Star Trek Five-Year Mission Review

   Star Trek: Five Year Mission is a cooperative game for three to seven people.

   Inside you will find an Enterprise and seven crew members from the original series.

   If you flip them over, you will find the Star Trek: The Next Generation Enterprise and seven crew members from that series.

   There is a pile of dice, a timer, Enterprise damage marker and a deck of cards with either blue, yellow or red alert on the back.

   To set up, Choose which series you want to play. Place the Enterprise in the middle of the table. Next, hand out the crew members. You can play with any combination of crew members, but it is recommended that you have at least a captain and the doctor.

   Each player gets two red, two blue and a yellow die. If you are playing with three or four players, place one die of each color in the dice pool (Enterprise) and place the Enterprise damage marker on the start space.

   Place the blue, yellow and red alert cards under the Enterprise. Place the Boldly Go card under the blue alert deck.

   Play starts with the Captain and then moves clockwise. To begin your turn, flip over any of the alert cards and place them under the corresponding deck.

   Next, if you have less than five dice at this time, take dice from the dice pool to add to your dice before rolling. This will happen after your first turn. You can choose any of the dice that are available in the dice pool. Roll your dice. If your dice match the dice on the card, place them on the card.

   Any remaining dice are then placed on your player mat on the action dice area. When moving your dice to your mat, make sure you do not change the number on the dice. You can use these dice on your following turn, re-rolling only the dice you choose. Each crew member also has a once per turn special ability.

   When a player completes a card, it is removed from the play area. If it has a yellow delta symbol, it is moved to the score pile. If it has a special one time use ability, the player that completed the card takes the card until needed. Once used, you may move it to the score or discard pile.

   The dice used to complete the card are moved into the dice pool for future use.

   Some cards will have arrows on the dice. In this picture, this means you have to use a red die that is a five or higher to place it on the card. The blues need to be a three or lower and a two or lower. When the dice on the card and grouped together, you must place all of the dice in the group at the same time.

   When the dice are separated on the card, you may add any of your dice that match. If there is not an arrow either above or below the dice, it must be that color and number to be placed. If at any time you flip over a card that has the blue Prime Directive symbol, you must complete this card before completing any other card in play.

   If the card has the orange timer symbol, flip the timer. You now have three minutes to complete this card. If it is not completed before the timer runs out, the card will go into the failed alert pile. The white die means that you may use any colored die for that spot.

   Some cards will injure a player. If this happens, choose one of your dice and place it into the injuries space. These dice stay there until an action is taken to heal the player. The doctor can use one of their dice to heal you or you may use a turn to heal yourself. If you choose to heal yourself, you still must flip over an alert card. You may then move one die from the injuries section to the active section.

   Some cards will have effects on them that must happen when flipped. Some examples are injuring you or damaging the Enterprise. Some limit the dice you may place or make it so you may not talk to your opponents.

   When the Enterprise is damaged, move the damage marker up one. Whichever color space the damage marker is on is the lowest alert you can flip cards from. For example, if it is on a yellow space, you may only flip yellow and red alert cards. You can repair the Enterprise by using one of your dice to move it down. Here you would have to use a red die that is four or higher to move it down to the start space. If your damage marker is on a higher space, you may move it down as many spaces as you have red dice to repair it. If you are on the last damage space and another damage is taken, the Enterprise is destroyed and you have lost the game.

   You may only have three alert cards from each color flipped at a time. Once this happens, you still must flip over an alert card. The card that is flipped is placed in the Failed Alerts pile.

   Once you have either five failed alert cards or the number of points to complete your mission, the game is over. If you have five failed alerts, you have lost the game. If you reach the desired number of points, you have won! Live long and prosper.

   Some cards have special alerts that can be used at a later time. The icons are located on the bottom right of the picture on the card. They do things such as changing the face value of a die, healing, swapping crew mates abilities or using a die as any color.

   There are also dangerous alerts. They do things such as make you draw extra alerts, use the timer or have you complete a certain card before working on others.

   This is a game we enjoy playing as a family. You can even include the younger kids. Have them roll dice and help match up colors and numbers. My youngest is a huge fan of dice and is always willing to help match. If you like the game Roll for it! it has a similar feel. It's easy to learn and can be played in under an hour. It's a game that is mostly luck from rolling dice. There is a little bit of strategy, but you mostly just roll the dice and hope you get what you need.

   Having said that, if you enjoy dice games and co-ops, this one is a good one to add to your collection. I'm sure if you get the right Star Trek fans together, it would add a whole new level of fun.

