FrogFlip—A Double-Take Review

Jason Kotarski is a busy guy. He's a husband, and a dad, and a church planter, and a musician, and a game designer. His first published game—The Great Heartland Hauling Company—is a cool pick-up-and-deliver game. He was kind enough to let us interview him, too. He's got a new little 2-player card game in the works, and we're going to give you our impressions of FrogFlip. Components

14 Cards, which include two cards with instructions, four Lily Pad cards, and eight Bug Score cards.

1 Frog Disc, which is a plastic disc with a frog sticker on one side.

Setup

Take the four Lily Pad cards and place them equally spaced between the two players. Then shuffle Bug Score cards and place them flower-side-down on the side. Then the youngest player grabs the frog disc and starts.

Gameplay

Each of the Bug Score cards has a number of bugs on it—either one, two, three, or four of them. On their turn, each player will attempt to flip the frog to the Lily Pad card that corresponds to the number of bugs on the top card of the Bug Score stack. So if there are two bugs on the top card, I'm trying to flip the frog onto the Lily Pad card that's two away from me. If I miss, my opponent is trying to flip the frog onto the Lily Pad card that's two away from her.

You flip the frog just as you would with flip a coin.

Your hand can't pass the first Lily Pad card, and if the frog falls off the table, your opponent gets two turns in a row!

The frog only has to touch the Lily Pad card in order to count; you get to take the Bug Score card, and the number of bugs on it is your score. If you manage to get any part of the frog disc to rest on the correct Lily card, you get to take the Bug Score card and flip it onto the flower side—the score is the same, but flowers are tie-breakers.

You continue back and forth until either the deck runs out, or someone claims five of the eight Score cards. Whichever player has the most bugs on their score cards wins, and flowers break ties.

Recommendations

Family? Definitely! It's just the right depth for a quick game with the kids. The only downside is that it's only for two players—though there are rules for a 4-player variant that requires two sets of the game.

Youth group/party game? Probably not! It looks like a kids game, so I don't think teenagers would like this much. And since it's two-players-only, I'm unlikely to even try this at a party.

Gamers game? Mmmmaybe! If your group likes Flowerfall, and other quick-playing, small fillers, this might be a good one to throw into the bin. But I'd probably still just pull out Flowerfall, though...

The Verdict

Firestone—This is yet another example of someone creating a "micro-game"—one that's fully contained in a very small package. I like that trend, as it keeps the price down and the portability high.

Jeremiah - Agreed, the brevity of the game is a highlight too; we can play best of 3, 5, 7, and so on, depending on how close it is to bedtime when we start playing. And my boys can teach it to others (friends, grandparents, etc) without my help. They really like it when that happens!

Firestone—The 5-year-old loves it, and the fact that the frog only has to touch the card means he has a chance. My 8-year-old likes it, but he's sadly getting to the age where he'd rather play deeper stuff. But he does love playing with his younger brother, so we'll see how long that lasts.

Getting that frog where you want it isn't as easy as it sounds! There were plenty of times it would go off in some crazy direction—and I've had years of coin-flipping experience! I think this adds to the fun, though, as it keeps kids competitive with grown-ups, who have obviously inflated opinions of their frog-flipping abilities.

Jeremiah - I feel like we're in the same boat. Frog Flip is definitely going to hit closer to home for the 4 or 5-year-old range; the novelty of the coin flip is still a draw to the older kids. The flipping mechanic seems to level the playing nicely, and the theme ties in perfectly with the game play.

Firestone's Final Verdict—This is an adorable little family game. I fear it has a very short window where it will continue to interest my boys, but I'll happily play it until that window closes.

Jeremiah's Final Verdict— This is a fun little game, and it did give me the opportunity to teach my boys how to properly flip a coin. (I guess that's a skill I've neglected to teach them in my parenting.) The boys had fun with it, and like I said, it's a great length for the times we don't have time to play a lengthy game before bedtime. My oldest is advancing into games like Heroclix and Pokemon so I, like Scott, don't know how long this will hold his attention, but it's still right in my youngest's wheelhouse and he loves it!

Jason just announced this week that the game's been picked up by Michael Fox's Sprocket Games. Watch for a Kickstarter campaign in July—and we'll try to get Jason to sit down for another interview. Thanks for reading!

Theology Of Games would like to thank Jason for providing us with review copies of FrogFlip; this in no way affected our opinions of the game.

Princes of the Dragon Throne—A Review

- By Jeremiah Clever Mojo Games has, along with designer Fred MacKenzie, put together a large-scale board gaming experience that is truly unique...while somehow familiar.

In Princes of the Dragon Throne players assume the role of one of the overlooked princes of the recently deceased Dragon King in the land of Lo'en. Beginning with a small amount of loyal followers you'll attempt to gather resources, persuade prospects to join your forces, and earn favor of the guilds throughout the kingdoms. Which prince among you and your siblings will rise to power and take the throne? Only time will tell.

The Components

The game comes with oodles of game bits, cards, and a huge game board. To be more specific there are:

216 custom miniatures - 80 Supporters - 60 Dragon Lords - 4 Dragon Princes - 72 King's Guards

179 Punchboard Chips - 84 Guild and Score Markers - 95 Resource Chips

157 Cards - 36 Dragon Prospects - 36 Citizen Prospects - 40 Starter Deck cards (4 decks of 10) - 36 Guild Favors - 6 Clan Favors - 2 Deck Title Cards - 1 Bargain With the Giant card

4 Player Aid Sheets

2 Custom Sorcery Dice

1- 22" x 33" Game Board

And of course the Rule Book

There is no apparent sign of either a partridge or a pear tree.

Setup and Overview

The board is separated into 6 kingdoms (Humans, Elves, Sorcerers, etc.); each kingdom is made up of 6 guilds (Merchants, Shepherds, Warriors, etc.). There is also a space for a prospect card (either dragon or citizen) in each kingdom. Surrounding each guild in every kingdom are 5 slots for Supporters or King's Guards. To setup the game: - Place 2 King's Guards in every guild (this will use all of them). - Give each player their starting deck of 10 cards. - Take 3 Dragon and 3 Citizen prospect cards, shuffle them, and place one in each kingdom. - Give each player three of each resource type (Gold, Sheep and Influence). - Each player then takes 5 of their Supporters (placing the rest to the side for now),all of their Dragon Lords, and their Dragon Prince.

Players shuffle their starting deck, draw five cards, and the game begins.

