Game Review, Scotland Yard

This is a game review of Scotland Yard, one of the oldest board games in the cafe. I got this game as a gift when I was in primary school back in 1988. So this game is almost 21 years old!

Overview

Scotland Yard is a very interesting deductive and cooperative game for up to 6 players. One player will play as Mr X the bad guy who is at a secret location on the map. The rest of the players will be detectives working together to deduce the location of Mr X.

Game Components

The components for the game are of pretty good quality and perhaps that explain why it survive the last 20 years. The game board depicting the map of London is beautifully illustrated. The player pieces are simple but functional.

Game Play

Scotland Yard has very interesting game play mechanics. It is a cooperative game that involves both deduction and strategy. Players acting as detectives will cooperate to beat one player acting as the villain. The game starts with detectives placed at various locations on the map.

Each player acting as a detective will have a number corresponding to a location on the map.

The player acting as a villian has a location as well but nobody know exactly where he is. For the detectives to win the game, they have to catch him at his current location.

Where the heck is Mr X?

To try to capture Mr X, detectives have to move to different locations on the map, hoping that they will land on the location of Mr X. To move around the city, detectives can take different modes of transport such as taxi, bus or train by using the tickets allocated to them.

Run out of tickets and you are stuck!

Different locations have different modes of transport available (indicated by color) and detectives can only travel one stop to another location using an available mode of transport. For example, the detective below can take a taxi and only travel from the current taxi stand to the next immediate taxi stand.

Only taxi are available at location 158 as represented by the yellow semi circle

Different modes of transport enable players to travel different distance as the stops may be further apart. Effective use of the transport system is the key to winning this game.

Trains allow you to travel further since the train stations (red marking) are further apart

Mr X, like the detectives, get to travel around the map too. Transport tickets used by the detectives are given to Mr X. As Mr X moves, the only clue that  detectives get is the mode of transport that he uses.

There he is!

At various intervals, he will have to reveal his location. Using this location and mode of transport that he subsequently takes, detectives will have to deduce his location and land at his location.

Mr X is going to reveal himself soon!

Detectives have to catch him before the end of 24 rounds before he escapes. If that happens, the detectives will have lots of explanation to do. "You mean that 5 detectives can't catch a single fugitive!?"

Theme

Scotland Yard has a great theme. Players engage one another trying to hunt down Mr X. There are lots of interactions as players strategize on how they plan to corner the villian. 

One of the strategy is to spread out initially and close in once Mr X reveals himself

When Mr X reveal himself in the location and provide clue on his next mode of transport, it is really fun to try and deduce where he plans to go. Playing the villian is exciting as well as the player will have to try and shake off the detectives that are hot on his heels.

Conclusion

I think Scotland Yard is a real classic. The game mechanics are interesting and it is a pretty easy game to pick up. There are lots of interactions as well as excitement as detectives anticipate the revealing of the location of Mr X. There are many interesting strategies that both sides can use such as Mr X giving a glance at a particular location of the board to mislead detectives about his current location.

The only drawback of the game is that the game experience is heavily dependent on the players themselves. The player that acts as Mr X got to be good enough to give the detective team a good challenge. Similary the detective team has to be good enough to make the hunt exciting and rewarding. A off balance in either side can make the game experience less than ideal.

The experience of playing as a detective or Mr X is also very different. In the role of detective, the emphasis is more on coooperation and deduction while playing Mr X involves more of planning your movement so that you don't get trap into corners.

Scotland Yard is a great game with great game mechanics. Perhaps it is a bit old which is why most people would not have noticed it. That is a pity considering that Scotland Yard is the recipient of the 1983 Spiel des Jahres game of year award. If deduction and cooperation game is your cup of tea, you definitely do not want to give Scotland Yard a miss!

Pitstop Cafe, be part of the fun!

WeeKee

P.S On the side note, I think someone should come out with a Singapore version for this game considering we have a great theme for it....

