Cardboard Warrior's Game of the Month - February 2008

Skullduggery

Players: 2-4

Playing Time: awhile

Ages: 8+

Manufacturer: Outset Media

Reviewer: Warrior Jessa

Overall Grade: A+

Construction: A+

The game tiles are a thick cardboard coated with pretty pictures and a coating to prevent damage that comes with use over time. The booty (colored glass jewels) are bright and shiny, perfect to distract any mutinous pirate that gets in your way. The quest tiles are a heavier quality as well, coated again to help withstand usage over time and hopefully if the game turns a bit nasty too!

Playability: A+

At first glance, the rules may look a little daunting, but fear not fellow land lovers because the bark is worse than the bite. The goal of the game is to be the first to finish all four of your objectives (meaning, you have to make it to all four of your landmarks) and then get to the treasure before anyone else. Sounds simple, doesn't it? You'd really think it would be if it weren't for the nasty pirates that can potentially send you back to your boat and leave you with no jewels to pay them off with. Add to the mix that during every person's turn they're allowed to rotate or move one piece of the game board, which could very well leave you stranded (I know, we did this to my sister!).

Value: A+

Guaranteed, you will NEVER play this game the same way twice! At the beginning of each game, you and your fellow players are the ones who create the game board out of the tiles provided. As an added twist, the board will change constantly throughout the game to make your goal that much harder to achieve! This game is a great strategy game to play with the entire family!

back from the... well... it's just back!

Killer Bunnies is back in stock and ready for immediate shipping!

eBay - new listings to ogle over!!!

We've just added a whole slew of games to our eBay site for sale. For more details and to check out what goodies we've posted, go check out our site!

Out To Lunch... so to speak

A little bit of bad news for some Carcassonne fans... The ltd. edition Big Box of Carcassonne has been out of stock from the manufacturer since July of 2007, and there's no current news to say when it will be produced again. We'll keep you up to date on restocking of that one as we get any news.

New Releases & other newsworthy tidbits

New Releases:

• from Steve Jackson Games - Munchkin Cthulhu 3: The Unspeakable Vault is scheduled to release on Wednesday January 23rd for the low low price of $9.95. Email us at support@cardboardwarrior.com if you'd like to get your hands on one of the first copies.
• from Steve Jackson Games - the Munchkin Bobblehead is scheduled to release sometime in February, no firm date yet though.
• from Steve Jackson Games - get your treasure looting gear for another expansion of Munchkin! Munchkin 6: Demented Dungeons has been stamped with a March 2008 release date, but no firm day yet, we'll be sure to keep you posted will all the Munchkiny goodness. Listed price: $9.95.
• from Steve Jackson Games - the "Fast Food Restaurant of the Damned" is back! The newest edition of the classic Lord Of The Fries is back and in full color scheduled for a March 2008 release at only $24.95. No firm day set yet, as always we'll keep you updated when we hear the good news.
• from Steve Jackson Games - Evil Ted still has no tentative release date set...

On Backorder:

• from Playroom Entertainment - Killer Bunnies and several of the expansions have been out since before Christmas, and I have been told that it'll be another 2-3 weeks before we'll see it again. For those who are on the backorder list, we will ship as soon as we receieve it back in our warehouse.

Other Tidbits:

• We're in the process of implementing a few new ideas for the store. We're near completion, so be watching closely for more updates.

News: Out Of The Box Publishing

Our Faithful Warriors...

We have been informed that Matel has recently purchased the rights to Apples to Apples and other popular games by Out Of The Box Publishing, if not the company as a whole. As a result the chain stores are able to purchase in bulk and pass along huge savings to consumers, something that small businesses like ourselves just can't compete with. Therefore, we have made the decision to no longer carry any Out Of The Box Publishing games. We are saddened by this, but since we can't compete with the chain stores, this is simply the best thing for us to do.

Game Review - Them & Us by Outset Media

I admit, I'm a bit of a sucker for gender based games because I like to tout the whole girl power thing.  Well, for a girls against guys game, this one is pretty good.  Take note, this game is 18+ only because of mature subject mature, so please don't play this game with youngins.

