Lotus (Renegade Games)

I am not the type of person who stops and smells the roses. I generally plow through life, and I don't slow down to admire all the beauty around me. It also doesn't help that I am not an outside person at all. So because of these factors, I won't always notice newly bloomed flowers or all the colors in nature all around me. The designers of the card game Lotus must have had people like me in mind when they created it, because a game might be one of the only ways I'd take the time to slow down and observe the flowers. Lotus is a game for 2-4 players, ages 8+. It takes about 30 minutes to play and retails for $30.

Setup
1. Have each player select a Guardian/color - Yellow Butterfly, Green Caterpillar, Red Ladybug, and Blue Dragonfly
2. Prepare the Petal Cards (Player Decks). In a two-player game, you use the full deck. In a three-player game, you remove one of each type of Petal Card, making sure the cards removed only have one stamp. And in a four-player game, you remove two of each type of Petal Card, again making sure the cards removed only have one stamp. Then, have each player thoroughly shuffle their player deck.
3. Take the Wildflower Deck, shuffle it, and place it face down. Then draw the top four cards and display them face up in the center of the table.
4. Give each player two Guardians in their selected colors.
5. Set aside all of the silver-colored Elder Guardians, Scoring Tokens, and Special Power Tokens. (Note: Divide the Special Power Tokens into types to form three stacks.)

Game Play - Each player draws four cards. Then, the starting player must perform two of the following actions. (Note: You can perform the same action twice, and perform these actions in any order.)
1. Play Petal Cards - Play one or two Petal Cards from your hand on a single flower in the Lotus Garden.
2. Exchange Petal Cards - Exchange one or two Petal Cards from your hand, placing them on the bottom of your player deck. Draw a matching number of cards from the top of your player deck.
3. Move a Guardian - Move one of your Guardians to any incomplete flower in the Lotus Garden. (Note: This move can occur from your personal supply or from another flower.)

At the end of your turn, you must draw back up to four cards, but you can draw cards from your Player Deck, the visible cards from the Wildflower Deck, or some combination of both.

Scoring
Once a flower reaches its number of petals (indicated in the upper left of the Petal Cards), players determine who has control of the flower. This is done by adding the Guardian symbols on the Petal Cards and the Guardians placed on the flower. The player with control may either take a Scoring Token, which is worth five points, or a Special Power Token, which will provide the player with a power for the rest of the game. (Note: You may only have one of each of the three Special Power Tokens.) The player who completed the flower, collects all the Petal Cards, which will be worth one point each at the end of the game. The last round of the game is triggered when a player draws the last card of their player deck. Everyone (including the person who triggered the last round) gets one final turn. Incomplete flowers are claimed by whoever has control of each flower, and final scores are tallied.

Review
Lotus is a very pretty card game that takes the simple action of playing cards/Guardians to create a somewhat meaty decisions of hand-management and area control. The decisions don't seem like they would be that complex, but you have to carefully decide which cards to play each turn. Do you play one or two petals to a flower, and risk your opponent completing the flower and getting all the petal points? Do you complete a flower you don't have majority control, foregoing a bonus token or scoring token, just so you can deny your opponent majority and completion points? These are decisions you will constantly be running through your head.

Apart from the simple and inviting nature of the rules and game play, two things make this game very family-friendly. The first thing is the artwork. The colors on these cards pop, and the flowers themselves are so life-like. After a few turns with people playing cards, it will look like the flowers are actually blooming on the table. The little wooden meeples are cute and tiny as well, which is something you don't normally say about bug-shaped items. The second thing which makes this a good family game is that you can pay it competitively or cooperatively. Sometimes, you feel like a game where it's every man for himself, and sometimes you feel like playing a game where you can work in tandem with a partner. This game provides both options, and the cooperative variant is a good way to teach both new and younger players.

I wasn't sure I was going to like this game at first, as it doesn't seem like it would be my cup of tea. However, after a few plays, the game really grew on me. (Pun intended) If you are looking for a breathtakingly beautiful game that is fun for kids, adults, new gamers, and experienced gamers, then you'll want to pick up a copy of Lotus!

