Category: Spotlights

Ticket to Ride is a fantastic gateway game to draw people into our hobby. It’s my go to suggestion for anyone asking, “Hey I think my *insert relative or friend here* likes games. What would be a good game to start them on?” One of the reasons that it’s my go to suggestion is not just because of its simplicity, it’s also because of its strategic depth that can keep seasoned gamers engaged as well. The game is also educational and can draw people in who love the fun, colorful artwork. For these reasons Ticket to Ride is one of those rare gems on the level of Catan and maybe a Stone Age or King of Tokyo that can engage experienced gamers and wow new prospects at the table. Now you may be asking yourself, “Paul, why on earth did you title a post World’s Fair 1893 and ramble on about Ticket to Ride?” Well friend let me tell you why I think the two are linked.

For a long time after playing Ticket to Ride I struggled to find a game that could unseat it as my “gateway” suggestion…and I tried. As much as I love Ticket to Ride the theme of building train routes doesn’t make me jump up off the seat and yell “Tell me more!”. I have looked and looked for a game that I could suggest that would perform better with varied groups of people and while I found some great contenders none of the others that I found can knock Ticket to Ride as my go to starter suggestion. That was until recently when I played World’s Fair 1893. I think this one may rival Ticket to Ride as my go to gateway from this day forward.

Now let me tell you right off the bat, this game will not just be pigeon holed in my collection as my “gateway game”. I play it regularly and absolutely love it. The game is fantastic. If you don’t want to read the rest of the review that’s the meat of the message here. If you want to stick around so I can make my case then please read on because I want to unpack why I think this game is so great.

On a high level World’s Fair 1893 is a simple area control game that has players trying to propose and approve new exhibits for the World’s Fair. If you have the most control in one of the general areas of interest (Transportation, Electricity, Fine Arts, Agriculture, and Manufacturing) at the end of each round you can have those exhibits approved for end game points. Certain influential people from that era such as Bertha Palmer or George Westinghouse will increase your influence with the fair and help you gain more control. You will also receive midway tickets from time to time that will provide you with money throughout the game. Whoever has the most money and points from approving exhibits at the end of the game wins.

Now for the unpacking! World’s Fair ticks a lot of boxes for me with theme, presentation, and approachability. I finally had the chance to pick up a copy at my friendly local game store Madness Games and Comics, and was beyond impressed. From the get go I found the game fun to play. I also found the game incredibly intuitive to grasp. The mechanics are solid and extremely easy to teach. You will place a cube in one of the areas of influence, you will play any influential figures to increase your influence further, you will collect the cards from the area that you placed, you will deal new cards. This pattern is the meat of the entire game. Some of the cards that you collect will be midway tickets that will move the round tracker; a ferris wheel car that moves around as you play (how cool right?!). Once the ferris wheel makes a full circle, the round is over and scoring begins, you do this for three rounds.

That’s the whole game. That pattern of play is all players are required to learn. As players learn the game and become more experienced however they will begin to see the intricacies of the player interaction and strategy. There is so much depth here. At the end of the game players will earn a higher bonus if they can approve sets of different attractions (one each from the five influence areas listed earlier). So for instance at the end of the game if you can approve one attraction each from the Transportation, Agriculture, Electricity, Fine Arts and Manufacturing areas you will receive 15 points. Individually those exhibits are only worth 1 point each. Now if you can get three of the five or four of the five you will receive a higher bonus as well but you will receive the highest score from complete sets. Knowing this about the the game will help you read your opponents and what they are needing, and create an incredible game of cat and mouse. You are trying to complete the most exhibits to further your goals but also prevent your opponents from completing theirs and this balance can be incredibly tense. The gameplay here is fantastic.

The other aspect of this game that I love is the theming and historical information. As I played the game I found myself looking at the different exhibit cards and influential people and being drawn in by the tidbits of information on them. I learned so much about the fair and the type of technology that was on display and being utilized. Games can be very educational and informative but most of the time they are about mechanics and may focus on a fantasy theme. This game will teach you something about history that is fascinating and fun to discuss. You will learn about the influential people that helped to shape the country and the fair. You will only get a couple of sentences about each person and exhibit but I now know about some of the people that were pioneers in our country’s industrial and technological development. The theme of this game is brilliant and shines through the play experience.

