Rumble in the Dungeon

   Rumble in The Dungeon is a fun, quick game for two to six players.

   Inside, there are twelve tiles that you will place in the center of the table. You can set them up however you want, as long as the treasury and the exit are far apart.

   Place the treasure box in the treasury.

   There are twelve characters.

   Randomly place one on each tile.

   Each player will take one color player tokens. One is for scoring and the other is a reminder of what color each player is.

   Take the twelve character tokens and place them face down. Mix them up.

   Pass each player two random character tokens. These are the two secret characters that you are during this round. The game is now ready to play.

   Take turns moving any one character into a different room. It does not have to be your secret character.

   If two

   or more characters end up in the same room, they start to fight.

   One character can be removed from play. As characters are removed, line them up. The first character to leave is the first in line. Line the rest of them up behind.

   Any character that is in the same room as the treasure chest can take it with them. They are trying to escape the dungeon with the treasure.

   If more than one character is in the same room, either character can leave with the treasure chest. This is the only way you can leave a room with more than one character in it without having to remove a character from play.

   Once only one character is left in play, the round is over. Every player reveals who their characters are.

   Scoring is simple, the last player in the dungeon or the character that escapes with the treasure gets ten points. The character at the end of the line gets nine points. If none of the players have that character, then no points are scored for that character. The next character in line is worth eight, then seven, then six, all the way down to one. You only score for your character that has the highest amount of points. After three rounds, the player with the highest score is the winner!

   This game is a great filler or one to play with children. We have played this game with our kids many times. It is always a game filled with laughter and fun. The pieces are high quality cardboard. There is enough room in the box to store everything without having to take apart the characters after every game. The art work on this game is very detailed and fun to look at. They even decorated the bottom of the box.

   I highly recommend this game, especially if you have kids! We have played it at game nights with friends as well and everyone had a great time!

Sheriff of Nottingham Review

   Sheriff of Nottingham is a bluffing and bribery game for three to five players.

   Inside, there are five different colored Merchant Stands

   Five different colored Merchant Bags

   and a ton of cards. There are two different kind of cards. The green ones are legal goods.

   The red ones are contraband.

   There are also red ones that are Royal Goods.

   Here is a close up of a card. The gold three in the top right is how many points this particular card is worth. The red two in the bottom left is the amount of gold you may have to pay.

   Set up is simple. Each player chooses a color and takes the matching merchant stand and bag. Each player is given one twenty coin, five five coins and five one coins. Deal out six cards face down to each player. Make two discard piles with five cards each. Put them on the sides of the draw pile. Choose a player to be the Sheriff for the first round.

   Each player then looks at their hand.

   In turn order, you may discard up to five of your cards and draw back up to six cards. You can draw from the discard piles or the draw deck. If you draw from a discard pile, you must do this first. If you want the second card in the discard pile, you must take the card on top of it as well.

   Once everyone has had a chance to discard and draw back up, decide which cards you want to send to the Sheriff. They must be the same type of card (except for the contraband cards).

   Place the cards into the merchant bag and close it up.

   Pass it to the Sheriff and declare what is in your bag. The rules for declaring are as follows. You can only declare legal goods. You can only declare one type of good.  You must declare the exact number of cards that are in your bag. For example, I would pass my bag and say "I have three chickens". You can also bribe the Sheriff to pass your inspection. If he accepts your bribe, the Sheriff keeps the money and hands you your bag back. If the Sheriff decides to check a bag, they will open the bag and see what is in there. If you declared what was in your bag, you get your cards back and the Sheriff must pay you the penalty that is on the cards. If you lied and got caught, you get the legal goods cards back to add to your merchant stand. The contraband is confiscated (discarded) and you must pay the Sheriff the penalty.

   If the Sheriff does not check your bag, all of the cards then make it to your market. Each type of card has it's own space around the board. The contraband goes in it's space face down. Once the Sheriff has inspected and returned all of the bags, pass the Sheriff to the left. That player is now the new Sheriff.

   Once you have played two rounds (three rounds in a three player game), the game is over. Scoring does take some time in this game. You score each individual card in your market. You also score points for having the most and second most of each type of legal good. Count up your coins you have remaining, you get one point for each gold. The player with the highest score at the end, is the Chicken King!

   This game is a ton of fun! There is always a lot of laughs and good times when playing this game. The art is wonderful and the components are good quality. It's easy to understand so it's great for those family game nights. My family has enjoyed playing this game many times. It became a favorite after the very first play through.

   If you like bluffing and bribing, this game is a must have for your game shelf!

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!

Sushi Go Review

   Sushi Go! is a fun little card drafting game by Gamewright Games. It plays two to five players and is easy to learn and play.

   Inside, there is a deck of cards with cute little sushi's with faces on it. Each type of sushi is worth a different amount of points. Each card shows how many points they are worth on the bottom.

   The more dumplings you have, the more they are worth. Once you have five, you are at the top of the point scale. They are worth either one, three, six, ten or fifteen points.

      The tempura is worth five points for each pair.

   Sashimi is worth ten points for every group of three cards.

   The Nigiri is worth the point on the card. The egg is worth one point for each one. The Salmon is worth two and the squid is worth three. If you play a wasabi and then place one nigiri on it, it triples the points on the card that is placed on top of the wasabi. The wasabi must be placed first and only adds points to the card on it.

   Whoever has the most maki rolls gets six points at the end of the round. The second most gets three points. The cards have either one, two or three rolls on it.

   The puddings don't do anything until the end of the game. At the end, the person with the most pudding gets six points. The player with the least amount loses six points.

   Chopsticks aren't worth any points but can be helpful in getting points. When you play a chopsticks, that is already face up in front of you, you can swap it out for another card in your current deck. After you flip your cards, you say "Sushi Go!", pick your pile back up and switch it for the card you want. Then place the deck to your left. There should still be the same number of cards in the deck.

   Set up is simple. Deal out the number of cards indicated for the number of players.

   Next, you are going to look through your deck and decide which card you want to keep. Place it face down in front of you and place the deck to your left.

   Everyone flips their card at the same time.

   Pick up the deck of cards on your right. Choose which card you want to keep and place face down in front of you. Once again, place your deck on the left.

   Continue going around until all of the cards have been used. Next, you add up your score for the round. If you have any cards that need more than one to score and don't have enough, they are worth zero points. Write down everyone's score on a piece of paper. Collect all of the cards except for the pudding and put them in a discard pile. Deal out another set of cards. There are three rounds in this game.

   At the end of the third round, take score. Next, score the puddings. Whoever has the most points at the end is the winner!

   This game is super simple to learn and play. It only takes about half an hour so it's a great filler game or if you want a fast game. It's fun to play with kids and there is enough going on that it will keep their attention. We have had a lot of success with this game. The art is great. The cards are a good quality. I love that it comes in a little tin that makes it easier to take when we go to game nights. It is quickly becoming a favorite among our gaming friends and family.