vaibhavhospital

Oktoberfest

2017-04-15T10:46:19-04:00

Vendor: Rio Grande Games
Type: Board Games
Price: 39.95

Designer	Joshua Gerald Balvin
Publisher	Rio Grande Games
Players	3-5
Playtime	90 mins
Suggested Age	14 and up
Additional Info	40198/oktoberfest http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/40198/oktoberfest/forums/63

Welcome, brewmasters, to the world renowned Bavarian festival known as Oktoberfest! The 1810 wedding celebration of Crown Prince Ludwig I and Princess Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen swiftly became an annual tradition known as Oktoberfest. Each year the scope of the festival expanded, and by the late 1800s sponsored beer halls and competing breweries were in full operation.

Oktoberfest is a card-driven game loosely based on the folk festival which began as a public celebration of a royal wedding. Based during the festival in the late 1800s, players vie for control of each of six types of beer, even though many of those beer styles are barely available in Bavaria and completely unrelated to Oktoberfest. As patrons arrive at the festival, players bid to decide where they go and how much they drink. By placing cards in the various tents, players can purchase barrels of beer based on the type and number of patrons on the card. The player who gets rid of the most barrels of each gains points for that type of beer at the end of the game.

The problem? The game ends before all twelve tents can be completed, and only closed tents count for points. Whichever beer type is the last in the tent before it closes claims all points for that tent, and the players with the most barrels of each type acquire points.

But watch out for the evacuation card that comes out randomly and wipes out entire tents. Collect the right types of barrels, close tents with the corresponding beer cards on top, and victory could be yours!

Salem

2016-07-27T07:54:00-04:00

Vendor: Passport Game Studios
Type: Board Games
Price: 39.95

Designer	Joshua Gerald Balvin
Publisher	Passport Game Studios
Players	3-7
Playtime	90 mins
Suggested Age	12 and up
Additional Info	35395/salem https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/35395/salem/forums/63

The year is 1692. In an atmosphere of pessimism and charged paranoia, the citizens of Salem are at the mercy of demons – not demons of the soul, but demons of the mind. What began as a devout Puritan community devolved in a matter of months into a people torn apart by fear, lies, and fanatical orthodoxy. The residents of Salem quickly discovered that they could find Hell all around them.

Salem incites the atmosphere of paranoia that held the village of Salem captive. Players act with the assumption that there are witches among them (and, in this case, there will be). Each player controls six residents of Salem, three of whom are witches. Game play is simple: try to rid the village of witches and keep the identities of your own residents secret.

The game plays over the course of four rounds representing the four months (June–September 1692) in which the hysteria was at its height. Each round has two parts: a Witch Hunt and a Witch Trial, followed by hangings (the dates of which correspond to the four actual hangings that took place in Salem that year). During the Witch Hunt, players send residents to jail and provide alibis for their own jailed citizens. At the end of each round all jailed citizens stand trial. Players then collectively decide who is hanged and who is spared. The player who is most successful at discerning witches from villagers wins!

While the story surrounding the Salem witch trials has become something of a legend, every character in this game is based on a real person whose life was directly touched and in some cases torn apart or taken away by the events surrounding the Salem witch trials. Extensive research has been done to craft the real-life stories of all 42 residents in the game.

While this game focuses on the people and events specific to Salem, Massachusetts, similar witch hunts were taking place as far north as Maine and as far West as Connecticut. Surely, the devil had come to New England.

Fool's Gold

2015-09-26T07:03:00-04:00

Vendor: Passport Game Studios
Type: Board Games
Price: 47.95

Designer	Joshua Gerald Balvin
Publisher	Passport Game Studios
Players	3-5
Playtime	90 mins
Suggested Age	12 and up
Additional Info	132758/fools-gold https://boardgamegeek.com/forum/1318689/fools-gold/reviews

Fool's Gold takes place during the gold rush of 1849. Players are investors who send prospectors on a quest to find gold at various locations — in the mountains, in a forest, at a river, etc. — with each location having perils, gems, quantities of gold and bountiful supplies of silt. As players remove valuable gold cards from the location decks, silt becomes more prominent and gold harder to find.

Each player starts Fool's Gold with six coins and 2-4 prospectors, depending on the number of players. The game lasts five years (i.e., rounds), and at the start of each year, each player receives an additional coin and an additional prospector, giving you both more to spend and more on which to spend. Each year consists of two phases: the prospecting phase and the mining phase. During the prospecting phase, the start player rolls ten dice, then places the dice on the mines of the same number, with 6s being placed in the central camp. Each mine has a path to it starting with the numbered die, then spaces numbered 0-6. After placing dice on the mine paths, players take turns taking one of these actions:

Place a prospector on a mine path, paying the cost of the space you cover; whenever you pay coins, place them in front of your player screen.
Place a wild die on a mine path, paying 1 for each die already on the path.
Place a prospector in front of your screen to take back three coins.
Pass, place all of your remaining prospectors in reserve next to any mine or mines of your choice, then take back all coins and prospectors in front of your screen.

Once everyone has passed, the mining phase begins. Starting at mine #1, shuffle the mine deck, then draw a number of cards equal to the product of the number of prospectors and the number of dice at the mine. Foul weather forces fewer cards to be drawn, while false alarms might result in treasure being snatched away from everyone. Players then choose rewards from the mine in order of priority, which is determined by the number of prospectors each player has at a mine (include those in reserve) and their location on the path; players must redetermine priority after each action at a mine. The player actions are:

Take a gold card from the mine.
Take a gem card from the mine, but only if you don't already have this gem.
Take two coins from the bank, which gives you additional funds for the rest of the game.
Lay down your prospector (removing it from priority) and wait for winter.

Once all standing miners have been removed, roll the winter die and draw that many cards for winter. If any goods come up, those layabout prospectors finally get to profit; if not, tough cookies, sourdough! After five rounds, players compare their findings, losing points if they've failed to collect gold from each mine. In addition, each player must throw out all the gold from the mine where he found the most. Turns out it was so easy to find because it was fool's gold! Players then sum their nuggets and score 1-15 points for their gem collection. Whoever has the highest score wins!