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Madalyn's Games of the Moment When the year draws to a close, I always like to look back... At books I've read, movies I've watched, and - of course - games I've played. This year, I played more games with my family than in years previous and some of the games that stood out to all of us were really quite a surprise! So, without further ado, I present to you... *drum roll* ***Madalyn's Games of the Year!*** Now, while I played these with my family, I am not necessarily calling them family games. I believe that is a murky term on the best of days, but definitions aside my (grown-up) family really, really loved playing these games. We're a family of seasoned Betrayal at House on the Hill veterans and while horror is definitely my thing, horror games can fall flat with some of my other family members. Then comes along Betrayal at Baldur's Gate and instantly everyone is engaged! It plays almost exactly like BaHotH (not sure I like that acronym...), but this game slings you into a world of high fantasy rather than horror. We played it a couple of times this year and loved it every time! Oh, Sagrada - you're beautiful, but you sure can make my brain hurt sometimes! My family and I adore Azul, but Sagrada is certainly a close second when we're looking for a puzzle game. While challenging, there's not a lot of "take-that" in the game (which my family doesn't like) and you can kind of just pay attention to your own stained glass window without having to keep up with what other players are doing. Of course, there's always the chance that someone will take what you need, but it never seems malicious. Sagrada is perfect for a cozy evening in with family and friends. Story time! I always like to challenge my family with the games we play. We tend to gravitate towards lighter games in both theme and mechanics, but every now and then my husband and I will throw them a curve ball. I never in a million-billion years thought that Wasteland Express Delivery Service would make it to our family's table - let alone that MY MOTHER WOULD BEAT US! Now, I'm not even remotely brave enough to call my mother a "Golden Gamer," but she grew up playing and teaching me games like Scrabble, Yahtzee!, Monopoly, and Life. So, when we broke out WEDS, spent an hour and a half learning the rules and setting up the game (it sprawled across two tables)... I just knew it wasn't going to go over well! We played for over two hours, but by an hour in had already decided that the first person to score one victory condition - as opposed to three - would be our winner and my mother got there first! Like, it wasn't even close. She smiled from ear to ear for hours after the game was over - which is approximately how long it took to get all of the components back in the box (I'm only halfway joking). And that, my friends, is by far my most memorable gaming moment of 2018. TL;DR - Your mom can and will beat you at Wasteland Express Delivery Service.
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Between Two Castles of Mad King Ludwig "The king demands a castle! You are a world-renowned master builder who has been asked by the Mad King Ludwig to help design his castles. Projects of such significance require the expertise of more than one person, so for each assignment you are paired with another master builder to execute your grandiose plans. Will your planning and collaborative skills be enough to design the most impressive castles in the world? Between Two Castles of Mad King Ludwig is a competitive tile-drafting game in which each tile is a room in a castle. You work together with the player on your left to design one castle, and with the player on your right on another castle. On each turn you select two tiles from your hand, reveal them, then work with your partners to place them. To win, you have to share your attention and your devotion between two castles."
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Brass: Lancashire "Brass: Lancashire — first published as Brass — is an economic strategy game that tells the story of competing cotton entrepreneurs in Lancashire during the industrial revolution. You must develop, build, and establish your industries and network so that you can capitalize demand for iron, coal and cotton. The game is played over two halves: the canal phase and the rail phase. To win the game, score the most victory points (VPs), which are counted at the end of each half." -BoardGameGeek.com
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Discover: Lands Unknown "You awaken with a splitting headache and no idea of how you got here. The wilderness stretches in every direction, and something howls in the distance. Your quest for answers will have to wait; first, you need to survive. Will you help the others that are stranded here or will you save yourself at any cost?When two to four players find themselves marooned in the harsh wilderness, you must cooperate and compete to search for water, food, and tools that will be essential to your very survival. But your adventure holds many secrets. Every copy of Discover: Lands Unknown is unlike any other in the world. A mix of environments, storylines, characters, locations, items, and enemies have been engineered to tell a story unique to every copy of the game thanks to an algorithm that ensures no two copies are alike. Your copy will contain various tiles, cards, and tokens, each pulled from a shared pool of components, and the combination will be different from every other copy in the world."
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Escape from 100 Million B.C. "In Escape from 100 Million B.C., players are stranded time travelers, hurrying to reassemble their ship because a nearby volcano is about to blow. There are dinosaurs to dodge, time rifts to close, and castaways from other eras who got pulled back due to paradoxes. Each time traveler has unique abilities and stats which will aid in repairing the time ship. You must be careful not to disrupt the timeline too much or the volcano will erupt, wiping out proof of the expedition altogether." -BoardGameGeek.com
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Forbidden Sky "Soar to dizzying heights in the electrifying cooperative adventure. Work as a team to explore a mysterious platform that floats at the center of a savage storm. Connect a circuit of cables to launch a secret rocket — all before you are struck by lightning or blown off to the depths below. It's a high-wire act that will test your team's capacity for courage and cooperation. One false step and you all could be grounded…permanently!" -BoardGameGeek.com
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Keyflower "Keyflower is a game for two to six players played over four rounds. Each round represents a season: spring, summer, autumn, and finally winter. Each player starts the game with a 'home' tile and an initial team of eight workers, each of which is colored red, yellow, or blue. Workers of matching colors are used by the players to bid for tiles to add to their villages. Matching workers may alternatively be used to generate resources, skills and additional workers, not only from the player's own tiles, but also from the tiles in the other players' villages and from the new tiles being auctioned. In spring, summer, and autumn, more workers will arrive on board the Keyflower and her sister boats, with some of these workers possessing skills in the working of the key resources of iron, stone, and wood. In each of these seasons, village tiles are set out at random for auction. In the winter, no new workers arrive, and the players select the village tiles for auction from those they received at the beginning of the game. Each winter village tile offers VPs for certain combinations of resources, skills, and workers. The player whose village and workers generate the most VPs wins the game." -CoolStuffInc.com
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Hoover Public Library 200 Municipal Dr., Hoover, AL 35216 205-444-7800
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