42. 'Coin Age.' Un-'enveloping.' The Cardboard Cartographer issue 15.

Welcome to issue 15  of 'The Cardboard Cartographer' here on 'The science of selling yourself short.'

In this issue we'll be un-boxing (enveloping really, as it doesn't come in a box) a micro game called Coin Age.

Coin Age was a 'pay-what-you-want' game created by TMG that was funded via Kickstarter.
The original funding goal was $5,000, which they met on December 21st 2013, and proceeded to smash, reaching a total of $65,195.
You can check out their campaign material by clicking here > Coin Age

In Coin Age two players attempt to control the land of Agea using a single card map and a handful of pocket change. Players take turns placing their forces (coins) on the map to control spaces, outmanoeuvre their opponent, and score victory points.

As with my previous Kickstarter un-boxing I have yet to play this game. Which is silly really, as it is amazingly portable and can almost literally be played anywhere.

On to the un-boxing!

Like Elevenses, this game is really compact. This 'un-boxing will be over amazingly quickly, mainly because it came in an envelope with no box (hence the lack of packaging picture).

The rules are compact, clear and fairly simple.

 

 

The 'boards' are roughly the size of a credit/ debit card and are made out of thin card, with the exception of the glossy card which is hard plastic.
The two thin 'boards' are also double sided, as to fit in more variable 'maps'.

The coins are standard cardboard composite, but also also includes some stickers to be stuck to pocket change if you don't want to use the cardboard pieces/ lose them.

And that is it!

It is simple, compact and clean.
Considering its size I actually think they managed to fit a fair amount of detail without making it look too cluttered.
Also the colours are great!

My main concern would be with the two 'boards' made of card. 
They are very flimsy. I can honestly see them getting damaged quite easily. Admittedly, they include a more durable board, but I don't see one board having great replay ability, so using this Micro Game for consistent travel use may not be the best.

That said, it is kind of hard to criticise the game considering;
a) it is a micro-game,

b) it was 'pay-what-you-want,'

and

c) I'm yet to play it.


A very short issue this time round.
Blame Christmas and New years, and playing more games again.

Have you ever played Coin Age? What do you think about it?

Leave me a comment below, or tweet me @DarkHaZZl3 on Twitter.

Thanks for reading. Until next Time

-DH-

37. 'Cards Against Humanity (UK) un-boxing and review. The Cardboard Cartographer issue 12.

Welcome to issue 12 of The Cardboard Cartographer here on The science of selling yourself short.

A whole month since the last issue! Well, if you would like to see what I've been up to in that time head over to The Underhive Hero

In this issue we are not only un-boxing Cards Against Humanity (CAH) (UK edition), but because there isn't a great deal to look at, we'll also be reviewing it too. I know right!

Google-fu.
Wikipedia;

Cards Against Humanity is a multiplayer party game available in published hardcopy via purchase and as a free download that players can print off to create their own cards via print shops. Its development originated from a successful Kickstarter campaign and has since received nationwide acclaim for its simple concept backed up by its satirical, mature content

Cards Against humanity is a game that was hugely successful on Kickstarter.
I'd go as far to say that it was on of the first board game type projects to gain such notoriety and continued popularity after the campaign had ended.
Since then it has become a force in its own right, with even those who are not traditional gamers getting involved and loving it.
I must admit that I did not discover Cards Against humanity until long after the end of the Kickstarter campaign, so my knowledge of this game comes post Kickstarter.

If you want more information I suggest heading over to the CAH website. You can download a print and play edition of the core game for free! - http://cardsagainsthumanity.com/

Lets get started shall we?

In this issue we're just looking at the core game, and here it is;

As you can see, the box (black with white text) and rule book (white with black text) are very clean, very simple. This is a design feature throughout the game.

The only other items in the box? Cards. Lots of cards.

Again, these are split into two colour schemes.
The black cards have a statement/question/situation printed on them, while the white cards have an 'answer' printed on them.

That is literally it. 
First Impressions.

