Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Andrew's (Not So) Crappy Birthday

Around the time I established the all-day-gaming-event Davecon, Andrew began his own yearly tradition centered around his birthday.   He's done this for a few years now and it's something we all look forward to.  The premise is pretty simple: we all show up at Audrey and Andrew's place 'round 2 pm, have a couple of casual (and not so casual) beverages, char a few bovine meat patties or order up some grub and then play the crap out of a gaggle of games.

Given the light and informal nature of this occasion, most of the games we play are ideal for two demographics:
  1. Kids.
  2. Drunken yahoos.
So, a coupla Saturdays ago, we all got together to enjoy a day of good company, strong libations and fun games.  Since it was the first nice n' sunny day we'd had in about nine days we lingered outside on the patio for as long as we could.  As such, we got a few games in which are perfect for playing in THE GREAT OUTDOORS.

We kicked things off with a quick match of Worm Up.

The (hypothetical) starter's pistol fired and we were off!  Dean swerved in front of Claudia, increasing his odds of sleeping in a cardboard box in the basement for the next few nights.  Andrew desperately tried to Tron light cycle Dean.  Claudia and I immediately stalled when we picked the same number on two successive turns!  After a few false starts, we finally got off of each other's wavelength.  I finally started to budge when I played the "5" tile but then Cheryl and I started picking the same number!      


Dean started to duplicate everyone else's selection and promptly stalled.  Andrew jumped into the lead with some judicious "X" plays, allowing him to pick any unplayed number.  Claudia finally roared out of the gate with a move of six.  Cheryl threatened me with physical violence if I didn't stop picking her number so my unconscious brain finally went elsewhere.  This allowed her to surge ahead and challenge Andrew.  By the end of it, they were neck and neck.

In the end, it was Cheryl who avoided duplication and her worm hit the finish line just three segments ahead of Andrew.  I rallied mid-game for the "who gives a shit" third place finish.  


Andrew then broke out the ultimate picnic game: Hive.  With its colorful, vermin-themed images atop  high-density tiles it's one of those rare board games that never gets wet and never gets wind-blown!  

I didn't have any problem remembering the movement of the tiles but I'd long since lost the strategies.  It didn't take very long before I'd stranded both of my valuable Beetles: one far down in my own section and one serving as a useless connector between our two small Bee islands.  

Andrew, on the flip side, did a great job launching Grasshoppers into my neck of the woods and pinning my poor Bee down with Ants and Spiders.  In a desperate bid to play catch up, I tried to get a pair of Grasshoppers into position but it was already too little too late.            

We didn't even get a chance to get all of our pieces out!  Cripes, the less said about this match the better...

"Save tha beez!"

The second match was much more of a back-and-forth contest.  This time all of our tiles hit the table and it became a positional game of strategy.  Once again Andrew did a fine job catapulting Grasshoppers into flanking positions around my Bee.  I responded with some wily defensive maneuvering which bought me some time and allowed me to go on the offensive.

I used one of my agile Ants to create a beachhead close to Andrew's side of the table and then tried to swarm him with Grasshoppers and Spiders.  I also made sure to keep my Beetles free this time, using one of them to menace Andrew's Bee and the other to hamstring my attackers.  Unfortunately, while all this was happening, Andrew flanked my Bee, locking him in place.

By the time I was in position to strike, Andrew was only one move away from victory.  After he paralyzed my long-range Ant with his Beetle, Andrew brought his own unhindered Ant around, slipping him into the last flanking space like a creepy-crawly puzzle piece.

Hive: making players feel itchy since 2001.  

What can I say about Hive?  It really is one of those games that's easy to learn but challenging to master.  It's also a great introductory game.  Noobies are drawn to game's clean aesthetics and kids really grok the vermin factor.

So, what's the best kind of game to play when you're imbibing copious amounts of alcoholic beverages?  Why dexterity games of course!  And frankly there are few games that are simpler and more compulsively playable then Tumblin' Dice.