This game was provided to me for free by Renegade Games in exchange for an honest review.

Play Me (Cool Mini or Not)

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass are two of Lewis Carroll's best known works. Walt Disney thought so highly of the books that he made an animated film out of it in 1951. Disney was not the first to adapt this book though, as it has been made into numerous films, comics, live performances, music, etc. One of the latest products to draw inspiration from Carroll is a game called Play Me from Cool Mini or Not. Play Me is a real-time, dice-rolling game for 2-6 players, ages 14+. It retails for $24.99 and takes approximately 10 minutes to play.

Setup
1. Give each player a double-sided character card, and have them place the card Wonder side up. (Note: The Wonder side is the positive side and is the more vibrantly colored side. The Madness side is the negative side and is a more washed out color.)
2. Give each player six dice in their character color.
3. Place the round token in the middle of the table with the White Rabbit side facing up. (Note: The reverse side shows the Jabberwocky.)

Game Play - The goal of the game is to make a straight (1 through 6) of all your dice. This is a real time game, so there are no turns. Everyone rolls their dice at the same time and may take one of the following actions per roll if possible:
1. Advance - Take one (and only one) die from your roll and place it in your row of dice. You must start with the number one and go in increasing order. You also cannot skip numbers and fill them in later.
2. Block - You may take one of your dice and block another player's row if it shows the next number in order. Example: If your opponent is up to three and you roll a four, you can place your die in their row to block them. (Note: You cannot block someone already blocked.)
3. Unblock - To clear a Block, you must roll the same number that you have being blocked. Both you and your opponent take their die back to re-roll.

The round ends when someone gets a straight. That person then flips their character card from Wonder side to Madness side. The first person to win two rounds wins. If everyone has flipped their cards to the Madness side (meaning everyone only wn one round), the White Rabbit is flipped over to the Jabberwocky and takes the square Jabberwocky card. The players flip their cards back to Wonder side and must now decide if they are going to battle the Jabberwocky as a team or solo. When the Jabberwocky wins a round, he picks a player to flip their card to Madness, and he wins when all other players have gone mad. The players win if they win a number of rounds equal to the number of players or an individual wins if they win two rounds.

Review
Real time games are hit or miss with people. Some people like them because they can make quick, accurate decisions and a real time gives them an advantage. Other people like to take their time and carefully follow a strategy. Luckily, you can play this game either way. Instead of everyone rapidly rolling, you could just have everyone roll at the same time, make a decision simultaneously, and then everyone re-roll. Doing it this way helps level the playing field along ages as well. Overall, I like the theme of this game and the simplicity of learning and playing the game. The game also provides a bit of asymmetry as everyone has different advantages and disadvantages to their character. This creates a different game play experience, especially if you rotate the characters around and test them all.

The game is portable, which I like, and the components are of good quality. The price is a little high, though, and it feels like it should only sell for $15, not $25.  Unfortunately, what I liked the least was the artwork. It was a little too dark for my taste. I get that they wanted to make this game appeal to a bit of an older audience and not make it feel like a child's toy, but I think they missed the boat. They could have made good artwork that would appeal to kids and adults without it being creepy, like this art is. I could seen teens and young adults liking this artwork though, so if you have teens in the household, give the game a whirl. They'll learn about literature, while playing a game!

This game was provided to me for free by Cool Mini or Not in exchange for an honest review.

