 What is this game about?
Expedition: The Roleplaying Card Game is designed to be a very light, easy-access RPG that will have you and your friends adventuring within minutes. It can accommodate 1–6 players, so you can roll solo like I prefer to, or you can get a pretty big party going. The only physical components you need are cards and a d20. You'll also need a tablet with the free app on it (a phone is possible, but a tablet is preferable). Each player chooses a character card, most of which are standard. There are essentially four classes: ranged, melee, magic, and music. (I remain particularly fond, however, of the "alcoholic diplomat.") None of the cards have any art on them, and you track your own and enemy health by moving clips along the sides of the cards. This game is all powered by your imagination. The app essentially runs the entire game and will teach you relevant rules when you need to know them. Mechanically, the most unique aspect of Expedition is its combat system, which gives you a limited amount of time to select a combat ability and touch the screen. (This is why a tablet is better than a phone!) If timing stresses you out, this might bother you (I frequently ignore the timer by touching the screen and THEN selecting my actions). But if you want to keep the game moving at a nice clip, it works. But Expedition's uniqueness doesn't emerge from its mechanics. Its rules are as simple as it is humanly possible for RPG rules to be. Expedition's biggest claim to fame is its crowdsourcing of questlines. There are a few "official" quests that you can start with, but after that, you'll be searching through community-produced stories and selecting your next big adventure from material that other players have written. And yes, if you feel so inspired, you can write your own! How does it play solo? Expedition has several quests that are specifically suited to solo players. If you turn the timer off, there's no reason you can't go ahead and play cooperatively as well by controlling multiple heroes. Overall Thoughts Expedition is a game that I really want to love. I wanted to love it in 2017, and I still want to. But I don't. I do want to say that I think it's great that the game has such streamlined mechanics and that it is so accessible to essentially any group of players. I love that the creators have released both horror and sci-fi expansions to extend the kinds of enemies and adventures it is possible to have within the game. I even like the idea of crowdsourcing quest material. It's cool to have an enthusiastic community that writes an endless supply of quests for everyone to enjoy. I don't even care about the lack of art—who needs it when you have your imagination? (I do, however, recommend that you sleeve your Expedition cards, because the clips you use to track health will definitely wreck them.) In the end, though, Expedition just doesn't work for me. The rules are so simplified that you really cannot get much out of the game unless the story you're playing is fantastic and fully immersive. That's where I start to have trouble. The "official" quests are delightfully quirky—as well as well-written and well-paced. But there aren't many of those. Meanwhile, the user-submitted quests remain much more of a mixed bag, and I find it unwieldy to search for new material in the app, which adds an extra layer of difficulty. (This is especially true when looking for quests designed for low player counts, and it's even more difficult if you're a solo player wanting to test run a Bard.) Some of the quests are awesome, and clearly the flowering of a vibrant community. A lot of them are okay, but just okay. Typos abound, and a lot of the story writing isn't as snappy as it could be. Which makes sense—this is something that members of the community are doing just for fun. But combined with a blah combat system, and with very simplified branching quest mechanics that don't allow for much actual role play, stories don't get a lot of boost when trying to take flight. I respect and appreciate what Expedition is trying to do, but at the end of the day, it's still too much work to find the diamonds in the rough. Do I recommend it? If you want to try something different, or maybe write a quest yourself, you might enjoy Expedition. The app is free, the game is cheap (especially if you PnP it), and the barriers to access are low. But I just can't love it the way I want to. Overall Rating: 2.5 stars Rating Scale: 5 stars — I love it! 4 stars — I really like it. 3 stars — I like it. 2 stars — It's okay. 1 star — Meh.