April PMS

Well well, it is that time of the month again for PMS. PMS is a fun event where board games lovers get to know new friends and enjoy board games together. This month Pitstoppers Meetup Session (PMS) will be on Tuesday (28th April 2009).

Information
Date: Tuesday 28th April 2009
Time: 7.00pm to 10.30pm
Venue: Pitstop Cafe
Charges: Free gaming and free flow of drinks as well!
Promotion: Only $7 for main course and $4 for finger food.
Number: 30 pax (By registration only) Register for the event.

Hope to see you then!

Pitstop Cafe, be part of the fun!

weekee

Board Game Review - Relapse

This review is about a simple abstract strategy game given by Jeffery A. Krueger that I got to know on Facebook. The game arrive via air mail to Pitstop Cafe. It is one of those rare games that you don't find in other cafes.

Overview

Relapse is a 2 player abstract strategy game that has certain similarity to checkers. The objective of the games is to get your 4 out of 6 of your own pieces into your opponent's area, vice versa.

Game Components

The game component is pretty basic. It consist of a board and 2 set of plastic pieces that come in 3 different shapes. The rulebook is simple but isn't detailed enough. Illustrations would definitely be better but thankfully there is a video clip on the game play that is available on Youtube.

Game Play

The game play shares some characteristic of chess, with each piece having a different type of movement. The game pieces consist of 3 different type of shape, square, triangle and circle. The square can move one step at a time in horizontal or vertical direction. Triangle can only move one step diagonally and the circle is the most flexible having one step movement in any of the eight directions.

Moving the pieces across the board into the opponent's area. It is harder than it seem!

This configuration results in some interesting game play. Each player will need to move their pieces to a same zone across the board. During the movement, you can capture opponent pieces by moving into their occupied space. When this happen, they have to go all the way back to the home base and try again.

Hence a good strategy that utilizes the different movement of the pieces are necessary to advance your pieces into the opponent's base without being capture and send back to base.

Theme

I think it is a pity that the game designer did not incorporate a theme into the game, making the game play a really abstract experience that a limited group of people would enjoy. Instead of just shapes and a plain board, why not change them into military units in which they have to advance though the terrains to capture the enemy base? That would definitely make the game more interesting to the causal crowd.

Conclusion

This is a abstract strategy game that some would like while others would find it dry. The concept is interesting and it can be interesting trying to figure out a way to utilize the different movement characteristic of the pieces to win your opponent. However I find the pace slow due to the small movement step. A piece that got capture will have to start from the base again, making the game play a bit repetitive.

Nevertheless, the game is easy to pick up and suitable for folks who like games like chess and checkers. A good theme with a faster pace would make this game more appealing to the causal gamers.

This game is available at Pitstop Cafe, special thanks to Jeffery for giving us the game. Do give it a try and let me know what you think. 

Pitstop Cafe, be part of the fun!

WeeKee

March PMS

Well well, it is that time of the month again for PMS. PMS is a fun event where board games lovers get to know new friends and enjoy board games together. This month Pitstoppers Meetup Session (PMS) will be on next Tuesday (31st March 2009).

Information
Date: Tuesday 31st March 2009
Time: 7.00pm to 10.30pm
Venue: Pitstop Cafe
Charges: Free gaming and free flow of drinks as well!
Promotion: Only $7 for main course and $4 for finger food.
Number: 30 pax (By registration only) Register for the event.

Hope to see you then!

Pitstop Cafe, be part of the fun!

weekee

What is mum up to?

Mum loves cooking. Every now and then she likes to try new stuff. It is always fun to look at how she studied the recipes and actively took down the notes. So what is she up to?

Well for this week she is trying out paper wrapped chicken chop! I had tested the prototype and it taste great! So for those who are dropping by on Friday and Saturday, do ask for it if you want to try something new.

I think you would love it.

Pitstop Cafe, be part of the fun!

WeeKee

Monopoly Challenge 2009

Monopoly isn't really my favourite game but for fans of this game, you would definitely like to take part in the upcoming Monopoly National Championship.