I tried to do a new technique this time out which involved standing side-on to the board and gently rolling the dice out of the palm of my hand.  In other words: my goal was to under-roll versus over-roll.  The strategy seemed to work out pretty good.  Even dice that were left on the one-multiplier space were often bumped down to a more valuable tier.


This resulted in one of my few Tumblin-Dice wins.  Here are the final scores:

Me...86
Audrey...68
Andrew...64
Dean...60
Cheryl...54
Claudia...35

Just like bowling or sex, Tumblin-Dice is a highly psychological game.  Even though I made a concerted effort to apply the exact same technique to Game Two, my score didn't testify.  In fact, I stranded many a die on the "0" level and threw even more clear off the far end of the table.  It also didn't help that, as the winner of Game One, my opponents were gunning for me big time.


Here was the final tally:

Claudia...100
Andrew...92
Dean...60 (Hey, he's nothing if not consistent!)
Audrey...56
Cheryl...56
Me...35

To further my point about the game's psychological component: astute readers will note that Claudia and I practically swapped scores!  While Claudia went into Game Two thinking that the only way to go was up I spent the entire time trying to remember how I won the first game!

You know what's another great type of game to play after you've been drinking heavily?  Why, a memory game, of course!  One of the more charming and straightforward titles in this category is the delightfully goofy Chicken Cha Cha Cha.    

Players start by arranging their wooden chicken tokens equidistant from one another along a "track" of whimsically-illustrated egg-shaped tiles.  In the middle of the track are more tiles with the matching images placed face-down.  In order to move your chicken around the track you need to flip over the tile which matches the image of the next space ahead of you.  If you keep picking matching tiles you can keep moving until you screw up.  You win the game by lapping your opponent's chicken and plucking out their "tail-feathers".

Technically this is a kid's game so it ain't exactly Advanced Squad Leader.   But for someone like me, with barely any recollection of what I had for lunch yesterday, games like this aren't exactly my strong suit.  I managed to retain the position of four or five tiles but beyond that I had to wait for someone else to flip over what I needed just before my turn.  Cheryl made a good initial run before experiencing some sort of critical memory loss while Claudia made several encouraging dashes.

But ultimately, after a pokey start, Andrew chained together a slew of jumps and relived the entire coop of its collective tail-feathers.

Shake yo' (stolen) tail-feathas.  

Although I often approach memory games with a feeling of dread, the colorful components and winning gameplay had me focused on nothing more deep then finding that damned fried egg tile.  A word to the wise: if you don't want to be reminded of just how many brain cells you've killed over the span of your adulthood you may want to avoid playing this with actual kids.

Although I suck at memory games, I'm great at any base, lizard-brained pursuits that involve reaction time or hand-eye co-ordination.  Hence my complete and total dominance in the incredibly um...loopy Loopin' Louie.  

The game's main mechanic (and I mean "mechanic" in the literal sense) is a central motor that moves around a comically-exaggerated Red Baron-esque crop-duster figurine at the end of a plastic armature.  At the lowest altitude of his flight path, Louie will storm your "barn"and snatch up yo' l'il circular plastic chickens.  Fortunately, each player controls a little armature that they can use to ward Louie off if they can time it right.  The last player with chickens left in their barn wins the game.

Batten down tha hatches: this guy's a crazier pilot then Murdock from The A-Team.  

Thanks to my formative years of playing rod hockey, I had this one by the ass.  In fact, I only lost one chicken over the course of two games.  I don't care if it's recommended for kids ages four years and up, I still rock at this game!!!

Go home, Louie, you're drunk.  

We then settled in for Andrew's perennial play of Crappy Birthday.

On any given player's turns it's their "birthday" and everyone else has to guess as to what the worst possible gift would be for that particular person amongst a handful of five disturbingly illustrated cards.  The birthday boy or girl then shuffles all of their "gifts" together, lays them out randomly and then picks the one they despise the most.  The sick bastard who gave you that particular gift gets a point, everyone draws back up to five cards and then play proceeds clockwise.

