along the way. Taking only 10-15 minutes to play, this 2-4 player Taxi themed game was Heather’s most pleasant surprise of 2018. 

Bill thinks he could run the route faster than a Taxi cab in New York.

How to Play

Players start with two transportation cards in their hand and the remaining cards make a draw deck. The first five cards of the draw deck are revealed and placed beside the board. If at any point during the game, there are three or more taxi cards visible in this area, the cards are discarded and five more revealed. Players are then given two Destination cards and may choose to keep one or both goals. All cards are kept secret from other players.

Sample setup with transportation card draw pile by board, five visible transportation cards to draw from and possible player starting materials (yellow taxis, destination card, two transportation cards)

In this version players score points by completing routes on their destination cards, each leg of the route that connects two locations on the board, and connecting tourist attractions. Players lose points for destinations they do not complete.

On their turn, players have three options:

  1. Draw Transportation Cards: Players may draw cards from the draw deck or choose from the five face up ones, immediately replacing it with a new card from the draw deck. Players draw two cards, unless they choose to take a taxi (wild) one first. Players may draw from both locations and have no hand limit.
Sample of claiming a route- player trades in three green cards on turn to put taxi cabs between United Nations to Gramecy Park. Wild Yellow Cab cards could be used in place of any or all green cards to turn in. Taxi cabs left to the side just to show route for picture.

2. Claim a Route: If a player has the correct number of cards in the correct color and enough taxis to place on the route, they may discard those cards to claim the route. The route can be anywhere on the board and does not need to connect to any of their previously claimed spaces. The board indicates what color cards must be discarded to claim each route (blue for blue, pink for pink, etc.) with the exception of grey, where the players can play a set of cards of any one color. Players may turn in a combination of the matching color and/or wild taxi cards to claim the route. Players may never claim both sides of a Double Route.
3. Draw Destination Tickets: Destination tickets show two locations and the number of points received if completed or lost if not completed. Players must claim routes, making a continuous path between the two locations.  A player may draw two more destination cards from the deck and choose to keep one or both destinations.

Sample of completed Destination Card- Wall Street to United Nations

When any of the player has two or less Taxi pawns left in their supply, every player takes one last turn. Players than tally their points and the highest scoring player wins.

  1. Points earned or lost by completing or failing to complete Destination Cards. Point value is on the cards.
  2. Each Route claimed has a point value indicated on the bottom left corner of the board. Add up all routes claimed.
  3. One point for each tourist attraction connected by one or more routes claimed.

Review

I want to start by saying I do see the appeal of the original Ticket to Ride. It is a great gateway game that has helped many people discover the joy of modern board games. I own a copy, have taught it a few times, and even purchased a copy of My First Journey for my nephew.

This being said, I have never fully enjoyed the game due to its long playtime. I love the concept, the ease of teaching it, and the mechanics, but the game always feels sluggish. With a playtime of thirty to sixty minutes, players spend the majority of the time plodding across the board with limited player interaction. During the last few turns, it begins ramping up and the pressure mounts. This can be a great feeling, but at this point, when someone is blocked (on purpose or by accident) it usually results in frustration. After spending so much time crafting their routes, players often find themselves without a way to finish their goals, and I often witness them mentally check out during the last few rounds. Again, some individuals may find this their play style, but it is not mine. Because of this, when Ticket to Ride New York came out I did not really think much about it.

While searching for shorter games for library competitions, my coworker mentioned that Ticket to Ride New York only takes fifteen minutes to play and her family enjoyed it with two and four players. I played it and immediately felt the difference in play style. Although the game uses the same basic rules, it is a much tighter board, and forces almost immediate player interaction. This version adds in landmarks, with players getting points for connecting different tourist attractions. It adds another way to score and could be used as a teaching tool with younger players.

The game kept everything I enjoyed about the traditional Ticket to Ride and eliminated the one off-putting aspect, playtime. Each round kept me on my toes, and I really had to pay attention to where my opponents placed their taxis, or what cards they selected. I often was blocked, but instead of dreading the next few turns, I wanted to learn from my mistakes and try again. Sometimes I quickly adjusted and found an alternative route, but even if I did not complete my destination tickets, it did not bother me because of the short playtime. The whole game went at lightning speed and felt like playing an exciting, highly competitive last few rounds of Ticket to Ride. It has made me actually excited for the next small box version out in July, Ticket to Ride: London.