0 Comments
 This week I want to draw your attention to a few solo-friendly Kickstarter campaigns that are ending soon! 1. Waste Knights This is the second printing of a game set in a dystopian future Australia. You can choose from multiple adventures that pit you against mutant creatures, let you drive crazy vehicles, and generally have some good, Ameritrashy fun. If you're into Mad Max, you're probably interested in the theme of this game. If it sounds good to you, check out the campaign ASAP—it ends in less than 48 hours.  2. The Pursuit of Happiness The Pursuit of Happiness is a worker placement game from Artipia Games, and it's about living a full and happy life. The clock is ticking—how many good experiences can you cram in before you run out of time? What will you prioritize when it comes to finding the ideal job or having a satisfying family life? This reprint also comes with expansions that allow you to include experiences like travel and finding connections with your community in the life you build. Not many games have such interesting and thought-provoking themes, so this one seems very much worth a look.  3. Blitzkrieg!
Blitzkrieg, from the Plastic Soldier Company, is a two-player game designed to let you experience "World War Two In 20 minutes." However, David Turczi has signed on to create a solo mode with about nine days left in the campaign. So now we solo players have to decide: Will our general distrust of stretch goal solo modes win out? Or will the pull of the talented David Turczi win us over? With a price point of roughly $26, this one may be worth a shot.  What is this game about? Heroes of Terrinoth is an adventure card game published by Fantasy Flight and designed by Adam and Brady Sadler. It is largely a reskin of their previous design, Warhammer Quest: The Adventure Card Game. In Heroes of Terrinoth, players will control adventurers who cooperate to defeat enemies and/or survive in a number of scenarios. Each scenario has its own little storyline and will play quite differently from any other one in the box. Players will have plenty of options when planning to take on a challenge. There are four different character classes, each with three different heroes to choose from. No matter what, though, each player has only four cards, each representing a different type of action. You'll do some attacking, for sure, but you also need to explore in-game locations, aid other players, and rest/heal. On a given turn, each hero may activate only one card—and that card is "exhausted" until the player does something to unexhaust it. This means that the heart of the game is choosing which actions to take at which times, ensuring that it's all done in the most advantageous order possible. Players' cards can receive upgrades throughout the game to make them more powerful, which can help fine tune the actions that are available. Even if you play the right card at the right time, however, success is not guaranteed. Actions are resolved by die rolls, and what's more, enemies that are engaged with you also roll dice to interfere with any action you take—not just attack actions! You can collect success tokens throughout the game that help you to overcome bad odds, but you'll have to budget them carefully and use them when it matters most. How does it play solo? Heroes of Terrinoth is a cooperative game, so a solo player just needs to choose two heroes and pilot both during the game. You could also play three or four heroes, if you are so inclined! It works very well this way, especially because the rules are so streamlined.  Choose your action! Overall Thoughts
If you are like me, and you like to wring the most you possibly can out of a hand of cards, then Heroes of Terrinoth is going to be fun for you. There are a lot of scenario options in the base box, and each offers a unique challenge. The introductory scenario, "The Goblin Problem," is easy and straightforward. But the more difficult ones are no joke. You will face tough combinations of enemies, but also strange turns of events—such as getting caught in a time loop with a greedy dragon, or rushing back and forth between locations to keep them under control during a siege. I was impressed with how far the Sadler brothers were able to push this game system, which is tight and streamlined. There is almost no more fat to trim in their design, to the point where you would think it would feel repetitive. In some ways, it does—you always work with the same four actions, and you have a limited set of upgrades to choose from. The first turns of each scenario can feel especially same-y. There are moments when your limited action set, even when upgraded and tweaked, feels a little constraining. But I like a good puzzle, and I found each quest to have a completely different feel to it, even though all of them used the same "ingredients." That level of variety also gets me excited about the possibility of expansions for this game, because I think this system has plenty of room to grow. As of this moment, there is no campaign play in Heroes of Terrinoth. I would be interested to see what it would feel like to have a character who grew from game to game by getting and keeping better cards. In fact, I would like to see more thrilling upgrades to characters in general, especially for the Aid and Rest actions. Whenever you get a chance to upgrade a card, you will almost never start with an upgrade to your rest action—"rest" turns are pretty unexciting. If there are expansions to this game, I would especially like to see some better variations on taking the rest action, in particular. While some gamers hate being at the mercy of a die roll, the use of dice in Heroes of Terrinoth worked for me. I, too, hate a bad roll that prevents me from carrying out my plans. But no die roll in Terrinoth is straight-up bad. At worst, you at least roll a shield, which protects you from a point of enemy damage during your activation. Also, carefully budgeting success tokens can help you overcome a bad roll when it really counts. Do I recommend it? If you want to carefully plan out and optimize card actions, I definitely recommend it. If you are looking for a big sprawling fantasy adventure, look elsewhere. I am personally enjoying this game quite a bit. I do, however, think that Heroes of Terrinoth will need expansions to reach its full potential. Overall Rating: 3.5 stars Rating Scale: 5 stars — I love it! 4 stars — I really like it. 3 stars — I like it. 2 stars — It's okay. 1 star — Meh.  Full Disclosure: Van Ryder Games sent me a review copy (not the final edition) of Mystery so that I could write this preview.
