Warning: Choking Hazard. Small Parts. Not for children under 3 yrs.
At a meeting of our store managers, we discovered that all 7 of us had purchased a copy of Settlers of Catan for his personal collection. I'm not aware of any other game to hold this distinction. The games came to us a few years ago from Germany bearing the German Game of the Year award. It has since been recognized by Games Magazine.
Each player guides a group of settlers toward prosperity on the rich but undeveloped island of Catan. The game begins with laying out the 37 hexagonal pieces of the board. This produces a different game board each time the game is played. By cleverly building and trading resources, each tries to dominate the island. Building roads, settlements and cities (represented by little wood counters) depends upon the resources you collect. What resources you collect depends upon where you have chosen to build and upon the roll of the dice. This combination of strategy and luck is extremely addictive.
A very fun and surprisingly addictive game. Recently, a few of us were waiting for some other players to show up for the game we had planned that night and we said, "Lets play a game of Settlers while we wait!" That game turned into 2 games before they showed up. We were all very happy that they took so long. ;-) The game comes with four sets of wood counters and can be upgraded to 5 or 6 players with the expansion set. This set, of course, consists of 2 more sets of wood pieces, so the price is a little higher than most expansion sets. . . but oh, so worth it!
Quarto has been among the best selling two-player games in our stores for the past several years. This is another game which is nice to touch and see. The rules are quickly taught. One of our staffers is so good at this game, we've occasionally offered a prize to the customer who can beat him in front of witnesses -- a safe offer.
The twist to the game is that your opponent gets to pick the piece that you must place during your turn, and vice versa! The winner is the one to place the fourth-in-a-row with any one feature in common. Each piece is a wooden block which is either cylindrical or square; tall or short; light or dark; and hollow or solid. A "Quarto" is four-in-a-row with any one of these qualities in common, e.g. all cylindrical or all hollow or all dark. Don't overlook height! You can win with four short pieces in a row, regardless of color, shape, or solidity.
Despite the longish description here, Quarto is actually quite simple to learn, very interesting to play, and nice to see and touch.
Players of Carcassonne take turns drawing and laying down tiles to create a landscape made of roads, fields, walled cities, and monasteries. When a player puts a piece into the landscape, he make occupy one of its features, such as the road, city, or farm. As his road or farm expands with the addition of new tiles, it becomes more valuable... unless joined to an opponent's feature. The player with the most points once all the tiles have been played is the winner.
On your turn you draw a tile and place it next to one of the tiles already on the table. You decide where to play, but you must match the features on your tile to ones already played. You may then place one of your men on one of the features of the tile you have just laid. Put him in a city and he becomes a knight; in a monastery and he becomes a monk; on a road a thief; and in a field a farmer. The goal is to build long roads, high-scoring cities, monasteries without running out of the men that you need. There is an element of luck as you may or may not draw the tile that furthers your plans, but plenty of skill in deciding how to deploy your tiles and men.
While the box is not preposessing, the game in progress is quite appealing. Winner of several awards and big favorite with Game Preserve Staff, Carcassonne is heartily recommended.
Ticket to Ride is a cross-country train adventure game. Players collect train cards that enable them to claim railway routes connecting cities throughout North America. The longer the routes, the more points they earn. Additional points come to those who can fulfill their Destination Tickets by connecting two distant cities, and to the player who builds the longest continuous railway. So climb aboard for some railroading fun and adventure.
Contents: Map board, 240 train cars, 110 train car cards, 30 destination cards, summary card, 5 wooden scoring markers, instructions.
Designed by Alan R. Moon, Ticket to Ride is the winner of the prestigious German Game of the Year award for 2004.