Joe’s Pick: Karuba

Karuba is a 2016 Spiel des Jahres Nominee designed by Rudiger Dorn and published by HABA. HABA is a German game company known for their well designed kids’ games. Karuba was published in 2015 along with Adventure Land as HABA’s foray into family weight games. Karuba boils down to a race between the players to move their adventurers to their respective temples in order to gain points. Karuba is meant for 2 to 4 players, ages 8 and up, and plays in about 30 to 40 minutes.

Bill is ready for adventure.

How to Play

To play, each player takes their own jungle board, four adventurers in the four different colors, four temples in the four different colors, and a set of jungle tiles numbered 1 to 36. The treasure tiles are then arranged by color and placed in stack of descending order, highest value on top and lowest value on the bottom, within reach of all players along with the clear and gold plastic tokens. For 2 players only the 5 and 3 valued treasure tiles of each color will be used. For 3 players, the 5, 3, and 2 valued tiles are used. With 4 players, all of the treasure tiles will be used. Players then cooperatively decide where to place the adventurers and the temples with a few rules. Adventurers must be placed on the coastline, left and bottom edges of the board, temples must be placed in the jungle, top and right edges of the board, and the adventurers must be at least 3 numbers distance, ie three spaces on the grid, away from their corresponding temple. The players take turns calling out an adventurer and their temple’s location. All other players will place the same adventurer and temple in the same location. This continues until all adventurers and temples are on each player board and every player board looks the same. One player, the leader of the expedition, will shuffle their jungle tiles in a face down stack. All other players arrange their tiles around their individual player board in order to easily access each numbered tile.

I personally like to create 7 stacks of about 5 tiles each. The manual suggests you surround the board edge with the tiles.

During the game, each player only has control over their own player board as they try to navigate their adventurers to the corresponding temples. Each turn, the expedition leader draws the top tile from the face down stack and calls out the number on the tile. Each player takes their tile of that number and can do one of two things: place the tile on their grid or discard the tile to move an adventurer. Tiles can be placed on any open space on the player board’s grid but the tile’s number must be in the upper left hand corner of the space. Players can not rotate tiles. If the tile has an open space for a clear gem or a gold nugget, the player takes the token from the supply and places it on the tile. If the player decides to move an adventurer, the tile is discarded and the player moves any one adventurer a number of spaces equal to the number of paths along the edge of the tile. For example, a tile with a T-junction will move an adventurer 3 spaces.

Number 33 called and added to the board with a clear gem from the supply.

Adventurers must follow the path laid before them, can collect any gems or gold they pass along the path, and cannot share a space with or move through another adventurer. If an adventurer is able to exit their grid at their temple, ie yellow adventurer reaches the yellow temple, on their move, the player takes the best available treasure in that color. If two or more players reach the same color temple at the same time, one player takes the best available treasure and the other player(s) take the next available treasure tile(s) and takes a number of gem and/or gold tokens to cover the difference. Play continues until a player has reached every temple with their adventurers or the expedition leader’s draw pile depletes. Players then count the number of points earned from treasure tiles, the number of clear gems each worth a point, and the number of gold nuggets each worth 2 points. The player with the most points wins.

A player board at the end of the game. Poor Mr. Blue.
What a winner’s board should look like.

