I have been writing about video games for a long time. This isn’t something that’s new to me, or something I haven’t been working on for the last… forever. This year, however: tabletop games are new. B3 has always had a booming tabletop section, full of amazing physical games you can play in real life. With the idea in mind to take on tabletop games in 2018, I started midway through the year and took a look into them.
I should tell you a bit about my relationship with tabletop games. When I was a kid, my family had the normal set of Monopoly, Life and Parcheesi. These were dragged out of boxes around winter and played amongst us kids for some time, to keep us entertained. These are what tabletop games were to me, as a child.
When I moved to England, I started going to a board-game club, where people played loads of tabletop games — but mainly large Warhammer and X-Wing battles. These were never really my thing, so I stuck to King of Tokyo and Munchkin in the corner, with the younger kids. Again, I had a very limited view of what tabletop games really were.
Throughout this year, I have joined the B3 board-game night and have had the chance to play some amazing games. I’d like to highlight three games I really loved this year. They are different to the default Monopoly and Life — and I look forward to playing more unique and fun games in 2019!
Go Nuts For Donuts!
Go Nuts for Donuts! is an adorable two-to-six-player card game where players try to get the most wonderful donuts from the donut box. All of the players surround the donut box, trying to pick a donut or accompaniment that no one else is aiming for. The goal is to have the most tasty and point-filled donuts at the end of the game. Players must deceive and think carefully in order to get what they are really after.
Go Nuts for Donuts! is one of the first tabletop games I personally purchased, even before writing reviews. I actually backed this game on Kickstarter, and participated in all of the Kickstarter decisions that were made before the game was released. I love the cute cards — all different delicious treats — as well as the simplicity of the game. Go Nuts for Donuts is a perfect little game to play around with and is so fun, even with a large group.
Purchase Go Nuts for Donuts! on Amazon.
Thronestorm
Thronestorm is a compact card game that is simple to learn and play. In it, you must try to create a set of four items — a sword, a shield, a helmet and a trinket — that completely match each other. Sets match by their colored background; general character type when it comes to all of the items in the set; and the colors of the items themselves. There are ten different types of noble houses — so there are plenty of cards to collect.
Thronestorm is a game for just two players. That’s how it’s meant to be played — two people across a table, working on getting a collection of cards to win. Sometimes, you just need a little game to be played between two people — something to break the ice and keep the focus so things aren’t so intense. That’s what Thronestorm is to me; the perfect game to play with someone you don’t quite know yet, or someone you want to know better.
Purchase Thronestorm on Amazon.
Doomsday Bots
Inside a world where you have the chance to adapt and build your own robots, it only naturally makes sense to climb up a giant tower, scavenging for parts, and looking to take on an evil mastermind lurking at the top. You play the role of a mad genius, with your own robot to work on. These robots are simple bots though, but they can be modified and upgraded to fight against other robots and get across traps that are strewn across the massive tower you are trying to scale.
Doomsday Bots is not only is a clever idea, but also comes in a really clever box. The option to either screw people over or help each other out provides for an interesting experience depending on who you are playing with. I also found the creation of your robots to be pure genius, especially as you lose parts battling in the tower, adding a lot of weird twists into the game. Also you can self destruct on your friends. That’s pretty damn cool.
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