Project GIPF is a series of eight abstract strategy games designed by Kris Burm. Each game features a hexagonal playing area and involves a dwindling of either pieces or playing area mechanic. The way they approach these elements is not only unique, but combines what I feel are the best qualities in most abstracts: simple rules that reveal complex game play.

If you’ve never heard the games within Project GIPF, GIPF, TAMSK, ZÈRTZ, DVONN, YINSH, PÜNCT, TZAAR, and LYNGK, I encourage you to seek them out, either in cardboard and bakelite or digitally online. They are well worth your time.

Today's game: DVONN

[caption id="attachment_296552" align="aligncenter" width="500"] DVONN The Box[/caption]

DVONN is a game about stacking. Throughout the game, each turn you take moves a piece or a group of pieces atop another piece or a stack of pieces.

Unlike the other games in the series, DVONN has a board three times as long as it is wide. There are 49 spaces, one for each piece. If viewed as hexes, the board is only five hexes wide and nine hexes long on the edges and eleven in the center.

Playing the Game

Players start by choosing to play as either black or gray. They then collect all 23 pieces…

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In 2008, Matt Leacock introduced the world to Pandemic, a game where players work together to control four virulent diseases before the world is overwhelmed by outbreaks and all the players lose. While Pandemic wasn’t the first cooperative game, with over 5 million copies sold, it’s by far the most well-known. 

Since its release, Pandemic has spawned three expansions, numerous official spin-offs, and three legacy games. Pandemic is still constantly mentioned in lists of the best cooperative games, so when it was announced in 2022 that Leacock had designed a new co-op game, the gaming world took notice. With just under 9,000 backers, Leacock’s new game, Daybreak, brought in 6 times its target goal.

[caption id="attachment_297272" align="aligncenter" width="500"] Daybreak: The box[/caption]

Daybreak is about another threat to the planet: carbon emissions and their effect on global temperature. Your goal is to reduce your carbon emissions to an environmentally sustainable level while surviving the planetary crises that arise each round.  

[mks_toggle title="To learn how to set up and play Daybreak, click here. " state="close "]

Setup

Players will take on the roles of one of four nations/groups of countries (US, Europe, China, and everyone else, known as the Majority World). The game provides a starter set of five…

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Playthrough, the Raleigh area convention for all things gaming, took place over the March 16-17 weekend. Two of our North Carolina area reviewers, Tom and Will (plus Will’s husband, Brock) attended. Here are their reports on the proceedings.

Tom’s Take

The Raleigh Convention Center is located at the edge of Downtown Raleigh, walking distance to the North Carolina State Capitol building, the Museum of Natural Sciences, and the Governor’s mansion. It is also near the endpoint of Raleigh’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade, held that same morning, something that made parking a bit of a challenge.

The lower floor of the Convention Center was home to this year’s Playthrough event. Two walls of the 150,000 sq. ft. exhibit hall were filled with video game screens with seated driving games along one wall, with a combination of PC and classic video game consoles along the other. About a third of the floor space was turned over to gaming tables. There, people could join D&D one-shot sessions, play games from the Playthrough game library, or have longer game sessions with some of the exhibitors.

Playthrough also boasted an Escape Room, something I hadn’t seen at a local convention before. Other vendors included people selling classic video games; a variety of D&D accouterments; aluminum chainmaille jewelry; plushies; custom keyboards; custom video…

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Project GIPF is a series of eight abstract strategy games designed by Kris Burm. Each game features a hexagonal playing area and involves a dwindling of either pieces or playing area mechanic. The way they approach these elements is not only unique, but combines what I feel are the best qualities in most abstracts: simple rules that reveal complex game play.

If you’ve never heard the games within Project GIPF, GIPF, TAMSK, ZÈRTZ, DVONN, YINSH, PÜNCT, TZAAR, and LYNGK, I encourage you to seek them out, either in cardboard and bakelite or digitally online. They are well worth your time.

Today’s game: TAMSK

[caption id="attachment_296560" align="aligncenter" width="500"] TAMSK: The box[/caption]

Before I start, I know some diehards may object to TAMSK being included here. That’s because in 2007, when Brum introduced TZAAR, he stated that it was replacing TAMSK in Project GIPF. Fine. When you write your review of Project GIPF, feel free to leave it out. Having played TAMSK, I know it deserves to be mentioned anytime Project GIPF comes up.

That’s because TAMSK, a game about balancing the falling sands of time against a quickly shrinking board, is a great game. A great game. 

Playing the Game

Players start with the hexagonal, black board situated between them.…

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St. Patrick’s Day, that time of the year when everyone seems to be Irish for a day!

While that might seem like hyperbole, St. Patrick’s Day is more widely celebrated around the world than any other national festival. It’s an official holiday in the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland, Newfoundland, and Montserrat. It’s also celebrated in the US, Canada, Brazil, the UK, Argentina, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa.

