July Staff Picks Round Two!
We have picked some of our favorite games for you! All of these games can be purchased in store or via our online store here.
Terraforming Mars- Laura Schneider
- Name of Game: Terraforming Mars
- Publisher: Stronghold Games
- Year Published: 2016
- Type of Game: Hand Management, Tile Placement
- Play Time: 120 mins
- Rule Complexity: Medium
- Number of Players: 1-5
- Bits: Nice bits
- Rating: 5 Meeples
I love Terraforming Mars! It’s one of my favorite games from the past few years and it hits the table at our house often. We’re evenly matched in the game which has a bit of randomness, but really a lot of strategy. I win about half the time, but I always love to play. I like that it’s different every time, that the strategy is interesting and deep, that there’s a bit of player interaction, but no fighting, and I love the theme. In Terraforming Mars, you are a corporation participating in the terraforming of Mars. You start out with a skill or advantage and then play cards as you do things that both get you points at the end of the game and move the three indicators of successful terraforming up. When all three indicators are maxed out, the game ends and the corporation with the highest points wins. The game is played over a series of rounds with phases that include the Research Phase – this is how you get project cards; the Action Phase – do projects (play cards), place oceans, doing standard actions; and the Production Phase – you get resources – MegaCredits, Steel, Titanium, Plants, Energy and Heat. One of my favorite things about the game is that it is different every time. Depending on your corporation and your starting hand, you can choose your direction. Are you going to focus on plants and start with lichen and plants or are you going to focus on heat production and do projects that raise your production level. Oh, and there’s only one copy of each card and the stack is big. It guarantees that the game play is different every time. –Laura Schneider
Sheriff of Nottingham- Maddie Schenck
- Name of Game: Sheriff of Nottingham 2nd Edition
- Publisher: CoolMiniOrNot (CMON Limited)
- Year Published: 2020
- Type of Game: Bluffing Card Game
- Play Time: 60 mins
- Rule Complexity: Easy to Medium
- Number of Players: 3-6
- Bits: 1 Rulebook, 110 Gold Coins, 1 Booty Tile, 216 Goods cards, 6 Deputy cards, 6 Black Market cards, 1 Sheriff standee, 2 Deputy standees, 6 Merchant stands, 6 Merchant Bags
- Rating: 4.5 Meeples
In the game Sheriff of Nottingham, players take the role of merchants trying to make a profit during Prince John’s visit to Nottingham. Merchants have the option to hedge their bets and only sell legal goods to make profit, or take a gamble and try to get past the sheriff with high price black market goods by bluffing. Players take turns playing the role of the sheriff. The sheriff’s job is to stop merchants from smuggling black market items into the city, by trying to decide if merchants are telling the truth about the goods that they have on hand. The sheriff can confiscate goods and take bribes to make profit. Whoever makes the biggest profit wins. Sheriff of Nottingham gets extremely competitive. Whenever I play this game with my roommates there is a lot of lively banter, yelling, and laughing. The 2nd Edition loses half a Meeple for not having as good of a design as the first edition. –Maddie Schenck
Ticket to Ride: London- Dani Kennedy
- Name of Game: Ticket to Ride London
- Publisher: Days of Wonder
- Year Published: 2019
- Type of Game: Set Collecting
- Play Time: 15 mins
- Rule Complexity: Easy
- Number of Players: 2-4
- Bits: Similar to Ticket to Ride. The pieces look like little buses!
- Rating: 4 Meeples
I love Ticket to Ride, so when I saw Ticket to Ride London (and New York) I was so excited! This small box game has all the fun of Ticket to Ride but in 15 minutes. Ticket to Ride is a fun and easy family game perfect for kiddos ages 8+. You collect sets of cards that are the same color in order to place track from one area of London to the next. Player with the most points at the end of the game wins. It really is that simple. The small box of London and New York allows you to easily take this game camping, to a friend’s house, or anywhere for that matter. –Dani Kennedy
