Cute Kid Pix July 2019

At one of the hotels on our vacation, my youngest decided to be a bridge inbetween two beds. He was good at it for short periods of time.

Fastest bridge construction ever!

Collapse!

In addition to the amusement park, the Mall of America had a massive display on monarch butterflies. And a cool fountain.

Mothra-sized monarch

A lot more

A half-and-half fountain seen from above

The local library had a story time themed around bugs. The word of the day was "crawlies." For the craft, we put a spider together with its web.

Getting ready to glue

Attaching the string to the spider

Coloring the web

Finished product

The prescholar had two lollipops for dessert one night. He had both of them at once!

yummy!

He reminds me of me in my younger days.

A classic from 2012

I was summoned for jury duty in July but was not selected to be one of the jurors in the first case that day. We rejects reported back to the jury waiting room. The jury coordinator told us the other litigants had settled without a trial so we didn't need to go through another jury selection process. We were free for the rest of the day.

Howard County Courthouse

Nearby is the old jail built in 1851. It was a stop along the Underground Railroad, though not a stop anyone wanted to stop at. It was built in part to confine captured slaves fleeing north.

The old jail

Other side

Underground Railroad information

The kids did some front yard work, trimming the front bushes. They are available for reasonable rates.

A cut above

Another fun story time at the library had "ocean" and the word of the week. The craft was very easy and very fun.

Gluing on components

Coloring the components

Finished product

I was happy to win a promo card for Sagrada, a fun dice game that we love. The Family Gamers had a contest and sent it to me right away. So awesome!

Promo and congratulations letter!

Twelve Games of Christmas 2018

We decided to challenge ourselves to play twelve games over the Christmas season. Being Catholic, that meant we had until January 13, 2019, which is the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord. That's celebrated on the Sunday after Epiphany (January 6). Epiphany was on a Sunday in 2019, giving a full week after to finish. So we had plenty of extra days to get the games in. Here's what we played:

1. Patchwork Express designed by Uwe Rosenberg and published by Lookout Games

Based on his hit game Patchwork, Rosenberg strips down the mechanics to a two-player version. The game is still pretty relaxing and laid back. Players are putting together a patchwork quilt by getting variously shaped pieces and adding them to their board. Buttons are used as a currency during the game. Different patches cost different numbers of buttons. Time is also a currency, because each patch takes a certain amount of time to add. The time track governs whose turn it is. Whoever is behind on the track can buy patches until they catch up to the frontrunner, so it is possible to buy more than one patch before the opponent has a chance. The mechanics are simple and easy to learn but the variety is good with the random ordering of the patches. We like it, especially because the game easily runs under half an hour and it isn't particularly stressful.

2. Sagrada designed by Daryl Andrews and Adrian Adamescu and published by Floodgate Games

This game was a Christmas present, probably my favorite. I did a dual/duel review of it back in the summer where I compared it to Azul. Players build stained glass windows using translucent dice that are drawn, rolled, and drafted each round. The game has some tension but not very much player conflict. It plays in less than an hour, which we like because we have a hard time carving out blocks of time for gaming.

Our four-year old often insists on playing. While the mechanics are a bit beyond him, we have an easy time guiding him along. I recommend the game highly!

3. Unlock! The House on the Hill designed by Fabrice Mazza and published by Space Cowboys 

This game is a variation on the "escape room in a box" genre. The Unlock! series has several different games. Each game uses a set of cards and an app, though the app is good for all the games, so players only have to download it once. The game comes with a tutorial scenario that introduces the basic ways to use the cards. Some cards show locations and indicate other cards players "discover." Some cards are objects (red and blue) that can interact with each other causing new things to happen. Other cards (green and yellow) require the player to enter codes or other information into the app to get feedback. Players have sixty minutes to solve all the puzzles and finish the game.

In The House on the Hill, players are investigators going into a house where a bunch of teenagers read an excerpt from The Book of the Dead and unleashed all sorts of paranormal badness. The investigators need to find the book and undo the curse.

