Double Double Dominoes Review and Giveaway

   Double Double Dominoes is a game for two to four players and takes about an hour to play.

   To set up, lay the board out in the middle of the table.

   Place the score markers on the bottom corner of the board. It is possible to play this game with five to six players, but you need to purchase additional dominoes and score markers.

   Place the dominoes face down where everyone can reach them,

   Next, throw out the insert that comes in the box. I'm only kidding, sort of.

   At least take it out. My dominoes like to fall through the little holes and end up in the bottom of the box. It's not a huge deal, really. I will probably end up putting them in a baggie anyway.

   Once you have all of the dominoes face down, and mixed up, each player draws three.

   Each player then reveals their domino that has the least amount of dots on it. This is the first player.

   You will notice, in the middle of the board, there is a square with a yellow star on it. This is where the first domino is placed.

   At the start of your turn, draw a domino. Then play one on the board. If you can not play any dominoes from your hand, place one face down off to the side. It is now out of the game and your turn is over.

   When placing your dominoes, only one side of the domino that is placed can touch one side of the domino already on the board. It may touch two different lines of dominoes, as long as the numbers match and only one side is touching both lines.

   If you play a double domino, you may chose to play another domino as long as it is played on the double domino. You can keep playing dominoes as long as they are double dominoes that match the previous domino.

   As soon as you play one that is not a double domino, your turn is over. You must use the dominoes you had at the beginning of your turn. When you are done playing, draw back up to three.

   Look under the dominoes you played this turn. If there is a diamond with a number on it, that is how many points you scored this turn. If you play a double domino on one, it is worth double. This player would score four points. They played a double domino on a one diamond which makes it worth two. They then played another domino on a two diamond which gives them two more points.

   Move the score tracker four points. At any time, if a domino is played that has a number that matches where you are on the score track (in this picture it would be a four) you would score three points. Move your score tracker three points and that is the new number to watch for.

   The winner is whoever gets the designated amount of points first. It varies depending on the number of players.

   If you have small children at home, you can use this game as a way to teach math and number recognition. This is my four year old lining up the dominoes and counting the dots. He is big into numbers and he loves playing this game!

 

    This game is a perfect for people who enjoy simple games. It's great for playing with your children as well as an older generation. Most people already know the basics on how to play. The scoring also adds a little more strategy to the game. I think this game is a great way to get those family members that aren't big gamers to play a game. I mean, who doesn't like dominoes??

   If you would like to enter to win a copy of Double Double Dominoes for yourself, here are the rules:
      - This giveaway is open for the US, Canada and UK only.

      - Your game will be shipped directly from Calliope Games.

      - The contest is open from Wednesday, March 25 until Wednesday, April 1.

      - The winner will be announced and contacted on Thursday, April 2.

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Ugh! Review and Giveaway

   Ugh! Is a fun, fast card game for  two to six players ages eight and up.

   Inside, there is a deck of cards. In the deck, there are purple, orange and green cards numbered one through five.

   There is a wild in each color and one that is all three colors.

   There are also Ugh! Cards.

   Set up is simple. Shuffle the deck of cards and place them face down in the middle of the playing area. You are now ready to play.

   On your turn, you can flip up to three cards and place them in the three Safety Piles, placing one card in each pile.

   You can take any one card from the top of any one of the safety piles at any time during your turn. If you choose not to take one of those three cards, you can press your luck and take the top card off of the draw pile. You must keep that card. You can also lock in your cards at any point during your turn.

   If you flip over an Ugh! Card on your first flip on your turn, do what the card says and then place the Ugh! card face down in your score pile. If you don't have the cards to discard when an Ugh! Card is drawn, just place the Ugh! card in your scoring pile. If you do have the cards, place them in the discard pile.

   If you flip and Ugh! card during your turn and it's not the first card, do what the card says and then place the Ugh! card face down in the discard pile.Ugh! cards can make you lose anywhere from one to three cards or you may lose your turn.

   When you have one of each color card, you can choose to lock them in. To lock them in, simply pile them up and place them face down into your scoring pile. You don't have to lock them in as soon as you have the cards. You can try and hold out for better cards, but you may lose them. When determining the score, you will multiply the cards together. These cards are 4x3x2 so they are worth 24 points.

   When placing cards into your scoring pile, offset them so they will be easier to score later on.

   Wild cards can be used in one of two ways. You can use it as a card. If you lock it into a set, it is one lower than the lowest card in that set.

   You can also use it to steal a card of the same color from an opponent. Here, it was used to take the green five from the opponent and then a set was locked.

   Before the last card is flipped, all players can lock in a set that is in front of them. Once the last card is flipped and that player has finished their turn. The game is over. To score the game, add up each set of cards and then add them all together. Each Ugh! card in your pile is worth three points. Whoever has the highest score, wins the game!

   This game is really enjoyable! It's fun, fast and lighthearted. It also helps with learning those math skills! The cards are bright and colorful. The art is amazing! This is definitely a game we will be keeping on our game shelf.

   If you would like to try and win a game, enter below.
   Now, for the rules:

    - This giveaway is open for the US, Canada and UK only.

    - Your game will be shipped directly from Calliope Games.

    - The contest is open from Friday, October 17 until Thursday, October 23.

    - The winner will be announced and contacted on Friday,October 24.

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Love Letter Review

   If you follow any sort of gaming anything, you have probably heard about the fun little game Love Letter by AEG. It was so well received that they are making many different versions of the game. So far, we have three. There is a wedding one you have to order special. You can only get it if you or someone you know is getting married. The one in the box is a Legends of the Five Rings copy. The red one is the original version.

   The game is pretty simple. There is a little baggie with a few cubes in it. These are used to keep track of points. There are cards that tell you how many of each card there are and what they do. The rules also fold up and fit nicely inside of the bag.