Mike and Heather had arrived by that point in time so all eight of us ended up playing.  To help speed things up we used a variant rule allowing players pick both their worst and their best gifts, doling out double the pointage every turn.

Game One went back and forth but ultimately it was Audrey who proved victorious!

P.S. For the record, those are Dean's manly mitts in the photo, not Audrey's.    

In Game Two, Claudia proved particularly prescient and took home the win.

Interesting fact: Andrew loves candy corn.  Especially for a birthday gift.     

In spite of the late hour and our increasingly taxed livers, we decided to move on to meatier fare.  This came in the welcome form of the fabulous little press-your-luck title Incan Gold.

Players take on the role of adventurers delving into an ancient Incan temple in search of gold, jewels, artifacts and photo opportunities.  Over the course of five rounds, participants secretly choose if they want to press deeper into the ruins or back out and risk sharing what they've already discovered with similarly lily-livered rivals.

As the remaining explorers move into the bowels of the temple, cards are turned over to reveal new valuables like obsidian and turquoise or scary threats like mummies or giant spiders.  If the same threat turns up twice, all of the remaining booty is lost and anyone left in the temple runs away empty-handed.  In other words: you're constantly asking yourself this eternal question.

After five rounds, whoever has the most bling squirreled away inside their pup tent wins the game!

I started off fairly strong, pressing on until most of the other players were out.  Towards mid-game I began to get a lot more skittish, backing out with Cheryl on several occasions, much to her consternation.  Even though I never got snared by any of the threats, I also didn't press on enough to vie for the really valuable artifacts.

Andrew, on the other hand, took bravery to the point of rank stupidity.  Even when there were two or sometimes three single hazards out on the table, he kept pressing on, hoping to shake persistent rivals like Heather and Mike.  Unfortunately, a duplicate danger always appeared without fail, sending the intrepid spelunkers packing back to camp for a change of shorts.

Meanwhile, Dean, Audrey and Claudia played a considerably more balanced game, gettin' out when the gettin' was good and making off with a couple of clutch artifacts.  In the end here's how the scores stacked up:

Dean...31
Claudia...28
Audrey...26
Me...24
Mike & Heather (Awwww)...13
Cheryl...7
Andrew...0

"Snakes...why'd it have to be snakes?
  
We finished up the night with a Bang!  I have a soft spot for this group party card game, which easily evokes the tone and flavor of a Sergio Leone western.  At the start of every game, each player is assigned a random Character Card with a unique health rating, hand limit and special power.

Then everyone is given a role which details your allegiances and game-winning goals.  Renegades need to be the last varmint standing, Outlaws have to murder the Sheriff, the Deputy has to take down the Outlaws and make sure the Sheriff doesn't end up in Boot Hill and finally the Sheriff has to gun the Renegade as well as all of the Outlaws.    

To keep things really interesting, all of the roles and loyalties, save the Sheriff, are kept concealed.  During the game, players use a handful of variable cards to fire on opponents ("Bang!"), dodge bullets ("Missed!"), snipe from a distance, or get outta Dodge via horseback.  With constant references to "Beer", "Cat Balou", "Duels", "Stagecoaches", "Wells Fargo" and "Winchesters", the spaghetti western theme comes through loud and clear.

OUR CHARACTERS:

Andrew: Bart Cassidy
Cheryl: Sid Ketchum
Claudia: Willy the Kid
Me: El Gringo
Dean: Sheriff Paul Regret
Heather: Kit Carlson
Mike: Black Jack
  
Almost immediately Dean and Mike got into it like cats and dogs.  With a little assist from Heather, Mike soon found himself soundly ventilated.  Unfortunately, he also revealed himself as one of the Deputies!  As if killing one of his only allies wasn't bad enough, Sheriff Dean was forced to surrender his entire hand of cards as an additional penalty!

