Fowltemptress' Poultry Presents: Board Games

[fowltemptress]

Betrayal

Wow. After last month's flurry of board games I almost forgot to post anything this month. We've been busy winterizing coops, putting up fence, and getting used to the idea of having to wear jackets and shoes outside again. And would you believe with all this going on, Katya decided it would be a great time to suddenly discover her maternal instincts? So now I have four ducklings running around in 20 degree weather.

Speaking of families, in honor of this month (what with Thanksgiving and family togetherness and whatnot), I've decided to showcase the game I grew up with - Scrabble!

It was the game that came out every holiday amongst the matriarchs of the family, and as a child I was in awe of the skill, finesse, patience, and killer instinct displayed by my grandmother and all her daughters. Games would last well through the night and on into the wee hours of the morning, and I would lay awake on my cot in the dining room, straining to listen with bated breath until the "Aha!" moment when someone came up with a play that devastated the plans of everyone else at the table, at which point I could breathe normally again as new tiles were drawn, the play discussed, and threats of bringing forth the outdated dictionary were bandied about and, usually, dropped. Then the shuffling would cease, and I in my cot caught my breath as I felt the tension rise again, and the next player was up to produce yet another brilliantly infuriating play. Scrabble was not a word game for those resolute women; it was a game of war and area control, and the goal was complete immobilization and annihilation of the competition. These women had lived and grown up together. They knew each other's strengths, their weaknesses, and they were in it for blood. God, how I couldn't wait to be old enough to be welcomed into that game.

Scrabble will always be a beloved classic, and rightfully so. And one day, God willing, I will finally beat my mother at it!

 

[fowltemptress]

Scrabble

The brown leghorns in my flock do not have individual names. Rather, they're collectively known as "The Italian Mafia." I used to have four leghorns, but they're down to three after a bobcat ran off with one a few months ago. Sigh - having a hit put on you is just a part of mob life, I suppose.

Today, in true mob style, my little crime bosses would like to welcome you to Las Vegas. Presenting Lords of Vegas, where you'll be investing in this tiny city in order to build it up into the den of debauchery and sin that people know and, inexplicably, love today.

If you like Monopoly, you'll love Lords of Vegas. If you hate Monopoly, you'll also love Lords of Vegas. This modern game has a delightful old school feel, with lots of rolling of dice and paper money changing hands at a breakneck pace. The dice is used in an innovative way, representing how much power you wield in a casino, and every turn is jam packed with action as you decide where to invest, whether to initiate a hostile takeover or simply reorganize some casinos, and, yes, even whether to engage in a little (or a lot!) of gambling. The interaction between players is near constant, with very few restraints on what you can trade or bargain with in the game, so Lords of Vegas will satisfy those social gamers who love nothing more than to be mucking about in the plans of the other players. I do so enjoy destroying the hopes and dreams of my friends and family - in board games, that is!

The only thing missing from this version of Las Vegas is the grime, repulsiveness, and feelings of shame and despair.*

I truly believe this game should be right up there in terms of popularity with Catan since it's every bit as fun, easy to learn, and interactive, and has fewer of the issues you'll run into with Catan, such as unlucky dice rolls. Infuriating dice rolls in Lords of Vegas feel thematic and exciting, and it's wild to go from owning only one block in a casino and roll against a player who owns five blocks in the same casino, and wind up with majority power! That shouldn't happen, it should feel wrong and obnoxious, but it does happen, and it feels somehow right and thrilling, even when you're the loser in that play.

Lords of Vegas: Leghorn approved.









*such statements about Hell on Earth - ahem - Las Vegas are the personal opinions of fowltemptress and in no way reflect the opinions or beliefs of Leghorn chickens or other poultry.

 

[fowltemptress]

Lords of Vegas

Be forewarned: this post depicts containment devices that may be disturbing to goosey readers.

Everyone, meet the White Bucket of DOOOOOOM.

The White Bucket of DOOOOOOM is, apparently, the bane of all goosekind, and must be stopped by any means possible.

Roughly half the time the bucket contains items of dubious intent; mysterious, threatening looking things, such as tools for erecting goose enclosures, or bits of plastic and metal trash from cleaning up the property. Attempting to eat these items from out of the White Bucket of DOOOOOOM is accompanied by much honking and flapping from the silly featherless bipedal. Such attempts at dissuading exploratory nibbles are highly suspicious.

