Tag Archives: product review

PuzzleNation Product Review: Batman Fluxx

Posted on by
9

batman-fluxx

The folks at Looney Labs specialize in games with high replay value and dynamic gameplay, and no game epitomizes their gaming spirit more than Fluxx. With its constantly shifting rules, goals, and actions, no two sessions of Fluxx are exactly alike, and with numerous variant games like Star Fluxx, Monty Python Fluxx, Holiday Fluxx and more, there’s no shortage of possible ways to keep the game fresh.

The latest addition to the Fluxx family of games is Batman Fluxx, and between the crafty creators at Looney Labs and Batman’s diabolical Rogue’s Gallery of villains, you AND the Dark Knight will have your hands full.

batfluxx2

[There’s even a rule card that allows you to take advantage
by wearing something with Batman’s iconic logo!]

Now, anyone who has played Fluxx in the past is familiar with action cards, goal cards, keeper cards, new rule cards, and surprise cards. For those unfamiliar with the game, the basic idea is to collect keeper cards in the hopes of completing a goal and winning the game. But since every player can change rules (like how many cards you draw during your turn, how many you drop, etc.) as well as what the current goal is that will allow you to win the game, you have to be on your toes.

And Batman is the perfect theme for one of Fluxx’s most recent and ingenious innovations: the creeper card.

batfluxx4

Creeper cards — featuring many of Batman’s most infamous foes, like The Penguin, Mr. Freeze, and Poison Ivy — prevent any player (including the player who plays that card) from winning the game, even if they’ve collected the necessary keeper cards to complete the current goal. So, much like Batman, you need to clean up Gotham City and get rid of all those villains before you can declare victory!

It’s a diabolical way to prevent the other players from winning (that is, unless they’re hiding a goal card that requires a villain!) and it surprised several experienced Fluxx players I know when we playtested the game.

And the Batman-flavored Keepers and Goals are not only great fun, but clearly created with fans of the Caped Crusader in mind.

batfluxx3

[Those Wonderful Toys references Jack Nicholson’s famous line in the first Batman film, and The Joker Got Away! is a sly reference to the Batman-fueled variation of “Jingle Bells” that got many a child in trouble back in the day. Myself included.]

With art straight out of The New Batman Adventures cartoon series from the late ’90s, both the style and the nostalgia factor is here in spades. And yes, both Robin AND Batgirl are along for the ride. (No Nightwing, though, sadly.)

Nonetheless, this has quickly become my favorite version of Fluxx yet, and the Dynamic Duo have converted several other card game enthusiasts I know into Fluxx fans as well.

[To check out more Looney Labs games I’ve reviewed in the past, click here, here, here, and here!]

Thanks for visiting PuzzleNation Blog today! You can share your pictures with us on Instagram, friend us on Facebook, check us out on Twitter, Pinterest, and Tumblr, and be sure to check out the growing library of PuzzleNation apps and games!

PuzzleNation Product Review: Adorable Pandaring

Posted on by
3

Crowdfunding has significantly changed the world of puzzles and games by offering a new avenue for creators and fans to directly interact and determine whether a game or a puzzle suite becomes a viable product. Many puzzle constructors and game companies are using crowdfunding to both assess the public’s interest in a given game or puzzle AND to raise funds for an initial printing.

And in today’s product review, I’ll be giving the full PuzzleNation treatment to a card game born on Kickstarter and realized through crowdfunding. Let’s talk about Adorable Pandaring, created by Chris Cieslik and Asmadi Games!

In Adorable Pandaring, your goal is to gain bamboo by collecting as many adorable pandas as possible. The trouble is, everyone else is collecting pandas too, and the definition of adorable can change depending on the cards on the table! It’s panda law.

Each panda card has a value and an action. The value lets you know if the panda is adorable or not, depending on the panda law at the time. Sometimes high-numbered pandas are adorable, sometimes low-numbered ones are. Sometimes even-numbered pandas are adorable, sometimes odd-numbered ones are.

The action allows you to affect either an opponent or the game itself. You might gain bamboo, change the panda law, trade cards with an opponent, reveal hidden pandas… there are lots of options, some with exciting consequences.

This is a wonderful mix of poker-style strategy — which card information you share with your opponents and which you conceal — and Fluxx-style rule-shifting chaos. At any time, the panda law can change and your adorable pandas lose their value, or everyone’s hidden cards are revealed and bamboo is awarded.

[A random sampling of the super-cute pandas AND
several ways you can affect the game by playing them.]

And the art is delightful. The pandas are hilarious and, yes, adorable, whether they’re disappointed by dropped ice cream cones or looking sharp in secret agent tuxedo-wear.

