vaibhavhospital

Katarenga

2018-01-18T11:13:11-05:00

Vendor: HUCH!
Type: Board Games
Price: 37.95

Designer	David Parlett
Publisher	HUCH!
Players	2
Playtime	20 mins
Suggested Age	8 and up

Description from the publisher:

The objective in Katarenga is to get two of your figures past the opposing baseline. That may sound easy — but your opponent is flexible and dangerous. The abilities of the playing figures change from one move to the next. Only if you realize the advantages of the division of four possible actions, make clever use of the different strengths, and plan ahead can you outsmart your opponent through tactical play and thus win the game.

Description from the designer:

Katarenga is a two-player abstract consisting of a variable board, 16 pawns, and rules of movement derived from Chess. Each pawn’s move is governed by the colour of the square it moves away from (red = rook, yellow = bishop, green = knight, blue = king). For each game the board is constructed from four double-sided quarterboards, each of which can be placed either way up and any way round, yielding a total of over 24,000 different 8x8 boards. In the basic game your aim is to get two of your pawns to the opposite side without being captured. The same equipment can be used for playing a variety of other games with the same rules of movement and capture. Can you invent more?

Chicken out!

2017-06-23T13:08:09-04:00

Vendor: Piatnik
Type: Board Games
Price: 12.95

Designer	David Parlett
Publisher	Piatnik
Players	2-5
Playtime	30 mins
Suggested Age	7 and up
Additional Info	219374/chicken-out http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/219374/chicken-out/forums/63

Chickens and foxes are at play in Chicken out!, with players taking turns revealing cards from their decks, adding (or subtracting) values to a generally escalating sum, and hoping not to exceed 21 because then the active player has to take all the revealed cards. Players can choose to chicken out and not risk failure, but sometimes you'll need to take a chance to win.

Four kinds of foxes lie in wait among the cards, and they can mix up the revealed sum, counting as the last number played, escalating the sum to 20, or resetting the sum to zero to start the tension rising all over again. Play out all your cards to win!

Hase und Igel (aka Hare and Tortoise) (German Import)

2016-09-17T16:59:00-04:00

Vendor: Ravensburger
Type: Board Games
Price: 42.95

Designer	David Parlett
Publisher	Ravensburger Spieleverlag GmbH
Players	2-6
Playtime	45 mins
Suggested Age	8 and up
Honors	1979 Spiel des Jahres Winner
Additional Info	361/hare-tortoise http://boardgamegeek.com/forum/6452/hare-tortoise/reviews

Note: This game is in German. The game itself is language independent. English rules can be found here.

As the first winner of the Spiel des Jahres award in 1979, Hare and Tortoise or the German Hase und Igel (for Hare and Hedgehog) will always be regarded as a classic game. It is a cunningly designed race to the finish in which your fuel (carrots) must practically run out (all but 10 carrots or fewer) at the moment you hit the finish line. You also have three lettuce cards you must spend during the course of the race. The farther you move, the more carrots you spend, and there are a variety of ways to gain or lose carrots as you go around the track. It's a very clever exercise in arithmetic which David Parlett has fashioned into an entertaining and unique perennial favorite.

There have several variations between the multiple prints of Hare & Tortoise by different publishers. Most variations come from methods of adding randomness that favor lagging player via cards, dice, or dice charts when landing on a Hare square.

Parlett Strategic Variant--The designer's preferred way of playing the Hare square is that "... you can land on them [Hare square], but must miss a turn. This would be the equivalent of the hare taking a nap, as in Aesop's fable. This is the rule I most favour and would prefer it to simply not landing on them at all..."

Around the World in 80 Days

2016-08-26T08:23:00-04:00

Vendor: IELLO
Type: Board Games
Price: 37.95

Designer	David Parlett
Publisher	IELLO
Players	2-6
Playtime	45-60 mins
Suggested Age	10 and up
Honors	2017 Mensa Select Winner
Additional Info	204599/around-world-80-days https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/204599/around-world-80-days/forums/63

October 2, 1872, Phileas Fogg is asserting that it’s possible to go around the world in 80 days. The gentlemen of the Reform Club have made a bet on his failure, since they don’t believe this eccentric dandy could ever succeed! However, the most troubling part of this story is the strange coincidence between the rash departure of Phileas Fogg, accompanied by his loyal valet Passepartout, and the theft of 50,000 pounds from the Bank of England!

The first lady or gentleman to return to London wins the game. However, since you left the British capital suspected of stealing from Her Majesty’s bank, you will have to return to London without any Rumor cards and 10£ or less in your pocket (or rather, in your hand) in order to prove your innocence in the eyes of the world! Players will quickly discover that moving too fast drains their wallet just as fast. To win, you will have to alternate between cautious and ambitious advances, waiting for the right moment to return to the city!

Around the World in 80 Days is a beautiful and modern reimplementation of the first ever Spiel des Jahres winner (the most prestigious Game of the Year award in 1979), thematically revisited around the timeless and beloved novel of the same name by Jules Verne.