There are lots of stacks of cards, and resources, and so forth, so the bigger the table the better!

Game Play On a player's turn he or she can perform one of a possible four main actions, and a number of additional "King's Guard Actions," provided they have a King's Guard to use.

The four main actions are as follows:

Gather Resources—All the cards have two main functions, and gathering resources is one of those. On their turn players can play up to three cards from their hand and gather the amount of resources listed on them from the pool. If there are none left in the pool, you start pillaging them from other players, taking one at a time from each player moving counter-clockwise.

Recruit a Prospect—Once you've gathered enough resources, you can then begin to recruit prospects from the game board, by paying the value listed at the very bottom of the cards available. When you recruit that card, you snag another Supporter from your reserve pile; you also potentially score points (if there is a claw icon next to the cost). And if that wasn't enough, you get to remove a card from your hand or discard pile from the game!

Deploy Supporters—You can deploy up to 2 Supporters a turn, using two different cards from your hand. A Citizen card will give you two icons, which offers more flexibility; you can play a Supporter either in the matching Kingdom, on any guild, or on any matching guild in any Kingdom. Dragon supporters are locked into one Kingdom, on any guild, but they remove a King's Guard from the guild they are placed in (which goes into your reserve for later). Dragons also require you to feed them a number of sheep from your resources when you deploy them. You also can't deploy them where there are no King's Guards...

Maneuver Supporters—Finally if you choose to maneuver Supporters, you can move up to two of your Supporters from anywhere on the board to anywhere else on the board. This is great for taking over guilds, but also leaves guilds open for being taken over by other players... Speaking of taking over guilds...

If at any time you have more Supporters than any other player (or King's Guard) in a guild, you gain control of that guild. You get to place a spiffy token on it, score two points, and gain a guild favor card into your deck to use one time (and then it goes back into the general supply of guild favor cards). And you get to place one of your Dragon Lords into one of the houses around the Dragon Throne (either matching the color of the kingdom or guild that you just took control of).

After (or before) you've done one of those four main actions you can also use a King's Guard action (as many times as you like... provided you have a King's Guard to use).

The King's Guards that you gain by deploying Dragon Supporters allow you to do a few things. - Place 2 new prospects (if you don't like any that are out there). - Place 1 prospect card back on the top of a stack (if someone covered up one that you like). - Discard any number of cards (you still don't get to draw back up until the end of your turn, but it gets you through your deck faster).

You may also play one, and only one, Guild Favor card during your turn.

When your turn is over, draw back up to five cards (if you've played any) and the next player begins their turn by placing new prospects from either the Dragon deck, or the Citizen deck (their choice) if there are any empty slots, and then they proceed to take their turn.

Parliament—One last feature of the game is Parliament. Whenever a player's scorekeeper passes a red spot on the score track (at 6, 13, 21 etc.) parliament is held and players take turns placing their Dragon Prince in a house (starting with the player in last place). Each house has its own house bonus, which will give the player a special edge, or action, on their turn. When the next number is reached you do it all again.

The Goal and Game End—The goal is simply to score more points than everyone else; the game ends when all the spots in the Houses around the Dragon Throne are filled.

Thoughts and Recommendations -

Family/Party Game? Uhmmm about that. No. The game isn't hard to learn, but there are tons of aspects to grasp before even beginning to strategize. This one is not for the kids.

Youth Group Game? Not really. The setup is lengthy, the gameplay is lengthier (about 2 hours, once you've learned the game), and it doesn't lend itself to a big group setting.

Gamer's Game? Absolutely! This may be the very definition of a Gamer's Game! Intricately woven mechanics, rich back-story, and tons of pieces-parts—the more I learned about the game the more I loved it!

Components—I can't really speak to the final quality of the components; I was sent a prototype of the game with good ol' fashioned wooden meeples. But I will say this: Even the "rough draft" style of the meeples was pretty fantastic, and the renderings of the finished minis look splendid! Clever Mojo is going all out for this one, folks!

Gameplay—There's a lot to take in. I've played with 2 players and with 4 players, and if you're in a 4-player game it can get a little sluggish if folks don't plan ahead. That being said, there are a ton of different decisions to make on each turn; just choosing which of the four main actions you're going to take can be a painstaking process! "Do I buy up that card before someone else does, or do I deploy Supporters while I've got this dragon in my hand, or do I save up resources so I can get that awesome dragon??" There's a ton of planning and a ton of decisions to make on each turn, so be ready to make threats of bodily harm to those who are lagging behind.

If I had any small complaint about the way the game plays, I'd have to say I don't know how well I like the Maneuver Supporters action. It seemed a little too free, with being able to (in a Risk-like fashion) move your Supporters around and conquer guilds. Yes, there was a risk (pun intended) to getting that reward, but I felt it could have used a little tweaking.

Artwork—Again, what I had my hands on was a prototype, and I don't know how close to final everything was. But the cards already looked fantastic—lots of great detailed illustrations, and not one was like the other. Each Dragon and Citizen featured a name and a bit of flavor text; a lot of work went into the thematic realm the game is placed in. Beautifully done.

Overall—With elements of deck-building, worker-placement, and area-control—and finding a great balance and synergy between the three, while throwing in a pinch of resource management—Princes of the Dragon Throne combines the best of your favorite game genres into a large-scale board game. Simply put: It's epic!

We'd like to thank Clever Mojo Games and Game Salute for loaning Jeremiah a prototype of the game; this had no effect on the content of this review.

If you'd like to back Princes of the Dragon Throne on Kickstarter, you can do so here.

Have you backed it already? Let us know!

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Also you can find all kinds of Theology of Games goodness on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram! Check back soon as we interview Fred Mackenzie and his brother David Mackenzie, the brains behind Clever Mojo, Game Salute, and Princes of the Dragon Throne! Coming tomorrow! (June 5, 2013!)

Return To Sender—A Review of Love Letter

By Firestone Love Letter had all sorts of buzz coming out of Essen. The game sold out quickly upon reaching the states, and for a time this $10 game was going for $40... So is it worth $40? Is it even worth $10? Let's find out!

Components

16 cards—these are eight different characters, numbered 1 through 8, and there are varying numbers of each of those...numbers. I just wrote "numbers" too many times.

1: Guard—There are five of these.

2: Priest—There are two of these.

3: Baron—There are two of these.

4: Handmaid—There are two of these.

