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First games of Portobello Market
I’ve now played Portobello Market twice, both two-player games with Johanna. She likes it, and so do I, to some extent. It’s a pretty game, but what do you expect from Michael Menzel? The man knows his trade. The mechanics work as well — I suppose you can expect that from a Hippodice winner. The…
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Neuland and Attika
Ah, Neuland! The land of strange, yet soothing line art and wide open spaces ready to be filled with pointy little buildings, free for all to use! How have I longed to wander through your fields, moving resources around! So, I met Olli H. for some games, and got him to play Neuland. He had…
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Caylus Magna Carta at the Championships
I visited the Finnish Board Game Championships yesterday. It was a smallish event, just seven four-player teams participating. However, the whole thing was put together quite quickly and with no previous experience, so no wonder it wasn’t larger. I wasn’t playing, just went to present my book and take a look. I did visit Lautapelit.fi…
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Yspahan for Windows
I finally got around downloading Westpark Gamers PC version of Yspahan. It’s from the same guy who did the St. Petersburg PC version. It’s a good game. It took me few games to figure it out — since I was too lazy to read the rules properly — but after few rounds I got it.…
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Blue Moon City and Attika
Our game session dwindled up to just two players, me and Olli, but I saw no need to change the main course. I’ve heard Blue Moon City is good with just two, so of course I had to try it. Turns it out works just fine. Both our games were quite exciting enough. Some folks…
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More Phoenicia
Three more rounds of two-player Phoenicia. Two were quite exciting: first one went to tiebreaker, second one I eventually won as Tommy continued to struggle with economical restraints. Storage is good thing to have. The third game was a slaughter; unfortunately I was in the receiving end. It’s fun, but the small number of cards…
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Phoenicia at JKLM Interactive
I played a game of Phoenicia at JKLM Interactive. It’s a neat idea: they’re offering a online game until the game is published. I’m not sure they’re going to have lots of players when the game is published and playing is £5 a year, but for now it’s a nice way to test the game.…
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Just 4 Fun
Just 4 Fun isn’t the most popular game, despite being a Spiel des Jahres finalist. From description, it sounds terribly inane. The name is horrible to start with. Four-in-a-row, with cards determining where you can play — can it be any more drab? But guess what, it’s a surprisingly good game anyway. Nothing special, that’s…
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Zooloretto with two
I got a review copy of Zooloretto, latest entry to the Coloretto family. It’s out now in Finnish (with Swedish, Norwegian and Danish rules included). The box was bigger than I expected, a full Kosmos-size box. Cute panda! The game isn’t a ripoff, but something quite clever. In its heart lies the basic Coloretto system:…
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Board game club: Leonardo da Vinci, Taj Mahal
Yesterday’s board game club started with a game of Leonardo da Vinci. This one’s published in Finnish by Lautapelit.fi. Bit of a strange decision, it being such a gamer’s game, but I suppose Puerto Rico has sold well enough. It’s an optimization game, basically. Players use workers to gather resources and convert them into inventions.…