Pitch Car

In Pitch Car you are a racing car driver, navigating perilous turns and dastardly corners all while battling your fellow competitors for that number one spot.

Pitch Car a dexterity game, where you have to try to be the first flick your car token three times round a track. The core rules are incredibly simple and they are:
 In a turn, everyone takes their turn by, if their car is touching a safety rail or another car, move their car

one car widths away and then flick it. If the car goes off the track, return it to its previous position.
Like I said, pretty simple.

Due to it's simple nature, Pitch Car is a great game for introducing people to dexterity games, for example, when I took it to the games club at my school (where only me and my sister have any real experience in games) we were playing in seconds and everyone really enjoyed it. It is very fast pace, and everyone is always on their toes, anxiously watching everyone else's move to see if they can retain there position. Another thing that is brilliant about this game is that it has really good quality track pieces (made out of wood) that can be rearranged to make different tracks, meaning that no game is the same. Overall I think that it is an incredible game and is a must for any family.

Tokaido

In Tokaido, you are a traveller, going down the famous Tokaido road which stretches all the way from Edo (modern day Tokyo) to Kyoto. Your goal is to have the best time possible in your travel painting

pictures and buying gifts. But beware, if you end the day with no money to buy food, your happiness could be severely damaged.

In Tokaido, the main aim is to collect the most points by having the most enjoyable experience as you travel down the Tokaido road, visiting various stops along the way. There are a variety of different places that you can stop as you travel along the board, all which do different things. For example, if you stop at farm then you can collect money, which you can then spend on a shop stop to buy gifts and presents. The variety of stops provide a wealth of options for tactics and strategies. The board is divided into days, with a inn at the end of each which provide food and drink for the travellers. Having enough money to buy food at the inn is absolutely crucial, as having a meal at the end of the day provides you with a massive six points (which could make the difference between winning and losing at the end of the game).
A defining feature of the game a rule that states that the person who is at the back of the board gets to go for as many times as they want, until they go past someone else on the board, and then the person who is at the back will take their turn. This means that if you want get to that temple spot half way down the board, then you are going to have a long wait for your next turn.

Another thing that adds complexity to the game is that everyone has a special power which lets them do different things (which help hugely during the course of the game).

I personally love this game due to it's brilliant art work and amazing theme. I also love how you only get your turn when you are at the back of the line, which adds a level of stratergy to the game. This game is one of my sisters absolute favourites and she was the one who actually bought it (a strange occurrence in our household) because she says it, "Seems quite simple on the skin actually it is a quite tactical game. Also, the artwork is amazing." Overall I would give it a 9 out of 10 and I think it is definitely worthy of a space on our crowded games shelf.

Games you could get for children's birthdays (3/3)

Finally, in this blog post, I will bring to a close a series I have been doing about what gaming gift you could get children from 1 to 12 years old. This blog will focus on children who are 9 to 12 years old, but if you want to view the post I did about 0 to 4 year olds you can find it here and for the post about 5 to 8 year olds, you can find it here.

For children who are 9

You should buy them Cube Quest a really fun flicking game, where you have to try and knock the other player's king cube off the board. It also includes elements of strategy, as you try and find the

perfect formation or combination of cubes to snatch victory.

For children who are 10

You could get them a copy of Forbidden Island which is an amazing game to introduce them, if you haven't already, into the cooperative genre of games. It is tense and exciting, as you struggle against the

game to get all the magic items and get off the inland before it sinks.

For children who are 11

Buy them One Night Ultimate Werewolf, which is a really fun lying game were you have to try and figure out who is the werewolf, and kill them. Children who are 11 years old and above, will be starting to look for games they can play with their friends, and this game is perfect for that. 

For children who are 12

Get them Lords of Waterdeep, which is a exciting worker placement game where you try to gain power and prestige in the mythical city of Waterdeep. I do not know one person who doesn't like this game and it a wonderful game for all the family. The wealth of options in the game means that no game will be the same and every game is new and exciting.

   

Games you could get for children's birthdays (2/3)

This blog post, will cary on with a series of blog posts I have been doing about what kind of presents you should get for children from 0 to 12 years old. This blog post will focus on presents for children who are 5 to 8 years old. If you have missed the first section in this series of posts, you can find it here.

For children who are 5

Buy them Tutan Loot 'em a very simple card game, were you have to try and collect as many artefacts as you can, but, you have to be careful or the other players will steal you entire stash.

For children who are 6

Buy them Little Wizards a roleplaying game for 6 to 10 year olds were you take on the role of a child wizard , helping the magical land of Coinworld. Although they might not be old enough to be the Narrator (also known as the games master) it is a well worth experience if you can find someone to run it

For children who are 7

Buy them Pitch Car, a really fun game where you have to try and flick your car round a track and be the first one to complete 3 laps. Children are often a lot better than adults at this game which makes a

nice change from adults nearly always beating children at everything.

For children who are 8

Buy them Sushi Go, a "pick and pass" card game where you are trying to collect sushi to score the most points. It is an amazing game and has some of the best artwork I have seen on a game in a while.

 

Uk Games Expo

For a birthday treat, me,my family and my Uncle who happened to live nearby went down to the Uk Games Expo and we weren't disappointed.

The first thing I have to mention is the venue, or the change in it. The convention used to be held in a hotel in Birmingham ,which would have been great, if the event was half its size. The crush of people made it impossible to move or look at anything without being swept along with the constant river of people. Imagine being in that situation as an adult, now imagine that, but as a child. So I was delighted when I found out that it was moving to a much larger venue called the NEC which is only a few minutes walk away from the hotel. Now having experienced the new larger venue, I was really amazed at how much it increased the enjoyment of the trip. You had space to breath and talk to all the exhibitors and get to your wanted destination.

One of the things that I probably most enjoyed in the festival was not the browsing or the buying, but actually playing games that I would not normally get to play. For example, I tried a game called Jamaica which was really fun, but not quite worth buying. I also played a mega version of Colt Express (games conventions are really good for these kind of super sized games) which was hilarious as no one knew what the heck was going. However, if you try all the games that catch your eye, you will almost certainly get one you don't like. For my family and I, this came in the form of "Beyond Baker Street" which all my family hated. The theme of Sherlock Homes felt copied and pasted (and I know (or I hope I know) that theme is very important to children, if it's theme is dry, I wouldn't bother playing it). Keeping on this theme theme (see what I did there), we also played  a game called the Gum-Gum machine which actually felt like you where operating a machine. It was really fun, but we didn't really play it properly as were half-asleep when we played it. I found 2 new games through playing games that I bought and played several times since the convention. One of those games was called Celestia and one of them was called Sushi Go (I will almost certainly review these to in more detail in a later post) and I love both of them!

Another thing I should mention, is the wealth of activities apart from the normal brows and buying, there were countless tournaments, loads of talks and even a few rere-enacmentenactment thrown in there which made for a very exciting and diverse time if you liked that kind of thing. I was lucky enough to be able to find time to go and watch a few of the tournaments, and it was very interesting ,and showed me what tournaments are like.

Finally, I have to mention the food, which was absolutely delicious (if rather pricey in some places) and quite convenient. A small selection of food and drinks was supplied in the actual venue its self, but the main place to get food was in a food fair which was situated just outside the hotel where the convention used to take place in.

Overall I thoroughly enjoyed the experience and I think that anyone who is near it should definitely give it a go. I will definately be going next year (if my Mum lets me) and I hope that it will only get better.