5: Prince—There are two of these.

6: King—There's only one.

7: Countess—There's only one.

8: Princess—There's only one.

Some red, wooden cubes

<---------And all of this comes in a small velvet carrying bag with "Love Letter" embroidered on it.

Setup

Shuffle the cards. Remove one facedown. Deal one card to each player and place the remaining cards in a draw pile. That's it.

Gameplay

The point of the game is to get your love letter to the princess. You do this by using the different members of the court to work for you. So on your turn you draw a card, and then play down in front of you one of the two cards you now have. When you play a card down, it stays down. And subsequently played cards are just played next to the old one. So you can always see what’s been played.

The actions on the card will often result in someone being eliminated—you or an opponent. The goal is to be the last person standing—or if the small deck runs out, you want to be left holding the highest-numbered card.

The Guard lets you pick another player and guess the card he or she has. If you're right, the person is out for the round. If you're wrong, nothing happens.

The Priest lets you look at the card of another player.

The Baron has you compare your remaining card (now that you've played the Baron down) with that of another player. Whoever has the lowest-value card is out of the round.

The Handmaid protects you for that turn—you can't be targeted by other players' cards in any way.

The Prince lets you pick a player—including yourself—and force that person to discard the card in his or her hand and draw a new one.

The King lets you trade hands with another player.

The Countess is a little odd: If you have the Countess and also have the Prince or King, you must discard the Countess. You can still discard the Countess at any time, and then people will think you've got the Prince or King.

The Princess makes you lose if you're forced to play or discard her.

Whoever wins the round gets a red cube. The game ends when one player gets a certain number of cubes—which will vary depending on the number of players.

Recommendations

Youth Group Game? Maybe! It's light enough and fast enough that I do think this could work with a youth group (or a party setting)—though it does only play up to four players, so not too large a party... Usually the luck—which is high in this game—isn't a detriment in that sort of gathering.

Family Game! No! Okay, changed to Maybe! My kids aren't old enough to get the game yet, and I don't think my wife would like it. But your family dynamic might be different.

Gamer’s Game? Probably not! If your group is really, really okay with luck, this could work as a filler. But there are so many other, better fillers out there...

The Verdict

I don't like this game. There. I've said it.

On the very first turn of my first game I was sitting in the 2nd seat. The 1st player played a Guard, guessed a card I had, and I was already out of the round before I had a chance to even play. I turned to my friend and said, "That's a problem." It might not have been a problem if it had happened once in the entire game, but it happened a number of times to a number of people.

There was some skill in the way you played your cards, but often it was obvious what to play. And since you're drawing cards, there's lots of luck. If you draw two Handmaids in a row, you're sitting pretty because you're safe for two rounds—which is a lot in this game. If you draw two Barons, you're pretty much hosed. If you have a Guard and get a lucky guess, go you! If you have the Princess you have a numbers advantage but you now have fewer strategic choices, as whatever other card you draw will have to get played. Yawn...

There were times you knocked people out thanks to clever deduction. And there were just as many times you knocked people out by blind, dumb luck. In fact, people are churning their hands so often that deduction is practically useless.

Thanks to the timing of their releases—and the fact that they're both small card games with lots of buzz—it's hard not to compare this to Coup.

But while Coup is mostly bluffing and some deduction—the deduction element comes in more with a higher number of players—Love Letter is almost no bluffing, some deduction, and tons of luck. Coup is a much better game, IMHO.

So what do you think? Am I way off base here? Did I miss something? Let us know what you think of the game or the review. And thanks for reading! Don't forget to like us on Facebook, and follow us on Twitter.

Abstract Distraction—A Review of Zertz

by Firestone

Today we're going to review a two-player game that's 13 years old—how retro! It's an abstract game, which means I'm terrible at it, but more specifically it means it's a game that has little-to-no luck, and often has no theme. Zertz is part of Project Gipf—a series of six abstract games designed by Kris Burm.

Components

• 37 round discs that make up the "board."
• 24 marbles: six white, eight grey, and 10 black.

Setup

You put five white, seven grey, and nine black marbles into a common pool. (The extra one of each color is used in a variant.) Use the discs to form a hexagonal game board. Then choose someone to go first.

<-----UPDATE: My friend Drew made fun of me this morning when he saw this post, because my discs were upside down. I've always played that way, and now I feel like a complete dork.

Gameplay

The goal of the game is to capture marbles—either two of each color, three white marbles, four grey marbles, or five black marbles. The first player to achieve one of those goals, wins.

One your turn you can do one of two things:

• Place a marble and remove a piece of the board, or
• Capture one or more marbles already on the board.

It's important to note that the marbles in the pool, and the ones on the board, don't belong to either player. You can choose one of any of the colors of marbles and place it on an empty disc that makes up the board. Then you remove a free disc from the board—and free means there's not a marble on it, and you can remove it without disturbing any other pieces. If there are no free pieces, you just place the marble.

The other thing you can do is capture marbles—and in fact if you can do that on a turn, you must do that. To capture a marble, you simply jump over it, as in checkers. There must be an empty disc for the jumping marble to land on. The colors don't make any difference: you can jump any color with any other color. And if, after capturing a piece, you can capture another, you must do so. But if there are multiple pieces you could capture, you can do so in any order you want—even if that means you're capturing fewer pieces.

If you capture a piece, you don't place a marble and you don't remove a disc.

If, through removing discs, you manage to isolate one or more discs, you can claim those pieces—including the marbles on them. But you can only capture marbles this way if there are no vacant pieces in the group. So often you're isolating one piece with one marble on it, and claiming that marble.

You keep playing like this until one person meets one of the goals listed above.

Recommendations

Youth Group Game? No! It's for two players, and it's abstract, so...no. If one of your kids likes chess, this would be a good game to bond over, though.

Family Game! Maybe! Again, it's two-player, so not a great game for a whole family, but you could certainly play it with a spouse or kiddo.

Gamer's Game? Definitely! There's enough meat here to please any hardcore gamer—unless you just don't like abstracts.

The Verdict

I'm really terrible at abstracts. I don't know if they're too analytical and mathy for me. My brain's just not wired to do well at them. But there are a few that I do still enjoy, and Zertz is one of them. I've played DVONN and Yinsh in Project Gipf, and while I would say Yinsh is the most newbie-friendly of those I've played, Zertz is my favorite.

It's easy to learn, but full of subtleties and new things to learn. And the thing is just gorgeous.