Design wise it is minimalist to the extreme; simple, plain, clean but clear and contrasting. It isn't visually exciting or pleasing, but then it isn't terribly dull or offensive either.
The card stock is pretty flimsy, and as a party game which will see a fair amount of handleing this is a bit of an issue, and there are far too many cards to use sleeves on.

I like a bit of colour and artistic licence in my games, but in the case of CAH I think simple is better.

Gamplay.

CAH is a tad fast and loose when it comes to rules.
The basic rules are as follows.

Each player is dealt ten face down white cards.

A 'card-tsar' is selected (insert arbitrary 'first player mechanic here').
The card-tasr then deals a face up black card for everyone to see.
All other players then pick one of their white cards to 'answer' the black card.
The card-tsar then shuffles them and deals them face up, reading the black card and then the white card each time.
The card-tsar then decides which white card is the funniest.
The player who played that card takes the black card.
All players draw back up to ten (some cards require multiple cards for the answer).
The role of card-tsar then passes clock wise.
The game ends when there are no more black cards left/ you get board/ a pre-set number is reached.

That is it.

There are a bunch of rules that can be thrown in for added complexity/ variety, but how many you use, or don't is entirely up to the players.

Personal Opinion.

While on the face of it CAH's game mechanics sounds unbelivably simple and repetative (they totally are by the way), the game itself is outrageously enjoyable, so long as you are not easily offended.

What makes this game so outstanding is humour.
CAH uses a shock and awe tactic when it comes to the answer given. Some answers are tame, some morbidly realistic, while others are gonzo and/or offensive as possible (I for one was not slightly bothered. I have a high redolence when it comes to this type of humour).

This is not a game to be taken seriously. In any way.

However its simplicity does allow for a the 'player behaviour' mechanic to flourish.
This is a mechanic not always written into the game; it forms naturally as a result of empty space.'
In CAH this takes the form of strategic answers, or in others words, knowing how to make certain people laugh.

For example; Some people find gonzo humour funny. If the card-tsar is one of these people, you aim to play an answer that fits in line with their sense of humour.
While on the other hand, if the card-tsar is not into that type of comedy, you simply play something else.
So while the game isn't serious, nor is it based on tactics or skill, there is still a little room for intelligent play...
...but only a little.

Overall, I enjoyed the game. I am blessed with a group of friends who are not easily offended and have a similar sense of humour as I do.
The game has obvious drawbacks;
If allowed to go on for too long it gets very, very repetitive. There are 5 expansion out (accurate at time of publication).
Also if played with the wrong people it just will not be any fun,so be careful (100% NSFW).

Digital Spotlight.

Nope. There are no official digital editions of CAH (other than the print and play pdf).

However, their website states;
'Cards Against Humanity is available under a Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 2.0 license. That means you can use, remix, and share the game for free, but you can’t sell it without our permission. Please do not steal our name or we will smash you.'
A such there are so very many in browser and app versions of this game (even more than coin age).
I haven't played any of them as they all vary in quality/ malaware.
Some have online matchmaking which is potentially hilarious...

I feel that CAH isn't about that though. It is a more intimate, party setting game. Take that away and it loses its soul and character.
That might just be me.


That is all for this, very text heavy, issue of The Cardboard Cartographer!

What do you think of Cards Against Humanity?
Have you played any web or app based versions?
What is the best card combinations you've had?

Feel free to comment on this post or hit me up on Twitter @DarKHaZZl3

Until next time, thanks for reading.

-DH-

34. 'Pandanté' un-bxoing. The Cardboard Cartograhper issue 9.

Welcome to issue nine of 'The Cardboard Cartographer' here on 'The science of selling yourself short.'

In this issue I'm very excited to be un-boxing another brand new game; Pandante!

  Now Pandanté is a very new and relatively unknown game.
Pandanté is a game by Sirlin games that was funded on kickstarter. It reached its goal and was marked off as funded on December 20th 2013. It managed to beat the original funding goal by over $20,000, which is quite impressive!

If you want to check out the Kick-starter's campaign page you can here. There is also an option to print out a copy to play it! - Pandanté Kickstarter Page

Pandanté is essentially a poker based game with variable powers; throw in some cheating and misdirection here and there., and boom! Pandanté.