Often, the White Bucket of DOOOOOOM is observed to have maliciously attached itself to the featherless bipedal's malformed wing. Then, it's imperative the stupid featherless bipedal be saved, and much honking, cobra necking, and attacks commence.

A successful rescue mission, though a hasty retreat was made as the White Bucket of DOOOOOOM prepared its counterattack.

Inexplicably, the White Bucket of DOOOOOOM also comes bearing food and treats. This is confusing and tasty, and cobra necking intensifies as the flock nibbles unimpeded. Anger floofing is the only practical way to deal with this example of the White Bucket of DOOOOOOM's duplicity.

And for the remaining .0000001 percent of the time, the White Bucket of DOOOOOOM contains Thanos Rising, a Yahtzee-esque game in which players work together to save the Universe.

Thanos Rising is a delightfully overproduced game of dice chucking. You're trying to roll certain faces in order to collect more heroes/equipment to your team and attack an array of grotesque baddies, the likes of whom could only originate from the same hellscape that spawned the White Bucket of DOOOOOOM.

There's no real reason to have included a giant, hideous Thanos figure in this box, yet here it is, and it's fabulous. And all that lovely, lovely dice! Don't pinch me; I never want to wake from this dice-filled fever dream.

Maybe one day the White Bucket of DOOOOOOM will cease to be a terrifyingly confusing container of mystery, and geese and buckets will manage to coexist peacefully.
But until then, there will be much anger floofing.

 

[fowltemptress]

Thanos Rising

You know how sometimes you feel you need a little "splash" in your life?

My splashy Easter egger girls get that feeling sometimes, which is why they're splashing a little paint your way with this week's featured game, Bob Ross: Art of Chill Game!

The Art of Chill is about as relaxing a competitive game can get, as players duke it out against eachother in an epic battle of racing to paint the most chill, serene scenes imaginable by collecting paint and tools, and mastering various painting techniques. This is a game for folks who like set collection, or those who think they'd enjoy Ticket to Ride if it wasn't about boring train routes.

Seriously, why are there so many train themed games? Watching paint dry is a more interesting theme!

In all honesty, I'm never super excited to play this game, in much the same way I was never super excited to come across Bob Ross on television. But sometimes life can hit you like a train - a huge, trundling, aggravatingly boring train - and in those moments it can be a soothing relief to sit back and take a lesson from Bob on the art of chill.



My least favorite color in all of chickendom is blue. To me, it looks dull and depressing, and I don't understand wanting to dilute the flashy, green tinged color of a beautiful black feathered bird. Of course, having this opinion ensured the batch of Easter eggers I ordered from a hatchery would be composed almost entirely of blue birds, including Elise, my original blue splash girl. Elise now has two daughters, ABBA and Drew, and I have to admit they're very distinct amongst the blacks, browns, and reds of most of my other girls, and their soft coloring gives them the impression of being gentle and sweet - an impression that is quickly dispelled if another flock member dares to sit on their preferred section of the roosting bars!

The bearded beauty, ABBA, looking sweet, but secretly plotting to peck me should I ever again photograph her without first offering her a tasty treat.

 

[fowltemptress]

The Art of Chill

It's been a while since I last posted here, mostly because the weather was gross and cold and taking pictures of board games during a winter sleet storm isn't something I'm keen to scratch off my bucket list. Then, when Spring decided she'd come in and gussy up the place a bit, I somehow neglected to recall my porch includes a series of steps, and I managed to go from my house to the pavement in one less than graceful movement, resulting in me bruising and straining the entire everything in my body. But you know what? It was goose breeding season, and goosey love waits for no clumsy gooseherd - and neither will a game of Love Letter.

Love Letter is a game of 16 cards that plays out in what is (very) loosely a strategic, more fun variant of Go Fish. You're delivering a love letter, hoping to get it into the hands of the Princess. Or, as they say in the castle coop of Goslandia, into the wings of Heidi.

Love is in the air! Seriously, don't think too hard on how these creatures without opposable thumbs are managing to write each other love letters.

The cards represent the various characters you can meet in the castle, and if your opponents can guess which card you hold in your hand you're out of the round. If you're left holding the Princess card at the end of the round (or the highest value card), you score her affection and win that round.

The guards keep a close eye on the Princess.

