Spiel: Boardgaming in the UK

Jan and I played Qwirkle for the first time last night and I’m not sure whether I like it or not. Sort of like Scrabble but with colours and shapes instead of words, you basically add tiles to a grid by matching colour and or shape, scoring points according to how many pieces you connect to in a line. This is not a game Nige is likely to enjoy as the spatial awareness and pattern / colour-recognition element is high. However, it seems to be a case of optimising your score on each turn with the tiles you have, while not setting up your opponent for a potential big-score. There doesn’t appear to be much opportunity to set yourself up for future turns (especially if playing more than two-player) and it seems to be a case of hoping to draw good combinations of tiles at the right time.

That said, it is easy to play and our game came down to the very last tile to determine a winner. Also, Jan likes Scrabble so this is one she’d be more likely to play again. Hopefully, we’ll try it again soon.

Although this was technically released in the UK at the end of September, Shaun Derrick will be at Essen exhibiting this together with the base game and the three earlier expansions.

Expansion set 4 covers the 1974, 1978, 1982 and 1994 World Cup Finals. Further information is available at the Games For The World website.

Messing around over the weekend, I found myself making a few tweaks to the look of my Trickylight site, including ditching my “Phoney Bone” logo for something new. If anyone spots any glitches with the way the site now works, having implemented these changes, please let me know in the comments section below. The new-look site is here.

The third JKLM release at Essen this year is the delayed Huang Di, designed by Bryan Johnson. It was originally scheduled to appear at this year’s UK Games Expo but got held up due to production issues.

In Huang Di, you play one of 2-6 master builders chosen by the Emperor to help construct the Great Wall of China. Your goal is to become the most distinguished master builder in China with the help of your taskmasters, workers and the Emperor himself.

Further details about the game, including information about pre-order discounts, are on the JKLM website.

John Yianni is the designer of two excellent, beautifully produced abstract games: Hive and Army of Frogs. At this year’s Essen, he releases a new game: Logan Stones, which is base around the familiar rock paper scissors mechanic with a Connect Four objective.

Further details about the game can be found on the Gen Four Two website.

The second game to be released by JKLM Games at Essen is Tulipmania 1637, designed by everyone’s favourite video-blogger, Scott Nicholson.

In Tulipmania, you are playing a wily investor who has a network of buyers and colleagues, all of whom are also trying to become wealthy. Your goal is to make smart investments, artificially raise prices, fleece your network at the best time, and then make your escape from Tulipmania with the most money. Eric Martin from Boardgamenews has compared the game to Reiner Knizia’s Modern Art, which definitely suggests it’s worth a look.

Further information is available on the JKLM website, including details of a pre-order discount.

JKLM Games have three games debuting at Essen 2008. The first is Ascendancy , designed by Nigel Buckle. Ascendancy is a game of galactic empire building for 2 to 4 players that can be played as a short game (6 rounds) in one hour or a long game (9 rounds) in two hours.

Further details about the game, including a pre-order option with 20% discount, can be found on the JKLM website.

Martin Wallace is releasing an extra game in the Treefrog line at Essen this year. This will be the third Treefrog game and is called Steel Driver. It is a railway game for three to six players and takes around 60 to 90 minutes to play.

Further details including the opportunity to pre-order are on the Warfrog website.

The next session of the Shrewsbury Boardgames Club will be on Friday 3rd October 2008 and will be at Garry’s house.

Peter Burley is the designer of one of my favourite multi-player puzzle games: Take It Easy. He has a new pure abstract game coming out at Essen this year called Kamisado. The game looks very attractive and colourful and, on reading the rules, it appears quite deep and chess-like in that it rewards the ability to look forward several moves.

The game is published by Burley Games and further details can be found on the Kamisado website.