Overall World’s Fair 1893 is a brilliant experience for new and experienced gamers alike. If I’m suggesting a game for new enthusiasts, I may still give Ticket to Ride as one of the top 3 but this one will be included as well. If you’re an experienced gamer (who else googles tabletop game blog right?) then you should absolutely pick this game up. World’s Fair 1893 is in that rare air of easy, quick, fun games that provide great strategic depth. The game will cost you $39.99 at your friendly local game store and about $25.99 at Miniature Market and CoolStuffInc. At these prices the value you will get for this game is fantastic and I would absolutely recommend buying the game and keeping it in your collection for a long time. I rated this game as an 8 on board game geek and that rating may climb. I’ve included a how to play video below if you want to see how the game plays and looks on the table. Thanks so much and until next time I’ll see you at the table.

When I was growing up I remember being fascinated by the idea of being an archeologist. The Indiana Jones series and books about Tutankhamun’s treasure and Egyptian mythology fascinated me. I imagined a life where I could slowly crack the seal on the door of a tomb or stumble upon a hidden city deep within the rainforest and solve mysteries that were lost to history.

Now I’m not going to talk to you today about an incredibly thematic game that will have you diving deep into the lore and mythology of a lost civilization, but I will be talking to you about a light and fun romp in the world of temple finding that appeals to both young and old. The game I’m speaking of is Karuba, a Spiel Des Jahres nominated game from this year that I like the most out of all three.

Now if you are unfamiliar with the Spiel Des Jahres awards they are awards that are given out every year for children, family and advanced games that stand out among the thousands of games that are released annually. A committee of game experts in Germany reviews and votes for the best of each category each year. If you ever see a game with this symbol on the box:

It means that the game was nominated for, or won the award. This also means that you will probably enjoy the game and wouldn’t be disappointed should you decide to purchase it. Some notable Spiel winners from the past are Catan, Carcassonne, Ticket to Ride, Alhambra, Small World, Kingdom Builder and Hanabi. All of these games are incredible, fun games to play.

I want to say right off the bat that just because I think Karuba is the best game of the three nominees this year doesn’t mean the other two games aren’t also incredible, they are. This game just spoke to me for some reason in a way the other two didn’t. This was a tough year, all three games nominated were incredible designs that all deserve a place on your shelf. Recently my brothers and I had a “Spiel” night and played all of the nominated games that they hadn’t had a chance to play yet. After the night was done I asked “so which of these games do you like the most?” I picked Karuba, David picked Imhotep, and Chris stuck with Codenames. Do you see what I mean about all of the games being great? Each one of these titles will speak to each player differently as is illustrated by three guys in the same room playing the same three games, and each liking a different one the best.

Karuba is incredibly simple at its core. You and your opponents are each trying to move adventurer meeples to temples on the edge of your player board that match their color. Along the way you will collect gold and gems for extra victory points but the player who can reach the most temples in the shortest amount of time will usually win. Each player has their own player board (a jungle board with a grid of squares) and each player has thirty-six numbered tiles with roads on them and possibly gems or gold. The way a turn works is one player (who has been designated as the tile drawing player for the entire game) will draw a tile from a shuffled, face down stack of tiles and read the number on that tile aloud to everyone. The other players must then use that tile. Now you can either place the tile on your board as a possible path to travel, or you can discard it and move from two to four spaces depending on how the tile is laid out. After all tiles have been drawn or one player has reached all four temples the game is over and whoever has the most points wins.

Based on the paragraph above you would think that this game is incredibly simple and would get old quickly. If you think that you would be mistaken. This game is strategically very deep and an incredible challenge. I think the reasons for this are many but I want to lay out a few of the things about this game that I think are very smart and well designed.

The first thing that is incredible to me about this game is that all players start and continue to be on an absolutely equal playing field. Each player has to have their adventurers and temples in the exact same spots to begin the game and each player must choose to either place or discard the exact same tile each and every turn. What this means is that the person who wins this game is the person with the best strategy; nothing more and nothing less. There is no excuse for you to say “well if I hadn’t of drawn that card” or “man I just couldn’t roll a six”. This game is absolutely equal on all fronts. I absolutely love that. What that means is that you and up to three other players are seeing who can most effectively solve a puzzle and push their luck without dragging too far behind.

One of the other things about this game that I think is brilliant is the fact that it limits your flexibility when placing tiles. Games like Carcassonne and Isle of Skye allow you to turn tiles any way you want and this ends up sometimes creating confusion and complications when scoring. Karuba forces you to think outside of the box of conventional tile placement and really think ahead before placing any tiles. You have to think about if the tile will work for what you need now, and also will the tile leave room for the expansion you need to have happen later in the game.