The Gnumies

2016-08-03T05:05:00-04:00

Vendor: Rio Grande Games
Type: Board Games
Price: 12.95

Designer	David Parlett
Publisher	Rio Grande Games
Players	2-5
Playtime	20 mins
Suggested Age	8 and up
Additional Info	2738/gnumies https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/2738/gnumies/forums/63

OVERVIEW:

The Gnumies & their friends from the planet Gnum love big Parties! They like to see Borsis, Dancemites, Boggelors or Divalettis as guests at their parties. But no one wants the dreaded Wullawakis at his party. The Gnummies & their friends are shown on the Gnumies card, & the guests on the party cards. There are 4 of each party card valued from 1 to 10, & one of each party card valued from 11 to 15. The players try to win the most party cards, worth the most points, by playing their Gnumie cards. If a player has 2 or more party cards of the same value, their value multiplies, (2 of kind gets you 20 points, 3 of a kind 50 points and 4 of a kind 100 points). These of course can only be done with the cards that are valued from 1 to 10. A player who wins a Wullawaki, loses points. Having 1 Wullawaki will force you to lose the lowest valued party card that you have. Having 2 Wullawakis will force you to lose the highest valued party card in his party room. With 3 or more Wullawakis, the player will discard as many party cards as he has Wullawakis, (players choice in this case). Of course, the player with the most points at the end of the game is the WINNER!!!

GAME PLAY:

1) Any player turns over the top-most card in the party supply stack.
2) Now each player selects a Gnumie card from his hand (Cards have a value from 10 to 100), and places it face-down in front of him (in his Party Room!). When all players have placed their bids face-down on the table, all players then reveal their bids.
3) The player who played the highest valued bid in his party room wins the face-up party card.
4) If 2 or more players tie with the highest bid, the player who has the the most Luckynits (small figures at the bottom of each Gnumie card), wins the party card.
5) The player who wins the party card must discard the Gnumie card that he won with that bid.
6) The other players take back their losing bid party cards. The round is now over and we repeat with Step 1 again.

7) There is a little twist in the bidding when the Wullawaki card (bad card) comes out. The player with the highest Gnumie card still wins the Wullawaki card, but gets to take back his Gnumie card into his hand and the other players lose their Gnumie cards!

8) The is also a "WILD CARD" in this game. It is called the "COPICASTOR". It is a card used to make at least a pair of party cards. The Copicastor takes on the form of the lowest valued party card that the player has in his party room. This insures that a player will have at least a pair of cards and also make the low valued cards somewhat valuable to have, since some people may avoid making a high bid on a low value card. But, if you get this Copicastor it makes that low valued card at least worth 20 points (for a pair).

9) The game ends when 1 player is left with his Gnumie cards. Since, he can't bid against anybody else, he takes the top most party cards as he has Gnumie cards in his hand.

10) Scoring is based on attaining pairs, three-of-a-kind & 4-of-a-kind of the numbered party cards that the players bid on (check the Overview paragraph above). If no pairs are attained, the value of that card is scored. So, if you have two 5-point cards, you score 20 Points for having a pair. But, if you have only one 5-point card you score 5 points!

10) The player with the most points at the end of the game wins!!!

Ages 8 and up
Re-implements:

Asterix: Das Kartenspiel

Römisch Pokern (German Import)

2016-06-06T02:27:00-04:00

Vendor: AMIGO
Type: Board Games
Price: 19.95

Designer	Johannes Krenner, David Parlett
Publisher	AMIGO Spiel + Freizeit GmbH
Players	2-6
Playtime	30 mins
Suggested Age	10 and up
Additional Info	181956/romisch-pokern https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/181956/romisch-pokern/forums/63

Note: This game is in German. English rules be be found here.

Roll dice as in Ancient Rome, trying to form the highest possible Roman numerals from your results. But don't be too quick to roll for the highest value because "Alea iacta est"; the dice might no longer form a valid Roman numeral. What's more, the results you roll must be placed in ascending order on the scoresheet.

In Römisch Pokern, each player gets six action cards. On your turn, you first roll a die. After each roll, you must decide whether to stop or to continue by rolling an additional die. You may continue to roll as long as your results can still form a Roman numeral. If you end your turn with a valid number, this number is noted in your column of the scoresheet. You can decide in which of the seven rows the number gets written. The only restrictions are that the numbers must be in ascending order from top to bottom, and you cannot repeat a number.

If you rolled an invalid number, or the number is already in your column of the scoresheet, your turn ends. All is not lost, though! You can still use your action cards to turn a bad roll into a good one; however, you must make this choice carefully because each action card still unused at the end of the game provides bonus points! The game ends when someone has seven numbers in their column of the scoresheet, and the player with the most points wins.

Hare & Tortoise (Rio Grande Games Edition)

2013-12-27T17:35:00-05:00

Vendor: Rio Grande Games
Type: Board Games
Price: 27.95

Designer	David Parlett
Publisher	Rio Grande Games
Players	2-6
Playtime	45 mins
Suggested Age	8 and up
Honors	1979 Spiel des Jahres Winner
Additional Info	361/hare-tortoise http://boardgamegeek.com/forum/6452/hare-tortoise/reviews

As the first winner of the Spiel des Jahres award in 1979, Hare and Tortoise or the German Hase und Igel (for Hare and Hedgehog) will always be regarded as a classic game. It is a cunningly designed race to the finish in which your fuel (carrots) must practically run out (all but 10 carrots or fewer) at the moment you hit the finish line. You also have three lettuce cards you must spend during the course of the race. The farther you move, the more carrots you spend, and there are a variety of ways to gain or lose carrots as you go around the track. It's a very clever exercise in arithmetic which David Parlett has fashioned into an entertaining and unique perennial favorite.

There have several variations between the multiple prints of Hare & Tortoise by different publishers. Most variations come from methods of adding randomness that favor lagging player via cards, dice, or dice charts when landing on a Hare square.

Parlett Strategic Variant--The designer's preferred way of playing the Hare square is that "... you can land on them [Hare square], but must miss a turn. This would be the equivalent of the hare taking a nap, as in Aesop's fable. This is the rule I most favour and would prefer it to simply not landing on them at all..."