Thanks to the incessant steam of cross-table carnage via "Indians" and "Gatling Gun", I was very nearly killed even before my turn came around!  Color me bitter for getting stuck with a Character that had only three Life Points!  Fortunately, El Gringo's ability to steal cards from people who shoot him actually helped to facilitate the recovery process.


Thanks to an entire keg-full of "Beer" I slowly nursed myself back to full health.  A temporary truce with Andrew helped, not that I was in any shape to refuse him.  Andrew managed to go a full round before he started thieving my cards and attempting to "Bang!" me (?).  Jesus, at least buy a guy dinner first!  Given my fleeting health, I could barely fight back, especially when Claudia decided to pile on.

With Mike now out of the picture, Heather sparred with Andrew for a bit.  Dean, sensing that she might be (A) vulnerable and (B) evil, pumped Heather with more lead then a can of Chinese house paint.  Having dispatched one of the Outlaws, Sheriff Dean got a much-needed constitutional in the form of three new card draws.  Despite this, he never quite recovered from gunning down Mike so early in the game.

Cheryl tried to run interference but got turned into a piece of swiss cheese thanks to Claudia's ability to play multiple "Bang!" cards.  With the second Deputy in the dirt, things were looking pretty grim for the forces of law and order.  As the Renegade, I desperately kept looking for a "Poison The Well" card.  I needed everyone else to drop dead but I didn't have the health nor the means to act like a crazed, random aggressor.

Although I was hoping for a rift to break out between Claudia and Andrew, I suspected that they were already aware of each other's loyalties.  Looking to cloud my own identity and avoid the ire of my two closest opponents, I took a long-distance sniper-shot at Dean.  I didn't kill him, but I softened him up for a one-two punch by my rivals.

After Andrew and Claudia killed Dean, they revealed their roles and claimed a dual win as the Outlaws!



Bang! is an engaging little game with tons of different variables and plenty of deduction and bluffing.  Even though some of the game's iconography and lost-in-translation card text will have you reaching for the rules from time to time, this fourth edition of the game makes finding answers a snap.  Although it can sometimes be a challenge to wrangle up enough cowpokes to get the optimal player count, it's a ton of fun whenever it happens!

***  
We packed it in around midnight after ten solid hours of drinks, games and endless double entendres.
I thanked Andrew and Audrey for hosting this great event and silently hoped it was step towards everyone having their own special game day.

Looking to shake up your next summer get-together, barbecue or booze-soaked chin-wag?  Consider busting out any of these great party / kids games to help with the conversation lubrication!









Friday, June 14, 2013

Kobayashi Maru - The Board Game : "Space Alert"


Game designer Vlaada Chvátil may not be as prolific as Reiner Knizia, but when inspiration hits, look out.  Within the span of three short years he created some of the most innovative and wildly fun board games ever produced.  After producing the empire-building classic Through the Ages: A Story of Civilization in 2006, Vlaada was back one year later with the frantic starship-builder Galaxy Trucker.  He then served up the brilliant co-operative game Space Alert in 2008, which successfully married the frantic action planning of RoboRally with an intense Star Trek-style alien encounter.

Thanks to a two-week vacation I've been on a gaming hiatus for awhile so when Space Alert was proposed for this week's turn I was totally onboard.  We all loved the game when we played it during Cabin Con and everyone was anxious to revisit the experience.

So what makes Space Alert so special?  This brief transmission from the Czech Games website might give you some idea:

Space Alert is a team survival game.  Players take on the role of a crew of space explorers sent out through hyperspace to survey a dangerous sector of the Galaxy.  The pace of the game is set by 10-minute soundtracks on included CDs (or by scenario cards, if you don’t have a CD player).  During these 10 minutes, the crew must defend the ship while it scans the enemy sector.  If they succeed, the ship brings back valuable data.  If they fail… it is time to train a new crew.