One of the most interesting aspects is that you're often sacrificing pieces, in order to set up the colors you need to win; it makes the game very interesting. And you'll find yourself trying to manipulate your opponent into making bad tradeoffs with you. Have I mentioned yet that I'm terrible at this?

The downside—and this is true of most abstracts—is that someone who's played before will often just crush someone who hasn't. And one mistake can certainly cost you the entire game.

Nevertheless, I can wholeheartedly recommend this for anyone who's ever wanted to dip a toe in the abstract sea. Or maybe you want to cannonball in instead: Zertz is your game.

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DC Comics Deck-Building Game—A Double-Take Review

Marvel! DC! Superman! Batman!

Comic books are a beloved part of Geekdom. And with the release of the DC Comics Deck-Building Game, both major publishing houses have a player in the deck-building genre of board games.

So how does Cryptozoic Entertainment's DC game stack up? Let's find out!

Components

214 cards—Standard-sized cards.

7 Super Hero Cards—These are oversized cards

A word about the insert. They tried really hard to make it useful, but it falls short. The space for the Hero Cards has grooves in it for you to slide your fingers down and get the cards out easily. Yay! Except the grooves don't go all the way down to where the cards are, so it's not helpful at all in actually getting the cards out. Also, the slots for the regular cards are so tight that once I (Firestone) had sleeved the cards, they didn't fit in there anymore. I was able to move some things around and make it all work. I do appreciate them trying to make a not-terrible insert, though...

Setup

One of my complaints about Legendary is how stinking long it takes to set it up. It's the same reason I'm mostly lukewarm about playing Dominion anymore: I'm just not sure it's worth the hassle. The setup here is easy breezy. You shuffle up the Super Hero Cards and give one to each player (or you can allow people to choose their own). Then you give each person their starting hand of crappy cards—7 Punch cards (each gives you 1 Power [the game's lone currency]), and 3 Vulnerability cards (which give you jack squat, and gum up your hand). You set out the Kick cards (1 Power and 1 VP), Weakness cards (-1 VP), and then set up the Super-villians deck (this will vary depending on the number of players). Finally, you shuffle up the giant stack of regular cards, deal out five into a row, and you're ready to go.

Gameplay

The game has one currency: Power. You draw five cards, add up the Power, and buy stuff...err...defeat stuff...err...it depends. There are Villain cards, Hero cards, Superpower cards, Equipment cards, and Location cards. These all function the same way (giving you Power and sometimes letting you do other cool things), despite the different names. So you're buying Equipment or defeating Villains, all with the same Power. It's not the strongest thematic tie-in, but it's fine. You can buy as many cards as you want on your turn, but the cards in the line-up aren't replenished until the end of the turn. You also have the option to defeat the top Super-villain. Ra's Al Ghul always starts on top, but beyond that, they're random, from a set of 12.

You start the game with one Super Hero identity, and each has a different special ability that is available to use each turn. So Batman's ability gives you +1 Power for each Equipment card you play on a turn—Superman's similar, but substitute Super Power card for Equipment. Wonder Woman lets you draw an extra card at the end of any turn you buy or gain a Villain card. And Aquaman lets you put any cards with a cost of 5 or less that you gain on a turn on top of our deck rather than in your discard. They're fun, and they tried to be thematic with them.

Just like most deck-builders, everything you buy goes into your discard, and you draw five new cards. Then you replenish any cards you bought from the lineup, and if you defeated a Super-villain, you reveal the next one. Every one besides Ra's has a First Appearance attack, which means that as soon as you flip that Super-Villain over, it will attack each player. Parallax makes you discard all cards in your hand with a cost less than 2. Captain Cold makes you flip your Super Hero card facedown until he's defeated. And so forth. Once these guys are defeated, they go into your deck and they have powers they add just like any other card.

Many of the Villain cards will just give you some sort of Power boost once they're in your deck. Some of them also have an Attack, so when you play them, every other player is attacked, unless they have a card that says Defense. For some of the Villains they tried to do some thematically cool things—for instance, Scarecrow's Attack gives other players a Weakness card. Two-Face lets you choose even or odd, draw the top card of your draw deck, and if its cost matches your guess, you get to draw it—if not, you discard it. I think they could have tried to make a few more tie-ins—like having Solomon Grundy have one power if you're playing on a Monday, Wednesday, Friday, or Sunday, and a whole other power if it's a Tuesday, Thursday, or Saturday. But that's a small thing.

Hero, Equipment, and Super Power cards are straightforward, and usually there are combos that work well together. So Batman and Wonder Woman and Robin usually work better with Equipment cards, and Superman with Super Powers. Cards with Flash on them let you draw cards and run through your deck faster. The thematic tie-ins make sense.

One last card is the Location. You play this down in front of you and it has an ongoing effect—usually it lets you draw a card the first time you play a [Villain, Super Power, Equipment, etc] card, depending on which Location it is.

The game ends when either:

• You can't refill all five slots in the lineup—I've never seen this happen.
• You defeat all of the Super-Villains.

Count up VPs, and declare a winner!

Recommendations

Youth group game? Maybe! it's certainly accessible enough, but it's not a large-group game.

Family game? Possibly! Older kids (probably 8 and up) will enjoy it, but it leaves the younger ones in the dust. And there's no way our wives are playing this one!

Gamers' game? Yes! Provided they're open to another deckbuilder—and one that's lighter than most. There's some good gaming to be had with this one.

The Verdict

Firestone—I have to get this out of the way: Why wouldn't they try to come up a with a better name?! That's like naming Village, The Medieval-Times Worker-Placement Game.

Jeremiah—I agree, the name is pretty utilitarian. If it was a horrible game, it would be one more thing to pile on, but the game is good so I'm willing to overlook it.

Jeremiah—The components are great; in all reality it's pretty hard to screw up a bunch of  cards. I haven't sleeved mine yet, so I don't have any problems with the tray insert, except the Super Hero cards do slide all the way down into the abyss.

Firestone—I used this to teach my 8-year-old how to play deck-builders, and it's PERFECT for that. It's straightforward, easy to understand, thematically fun, and just...perfect. He loves it, and it's his go-to game right now.

Jeremiah—I thought the gameplay was great! It's really quite easy to learn, and after you've played it once or twice you start to see the synergy between many of the cards and can really combo up. I love that it supports up to 5 players as well.

