Cutthroat Caverns

(image courtesy Smirky @ BGG)
There's something to be said for very simple games: games that you can teach in a matter of minutes that anyone can learn. "Beer and pretzel" games, as they're often referred to. One fairly popular category of beer-and-pretzel games are "take that" games... games where you may (and will) play cards that directly affect other players in some negative fashion. Some popular "take that" games you may have heard of include Munchkin, Killer Bunnies, and Guillotine. Cutthroat Caverns is one of the newest entries in the genre and manages to bring a lot of interesting things to the table.

First off, let me say that I'm not a huge fan of games where you can directly screw other players over. It can be fun for awhile but after getting messed with time after time the gimmick wears thin. Add on to that the tendency for everyone to gang up on the leader and you have a style of game that can frustrate quickly. Take Munchkin, for example. I love John Kovalic's artwork and the roleplaying satire is fantastic. In fact, the premise of the game is quite cool: romp through a dungeon, kill monsters and steal their loot. The game falls apart after awhile, though, as players will just keep piling on the leader. Combine that with the massive number of cards in the deck and there's no real strategy and no way to plan ahead. I do feel that type of mindless entertainment certainly has its place in the gaming world, though, and these styles of games tend to be very popular.

Along comes Cutthroat Caverns. Like other "take that" games you can directly screw other players at the table. What makes the game so brilliant is that isn't always the best idea. In Cutthroat Caverns the players are a band of adventurers killing of a series of nine monsters. Players must work together to defeat the critters as they take turns swiping at it. The catch is that each monster is worth a certain number of points but only the person who lands the killing blow actually earns the points.

That's right: it's a game about kill stealing (for you MMO fans).

(image courtesy sedge @ BGG)

This very simple but ingenious twist really sets it apart from other "take that" games out there. If you die before the last monster is killed it doesn't matter how many points you earned because you won't be alive to enjoy them. Each monster has a strength based on the number of players but if someone dies the monster strength remains the same. This means if you kill off too many party members the group as a whole will struggle; if nobody lives to see the end then nobody wins! You don't see cooperative/competitive games very often and Cutthroat Caverns really nails that concept.

Each monster is revealed, one at a time, and the players must fight them. Each player is given a hand of cards. These cards usually have an attack value but others are potions that give you temporary bonuses or action cards that directly affect other players, usually in negative ways. A battle against a monster is made up of several rounds of combat. First initiative cards are dealt, then each player chooses an attack card in secret. Cards are resolved in initiative order, the monster attacks its target and you repeat until the monster is dead. Whoever kills it earns the points.

A few things make this whole concept work. First off, the monster powers are crazy. Some are certainly easier to kill than others but they tend to push the teamwork element quite a bit. You'll need to work together in some fashion and just because you could cancel someone's attack doesn't mean that you should. For example, you might be counting on their attack to soften up the monster just enough so you can swoop in for the kill.

Second, you'll go through the deck quickly. You draw a new card after each round of combat and between encounters you may discard and redraw new cards. There's a good chance you'll go through the deck two or three times during the course of a game meaning all the cards will be seen a few times; this helps to minimize the amount of luck as you'll quickly become familiar with the deck. You'll find yourself making some fun decisions on how hard you should hit this turn or how you can best work the monster's special attack powers to your advantage. Do you go for the big hit and hope nobody has cards to cancel your attack or do you use a very weak attack and try to set yourself up for next round? There are real decisions to be made here, and while luck is certainly a big factor I think it is possible to make good and bad moves in the game.

Cutthroat Caverns isn't without its issues, though. While I love the artwork and components I do think the glass marker beads are a little too hard to use, especially on the monster hitpoint track. Like most card games with lots of text there are also quite a few rule ambiguities and scenarios simply not covered in the rules. Common sense usually prevails without too much effort but the game's fun is slightly diminished when you need to take a moment to discuss how to rule a should work. Finally I do think the game is a little fiddly. After each round of combat you have to collect, shuffle and redeal the initiative cards. I understand why initiative works this way but it does add a bit of overhead.

Even with those complaints I think that Cutthroat Caverns is the best light, "take that" style game I've played. It has a built in timer - nine monsters - so the game will never drag on too long. Luck is diminished a bit with the frequent cycling of cards and ability to refresh your hand between encounters. Plus the whole semi-cooperative aspect really adds in a new level of fun when trying to decide how to best play your turn.

If you like fantasy games, dungeon crawlers and/or have a fondness for Munchkin and its ilk, do yourself a favor and check out Cutthroat Caverns. It plays 3 to 6 players and due to the monster health scaling I think it works well with any number. The game is easy to teach, plays in roughly and hour and you'll have plenty of great moments to laugh about as you play.

Through the Ages: A Story of Civilization

(image courtesy keithblume2 @ BGG)
There seem to be two main "holy grails" in the board gaming world: spouse-friendly two player games and fast-playing civilization games. When a new civilization-style game hits the market the Internet is abuzz with anticipation. Through the Ages was one of those that was receiving a lot of early good reviews and people couldn't wait for it to hit stateside. Printed by FRED Distribution, the game finally landed early this year.

I've managed to get a couple of games in so far and I must say I'm impressed. If you've ever played any of the Civilization computer games you'll feel right at home; Through the Ages takes many of the mechanics and concepts and successfully abstracts them out into a deep, engaging card game. I'm not quite sure what it is about extremely long games that i love so much, but I keep falling in love with them!

Each player takes their civilization from the Age of Antiquity through modern times over the course of four ages. In a very interesting move, Through the Ages has no map; you don't own land and attacks are made directly against other players. Each player has a mat that shows their current population, available workers, population happiness and available resources. You also have a set of cards representing your farms and mines along with any other civil buildings you can construct, armies, wonders, leaders and government type. A track in the middle shows everyone's culture and science earned per round while a card track shows the cards available for purchase with the newer cards costing more. At the start of each player's turn a number of technology cards are removed, everything is shifted down and new cards are played representing the advancement of time and technology. Ultimately victory is determined by the player whose civilization has the highest culture.

On your turn you'll be able to perform a number of civil and military actions; how many actions you have available is determined by your form of government and possibly modified by technologies, leaders, etc. I'm not going to dive into details on all the actions, but here are a few things you can do:

* Increase your population.
* Construct a building.
* Purchase a card from the track.
* Construct the next phase of a wonder.
* Put a new leader into play.
* Change your form of government, either peacefully or through revolution.
* Build military units.

(image courtesy edubvidal @ BGG)

Pretty standard stuff for a civ-style game. One aspect really makes the game shine is the population/resource track. For population you have a row of yellow discs broken into sections. That section lists an amount of food you need to pay when generating food; this represents the need to feed your population. Likewise, there's a blue resource track with numbers that represent the number of resources you lose for hoarding too much in storage. That single track represents both available food and metal. It's an extremely clever supply/demand style that forces you to adjust throughout the course of the game. Sometimes you'll find yourself not producing enough food and losing most of it to feed your population; other times you'll be hoarding too much food which will directly impact how much metal you'll get.

When you produce food or metal you move a blue disc onto the appropriate card. Early on a blue disc on a farm represents a single unit of food but with later farm upgrades a blue disc will represent two food. This puts real importance on upgrading your farms and mines as they become more efficient at higher technology levels, meaning you'll decay less. If you have to lose two metal, for example, early in the game you'd have to lose two blue discs (each represents a single metal) but later in the game you can lose just a single blue disc (as it now represents two food).

The entire game is a real balancing act. You'll find yourself watching the card track, trying to figure out which technology cards you need and which you can live without. You are limited on what you can do each turn; sometimes you'll want to pick up a nice card but you'll have too much "housekeeping" (increasing population, moving workers around, etc.) to do and simply won't have enough actions to pick something up. There are lots of ways to earn victory points and it's a matter of figuring out how to work the system you are building up. This amazing balance is really what makes the game so fascinating.

Up to this point, though, it's all very much a solitaire experience. Sure, you'll be watching cards move down the track and hope you can snag something before someone else does, but that's minor. The other major component of the game is military. Throughout the course of the game you'll be picking up military cards that do a variety of things. The two big ones are colonies and wars. Colonies require military strength to claim; you actually bid your military strength and the winner loses that many military units (representing them sailing off to settle the new land). Aggressions and wars are played against a single player. Here it is straight up military might versus might but players do have a chance to sacrifice units to double their value and play bonus defense cards. Highest strength wins and takes something from the loser.

(image courtesy duartec @ BGG)
There's a very strong tendency in this game for the weak to get weaker and the strong to get stronger. Normally I don't like that sort of thing in a game but for some reason it works extremely well in Through the Ages. Once one person builds up some military it becomes an arms race because you generally can't afford to fall behind. New colonies are often very tempting but they're going to cost you military strength may put you in a weaker position. As turn order simply goes clockwise around the table you always have a chance to respond to someone building up so it's all about balancing your internal economy with growth and keeping up with everyone's military strength.

At the start of each game a few end-game objectives are laid out and will determine the overall flow of the game. If you have a lot of military-oriented objectives you'll see tons of military strength build-up where more economic conditions may result in a slightly more peaceful session. There are a lot of variables and I think no two games will play out exactly the same. A the same time I don't think luck will be a significant factor in your outcome. It's possible cards just won't come down the line when you need them two but based on how the game is going and the number of cards in the deck I think there will almost always be a way to work with what you've been given. How you manage your civilization over the course of the game is going to be far more important than the cards available to you on any given turn, and part of the fun is working with what comes your way.

Through the Ages is a complex game, no doubt about it, and a long one to boot. If you want to play the full game with four players you'd better plan for a full day. With two I think you could tear through the game in a few hours once you both understand it. I get the feeling that the game would play best with three although I have yet to try it out that way. Having a third person should give players options on who to attack but would likely play faster than having that fourth player involved. Don't be scared off by the length and complexity, though. The rules are put together extremely well and lead you through several stages of learning to build up the knowledge you need. It does abstract out many concept (obvious by the complete lack of map) and that may be a minor deterrent for some. I think that it works well, though, and allows players to focus on the delicate balancing of the inner working of their civilization.

My only complaint is that the FRED version has some glaring production issues. It is missing quite a few cubes for each player, the scoring track is misprinted, there are a few card misprints and the cards warp a bit. It's probably worth waiting for the coming reprint to see if they fix up the quality issues. I don't regret buying the game at all, though. Hopefully I'll get to play it more often as it's a game that will really consume your thoughts once you finish a game.

Kingsburg

(image courtesy laiernie @ BGG)

I'll admit it, I'm a sucker for dice. If I see dice in a game I get excited. I'm not quite sure what it is but I love the tactile aspect and watching them roll and see what the outcome is. Typically dice are used for a roll-and-move style mechanic (Monopoly), combat (Risk, Britannia, most any war game) and sometimes for other various probability things (Settlers of Catan). Lately, though, we've been seeing games like Yspahan that with clever uses for dice and Kingsburg is another that takes advantage of dice in a whole new way.

I'm not entirely sure what Kingburg's theme is but that's okay. All I know is that you are trying to construct buildings to earn victory points and fight off monsters at the end of each year so bad things don't happen to you. Each player has a mat with 20 different buildings on them; these buildings earn you victory points and also give you various special abilities to use throughout the game. The game plays over five years with each year having three productive seasons and winter simply involves getting attacked by some nasty looking monster. Before each season bonuses are given to the player with the most or fewest buildings (depending on the season) and at the end of each production season players have the option to build a single building if they so desire. Whoever has the most points at the end is the winner.

Overall it's pretty standard fare: collect resources to construct buildings and earn victory points. What makes the game work is the dice mechanic. Each player has three dice that you roll each production season. Turn order for the season is from low to high roll. On the central board are 18 different advisers numbered 1 to 18. In turn order players use one or more of their dice to play on the adviser whose number equals the face value of the group of dice being played. For example, if I rolled 3, 1, 6 I could play on advisor 3, 1, 6, 4, 7, 9, or 10. Placing goes around until everyone has placed all of their dice or they have no valid plays left.

(image courtesy gamephotos @ BGG)
This mechanic seriously rocks. After you roll your dice and see turn order you really need to look at the distribution of each player's dice and figure out how to maximize your actions. Each adviser gives you a different ability that turn, typically earning you resources, soldiers or victory points. You need to figure out which resources you need and which advisers others are capable of taking. Each adviser can only be taken once so it's very possible to block someone out and force them to use their dice differently or even make some of their dice unusable. This dice action system really adds a lot of tension to the game.

Even better is that rolling high all of the time doesn't necessarily mean you'll do better. The higher advisers do have some good stuff but you'll often be able to get more resources or a better variety of resources by picking multiple lower advisers. Low roller goes first, though, so those lower valued advisers will likely get taken up first. Some buildings also let you modify your rolls in some fashion; for example, one lets you play on an adviser one higher or lower than the grouping of dice you choose to play. This gives players a lot to think about and adds a lot of tactical fun to the randomness of the dice and even takes away from the randomness a bit by giving you more flexibility with each roll.

(image courtesy MartinStever @ BGG)

At the end of the year everyone has to face the monster that attacks. You add up your soldier strength plus building defensive bonuses and then roll a six sided die; the total is your military strength. Then the monster is revealed. If your military strength is greater than the monster you earn the bonus on the card, if you tied you get nothing and if you are under the monster's strength you earn the negative on the card. Sometimes the negatives aren't too bad, like losing a single victory point, but others are nasty like losing entire buildings. Each year the monsters get progressively more difficult and deadly but your soldiers are reset to zero at the start of each year so you have to spend more and more resources into pumping up your military if you want to stay in the running.

I really like Kingsburg from my few initial plays. The game itself is unbelievably gorgeous and the symbology is clear and generally easy to understand. You'll have lots of excitement with each die roll and there will be plenty of antagonizing over how to play your dice.

(image courtesy gamephotos @ BGG)
My main complaint is that it seems like there aren't too many different paths to victory. The majority of your points come from constructing buildings and you'll earn a few points here and there for spending resources if you choose to do so and also from a couple different advisers. It really becomes a very tight resource management game where every point matters but I think there just aren't enough different ways to earn points. It looks like there's primarily four different main building strategies and then a matter of how you use your extra resources. Still, I think the dice mechanic and the tough winter battle against the monster makes things fairly exciting throughout. You can try and pump up your military for the easy victory or count on lady luck to pull you through. In a way the process of playing is almost more satisfying than the end result.

Everything in Kingsburg comes together quite nicely and I think it's a great game to show people that dice don't necessarily equate to lack of strategy or tactics in a game. As much as I like the game, though, I think it'll be best enjoyed in moderation. Players would probably grow tired of it if played too frequently in a short time span but it'd be a great one to take out every few weeks and have a fun round or two.

More on Twilight Imperium 3

(image courtesy @ nollan BGG)
This weekend I managed to get in another game of Twilight Imperium 3, this time with four players. I've now played three games but this was the first that we successfully completed! Our final play time was around the eight hour mark I think; for learning games it certainly seems like two hours per player is about right. I would guess with more plays that time will go down but the game takes just long enough to not make it a viable option for a regular game night during the week.

My love for the game continues to grow with each play. Twilight Imperium is a space epic that has players competing to be the first to earn ten victory points which are earned by completing public objectives. These objectives range from owning a certain number of planets to spending resources and destroying other player's craft. We play with the "Age of Empires" variant where all objectives for the game are made visible and available from the very start which I really think helps get the game going. Normally objectives are revealed as the game goes but I think that doesn't give players enough focus in the early rounds. With 10-15 points out for grabs from the start players can decide early in the game which they want to focus on.

The interesting part is these objectives don't necessarily require a lot of aggression but you'll certainly get pulled into conflict. At a glance the map looks large; with four or six players there are 37 over-sized hexes that make up the map. Once you start playing, though, you realize that you'll be butting heads with your neighbors within two to three rounds. Planets earn you resources for building new ships and influence for maintaining your ability to command ships so getting and holding planets is very important. There's enough room for everyone to have their share but I think it's rare that anyone is completely happy with what's given to them! You'll get fun contention over some planets and it almost never fails that at least one zone becomes mutually considered neutral.

Some objectives are going to require you to extend outside of your boundaries and the secret objective each player is given tends to force conflict if only in the very middle of the board on a planet called Mecatol Rex. Mecatol is a high influence planet which makes it very useful for commanding your fleet and controlling the senate votes. There's usually a race to get to Mecatol and then some fun, heated exchanges to fight for control over it.

(image courtesy kilroy_locke @ BGG)

Yes, you'll get some diplomacy - as much as players want to have - but at its core it is a light war and resource management game. You need to balance spending resources on your fleet and technologies to keep up with your neighbors while planning ahead to claim victory points. Many of the victory points are just a matter of time before you earn them: research a number of technologies, spend resources or influence, etc. The fun comes in deciding when and how you'll claim these points to push you into the lead and figuring out how to earn the last few more difficult ones.

Typically each player can only claim a single public objective at the end of a round so there's a limit to how quickly you can earn victory points. The expansion added a role that, when taken, allows that player to claim multiple objectives at the end of the round. I really love this mechanic as it allows players to try and plan ahead for a big move that jumps them ahead of everyone else, possibly pushing them to the win. There is certainly a lot of randomness in combat and in card pulls but I think the fate of your race really falls on your own shoulders. You can make good and bad choices throughout and I think playing with public objective and the right mix of expansion content really makes for a great strategic and tactical game.

At the heart of the game's play are eight roles that players pick from each round of play. These roles determine turn order for the round and also give each player a special ability they can use, along with a secondary ability that all other players will get to use. The original game came with a set of roles and there was a lot of discussion and argument over the balance (or lack thereof) surrounding these roles. Later the expansion (called Shattered Empire) added a new set of roles that could replace or mixed in with the base roles however players desire. The role mechanism really drives the game and good timing and choosing of roles is really key to success.

(image courtesy Santeler @ BGG)
One of the guys commented on how "stressful" the game was and I agree that it is but in the best possible way. The map closes up quickly and you'll constantly be on the brink of war and probably fighting on at least two fronts (unless you can negotiate peace with your neighbors). If someone sees that you are pulling away with the win you had better be prepared to have everyone else at the table turn on you. That tension and need to find balance really makes the game extremely fun and engaging. Sure it takes a long time to play but that time really flies. You'll be deep into the game, look at the clock and be shocked that six hours have passed already!

There's a lot going on in Twilight Imperium but it all comes together to make one of the best board gaming experiences I've had. The basic rules are really quite simple but there's so much breadth and depth that every single game will play out differently. I can't possibly cover everything there is about the game in a single writing, at least not without the majority of you completely glazing over. Maybe I'll do a few featurettes here and there to cover some of the more interesting aspects of the game.

Needless to say I'll never turn down a game of Twilight Imperium... nor should you. Assuming you are free for a good six to eight hours.

Light Games for Four or More

I was recently asked for suggestions on short to medium length games that work well with four or more players. The group of gamers is made up of some guys and their wives; they've been paying Settlers of Catan and enjoy it but wanted something a little lighter and with less of a time commitment. Here's the list I came up with, feel free to share your own list if you'd like! If you haven't played any of these games I highly suggest giving them a try:

Ticket to Ride
image courtesy Pr Halios

This is probably the first many would recommend. You are trying to collect sets of colored cards that allow you to build various length connections between cities on a map of the US. It's really easy to learn and play and the game can be as friendly or competitive as players want to make it. Plays up to 5 (I think it's at its best with 3 or 5) and will probably take around an hour to and hour and a half depending on your players.

If you haven't played Ticket to Ride before and are thinking of a purchase, head over to the Days of Wonder website. You can register on the site for free and play Ticket to Ride online. If you like what you see I highly suggest picking up a copy.

Alhambra
image courtesy myadestes

Each player is trying to build the best Alhambra. Yes, I know there is only one Alhambra but never mind the logistics behind that. It's a pretty game and there's no real confrontation (each players has their own play area), just a little bit of competition to purchase the tiles you want. You can play perfectly fine by only paying attention to your own Alhambra but you'll do better if you keep an eye on what others are doing. Plays up to six although I think it gets too chaotic for my tastes with more than four.

Bohnanza
image courtesy spearjr

Fun little game about bean farming. You have a hand of bean cards that form a queue so you must play them in the order you receive them. The fun is that you may only have two fields of beans in front of you at a time but on your turn you can trade away cards with other players to try and set yourself up for future plays. Bohnanza is very light, easy and entertaining. It has a fun social aspect as you trade with other players and requires just a little bit of forethought to try and plan your moves.

Category 5
image courtesy m . a b e

I've already mentioned this twice on the blog now but it fits perfectly on this list so I thought I'd bring it up a third time! A single round takes no more than a few minutes and there's a minimal amount of thought that needs to go into any given round of play. It also supports up to ten players, making it one of the most flexible games you'll find.

I promise to make this the last time I mention Category 5 for quite some time!

For Sale
image courtesy Jormi_Boced

Players buy up houses on the market and then try to sell them for the most money. It's a theme most people can relate to and the rules are incredibly simple. Just enough light strategy that you can put some thought into it and try to figure out the groupthink mentality each round or you can just play a card and see what happens. The art is fun, it plays up to six and I think I have yet to find someone who hasn't enjoyed it. For Sale is light enough to introduce to new gamers but there's enough substance there to work as the perfect filler for a more serious game group.

The Downfall of Pompeii

(image courtesy Drew1365 @ BGG)

There's something captivating about natural disasters. Not that I necessarily enjoy partaking in them but it's nigh impossible to flip past one on the Discovery Channel without stopping for a few minutes. I even watched a really interesting special on Pompeii and the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. The Downfall of Pompeii manages to take that horrible disaster and turn it into one heck of a fun little game.

Pompeii starts off innocently enough. During the first half of the game players move their set of people into the city. The map is divided into city blocks and buildings with a varied number of available spots on them. On your turn you'll play a card and place one of your people in a building matching the number on your card. You'll also get to place additional people based on how many others were in the building you picked; they call this the "relatives" rule but I call get getting as many people on the board as possible. There are seven gates that exit the city so generally you'll try and get people placed as close to the exits as possible.

Vesuvius is getting angry, though, and during the move-in phase you might draw an Omen card which lets you toss someone into the volcano. A little mean-spirited perhaps but erupting volcanoes and earthquakes generally aren't very forgiving. Once the 79 A.D. card is drawn Vesuvius erupts and the game changes to escape mode.

At this point any player pieces that didn't get into the city goes away; nobody wants to move in now! As players take their turn they first draw a random lava tile from the board, place it next to another lava tile matching its symbol and them move two of their people. If the lava tile lands on a city block with any pieces on it they all go into the volcano. When you move a piece you get to move it a number of city blocks equal to the number of pieces in that block. The winner is whoever got the most people out alive. If there's a tie then the winner is whoever has the fewest pieces in the volcano.

The rules might sound a little wonky and I'll admit they are. Placement rules can be a confusing at first as its counter-intuitive... why do you get to move more people in if you move someone into a building with others? There's no thematic answer but the key is it sets players up for the second phase. When escaping it doesn't thematically make sense that a piece moves further if it was in a crowd but the mechanics work really well. You need to have your pieces spread around to avoid getting gobbled up by lava, close to the gates for a quick escape and in groups so they can move quickly but you don't want to help other players out too much. It's a brilliant trade-off and really makes the game.

Even though the rules aren't exactly intuitive, players will generally catch on after a round or two. The game moves very fast and while it might be prone to a little bit of analysis paralysis (especially in the second half of the game) any single turn generally doesn't take too long. It is a light game and certainly luck dependent; random card and tile draws will influence the game. I do think that good planning will generally outweigh the luck of the draw in most cases.

Most importantly, though, Pompeii really evokes a great sense of prosperity followed by dread. In the first half things are pleasant and prosperous as everyone moves their people into the city. Once those lava tiles start hitting the board, though, the transformation of the board as the player pieces flee towards the exits is too much fun.

I highly recommend Pompeii. It's a great little game that plays in under an hour. The components are gorgeous, especially the awesome plastic volcano (as pictured). You can't help but make screaming sounds as you toss people into it! Yes, the game has some dark humor but it works. Even with its somewhat violent nature I think it makes for a fairly good gateway or family game. It's simple enough to teach (players catch on fast) and I think the theme and components easily help draw people in. Pompeii might not hold much appeal for a more hardcore gaming group but for something more casual it's a personal favorite.

Tag 6 = 6 Nimmt = Category 5 = Slide 5

(image courtesy cagriggs @ BGG)

A few weeks back I did a quick write-up on a great little filler game called Tag 6! which is also known in other parts of the world as 6 Nimmt!, Ta 6! and a few others. When it finally hit US shores it was called Category 5 and had a hurricane theme slapped onto it. The theme really didn't make that much sense and the artwork was ugly. Needless to say I don't think that version sold well.

I was pleased to find out that the game has recently been republished in the US as Slide 5 which appears to either have a monkey theme or skiing theme depending on which retailer you are looking at. The good news is that it seems to be available in larger stores like Barnes & Noble. From what I can tell all of the boxes say "Wolfgang Kramer's '6 Nimmt'" on them so you'll know you are looking at the right thing. It's also nice that they give Kramer credit (typically mass-market games never mention the designer) although most will have no idea who he is. Unfortunately the box I see at Amazon with the monkey theme says "Even a monkey can play"; even it if may be true that type of phrase doesn't make the game look particularly good. Don't pass it up because of the artwork!

Nice to see a great little game like Tag 6! get more exposure. It's easily my favorite filler. You can teach it in just a minute or two and play a few rounds in not much more than that. The game is deceptively simple, though, as there certainly is more to it than pure luck. If you want something quick, light and fun you probably won't find much better than this. It also supports up to ten players which is something of a rarity in games.

If you don't have a friendly local game store to visit or if they don't carry the game, check out Barnes & Noble or Amazon.com and see if you can't snag yourself a copy of Slide 5.