Registration cost only $4 per participant and winner gets an all expense paid trip for 2 person to Las Vegas!

Event Information

Venue: Plaza Singapura Open Plaza Level 1

Date: Saturday 4th April (Heats) and Sunday 5th April (Quarter, Semi & Finals)

Registration: Register by 29th March

Do note that there are also some changes to the game play to make it more strategic compared to the normal version. For more details, visit http://www.monopoly2009.com.sg 

Pitstop Cafe, be part of the fun!

WeeKee

An unlucky week

Last week was a really unlucky week. The cafe was broken into by somebody and we lost quite a bit of money which really matters for a small business like us. I was damn pissed off at the evil doer and ready to curse the culprit to death.

I opened my death note, wanting to write that the culprit will choke to death while eating fishball noodles. I did not do that. It wasn't that i was kind hearted but rather I realise i did not have a name.

Despite the losses, we really gotta be thankful that no one was hurt in the incident. The penguins and board games were safe from harm as well. Things could have been worse.

We are still not very sure when the crime was committed. Upon noticing that things were amiss in the cafe by the crew, a police report was filed. By the time I reached the cafe, there were already a few policemen at the scene taking down the statements from the crew.

I was expecting that the police would be doing some high tech stuff like scanning the place with high tech UV light to pick up suspicious footprints or something exciting. However no such stuff happened.

The policemen were mainly taking down statements and investigating for any signs of suspicious activities the vicinity. Photographs were taken and some useful clues were found. Hopefully the security cameras in the Boat Quay area would help in cracking the case too.

It has been an important lesson for us not to get careless especially now that times are bad. We really need to be more vigilant and take more care with our belongings. My mum was mentioning that her friend who is working as a cashier, ended up paying $100 out of her own pocket because some evil doer passed off 100 Thai Baht as Singapore dollars during the peak hour!

We are sharing our bad experience so that it would be a useful lesson to remind everyone to be more mindful and take good care of your personal belongings wherever you go especially during this period of economic uncertainties.

But no matter what lies ahead, do remember to treasure the love ones around you and smile. And if you are looking for a fun time to chase away the gloom, Pitstop Cafe is here for you!

Pitstop Cafe, be part of the fun!

WeeKee

Board Game Review, Pandemic

This is a review on a pretty recent game called Pandemic. The fact that this is a cooperative game makes it worth the effort to check it out. After all you don't get to find many board games in this genre.

Overview

Pandemic is a game by Matt Leacock. In this game, players cooperate to find the cure for 4 different diseases that is currently infecting the world. It is challenging as players have to find the cure and at the same time prevent the diseases from spreading out of control. 

It is a pure cooperative game in the sense that either the whole team wins or they lose which makes for an interesting gaming experience compared to most games where you are competing with each other.

Game Components

The components are pretty nice and I like the artwork for the cards and the game board. The rulebook is nicely formatted with clear examples which makes it easy to learn the game.

The individual action guide is useful and certainly makes it easier when you are teaching the game to first time players. My only gripe is the game board is rather small. It is not that it makes it difficult to play but I would definitely prefer a bigger game board. 

Game Play

The thing about Pandemic that catches my attention is the game mechanics.  It is well-designed and elegant design in the game play. The game is simple to learn and at the same time it provides an intense gaming experience. 

Like most cooperative games, it adopts the "bad guy good guy" approach. Players get to do something good during their turn. The board then gets it turn and throws in some chaos into the game. 

Pandemic is a game for  4 players where each player assumes one of the five possible roles (scientist, medic, operations, dispatcher and researcher). Each role gives the player an advantage when performing certain actions.

Players starting their adventure from the research center in Atlanta

Players have to work together to find the cures for 4 different diseases to win the game. This is done through the collection of player cards. To find a cure for a disease, a player need to collect 5 cards that have the same symbol as the disease. 

