Take Me Out to the Ball Game (Review of Baseball Highlights: 2045)

I'm not anything close to a baseball fan. It's a fun enough sport to play, although I'd rather play basketball, hockey, soccer, football, etc. Watching baseball sounds about as enjoyable to me as watching golf or paint dry. Not to diminish the skills of baseball players (or golfers), it just doesn't make for an entertaining spectator sport (in my opinion). So I entered my Baseball Highlights: 2045 adventure with very little experience or interest about the sport. In fact, I probably never would have picked up the game except that I received it in a trade. I had read good things about it on BoardGameGeek (specifically in the 1 Player Guild's Solitaire Games on Your Table geeklist) and thought, "Hey! Why not?" How did I enjoy my time with America's national pastime? Let's find out together.

The Losing Streak Continues (Clank! Legacy: Acquisitions Incorporated)

I've never really been one to look up strategies for board games before, but after starting out 0 for 2 in my Clank! Legacy adventure, I was feeling desperate. I scoured forums, asking my own questions as well, and got a few ideas for how I could tweak my strategy. Heading into game three, here were the changes I made:

• Go for skill. I was going to gun for high skill cards right away so that I would be able to buy up the best cards. This would lead to slower attack off the top, but I would build up to that once I'd built my skill machine.
• Go for trash. Along with buying high-skill cards, I was going to try and trash my crappy cards as well. I don't want to give anything away, but something happened before this third game started that allowed me to make this strategy a focus (very lucky for me).

That was my strategy heading into game three. So, how did it go?

Five Minutes of Frantic Fun (Review of 5-Minute Dungeon)

I've always been good at games that have a solid mixture of speed and shouting. My brain thinks pretty quickly and I like yelling at people. Growing up we would play the Cranium games as a family and I always succeeded at guessing the charades, scribbles, and sculptures. There's that app game as well (Heads Up? I think it's Ellen's game) that was a pretty cool fad for a while that everyone played and I enjoyed as well. I missed the 5-Minute Dungeon original kickstarter - I looked at it, but I decided not to the pull the trigger. Later on, though, I had a gift card to Toys R Us and picked it up from there. Wow, am I glad I did! I have since backed the Curses! Foiled Again! expansion (which I received and love) and the just-ended 5-Minute Mystery campaign (which also has a solo mode, woohoo for me!). I even picked up a second copy of the game for my board game club at school.

The remains of battle.

All Hail the King! (Review of Kingdomino)

Kingdomino is my most played, most recommended game. When a new gamer is looking for a game to start their collection, this is the one I tell them to get. When a veteran gamer is looking for something to play with their friends and family, this is the one I tell them to get. With games getting increasingly expensive, it is a joy to find such a beautiful and full game for under $20. There is an unofficial solo mode (I did a playthrough here), but I wouldn't buy this game for just the solo mode - there are much better games to spend your money on if that's what you're looking for. That being said, if you do not have this game and you play games with others, buy it now!

But why? Here's why.

TOTAL PLAYS: 40+ competitive, 1 solo

COMPONENTS

So pretty!

Christmas Board Game Fun

Ahhh Christmas, when a young teacher's fancy turns to board games. At least mine does. It's a great time to play games and be introduced to new games. I got two games for Christmas (expansions, actually): Clank! Expeditions: Temple of the Ape Lords and Dragonfire Adventures: Chaos in the Trollclaws. I now have every Clank! expansion (not including the space side of things). I haven't been able to play these yet, hoping to get to that more in the new year, but I did play a bunch of really fun quicker and lighter games with my family over the break.