   Make it so!

Catan Junior Review

   Catan: Junior is the kid version of Settlers of Catan. It has been simplified, but you still have the same goal. Gather resources and build faster than your opponents.

   The board has two sides. One side is a two player board.

   The other side is for three to four players.

   You have some plastic pirate ships and pirate lairs. These are your game pieces.

   There is a pile of resources. There's cutlasses, goats, wood, gold, and molasses.

   There are Coco the bird tiles. These are action cards you can take. They allow you to build either a ship or a lair, move the ghost captain, or gain resources.

   Whoever has the most Coco tiles, gets to put a lair on Spooky Island. This is helpful because it's one less lair you have to build. If there is ever a tie with the Coco tiles, the lair is removed until someone has purchased more.

   To begin, you are going to put the pirate lairs on their corresponding circles. Place one of your ships on the dotted line that matches your color.

   Each player gets a reference card. This shows you what is needed to build or buy Coco tiles.

   Give each player their color pieces, a reference card, and a wood and molasses resource. Place the Ghost Captain on Spooky Mountain. You are now ready to begin play.

   On your turn, roll the die. If you have a lair on a spot touching the island with the corresponding number, you gain one of those resources. Example: Here a four was rolled. The orange and blue players receive one cutlass each. The red and blue player each receive a molasses.

   After you have rolled the die and receive your resources, you can trade with the marketplace. You can trade here once per turn. Take one of your resources and trade it with one item in the marketplace. If you want to trade further, you can trade in two of the same resource for one resource of your choice out of the stock pile. You can trade in this manner as much as you would like, as long as you have the resources available. If the marketplace has five of the same resource at any time, remove them and place one of each resource back into the marketplace.

   If you roll a six, you get to move the Ghost Captain. Place him on an island of your choice. You gain two of the resource that the island generates. While he is on that island, if that number is rolled, no resources are received for the lairs that are on that island.

   When you build your ships and lairs, they go in a pattern. You must build them in that order. You can not build a lair unless it is next to a ship. Whoever builds all of their lairs first, wins the game.

 

   This is a great game to play with kids. The rules are simple so it's easy to understand. You don't trade resources with your opponents. The dots and lines on the board are easy to see so they can see what they need to build next. Everyone can see who has what resources so if your kids do need a bit of help, everything is already right there. There is only one die to roll which also makes it a bit easier. There isn't a whole lot of strategy, but there is enough that they will need to have a plan.

   I think the only downside to this is the box. There isn't really a way to organize it at all. There is two open areas for everything. I guess it makes for easier clean up. I just like my games a bit more organized than dumping everything in. That's a minor thing and just a personal preference.

   Our family has had a lot of fun with this game. It is simple enough that the kids can play it completely on their own, even the set up. If you are trying to introduce your kids into gaming, this is a great game!

The Settlers of Catan Review

   The Settlers of Catan is the game that got it all started for us. Hubby had some cousins come into town for New Years and they brought this game with them. We had a ton of fun playing and we still do (as you can tell by the well worn box).

    When you open the box, this is what you see. There is a nice little compartment for everything.

   Inside, you will find a deck of cards. It includes clay, wood, sheep, wheat, ore and development cards. We will talk about how to get these cards during the game play section.

   You will find some Building Cost cards. This is your reference for what cards you need to build each item. Take the card that corresponds with your color.

   There is a Longest Road card and a Largest Army card. These are worth 2 points each. The first person to seven roads takes the Longest Road card. As soon as another player gets more roads than the person that has this card, they get to take it away. The Largest Army card is for the first person that gets three Knight cards. This works the same way, as soon as someone has more Knight cards than the person with the card, they get to take it. We will talk about how to get Knight cards in a moment.

   There are four colors of pieces. Each person will choose a color. In each set, there are four cities, five settlements and fifteen roads.

   To set up your board, take the six boarder pieces. They are numbered and fit together like a puzzle.

   Take the hexagon tiles and mix them up. These are the ones that give you cards. They match the card backgrounds. The red is clay, light green is sheep, dark green is wood, yellow is wheat and black is ore.

   There is also a desert tile. This is where the robber starts. You don't receive anything from this tile.

   Lay the tiles out randomly inside of the boarder.

   Take the number tokens. They are lettered A-R. These go on top of the hexagon tiles (skipping the desert tile) You will notice that some are red and they all have dots on them. The red ones are the ones most likely to be rolled. The dots under the numbers indicate how likely it is that the number will be rolled.