However, if a player is a scientist, only 4 cards is needed. Hence you can see that an important aspect of the the game is to be able to effectively make use of the different abilities provided by players with different roles.

Apart from using these cards to find a cure, they are also allow you to travel to different parts of the world. This makes the gameplay interesting because players have to decide between using the cards to travel or keeping them to find the cure, not to mention that players only get to keep up to 7 cards in their hand.

In the process of finding the cures for the diseases, players would still need to treat regions that are currently infected with different diseases. 

At the end of every turn, a number of new regions will be infected as players draw a certain number of infection cards from the infection cards deck.

The first type of card you learn to hate

Now you might be wondering what is the big deal? After all, you can go to these regions and treat the diseases. This is where the importance of making effective decisions as a team comes into play. If you are not able to treat the diseases fast enough, a region can get over infected causing an outbreak and spreading the disease to other regions.

Not to forget that the outbreak in one region can cascade into multiple outbreaks!

To many outbreaks and your whole team loses the game. The team also loses the game by running out of player cards or the disease cubes. This means that to win the game, the players got to act fast and efficient!

Before you think that the challenge can get any worse, let me introduce to you another set of cards that you will hate. They are the epidemic cards. They appear every now and then throughout the game, creating more chaos. 

When this a card is drawn, a new region will become super infected (with 3 disease cubes). At the same time regions that were previously infected get a higher chance of getting infected again as the infection cards are shuffled and put back to the top of the infection deck.

The second type of card that you hate.

The infection rate also gets a notch higer which means that from now onwards, more regions will be infected at the end of every player turn. Hence the intensity of the game can escalate quickly as things get out of control and more regions become infected.

That basically sum up the game play. The game is pretty easy to learn once players become familar with the importance of the various roles. The challenge would then be how to cooperate as a team and beat the game.

Theme

I think the theme is perfect. With the epidemic and outbreak mechanism, players can really get into the game as they try to control the diseases from spreading further. The theme is that good and it is also the reason why it make me gripe on the size of the board. Finding cures and treating diseases around the globe makes for a grand experience. Yet all the intense actions are squeezed into one small board! A bigger board definitely makes the adventure grander and provides a better gaming experience.

Won't you have prefer a bigger board too?

Conclusion

Pandemic is a really good game with simple yet well-designed mechanics. The game starts slow but become more and more intense as the epidemic cards and increase in infection rate starts to impact the game. 

Players can also set the level of difficulty by playing with different number of epidemic cards which make this game good for beginning players as well as more experience players. However I am disappointed that this game is only for 4 players. It would definitely be more exciting if it can play up to 6 players.

Some people had commented that sometimes a more "experience" player tends to be the only one making the decisions while others follow. I think it is not a common issue and happens only when some players have yet to grasp the concept of the game. As the game progress and players become more familiar with the game play, the interaction between the players also increases.

One key problem that I would foresee is that the game might lack replayabilty. Though the use of different number of epidemic cards can increase the challenge of the game, the game play can feel repetitive after a couple of plays.

My suggestion to this issue is not to be too focus on beating the game but rather enjoy the intense game experience that Pandemic provides. After all, it isn't everyday that you get to work together with your friends to save the world from horrible diseases and that alone make Pandemic one of best cooperative games around.

Pitstop Cafe, be part of the fun!

WeeKee

February PMS

PMS is a fun event for everyone to make more friends and learn more about some of the fun and unique designer board games.



This month Pitstoppers Meetup Session (PMS) will be on next Tuesday (24th Feb 2009). Register for the event.

This PMS is really special. We have the members from Singapore Boardgaming Meetup Group to join us as well. So do come by and have a great board gaming session with fellow board games lovers.

Information
Date: Tuesday 24th Feb 2009
Time: 7.00pm to 10.30pm
Venue: Pitstop Cafe
Charges: Free gaming and free flow of drinks as well!
Promotion: Only $7 for main course and $4 for finger food.
Number: 15 pax (strictly by registration only)

Hope to see you then!

