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4 Winds Mah Jong again
Yesterday I re-installed 4 Winds Mah Jong, now that I have a Windows laptop in addition to my Mac. It’s still as good as it was in 2002 when I bought it. The game shines when practising new rule sets, particularly those with minimum scores — always pesky for new players. Having a computer opponent…
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Finnish Players’ Picks 2008 voting starts
I’ve opened the voting for the Finnish Players’ Picks 2008 awards. If you’re a Finnish board gamer or a foreign board gamer living in Finland, go and vote for your favourite games.
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Chinese Official Mahjong links
Chinese Official International Mahjong rules is an interesting rule set to Mahjong, sanctioned by Chinese authorities. Seems like a well-rounded set of rules, with a minimum winning score and some rather interesting scoring hands (shifted chows and knitted sets, particularly). Few relevant links: Chinese Official Mahjong rules, a rulebook in PDF World-Class Mahjong with World…
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Sense of achievement
I was writing about Cuba on the Finnish Board Game Society forums after my latest experience with the game and I think my friend Tommy hit the nail on the head on what I don’t like about the game. It’s the lack of snowballing. Valerie Putnam wrote about Snowballs and Princess Brides on Boardgame News…
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Steam over Holland
Steam over Holland arrived today. Actually, yesterday I went to the Netherland’s post web site to check when the package should actually arrive, and it turned out it was supposed to arrive yesterday or today. Well, here it is now, right on time. I’m kind of used to 18xx games being drab and kind of…
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Trains, trains, trains
I went and bought 1825 from BGG marketplace. It’s a full set, too, all three units (but none of the extra kits). Why? I don’t know, I suppose because it was there? Well, it does seem like an interesting game. I’ve read nice things about it from Geek and I think I might like the…
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Ubongo Extrem Craxy Expansion
Ted Alspach released Ubongo Extrem Craxy Expansion today. It’s a DIY set of 70 new puzzles for Ubongo Extrem. These craxy (extra crazy, that is) puzzles are five-tile layouts, and they sure look mean. I printed mine out today, and after I spend some time cutting the puzzles apart (they’re printed two per page), this…
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New game buzz
I bought some new games. Through the Ages was a must-buy after I played it with Tommy last year. I picked my copy of the second edition yesterday. A lot has been said about the production values of the new edition. I have little to add, except that it isn’t that bad and it sure…
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Race for the Galaxy
Race for the Galaxy is one of the hot games right now. The fans — Brian Bankler, for example, his Tao of Gaming is a must read — are babbling about it a lot, and no wonder, as it really is an excellent game. I once said an ideal game would be a quick card-driven…
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First look at Ubongo Extrem
I picked up Ubongo Extrem from the post office today. It’s rather neat! The basic idea remains, but the puzzles are now much harder! The tiles are made of small hexagons, three to five per tile on most tiles. Three-tile puzzles are still fairly simple, but the four-tile puzzles are now downright fiendish. Even the…