Parks is a beautiful game that is also very relaxing to play. In Parks you take the role of 2 hikers as they trek across different trails during the four seasons of a year. As each season passes, the trail changes and grows longer. Hikers see beautiful sites, and perform actions when they arrive. When a hiker reach the end of the trail, they can spend tokens they have received to visit Parks and earn points. Your goal is to achieve points from your Parks, Photos, and Personal Bonus at the end of the Year. Gear and Canteens can be gained and used to help you through the trail and get points. Your campfire allows you to visit a site where another hiker already is and cannot be reused until one of your hikers reaches the trail end. Add to that wild animal tokens and changing weather tokens, and you get a really fun game. In the solo version you play alongside 2 Rangers who join you along the trail. The end of the trail gets flipped to a solo side that give actions to the Rangers and Trail End. Their movement is dictated by the stars on the gear cards and where they are placed along the trail. The solo version also adds Event cards that are not in the normal group play. Event cards are only activated when the Rangers have collected 3 suns or 3 raindrops. They do add excitement to the solo game, and I think they would be quite fun to add an Event expansion or variant to the normal multi player game. I played 3 solo games of Parks today. My first 2 scores ranked me a Seasoned Hiker, but my third got me the worst ranking. Games take about 15 minutes.
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There is some really good board games that include a solo player variant in their game play. I'm terrible at crosswords, and I don't have the room to have a jigsaw out all the time, so I really like playing a solo mode board game as a bit of down time. I will write some notes on the solo mode board games that I own, and then rank them. First up: Clans of Caledonia Clans of Caledonia is a strategic economic game set in 19th century Scotland. Players represent unique historical clans competing to produce, trade, and export agricultural good, as well as their famous whiskey! In the solo version, you try and achieve the highest possible score and rate it against their scoring key: 0-115 = Newbie 116-130 = Rookie 131-145 = Average 146-160 = Expert 161 + = Genius I really enjoy the solo mode of this game. You play the same as with other players except you are given 2 solo mode dice that change the market every round on 3 of the goods. Each solo game takes about 20-30 minutes. I played 5 solo games of this today! I wasn't planning to. I wanted to try a few different Clans but I kept getting worse scores! I dropped from Expert to Newbie, and I didn't want to end it there, so 5 games later.... In the solo play you use other player tokens to block off all the outer spaces and any land areas that cost $1. It means that land costs you from $2 to $6 to use, and there aren't as many land spaces to use. You also get only 5 contracts to choose from every round. The dice adjusts prices of 3 goods, up or down, up to +3 or -3. My first play was as Clan Buchanan. No set up is the same even if you play the same clan. The map game board, the end of round scoring, start up resources, and corner bonuses, are all drawn randomly and change every game you play. I do think Clan Buchanan is a strong Clan, that allows you to gain more than one contract at a time. This is a great help in the beginning of the game when you are paid or not charged to take contracts. Later on you have to pay to get contracts. This game gave the highest score of the 5 plays. Clan McDonald allows you be fisherman as well as the others. It means you can put your workers on water as well as land. I did okay as this Clan, but it is harder I think only doing one contract at a time. Clan Campbell allows you buy factories cheaper, so I tried to go into the whiskey business. I didn't really get enough money though to achieve any wheat fields, which made whiskey harder to make. Bad score with this one. Clan Robertson allowed me to buy land cheaper by loch entrances. This was the worst scoring for me. Just seemed to be really short of money this game. Also by putting your pieces on loch entrances usually mean't I was further away from the corner bonuses. Clan Fergusson allows you to start with 3 workers instead of 2, though you still have to pay for their placement. This game I went back up to an average score. I'm not sure if it had anything to do with having an extra worker at the start or the contracts just went better. Here is the look of the final boards being Clan Buchanan and Clan McDonald, (I'm the white pieces). Final Scoring: Clan Buchanan: 154 Clan McDonald : 133 Clan Campbell : 114 Clan Robertson: 110 Clan Fergusson: 137 With 9 different Clans to choose from and the way the game set up changes every time, there is going to be lots of variability to keep this game interesting playing solo. It's going to be a tough one to beat. Really, really like it.