The Kickstarter campaign for Graphic Novel Adventures can be found here. What is Mystery? Mystery is a gamebook about making your way as a superhero on the rough streets of Chicago. It's also the "face" of a new series of Graphic Novel Adventures that are being translated and published in the United States by Van Ryder Games. (The French originals are published by Makaka Editions.) All of the gamebooks share one particular characteristic: They are like comic books that you navigate from panel to panel by finding numbers on doorways, on pathways, or hidden in the scenery. Then you travel to the panel with that number to continue the story. This one common thread has already led to a number of enjoyable experiences--GNA Series 1 included Captive, a story about looking for your kidnapped daughter, as well as Loup Garou, a light RPG and story about making your way in the world as a werewolf. We also got to solve mysteries with Sherlock Holmes, build our own towns (Your Town), and search for lost artifacts (Tears of a Goddess). I enjoyed every title in the first set of GNA games that Van Ryder has published... so is the second going to be a sure bet? I think so! What do I like about Mystery? Mystery is actually my favorite entry so far in the Graphic Novel Adventures series! It's quick, it's witty, it has some hilarious pop culture references, and perhaps best of all, it really has that point-and-click adventure feel. I thought Captive might have been the best the genre had to offer in that regard, but I was wrong. Mystery allows you to build up various superpowers (I personally loved putting points into "Super Rich"), grow in strength as a hero, and solve puzzles that emerge naturally from exploring the world of the book. Even more fun is that Mystery has little QR codes sprinkled throughout that you can scan with your smartphone. The information you find that way isn't required—you can fully enjoy the adventure without your phone—but I loved the flavor text and scanning it made me feel even more like a trainee superhero. The other books in the series won't be going back to the world of Mystery, but I'm very excited about them, too. Two of the other four new publications will be Sherlock Holmes investigations, and I got a real kick out of the first GNA Sherlock Holmes book. The other two are from a series called Pirates, and the theme alone has me sold. Possible Concerns about this Campaign I am really happy with what I've experienced while playing the Graphic Novel Adventures series so far, and based on the strength of Mystery, my expectations remain high. That said, if you hate investigative puzzles or having to take notes to keep track of where you are in a gamebook, be warned that you'll be doing a lot of that when you play these. Know thyself. Should I back it? If you like Choose Your Own Adventure books, or if you enjoyed the first series of Graphic Novel Adventures, then I'd say you should. This project is an instaback for me.  As usual, Kickstarter is here to tempt us solo gamers with an array of interesting games—and this week, more than one involves food! 1. Consumption: Food and Choices I've never seen a game quite like this. Consumption, which will be published by Kolossal, is a worker placement game about meeting your body's nutritional needs, and it is designed by a dietitian. It is played across six rounds, and the winner will be the player with the most Victory Points. VP are earned by shopping wisely, making healthy recipes, and staying active—all things that would contribute to a person's overall health. I am not going to lie, I am not particularly attracted to this theme. But I am all about games that push new ideas and themes, so I hope to see Consumption do well!  2. Chocolate Factory Another Euro about food—but this one is an engine-builder that is all about delicious, delicious chocolate! In Chocolate Factory, you'll go for powerful combinations of factory parts to upgrade humble cacao beans into the most exciting chocolates possible. You'll also be going for skilled employees to help sell your concoctions and build up your chocolate empire. The components look great, and the game advertises an "actual physical conveyor belt" for processing your chocolates. It seems like Chocolate Factory adds good tactile fun to its engine building mechanics.  3. Coloma