Great fun for three to five players, Adorable Pandaring promises adorable pandas and delivers a lot more, making a terrific gateway card game for younger players and a delightful quick-play game for all ages.

(You can pick up a copy from the Asmadi Games store here.)

Thanks for visiting PuzzleNation Blog today! You can share your pictures with us on Instagram, friend us on Facebook, check us out on Twitter, Pinterest, and Tumblr, and be sure to check out the growing library of PuzzleNation apps and games!

It’s Follow-Up Friday: Indie 500 Puzzle edition!

Posted on by
4

Welcome to Follow-Up Friday!

By this time, you know the drill. Follow-Up Friday is a chance for us to revisit the subjects of previous posts and bring the PuzzleNation audience up to speed on all things puzzly.

May 30 marked the first (hopefully annual!) Indie 500 Crossword Tournament, hosted in Washington, D.C. by constructors Erik Agard, Peter Broda, Neville Fogarty, Andy Kravis, Evan Birnholz, and Finn Vigeland.

While I couldn’t attend the tournament, I did download the tournament puzzles, and after a few weeks, I had the opportunity to sit down and tackle the six puzzles prepared for the event. And today, after a few weeks’ reflection, I thought I’d offer my thoughts on those puzzles, both for the organizers and for any interested PuzzleNationers who might be considering participating in the future.

[Note: I solved the PDF versions of these puzzles, which apparently differed in some ways from the PUZ versions.]

Puzzle 1: Welcome to D.C. by Erik Agard

The opening puzzle offered a solid challenge, utilizing the colors for the various lines of the Washington Metro as clues for the themed entries. (For instance, “Red Line” led you to the answer BASE PATH.)

Agard’s effort set the tone for the rest of the tournament with a some accessible pop culture-fueled clues as well as a fleet of strong, fair clues most puzzlers should have no difficulty cracking. A few more obscure references were made — an Internet meme and a Hunger Games “ship” name among them — but without hindering fair cluing.

Interesting grid entries included GINSU, YOUSE GUYS, and NIQAB, and my favorite clue was probably “Summer’s end?” for TOTAL.

Puzzle 2: Looseness of the Vowels by Peter Broda

Broda’s puzzle incorporated shared boxes — some grid squares were divided in half, allowing two vowels to be placed instead of one — and answering each themed clue required a two-word phrase that shared every consonant.

(For instance, clue 52 Across read “With 52 Across, what David Ortiz practices that annoys his neighbors?” And the grid, once filled, read B[I/A]GP[A/I]P[IE]S, a.k.a. BIG PAPI’S BAGPIPES. This is why the clue cites itself in “With 52 Across,” so that the solver knows the answer word applies twice)

Those neat touches of wordplay weren’t the only tough crossings, however. The crossing of two unusual phrases in BE GENTLE with LAYS STAX actually forced me to abandon the puzzle at one point and return to it later to complete.

Interesting grid entries included TV CHEF, ICE KING, and VISA BILL, and my favorite clue was “Former red giant” for USSR. (Being a science and astronomy geek, I was instantly misled by this one.)

Puzzle 3: Candy Bars by Finn Vigeland

Finn was chosen as the guest constructor to join the five fierce puzzlers who organized the Indie 500, and I was thoroughly impressed with the very clever construction of his grid. In Finn’s puzzle, certain paired black squares were replaced with a graphic of a candy bar, and it was up to the solver to deduce that each entry, either down or across, that touched the candy bar was missing either C, Y, or both.

[The candy bars were in color in the PDF, but I printed them in b and w for solving.]

For instance, in this section of the grid, DIS and ALL (clued as “Checker, for one” and “Word after straight or male, in social justice conversations,” respectively) were actually DISC and ALLY when you added the CY. [Get it? CandY bar?] Similarly, REST and ALTA were actually CREST and YALTA, and the across entry CLING WRAP was actually the theme entry CYCLING WRAP.

This was my favorite of the six puzzles in the tournament, one with a great hook and excellent execution.

Interesting grid entries included SENIOR GALA, DOT GOV, OH BEHAVE!, and PT BOATS, and my favorite clue was easily “Brian who crosswords would have you believe is the only musician worth knowing (other than 97-Across, maybe)” for ENO. (97-Across was, predictably, ONO.)

Puzzle 4: A Cute Puzzle by Andy Kravis

After a pair of heavy-thinking puzzles, Puzzle 4 was an excellent palate cleanser difficulty-wise, complete with solid cluing and some fun entries. Kravis’s puzzle had solvers adding an accented E to the end of themed entries in order to complete them. For instance, “A giant leap for elephant-kind?” was JUMBOJETE.