Review

I usually don’t agree with the Spiel des Jahres awards. Every year I feel like one game gets snubbed or another game wins that didn’t deserve it. Karuba was nominated in 2016 and lost out to Codenames. Codenames has the mass market appeal as evidenced by USopoly printing of every sort of fandom but Karuba works better as a family game and should have won that year. I usually play one of the Spiel nominated family weight games and my reaction is one of three things: I don’t like it, it’s fine, or I’ll play it again later. I expected the same out of Karuba when we tested Heather’s library copy. I read through the rules, I thought, “seems simple enough,” and started playing. After it was over, I just stared at my board I wonderfully screwed up as I left an adventurer in the middle of the jungle. I stared and thought, “this is one of the best games I’ve ever played.” It’s just so simple and you think that it only gives you two choices: place a tile or move an adventurer. Karuba’s mechanisms turn an easy yes or no question into an interview that exposes your deep inner thoughts. Everybody’s board will be different at the end of the game even though each player received the same tiles in the same order with the same starting position. Play a game of Karuba with your family or friends and you can see what kind of person or player they are. Are they trying to keep options open for their adventurers, rushing one adventurer to their destination at a time, or are they maniacally stranding adventurers in the jungle with dead ends and winding paths? I always want to compare boards after a game. It helps to improve your next play or create a narrative dealing with why the purple adventurer is trapped in the foliage forever.

I usually don’t enjoy fast and simple games like this. The box says it plays in 30 to 40 minutes and I would say most of that is set up. In my opinion, Karuba should be on the list of gateway games to attract new players to tabletop gaming. It plays quick, it’s easy to conceptualize the end goal, it gives the player a deceptively large amount of choices, and it is extremely easy to teach. The game is so simple in design that it can be taught to anybody. As a gaming curmudgeon, I usually don’t ask to play a family weight game. I will make excuses to not play a Dominion or a Ticket to Ride or I will suggest a more complex game with similar mechanisms. I will always play Karuba. Ask me and I will go to your house and teach you Karuba. It is one of my top, if not my top, family weight game to teach.

Raiders of the North Sea

Raiders of the North Sea is a 2018 Mensa select family weight worker placement game created by Shem Phillips. This 2-4 player Viking themed game published by Graphill Games and distributed for retail by Renegade Game Studios combines worker placement, hand management, and set collection and plays in about 45-60 minutes. Using a unique worker placement system, players collect resources and Norsemen in order to raid further and further inland.

How to Play

Players start the game with 3 townsfolk cards, a player aid card, one black worker meeple, and 2 silver pieces. On their turn they place their available worker on an open location (paying attention to what is required to utilize the space) and take that location’s action. If they place their worker in the village they then choose to remove a viking meeple from a different village space and employ that space’s ability. If the player raids, they instead gain a worker through plundering and do not take a second action.

Raiders starting setup. All players have their silver, worker and player aid. All players have markers set to zero on all three scoring tracks (red, black and yellow). The rulebook has a picture on how to exactly lay out the board.

The first few turns center around the village, collecting resources and crew members. The available village actions are:

Gatehouse- Draw 2 Townsfolk cards from the draw pile keeping in mind hand limit is 8 cards.

Town Hall- Players play 1 Townsfolk card from their hand and use the card’s playable ability (ability under the play symbol). The card is then immediately discarded.

Treasury- Players discard 1 Townsfolk card to gain 2 silver, or 2 Townsfolk cards for 1 gold.

Barracks- Players choose a Townsfolk card in their hand and pay the silver indicated in the top left corner to add them to their crew. The card goes face up in front of the player and can be used during raids and their special ability (under the white plus sign on the card) used when applicable. A crew can not exceed 5 townsfolk but players may discard crew members to hire new ones.

Armoury- Using a white or grey worker exchange 1 iron for 2 armour (strength when raiding) or exchange 2 silver for 1 armour. The armour marker moves up the red armour track.

Mill- Using a black worker players gain 1 Provision, grey worker 2 Provisions, and a white worker 2 Provisions or 1 Gold. The max number of provisions a player can have in their personal supply is 8.

Silversmith- Using a black worker the player gains 3 silver and a grey or white worker 2 silver. Players may never have more than 8 silver in their personal supply at any given time.

Long House- Using a white or grey worker a player can exchange 1 livestock for 2 Provisions or pay the required plunder to gain an offering tile (along the bottom of the board) which are worth points at the end of the game.