Players do not compete against each other.  Instead, they work together against the challenge presented by the game.  The difficulty of this  challenge can be chosen by the players themselves. Completing the most difficult missions requires close teamwork.

Looking to scan the game's computer banks for a full technical readout?  Do yourself a favor and check out the hilarious Paranoia-inspired rule book right here.

***

COLOR ASSIGNMENT AND ROLES
Andrew...Red
Me...Purple
Dean...Yellow (Captain)
Mike...Blue (Communications Officer)



FIRST TEST RUN

Our first test run was a true comedy of errors.  Cap'n Dean took the Gravolift below deck and tried to do some resource management, but he only succeeded in diverting the Energy that had already been converted.  In fact, all three Fuel Capsules were still untapped by the end of the scenario.  

Terrified by the prospect of actually moving around, I stayed in the Upper White Station and blazed away at the looming threat.  Unfortunately, with ship-board energy at a premium, my attacks soon became the equivalent of tapping the 'Fire' button on an unplugged Galaga console.  

In the Upper Blue Station, Mike got a few smacks in on the Pulse Ball before he also ran out of juice.  This threat's across-the-board counter-attack effectively wiped out our Shields, leaving us wide open for a left-flank coup de grace.  

Andrew did his best to safeguard the Upper Red Station.  Unfortunately he started firing at the Stealth Fighter before it actually appeared on the board.  Whoopsie!  After our Shields were battered into oblivion by a Destroyer / Pulse Ball tag-team effort, the Stealth Fighter sheared off our portside section and we exploded in a simulated ball of fire und screams.  


Result: loss.  


SECOND TEST RUN

Dean did a better job managing the energy flow this time out, converting one of the three Fuel Capsules in the process.  This gave us an extra bump in power which keep the Shields up and the guns a-blazin'.  Unfortunately it still wasn't enough and by the end of the run, we were all mashing comically impotent buttons.    

Via the powerful Heavy Laser Cannon, I plastered the Energy Cloud on my very first shot.  Unfortunately, after diverting power to the Shields, the bonus energy I was counting on for my follow-up never materialized.  After my pre-programmed move whisked me away to the Upper Red Station,  a wounded and very pissed-off Energy Cloud completely drained our Shields in an act of revenge.  

Seeing that we were now completely defenseless, Mike tried to keep Andrew's weapons fueled in the Lower Blue Station.  But once those few spare Green Energy Blocks were allocated, all he could do was sit around and polish his nacelle.        

Andrew did get a shot off with his Laser Cannon but the Cryoshield Fighter shrugged it off thanks to its annoying initial hit immunity.  The enemy ships returned fire, battering the Blue Station's weapons, rendering the Gravolift Tube inoperable and causing significant cosmetic damage.  Mercifully my boosted Shields kept the center section of the ship free from harm.    

The same couldn't be said for the Red Station.  Although Dean and I accumulated four damage on the Gunship, our inability to eliminate a single target resulted in a corona of cross-fire.  A combined, short-range attack by all three enemy ships blew our precious ship into a million sparkly bits.  


Result: loss.  

SIMULATION ONE

By now our fictional instructor was having some serious concerns about his new cadets.  After all, we'd just been annihilated in the two most basic training scenarios and our adversaries were only going to get stronger.  As such, our immediate goal for the first advanced simulation was pretty humble: destroy at least one enemy ship.     

Dean, clearly a hands-on kind of Captain, rolled up his sleeves, went down below deck and tried to keep the ship powered up.  He managed to convert two out of the three Fuel Capsules, ensuring that  energy wouldn't be an issue this time out.  But if his crew actions were scattered and disorganized, would his efforts be in vain? 

We were flushed with success early on.  I winged the Pulse Satellite with my forward-mounted Heavy Laser Cannon and Andrew polished it off a well-placed Rocket.  After tending to the needy computer and grazing the Stealth Fighter with a barely-operating Heavy Laser Cannon, a jumbled set of actions led me to the Lower Red Station where I found myself staring awkwardly at Captain Dean.  This gave the virtually-unopposed Stealth Fighter an opportunity to obliterate four port-side systems.  