Jeremiah—I really like how there's a competitive edge to the game, and I think that comes from how the "line-up" works. Instead of the standard format of many deck-builders (cough, cough Dominion) you only have access to cards for  a brief period of time, so I found myself trying to not show much interest in cards in hopes it wouldn't get bought up before my turn came around.

Firestone—Yeah, and unlike some other games with line-ups, things don't stall out in this one—you always have something to do. It was fun playing with my son, because I could always tell when he really wanted a certain card. Super cute...but a terrible poker player.

Jeremiah—There are a few thematic elements that don't make complete sense. Such why the other heroes (players) are referred to as "foes" on the cards, and as mentioned above, Superman wouldn't drive the Batmobile. But for me, they were minor hurdles to overcome on the way to enjoying a really fun game. The fact is, when you shuffle up a couple hundred cards together, wacky stuff is going to happen. Just roll with it.

Firestone—There are a couple of things I found slightly problematic. A few of the cards seem very, very strong. The Super-Villain Parallax lets you double your Power on the turn you play him. And the Man Of Steel card gives you +3 Power and lets you put all Super Powers from your discard pile into your hand—depending on when that comes up, you'll be able to destroy just about anything. Those cards are expensive, but in my experience, if you get Parallax—especially early—you'll just roll. Given the weight of the game, though, I'm generally okay with it.

My other small complaint is that the game usually rushes toward the end. People get such powerful decks by the end that someone on each turn is defeating a Super-Villain. But that means the Super-Villains on the bottom of that deck won't ever get played because the game will end before they can cycle through. The designer recently addressed this by offering a variant where the Super-Villains are shuffled into the main deck, you have six cards in the line-up instead of five, and the game's not over until you go through the whole deck. I can't wait to try that out—seems fun!

We should probably also mention the women in the game. Almost all of them are showing a fair amount of cleavage. This is standard comic-book fare, but if my son has a hand filled with Wonder Woman, Poison Ivy, and the Suicide Squad, he's going to be staring at a lot of cartoon cleavage. It's not a deal-breaker but it is disappointing.

Firestone Final Thoughts—The combos are cool. The theme is well-integrated. I can't think of a better intro to deck-builders. The art is terrific. And above all, it's FUN. If you have kids who like superheroes and dislike being bored (Dominion...Zzzzz....), get this game!

Jeremiah Final Thoughts— This game is working its way into a pretty regular rotation among my gamer friends. One of them referred to it as "my jam" a week ago.  It's a really fun game, and at its core it's pretty easy to learn—but offers plenty of depth for strategies and card combos.  I'm giving this one a big thumbs up!

Theology Of Games would like to thank Cryptozoic Entertainment for providing a review copy of the DC Comics Deck-Building Game. This in no way affected our opinion of the game.

Thanks for reading, and we would be so grateful if you would join us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, and if you would subscribe to the blog over on the right! —->

Prepare to Die! A Sneak Preview of the Princess Bride

- by Jeremiah A few months ago we interviewed Dan Yarrington the man behind Game Salute, as well as the upcoming Princess Bride board game. While the details of the game are still coming together, Game Salute did send out a preview pack of cards for one of the many games that will fall under the umbrella of the Princess Bride experience: Prepare to Die.

The quickest way to describe the game is to say that it is an edgier, more geeked-up version of Apples to Apples. And when I say "geeked-up" I mean that some of the cards have some definite geeky influences. For example: Samus Aran, Wil Wheaton, and Princess Zelda. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Gameplay

Prepare to Die is more versatile than...that other game I mentioned earlier, as it can be played three different ways:

• Prepare to Die! You...
• Prepare to Die! Hello!
• Prepare to Die! The Full Montoya

There are two decks of cards, one set has backing art to resemble a name tag and on the face of the card it simply says, "Hello! My name is.. (insert name here)" The other set is the Prepare To Die deck, and those read "You, sank my battleship, Prepare to die!" (or "lip synced my hit single," or "put my princess in another castle"). In the first two variations of the game, players take turns being the judge for a round, and flip over a card (either a "Hello, my name is..." or a "Prepare to Die!" card, depending on the variation you are playing) and the rest of the players anonymously hand in a card, and the judge selects the best phrase.

In the Full Montoya version, players keep a hand of both types of cards, and the judge declares that the phrase should be the the funniest, most evil, most genre crossing, etc. Players then submit two cards and the judge picks two. These are mixed again so more than one player can score each round.

The final game will support up to 12 players, so it will surely be something to pull out for a larger gathering.

Pre-Final Thoughts

I was super excited to check out this preview of the game, but when I read the rules and quickly discovered it was similar to Apples to Apples, I have to say my expectations dropped quite a bit. I have played waaaayyy too much A-to-A in my life to get excited about this type of game.

But when I started leafing through the cards my interest was stirred again. They seem to be going down the road that most games of Apples to Apples could only dream of: getting a little more into the sub-culture that most folks I game with would appreciate. That being said, the audience of the game may be pretty narrow, thanks to the geek path they're taking. For example, I pulled out the game at my parents' house; they are big A-to-A players (I know...) and I thought they would appreciate the spin on the game. But there were many geeky names and actions that they just flat-out didn't know. This prototype version was void of any descriptors as well, so you may very well be staring at a card with a name and be completely at a loss. Hopefully Game Salute will remedy that to make the game more accessible.

Otherwise they are really on to something here. Thematically it is PERFECT; the idea of this one aspect of the movie being drawn out into a bunch of ridiculous circumstances can be quite hilarious, and lead to some witty banter between players. This is a game that could topple the Apples-to-Apples cart, and I'm all in favor of that!

Thanks for reading, and we would be so grateful if you would join us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, and if you would subscribe to the blog over on the right! ---->

**UPDATE**

Game Salute has launched the Kickstarter campaign for this game, you can go check it out right here!!

Little Devils—Review

by Firestone

My group loves trick-taking games—and climbing games. We regularly play Tichu, and we often play Mu and Frank's Zoo and Sticheln (my personal favorite). So where does Little Devils fall in that group? Let's find out.

Components

• 54 cards, numbered 1 through 54. Each card also has a number of devils on it—from zero to five.
• Rules

That's it—but it all comes in a nice, embossed tin case that will stand up much better than the flimsy boxes most card games come in.

Setup

The game plays 3-6 players, and you'll remove certain numbers of the cards depending on how many are playing. Then you'll deal out nine to each player.