Eventually players will have enough crew members and provisions to start raiding nearby harbours. Each location has a cost (certain worker colors, minimum number of hired crew, enough provisions, and sometimes gold). A player meeting the requirements of a raid places their worker, discards the appropriate number of provisions and gold, moves their score marker up the yellow victory track and takes one of the available loot squares. Possible plunder includes iron, gold, livestock, or Valkyrie. All loot is added to a players stash except the Valkyrie which requires the player discard a crew member, move their score marker up the black Valkyrie track, and place the Valkyrie token back in the main supply. When players raid, they receive a new worker from the raid and do not take a second action.

As players begin raiding inland their strength determines victory points. The red boxes indicate strength required to gain the victory points in the yellow boxes beside them. Strength is determined by adding up all crew member’s strength, hired crew special abilities if applicable, rolling one or two strength die depending on the location, and player’s location on the armour track.

Play continues until there is only one loot location left in the top Fortresses area, the Offering pile is empty, or all Valkyrie have been removed from the board. Players then add up their victory points, Valkyrie points, armour points, offering points, hired crew points, plunder points (1 gold =1 victory point, 1 iron = 1 victory point, and 2 livestock = 1 victory point). The player with the highest score wins the game.

Player Final Board with hired crew out. Players have moved up all three tracks (red armour, black Valkyrie, and yellow Victory tracks). Player on the right has two offering point tiles.

Review

Although the box claims Raiders takes between 60-80 minutes to play we found it took significantly less time, especially after we got the hang of it. The most tedious part of the game is the setup. It takes a while, upwards of 15 minutes. The board has a very detailed, specific layout provided by a small picture in the rule book. Heather thought the image should have been much larger and not cut in half by the binding. She often had to squint to see what went where, and lost her place during setup. Some players may be put off by the extensive setup for a middle weight worker placement game.

Once properly setup though both of us thoroughly enjoyed the game. Yes, the theme could have been anything and vikings are often over utilized but in this instance it worked. There were multiple ways to earn points and we rarely blocked one another. Heather, who enjoys games with limited player interaction really liked this aspect. There are cards that allow players to steal from each other but we became so focused on our own goals, we did not utilize these abilities unless we had no other feasible moves. It did not seem worth it. A player could spend a turn taking one armour point from another player or possibly raiding an outpost. The reward for utilizing the card in other ways, such as hiring it as a crew member, was greater than discarding the card to pursue other players.

The first few turns are slow but the game quickly picks up steam and there is always something to do. With minimal downtime, players have to pay close attention and quickly plan their next move. The game has excellent pacing and players are left with feeling they want to do more. With so many paths to victory, players can focus on certain tracks or try out a more balanced approach without feeling left behind in victory points.

The production quality is extremely high. All of the artwork is eye catching, unique, and consistent. Besides the setup page, the rule book is well laid out, and iconography easy to understand. The components are mostly high quality. The board is a thick folded cardboard we worry may break eventually. Garphill has a new neoprene play mat, that is compatible with both of the Raiders expansions, and may solve this issue. All other components were impressive. The game comes with actual metal coins, unique shaped wooden tokens, and linen finished cards.

The game scaled well with both 2, 3, and 4 players games and setup and rules are always the same. Although the board layout and general gameplay is always the same, a common problem with worker-placement games, we do not see it becoming stale over time due to the various paths to victory. Yes, players know they will always start in the village, gaining resources and eventually raiding up the board, but where they will go and how they will utilize their available resources can alter each time. There are also two expansions, Fields of Fame and Hall of Heroes, we have yet to try, but have heard adds new quests, increases complexity, and introduces interesting mechanics to the game which may also improve on its replayability.

As a middleweight game, it may not be the best first foray into worker placement and not complex enough for those wanting a heavier worker placement game. To us though it was a great middle ground for Joe who enjoys longer, heavier games and Heather who enjoys lighter, quick ones. The game was a fast paced, unique worker placement game with a fun usage of the Viking theme.

Heather: 4/5 Paws
+ Low player interaction, multiple paths to victory, fast paced, easy to learn and teach
– Board setup hard to see in rulebook, long set up time, cardboard board

Joe: 4/5 Paws
+ Unique worker placement mechanic, minimal downtime, multiple player options and ways to get points
– Would prefer more complexity, extensive setup