Believe it or not, that wasn't the biggest threat to the ship.  That would be the ginormous Asteroid bearing down on us like the Armageddon rock.  Mike managed to take a two-point potshot at it with his Pulse Cannons but this was like trying to stop a charging rhino with an ice cube tray.  Meanwhile, Andrew tried to multi-task as best he could, succeeding in the virtually-impossible task of keeping the Shields aloft in the Upper Blue Station.

With a giant chunk of space rock hurtling toward his face, Andrew got behind the controls of the Heavy Laser Cannon.  Although Mike succeeded in diverting power from the main engine room to the Lower Blue Station, Andrew didn't have enough time to charge the Cannon.  With only two points of damage chipped off the Asteroid, it collided with our ship like a Winnebago running into a mailbox.  

   
Result: loss.  


SIMULATION TWO

Seeing that it was actually possible to destroy an enemy ship, we dusted ourselves off, got back in the saddle and charged headlong into the next scenario.  

After babysitting the ship's needy computer, Mike sped off to the Upper Red Station intent on confronting a marauding (and decidedly Lovecraftian) Interstellar Octopus.  Unfortunately the cross-ship combined damage inflicted by the Space Cephalopod and the Pulse Ball knocked out that section's Shields and caused considerable structural damage.  

Although Andrew's first strike on the Cryoshield Frigate was ineffectual, his sacrifice allowed both of us to pile on the damage.  Unfortunately we were so obsessed with bringing the pain that we neglected to keep the Shields powered up and when the Frigate returned fire, it knocked out several key systems.  We finally managed to destroy the damned thing with a combination of Heavy Cannon fire and Rockets.

This allowed me to move back to the White Upper Station and jiggle the mouse.  Unfortunately I'd programmed this a round too late.  My computer maintenance was a wasted move and, even worse, all of our actions were delayed.  To add insult to injury, my last two Fire attempts were useless since I couldn't pull any power.  Meanwhile, Andrew drilled the Pulse Ball with his Rocket.  Wow, that sounds filthy.

Meanwhile, Dean ran around like a decapitated chicken, trying to keep the systems fueled whilst blasting away at the Stellar Squid for two points of damage.  Unfortunately it was all for naught.  By the time the two remaining enemy ships closed to within short range, our Shields were in tatters.  After the damned Pulse Ball inflicted two hits on every zone of our ship, the Interstellar Octopus went all Japanese tentacle porn on the U.S.S. Incompetence, causing two points of damage for every remaining hit point.  That's twelve points of damage for those of you keeping score at home, BTW.  

Indeed, we paid dearly this time out for our all-offense strategy.  Next time we'd learn from our mistakes and strive for a more balanced effort.  

   

Result: loss.  


SIMULATION THREE

This time out Dean converted two Fuel Rods in quick succession and the resulting surplus of ship-wide energy became a real boon.  After kicking ass in the engine room and ensuring that all the peripheral systems were powered up, our intrepid skipper went top-side to aid in a port-side defense of the ship.

Off in the Blue Station, Andrew and I did our patented Heavy Laser / Homing Rocket combo, blowing the inbound Stealth Fighter into atoms.  Assuming that Mike had the center quadrant covered I rushed over to the Red Station to help Dean ward off the two inbound bogeys.  Of particular concern was the looming Energy Cloud which threatened to drain our shields when it crossed into "X" range.

Fortunately Dean had the weapons perfectly primed and we blasted away at the Energy Cloud and the Gunship.  Andrew's Rocket added to the fray and pretty soon both ships had been vaporized.  Noticing that Dean had abandoned the engine room, Andrew ran in and converted the last Fuel Capsule.  This was great since it allowed us to get some of the Shields back up.