The puzzles are fun and none are too difficult. The trickiest thing is that numbers are sometimes hidden on cards, so without close examination important clues could be left out. The app asked us whether we wanted to have automatic help for hidden numbers. We said yes since it was our first time. We probably won't use that feature in the future. We finished in time with the following result:

So we finished in 48 minutes and 2 seconds with zero hints (the lightbulb). We tried two wrong combinations and got a six-minute penalty (the skull and crossbones). We had no penalties for machines (the green cards) and three penalties for wrong codes (the yellow cards). Three minutes for each penalty means that we really finished in 33 minutes of real time. We scored the full five stars at the bottom.

This was a fun game and is replayable, since the cards aren't torn up or folded like in Exit: The Game games. We'd have to wait a while so we can forget how to solve the puzzles. Or we can have the fun of watching friends play it.

4. The Lady and the Tiger designed by Peter C. Hayward, Allysha Tulk, Kevin Carmichael, Ken Maher, JR Honeycutt, and Philip Tootill and published by Jellybean Games

The Lady and the Tiger is actually five different games that use the same set of components (thus the six designers (two designers created one of the games)).

We played Labyrinth (by Philip Tootill), a two-player game where we had to move our cubs (five colored tokens) across a grid of cards to their home card. On each turn, the player moves one token and then swaps two cards, at least one of which has to have a cub on it. The trick is that the player can't swap just any cards. It has to be two of the same color or two ladies or two tigers. And the choice is further limited by only one of the two colors (blue or red) or one of the two types (ladies or tigers) depending on what was chosen previously.

The game is very "thinky" and thus prone to analysis paralysis. Happily, my wife and I aren't so ambitious that we try to work out all the possibilities. My wife won pretty handily. I'll have to have a rematch.

5. Machi Koro designed by Masao Suganuma and published by IDW Games and Pandasaurus Games

We had family over for New Year's Day and they played several games. My wife and I started Machi Koro with them, though my wife swapped out half-way through to play with the children. It was fun, maybe because I won?

The game is about building a city, starting with a Wheat Field and a Bakery. Players roll a die (or two dice later in the game), collect money if the number matches their cards, and buy a new establishment. As the city grows, players get more money with which to buy better expansions. The goal is to buy four special expansions (Train Station, Shopping Mall, Amusement Park, and Radio Tower). The first to buy all four wins the game.

It's a light and quick game that anyone can learn and enjoy.

6. Muddy Swampy Jungle Game by Martin Handford and published by Candlewick Press

If you think Martin Handford's name sounds familiar, you must have had more than a passing glance at a Where's Waldo book. This game is in book seven, Where's Waldo? The Incredible Paper Chase. We tore out the board and punched out the pieces from one of the pages. We had to supply our own six-sided die. Players roll and move along the board, hoping to get to the finish line before everyone else. The spaces occasionally make you move forward or backward, or perform silly tasks like reading one of the tongue twisters from the cards.

The game's board

Our preschooler loves the game, so we've played it several times. We probably won't play it without him, because we are that type of parents.

7. The Lady and the Tiger (again!)

We tried out one of the other games from number four above. This game is called Doors. It's a two-player game in several rounds. In each round, one player is the Collector and one is the Guesser. Both players draw one of the door cards, so they have a specific color (blue or red) and character (lady or tiger). The players deal out four of the general cards face up. The Collector chooses one of the face-up cards (which is immediately replaced from the draw pile). The Collector is trying to get four cards that match their color or character. The Guesser gets to discard one of the four face-up cards and can try to guess the color and/or character of the Collector. Successful guessing gets points; unsuccessful guessing gives points to the Collector. As soon as someone scores, the round is over. The roles then switch for the next round. Play continues until one player has scored ten points.

It's an interesting game but I am terrible at it. We played twice and, including both games, I scored four points. Yikes!

8. Sagrada (again!)

We played a four-player version with my brother and my preschooler. The preschooler enjoyed drawing dice and rolling them more than anything else. So he makes a good aid.

