Bang and Twang family board game review

*This game was kindly provided to me by handiwork games as a review copy for free, but that has not changed my blog post/review

In Bang and Twang you join a folk band of questionable musical taste that, while not being attacked by dragons or making way for a vigorous bongo melody, must try to match the rhythm of the song in this musical family game.

You start the game with three central cards on the table, each with Bang on one side and Twang on the reverse. The aim of the game is to match the order of the Bangs and Twangs on the table with those on cards in your hand. On your turn, if you have the matching ‘melody’ on your card, you can bank it in your personal stash, collecting points as you do so. More likely though, you will need to first move or flip one of the central cards, hopefully now making the cards play to your tune so you
can bank your card. However, if you are lucky enough to have one in your hand, you become
the start of the show by playing a tune card, these have special effects like shoving everyone else off the stage and forcing them to listen to your three-hour long kazoo reprisal.

The first thing you notice about this game is the art. The cards are illustrated in a childish cartoon style which in my experience is more controversial than which type of Dorito is the best (my Mum really liked it, but ,my friend hated the style of art). Children will love it, but for others it will really turn them off as the don’t want to play a ‘kid’s game’ whereas games with a plainer style like Uno can be enjoyed by everyone. That being said the optional coins you can get with the game are
universally lovely (like spicy Doritos which everyone loves, and if you don’t you are bad and wrong).


But once you get past that and have pushed past a mildly confusing rulebook you get to, if I am being totally honest, a rather boring game. The main act of shunting around the middle of the table can get old very quickly, especially if you play more than one game at a time. Add to that, that the special tune cards are so few and far between that you can spend turns not doing something exciting and when you do get one, some of them don’t do that much (like just getting a few extra points). This leads to a game that is less like Beethoven’s symphony and more like the car alarms that wake you up in the middle of the night.

However not all hope is lost, as after playing several games we found an easy fix. If you add another one of the many sets of special tune cards to the deck, it improves the game tenfold. Now it is much more fun and significantly crazier, with interesting things happening every single turn, like you’ve added put the original game into hyperdrive.

Bang and Twang is, if you add in the extra tweak above, a pretty good family game. The fast, easy fun of Bang and Twang will definitely work for ages 7 - 12 (especially if you don’t use the more complicated special tune cards). However, I think for everyone else there are just some better other options of simple party games (like Dungeon Mayhem) that are a lot more enjoyable.

Book review: Tintian and the King’s Claw

The Sci-Fi thriller ‘Tintian and the King’s Claw’ follows the crime fighting footsteps of Leigh Tintian and the reformed alcoholic Millesabord as they try to uncover the shady dealings and track down the crew of the ship Shikahogh (which sounds like a Lovecraftian monstrosity but sadly isn’t) in a joyful but slightly forgettable romp through space.

I managed to read this in about a week and enjoyed coming back for more each time. This was due to several reasons, like the quirky natures of the characters. A favourite of mine was the drunk Captain Millesabord who decided after a small drink to start a fire in a star craft in the middle of space (showing that she can hold her drink about as well as a teenager who has only had Doritos to eat for the last 24 hours).

Another reason, was the fast rate that the book progresses, with not a word in the book slowly meandering to the point but cutting straight to it. This keeps the book going at a galloping rate, never leaving you in a dull moment.

With two strong female leads, it nice that this book includes a healthy dose of female empowerment in it which is much appreciated in this era of story book characters generally being men, with women being pushed to the supporting roles.

However … while this book has its good points, it certainly is no classic. The pacing of the scenes sometimes felt a bit wonky leading to me not being on the edge of my seat in action scenes and some of the character’s development was poorly implemented and brought you out of the experience. It also had completely average world building, nothing stood out to me as a particularly imaginative or things that I hadn’t seen before.

Not every book though has to be a work of art to be enjoyed.  I would say reading this novel is a lot like eating popcorn, while there is not much substance there, you’ll munch it down happily before you maybe move on to something more fulfilling. I would definitely recommend you to read this if you are between books or maybe want to get back into reading with something easier to digest.

4 things to look out for in games

After reviewing quite a lot of games, I think some things have stuck out as things that turn a game from just average to amazing, the things that separate the crème de la crème from the rest of pile. So, if you want to know what to keep a look out for in games here is my list.

Simplicity:

Simplicity is king when it comes to game design, with more simple and elegant systems making games much less confusing to play and learn, so the fun doesn’t get bogged down by fifteen different trackers or rules that take ten years to read. This principal is well shown in the games like Dungeon Mayhem and Snake Oil, where the rules can be explained in a few words and can provide entertainment for even the most rule-phobic person.

Mechanics tied with theme:

When the mechanics of a game perfectly align with the theme, something magical happens. It no longer feels like you are just playing a boardgame, it feels like you are actually there in the game’s world. This makes you much more invested as you can visualise what is going on in the game. A great example of this is in Flamme Rouge, which makes you feel like you are actually managing a team of cyclists, and has mechanics that perfectly represent professional bicycle racing while still keeping it simple.

All of the game being engaging, not just your turn:

Only having fun on your turn, is no fun at all. Most of the time in board games it is not your go so having what other people do affect you is a great way to stop it from getting boring as you are engaged even when you aren’t directly doing anything. A good example of this would be King of Tokyo where other people are constantly affecting you, making the game tense and exciting. Ticket to Ride is also great in this sense as it gets tense as your planned routes get cut off during other people’s turns.