Let's just keep the Euro theme rolling for this post and cover Coloma, which is an engine builder set during the Gold Rush of 1848. In addition to engine building, the game incorporates action selection and resource management. You will be playing a pioneer who is seeking a fortune in the Wild West, and you can choose to do that by prospecting for gold, building up the town, hiring workers, and more. As a solo player, my main interest in this game is the fact that David Turczi designed the solo mode for it. Given his track record so far (Anachrony, Teotihuacan, Dice Settlers...), anything he does for solo is worth notice.  What is this game about?
Crypt is a game about reclaiming family heirlooms—treasures that your deceased father promised to leave to you, but took to the grave instead. You (and, in the mulitplayer game, your siblings) are all robbing his tomb and trying to profit the most handsomely from doing so. The game is mechanically very simple. All you need are three dice for each player, and a deck of treasure cards. There are also "collectors" who can offer you rewards for collecting multiple treasures of the same type. Each round, you flip treasure cards. Then use your dice, which represent servants, to attempt to claim them. (Highest pip value wins.) What makes the game interesting is that rather than roll your servant dice to determine their value, you get to set that value yourself. Just how badly do you want that treasure? There is, of course, a catch—dice with high values have a much higher chance of becoming "exhausted" for future turns, meaning that you'll eventually need to use a turn to recover them and get them back into play. Although you do not throw the dice to set their value, you do roll them to determine exhaustion. If a die rolls lower than the value you initially set to claim a treasure, it's exhausted. Once the treasure deck is exhausted, the player with the most coins wins. How does it play solo? Crypt comes with a solo variant called "Only Child," in which you are racing your father's ghost to steal as much treasure as you can before he runs you out of the tomb. You compete against a simulated AI player that works very simply: Just roll three dice and assign them. The rules specify how they should be placed based on the value of the available treasures and the dice you've already played. Overall Thoughts I backed Crypt on Kickstarter because the price was incredibly low and I'm always in the market for a small-box game. Crypt is definitely the sort of game you could easily slip into a backpack or purse and carry around with you. Unfortunately, I'm not entirely convinced you would want to. That is not to say that Crypt is a broken game, or even necessarily a bad one. The game works. Its premise is charming, as is the art for some of the character cards. But at the end of the day, Crypt is utterly forgettable. The solo variant doesn't put all that much pressure on you as a player, and it never felt tense or challenging. The decisions are not dramatic or interesting enough to make this game more than a time filler. There are a lot of interesting small-box solo experiences out there, and I just don't believe that Crypt can compete. Do I recommend it? Not really. The game isn't terrible or anything, and the price point is great. But if you want a small box solo experience, I think you can do better. Overall rating: 2.5 stars Rating scale: 5 stars — I love it! 4 stars — I really like it. 3 stars — I like it. 2 stars — It's okay. 1 star — Meh.  It's almost March already, and Kickstarter has several interesting projects running right now. Let's round a few of them up! 1. Xerxes From the publishers who brought you Argonauts comes Xerxes, in which you are playing a satrap trying to earn the most favor from the Persian king, Xerxes. It's a race for victory points, which you'll earn through effective resource management. Can you generate resources, build, and tax to be the first one to 25 points? The game includes solo tiles that allow you to pit yourself against an AI player, and you can adjust the level of difficulty for an easier or more challenging game. There are only a couple of days left in this campaign, so look fast!  2. Terror Below Renegade Games is giving off a sci-fi/Western vibe with Terror Below, a game set in an alternate-universe Nevada desert that is infested with giant killer worms. Mostly it looks like a pick up and delivery game in which you transport worm eggs in exchange for bounties. But you can also acquire weapons and go hunting for the beasts. Like