   Put the numbers on the board. You can start in a corner and go alphabetically or you can do it random. If you randomize it, you need to make sure that the red ones aren't by each other. Put the robber on the desert piece.

   Set out the cards and you are ready to play!

   Roll the dice to see who goes first. Whoever rolls the highest number gets to place their settlement first. You get to place one settlement and one road. Settlements are placed in the corners where three tiles meet unless they are placed on the boarder. They MUST have at least two straight edges between where they are placed and any other settlements on the board. Roads go along the straight edges between two tiles. Go around and take turns placing your first choice. After the last person places, they get to go again and pick their second place. Continue going in reverse order so that the first player gets last choice for their second settlement and road. Each player will start with two settlements and roads on the board. Take the resource cards that correspond with your second placement. Resource cards are to be kept secret from your opponents.

   You are now ready to play! Roll the dice and look to see if you have a settlement or a city on that number. You take one of that resource for each of your settlements on that tile. If you have a city piece on it, you get two. In this picture, if an 8 was rolled, red would get four clay resource cards. If a seven is rolled, you get to move the robber. The robber makes it so that if that number is rolled, they don't get a resource for that tile. The person that rolled the seven gets to randomly choose a card from the person that has a settlement or city on that tile. A seven also makes it so that if you have more than seven cards when it's rolled, you lose half of your cards, rounding down. So if you had nine cards, you would lose four. Neither the orange or the red would be able to gather cards if a 10 is rolled.

   After you roll your dice and everyone has gathered their resources, you enter the building phase. You can trade cards with your opponents but they can not trade with each other. The only rules for trading are you can not trade the same type of card. For example, you can not trade a sheep for more sheep. You also can not give something for nothing. You can trade for different amounts of cards. For instance, if you are the only one with wood, someone can give you two clay and a sheep for one of your wood. If they won't give you what you need, or if there just isn't any in play, you can always trade in four of the same resource cards for any one resource card from the bank. There are also ports around the board. If you have built on one of these ports, you can trade in for less than the general four rule. There is one port for each resource. If you are on one of those ports you can trade in two of that resource for one of whatever you want. In the above picture, orange is on the wheat port. This means they can trade in two wheat for one of any other resource. There are also three to one ports. In the above picture, red is on this port. That means they can trade in three of the same resource for one of a different resource.

    Refer to your building card to see what you need for each item. You can build however many things you have the resources for. Here's a breakdown for you:

   A road takes a clay and a wood. These are not worth points unless you have the Longest Road. Then they are worth the two points for having the card. Roads have to be attached to either another road or a settlement or city.

   This makes it possible to block your opponents roads. The white player has blocked the red player from expanding their road

   A settlement takes a clay, wood, sheep and wheat. These are worth one point. Remember, they must be two spaces away from any other settlement or city on the board.

   A City takes three ore and two wheat. These are two points. You get these by upgrading your settlements. You can not place a city on the board without having a settlement already placed there. If you run out of settlements, you must build a city to get a settlement back. Once the cities are all used, you can not upgrade any more settlements.

   A Development card takes a sheep, wheat and ore.

   Development cards do different things. There's the red Knight card. You can play one of these to move the robber. This is helpful if it is placed on your tile. You can play this card before or after you roll the dice. These are what makes it so you can get the Largest Army card. The yellow ones are a victory point. The green cards give you resources. There's a Road Building card that lets you place two roads. Year of Plenty lets you pick any two resources from the bank. The Monopoly card lets you choose a resource and announce it. Every other player has to give you all of their cards that are that resource. These are only worth points if you have the yellow victory point card or if you have the Largest Army card. Leave the Development cards face down in front of you until you are ready to play them. The victory point card is the only card you can play right after you buy it. All other cards must wait until your next turn to be played.

   Once someone gets to 10 points, the game is over and they win!

   I really enjoy this game. There's a lot of strategy that goes into figuring out how to grow your settlements. There's a bit of luck with the dice rolling. There is also some negotiating while trying to get what resources you need from your opponents. There also may be a little bit of banter going on as you cut people off, place the robber on their number or beat them to where they are going. This game is easy to learn. Our nine year old LOVES this game. He is always there asking to play when it gets pulled off the shelf. He is able to play it pretty well on his own. We had to help him the first couple games, but now he does it mostly by himself. The games last about an hour so it works great for a game night when you might want to play multiple games.

   Happy gaming!