Castles of Mad King Ludwig is Unique

I love playing Castles of Mad King Ludwig because it is unlike any other I've ever played!  The whole theme is laying to form a castle of many different rooms and sizes.  First off, the master builder gets to place the different room tiles on the market.  He/she decides what each room tile will cost.  If other players purchase any, the master builder gets the money.  So, as the master builder you must decide if you want money or want to keep the other players from getting certain rooms and pricing them high so they can't afford to buy them.  Other players buy what they want and then the master builder buys but that money goes to the bank.

Each tile has doors that much be connected to the other tiles in order to place the room.  There are some downstairs rooms that require stairs first before they can be placed.  There are 3 common objectives that the King favors.  These change from one game to the next.  It could be certain room types, sizes, or area, etc.  When a room is completed (all the doors connecting to another room, hall or stair), that player gets a special bonus depending on the type of room.  In addition, each player gets two secret objective cards and can get another for each utility room they place into their castle.

I also really like the scoreboard in this game because it's so pretty!  Swan tokens move down the river for scoring.  This game involves lots of decisions--what rooms to buy, where to place them, how much money to save or spend and how to price the rooms when you are the master builder.  Game ends when there are not enough cards to refill the market. 

Player with most points wins.  I like this game a lot because enjoy building games and also castles!  I also have an extension for this with swans, secret passages and moats that make the game a bit more challenging but give more opportunities for points and getting more money.  Either way is fun!

This game is based on the real King Ludwig.

LURE Is Catchy

 LURE is a fun game of luck with pretty fish cards and lots of colored dice, enough for five players. This is a short, easy game for all ages.  It has very few rules so is easy to teach and learn quickly to play.  I am extremely happy with this purchase because it is a good filler game when we're looking for something fast to finish off the evening.  I played this with a couple kids (Maggie and Quil) who both were thrilled with the different fish pictures and liked catching them.

Here's how to play:

Everyone secretly picks how many dice they want to roll and how many lures they want to use.  

All the fish cards have requirements needed in order to catch them.  Some just need a certain number or more on the dice total.  Some need certain numbers on the dice, no matching dice or matching dice to show up.  

Each player reveals the number of dice they are rolling and the lowest total gets to fish first.  First player rolls their dice and takes all the fish they can catch.  

If players totals tie, they each roll their dice and lowest total goes first.

Each fish card has points shown on it which players total up at the end of the game.  Winner is the one with the highest total points.

PROS:

Quick to teach, learn & play. (15-20 min to play)                Comes in small box for under $20.

Pretty cards, dice and screens.                     Fun--people usually want to play again right away.

CONS:

Numbers on yellow dice are a bit hard to see.                        Lots of adding throughout the game.

I'd like to know your thoughts about this game in the comments below.  Let me know if you want to play!

Ticket To Ride - A Light Fun Game

 

Ticket to Ride is a game for kids and adults.  It is fun but fairly light.  Turns are simple.  You have one action per turn with 3 options:  either choose two cards and add them to your hand, lay some train tracks or get a destination card.   It takes about 2 hours with 5 people.

PROS:

It plays up to 5 people, all ages.

Rules are few so it's easy and quick to teach and learn.

It combines a little luck with some strategy.  Strategy options include: (1) go for the longest track to get the bonus points; (2) Build lots of tracks fast to block others and to go out before others can complete their destination cards; (3) Just build long track chunks for lots of points along the way; (4) Complete lots of destination cards.

CONS:

It can blog down if your color cards aren't coming up.

Can become frustrating when others block your route, but that's part of the strategy.

The orange and red cards are a little hard to tell which is which so I wrote "red" on my red ones.

If you played this, share your thoughts about it in the comments.  

A Place For All My Books Is Fun & Challenging

 

A Place For All My Books is a fairly light game that is easy to teach but yet challenging.  Each player starts in their apartment and tries to complete little projects that involve resorting their books.  Each action they take, read a book, sort, gather, rest, admire gets allows them to charge up their "social battery" to get enough energy to go to town to get more books and other neat stuff that gives end game points.  Every trip to town brings the game closer to the end.  There are also three major accomplishment projects that all players race to finish first for more points.  Each completed little project is two points and each book in the apartment is worth one point.

So far I have taught 5 people to play this game and all have liked it.  A few even wanted to play it again right away.  This game can be for gamers as well as casual board gamers.  It's theme of being a book nerd is very well done, and the mechanics are fairly simple.  Yet, there is strategy involved such as how can I complete more projects and a time to make my admire action most efficient?  Should I go to town now or wait a bit longer to get more social battery energy?  Should I make that last trip to town to get more books or neat stuff to end the game, or just stay home and do more little projects?  Which project should I do next?  Should I focus on the major accomplishments, or just my little projects?  Can I manage both somehow?  Is the neat stuff card showing worth the cost, or should I just pick one from off the pile sight unseen for less?

This game also has a solo mode that I enjoyed playing.  It's a good way to learn the game and there are 5 levels that each get a bit more difficult.  

I highly recommend this game.  I like the artwork, the ease of learning, the quick set up and the challenge in this game.  I also like the opportunity to collect board games for lots of points and get cats to help get extra end game points as well.

So, who wants to come play this with me?  If you have played it, what did you think of it?  

  

Today Is Parma Pink Day

In honor of Parma Pink day, I am wearing my bright pink shirt and making Ambrosia salad using strawberry Jello instead of the usual pistachio.  What an adventurer I am!  Ha!  I mixed in a whole tub of cool whip, a bunch of marshallows, crushed pineapple and even some cherries.  It's very pink--success.  Am considering adding some almonds to help cut down on the super sweetness.  What do you think?  Add them--yes?  No?