Xerxes above, this game is a race for victory points—first one to 20 wins.  3. Tiny Epic Tactics This one is definitely tempting me. Tiny Epic Tactics looks a lot like Final Fantasy Tactics, which is a great thing in my book. Up to four players can battle it out for dominance over a 3-D map... or you can play a solo/cooperative game that involves exploring the terrain and defeating AI opponents. I really like that the game includes heroes with different powers, movements, and attack types. Plus, the price is right at $25 for the base game. (More if you want some expansions.) Although there is a solo playthrough up now, I am still interested in seeing some polished solo rules for this one before I commit.  What is this game about? Mr. Cabbagehead's Garden, designed by Todd Sanders, is a game about growing the perfect vegetable garden. Success will net you both a blue ribbon and the heart of the lovely Eudora Brassica! What makes this premise especially interesting is that you do not only grow vegetables—you are one. And so are the irritating neighbors who sneak into your garden and steal from it every time you go on holiday! The most striking aspect of the game is its art, which was inspired by the images on vintage seed packets. Mechanically, Mr. Cabbagehead's Garden is simple. Each turn, you draft one of three vegetable cards and place it in your garden. At the end of the game, you will score based on the point values of your vegetables. You'll also get bonuses for managing to get your vegetables into specific arrangements. But there are a few touches of added complexity that make your choices more interesting. The vegetables you choose may require you to pay bees or receive bees from your beehive, adding a bit of economic balance to the proceedings. Also, the cards you leave behind will help to determine how many neighbor tokens you overturn. This is important because the neighbor with the most tokens when you go on holiday is the one who will come and steal from your garden (and each neighbor has individualized theft priorities). However, if the neighbors all tie for tokens, they get wrapped up in conversation with each other—and then leave your precious vegetables alone! How does it play solo? This game is technically for 1–2 players, but it's really a solo game and is best that way.  Two words: Tedious Neighbors. Overall Thoughts
Mr. Cabbagehead's Garden is a very good light game. It's all about beating your own score, and sometimes you won't draw the right cards to score high. But there are score ranges to help you gauge how well you did, and since it is such a short game (10–15 min.), a bad score isn't a problem. Just shuffle up those veggie cards and play again! Trying to arrange your garden just so, only to have your plans foiled by an obnoxious neighbor, is a good blend of fun and frustrating. I have played Mr. Cabbagehead's Garden a lot and consistently had a good time. Mechanically, I might not call Mr. Cabbagehead's Garden thematic. It doesn't feel like planting vegetables, although it's fun to try to arrange the cards well. And yet the theme is delightful. It's the flavor text of this game that really sells it. The way the rulebook is written really gets you into Mr. Cabbagehead's quiet, pastoral life—a life that is filled with decorous love and genteel rage. The rulebook describes "The Neighbour Phase, when it is determined which of Mr. Cabbagehead’s Tedious Neighbours interferes with his quest for perfection." The neighbors have names like "Lord Carrotbody," and one of them, Horace Savoy-Brassica, "is jealous of Mr. Cabbagehead and his award-winning garden (not to mention annoyed at Mr. Cabbagehead’s romancing of his half-sister Eudora, President of the Garden Club)." Text like that, combined with the quirky seed packet art, adds so much charm to a game that might have been just a mathematical exercise. Do I recommend it? Yes. If you're looking for a quick, light game with a quirky theme, Mr. Cabbagehead's Garden is a great choice. Overall Rating: 4 stars Rating scale: 5 stars — I love it! 4 stars — I really like it. 3 stars — I like it. 2 stars — It's okay. 1 star — Meh.  