Rocky Road a la Mode (Green Couch Games)

Summer is upon us and the heat (at least in the South) is unbearable. As my boss likes to say, "I saw a dog chasing a cat the other day, and both of them were walking." Most people's favorite way to cool off in the summer is ICE CREAM! Well, today I don't have ice cream to review, but I have the next best thing, an ice cream themed game. Rocky Road a la Mode is a card game currently on Kickstarter. It is designed for 2-4 players ages 10 and up. It takes approximately 20 to 30 minutes to play and a pledge of $19 will get you the game. (Note: You can pledge $25 to get a mini-game for two players called Rocky Road: Dice Cream)

Setup
1. Each player takes a Truck Card and places it in front of them
2. Place the Road Cards (could be upgraded to a board) in the center of the table to form a continuous loop.
3. Place one Rocket Pop Token on each of the three pothole spaces on the Road.
4. Place the Truck Tokens (matching the colors of the Truck Cards in play) randomly on the start square on the Road.
5. Shuffle the Treat Cards and deal three to each player to form their starting hand.
6. Place the remaining Treat Cards face-down in a stack in the middle of the table, turning three cards face-up in a row.
7. Place the eight Location Cards face-up in four stacks. (Note: Each stack will contain two cards with the same location. Place the higher point value on top.)

Game Play - Players do not alternate turns. The player whose Truck Token is furthest behind on the road takes their turn. On a player's turn, they may perform one of three actions:
1. Restock - Draw up to five Treat Cards and move their Truck Token an equal number of spaces clockwise on the Road. (Players may draw from the three face up cards or the draw pile, much like Ticket to Ride.)
2. Attract Customers - Place a Treat Card from your hand under your Truck Card by paying its time cost (found in the upper right corner). This will give you two customers to serve on future turns.
3. Serve Customers - Discard cards with the treat types (found in the upper left corner) that the group demands and move up one space on the Road. (You can only serve one group per turn. Once you have served the first group slide the card further under your truck to hide the first group. Once you have served the second group, place the card horizontally under the left side of the truck to show your Loyalty Points/Permanent Supply Bonus.)

Notes
1. Rocket Pop Tokens are wild cards that can be used for any ice cream flavor, but are returned to the Road after play.
2. Permanent Supply Bonus can be used to fill an order in place of a Treat Card.
3. When a player has completed a specific amount of orders (i.e., three blue or three orange), he can take a Location Card that will score him two to four Loyalty Points.
4. The first player with nine or more Loyalty Points triggers the end game, giving everyone else a chance to go again until the player who triggered the end game is furthest back on the Road. The player with the most points at the end is the winner.

Review
This was a quick game with a fun theme attached to it. It also had a bit of depth to it that I wasn't expecting. For starters, you have to manage both your time and resources in this game. Since turns do not alternate (or go clockwise if more than two players), each decision will make you pause and think before you make it. If your opponent is two spaces in front of you, do you draw three cards and give them a turn? Or do you only draw two cards, so you can have another turn immediately? The cards also serve a multi-use function. Will you play the card under the truck to Attract a Customer? Or will you play the card to Serve a Customer? You will have to weigh several options carefully (the time cost, the items required to serve each customer, and the Loyalty Points/Permanent Supply Bonus) before making this decision.

After looking at the game play value, I look at the aesthetics of the game, and this game is not lacking in that department at all. I received a prototype of this game and it was a very nice prototype. The colors had a nice summery feel, and they had a way of making you hungry when playing the game. Unfortunately for my fellow players, there was no ice cream allowed when playing as I didn't want it to drip on even the prototype of this beautiful game. The choice of color for player tokens was not unnoticed by my wife. We are all used to playing with the standard blue, red, yellow, and green tokens, but this one had a pink token in it - a win for women gamers! Lastly, the cards had a nice feel to them. If they took the time to produce thick, quality cards for a prototype, then I know the actual game will have lasting components as well.

Rocky Road a la Mode is Green Couch Games sixth project on Kickstarter. Each one has been successfully funded to produce an excellent, pocket-sized game. I am proud to own all of them and enjoy playing them frequently with family and friends. The project itself is only a few days old, but it has already been successfully funded. It is now up to you to make this game better for yourself and all who pledge. Current stretch goals will make Truck Tokens into actual ice-cream shaped trucks. There will be bonus Treat Tokens added to make new ways of playing the game and increase replay value. The Road Cards will also be upgraded to an actual game board. So if this game sounds fun to you, I invite you to beat the heat, and back this sweet treat!