Gameplay

The player to the left of the dealer leads any card he or she wants—except a card with five devils on it (unless that's all that person has). Unlike most trick-taking games, the next person can play any card he or she wants, and chooses the direction of the hand. If the second player chooses a card numbered higher than the first one played, then the highest card played to the hand will win the trick. If the second player chooses a card numbered lower than the first one played, then the lowest card played to the hand wins the trick. It will happen that someone doesn't have a card that can go in the direction of the trick, and that person is forced to play in the opposite direction. Well that turns the hand topsy-turvy: the person who leads the highest or lowest card in the opposite direction wins. That seems way more complicated than it is in real life, so how about a couple examples...

Example 1

Player 1—Leads a 31

Player 2—Plays a 40, so the direction is higher and the highest played card wins the trick.

Player 3—Plays a 32

Player 4—Plays a 54, and takes the trick

Example 2

Player 1—Leads a 52

Player 2—Plays a 53, so the direction is higher and the highest played card wins the trick—but there are only 54 cards...

Player 3—Doesn't have anything higher, so is forced to play lower than 52; she plays a 40, reversing the direction of the trick, and will currently take the trick.

Player 4—Only has cards lower than 40, so plays a 35. He has played the lowest card and takes the trick.

The player who wins the trick leads the next one, and since the person who leads will never win the trick, you'll never win two tricks in a row? But don't I want to win tricks?, you ask. No, you don't.

As I said, cards have little devils on them—from zero to five—and you're trying to avoid them. Once you finish a hand, everyone counts up devils, writes it down, and you deal out a new hand. Once someone(s) reach 100 points, the game ends, and the player with the fewest points wins.

Recommendations

Family game? Yes with a but! You should decide if a game with cartooney devils on it is something you want to play. But as far as game weight and luck level, this is a great family game.

Youth group game? Maybe! Again, this will depend on your group. But I could see playing this game as a great introduction to a discussion of demons and the Enemy. You can talk about how the game seems to trivialize and minimize the idea of devils by making them cartooney, but how deadly serious evil in the world is.

Gamers Game? Maybe but probably not! Unless your group really doesn't mind a lot of luck with their games, this one might just frustrate them. But it's an okay filler, and portable.

The Verdict

This game is a very simple member of the trick-taking family of games. And that's okay! When I was a kid, my parents used to play a Euchre variant called Pepper, and I'd bug and bug them to explain it to me. And every time they'd try, my eyes would glaze over. I wish I'd had a game like Little Devils to teach me the basics of playing a card, and winning a trick, but in an easy-to-understand format.

Is this going to make it to many of my regular game nights? No, there's just too much luck. But I'll likely be using Little Devils to teach my kids the basics of trick-taking.

We played at my game group, and everyone agreed that it was just too lucky. If you have a crappy hand, welcome to Pointsville—Population: You. I like games where I can take a crappy hand and play it well and cleverly. But I will say that despite the randomness there was a great deal of laughing and groaning and just plain fun! Sometimes luck and randomness can lead to lots of fun.

I do like that you know exactly which cards are out there and could be played. If, during setup, you just took a random 20 out of the deck and put them aside unseen, this would be a much worse game for it.

One big advantage this has is that it plays more quickly than other trick-taking games. You can't really play Sticheln or Mu as a quick filler. But while it's faster than other trick-takers, this still plays on the high end of the "20-30 minutes" advertised on the tin—sometimes longer.

Something we should mention is the theme of devils. The depictions of the devils are cartoonish and "light"—and you're trying to avoid them during the game. But you're still playing a game with devils on it. It doesn't make me uncomfortable, but it does mean I'll be very intentional about when I bring this out with my kids. I want to make sure we can fully discuss devils and demons and just open a dialogue on it. Use your judgment on it.

The Final Verdict

If the only trick-taking game you've played is Hearts on the computer, or Spades in college years ago, this is a new and unique spin on the genre. It's not deep. It's not complex. It's not NOT filled with luck. But it is fun, and a great way to introduce trick-taking mechanics to young'uns. It scales well, and can be had for $15. All-in-all, it's a good family, group, and gathering game.

Thanks for reading!

Pick-a-Pig/Pick-a-Dog—A Double-Double-Take Review!

Yes, you have arrived at TheologyofGames,com; no, we haven't changed to a livestock or 4-H blog. Today we're giving you our thoughts on a nifty set of sister games from Gryphon Games called Pick-a-Pig and Pick-a-Dog. Each of these games is identical—with one significant distinction: one features a pig on each card, and the other... wait for it...a dog!

Components

• 96 - Square playing cards featuring the animal species of that particular game. (i.e. pig, or dog)
• The rules
• Yep that's it!

Setup

Deal each player one card (which is called their Captain Card) and then deal out a 5 x 6 grid of cards, face up. Put the rest of the cards aside.

Gameplay

On the word "Go!" each player tries to find a card matching their Captain Card, or a card that has only one attribute that is different from their Captain Card. If they find such a card, they grab it and stack it face up on top of their Captain Card, and then search for a card that matches—or only bears one difference from the new top card of their stack. This is not done in turn: Players are reaching for cards, throwing elbows, flicking the backs of others' hands, etc. trying to make a mad grab for their cards all at once. Once a player has determined that they can no longer legally grab a card, they slam their hand down and yell "STOP!" Everyone double-checks to see if the player who yelled stop was correct; if they were, they get to add an extra card from the grid to their pile. If they jumped the gun, they discard all the cards they gathered that round.

Then all the players lay their cards out in order to check that they made no errors; if they didn't make mistakes, they keep all of their cards (which count for 1 point at the end of the game); if they made even one error, they lose all of those cards.

Then each player is dealt a new Captain Card, the grid is refilled, and a new round begins. The game is over when there are not enough cards to refill the grid (usually after about 3 rounds). The cards are counted and the player with the most wins!

Here are the differences on the cards:

• Size of the animal (big/small)
• Number of arms (one/two)
• Color of the animal (brown/pinkish)
• Wearing sunglasses/Not wearing sunglasses
• Holding popcorn/Not holding popcorn

A single set of either game supports 2-5 players, and adding the two sets together will allow you to play up to 8 players, and also allows for an additional one difference: the animal species itself!

