Game Review: Ponte del Diavolo

Now any game that has a literal translation of “Bridge of the Devil” is a good game in my books. And it just so happens, that this is not only a good game, but a fantastic game.

A abstract game for 2 people, by Rio Grande games (again, is there no end of good games by these?) which can be liked to chess with less pieces.

The game board is a 10x10 board, and there are three pieces in the game, light coloured tiles, dark coloured tiles and bridge pieces.

Players take turns placing 2 of their chosen colour pieces at a time. The idea of the game is to make blocks of 4 tiles, called “islands”, and link them together using the bridge pieces. You can lay pieces that have 1, 2 or 3 blocks, but these are non scoring in the final part. Islands cannot have any of your colour blocks around them, there must be a clear space between a island and other blocks of your colour, however opponents pieces may touch these.

No blocks may be place under a bridge after it has been places, so this makes these not only scoring pieces, but also great blocking pieces.

That is pretty much all there is to the rules of this game. At first look, it seems pretty simple, place tiles until you have no more then score up. After the first play however, it quickly emerges that there is a much deeper level of strategy to this game. A experienced player should always beat a less experienced player, just like in chess. There is the chance that this may not happen, but as this game is simpler than chess, it will not take long for someone to grasp a understanding of this game.

This game is a reworking of the game Twixt, by Alex Randolph (1922 – 2004). It is a very good adaptation, and worth of your shelf space. Games take around 15-20 minutes, so a great filler game, but can also easily take up a whole evening of great gaming.

Another recommended game that can be found quite cheap here in the UK.

Vintage Game: MageStones

MageStones is a old TSR game from way back in the '90s. It didn’t do terribly well when it was released, and faded into obscurity very quickly. I remember getting my first copy one Christmas when I was a child, and I saw it in pound shops a few years back as well.

This game spent a long time unplayed. The written rules make very little sense unless you play along with the rule book in hand. If only TSR had written some better rules, I think that this could have really taken off.

Basically, its a abstract game with its roots in naught’s and crosses. Players roll 3 dice, add them together and then can place their stones on a board with lanes marked 3 to 9. The dice are d3's, and roll of 1-2-3 makes you miss a turn, and a treble number gains you a extra turn. The idea of the game is to move all of your pieces from your hand onto the board. Pieces that have been surrounded by another players pieces, are “dispelled”, removed back the the owning players hand.

Lane 6 is the most powerful, and can only be place there with a roll of 2-2-2. But pieces in this lane cannot be dispelled, but can be used to dispel other pieces.

On first glance, when you get the rules (or have someone show you more likely), the game is shallow with not a lot going on. The theme is pasted on so badly it could be ANYTHING. But after a few plays, the strategy starts to come out, a lot like my findings with Dominion. When you see what can be achieved, with cunning ploys or outright bluffing, this game really comes into its own.

Coupled with the fact that a no game ever really goes over 15 minutes, even with 3 players, this is a great game to play when you are waiting for people, or even at parties. Simple enough, yet also highly competitive I think this would stand well with a league/table based on it.

Its a pretty rare find these days to get a nice copy of this. This game goes for between £10-25 on eBay (plus p+p), so can discourage people to buy it based on an old game at that price. But get this, this has the Farlands recommendation attached to it, it is a valuable addition to any game collection, and a testament to this game is that I spent £30 just to get this in my collection.

Vintage Game: Guess Who!

In this series of posts, we are going to play old games and see if they stand up to the test of time.

Guess who was first released in Great Britain in 1979 by Milton Bradley (MB) games. It went to the US in 1982. It has taken a few design changes over the years, the 1987 version only included 5 women and 19 men, which was not rectified until the 2000 version which had a almost equal split. Star Wars, Marvel and Disney versions have all been released, as well as various travel editions, which had only 20 tiles to choose from.

Guess Who. Now I think that everybody at some point in time must have played this game, it is one of THOSE games. I remember having it as a child, and now I play it with the children that are around now (nephews, friends children etc.), but recently we got this out at a party with adults, and yes it went down a blast.

The idea of the game is to “guess who” the other player has drawn from a deck of cards. You get two game boards, each with 24 tiles with each of the characters faces on them. You take it in turns asking questions about the looks, and by the end you should have one tile left, which should be the identity of your opponents character. If it is, you win that round, and onto the next one. First to five wins.

Now I know that write up is most likely irrelevant, as most people know how to play this simple game. With children, it teaches them logic and how to formulate plans to achieve a goal in a very real sense, and I think that this game alone is worth a place in children’s game collections just because of that. With a group of adults however, the game changes. The once innocent questions of a child are replaced with some, lets say, more colourful questions. But that all adds to the fun of this game.

I have played this game just one on one, and whilst it was still good, I think that with a group of adults, team play is a must. How you go about this is up to you, and part of the fun working that out.

The game in this day and age I think is defiantly still relevant. As I mentioned above, as a children’s game it encourages the building of logic skills, to get to a unknown goal in a structured way. As a adult party game, it works great. Its simple, easy to teach and can have some very funny outcomes and banter associated with it. If your child has this game try it out again, you may be surprised. If your child does not have this in their collection, get it for the both of you.

Logan Stones: Rock, paper, strategy

I played a new game today. It was easy to learn, light and abstract.

It was Logan Stones by Gem42. This really is a great little game. As mentioned above, its really easy to learn. If playing with new players, just tell them its a cross between Rock, paper, scissors and connect 4. With a dash of Othello. And that really is all to say about the rules.

In the box you get 18 quite luxurious double sided tokens, the Logan Stones, a nice fabric bag to keep them all in, and a well laid out rule sheet.

Don't be fooled by the simplicity of this game. You place a tile, and in the vein of rock, paper, scissors, if that stone beats it, you turn that one over. When you run out of tiles, you start re-arranging the tiles already down, until you get 4 in a row.

The strategy cones from remembering what is on the other side of the tiles that have been put down, and trying to combo the flips to get the elusive 4 in a row. Your first games will be won by just placing down the winning tile, but soon that will become old hat, and you will be trying to get the final blow dealt at the end of a combo. Which is always good.

Playability wise, with two people, after a few games it could get repetitive, but throw in some extra people, then I think this game would be a fantastic filler between bigger games, or even could be part of a league. It says 2 people on the box, but more than 2 could easily play with a bit of common sense applied.

Overall, this is a great game. It may be a little pricey, but what you get is quality, and quality comes at a price. These tokens will not be damaged by normal wear and tear, you would have to go a long way to do any damage to them at all.

Verdict: 7.5

This will be making it to Thursday Night Gaming, and if I can get my hands on any, will become the showcase game. If you would like this game, drop me a message over facebook.com/farlandsgames or visit our website www.farlandsgames.co.uk and message me. With enough interest, I will stock this game!