Quadropolis –

Biff

“Let me just say that if God was a city planner he would not put a playground next to a sewage system!” Quadropolis while somewhat familiar still provides an entertaining and nicely polished experience. This is a city-builder akin to Suburbia and the like, but overall it felt more streamlined, or perhaps simplified. You don’t have to fuss with income and there is generally less going on. “Less is more” in this case. On top of that, this game’s art has personality, which is always welcome. And, the translucent, plastic meeples and energy tokens are a nice touch. I would gladly play this again even had I lost. But, I didn’t.

Steve

The past two Unpubs have have had a fantastic selection of games for sale.  The Games Keep from West Chester, PA has set up shop and lulled in us suckers gamers. I was one of the lucky few to acquire Quadropolis and I am very happy with the purchase. Players compete to build a small city on their board while trying to score points based on adjacency to other buildings. Some buildings require meeples, power or both to be scored at the end of the game. The game has a very suburbia feel to it. I have enjoyed playing the classic variant to get a good handle of the rules and mechanics but I think we are ready to graduate to expert mode.

Onitama –

Kelly

Matt and I played this for the first time this weekend. He said I had anticipated its arrival but I didn’t remember anything about it. Apparently I know what games I’ll love because this one was excellent! It was quick, simple and it reminded me of the Duke, which was awesome because I love that game. We played a couple of games and each time went differently. Shuffling the movement cards between games provides ample opportunity for each game to be different from the last. Definitely check this one out!

Matt

This is the only new game I’ve had the chance to play recently, but it’s one that I’ve been waiting for since last year. It’s a very basic two-player abstract, where players rotate movement cards each turn and attempt to travel across a small grid board, capturing pieces along the way. We only played twice, but I’m already a fan. The production value is wonderful and the gameplay is light and simple – perfect for sitting outside in the sun with a beer.

Oregon –

Steve

Tile laying and grid movement seems to be a theme with us as of late. Oregon is a card driven tile placement game that reminds me a little of Carcassonne. You use your cards to determine which row/column you can place your little cowboyeeple, build a building, or place a mine. You can earn some gold from the mines or gain some points for being adjacent to any building. This was a pretty simple and straight forward game. It really relies heavily on the draw, which can be really frustrating. (see Biffs thoughts below) The game forces you to adapt to the changing board state and come up with new strategies on the fly. The symbology and artwork were really tiny so at times we had no idea what certain buildings were and would end up undoing our move a few times. This was a simple enough game that I wouldn’t mind having another shot at but there are other options that may be better.

Biff

Welp. I guess I’ll just waste these two Bison cards, and consequently my turn, since there aren’t any good points to grab on the board this turn. Then, I’ll just hope for a better draw and set up shop over in the ol’ Fire/Eagle part o’ town. Okay—here we go! C’mon Fire/Eagle! Bison/Bison.  Dammit! No big deal. We’ll come at ‘em next turn. They’ll never see it coming. There’s so many open spaces. No chance they’re pickin’ up what I’m hopin’ to put down right after I waste these two Bison, and my turn, again. Done. Next draw. Let’s do this! Fire/Eagle…or fire or just eagle. I don’t care. I have a Joker I can use as a wild. Wait. No I don’t. I used that six turns ago and haven’t been able to successfully earn it back. Hmm. That won’t discourage me! Two landscape cards, please! Wagon/Wagon. Who shuffled these?! Steve! It’s okay. Keep your composure. There’s barely any good options on the board at any given time, let’s keep trying for that same space we’ve been going at for a few turns now. Let’s see what Steve does first and we’ll just roll with that…

Fire/Eagle.

This game is worse than the dysentery I got on the last trip to Oregon.

Forbidden Desert –

Matt

Post-wedding board gaming had us bringing out some of the lighter classics, and Forbidden Desert was our way of escaping the deduction and memory required by many party games. Unfortunately, the game didn’t seem to go over well, as we died fairly quickly and just never fully took to the cooperative nature of the game. I’m not sure the casual environment of the night was fit for this title, which can be fairly difficult at times.

Hyperborea –

Matt

Remember how amazing this game is? If you’ve forgotten, Hyperborea, the bag-building fantasy euro civilization builder, was my top game of 2014. Breaking it out, I was surprised by just how well I remembered everything and wasn’t remotely surprised by how much I liked diving into my bag of cubes again. Everything about this game is great and it’s another one where I happily chalked up a loss.

Check out our Hyperborea Review!

Skull –

Matt

I really enjoy Skull and was excited to facilitate it with 6 new players. I think people had fun, but it’s hard to tell – the game has a tendency to run long if people rush the bidding each turn, which they did. I’m a fan of placing as many discs as possible before bidding, but the players spent the majority of the game bidding on 6-8 discs. Not great, in my opinion, but still a good time.

Check out our Skull Review!

Baseball

Steve

As you may or may not know, Mr. and Mrs. Buns tied the knot this past weekend. As you may guess, there was a little bit of a board game theme peppered into the festivities. On the table were a few, simple table games. Similar to the ones you may find in your local diner, made out of wood and use pegs. I had the opportunity to play Baseball. The game is simple, roll the two tiny die, look up the number on the board and that thing happens. You can play as long or as little as you like. I played with my wife Alicia and she rolled 9 “hit by pitch” results in a row. Yes she won…