 I have yet to play it, which is a shame. This is just an un-boxing.
The review will appear in a future issue, so keep your eyes peeled!

In the meantime if you want to check out how it has fared with the board gaming community you can check it out on Board Game Geek - http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/140163/pandante

Let's get started shall we?

There are several editions of Pandanté available. This one is the standard version (with a couple of the kickstarter backer exclusives thrown in).

So once the box is unpacked you can see that there isn't a massive amount of parts to punch out or anything like that.
Simply the rules, a dealer chip, some reference sheets, the cards and those kickstarter backer rewards.
The rule book is simple, clear and that is about it.

Moving on!
Reference sheets.

 

 The reference sheets are clear, organised, very simple and fairly big (they have to be for the game to function properly).
No complaints here.
It is a bit plain, but when it comes to reference sheets I feel this is a plus point.
The only possible down side here is that they are made of cardboard composite. I have a bit of a pet hate for that material as they always get damaged. These seem fairly durable however, and quite thick, so it should not be a problem.

Dealer Chip.

The dealer chip is also made of cardboard composite. This however feels thinner and somewhat cheaper, I almost bent it getting it out of the box. It is also a little plain.
Unlike the reference sheet I think that cardboard composite was a poor choice for this. The dealer chip will be handled a fair amount. Durability should have been a key concern. It isn't the most important piece in the box; almost anything can be a dealer chip, but it just feels a little lazy.

On to the main event. The Cards.

In Pandanté there are several types of cards.
We'll start with the colours.
 

 
These fill the role of suits in Pandante; in addition each colour has a power.
I love the colours. Big, big fan of the brightness. They are also plastic coated, very high quality. They need to be really. They are also really big; probably about 5 inches high. I don't think they need to be so big, but it does add some character to the game, so I'm actually quite fond of it.

Then there are the Panda lords.

 

There is a Panda lord for each colour.
Like the colour they match, Panda lords have additional powers.
They're again, very colourful, very simple and clear. Very pleasing overall.
 
Joker.

 I LOVE IT. 

 
There are also challenge cards.

 
As this is a game of lying/cheating/bluffing, players have the ability to 'challenge their opponents' bluff. These cards allow you to challenge your opponent, without revealing the whole card.
A simple, clear, rules based card.
Everything you need it to be. No complaints. 

Structure of Play cards.

Like all good card games (that aren't wholly based on 'in game card rules' like Munchkin, fluxx and so on) Pandante comes with a structure of play card; a quick reference sheet on how the game plays out. There is enough for each player to have their own. Perfect.


Kickstarter Backer only rewards. 

I love and hate backer only rewards.
They are awesome if you're a backer, but if you're late to the party you miss out on them, which is a great shame.
The cards here are mainly to be switched with cards already in the core game, so it doesn't matter too much.
The purple card however has its own abilities. As does the alternate Orange Panda Lord.

The cards look pretty damn good.


There you have it!
I'm really looking forward to playing this.
If I'm honest I wish I had backed the deluxe edition which comes with high quality clay chips. It would have been nice to have the whole set.
Alas, I will have to settle for standard poker chips.

I really like how colourful the game is, and how devilishly simple it seems.
My only reservation is with the game play. The main draw of poker is the gambling aspect; the tension between the ultimate high of wining and the low of losing.
It will be interesting to see how Pandanté handles this. I know there is a way to 'buy back' into the game, so that should ease this problem.

I feel if it can make the game fun and fresh without relying on the gambling side of the game it will have done very well.



That is all for this issue.
Have you played Pandaté? What did you think?
What other Kickstarter board/card/RP games have you backed/played?

If you want to get in touch the please feel free to comment of hit me up @DarKHaZZl3 on twitter.
I'd love to hear from you.

Thanks for reading. See you soon!

-DH-

32. 'Firefly: Pirates and Bounty Hunters,' unboxing. The Cardboard Catographer issue 7.

Welcome to issue seven of 'The Cardboard Cartographer,' here on 'The science of selling yourself short.'

