Hot games for Q2/2008


Continuing from the previous round

Glory to Rome takes the spot as the hottest game of the quarter, by far: it has double the hotness points the second game on the list has. And why not? It’s new and it’s very, very good. I’ve played four games, once each with two, three, four and five players. All work, but five is a tad too long. Others are good; two-player game is slightly different, but I enjoyed that as well. This one’s a keeper.

1825 Unit 3 has made its way on the table twice during the quarter, and is definitely worth a good spot on the list. It’s a lovely game, just the right challenge for two rail gamers. The first time I played we used pen and paper (and calculators) for money, but I found the computerized system (a spreadsheet with automatically calculated totals) we used on the second time very helpful. With just two players, seeing the screen isn’t a problem. For railroad fans looking for a two-player game, this is a good choice.

Die Dolmengötter came out of nowhere — a friend had it for sale, I had read pretty nice things about it from Geek, why not? — and turned out to be one of my new favourites. I’ve played two three-player games — enough to figure out four is the way to go. There just isn’t enough with three, the co-operation aspect doesn’t work well enough. So, that’s a bit of a problem, but with a game this good, I’m not going to whine about it more: Die Dolmengötter with four is a really excellent little game.

Bondtolva is an easy two-player card game, with enough good stuff to make it interesting. It’s a lovely option when Schnapsen is too much, yet you want something that requires a bit of thinking. It’s one of my favourite two-player games.