Travelling in the game is also a delicate balance that takes a skilled player to achieve effectively. My first few games I would try to complete all my paths and then travel all at once before the end of the game and get as far as I could. The more you play the more you find that you have to maintain a delicate balance between travelling throughout the game and placing tiles in such a way that allows you flexibility but also allows you to place enough tiles to get each adventurer where they need to go. The entire thought process and play experience is deeply engaging.

I haven’t played many HABA games in the past but this one is a winner on all levels. The theme is light and fun, the mechanics are simple but deeply satisfying, the production value is good and the plays can be done quickly which allows for multiple plays in a row. I would highly recommend this game to anyone who wants to engage their family and friends and also have a great time themselves. After almost ten plays I have rated this game as a nine on boardgamegeek and I don’t see that rating going down. The BGG rating scale for a nine absolutely says it correctly “excellent, very much enjoy playing”. I’ve posted a video below showing how the game is played. I hope you enjoy the content and until next time I’ll see you at the table.

Paul

When I was in college I remember the phenomenon of the hidden gem. That band that no one had ever heard of that had that sound that everyone needed to hear. The movie that was hilarious that was special because only you and your two friends knew all the punchlines to your inside joke. The funny thing about this trend for me was that the music and movies and video games that I found were cool until everyone else thought they were cool, and then I became jaded with them because they were too mainstream. Oh the mindset of our younger selves…it’s enough to drive one crazy.

A few things have changed since I was in college about 5 years ago, including my taste in music. (By the way have you heard of a band called Lord Huron? Man they’re great you should check them out.) I’ve also gotten married, had a daughter and discovered an addiction that borders on the need for an intervention known as tabletop gaming. Hook line and sinker I have gotten involved in playing, collecting, researching, discussing, and reviewing tabletop games. The funny thing is, I’m still looking for the hidden gems. I hear plenty about the award winning games that top the geek lists but I’m still searching for those games that might have flown a bit under the radar or never really garnered the attention I think they deserve.

I’ve discussed a few games recently that I think are really fantastic and not discussed enough due to the heavy hitters, but today I want to feature one in particular. The game is called Treasure Hunter. I played Treasure Hunter for the first time at BGG Spring in Dallas and absolutely fell in love with the game from the first hand of cards. This game is rated right under a 7 on BGG and I feel it should be a bit higher. The designer is Richard Garfield of Magic the Gathering fame. Treasure Hunter is a drafting game and if there’s one game designer who knows how to do card drafting it’s Richard Garfield. The artwork is fantastic, the component quality is very good, the gameplay is light but strategically interesting, and the playtime is usually under an hour even with six players.

In Treasure Hunter you will have three phases in the game followed by a fight with some Goblins. Over five rounds players will draft cards from a hand of nine. (Drafting a card means you look at a hand of cards you receive, pick one to keep, and then pass the rest to your opponents. You then take the cards given to you by your opponent, and repeat the process until the cards have all been picked.) You will compete with other players over a minimum and maximum treasure in a Blue, Green and Red landscape, and then try to escape with your treasures through a cave of waiting Goblins. The treasures that you are competing for can be worth either positive or negative points. Whoever has the most money at the end of the game wins! This game is easy enough to explain but has enough depth of play to make it very interesting, especially at higher player counts.

What is it that I like about this game so much? I really enjoy drafting games. I’ve enjoyed 7 Wonders and Magic drafting previously but it’s hard to get other people in my family to engage in those two gaming experiences. Treasure Hunter has an approachable light hearted feel that doesn’t scare my family away, but is an engaging strategic drafting experience that provides me with the type of play I love. There is also a clear cut goal in this game. Get the most money.

Now this is an interesting goal because of the different strategies you can employ. In each area there will be two options for treasure; potentially good or potentially bad. This in itself creates an interesting strategic problem to solve. Blue for instance may have a minimum treasure worth twelve points and a maximum treasure that will give you negative four points. This means that you might try to draft cards that keep your overall number in blue very low. You have to be careful though because if other players draft shrewdly, you may be passed a blue ten, or eleven as your last card. The last card handed to you has to be kept. Now there are cards that can cancel out bad cards that are handed to you so there is a way to draft defensively to prepare for the ram rodding that you are bound to receive. All of this thought goes into a seemingly simple game if you want to be strategic, or you can simply try for the highest treasure.