In this issue we are going to be doing something a little different.
Yet another new feature.
Some foreshadowing;

Here at The Cardboard Cartographer we accept that any review needs to be based on real life experience of playing the game being reviewed.
Due to life happening most of the reviews posted here will feature games that are good few months old at least. Not only does this allow for games to be played alongside real life issues, but it also allows for more research to be done on the games and their accompanying material.

This issue throws those rules out of the window.
This issue features a product that is a couple of weeks old at best (at time of posting). It is new enough for a fair amount of people to have not even noticed it was out at all.
This is not a review.

This is the un-boxing of 'Firefly: Pirates and Bounty Hunters;' an expansion for the Firefly board game.

To have something this up to date is a fairly exciting prospect here for 'The Cardboard Cartographer,' and is certainly something we'll try to do more of in the future.

I digress!

Google Fu.

For those of you who have yet to encounter 'Firefly: the board game,' or indeed the television show it is based upon, I suggest you Google it.
Failing that you can read issue one of 'The Cardboard Cartographer.' It was our very first review!
Check it out - Firefly Review

Caught up? Good.
On to the contents.

This picture contains everything in the new expansion.
as you can see there are new ships, cards, tokens and missions.

Before we continue I would like to point out that there are some new rules. These will not be covered in this issue, but will be explained in a future issue where we review the expansion. So stay tuned!

In the mean time we'll get acquainted with the new stuff; starting with the new ships.

This ship is the SS Walden. The ship is the salvage vessel from the episode 'Out of gas.'
as you can see it has a huge amount of storage space, something which *spoiler* will be invaluable in some of the new missions!

The other new ship is the Interceptor.

This is the bounty hunter; Jubal Early's ship from the episode 'Objects in Space.'
This ship has minimal storage space, crew compartments and upgrade space.
The plus side? It re-roll failed boarding tests.
In addition it is super fast!
Almost the exact opposite of the SS Walden.

While we're on the subject of speed, it should be noted that both the new ships have unique drive cores.

The SS Walden has a small range, but does not suffer heavy load penalties (another new feature), while the interceptor is outrageously fast, and requires no fuel.

New ships mean new captains.
Meet Jubal Early and Sash.

Again, their card text features modifiers based on the new rules.
We'll have to wait and see how effective they prove to be

Speaking of new rules, pretty much everything from here on in concentrates heavily on them.

The new missions for example;

'Jailbreak,' 'The choices we make' and 'Another man's treasure,' are missions specifically for the expansion. 'Choices,' and 'Treasure' are PvP based. Nice.

There is extra loot to be had. Five new cards for each trading post

The biggest addition to these cards is the new class of crew; The Lawman.
A Lawman is an alliance operative. They work for free but will not participate in illegal activity.

Each contact also has five new cards.

These are mad up entirely of jobs that involve piracy and bounties.
Oh wait, what?

Yes, an entirely new card type called 'Bounty.'
While the specifics of this new card will not be known until we've played the game, it is safe to assume that you can obtain or abduct certain people and trade them in for cash.

I picked out a few that caught my eye.

I almost lost it at Two Fry's 'unlicensed haberdashery.'

Finally we come to the new tokens.

As well as some extra tokens for already existing items such as parts, fuel, warrants and so on, there are some new ones.
Seven to be exact.

These seven have numbers printed on one side; these are destinations, whilst the other side are Havens.

So there you have it!

First impression.This is the first 'first impression,' written at the time of my first impression.
I pretty much summed everything up in issue one. Pieces wise nothing has changed.

The tweaked game mechanics are where this will get really interesting. I love the concept of player verse player and I also live the new ships.
I am also curious to see how piracy, boarding, stand off's and bounty's work
I don't know about you guys, but I am looking forward to playing this expansion.
In issue one I stated that I thought the game could do with some player verses player interaction to lend some urgency to play, and here it might well be.


That is all for this issue.

If you have any questions about 'The Cardboard Cartographer', this or past issues, and/or anything else, feel free to drop me a line.
Also, if you fancy leaving some feedback you can do that too.

Comment bellow, or hit me up on Twitter @DarKHaZZl3 - Use the hash tag #TCC.
I'd love to hear from you, especially if you've managed to play Pirates and Bounty Hunters yet!

Thanks for reading

-DH-