BY SAGGYHEAD
LINE LINKS
Reiner Knizia
Brainbox
1-4 Players
10-20 mins
Age 8+
Line Links is a simple tile placement game where you try to lay the tiles to link up with as many lines as possible. Each line you manage to link to scores you points. The longer the line that you managed to link to (the more tiles it goes through) the more points that link is worth.
This game is simple in its components, you have a small rules sheet and 25 tiles. That is all.
Although one thing that immediately struck me about this small Brainbox game is the environmental note on the side. “Mind Your Planet: This game is made and packaged in board made from a minimum of 70% recycled material and is recyclable.” This is exactly what I want to see more of in games. I love chunky, clacky plastic tiles, but shrink wrap and single use plastic really shouldn’t have a place in the modern game industry really. This game has a quality feel and one of those magnetic flip close boxes so it doesn’t feel like an “eco box” which I see as a huge plus. Being environmentally friendly does not equal poor quality or everything made out of hemp.
Of course a review should really be about the gameplay. This is a super simple game with clear graphic design and a simple lay a tile in the best way to score you points. The gameplay has me thinking of more of a puzzle than a game, and smacks a touch of NMBR9but with a bit less to think about.
The game is simply a beat your own score puzzle for solo play, but it is still enjoyable. The heavyweight large tiles are absolutely perfect for playing outside. Which in the unpredictable British weather and the current conditions makes this a great game for 2021.
DIFFERENCE JUNIOR
Christophe Boelinger
Gigamic
2-6 players
20 min
Age 4-7 years
Who likes Spot the Difference? I love spotting the difference, and can never leave a difference unspotted!
Difference Junior is the kid specific version of Gigamic’s Difference (Age 6+) and uses a more cartoony kid friendly version of the artwork to bring the age recommendation down. The cards in the game are double sided and show one of four images, a kids birthday party, animals at a water park, lions on a motorbike and an ice cream stand picture. The images have a lot going on, and this makes the difference spotting competitive. The majority of them are not spotted immediately.
This game is similar to Dobble in the way it plays in real life. You want to try and spot the differences before your opponents to place your card into the centre. You need to be the first to get rid of all your cards to triumph. In the current climate though, I have been keen to try out more versions of games that are zoomable. An adaptation of this game has been successfully played via zoom with just a single copy.
Of course it is not the same as gathering together around a table, but I did find a way. One person has the game as puts the cards out in pairs, the first person to spot and shout “difference” gets one card for their pile and the person who got the second difference gets the other card. It isn’t exactly the same game, but still great fun and works well over zoom which in the current climate is a great addition!
[please note that a copy of this game was kindly provided by the distributor for the purpose of this review, however, any opinions given are my own]
AGE OF WAR
Reiner Knizia
Fantasy Flight
2-6 Players
15-30 mins
Age 14+
Who loves chucking dice? Me! I love throwing them, but the absolute randomness of skill-check and attack type dice games leaves me cold. Which is why my love for Age of Warfrom Fantasy Flight is even more of a surprise.
In this game, you are racing to win control of the castles and gain the most points. The game consists of 14 castle cards and a set of seven custom dice, and rule sheet.
To gain control of a castle, you will need to roll dice Yahtzee style and get the correct symbol. The die faces have a Japanese style dragon head symbol, cavalry, archers and swords. The swords come in one, two or three “stabs” as we call them. With your roll, you may either choose to take an unclaimed card from the centre, or else you could try to steal an opponent’s hard won castle card. This ups the player interaction immensely, but in a good way.
Unlike in Yahtzee, you must decide based on your first roll what castle card you are after. And each re-roll requires you to remove a die from the pool, so the more re-rolls the fewer dice you will have in play. This is where the crunch comes. Do you take that cheap Castle or do you re-roll just one more time to try and win that high point scoring card. I usually push my luck to go for the higher card and usually I throw exactly what I don’t need and end up with no card.
Push your luck is one of my favourite mechanics to teach non-gamers. Who doesn’t love the thrill of seeing if you can just get that one big win. And the schadenfreude in us all wants to see our opponents think they are all that and push their luck so far the whole thing comes crashing down around my ears.