You can also try to collect just money cards. In each hand of nine cards there may be a card that is worth a dollar or two or three. If you draft nothing but these cards you may miss out on the treasures that other players fight over, but over the course of the round you might have collected 10 to 20 points from money alone. You can also collect treasures that provide a one time use bonus. So for instance you may win a treasure tile that increases your dollar payout by one or two times once per game. You could collect that tile, draft nothing but money and then cash in a 30 or 40 point round.

You could also try and collect nothing but dog cards. After all players have tried to collect treasures, there are goblins that will try to steal some of your money. If you collect dog cards, they will defend you from these goblins. Each goblin has a strength of one or two or three (sometimes higher with expansions). If you collect dog cards with the strength that matches the goblin cards, you will pass by them without having to pay any money. If you don’t have dog cards that provide enough strength you have to pay the goblins the amount listed on their tile. The cool part is, whoever has the highest strength of dog cards will collect all of the goblin tiles, and any money that has been paid to them. So one round if the treasures are very attractive, players may forget about drafting dogs. You could then swoop in, collect all the dogs and collect all of the money the players have to pay out. Pretty neat move huh?

There are also special cards that you can draft to provide bonuses and change your power in each color etc. I’ll spare the details on those to try and keep this from getting too boring! All of this is to say that for a game that is rated as a 1.8 out of 5 in complexity on board game geek, this game provides plenty of depth. Whatever approach you might take to the drafting mechanic this game will work wonderfully with your playstyle. Now I know that drafting games aren’t for everyone but this one has been a hit with most everyone that I’ve introduced it to. Some of my friends are pretty picky when it comes to tabletop games as well so that’s saying something. The arguments that I have heard against this game are:

1. The game can be repetitive – My response to this is that some of the highest rated game of all time are very repetitive in their mechanics, but if the mechanics and gameplay are solid this isn’t a problem but a benefit. This game has very good mechanics that I haven’t gotten tired of yet after over twenty plays.
2. The other criticism I heard from one of my friends was that “there’s not any strategy to this game”- my response to this is that it’s absolutely false. There is randomness to the game based on what cards are dealt to each player, but reacting to that and adjusting is the strategy. This creates such tension for the player and trying to determine if a bad card will be dealt to you and managing that risk is supremely strategic in my mind.
3. Some people say the game can be too long – My response is that if 45 minutes is too much time for a board game that plays up to six then you aren’t going to like many board games.

At the end of the day this is going to be one of my go to games for a quick, fun play that can accommodate a larger group and provide plenty of player interaction. This game hasn’t lost its luster after a good amount of plays for me, and I don’t see it happening soon. I would highly recommend picking up Treasure Hunter if you are a fan of fantastic designs. I’ve included a how to play video at the bottom of this post so you can see how the game flows and looks on the table. With any questions please email thediceyreview@gmail.com and until next time I’ll see you at the table!

Paul

It’s high noon. Some of a rival posse’s thugs are hanging around your waterin’ hole. Looks like it’s time to teach them a lesson they won’t soon forget. You step down main-street determined to leave the saloon dead or alive. Your foot falls in time with the beating of your heart, leaving a cloud of dust with every thud. A tumbleweed dances across the road leaving a snake-like trail behind and everything slows to a crawl. Your ears ring as the sun beats down on your brow, a drop of sweat slowly crawling its way down your left temple. From the front door of the saloon a lean, middle-aged gaunt man steps out and turns to face you. He knew you were coming. In his eyes you see nothing but the cold, calculating stare of a man sizing up a target. You can tell he’s done this before. “That’s alright” you think to yourself…I’ve given the same look to many a man. Two souls….hands outstretched stiff like a board next to their side…one person breathing his last few breaths. As quick as lighting both hands reach for their holsters and pull out their trusty….DICE?!

That’s right everyone it’s time for another feature review of a new game that I’m very excited about: Tiny Epic Western! Tiny Epic Western is a dice rolling, worker placement, poker playing, rip’ roaring good time for 1-4 players that takes about 30-45 minutes to play.

If you’ve never heard of the Tiny Epic Series you are missing out. Gamelyn Games approaches different mechanics in unique ways to create rich gaming experiences focusing on certain gameplay aspects. Mechanics like Area Control, Dice Rolling, Co-op play, Action Selection and Variable Player Powers are all approached in a wonderfully concise and portable way. All Tiny Epic games come in a small box for a reasonable price but provide surprisingly deep play for the size of the package.