Some of this is due to the Irish Diaspora, and some of this is undoubtedly because it’s the one day during Lent when restrictions on drinking alcohol are lifted. That, alone, has turned the day into a proper Irish cèilidh, or a gathering with dancing and Gaelic music.

To help you celebrate the day with your friends, we’ve put together a list of six Celtic-inspired board games for your consideration.

Sláinte!

St. Patrick

Where better to start a list of games to play on Saint Patrick’s Day than a game named after Ireland’s Patron Saint himself?

This St. Patrick is a trick-taking card game where players work to not take tricks—or, specifically, any cards displaying Snake Bites. Players start by claiming relic cards that will protect them from Snake Bites, but lose points equal to the number of relics in their hand when the…

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Project GIPF is a series of eight abstract strategy games designed by Kris Burm. Each game features a hexagonal playing area and involves a dwindling of either pieces or playing area mechanic. The way they approach these elements is not only unique, but combines what I feel are the best qualities in most abstracts: simple rules that reveal complex game play. 

If you’ve never heard the games within Project GIPF, GIPF, TAMSK, ZÈRTZ, DVONN, YINSH, PÜNCT, TZAAR, and LYNGK, I encourage you to seek them out, either in cardboard and bakelite or digitally online. They are well worth your time.

Today’s game: GIPF

[caption id="attachment_296563" align="aligncenter" width="500"] GIPF: The box[/caption]

GIPF is the first in a series of abstract strategy games known as the GIPF Project. Designed by Kris Burm and released in 1997, GIPF is one of those wonderful games that can be taught in under a minute, yet need careful study to win.

To win, you need to either capture all three of your opponent’s GIPF pieces or have your opponent unable to make a move. 

Playing GIPF

The playing board is a hexagon, with four intersections along each edge. These extend to an emphasized point just past the white border. Two straight lines come from each…

The post GIPF Game Review appeared first on Meeple Mountain.

The King of Tokyo Monster Packs are four monsters, each sold separately, that come with some special game-changing bits and pieces. From towers to build and conquer, to extra dice, these monsters add some spice to your King of Tokyo games.

Cthuhlu

Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn

[caption id="attachment_295782" align="aligncenter" width="500"] Cthulhu Box[/caption]

"A monster of vaguely anthropoid outline, but with an octopus-like head whose face was a mass of feelers, a scaly, rubbery-looking body, prodigious claws on hind and fore feet, and long, narrow wings behind."
     –from "The Call of Cthulhu" by H. P. Lovecraft

If you’re going to introduce new monsters to The King of Tokyo, where better to start than with The Great Old One, the cosmic entity that is Cthulhu? After all, it existed for eons before any other so-called “mythical creature” ever took to Earth.

King of Tokyo Monster Pack: Cthulhu (known as Cthulhu for the rest of this review) comes with components for both King of Tokyo and King of New York. However, I will only be covering the King of Tokyo components for this review.

Along with the standard Evolution cards, Cthulhu comes with Cultist tiles. Whenever the Cthulhu player rolls four of a kind, they can take a…

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King of Tokyo: Origins is a dice-chucking game that pits monster against monster in the age-old battle for Japan’s biggest city. The winner will either be the first person who reaches 20 points, or be the last monster standing.

Set Up

All players take a cut-out of a monster and sets it in the plastic stand. They then take the accompanying monster’s score tracker, setting the wheel in the upper left (Points) to zero and the wheel in the lower right (Health) to 10. 

[caption id="attachment_295759" align="aligncenter" width="500"] King of Tokyo: Origins[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_295760" align="aligncenter" width="498"] Mechamster and Cosmic Joe[/caption]

Set the board on the table in reach of all players—or don’t. The board only has a circle for the attacking monster to stand in. That’s all. Simply placing your monster in the middle of the table will have the same effect.

Shuffle the deck of cards. Throughout the game, you’ll be able to purchase these to gain either a temporary or permanent bonus. Place three cards face-up and the remaining cards to the side.

[caption id="attachment_295762" align="aligncenter" width="500"] A sampling of cards[/caption]

Randomly choose a starting player and…

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Return to the beleaguered city of Tokyo—now with the addition of Tokyo Bay—as our monsters slug it out once again for domination and to claim victory. 

If you’re new to King of Tokyo, I went over the setup and gameplay in my recent review of King of Tokyo: Origins. (Known from here as KoT: O) That game comes with four monsters, each lacking in special abilities and rendering them disappointingly interchangeable. King of Tokyo: Monster Box (KoT: MB), a fully stand-alone game, solves that problem in a big way. 

Let’s start with some of the basics, though. 

