Another fun game day today, with a larger crowd than usual, which just meant more opportunities to play different games.
I won’t mention all the ones I saw out at various times — since I didn’t catch them all (Sushi Go!, Tsuro, Forbidden Island, Exploding Kittens, Betrayal at House on the Hill, plus others I missed) — but I will give special recognition to two we opened up for the first time:
Bears vs Babies is from the same zany crew (including game designer Elan Lee and The Oatmeal‘s Matthew Inman) who brought us Exploding Kittens. I got mine via the Kickstarter.
The game mechanics are fun and pretty simple — building monster animals from different parts to fight different armies of babies — with plenty of ways for players to mess each other up, and plenty of room for the silly, gross, or (since I pledged on the Kickstarter to a level to get the NSFW pack) NSFW humor to come into play.
I don’t know that it will be the centerpiece of every future Game Day, but it will certainly be played again. The shock/humor value may pall after a time (more so than Kittens, I think), but the gameplay is pretty good.
Medieval Academy is another in the current flock of “You’re trying to score points in different types of scoring tracks, where your strategic and tactical decisions will influence your final score against your different competitors” games that are so popular right now.
This one does it all quite well — some scoring areas are short term, others are long term, most are scoring (or gaining advantage) by investing the most cards into them, but others are avoiding penalties for investing the fewest cards, and others are a straight return on investment. There’s enough randomness in the initial card deal to keep things interesting, while plenty of areas to make your own decisions and pursue your own course of action.
Most of the competition comes in your strategy, but there are tactical tricks you can play on your opponents that can also gain you some advantage. While it’s PvP, it’s more doing better yourself and being flexible in dealing with the luck of the draw, than tearing down the other players.
Good stuff. Definitely replayable.