9. Forbidden Island designed by Matt Leacock and published by Gamewright

This classic co-operative game is a favorite at our house. One reason is that everyone can play it. As a co-op, we work together to gather the treasures off a sinking island. The mechanics are very straight-forward--even our four-year old can play along and make some reasonable decisions. We did succeed though we played with one of the easier island shapes (there's a jpg with alternate layouts for the island on Board Game Geek). The components are fantastic and the outcome is usually positive.

10. The Lady and The Tiger

We tried out a third game, Favor, an auction game. Each player starts with five gems and a secret identity (one of the door cards). Cards from the deck are played to the center. On a player's turn, the choice is to flip up another card in the center or to call an auction. During the auction, each player gets to bid a number of gems on the whole set of cards in the middle. Whoever called the auction has the last bid, so the last chance to get the cards. If the auction caller wins the cards, his bid is split among the other players. If another player wins, the auction caller gets the bid. So the gems move around. Once the cards run out, a final auction is held. The cards that match both characteristics of a player's secret identity are worth three points; one characteristic is worth one point; no characteristics are negative two points. The two wild cards can alter attributes on one card. The game runs for three rounds. Whoever has the most points at the end wins.

I'm usually pretty bad at auction games but this went well. I still lost but I actually scored a reasonable amount of points.

11.  Machi Koro (again!)

A sweeping victory by Mommy in a tricky three-player game.

12. 13 Dead End Drive

Aunt Agatha has died with no relatives, so a bunch of friends and servants vie to inherit her fortune. Her home is full of booby traps (the fireplace, the stairs, a falling suit of armor, etc.) ready to knock off the twelve claimants. There's also a small deck of cards that are the "portrait on the wall" showing who is the most likely claimant at the time. The board is three-dimensional, so the deck of cards actually sits on the back wall like a portrait. The traps are a plastic stairs, statues, etc., that have a little lever to activate the trap and knock over the doomed playing piece.

Each player gets several of the characters to play (though the roles are secret). On a turn, the player rolls two dice and moves two of the characters (not necessarily their own characters). If a character lands on one of the booby trap spots, the player draws a card from the trap deck. If the card matches the trap, it can be discarded and that character is eliminated. Otherwise, the card is kept in secret to use later on a different trap. Also in the trap deck are detective cards, which move the detective closer to the front door. If the detective reaches the front door, the game ends. If the dice roll is doubles, the player has the option of putting the top portrait card on the back of the deck, introducing a new "likely claimant." If the portrait is ever of someone who has already been knocked off, the card is discarded and the next card is the current portrait.

The game is novel (for its time, 1993) in having multiple ways to win. A player wins if one of their characters leaves when their portrait is on the wall, or if the detective shows up when their portrait is on the wall, or if all the other characters are killed. Only the first and third win conditions are under the player's control, but still it's nice to have a variety of options.

The game is out of print, so it's super-expensive online. Maybe you can find it at a thrift store for a reasonable price?

Dual/Duel Review: Azul vs. Sagrada

Dual/Duel reviews are an online smackdown between two books, movies, games, podcasts, etc. etc. that I think are interesting to compare, contrast, and comment on. For a list of other dual/duel reviews, go here.

While at Dice Tower Con 2018, I wanted to try two similar games. Azul is a new game where players put together a tile mosaic in the medieval Muslim style. Sagrada is an older game (like a little over a year older, so not that old at all) where players put together stained-glass windows in the medieval Gothic style. Both are similar, but is one better? Are they different enough to justify owning both? Answers below...

Azul

Azul is a tile-collection and -allocation game where players take turns collecting sets of matching tiles and adding them to their individual player boards. The trick is that only one type of tile (red, blue, black pattern, etc.) can go on one row in a round, each row having one to five spaces for tiles. At the end of the round, when all the tiles have been drawn and placed, one tile from each completed row is moved over to the right, the rest go back into a drawing pool. Uncompleted rows keep their tiles into the next round. The round is scored for the number of tiles horizontally and vertically touching the placed tile.

Azul, individual game board--the bottom row was incomplete

If a player draws tiles and can't place them (or there isn't enough space), the extra tiles go in the row at the bottom of the board and count as negative points for the round. Once someone completes a row on the right hand side with all five different colors, the game ends. Final scoring includes bonuses for complete rows, complete columns, and for each set of five matching colors. For example, on the above board, I scored for the first column and for the yellow tiles with the red pattern on them.