It's really as simple, easy, and quick as it sounds, and it packs a ton of fun in its tiny little deck!

Looks like someone's love letter successfully made it through to Princess Heidi.

 

[fowltemptress]

Love Letter

In the mood for a game?

Or how about The Game?

Snafu likes to color coordinate with her games.

Go ahead and look this game up using a search engine. I'll wait.


Patiently waiting . . .

Patiently waiting . . .

. . . Oops, things hatched. I guess that's enough waiting.


The Game is almost impossible to find using online searches. Designers, please, for the love of ducklings, name your games something. At the very least, if you're going to give it a name like The Game, make sure your game is the pinnacle of all games. A game that is so great, it'll set the standard for all games from now into infinity. With all due respect to The Game, a deck of cards counting from 1 to 100 ain't gonna cut it.

This game is dead simple. There are two number 1 starting cards and two number 100 starting cards on the table, and without giving away what numbers are held in your hand, you'll take turns laying any number of your cards down on these starting cards in ascending or descending order, redrawing up to the hand limit after your turn, with the goal of laying down every card in the stack. You can only reverse the order a particular stack is going in if you play a card that's exactly 10 away from the one preceding it. All this is done with the most minimal of communication.

So, yeah. There is simply no way for me to describe this game - ahem, The Game - in any way that makes it sound fun or exciting. So do me a favor and just take my word for it, yeah? Please? If you need to think about it, I'll wait.

Oh, come  on! This is just taking advantage of my patience!

 

[fowltemptress]

I just stumbled upon your post about board games, and it sounds like a blast! Gathering with friends and rolling dice makes the game night unique. I love games that get everyone laughing and chatting. Have you tried any new games lately? I’m always on the lookout for recommendations.
If you’re into quick, fun games, “Sushi Go!” is a favorite of mine. It’s easy to learn, and you can play it while munching on snacks. Or if you want something a bit more strategic, “Catan” is a classic that keeps everyone engaged. You can even roll dice online if you're missing some friends.

I loved Catan; it was the game that really got me into board gaming over 20 years ago! I played it so often I actually got tired of it and gave it to a friend a few years ago. Lots of good memories playing it.

I have Sushi Go! Or actually, I think my Mom has it right now, since she wanted simple, fun games to play and I was happy to gift her my copy. I'm always excited to help fuel the flames of board game enthusiasm. It's funny, because Mom always hated board games when I was growing up. If you like dice more than cards, there's Sushi Roll, too. I really enjoyed that one, but also gave it away when one of my friends said they'd like to start building up their own board game collection. Sushi Go (or Roll) makes a great gift item.

I don't try new games all that often because I'm happy with the collection I have, and as my brother-in-law put it, I "live out in the sticks," so exposure to new games doesn't happen all that often. I recently had tons of friends come over and they brought Cockroach Poker, which my husband and I hated. We were in a clear minority, though, as everyone else was having a blast. It's a bluffing card game, and it's one those simple games where you can chat and snack at the same time.

I need to start up with posting on here again. Things got busy and I started neglecting this thread, but I still have a ton of board games to get through.

 

[fowltemptress]

Abby has a mini update for Wingspan:

Cheep cheep cheep cheep, cheep cheep squawk.*


* I, on behalf of all cockatiel kind, personally approve of the Oceania expansion to Wingspan.

 

[fowltemptress]

I recently came across a couple of poultry related games online that caught my eye. I'm posting them here not only to share, but to ensure I don't forget about their existence. My memory can be abysmal sometimes.

First is Hens. The hen illustrations immediately caught my eye. Normally chicken themed games go with a more cartoony look, but this is more realistic looking. The Faverolle cards alone make me want this game. I'm going to have to look more into this game to see if the gameplay looks like something I would enjoy; in the past I've been known to get too caught up in the aesthetics of the game, and I've purchased a couple of stinkers because of it.

Last is a game I probably would have overlooked had @casportpony not conditioned my brain to pause at peacocks. Enchanted Plumes is another card game that's absolutely gorgeous. You're making peacocks, essentially, by creating plumes with your cards and scoring for the most beautiful plumes by the end of the game. I'm really interested in this one as a quick and cozy little game.

If board game developers keep coming out with poultry themed games I may have to quit researching new games. I don't need more games, but these are hard to resist!