Full disclosure: DVG sent me a review copy of Pavlov's House. What is this game about? Pavlov's House is a game of survival under brutal circumstances during the Battle of Stalingrad. The real Pavlov's House was a strategically-located apartment building that Russian soldiers—including the eponymous Pavlov—held for nearly two months against a relentless Nazi onslaught. In the game, you win by surviving all the way to the end of the German assault deck. But you can lose in a number of ways. You can be straight-up destroyed by German tanks, Nazi soldiers can reach Pavlov's House, you can lose all of your support from the army outside, or you can fail to feed your men and thus cause the death by starvation of all who live inside the apartment building. And even if you win, there is a pretty brutal victory point calculation to help you decide how well you won. Typically, you won't get a big win... if you win at all. Mechanically, Pavlov's House is very interesting. The game comes with a tripartite board, representing different levels of the conflict as the battle progresses. As the player, you'll control both the left and right sides of the board—Pavlov's House itself, and the Soviet 62nd Army outside that is trying to support it. The area in the middle of the board represents Nazi encroachment, and it's where you add enemy soldiers and tanks. As the Soviet 62nd Army, you'll be drawing cards and choosing how best to support Pavlov's House. You can work on gathering supplies, recruiting more soldiers, installing anti-aircraft guns, and more. Within Pavlov's House, you'll be using limited movements and activations to arrange soldiers inside the house and fight back the approaching Germans. When you get better at the basic game (haha good luck), you can add in tactics cards to make the Nazis more brutal, as well as operational support cards to give yourself extra challenges as the Russian army.  The three-part game board, from the PnP files on BGG. How does it play solo?
Technically, you could play Pavlov's House with one, two, or three players. But it's definitely strongest with one—the AI is sufficiently brutal but also sufficiently low-upkeep, while controlling both Russian sides of the board gives you the correct amount of "things to do" for a satisfying gameplay experience. Overall Thoughts Pavlov's House is excellent. There are so many tense decisions to make, and you'll always be left wondering if you've made the right ones. What forms of outside support will you prioritize? Will you focus on getting food into Pavlov's House? Will you bulk up your communication channels to try to get extra actions on the next turn? Will you put all of your energy into anti-aircraft tokens? (I highly recommend heavy investment in anti-aircraft tokens.) And within Pavlov's House itself, you have to decide how you'll use limited movements and activations. Which enemies will you try to take out? What weapons will you use? Will you bring in additional soldiers, even without the guarantee that you can feed them all? Meanwhile, the Nazi approach is relentless. Stukas will blow up all of your outside support spaces (especially the ones you had especially big plans for), while tanks, riflemen, and scouts will creep up on all sides of your building and work to lower its defenses. When I play this game, I really do feel like I'm trapped in an apartment building and fighting for my life. While Pavlov's House is a thrilling and intense gaming experience, you should be aware that you may not enjoy it much if you hate having your fate decided by die rolls. You will roll dice constantly, both to represent Nazi attacks on your own forces and to determine whether your attempts to suppress German encroachment have been successful. Get ready to plan a strong defense and spend all of your anti-aircraft tokens, only to roll low and get bombed anyway. For me this generally just adds to the drama of the proceedings, but if that doesn't sound like your thing, think twice about this one. You'll also get the occasional draggy turn where you draw no interesting cards for the 62nd Army and/or have to spend your turn in Pavlov's House refreshing everyone rather than making progress. But for me, Pavlov's House is a current favorite that I expect will still be hitting my table a year from now and beyond. The gameplay is simple but tense, and it's riveting to watch the story of each game unfold. I backed the next game in this series, Castle Itter, on the strength of Pavlov's House, and I am excited about that one, too. Do I recommend it? Unless you are allergic to dice, I absolutely recommend Pavlov's House. It's brutal, historical, and engrossing. I am so glad I have a copy of this game. Overall Rating: 4.5 stars Rating scale: 5 stars — I love it! 4 stars — I really like it. 3 stars — I like it. 2 stars — It's okay. 1 star — Meh.  