Geek vs Life

Hey I know another board game review. This is not even created in Germany. It was created by a man who now lives in Oregon. There is very little strategy in the game, and in fact takes place over a standard board. The game is not a parody of life, but a respectful update. It now includes social economic class, gender discrepancies, and other life realities. You know like drugs, sex, and war. It is called “The Game of Real Life.”

The goal in this board game is similar to “Life,” it has a middle and end. There are jobs, and spaces where life happens. The objective is different. In “Life” the goal is to have the most money at the end. In the game of “Real Life,” it is to have the most happiness when you die. In this game like real life, money does not equate to happiness.

Today’s board game review: Carcassonne.

Carcassonne was an important trade route in medieval France. It had many walled cities, and many roads taking you around the countryside. This where the game takes place. The cool thing about the board is every time you play the game it changes. It is a tile based board game. You randomly flip over a piece and build the board. It is somewhat like a puzzle the pieces have to make sense. A piece with a road has to connect to a road, and city to city.

The object is simply. Have more points than you opponent. How do you get points? You get points by your followers. Your followers become medieval occupations. These occupations are knight, thief, monk, or farmer. (I promise this is not a role playing game.) You have a total of seven followers, however you don’t just decide what follower is what occupation, the tile informs what choices you have.

Hey people I don’t know if you know or not, but playing board games is pretty geeky. Or so I have been told. It doesn’t matter that the past time is gaining popularity and perhaps at its peek. Of course that last sentence is only true in Europe, especially in Germany. Yet Americans are Europhiles, so give it a year or two. Everyone else will catch up. In the meantime, I am going to suggest the game “Settlers of Catan. (The name in English.)” (This game was created in Germany.)

Settlers of Catan’s goal is simply be the first to gain 10 points with your new civilization. You gain points by creating new settlements, or growing your settlements into cities. There are other ways to get points but those two previous methods are the most common ways you gain your points. You even start off with two settlements and two roads. (In essence you start with two points in Settlers of Catan.) Another thing to remember you cannot build a settlement adjacent to another settlement or city. Also you need to have at least two roads to separate each settlement or city. Roads give you no points for the most part.

What you do if you had one to seven friends over for dinner? What would you do after dinner and the resulting clean up? Would you go out to the bars? Would you put on a movie? Would all disperse like a riot, when confronted with tear gas? Could I offer a suggestion? How about a board game? How about a game called “Killer Bunnies and the Quest for the Magic Carrot?”

Killer Bunnies is a strategic card game, when a player tries to get the Magic Carrot. This game should not be confused with a card collecting game ala “Magic: The Gathering” or its ilk. (If one has played a card collecting game, they will be familiar with the ideas of rounds, turns, and upkeep.) One starter box is all you will ever need to play the game. (You can get booster boxes, but more on that later.)