Board Games on a Plane

When us gamers go a-travelin', you know that at least a few games get packed in suitcases and carry-on luggage. The husband and I recently flew out to California from Michigan and were sure to include Lost Cities, Alhambra (small box), and Bohnanza in our cases. Good choices? Me thinks so. Especially for hotel room gaming.

But what about on the plane? Well, imagine our horra when the airline peeps red-flagged all carry-ons for stowing under the plane. I could only carry to my plane seat what I could fit in my leather coat pockets (thank the gaming gods those pockets are 'uge....next time, I bring a giant purse!). So then it was Sophie's Choice: Which game do you stuff in your coat pocket for hours of plane entertainment?

On the first leg of the (layover-laden) flight, I opted for Lost Cities. For those who don't know, it's a light card game with quick-paced play. Each player takes the role of a Panama Jack/Indiana Jones explorer on expeditions to conquer...different colors of cards. Great pace, and for a vacation, it's a great theme. I also thought we could convert the game space to two divided spaces--one on each tray table. Yeahhhhh. Didn't work so well. It became clear to me mid-flight that the whole center depository board really needs more space than I had gauged from the terminal. Suckssss. So flight #1 is mostly gameless. And I pass the time kicking the chair of the snooty lady in front of me.

Flights #2-4 though are much more exciting thanks to what I estimate to be the most perfect, happy, excellent board game for two-person in-flight entertainment: Bohnanza. If you're not familiar with this card game, each player "works" as a bean farmer, growing a slew of comical beans in boom-or-bust fashion. It's deliciously interactive between the two players (unlike, say, Lost Cities, which is more silently contemplative, in my experience), it is fast-paced, and....best of all...wait for it....

....wait for it...

It turns out that two standard size coach-class commercial airline tray tables are the absolute perfect size to play Bohnanza. Granted, you must use the box with tray for the draw piles and discard piles a little creatively; My recommendation is to use two of the card tray slots for two separate draw piles to start the game--players can just choose which pile to draw from. When the discard pile starts to build up, then it's time to consolidate the draw piles into one tray slot and allow discards to take up two slots. This way, when there's turbulence, your slippery cards don't go sliding under the seat in front of you. (Can you imagine...losing Bohnanza cards on a plane? Oh the horra!)
So this, my sky trotting friends, is my recommendation to you. If you plan to game on a plane, don't leave the Bohnanza at home. Or Samuel L. Jackson will make you pay.

Oh, and just because I had one other Samuel L. Jackson gaming photo on-hand, and I just couldn't NOT use it, here you go:

Game Review: Innovation

I sadly don't have official "unboxing" photos of the new game, "Innovation" (Carl Chudyk, Asmadi Games), since I picked it up at 2010 Origins and there was a hasty unboxing during the shuttle ride back to the hotel one night. Since that time the box has been collecting dust in our game closet (with no disrespect meant to the game--it's just so many games, so little time!). But we finally broke it out just a few days ago, and here's what I thought!

First Impressions
This is a simple card game that looks very portable. The box is oddly large considering that the game is entirely one large deck of cards (UPDATE: Newer versions of the game have a more svelt box!). The rule book and action reminder cheat-sheet cards take up a little wider space, but being flat, this is one odd packaging concept. (Note to self: Sew an awesome and portable felt drawstring travel bag for Innovation game deck.)

Set-Up
First, players set out ten stacks of "Ages" cards that represent the evolution of man--1 is Prehistory and it goes up to 10 as the Information Age. For what we can only assume is aesthetic reasons, the game rules have players set up these ten stacks in a circular pattern, with a spread of "Achievement" cards in the center. When tabletop space is limited, we'll probably just spread these out wherever there's space in an untidy row. Same diff. Then each of the players gets two cards from the Age 1 pile, and the game is ready to begin.

The Gameplay
So here's what you do: On your turn, you choose 2 actions to take from a list of 4 types:
option #1 - Meld (lay down a card)
option #2 - Draw
option #3 -Achieve (buy a victory point)
option #4 - Dogma (use a melded card's action)

Drawing cards from the game piles gives you more interesting possible actions to "dogma" later, and you can't draw without taking this action, so the typical sequence to follow throughout chains of turns is Draw-Meld-Dogma. Draw-Meld-Dogma. Draw-Meld-Dogma. (Still waiting for that first "Achieve" moment!)