Full disclosure: Weird Giraffe Games sent me a prototype copy of Big Easy Busking so that I could write this preview. The KS campaign page for this game can be found here. What is Big Easy Busking about? Big Easy Busking is an area control game about street musicians in New Orleans who are playing their hearts out and competing for the affection (and tip money!) of the crowds at various locations. When you play for a crowd, you give them some of your energy. Leave just enough, and you'll meet a threshold and get some tip money. But if you leave the most energy on a card, you totally win the crowd and get a bonus payment! The winner of the game will be the player whose band has earned the most money after three rounds. Big Easy Busking is tougher than it appears. The theme is fun and colorful, and your turns will be deceptively quick and easy. But it's harder to make the right decision than it sounds! Your musicians begin the night with a limited amount of energy, and there is only so much you can do to get more. It costs energy to play songs, as well as to learn new ones. Which crowds will you fight for? If you focus on only a couple, you might lose too much potential profit by ignoring the others. If you spread yourself too thin, you could get some money, but not as much as a player who wins the favor of multiple crowds. It's possible to get some energy back if your song matches the mood of the crowd you're playing for, but if you give the crowd all of your energy, you get more money. You might choose to tip your musicians to give them an extra burst of enthusiasm, but that means spending money you might need to win the game. Big Easy Busking is all about those small-but-consequential decisions that will see you either win the night or slink home in defeat! How does it play solo? As is the norm with games published by Carla Kopp, Big Easy Busking has an excellent solo bot. In fact, it has three of them, each with a different play style! Each bot presents a serious challenge. Like a slick hologram competing with living, breathing people, your bot opponent will never have to tip its band members and will never run out of energy. It will push you hard to budget your resources well and to play with greater efficiency than you would need to against human players. Of course, this is what I love about Carla Kopp's bots—they are vicious opponents. You can adjust the difficulty level, but trust me, medium will be fine to start! Also true to form is the bots' lightning-fast upkeep, meaning that the AI turns go by very quickly and leave you to ponder your next move. I have played and filmed previews for several Weird Giraffe titles at this point, as well as for Animal Kingdoms from Galactic Raptor. Carla's solo bots have yet to disappoint me, and are a great experience for solo players who want a challenge. If you want a quick solo game that you can also easily teach your family or game group, a game from Weird Giraffe is always a solid bet. Things I like about Big Easy Busking Big Easy Busking is an excellent light game—it's fun and easy to learn, but it's challenging enough to warrant more than just a couple of plays. The solo bots are tough, which means it will be a while before I feel I've fully mastered the gameplay. This is a major plus for me, and as a solo player, I'm delighted by the variety and challenge of the bot opponents. Big Easy Busking's gameplay also fits the theme well. Musicians have a tough job and limited energy, and it's tough to satisfy a demanding crowd! Possible Concerns about Big Easy Busking If you're into zero-luck or heavier games, then Big Easy Busking may not be a good fit for you. In my battles against the bot, I have gotten some lucky (or very unlucky!) card draws, and you never know what mood the crowds will be in or what songs might be most useful for a future round. Also, if you don't spend resources well, there may also be a few rounds where you run out of energy early and have to pass. Should I back it? I intend to! I think this game will be excellent to play both alone and with others. Also, as is customary with Weird Giraffe Games, the game will be affordable and fairly priced at $25 + shipping! Playthrough: |
AuthorMy name is Liz Davidson, and I play solo board games. A lot of solo board games... Archives
April 2019
Categories
All
|
RSS Feed