The newest installment: Tiny Epic Western is Gamelyn Games’ shot (pun intended) at Worker Placement. Worker Placement is my favorite mechanic and so my ears always perk up when I hear a new idea involving it. Tiny Epic Western really made me sit up and say “oooo” because they have combined worker placement with poker. When I saw the Kickstarter page listing this I thought that thematically this was a very cool choice, and that the choice to include poker was a good decision because it also creates a sense of chance. This makes a seemingly simpler mechanic like worker placement seem much more interesting because you aren’t always simply benefiting right away from a spot when your worker is placed, sometimes you’re gambling for it.

Although this is a worker placement game it doesn’t utilize one of the most common worker placement traditions where you can block a spot by assigning there. Quite the opposite, you are encouraged to go to locations where other players already reside. When you want to place a worker on a location where an opponent’s worker has been placed, you start a duel that will end in one person becoming wounded and the other person becoming the winning posse member at this location. When you win a duel you get the “Wanted” card. This card will benefit you with influence (the game’s form of currency) and victory points at the end of the game.

Tiny Epic Western pits players as leaders of posse’s that roam a western town increasing influence and gaining reputation as they duel and gamble their way through the different locations around the map. Players will begin the game by choosing a character that will give each person a special ability that will be helpful throughout the game. You will pick a color and this color will give you a location within the town that is associated with you. The goal of the game is to have the most victory points and they are acquired through buildings that you can buy as well as shares in an industry track that you can manipulate throughout the six rounds of play.

This game has so much interaction because of the dueling mechanic and the locations that players will come to that you have purchased. Even when it’s not your turn you are always engaged and I find this to be hard to achieve and a goal that many tabletop games fall short of.

Overall this game is hard to beat. It’s a Tiny Epic game which means a couple of things. First, it will be in a box that can easily fit in a purse, backpack, briefcase, or if you are a person who wears cargo shorts, your pockets. Second, it will be reasonably priced (usually around $25) so the game won’t break the bank. Due to the size of the box and price point of the game many game stores will put this game with their filler section and micro games but please don’t be fooled by this categorization. There is no filler in this box. This is a deep strategic experience filled with player interaction and “take that”. I love a good western theme and the mechanics that were designed into this experience fit perfectly and help achieve a gunslinging good time.

I backed this game on Kickstarter because I loved the idea of what the designer and publisher were going for. I backed the game at the deluxe level which will get me a more polished product and I’m very excited about that. I was able to access a premium print and play file because of my backing status so I have been able to play the game early and I am loving that option. I can’t speak to the quality of the final components because I am using my print and play files but if previous Tiny Epic games are any indication the quality of the bits and cardboard in the box will be excellent.  The artwork is incredible and creates a wonderful old west feel in the players around the table.

Overall this game is a wonderful experience and one you should look for at your friendly local gaming store when it releases later this year around October. You can also pledge late to the Kickstarter by going here: https://gamelyn.pledgemanager.com/projects/tiny-epic-western/join/.

I’m amazed by the work that Gamelyn Games is doing and think you should support this game and any other Tiny Epic games you can find in stock. Also be on the lookout for Heroes of Land, Air and Sea which will Kickstart some time early 2017. I’m very excited about what’s in the works for this company and you should be too. If you want more in-depth knowledge about how the game plays and looks on the table I have posted a how to play video at the bottom of this article. I hope you enjoy the video and until next time I’ll see you at the table.

Paul   

Have you ever played a game that was so interesting and in-depth that it kept you up thinking about what you could have done differently? To me that’s the sign of a great game that creates a rich experience. I want to introduce you to a game called The Voyages of Marco Polo.

Let me tell you a story. A few weeks ago my family and I were in the middle of what has become a fairly regular tradition as of late; Sunday night games. The game that had hit the table was our current feature The Voyages of Marco Polo. Myself, my wife and her parents were playing the game and it was apparent from very early on that my wife and her father were going to win this encounter. The real competition was finding out which of the two were going to emerge victorious.