Pitstop Cafe, be part of the fun!

weekee

Space Game Review

This review is about an pretty interesting game that likely nobody has played or heard before. The game is called Space game by Peter Robinson and it is made in Cape province in South Africa.

Travelling with a suitcase filled with the games, he met up with me at the cafe and introduced me to the game. He is so passionate about it that I ended up grabbing a few sets from him.

So is the game any good? Read on for the full review.

Game Components

The game set is very nicely packaged in the translucent plastic casing held together with a carrying string. This makes it an excellent game to play in indoors as well as outdoors.






As the casing are held together nicely, there is no worries about misplacing the lids.



The game pieces are made of plastic foam material and brightly colored making it really attractive. Though the pieces work perfectly fine in the game I feel that the pieces were a bit too light and would have preferred something slighly heavier. Plastic chips would have been better in my opinion.



The rulebook is only a page long and nicely laminated. Some board games have rulesbooks that are so thin that they got torn after awhile which is not an issue for this game. My only gripe is that the layout of the rules could have been better formatted. The rulebook looks too complicated considering that this game is really easy to learn.

Game Play

If you have played tic-tac-toe before, you know that there are 8 different ways of alignment. With the additional 2 layers, the number of different ways increases drastically to 49 which make for some interesting game play.



On the first look, the game looks very similar to a 3D version of tic-tac-toe but after playing the game, it is definitely much deeper than that. Instead of trying to be the first to form a sequence, the winner is actually the player that forms the most number of sequences when all the pieces are placed.

It might seem to be a minor variation but it actually open up various interesting strategies for the game. Should you focus on making sequences early in the game or should you strategize and lay out the pieces so that they can create multiple sequences? Try playing it with 4 teams and it can get really exciting as teammates try to support each other with the best strategy to win the game.

In additional, the designer actually came up with 14 different variations of game play at different level of difficulty which really give your brain a good workout.

Theme

In the Space game, the theme is about trying to align the planets together in space. The theme concept isn’t too bad. Sliver dust is mixed into its blue acrylic game board, trying to create a feel of space. It is a pity that the game pieces did not further build on this by using sphere pieces instead of flat round pieces.

Nevertheless, the theme isn’t a big issue as I personally don’t think that the theme is an important aspect for games in this genre.

Conclusion

The Space game is an abstract puzzle game. It is one of those game that is easy to pick up but really tough to master. The game is well made and designed. I also like the fact that the designer actually came up with many variations which makes the game highly replayable.

Where the Space game shines is in the team play mode where players cooperate to become the winner team. There are lots of interactions and the competition can be pretty intense if you have really good players playing this game. For those who enjoy the game Sequence, the Space game is definitely more challenging and involves deeper thinking.

This game is really new. Currently Peter is still trying to market this game on his own through the Space game website. Hopefully some game publishers would pick up this game as I think that it really has the potential of becoming popular in the mass market.



If you are keen in this game, you can give it a go the next time you are at Pitstop Café. We also have a few signed copies of the game for retail for those who are interested. For more information, visit the Space game website.

Pitstop Cafe, be part of the fun

WeeKee

Gaming Lallapalooza, Board Gaming Challenge 2009

Gaming Lallapalooza is board gaming competition initiated by Fastforward, NTU Board gaming club. It is jointly organized by the board gaming clubs in both NUS and NTU. 4 games have been selected for competition this year. They are Blokus, Settlers of Catan, Dividend and Monopoly.

Event Details
Date: Saturday, 21 February 2009
Venue: SMU Concourse (Getting There)
Time: 9am to 6pm

You think you are good at these games, do register for the challenge. You can register as individual or form a team of 4 for the challenge. There will prizes and goodies bags for participants. Even if you are not taking part in the competition, you can also pop by and try out the 50 different board games that are available for free play.

Do check out the official Gaming Lallapalooza site for more details.

Pitstop Cafe, be part of the fun!