[caption id="attachment_295770" align="aligncenter" width="500"] King of Tokyo Monster Box box[/caption]

KoT:MB comes with its own big deck of monster cards. 

[caption id="attachment_295771" align="aligncenter" width="500"] A sampling of the many Monster cards in the box[/caption]

From my games, these can be mixed in with the KoT:O cards if you want even more options.

KoT:MB also comes with two sets of dice, one in black & green and one in orange & black. The orange set was initially included in the King of Tokyo Halloween expansion. There is no difference between these sets of dice. If…

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Let’s get the obvious out of the way: I love Ingenious. For me, it is THE gold standard by which I judge all other abstract games that claim to scale beyond two. I was amazed the first time I played it with more than two players—there was no difference in the gameplay or scoring. There is an elegance in the way the game expands so effortlessly to additional players.

I think you can tell how well-loved and how well-played a game is by the condition of the box. Take another look at the photo above, with my original Ingenious box next to the new one. Since 2011, that box has traveled with me to game nights, to-and-from work, and has been loaned out to friends. It has earned every scratch, tear, and rip.

That’s how much I love Ingenious and why I’ve pushed it on anyone who has expressed half an interest in the game. And they’ve all come back as serious believers.

[caption id="attachment_295462" align="aligncenter" width="600"] My well-worn 13-year-old copy of Ingenious next to the new, second edition box[/caption]

Playing the Game

In my recent review of Horrified: American Monsters, I asked readers of that review to go back…

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Expeditions, designed by Jamey Stegmaier of Stonemaier Games, is a game set a few years after his game Scythe takes place. In Expeditions, a meteor has crashed into Earth, releasing an ancient corruption into the lands. Players take on the role of explorers who, along with their animal companion, make their way above the northern borders of the Scythe map to rid the world of corruption and seek Glory and fame.

[caption id="attachment_295727" align="aligncenter" width="555"] Expeditions: Ironclad Edition[/caption]

If you’ve played Scythe before, some of the components in Expeditions will look familiar—and in both games, the goal is still to be the player with the most points. How you earn and score those points, however, is very different, making Expeditions a game that easily stands on its own.

Let’s get it to the table so I can show you what I mean.

Set Up

Instead of a formal board, Expeditions is played through a honeycomb of 20 hexes that connect, at most, along three edges. These hexes are divided into three zones, the Southern, Central, and the Northern lands. The Southern hexes are laid out randomly, face up, with three of the six tiles placed adjacent to the Basecamp board.

Shuffle the Central and Northern hexes, then…

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"If you're going to make a sequel, do it right and make the same damn movie all over again."
-- Joe Bob Briggs, King of the Drive-In Movie

In 2019, Prospero Hall released Horrified, a cooperative game (co-op) that made Meeple Mountain’s Most Anticipated Games of GenCon 2019 list and won two of our Diamond Climber Awards of 2019 (Best Coop Game and Best Thematic Game). In her review, my former Meeple Mountain colleague, Ashley Gariepy, (Hi Smash!) said Horrified was “an incredible cooperative game that is easy to learn and teach and can be enjoyed by gamers and non-gamers alike.”

Let’s see how 2021’s Horrified: American Monsters stacks up against its predecessor, shall we?.

[caption id="attachment_295159" align="aligncenter" width="558"] Horrified: American Monsters[/caption]

How to Play

When I re-read Ashley’s review of Horrified for this review, I realized her descriptions of the setup, gameplay, and challenges were interchangeable with Horrified: American Monsters. If you’re unfamiliar with how Horrified games play, check out Ashley’s very well-written review of the original game and come back to find out more about the American Monsters edition.

The American Monsters

As you may already know (or have just learned from Ashley’s review), the original Horrified featured monsters who appeared…

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Oliver Roeder has an interesting background. After completing a Ph.D. in economics focusing on game theory, he became a writer for FiveThirtyEight.com, the ABC News website that looks at American politics. (538 being the total number of officials in the Electoral College that decides the winner of the Presidency) While there, Roeder wrote about crossword puzzles, Chess, and was the editor of their weekly online puzzle.

He recently took a new job with The Financial Times, leading the paper’s Data Journalism team. There he’s written about Fantasy Football, Backgammon, and Poker.

In between those jobs, he received a grant to write Seven Games, (W.W. Norton, 2022) a book about, you guessed it, seven games. The book’s subtitle, “A Human History”, is misleading, but only slightly so. 

Roeder provides a brief history of each of the seven games he covers (Checkers, Chess, Go, Backgammon, Poker, Scrabble, and Contract Bridge) and then focuses in on a single person, someone who became obsessed with the game—and had the programming skills to create a computer program capable of playing the game. And beating human opponents.

Just as each of these seven games provides a different set of mechanics and decision spaces, each of the programmers discussed had to improvise a new way of creating…

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