A well-constructed puzzle (quite possibly designed to lure solvers into a false sense of security before Puzzle 5 walloped them), this was probably the most accessible puzzle of the six, one that casual solvers would quite enjoy.

Interesting grid entries included MINAJ, TEAM USA, KOOPA, and A-MINUS, and my favorite clues were the mildly-risque pair of “Prince Albert’s can?” for both ARSE and LOO.

Puzzle 5: Swap Meet by Neville Fogarty

Apparently, whether it’s the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament or the Indie 500, Puzzle 5 shall forever be a beast of a solve.

Fogarty’s puzzle was by far the toughest of the six, and I admit, it took me forever to uncover the hook: antonyms which crossed at the same starting box were swapped. For instance, 1-Across was “Numbskulled” for THICK and 1-Down was “Dilute” for THIN, but you had to place THICK as 1-Down and THIN as 1-Across.

Beyond that, challenging crossings like IDEA MAN and LAD MAG kept me guessing, and the creative grid entries left few crossword standards for any struggling solvers.

Interesting grid entries included ONE SEC, SHAKY CAM, FAIR GAME, XKCD, and IRISH STEW, and my favorite clue was probably “Number for the troops” for OVER THERE.

[Say, since we’re discussing crosswords, have you checked out the
Penny Dell Crosswords App? This concludes our shameless plug.]

Puzzle 6: The Final Lap by Evan Birnholz

The closing puzzle of the tournament was offered in two difficulty levels: the Inside Track (designated for solvers who finished in the top 25% of the field in a crossword tournament with published standings in the past 5 years) and the Outside Track (designated for everyone else). I opted for the Outside Track, then looked over the cluing for the Inside Track.

This themeless closer was no layup, though; no matter which track you were on, the cluing relied on solid trivia knowledge and classic puzzle-solving skill. (Kudos to Evan for crafting a solid grid with tough AND tougher clues. And for dropping a much-appreciated Army of Darkness reference in the Inside Track clues.)

Interesting grid entries included WHAT ON EARTH?, MOON UNIT, EDIT MENU, and PIE CHART, and my favorite clue (among many I quite liked) was probably “Things a benched player might work on during practice” for ETUDES.

Overall, I thought the Indie 500 was an impressive series of puzzles, rich with cleverness and style. Puzzle 5 easily rivaled ACPT’s Puzzle 5 in terms of difficulty, and the cluing was topnotch. I look forward to its return next year, and hopefully some of you will join me in accepting the Indie 500 challenge!

Thanks for visiting PuzzleNation Blog today! You can share your pictures with us on Instagram, friend us on Facebook, check us out on Twitter, Pinterest, and Tumblr, and be sure to check out the growing library of PuzzleNation apps and games!

PuzzleNation Product Review: Fidelitas

Posted on by
Reply

In today’s product review, we delve into a medieval world where courting influence wins the day and the best players can move people like chess pieces. Welcome to Fidelitas, a card game created by Green Couch Games and distributed by the good folks at Game Salute.

In Fidelitas, each player tries to manipulate characters into position around the city in order to accomplish specific tasks and gain valuable allies.

There are two sets of cards in Fidelitas: Missio cards and Virtus cards. Virtus cards allow you to manipulate the cards and maneuver characters into place, while Missio cards detail the tasks you must complete in order to earn points.

Virtus cards can affect how many cards you play that turn, where you can play them, and sometimes, where other players can play their cards. (Regular players of Fluxx or one of its many variations will be familiar with this sort of short-term rule-shifting gameplay.)

Different Missio cards have different point values, reflecting how difficult that card’s given task is. The player with the most points at the end of the game wins, having proven him or herself the master manipulator at the table.

Seven cards make up the City, the setting of the game. There are nine guild alignments (which work almost like the suits in a standard deck of cards), and several of the locations are tied to specific guilds. With many location-specific Missio cards, a strong knowledge of the City is crucial to advantageous gameplay.

Fidelitas is reminiscent of another card game I’ve mentioned in previous blog posts, Guillotine. But in Guillotine, you’re only manipulating the order of characters in a single line, whereas in Fidelitas, you’re dealing with numerous locations and plots in motion. It ratchets up the difficulty level somewhat, but the core mechanic remains simple and accessible, both key components to a great group card game.

It took me a few games to get the strategy of the game under my belt, since between trying to achieve my own Missio tasks and trying to hinder other players in their gambits, it was hard to be sure if the card I was playing would end up helping me or my opponents and their mysterious Missios.

If you’re hunting for a game with some historic flavor, look no further. This one will test your diplomatic skills as you try to sway people to your side, as well as your poker skills by seeing how well you can read your opponents and devise a plan to thwart their Missio cards from being completed.