Contents include: questions cards, scoresheets, 2 pencils, timer, and rules booklet.  Each turn the guessing team chooses which side of the card they want to answer (male questions or female questions).  Your own gender card is worth 1 point per correct answer, 2 points per answer on the opposite gender questions (ie, if I, a girl, am answering questions from the guy side, I'd get 2 points per correct answer).  But beware, there are cards where both gender questions are the same, and those cards are worth 3 points per correct answer.  However, those are typically the racy cards, so be careful with whom you choose to play this game with.  

This game was a lot of fun and I highly recommend it.

Game Review - The All American Trivia Board Game by Outset Media

I picked up this game on a hunch because my family likes trivia games.  We grew up playing all of the Trivial Pursuit editions, so it was only natural that we'd progress to other types of these games.

The game is simply built, which is nice to not have many new rules to learn.  The game board consists of 5 different spaces repeated all around the edge, those spaces include: General, Arts, History, Geography, and a flag space, which means you draw one of the flag cards.  The flag cards are totally random and can either move you forward or backwards, so it provides an interesting twist on the classic trivia gameplay.  In this case, knowledge is not the only thing that will help you win, a little bit of luck will too.  

Example: The first time we played, we had the girls challenge the boys.  The boys quickly took a large lead over the girls to the point where the boys nearly passed the girls on their second time around the board (the girls were still on their first time around the board).  But the girls caught a break, the boys drew a card which reads "Your favorite recording artist wins a Grammy Award.  You take a friend to a concert to celebrate.  Move forward to the nearest Art Space, and select one player who is behind you on the game board and move him/her to the same Art Space."  Needless to say, we caught up.  Somehow we managed to win too!

Not only is this game informative, I admit there were many questions I didn't know the answer to, but it's fun at the same time, which is a great way to learn.

Game Review - What? by Outset Media

First off a disclaimer... I know I've already written and posted January's Game of the Month, and it's What?.  The reason is because we loved this game so much that we felt we needed to give it due credit, and what better way than to kick off the new year with the best, hot new game (in our opinion of course!)

Okay, so the name of the game is What?, and you just might find yourself saying that very phrase many times while playing.  The bare bones description comes down to only a few sentences... Here goes...  You read a question, you write an answer.  The reader then reads all the answers and chooses their favorite out of the bunch, then you all go around and guess who the author is.  Sound simple?  It is, which is one reason we absolutely love this game!  It's simple to play, but can take so many twists and turns.  Plus, you never know what anyone might say, they could surprise you!

This game is great because it's clean enough to play with family, but could easily be taken in any context and become the most hilarious thing you've ever done.

Question examples: "What is it about shaving that _____ finds so complicated?"  "What happened to the guy who invented New Coke?"  "What do you hope your parents never reveal to you?"  and "What cartoon character does _____ remind you of?"

I highly recommend this game, check it out for yourself and see just how much fun you can have sitting around the house (coffee shop, dorm room, library, or office)!

Cardboard Warrior's Game of the Month - January 2008

What?

players: 5+

playing time: 1 hour

manufacturer: Outset Media

reviewer: Warrior Jessa

overall grade: A+

Construction: A+

This game is the cat's meow! I was first impressed that it comes in a tin box (a happily bright tin box to boot!), but certainly was not let down when I opened the lid to see what was inside.  The cards are a good quality, thicker than most and quite durable as my copy of this game has already been used MANY times.  Overall I'm very pleased at the construction, it seems it will hold up for a long time to come, which is good since I'm sure we'll be playing it often.

Playability: A

The rules are easy to learn and fun to read.  What's better than that?  It only takes a few minutes and you're ready to play!  The only piece of constructive criticism I have is that if you do get to playing it a lot, like we have since we got it, you may very well end up readying questions multiple time.  Note to the manufacturer: Give us an expansion pack of questions!!!

 Value: A+

As its description reads, "WHAT is a hilarious party game of who-said-what."  This game is not only hilarious, but revealing!  Don't be too sure you know who wrote the answer, the real author could very well surprise you!  This game comes with pencils, lots of scoresheets (though if you do run out, it's real easy to re-create), rules, a nice little screen to secretly jot down points behind, and of course the questions.  To make it all better, it comes in a handy dandy tin box which is very brightly colored!  Consensus: We love it!!!