A prototype of this game was provided to me for free by Green Couch Games in exchange for an honest review.

Ion: A Compound Building Game (Genuis Games)

School is officially out and children have already begun to forget everything they learned the past year. If you don't keep them somewhat academically engaged over the summer, their brains will be mush before month ends. Keeping them engaged is easier said than done, because the last thing they want to think about is school and learning. (UGH!) So how can you make sure they don't become zombies, but do it where they are still having fun on their break? Play a game, of course! Genius Games is a "a game design company focusing on designing science themed and science based games for both the classroom and game room." Today, I will be reviewing their game Ion: A Compound Building Game. Ion is a card-drafting chemistry game for 2-7 players ages 8+. It can be played in 20 to 30 minutes and retails for $25.

Setup
1. Match each trio of "Select Two," "Take From Center," and "RXN" Action Tiles according to the letter in the bottom left corner.
2. Flip the Action Tiles over and give each player a random trio of these tiles.
3. Separate the Drafting Cards from the Goal Cards and shuffle each deck separately.
4. Flip four Drafting Cards face up in the center of the table, making sure that each card is different from the others.
5. Deal eight Drafting Cards to each player to make up their hand.
6. Deal two Goal Cards face up in the center of the table (or three if you are playing with 5+ people).

Game Play - The game takes place over three rounds with each round playing exactly the same.
1. Select one Drafting Card from your hand and place it face down in front of you. Once everyone has done this, flip the card over at the same time.
2. You will then bond the Drafting Card to an ion within your player area or lay the Drafting Card unbonded in your player area. (Once the card is placed, it cannot be moved.)
3. You may also choose to play one of your three Action Tiles at any time to modify your turn, but the points on the back of the tile will be subtracted from your final score.
4. After the Drafting Cards/Action Tiles are placed and resolved, you pass the remaining Drafting Cards to the player to your left.
5. Repeat the above Steps 1 through 4 until only two cards remain, which will then be discarded.
6. Score for the round by scoring Neutral Compounds, Noble Gases, and Goal Cards.
7. The person with the highest score at the end of three rounds is the winner.

Review
Overall, I was pleased with the game Ion. I wasn't sure what to expect from an educational game, but it was surprisingly fun, and it didn't feel like you were learning at all, which is the best way to learn in my opinion! There are plenty of games with card-drafting as their main mechanic, but what makes this one different are the asymmetrical Action Tiles (meaning that one person's RXN tile might be -4 and another's might be -3), the communal Goal Cards, and the fact that you have to make neutral compounds to score your cards (aside from Noble Gases). A lot of card-drafting games have a "take that" factor in that you can see what your opponent is trying to play and prevent them from doing it by playing a card so they can't. Ion doesn't really have that element (no pun intended), because you almost always have cards to play that will help you.

Within this game there is also also a mini-expansion that includes radioactive cards. This adds another wrinkle to the game by adding a set collection element and new ways to score. I generally play without the expansion, because I like the simplicity of the base game, but whenever I want to rack my brain a little more, I throw in some radioactive elements and let things start to decay. Playing this game brought me back to high school and sitting in Chemistry Class. As simple as this game is, they upped the knowledge level by including more complex elements like Transition Metals and Polyatomic ions. This game is perfect in the classroom, for a homeschooling parent, or just a nice little family game to trick your kids into learning something.

This game was provided to me for free by Genius Games in exchange for an honest review. If you found this review helpful, please click here and hit Yes! Be sure to also check out their other science games Linkage, Peptide, and Covalence!

Space Race: The Card Game

Today, I am reviewing another Kickstarter game called Space Race: The Card Game. The game was created by Jan Soukal and Marek Loskot. It is designed for 2-4 players, ages 13 and up. It takes roughly 40 minutes to play and costs approximately $33. The game takes place during the Cold War. You are the director of a new space agency with the goal of building the most successful space agency in the world. You will accomplish this by playing various Space Race Cards that score you victory points. The game itself takes place over seven turns (or decades), and the player with the most victory points on theirs cards at the end of the game is the winner.