The whole goal is to earn "Achievements", which are the equivalent of victory points. Us two-player peeps need 6 achievements, which by the way, can take an ass-long time to earn. I can't decide yet if that makes this a richly deep card game, or just boring. But anyway, you earn these Achievements by scoring points that act as currency, and playing your action cards--which are accumulated in color-coded piles in your giant-ass sprawling personal gameplay area (two players playing this game will barely fit on a coffee table)--to screw over your opponent(s) or advance yourself into new Ages (read: start collecting better action cards). Yes, there's a lot going on here. Again, turns will be spent not only collecting and playing cards, but also trying to play actions that either disrupt your opponent, earn you points, or maybe help you reorganize your current piles of playable cards.

The Review
Innovation is, if nothing else, an intriguing game. There are so many different action cards--and, really, "dogma-ing" (to use the new gaming verb husband and I coined) is the bulk of the gameplay--that every game is a bit different, exciting, and potentially mind-boggling. In this sense, it reminds me of the stupidly splendid game, We Didn't Playtest This At All. Anything can happen, and people can win in the blink of an eye, or the whole game can snap around with one crazy action. There's also a lot of excellent opponent bashing that can happen here, giving us a flicker of rowdiness. And all this comes from a simple deck of cards. Nifty! And portable!

That's the really good news. The bad news? It's a bit dry. A fresh spread of clever artwork on the cards, or a little injection of humor could have breathed easy life into a game whose mechanics are all tidily in place. Plus, if you're sitting down for a game, be sure to have plenty of table space in front of you, and tell grandma to put on her reading glasses, because you'll be pouring over lots and lots of text in this game. This isn't a terrible thing at all, but is not for someone who's already fatigued or impatient.
Those paltry criticism aside though, there's something that's just off-beat enough about the different card actions, and the opponent rivalry can be just brutal enough that's it's got me hooked for at least a few more plays. And if the gameplay starts flowing more smoothly (right now it's like gloppy spoiled milk chunking out of a carton because we're a little slow on the reading and light on the focus), this might be a permanent keeper and a nice way to mix up game nights. Different is good, even if it's a bit scary at first. For that reason, this game gets an affectionately high and hopeful grade.
B+

Dominion Never Looked So Good and Sexy

Anyone who's played the Rio Grande game Dominion, no doubt understands that this card-intensive game is tricky to organize and store. Tons of stacks of cards, all of which need to be easily accessible, sorted, and secure in the box. To give credit to Rio Grande, they did a tolerably fair job of packing the original box, using a slatted cardboard insert and label sheet to help players find cards in a pinch (get it? 'cause you'd pinch the cards out of the box? Oh, never mind...). But not only is it far from ideal, the original packaging doesn't account for the oodles and oodles of expansions. That's where the Hope Diamond of all Dominion boxes comes into the story.

Now, I think most hardcore gamers who bum around Boardgamegeek.com (BGG) have seen many, many attempts to "pimp out" their Dominion decks. But the other day I stumbled across the prettiest, shiniest, smiliest game box I have ever seen. I want to pet it. I want to name it and take it home and put it in a little dress and serve it cookies. (And I'm only half in love with Dominion to begin with, owning just the original set.)

Furniture craftsman, and BGG member Wade Ashton, recently debuted his treasure chest-inspired wooden Dominion case as a prototype. The case features wooden row dividers, tabbed divider cards, metal hinges, a metal handle, and original Dominion artwork. And the whole thing is customizable since the row dividers can be removed and rearranged. Drooooool.  

The finished chest, which will accommodate even the cards in protector sleeves (Dominion nerd alert!), is being sold for between $160-170 (plus shipping). An unfinished version of the box is available for $90. And damn, is it worth the price. I'm very pleased to see that a number of pre-order requests are being placed (some for multiple boxes). You can find out more about ordering the box here. And if you'd like to gift one to me for the big 30th birthday in a couple weeks, leave a comment below and I'll promptly provide my shipping address. Anyone? Anyone?