WeeKee

Board Game Review, Stone Age

There had been lots of really great games in the year 2008. Yet if i were to choose the game of the year, I would definitely award it to the game Stone Age by Michael Tummelhofer and Bernd Brunnhofer.

In my opinion, it has got to be the best produced game I have seen to date. To me, the best board game isn't just about the game mechanics but rather the whole game play experience. Let me share with you why I think it is the best showcase of the joy of board gaming.


The cover box for Stone Age

Game Components

This game has definitely the best game components that I ever seen. The artwork for the whole game is simply awesome. The little bits and pieces are of really high quality. The attention to detail to every part of the game is amazing. Rio Grande did a fabulous job. To better appreciate the quality, you just need to compare it with crappy production standards by Hasbro (look at what they did to Acquire).



The rulebook is clearly illustrated. Never under estimate the importance of good rulebook. Some good games are under rated due to incomprehensible rules that no one bothers to find out how to go about playing them.







Great illustration. If I am not wrong, it must be done by the same artist who work on the game Pillars of the Earth.





I simply love the effort put into the artwork for board. Some board gamers do not really value the importance of good components. To me, great components really add to the whole gaming experience.

Game Play

When it comes to game play, Stone Age does not disappoint me at all. I would admit that that the game play isn't as deep as games like Agricola and Caylus but it is just as fun and exciting. There are various approaches to victory though the game tends to be more of about tactics rather than strategy.

The idea behind the game play is simple. Every player starts with 5 workers that can be assigned to work at different part of the board.



By playing your workers at different areas, you get different resources.









There are wood, brick, stone and gold that can be collected. Again look at the quality of the components used for the various resources. One interesting aspect of the game is how the resources are collected.



There is even a nice leather cup included for you to put the dice!

Players need to throw dice to determine the amount of resources that you get. Most gamers would notice that Euro board games seldom use dice but there seem to be a new trend of Eurogames incorporating the use of dice even in strategy games. Some gamers might dislike the use of dice in games as it result in the game becoming more luck based. For me, Stone Age shines in its approach.

The idea is simple. By assigning more workers to gather a resource, you get to roll more dice which gets you more points. Players can collect tools that help them add more points to their dice throw. Different resource required different points. For example, wood requires 3 points per piece while gold requires 6.



Though there is still a certain degree of luck, the extent of it impact is greatly reduced. This adds excitment to game by incorporating some level of randomness but at the same time it never gets too luck based compared to games like Settlers of Catan.



Look at the amount detail that was put into the design of something as simple as the food token.

It may sound simple but players need to balance the size of their family (start with 5) and their food. Growing your family allows you to have more workers to collect the resources but at the same time it also means another mouth to feed. The penalty for not being able to feed your family is a whooping 10 points deduction!

Players need to manage their workers and resources effective so as to collect the various resources to build buildings or collect the different cards that will give them the victory points.

Theme

Last but not least, I cover a bit about the theme. For stone age, the theme matches very well with the gameplay. It doesn't feel like the theme was an after thought. From the hunting of the food, to the use of the tools, everything gel pretty nicely with the theme.



The starting player marker. Most games you just get a simple cylinder wood piece as an indicator.



You can get your worker to work in the field. This will help you increase your food production level so that you can be assured of certain amount food so you do not to have to depend totally on hunting for your food supply.



The love hut is definitely the most memorable aspect of the game. Simply place 2 workers at the love hut. At the end of the turn, you get another new addition to your family. Remember though, this also means that you need more food. Get horny too early in the game and you might end up with a family that is too big for you to cope!

Conclusion

From purely a game play perspective, i would still prefer Agricola for the deeper mechanics. However from a board gaming experience, Stone Age really stands out. It is not just about a single aspect of the game but how the various aspects of the game work so well together that make Stone Age so enjoyable.

Thought it is not difficult to play, I would not consider it as a gateway game for newbies. They might enjoy it but it is a pity not to be able to appreciate it. Stone Age is just like wine, some enjoy it while others appreciate it.

To me, it deserves to be the game of the year.