Presentation does matter:

Having a great looking game and well-made pieces can really add to the pleasure, and can help entice other people to play the game (because what’s the point in having a game if no one will play it with you). But art isn’t the only aspect of presentation, the games rulebook really matters too. Because if it explains the rules well then you can jump straight into playing and not have to worry about playing the game wrong due to a misunderstanding. A great game that is a marvel to look at is Tokiado, whose simple iconography and great rule book let you jump straight in and wonder at the unique Japanese inspired art.

So, there you have it, now a game can still be great even if it doesn’t hit all these criteria but if it combines all of these together you can be sure that you’ve got an instant classic.

Kodama: The Tree Spirits Review

You are a caretaker of a forest, growing trees with flowers, mushrooms and fireflies all inhabiting the little slice of nature that you preserve. But this is no ordinary forest, this forest is special. This forest is inhabited by Kodama. You must try to pander to these magical creatures by shaping your trees to meet their very specific and picky needs to become the greatest Kodama carer of all time.

In the game Kodama you must place tree branch cards down to build a tree, getting points from connecting rows of features (flowers, fungi, stars etc) along your tree. At the end of each season you can get extra points by having met certain conditions on Kodama cards. The person with the most points by the end of Autumn wins.

 

First off, this game is great to look at. It has beautiful art and all the Kodama cards are drawn with a really cute cartoon style. The act of building your tree adds to this visual masterpiece, as each turn you get to see your tree get bigger and bigger until you can look back on it at the end of the game and see what you have made.

In this game, you will be constantly working towards Kodama cards, which give you more points as you fulfil their requests more to their liking. These cards make you think carefully about how you might want to shape your tree, along with what features you want to focus on trying to accumulate. However, if you have nothing to do to advance towards one of your Kodama cards you can always collect points by chaining together the different icons that come up on each card, meaning that you can always do something. With several different options for tree branch cards which can be placed on multiple different spots on your tree, it can lead to over analysis as you cycle through all the different options you could take and how many points they would give you, which I find a bit boring.

My main problem with the game though, is the components, with such good art it feels tragic to

waste it on flimsy and thin cards, tiny counters and a point tracking board which is way too small. This is reinforced with a poorly written rulebook that is unclear and takes several read throughs before you understand what counts as a legal move. Personally, I think having a higher price to get some nicer pieces would definitely be worth it.

However, Kodama do include custom made Kodama scoring cards for children, which are in groups that are specially designed to be simple to play together. Each group has a specific focus, so younger players don’t have to try and think about getting all the different icons on their tree but just a few like mushrooms and caterpillars. This a really good addition which can make the game nicely accessible for smaller ones and lets them properly compete with their parents.

Overall, Kodama is a beautiful game that lets you grow your very own tree and while it does stumble a bit it is still fun to play. While I wouldn’t say it was a must buy, for those who are enticed by the                                                          art or want to play with children, this is definitely good purchase.

Tokaido: Crossroads expansion review

You've walked the Tokaido road from Kyoto to Tokyo many times. You've fallen in love with the gentle and relaxed pace that it has offered you and now you want more. You have decide that you might look into an expansion for the game Tokaido but don't know if it would be good for you. Well you've come to the right place.

I have reviewed Tokaido before and if you want to add something extra to the game you can get the Crossroads expansion. With the expansion you get new characters to play, and whenever you land on a space you can choose between two actions instead of one. You can see the cherry blossom instead of painting, gamble instead of working at the farm, get a legendary item instead of just going to the normal gift shop and so on. Basically there is a whole bunch more stuff to do.

So, I must say that the new characters have much more powerful abilities, which makes them feel really exciting and fun to play, and give them each a unique personality, although this is traded for less staring money. One of my personal favourite added character is 'Nampo the gourmet' who gets extra victory points for eating expensive food or 'Gotozaemon the souvenir seller' who gets money from selling things every time he lands on a painting space but starts the game broke. All of these are enriched by beautiful art which really makes the characters come alive. They feel as if each of them has had a lot more though put into them than in the original game and so are a excellent addition.

While giving players so many new options can be interesting and exciting, I often found that it took away from the easy going feel of the game, as you had to think about double the options than what you had to in the original game. Having to think about legendary items which offer new effects, when to play a amulet card or how to effectively use calligraphy cards to get the most points just adds a bit too much in my opinion and disturbs the relaxed flow of the game. I wish that instead of making completely new mechanics like calligraphy or lucky amulets, the expansion built of what was already there maybe adding more people to meet (as the selection of people you can meet is pretty repetitive).

A interesting new addition to the game is gambling, which instead of getting three guaranteed coins by working at the farm, lets you pay two coins and roll the fortune die to see if you could double, triple or even quadruple those coins or just lose them all. This can create great moments as you roll the dice and turn two coins into eight but most of the time it is a bit anti-climatic. This is because half of the time when rolling the die you would actually be better of just working in the farm and for the rest of the time it only gives you one or two coins extra. Instead of feeling like an all or nothing tension fest, it feels like sometimes all or sometimes nothing, but most of the time uneventful.

I do enjoy legendary items though, which you can choose to take one and pay for its cost instead of going to the normal shop. The legendary items each have cool effects which are powerful and fun to collect but not complicated in the slightest and really just help add to the souvenir system which is already there. Personally, I particularly liked the 'Shodo' and 'Emaki' which gave you an extra point for every souvenir you had now and carrying forward, which is super satisfying as now you get even more points for souvenirs. Although do be aware, if someone collects both, it is almost too powerful as each item they acquire will give them two extra points plus the ones it would have normally got them.

Overall, the Tokaido Crossroads expansion gives a bunch of new ways to play and things to do in return for taking away some of that relaxed feel of the original game. I think my family will probably sometimes play with it but for when we just want to walk down the Tokaido road and not have to worry about anything else, we might revert to the purity that the original game holds.