The game plays quickly and is less complicated than it sounds. It can be frustrating to get locked out of tiles you need during a round, but rounds end quickly so there's always a chance of getting a better draw next round. The abstract mechanics of play don't really feel like you are an artisan working on a tile layout. The challenge is to set up patterns where tile placements score ever more points and complete the end game bonuses. The game delivers a blend of strategies and tactics, making a satisfying experience.

I played a "giant" version of Azul which doesn't seem much bigger in the pictures

Sagrada

Sagrada is a dice-rolling, -drafting, and -placement game where players take one translucent die at a time and try to build a stained glass window. Each player selects one of four stained glass windows to complete in the game. The windows are four-by-five grids of spaces that dice can be placed on. Each window has some colored places and some numbered places, so dice placed there have to match the color or number. The other blank spaces can have any other dice...except no two dice of the same color or same number can be placed orthogonally (up, down, left, right). Diagonals are okay. More difficult windows have more number/color spaces, but also provide more tokens to pay to use a tool. A set of tools (randomly drawn from a deck) give special powers, either by changing die numbers or moving already placed dice or whatever the specific tool says. Players draw individual secret goals (gaining points for all the pips on a certain color in the window) and some group goals are also drawn as scoring opportunities at the end of the game.

Board, secret goal, and leftover token

The start player draws several dice (two per player plus two extra) from a bag, rolls them, and then players chose one die at a time to place on their windows. The dice are selected "snake draft" style, with the first player choosing one die and other players choosing in order. The last player to select a die then chooses a second die. All the other players choose a second die in reverse order. So the first player gets the first choice and the last choice (with two dice left over, so there really is a last choice).

Dice are placed as they are drawn and must follow the rules of placement. After several rounds, the windows reach completion (though it is possible for a spot to remain empty if the wrong color or number is on the final die drawn) and scores are tallied based on the goals.

Another board and secret goal

I enjoyed the challenge of the game. Mostly it is multiplayer solitaire, though decisions can impact others indirectly. Each window has a unique set-up and some are more challenging than others. The more challenging ones provide more resources to use the tools, offsetting the difficulty somewhat. The components are beautiful and the end of the game is satisfying to me even if (when) I don't win. The result has always been satisfying (even if someone's result scored better).

Which game is better

Both games are arty and have great components (chunky resin tiles and translucent dice; colorful and functional playing boards). Both have good short-term tactics and long-term strategies. But the games do have differences.

• Azul has one player board layout that everyone uses (though players can flip it over and use a blank board with a bunch of extra rules); Sagrada has a good variety of boards of varying difficulties. More experienced players can choose something more challenging while first-timers can pick easier boards, evening the playing field when there's a mix of experienced and inexperienced players. Plus to Sagrada.
• Azul plays more quickly, easily under half an hour with focused players. Sagrada is more complicated and moves more slowly, but still clocks in around forty minutes. Plus to Azul.
• Azul has scoring throughout the game which can be good in a tight game but also can be bad if one player is scoring a lot more each round or one player is performing very poorly. Sagrada leaves the scoring to the end, so there's less pressure on the players. Also, the secret goals can help swing the final score. Plus to Sagrada.
• Azul just won the 2018 Spiel des Jahres, Germany's top board game award. Sagrada was not even nominated in 2017 when it came out. Plus to Azul.
• Azul's theme of making an Moorish mosaic feels tacked on. Sagrada's dice placement and use of the tools gives a lot more thematic resonance. Plus to Sagrada.

Sagrada is the better game.

Are they different enough to justify owning both

Both games are visually appealing but in different ways. The mechanics are different. The randomness (drawing tiles from a bag vs. drawing and rolling dice from a bag) is different enough to give each game a different feel. If you can afford it (money-wise, storage-space-wise, and play-time-wise), I think it is okay to own both. For me, I'd rather have Sagrada than Azul, though both are awesome games.

Winner--Sagrada



Loser--Azul