More and more points were scored, the two meeples raced around the board and the end of the game drew close. After the dust had settled my wife was ahead of her father by 4 points and claimed a sweet, sweet victory. One thing I forgot to mention is that certain players if they achieve the goal of making it to Beijing (you travel through Asia during play) you can get victory points for leftover resources. Not all players have this ability and my wife had not reached Beijing. My father in law had. After we had brushed our teeth and laid in bed we heard a gentle knock on our bedroom door (this was almost 15 minutes after the game had ended and everyone had gone to bed) “Yes?” my wife called. We heard the soft voice of her Father in Law utter “I…I think I won. Don’t I get bonus victory points for my resources at the end of the game?” I immediately jumped out of bed and ran to the still set up board. “You sure do!” I said gleefully hoping to be able to spoil the victory (and minutes of bragging) of my wife that night. After the total tally my Father in Law still lost by one point but it illustrated an important point about this game…it’s a great play.

The Voyages of Marco Polo is a resource management, action selection, worker placement game that uses player’s personal supply of dice as the workers. You start off with a player board, a contract to complete that will give you victory points and a character that will give you certain special abilities. You can play as Matteo Polo, Kublai Khan and a host of other notable names.

You will place your dice on certain spots around the board to collect (surprise, surprise) victory points. You will travel across Asia and complete contracts and try to collect as many points as possible. There are many different avenues to victory. Each time you enter a city you unlock new actions to take and new possibilities for winning.

One of the tricky parts of this game is learning to be efficient. You only have 5 rounds to travel to different locations and complete enough contracts to win. This puzzle and race to the finish will create a much deeper experience and gameplay. (So deep that your Father in Law may knock your door in demand a recount!) 

This game is a brain burner that will keep you coming back for more time and time again. The difficulty to master this game is a big draw for me. As far as components go the game is absolutely gorgeous. The design was very well done, and Z-Man games gets to add another winner to their catalog of all star performers.

This game is said to have some elements of Ticket to Ride which on a smaller scale is very true, and elements of Lords of Waterdeep which I feel is less accurate. I will say however that this game is a bit more advanced than the games on my “Start your collecion” article. So if you’ve played some starting games and are ready for a more difficult challenge the game offers a fantastic option.

If you can find a copy and are looking for a great family experience that all will love I believe this game is a good one for you. The theme is very cool, and the game is just fun to play. I’ve posted a how to play vide0 to help clarify some rules. If you have any questions or concerns you can email me at thediceyreview@gmail.com. Thanks so much for taking the time to read my article and until next time we’ll see you at the table!

Paul

It’s the middle of the afternoon. The sun warms your face as you strain to see the track. The crowd is roaring and urging the racers on. As the animals pound around the curve you see sand flying in every direction as jockeys strain to lean forward past the racer on their left and right. You shift forward in your seat and cheer as you feel your heart pound with every thud of the Camel’s feet as they ra….wait….CAMELS?!

That’s right! Camel up is a betting, action selection, push your luck game about an epic Camel race for up to 8 players. The theme is very cute, the gameplay is surprisingly deep for how simple it is on the surface, and the game has been a winner with every group I have played it with. So let’s put on some sunscreen, find a wide brimmed hat, and head to the sands of Egypt to take a look at Camel Up.

The basic premise of Camel Up is very simple. You will see five Camels on a track on the board that each have their own particular color. The track is around a wonderful cardboard pyramid that comes with the game and holds 5 colored dice. These dice are numbered from 1 to 3 and will be used to determine the Camel movement.

You can take one of four actions in the game. You can bet on a Camel to win the leg (which is when all five dice are rolled once), you can roll one of the dice (this will move the Camel matching the color of the dice rolled) you can place your Desert/Oasis tile on the track to try and effect the other camels racing, and you can bet on an overall winner or loser of the race.

The race will continue until one camel crosses the finish line. You then get to count up all of the money collected and the winner is the one with the most cash! The game has been a winner with my family and with larger groups in particular. If you’re looking for a game that can play party game type numbers but still feel like a legitimate board game with great mechanics, this one might be for you.

I know a lot of people give this game some hate and I’m not sure why. It has a roll to move mechanic which is unpopular by and large but I think in this game it works very well and creates the tension that one might feel at an actual race with money on the line. It’s 30-40 dollars depending on where you buy it and I would absolutely say buy it. This is a great game to play with new or experienced gamers young to old. If you want a fairly brief synopsis of how to play the game along with some thoughts about the play I’ve put a link to my YouTube “Walkthrough Review” below. Thanks so much for reading and until next time we’ll see you at the table!

Paul