   There are sixteen cards in the game. Each card has a number and tells you what the card does.

   Play is simple. Pass out one card to each player. When it's your turn, draw a card. Choose which of your two cards you want to discard and then do what it says. Some let you guess what card people have, Some cards let you look and see what they do.

   You are trying to keep the Princess card. If you have to discard the Princess, you lose that round. If someone plays a Guard and guesses your card, you discard your card and are eliminated from that round. If you get eliminated from the round, don't worry, the rounds are fairly short and you get to join back in the next go around. The round ends after all of the cards are gone or one player is left. Once the draw pile has been used up, the remaining players show what card they have in their hand. The one with the highest number wins that round.

   Whoever gets the number of cubes that are needed to win first, wins the game!

   As you can probably tell, we have sleeved the cards for this game. It's one of the few that we have done this to. It's a game we really enjoy. We take it with us when we go out to dinner to help pass the time while you are waiting. It is a lot of fun for such a small game. My 9 year old loves to play this game with us. It's really easy to learn and the rounds are pretty fast which is nice since people can be eliminated from the game. I highly recommend this game, it's loads of fun!

Tsuro of the Seas Review and Giveaway

   Tsuro of the Seas is a fun tile laying game for two to eight players ages eight and up.

   Inside, you will find a game board. There are gold numbers across the top and blue numbers down the side.

   There are eight ships that are the playing pieces.

   There is a pile of fifty six wake tiles

   Ten diakaiju (dragon) tiles

   and one gold and one blue dice.

   To set up, place the board in the center of the table. Deal each player three wake cards. Mix up the daikaiju tiles. Roll both dice and place a dragon tile on the board where the numbers meet facing random directions. The number of starting daikaiju depends on the number of players.

   Each player then places their ship on one of the starting wakes on the side of the board.

   On your turn, roll the dice to see if the daikaiju move. The daikaiju move if a six, seven or eight is rolled. Roll one die and then move the daikaiju in numerical order starting with the lowest number. Move the daikaiju in the direction of the number rolled. If a daikaiju moves onto a square that contains a wake tile, ship or another daikaiju, the tile or ship are removed from play. If a six is rolled, add a new daikaiju into play. Any time a daikaiju is removed, add it to the bottom of the draw pile.

   After the daikaiju have moved, add a wake tile and move your ship. You can not play a tile that will remove your ship from play unless you don't have any other tiles that can be played.

   If moving the daikaiju moves it next to a wake with a ship on it, that ship is removed from play. You are also removed from play if a wake takes you to the edge of the board.

 

   If the daikaiju moves off of the board, place it on the bottom of the draw pile. There must always be three daikaiju in play. If one is removed and there is less than two, the next player rolls both dice to place new daikaiju on the board until there are three in play. They do not roll to move the daikaiju during this turn.

   If a tile is placed that adds on to a wake for more than one ship, they all move to the end of the wake.

   The last ship remaining on the board is the winner!

   There is also an expansion for the game called Tsuro Veterans of The Seas. It adds some fun new tiles to the game. There is a portal, tsunami, canons and a whirlpool.

   The portal and the cannons get mixed into the wake tiles. The gold tsunami and whirlpool get mixed in with the daikaiju tiles.

   Once these cards are used and removed from play, they are removed from the game.

   When the Whirlpool is drawn, it is placed on the board like a daikaiju tile. When you roll to move the daikaiju and a number is rolled that doesn't move them, roll a die and move the whirlpool instead. The whirlpool does not move if a five or six is rolled. The whirlpool removes any daikaiju, tile or ship that is on that space. It stays in play until it goes off the edge of the board.

   If you have cannon tile and are about to be removed from play by a daikaiju, you can play the cannon and remove the daikaiju from the board instead.

   When the tsunami is drawn, place it on the board the same way you would a daikaiju card. Place the gold two arrow so that it is pointing towards the top of the board. Place the blue tsunami tile on top of the board so that the blue two is pointing at the gold tsunami card. If your ship ends up in the same row as the gold tsunami card (the direction the three and four are pointing when the tile is placed) you must roll a die. You have to roll higher than the number pointing towards the top of the board. So when it is first played, you must roll a two or higher. 

   At the beginning of the player that placed the tsunami tile, move the gold tsunami card one space closer to the blue tsunami card. When you do this, rotate it once counter clock wise. Rotate the blue tsunami card so that the same numbers are pointing towards each other. This is the new number that must be rolled in order to survive the tsunami. 

   Continue doing this until the tsunami is removed from the board by going off the edge of the board.

   The portal is placed in place of a wake tile or when faced with elimination. Place the portal as you would a wake tile. Anything that is then moved onto the portal tile is moved to a new location. If more than one ship is moved into the portal, move ships in game order with the person placing the tile moving last. Roll both dice and place it as you would a daikaiju tile. If there is a wake tile in play, choose a wake and direction and place your ship. If there is no wake tile, add a wake tile from your hand and place your ship on a wake. If you play a tile from your hand, you will have two wake tiles to choose from since you don't draw tiles until the end of your turn. The portal stays on the board for the remainder of the game. Anything that lands in it is moved to a different space on the board.

   I think this game it TONS of fun!! We love playing it together as a family. Our two older boys (7 & 9 years old) don't have a problem playing at all. It became a family favorite right away. 

   Now, on to the fun part! The giveaway! There are a few things you need to know before entering.

    - This giveaway is open for the US, Canada and UK only.

    - This giveaway is for both Tsuro of the Seas and  the expansion Tsuro Veterans of the Seas

    - Your game will be shipped directly from Calliope Games.

    - The contest is open from Friday, July 18 until Thursday, July 24.

    - The winner will be announced and contacted on Friday, July 25.

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