Setup
1. Give each player a set of the same twelve Control Cards. This twelve cards consist of a 1, 3, and 6 value of the three following categories - Propaganda, Technology, Space Program, and Breakthrough.
2. Create the Universe by shuffling all the Space Race Cards and placing them in the central play area. Deal out 4, 5, or 6 Space Race Cards (depending on the number of players - 2, 3, and 4) and arrange them by the four categories above. Put two more cars from the deck face down next to the other cards.
3. Each player then draws Space Race Cards (Player 1 = 3 cards. Player 2 = 4 cards. Players 3 and 4 = 5 cards). This is the player's hand and represents resources obtained from the government or a sponsorship.

Game Play
1. Looking at the cards in the Universe and the player's hand, players simultaneously play one of their Control Cards face down. This is like placing a bid. Face down cards from the Universe are flipped over and players' bid Control Cards are also flipped over.
2. Action is then resolved in the order of Propaganda, Technology, Space Program, and Breakthrough. If two or more players, play the same type of Control Card, then the person with the highest bid (1, 3, or 6 plus any cards in your Space Agency) goes first. If it's a tie, then the first player goes first and turn proceeds in player order. Any Bureaucracy is then resolved in player order again.
3. You then prepare the next decade by moving player order, seeding the Universe (Each player gets to add cards from their hand face down into the Universe), and then flipping one of those cards over for a 2 player game (or 2 cards for a 3-4 player game).

Review

The game is all about building combos and finding synergies. Since you only have seven turns and twelve Control Cards, you will have to pick certain routes to, i.e., focusing more on Propaganda instead of Technology, and adjust your strategy based on what cards come out and how well you can read your opponent and what you think they might be focusing on. If you make a great move, you can chain together several actions in one move. For example, you can put a card in your Agency from the Universe, which then lets you draw more cards, which then lets you take a card from your hand to place in your Agency. These game mechanics are very unique and not like any game I have ever played before.

I also like all the themed cards. Instead of going for generic people, shuttles, etc., we see a nice mixture of U.S. and Russian people and technology. There are both astronauts and cosmonauts. There is Hubble, and there is Lunokhod. We also see Area 51 and the hunt for UFOs. However, where this game really leaves you speechless is in the artwork. Artwork can really make or break a game. It either draws you in or turns you off. A game can be the best and most clever you have ever played, but if it is lacking in art appeal, you may not ever play it. This game has artwork that is out of this world! I have only played a print and play version of this game, but I can't wait for it to become a real game and get to play the game with all the finished artwork.

This game is already funded on Kickstarter, but your pledge can help make this game even better by adding more artwork and cards. You have less than a week though, so don't dawdle because a game like this doesn't come around often!

Chrononauts and Early American Chrononauts (Looney Labs)

Welcome to the first review of a new feature called "Favorite Games for Family Game Nights." This is an ongoing project that will also be featured on CatholicMom, so let's get to the first few games, we're going to play. The two games are called Chrononauts and Early American Chrononauts, available from Looney Labs. The price for each deck is approximately $20 and recommended age is 11 and up, but I think you could play it a little younger than that. Since, the gameplay and premise of these games is the same, so this will be a dual review. In the game, you are a Time Traveler with a Secret Identity and a Secret Mission.  Your job is to collect priceless artifacts, repair enough paradoxes, or change time enough to arrive back safely at your alternate timeline. For this example, we will be, Betty and our mission will be "The Scientists' Wish List." We can see on our card, that we want the year 1945 to be black and 1968 and 1969 to be red. (We'll get to how to make that happen.) For the artifacts, we need to collect any Live Dinosaur, the Crown of Thorns, and a Cure for Cancer.