Recommendations

• Kids/Families? Absolutely! The game plays fast, and is easy to learn!
• Veteran Gamers? Probably not! It's a fast filler, but just not very deep. So leave this one home and play with the family.
• Party Game? Probably! Again easy to learn, and brings out a little competitive edge in folks.
• Youth Groups? Yep! The narrower the age gap, the more competitive it gets. You could totally run a tournament around this game, because of the speed in which it plays!

The Verdict

Jeremiah—First off, I really like this game, but I probably won't bring it out at a game night. My kids and family love it and we have lots of fun with it, but it's just not a "Daddy's game night" sort of game.

Firestone—Yeah, there's no reason to ever bring this to game night with my regular group. But that's fine; it's not aimed at that audience.

Jeremiah—It's designed for ages 8+. My oldest will be 7 in a month, and he does well with it. Our youngest is almost 5 and he doesn't do so well with it.

Firestone—Yeah, our 5-year-old was on my "team" and he kept grabbing the absolute wrong cards...the little stinker. But he'll be ready for this in a couple of years.

My wife seemed to enjoy this one, too. It might be because she and her Type-A personality CUH-RUSHED us. Any game my wife likes is a win in my eyes.

Jeremiah— We've had the game only a few weeks and the boys love it; we've brought it out to play with the grandparents and friends. We've combined the games and played with 7 players—it's sheer pandemonium! Lots of vicious competition, and good clean fun!

Firestone—My one complaint is that—as someone who's color blind—I had a little trouble telling the color difference between the cards. In fact, the difference was so subtle to me that we played two rounds before I even remembered that was a thing... Once I was intentional about it, I could tell the difference—I just had to try harder to see that difference. Not a big deal at all, but it's there.

Jeremiah Final Thoughts— Pick-a-Pig, Pick-a-Dog is a great set of family games that you can play when you may not have a lot of time. Pick it up; this is a no-brainer! It plays fast, it's competitive, and you can teach new gamers how to play in about 90 seconds. The more we play it, the better we get at it, and the more fun it becomes!

Firestone Final Thoughts—The MSRP on these is a mere $10—who can argue with that price-point? It's a great, cheap family game that plays in 10 minutes...and I'm just awful at it.

Thanks for reading!

A Review. Of Coup. For You.

By Firestone Lately I've found myself getting completely hooked by small games with big gameplay. The Resistance. Hanabi. And now Coup.

Components

• 15 cards—five characters (Duke, Assassin, Captain, Ambassador, Contessa) repeated three times.
• Summary cards
• Money

Now, there are a few different printings of this. The components might be slightly different—and the art is certainly different—but that's what you'll be playing with.

Setup

• Place the pile of money in the center of the table.
• Give each person two dollars.
• Have each person draw two cards, look at them, and place them facedown in front of them.

Gameplay

Coup is a game where you're influencing important people to help you do your bidding, and decrease your opponents' influence, until you're the last person standing. It's a little tricky to explain (those summary cards that come with the game are really necessary), so stick with me. On your turn you can do one of four things—the last thing has some sub-things...

1. Collect Income—which means taking one coin from the bank. Nothing can stop you from doing this or affect this in any way.
2. Collect Foreign Aid—which means taking two coins from the bank. Why would someone Collect Income when they can Collect Foreign Aid? I'll tell you in a minute.
3. Coup—Pay seven coins and launch a coup against an opponent. That opponent chooses one of their facedown character cards and discards it faceup. Nothing can stop you from doing this or affect this in any way.
4. Use the Special Power of a Character—Each character has a special power, and you just do it.

The Duke allows you to take three coins from the bank.

The Assassin allows you to pay three coins to kill another player's character card.

The Captain allows you to steal two coins from another player.

The Ambassador allows you to draw two character cards from the deck, exchange one, both, or neither of the drawn cards with the character cards you already have, and then put two cards onto the deck.

The Contessa doesn't get an action. (But she gets other stuff. Hang on.)

What's interesting is that you don't have to actually have that character card to do the Action... You can bluff your way into any action. So maybe I have the Assassin and the Contessa in front of me. When it gets to my turn I can say, "I'm going to take three coins, because I have the Duke." And that's just what I do. Unless...someone calls my bluff. Anyone at the table can say that I'm lying. If that's the case, one of us is losing a card. If I'm bluffing, I have to admit it, turn one of my character cards faceup, and I'm down to one "life." (You're out of the game when you have to ditch both characters. You've essentially lost your ability to influence people anymore, so you're thrown out to the dogs. Or something.) If I was telling the truth, I show that do actually have that character, the person who wrongly accused me has to ditch a character card, and then I get a new one: You place the card on the pile of remaining cards, shuffle them up, and draw one. It might be the one you just got rid of, and your opponents have no idea. That's one of the great things about this game.

In addition to Actions, some of the characters have a Blocking ability.

The Duke blocks someone from collecting Foreign Aid. (Which is why you might want to just Collect Income rather than Foreign Aid.)

The Captain blocks someone from stealing coins from you.

The Ambassador also blocks someone from stealing coins from you.

And the Contessa blocks someone from Assassinating you.

Again, someone can claim they have a blocking character even if they don't. And again, unless someone calls the bluff, the block happens. The last person with influence (a character) wins. The game is layered and tense and...poker-like, in a way. It's also very simple and elegant.

Recommendations

Family Game? Maybe! Certainly not until they're older. Even then, I'm not sure this is something my wife would want to play.

Youth Group Game? Possibly! It would depend greatly on the group.

Gamers' Game? Definitely! Coup is a terrific gamers' game—especially if your group likes games such as The Resistance.

Final Verdict

The first time we played this, we played it five times in a row. And that was in less than an hour. I will say that this wasn't good with six players, IMO. There was too much information on the table toward the end--because so many characters were discarded--so it slowed down as people tried to figure out who their opponents might still have. Four players felt good, and some people said they thought it might be best with five.

We also had a situation where three people were left, and all three had one character left. On one person's turn he was going to Coup someone, but whichever opponent he didn't kill would just kill him. So he was essentially in the position of deciding who won. Blech. That was my only complaint.

I like Coup a lot, and I can't wait to get my hands on a copy. It's not going to replace The Resistance, but for a change-of-pace filler it's just completely awesome.

So where can you get your own copy? Well, Indie Boards and Cards has a Resistance-themed Coup up on Kickstarter right now! It ends in two weeks, and it's way overfunded. And the best part? It's only $15 shipped. Check it out.

Thanks for reading! And make sure you check us out on Twitter, Facebook, and now Instagram!

