Good Board Games

Dixit Odyssey  is a standalone expansion to basic Dixit  and allows additional players to enjoy the game. This version allows up to 12 players to play at once. I have never played a game that's similar to any version of dixit. It incorporates basic storytelling into beautiful artwork, and adds elements of deception and creativity. The game itself is just a deck of cards each with completely unique artwork and design on each. A round of dixit incorporates one player being the "storyteller" an they will say one word or a short phrase that tells a story about one of the cards in their hand, and other players will play a card in their hand that they believe also fits, or fits the best to the same story. Cards are then shuffled and laid out in an order that numbers them identifying them as card #1 card #2 etc. Players then vote on which card played was in fact the original storytellers (while not voting on their own but we'll, get into scoring later). If EVERYONE picks...

Spacewalk  is an older game, that has been used as an educational supplement game in the STEM system. Game play is similar to a version of mancala, the stone moving game into your home goal. Unlike mancala, you want to avoid your ships falling into one of three black holes. To play, each player (2-5 can enjoy this one) receives 3 ships of three different sizes, 9 in total. Players go around in a clockwise motion and place their ships one by one in turn order until each is placed. The game's objective is somewhat battle royal, where you're trying to be the last ship standing. Ships are eliminated from play as they enter a black hole, and cleverly the game board and box is designed so that you put the game away as you play it. On your turn you must move all ships on any one space that originally had one of your ships on it. You are allowed to move your opponents ships as well, but only if they're on the same initial space. Your goal is to try to put their ships into the b...

You read the title right, This game is called Bears Vs. Babies.   The game is the next in line from the producers of exploading kittens, and the gameplay is just as interesting as the furry box it comes in. You begin play by laying out the play mat and dealing out starting hands to each player. Then you work to build bears (and other monsters) one body part at a time until you feel you're ready to take on a baby army. There are three categories of these baby armies: land, air, and sea; each with coresponding bears and monsters color coded for batteling ease.  When someone is brave enough to provoke the baby army attack, any and all monsters enter the coresponding frey. An example of this is if the land babies are provoked then all land monsters (and wild card bears) enter the fight and the most powerful monster wins. This is of course only if the baby army numbers aren't superior, in which case there are no winners of that round and those babies are discarded, as the ...

So the new flagship game from  Dead Box Games  is Alestone. I was able to play this game at a nearby Cider/Wine establishment known as  Bent Ladder  located at the Rittman Orchards just north of Orrville Ohio, when its designer  Frank Tedeschi came to demo it.  A small note, Bent Ladder is a newer gaming friendly Cider/Wine house, and they host a tabletop game night the first Thursday of each month. AleStone is a game that was once never physically played, but was the "game within a game" as it was the game that characters played within a role playing game setting, but the game in now real, for 2/4 players to enjoy. Gameplay, is similar to chinese checkers trying to get your chits into your opponents home base. While you're moving your pieces, you can also battle your opponents, and pin their pieces (preventing them from moving). While moving, you can enter the center square (or side squares in a 2 player game) and pick up various buff items making y...

The Great Dalmuti  is a strategy party game for 4-8 players, but I've played it with 12 and it still works well and was enjoyed by all. Winner of a Mensa Select award in 1995, this card game implies a solid level of strategy along with its quick and quirky game play. In the game, the objective is to play all of your cards before everyone else. The cards themselves are a pyramid deck, with twelve 12 cards, eleven 11 cards, ten 10 cards, all the way down to two 2 cards, and one 1 card. In addition there are also two Jesters which are played as wilds. Play starts with the leader, or Great Dalmuti, playing a card or a set of cards. You're trying to get rid of all of your cards, but there's no rules on when you have to play anything. The only play rules are that you must play lower card values than what has been played; ex. If the great dalmuti plays a 12 you can play anything lower, if the great dalmuti plays a 2 you can only play a 1. The other way to play cards is in a se...

If you're looking for a new party game, Red Flags might be the one for you. Darin Ross, the creator of SUPERFIGHT , has made another card game, slightly ruder than his original.  In the game, one person will be the prospective suitor. (Taking turns around the table) The rest of the group uses two of their attribute cards to make the best possible date for the suitor judge. One by one they will play these attributes, all while making the best case that their date is better than the rest. Once all characters are introduced, players then place "red flags" on each others characters, sabotaging them so that the suitor judge may look more fondly on their character instead.  An example of this may be that one players character is a billionaire, and a supermodel. Based on their initial attributes, they sound like quite the catch. After the round of red flags, however; you learn that they also keep a dozen orphan slaves in a sweatshop. Not quite as appealing as before. Onc...

The Game  is a cooperative card game for 2-5 people, that can also be played solo as a solitaire. In The Game , players work to play cards numbered 2-98 in one of four piles. Two piles ascend from lowest to highest, and two piles descend from highest to lowest. It's fairly easy to grasp the concept of, but there are a few game play elements that make this more interesting than simply putting cards in order. Play starts when players in the game have 6 cards in hand. Now the group decides together who should go first, based on the cards they have. Usually this becomes an I volunteer as tribute situation. They then take turns clockwise around the table playing cards. On your turn, you must play at least two cards, but if you happen to have cards that are very close to each other, you can play as many as you're holding. During game play, you can discuss where you would like players to play or not play, but you CANNOT discuss the cards numbers in you hand. There will be times wh...