This card game, plays a bit like a board game. Initially you arrange the 32 time cards chronologically in four rows of eight as seen below with all the dates black and the card colors visible being purple and blue. The Purple cards are Linchpins and can be flipped by cards in the deck, and the Blue cards are Ripplepoints and flip when corresponding purple cards flip. For example, If you flipped 1865 from black text to red text, Lincoln Assassinated to Lincoln Wounded, that would trigger you to flip 1868 Johnson Impeached, because Johnson couldn't be impeached if Lincoln never died. Thus, a paradox is created. Before I get to paradoxes, let me tell you about cards you will draw during your gameplay.

The main types of cards you will see are 1. Action, which is something you must do immediately; 2. Artifact, which is something you can collect to help you win; 3. Timewarp, which lets you bend time momentarily for your benefit, and 4. Inverter, which lets you flip Purple cards on the Timeline above.

Once you use an Inverter on a Purple card, you create a Paradox (the back of a Blue card on the timeline). Here is what 1945 looks like as a Paradox. In our example, Betty does not want 1945 to be red, but back to its original black. However, if someone does need 1945 to be red, they could play this orange card called a Patch, and thus make an alternate history for that year. Play continues until one Time Traveler has ten cards in his hand, the three Artifacts on his mission, or the correct years on the timeline in black and red (red cards must no longer be paradoxes, but be patched).

That in a nutshell is how you play the game. Now, for my thoughts and review of the game. For starters, I love that this is a card game. It is portable and fits in your pocket, so you can take it with you wherever you go. Secondly, the rules aren't overly complicated. I know I wrote a lot about it, but after you play through it once, it makes sense what you can and can't do, and the learn curve is very shallow. Third, I LOVE the theme for this game. In the gaming world, there are a lot of themes that are overused including general fantasy, zombies, and H.P. Lovecraft's Cthulu for some reason. There aren't a great deal of time travel games, so this is a gem. So I recommend when you're playing the game, take your time. Read the characters. Read the different cards. There was a lot of thought and effort that went into each of these cards, the backstories of the characters, and the alternate histories. It's not only creative, but it's a very clever game of hypotheticals. How would the world be different if Lincoln hadn't of been assassinated or if the Titanic wouldn't have sunk? The results aren't always good in the game. In fact, you might end up triggering World War III.

Other things, I love about this game are the unique gameplay options you can experience. If you can't find a friend or family member to play with you, there is a solo option. If the regular way of playing isn't challenging anymore, you can combine Chrononauts and Early American Chrononauts to make Uber Chrononauts! There are also very affordable expansions! A lot of games make you buy a whole new game with more cards (or pieces) to get new content, but for a few bucks, you can get 13 new characters with the Lost Identities expansion, and what's neat is they used fan submissions to craft these cards. Crazy Joe is my favorite in this pack, as he wants you to have 13 un-patched Paradoxes on the board. 13 paradoxes normally means everyone loses, but in this case he wins! It's a nice way to add a little chaos among friends. If you don't need more identities, there's also an option called The Gore Years, which expands the timeline from 2000-to 2008 and helps us imagine what could have happened if Gore instead of Bush had become President. I'm personally hoping we get another expansion after the next election called The Trump Years (or something similar to that).

Overall, I found this to be a highly detailed and enjoyable game with great replay value. The only strike against it were the Gadgets, which I didn't really discuss. These Gadgets are mostly Time Machines and can be overly powerful in my opinion. So you can choose to leave them out if you want to, or maybe the people you play with won't abuse their power too much. So if you like card games and time-travel Chrononauts and/or Early American Chrononauts. I recommend both for the Uber experience, but if you can only get one, then pick the era you like best. The wife enjoyed this game as well, but she said she would have liked it better if it was European history, which is fair, because American history can be a bit boring at time. Looney Labs did a nice job of spicing it up, and I think this game could be used as a fun teaching aid for the homeschool crowd as well! Highly recommended!

Chrononauts and Early American Chrononauts were provided to me for free by Looney Labs in exchange for an honest review. If you found these reviews helpful, please click here and/or here and hit Yes!