Will Wheaton refers to Alhambra as one of the four pillars of classic European board games along with Catan, Carcassonne and Ticket To Ride.
=> BoardGameGeek
=> Official Rules
The Rules in THREE MINUTES:
Alhambra
Initiative
=> BoardGameGeek
=> The Initiative – Setup and Play Guide (PDF – Len’s 1 page guide)
=> Guidebook (intro)
=> The Key Rule Book
=> Official Website (more free missions, etc)
=> Bonus Missions (interactive code chart on screen)
=> Bonus Riddle Missions (interactive on screen chart)
Combines an Escape Room into a Strategy Game!
Kim Tolson’s #1 game of 2021 (queued to the right spot):
Mandala Stones
Carcassonne (Big Box with 11 expansions)
=> BoardGameGeek
=> Official Website
=> Rule Book
=> VERY detailed rules (339pgs)
=> Scoring Small Cities & Farms (small cities get 4 points plus 2 extra points for each shield / farms are scored on the basis of fields, one field at a time (thus a city can be counted towards two or more fields)
=> Detailed Info and how to use: River / Phantom / Flying Machines / Abbot
=> Carcassonne Rules Wiki (use first to fine rules explained)
=> Video Playlist
See also the co-op stand alone=> Mists Over Carcassonne
NOTE: most expansion just add complexity (not fun) so choose carefully! Probably only choose 2 or at most 3 expansions because as you keep adding more and more tiles, they get diluted and you rarely see the new expansion tiles! PLUS with too many expansions, the game takes A REALLY LONG TIME TO PLAY!
***See bottom of this page for the expansions that I have (many with links)
Here is a playlist of over 90 videos about nearly all of the expansions!
=> Over 90 Expansion Videos (a playlist)
Analysis Paralysis and Play Time => the FIX: Draw tile at end of turn instead of start of turn
How To Play in 3 Minutes (Rules Girl):
Showdown Yahtzee
You likely already know how to play Yahtzee … so you then are ready for the super fun board and dice version, Showdown Yahtzee (one of the favorites for our Game Days).
For 2-4 players (best with 4). Instead of each player having their own Yahtzee score pad, there is just ONE and it is not a pad of paper, but individual large tiles that represent all the typical line items in the normal game of Yahtzee. Each player moves around a board and if you land on an empty square, you can try to get any of the available tiles and if you get it you take that tile and place it on the board on the square where your pawn is along with the stated amount of your chips. If your pawn lands on a square that already has a tile, if you can roll that, the tile becomes yours and you put your chips on it (if it was already yours, you just get a free turn to continue moving your pawn till you get to a spot that is wild or has a tile owned by another player). If you land on WILD, you can treat it as a blank square (try for any available tile) or as an occupied square (try to get it for your own).
I have FOUR boxes of this game (it really is that good). Someday it would be fun to have 16 people over for a Showdown Yahtzee tournament … 4 players at a table … the winner from each of the four tables then have a Showdown Showdown!
Review and examples:
Hive (with two expansions)
Loop (The Loop)
Spirit Island (2017) (Coop & Solo)
Many articles and reviews have been mentioning Spirit Island as a great game, including these from Polygon: 5 Best Coop Games and 5 Best Solo Games
=> BoardGameGeek (8.4 rating – but also a quite hard rating (over 4.0) for difficulty)
IMPORTANT searchable FAQ system => Home Page => Commonly Misplayed Rules
Tips from Kim Tolson:
Just take your time and play with the basic spirits (easy ones) and you’ll be able to handle the game just fine! Then you can move on to playing with those more complex, challenging spirits:)
I think it’s easier with two players. Louis agrees. There’s a lot of coordination needed and when you have just two people, it’s easier to plan and communicate.
Many of my favorite reviewers have videos on Spirit Island including Kim Tolson, Rahdo, Meeple University, Jon Gets Games, Gaming Rules (Paul Grogan), Before You Play (Monique & Naveen) and One Stop Co-op Shop. So you can pick which of their video’s you’d like to watch!
Actually … Monique says it is her favorite Coop Game! Here is the video for that (queued up to the right spot):
Forbidden Sky
You actually are building physical circuits and there is real electricity in the game!
This War of Mine
This War of Mine is Excellent (see the exciting overview just under the list of links and the calmly passionate look at the game below that). But it is more than just a game. Actually, it is more an EXPERIENCE than a game… kind of a hybrid. It is designed to help you (the player) feel, experience and understand what it might be like to be living (trying to stay alive) in a city that has been devastated by a war. Shops are closed (if the building is even left standing). There are looters. There are homeless. There are hobos. There are snipers! Just trying to find water to drink can be a harrowing experience. The game is hard. Really hard. Online comments have asked how to make it easier. The answer is, please don’t… it is MEANT to be hard, just like life is for those living in the situations in the game (as in real life).
Designing and developing the game was a task of love. They did not sit in a conference room trying to make up things that might happen. They poured over real life diaries, documents, journals, books, photos, videos from people who actually were living in the situation depicted by this game. And that realism shows. The game comes with a logbook with nearly 2,000 log entries that you read throughout the game… and NOT in any specific order! Which log entry you read next is determined by your choices of what you want to do, as well as a roll of the dice and drawing of a card.
Here are some links, followed by an interesting overview of the game. After that is the calmly passionate look at the game and then some tips followed by a complete playthrough of the game if you want to see how it works (and is put together… including how to set up the game)
=> My Website / This War of Ours
=> Board Game Geek
=> Kickstarter (2016)
=> Official Site: Core Game
=> Official Site – expansion: Tales from the Ruined City
=> Official Site – expansion: Days of the Siege
=> This War of Mine Journal
=> Pseudo Rulebook (FAQ’s etc)
Review:
There is one video that I highly recommend watching. I set up an entire webpage just for that video! It is an excellent overview of the game complete and I include a full transcript of everything in the video as well as photos and screenshots from the video – here is the link to that page:
=======> A Calmly Passionate Review (with transcript)
and for future reference … here is the video in that review:
