I think I reached a new level of board game geek with my purchase of Forbidden Desert. It’s the first game I purchased in large part due to the fact that I was familiar with the designer’s previous work. Matt Leacock also created Pandemic, which is a wonderful cooperative play game that became a big hit with our fairly non-competitive group. The fact that Forbidden Desert also offered cooperative play was the final selling point for me.

Forbidden Desert (the full title is Forbidden Desert: Thirst For Survival and is put out by Gamewright) is a cooperative tile-based game for 2-5 players, aged 10 and up. It takes about 30-60 minutes depending on your skill level and familiarity with the game. While the game itself is fairly easy to learn, sporting a small six page rule book, it’s fairly difficult to master, which in my opinion is a great thing in a cooperative game.

Across a windswept desert, your team of adventurers is hunting for a legendary flying ship from the past. But a deadly sand storm has crashed your helicopter and stranded you. Now, with your very lives on the line, you must scour the area to find the pieces of the flying ship, assemble it and escape the sand storm before you’re all swallowed up by the ever shifting desert.

Each player takes on a random role (such as ‘Explorer’ or ‘Water Bearer’) and moves around a set of randomly arranged tiles that lie face down. These tiles, laid out (read more...)

Galaxy Trucker is Brian’s game, which he has had for six months or so and we just got around to playing it. I realize it’s been out since 2007, but there are so many games – don’t judge me! It’s published by Czech Games / Rio Grande – the same company publishing Tzolk’in: the Mayan Calendar (which we also love!) and Space Alert.  It’s also the same designer – Vlaada Chvátil.  Every game of his we’ve played has been good.

First, I would like to say that I am terrible at this game. I know, right? I should be good at it because I’m a fairly spatial thinker (maybe not??), but the building phase takes me forever. But I love it and want to play it again and again. Practice makes perfect, right?

The premise is that you are a contract hire pilot for Corporation Incorporated, a company that ships building materials to colonies on the periphery of the galaxy. You have been hired to build a ship from prefabricated parts and deliver your cargo to the Periphery. Any profits are yours to keep and there are bonuses for speedy delivery. But the trip is hazardous and you have to watch out for meteor attacks, alien invasions and space debris. The better built your ship, the safer your trip will be.

The components of the game are really nice. The tiles are a good size, the graphics are nice and the theme is well integrated. I especially love the (read more...)