Relic Expedition—A Preview to a Review

- by Jeremiah

A week or so ago we featured a nifty looking game in a Kickstarter Weekly piece called Relic Expedition, by Foxtrot Games. We contacted them and they were gracious enough to send us a print-and-play version of the game, as well as take some time to sit down and give us an interview, which we ran yesterday.

Today I (Jeremiah) will give you my review of the game, and then in the near future we will post a definitive Double Take review of the game once Firestone has played it.

Again I need to stress the version I played was not a finished product, so I won't be able to comment on the final quality of the components and artwork, so I'll focus mostly on the game itself.

When the game is completed here is what will be in the box:

• 4 pawns
• 16 animal meeples
• 3 dice (two custom, one standard)
• 36 relic tokens
• 70 supply tokens
• 112 hexagon tiles
• 4 large tile boards
• 4 backpack trays
• 1 cloth bag

This again was a print and play prototype of the game; yes, that means we sat around for about an hour and cut out 112 hex tiles, as well as all the supply and treasure tokens. (It's really hard to cut out circles!)

Setup - The game is setup by taking the base camp feature piece, and placing it on the table. Each player then places their pawn at one of the starting hexes on the base camp, and then you place one starting tile in each adjacent space to each of the pawns. A bunch of supply tokens (except vines, bananas, and four panther traps) are tossed into the bag, and the treasure tokens are turned face down in a pile. The remaining tiles are stacked face down (there are even more if you are playing the advanced version with banana, and vine tiles). Each player is given a tray that acts as a backpack to hold supplies and treasures and a d8 is rolled to determine the first player.

Gameplay - The gameplay is pretty easy to learn quickly with just a few tweaky rules on movement to be aware of. On their turn players roll two custom d6's, one with numbers ranging from 2-4 on it, the other with one of four animal icons on it and two blank sides. If there are no animals in play (and there aren't at the beginning of the game) ignore the result of the animal die (or just don't roll it). The result of the numbered die is the number of actions a player can take that turn.

Actions include moving one hex, or drawing supplies from the supply bag. And a few other special things we'll talk about in a minute. As the players move their pawns, more of the jungle is revealed by taking one of the stacked jungle tiles and flipping it over in all of the adjacent open spaces next to the location where there pawn just moved. Do this for every space that is empty and adjacent to the pawn's new location. As you flip these new tiles into place you begin to discover new areas of the jungle—you may find treasure, or quicksand, or animals that will attack you when they get the chance.

There will also be starting points for feature pieces like the river, the cave, and the mountain, which all require special gear to navigate (head lamps, rafts, and climbing gear), and are packed with 4-6 treasure tokens each. There are also helicopter clearings that are discovered and allow players to travel from one clearing to another by spending 3 actions.

As players move throughout the jungle discovering animals and treasures, they can pick up treasure (and don't forget they can always grab gear from the supplies bag) and drop items out of their backpack to be picked up later by other players, in order to make room for more treasure—but you better hope you have that tranquilizer dart when a panther comes running for you!

Animal encounters - As animals are revealed in the jungle, players will get the chance to move them and send them to visit their opponents whenever the corresponding symbol is rolled on the animal die. Once an animal has been rolled, each player takes turns controlling one of the animals in the jungle (if there are more than one of that specific type) starting with the player whose turn it is. They can move the animal 1 or 2 spaces in hopes of attacking another player, or sending it away from themselves! Each animal can only be moved once per turn, so other players cannot control the same one you just moved away from yourself.

If they do enter the same space as the player, the player is either poisoned (by the snake), knocked unconscious (by the boar) or hospitalized and knocked out of the game completely (by the panther). Or if you're playing the advanced game the monkey can come and steal an item from your backpack! Each of these attacks has different results, but most of them mean you lose your next turn, and the worst of them removes your pawn from the game board, and leaves all of your supplies on the space where you were attacked! After your skipped turn you return to the game at the base camp and can make a mad dash for your dropped supplies, or move on and try to recover.

End game - The game ends when one player collects a set of 4 treasure tokens; the set can either be all of the same color, or all of the same type. Once they've collected their set, they then need to head back to any helicopter clearing and use 3 actions to be picked up and carried safely out of the jungle to win.

My thoughts -

Components - I'm commenting here on what is pictured on the Kickstarter page. The only down side of the components is that the animals get these really cool looking meeples and the players get your basic "Pandemic" looking pawns. Would love to see an Indy'ish type of meeple for the players. I loved the artwork—the jungle pieces and feature pieces look great! I can't wait to see them on real tiles and not just card stock!

Gameplay - The game plays fairly quickly, and was really quite easy to learn and teach; a few turns in and you find your strategy unfolding as the jungle is revealed. We had one player off on his own on the other side of the jungle, which didn't bode well for him when animals starting popping up left and right, with no one else for them to go after in the area.

I really enjoy the variance of having a board that is never the same, it simulates very well the feeling of exploring a jungle and not knowing what is more than just a few steps ahead of you. A lot of folks are comparing it to Carcassonne because of the way the board takes shape sort of organically. I think that's a fair comparison and a great compliment to the game. Carcassonne is a perennial favorite in the gaming community, and when a game can hearken back to a great game and put a fresh spin on the concept, it's a cool thing that adds to the gaming culture.

Like I said earlier, there are a few tweaky type of rules to be aware of, such as dense jungle on certain edges of certain tiles, and ways to swing across quicksand. As well as the different "states" that animals are in after they encounter a player. But they aren't terribly difficult to grasp, and they don't slow the game down. The dense jungle works well with the supply concept and makes it worth grabbing some tokens in hopes of finding a machete.

Recommendations -

Casual and Non-gamers

Family and Kids Game night

Seasoned Veteran Gamers

Overall - We had a lot of fun with this one. Relic Expedition blends its theme into gameplay mechanics extremely well,  I can see my boys really enjoying this game, as well as serious gamers. There are plenty of decisions and hand-management choices to make, as well as a high replay value due to the ever-changing landscape from game to game, and even turn to turn. I'd love to see this expanded into 5-6 players; it seems to lend itself easily into that, but it needs funded first!

We would like to thank Randy and Tyler of Foxtrot Games for setting us up with the prototype of the game to give a test drive! There's still time to fund the project on Kickstarter as well.

Are you backing the game? We'd love to hear from you! Join the conversation in the comments below. Or chime in on Facebook and Twitter.

And as always thanks so much for reading!