Fidelitas incorporates a lot of quality gameplay elements in a small package, not only making it a great quick-play game, but one with more replay value than you’d expect.

Thanks for visiting PuzzleNation Blog today! You can share your pictures with us on Instagram, friend us on Facebook, check us out on Twitter, Pinterest, and Tumblr, and be sure to check out the growing library of PuzzleNation apps and games!

PuzzleNation Product Review: Houdini

Posted on by
6

Whether made of wood, metal, plastic, or rope, mechanical brain teasers can be some of the most challenging and well-crafted puzzles a solver will ever encounter.

Engaging both the solver’s deductive skills and patience, these puzzles often involve removing one key piece from an elaborate interconnected grouping, be it a ball from a seemingly solid maze of wooden posts or a heart from a web of unyielding metal linkages.

The cunning and clever brains at ThinkFun have put their own unique spin on the mechanical brain teaser with their latest product, Houdini, putting you in the legendary escape artist’s shoes and pitting you against numerous scenarios, all intended to keep the magician’s plastic namesake firmly trapped.

Although Houdini’s body and arms are one solid piece — representing his wrists being shackled together — his legs are felt, allowing you to bend and twist them in ways that replicate Houdini’s legendary flexibility. As the ropes are wound around and through both Houdini’s limbs and various obstacles designed to prevent his movement, it’s up to the solver to find the hidden loophole that will allow Houdini to escape scot-free.

With only a lock, a barrel, a solid ring, the three-looped base, and a few easy-clip ropes, ThinkFun has conjured 40 layouts of increasing difficulty, and I admit, some of these seriously taxed my puzzly skills.

The later puzzles involve multiple steps to free Houdini, utilizing tricks you’ve learned solving the earlier puzzles. It’s a brilliant slow-build solving experience, one that ThinkFun has employed with similar success with Laser Maze, Gravity Maze, and other products.

Houdini is not only a wonderful tribute to an entertainment legend, it’s a terrific puzzle toy that introduces a new world of brain teasers to younger solvers.

Thanks for visiting PuzzleNation Blog today! You can share your pictures with us on Instagram, friend us on Facebook, check us out on Twitter, Pinterest, and Tumblr, and be sure to check out the growing library of PuzzleNation apps and games!

PuzzleNation Product Review: Just Desserts

Posted on by
19

Whether it’s the speedy pattern-matching of Loonacy, the time-traveling strategy of Chrononauts, or the festive rule-shifting chaos of Holiday Fluxx, the folks at Looney Labs are constantly crafting new games that are visually engaging and offer high replay value. They sent us a copy of their newest card game, and we’re happy to give it the full PuzzleNation Blog treatment.

So, without further ado, let’s explore Just Desserts!

pic2453795

Just Desserts employs a similar game mechanic to Looney Labs’ flagship game, Fluxx: collect Keeper cards and be the first to match a pair of Keeper cards to the current Goal card.

In Just Desserts, you’re collecting Dessert cards and trying to match them to various sweet-toothed guests. You see, each Dessert card represents different ingredients that your guests enjoy or dislike. You want to play desserts that a given guest will enjoy, hoping to match each of their preferred ingredients without including an ingredient they hate.

justdesserts2

So, for instance, The Little Boy likes chocolate, cookies, and marshmallow, so you need Dessert cards representing each of those flavors. But he also has a favorite dessert: S’mores. If you had the S’mores Dessert card, you can cover all of his favorite ingredients with a single card, adding him to the happy guests you’ve collected, and earning yourself a bonus Dessert card.

The guests belong to six different-colored suits, and to win, you must collect three guests of the same suit or five of different suits.

And the relatively few Guest cards available — when compared to the massive number of Dessert cards you can collect — makes each guest a prized commodity.

justdesserts1

The simple game mechanic and wide variety of Dessert cards makes this not only a terrific introductory game for new players or younger players, but also gives the game great replay value, as you try new combinations of sweets to satisfy your picky guests and gather a winning array of cards.

From a puzzle point of view, scanning the various ingredients represented by the Dessert cards in your hand — not to mention figuring out the most economical way to employ them — and secure Guest cards effectively definitely makes for a fun, and constantly evolving, puzzle experience.

The one problem with this game? It makes me hungry.

Nonetheless, Just Desserts is a treat you can indulge in over and over without gaining a pound.

Thanks for visiting PuzzleNation Blog today! You can share your pictures with us on Instagram, friend us on Facebook, check us out on Twitter, Pinterest, and Tumblr, and be sure to check out the growing library of PuzzleNation apps and games!