Poor Mike got stuck with all the crappy utilitarian duties like computer maintenance and energy transferral.  Although we'd the port and starboard sides of the ship had been successfully defended, the central region was still being menaced by a massive Leviathan Tanker.  Mercifully, we managed to keep the Shields up long enough to block one of the Tanker's long-range strikes.

But when the Energy Cloud siphoned away the ship's last line of defense, the Tanker went on to obliterate the White Station's Shield generator and Pulse Cannon!  We all collectively held our breath, knowing that the Tanker was going to have its way with us in one final close-range strike.  It kept piling on the hurt without mercy, causing significant structural damage and turning the Heavy Laser Cannons into a pile of smoking wreckage!

As the dust settled we tentatively peeked out from behind our covered eyes to realize that we weren't dead!  By destroying all of the other enemy ships, the threat of additional damage had been nullified.  We'd survived, just one point of damage away from defeat!

Things really came together for us in this final scenario.  Our communication was impeccable and we moved around the ship with confidence, never lingering too long in one place and multi-tasking on several stations.  A timely balance of resource management, defensive Shielding and co-ordinated attacks allowed us to eke out a close win!  



Result: VICTORY!

***

PROS
  • Although wins tend to be fleeting in any co-operative game, surviving a scenario of Space Alert is particularly gratifying.  Why?  Because you really get the sense that victory here is directly linked to practice and experience.  As an individual you're constantly testing the limit of your actions and as a group you're always trying to figure out better ways to communicate and collaborate.  Honestly, I can't think of a better co-operative game in that regard.
  • Space Alert easily avoids the dreaded Bossy Veteran Syndrome which tends to hobble so many co-operative titles.  Although it makes sense to heed the orders of a competent Captain, how you go about doing it is entirely up to you.  I highly suggest that you play every scenario with your Action Cards face down.  It really ramps up the theme as well as the challenge.  
  • If you thought the time-limited action programming in RoboRally was intense, wait 'til you get a load of Space Alert!  In this game you've got a bunch of ship-mates relying on you to get it right!  Although some people might consider the game stressful, I think it's brilliantly immersive.         
  • Some folks also might grouse about all of the humorous asides in the rule book, but, hey, at least it ain't boring.  In fact, I wish more game designers had a sense of humor.  I appreciate any manual that doesn't read like a protracted legal document.  
  • I love how each new Test Run and Simulation adds just a bit more chrome.  Hell, we haven't even done an actual mission yet!  When new scenario rules appear they never seem to contradict what's come before, making for a programmed method of learning that's actually intuitive and effective.     
  • The rules themselves are clear and straightforward.  Gameplay only takes about ten minutes and the Mission Step Board makes follow-through a breeze.  Once you get the hang of it you can easily play five or six scenarios in one sitting.
CONS
  • I have to confess: I'm not a big fan of the board.  Yeah, I know it's in the same style as Galaxy Trucker, but I'm not exactly crazy about that game's graphic design either.  The space ships look like something in a crappy 1930's Flash Gordon serial.  I know it's in step with the game's goofy tone, but if I'm gonna stare at artwork for several hours I want it to easy on the eyes.  Although the riot of color and hackneyed graphics were done for game play clarity I think it comes off as cluttered and garish.  
  • I'm not a huge fan of real-time games, often finding them more stressful than entertaining. Via co-operative game play, Space Alert does manage to mitigate this somewhat.      
***

Honestly, I can't think of very many games that are this exciting, engaging, rewarding and fun.  We had such a good time playing through the "simulations" we're hoping to demo our first real mission this Saturday for our significant others.  Either we'll have a bunch of potential new recruits or they'll wonder why we're voluntarily subjecting ourselves to such a stressful experience.

Taking it's inherent ugliness and intrinsically stressful game play into account, Space Alert gets a solid  five pips out of six.  



***

Wanna stare out the space window as your ship goes down in a blaze of glory?  Click on the image below to procure a copy of Space Alert and help support this blog!