I have been designing and making little drawstrings bags and card envelopes for my board games. I wanted to do this so I could just pull them out as ready to go component holders, as well as storage. If I was going to do that, then I may as well make them thematic. Here is what I made for my Wingspan board game, which is obviously all about birds. Little crochet drawstring bags that can be rolled down to look like little nests while playing the game. I used 4 x 50 grm balls of fluffy brown yarn for the nests and used coloured yarn for the drawstrings. The yarn is for 6mm hooks, but I used smaller hooks (see instructions) for a tighter fabric. Everything is bagged up including the dice and end of bonus tiles. They are also big enough to include the extra content game expansions will provide. Here is the crochet instructions. They are in UK crochet terms. To convert to US: a UK treble is a US double crochet. A UK double crochet is a US single crochet. Crochet Egg Nest InstructionsThis is the biggest nest. Hook size is 4.5mm, (yarn recommended hook is 6mm). I am using smaller hooks than recommended to get a tighter, stiffer fabric. Do a magic loop or ch 3 and join to first chain. ROUND 1: Chain 3. 11 treble into magic loop or chain ring. Join to 3rd chain from the beginning (12 tr). ROUND 2: Ch 3. 1 tr into same base stitch, counts as 2 tr. Do 2 tr into each remaining stitch, join to 3rd chain at beginning (24 tr). ROUND 3: Place marker. We will be doing continuous no joining rounds from now on. 1 dc into next stitch, *2 dc into next stitch, 1 dc into next 2 stitches. Repeat from * to you reach your marker. (32 dc) ROUND 4: 1 dc into next stitch, * 2 dc into next stitch, 1 dc into next 3 stitches. Repeat from * to you reach your marker. (40 dc) Do 7 more rounds of 40 dc. ROUND 12: chain 3. 1 tr into each stitch for the whole round, join to 3rd chain at beginning (40 tr). This is going to make the holes where your drawstring threads through. ROUND 13: slip stitch through back loop all the way around and finish off. DRAWSTRING: Do a row of chains 35cm long. Thread through top treble round. Tie knots at the end of drawstrings or add beads for nice bobbly ends. Nests for food, dice and bonus tilesThese remind me of little dumplings when all tied up. I use a 3.5 or 4mm hook for these so they are a bit smaller than the egg nest. INSTRUCTIONS Repeat the instructions for the crochet egg nest. The only part that is different is: Instead of doing 7 more rows of 40 dc, you will only do 5 more rows, before doing the treble drawstring hole round. As you crochet these you make think they are too big for the amount of food tokens, but remember more of the tokens are coming in the expansions and when you roll down they edges to play the game, the fit is great. For the goal tokens, I keep it as a draw bag to randomly draw these tiles. Coloured Cube NestsThese are all done in double crochet. They are designed to have flat bottoms to hold the cubes and any food tokens while you are playing, then draw string close to form the cutest little pouches. I did the drawstrings in the same colours as the cubes so you know what colour is in which pouch. The finished open nest will be a flat surface with a drawstring edging to stop the cubes and tokens from falling out. INSTRUCTIONS Magic loop start or do 2 chain and join ROUND 1: Make 6 dc into the loop created, join to the end of round with a slip stitch ROUND 2: ch 1, 1 dc into the same stitch. 2 dc into each of the remaining stitches, join to the beginning of round, (12 dc). ROUND 3: ch1, 2dc into next stitch, *1 dc into next stitch, 2 dc into next stitch, repeat from * to the end of round and join to beginning of round, (18 dc). ROUND 4: ch 1, dc into next stitch, * 2 dc in next stitch, 1 dc into the next 2 stitches, repeat from * till the end of round joining with a slip stitch to the beginning of round. (24 dc). ROUND 5: CH 1, 1 dc into next 2 stitches, *2 dc into next stitch, 1 dc into next 3 stitches, repeat from * to the end of round, join with slip stitch to the beginning of round. (30 DC) ROUND 6: ch 1, 1 dc into next 3 stitches, *2 dc into next stitch, 1 dc into next 4 stitches, repeat from * till the end of round, joining with a slip stitch. (36 DC) ROUND 7: ch 3, * miss a stitch and do 1 treble into next stitch, repeat from * to the end of round, joining with a slip stitch to beginning 3rd chain. This will make your drawstring holes to thread through. ROUND 8: Slip stitch through the back loop all the way around, join to beginning and finish off. DRAWSTRINGS: Make a chain of 32cm. Knot or bead ends. Thread through the treble row. Final NotesThere are 13 board games featured in this photo, can you get them all?This is the photo I took for my ABC personal photo project. It was G for Games. I tried to make it like a photo from the I Spy books. There are 13 games featured in the photo. Can you get them all? Scroll down for the answers ANSWERS 1. Kingdomino 2. Sagrada 3. Azul 4. Star Trek Catan 5. Viticulture 6. Hive Pocket 7. Take it Easy 8. Terraforming Mars 9. Star Trek Panic 10. Reef 11. Ticket to Ride 12. Wingspan 13. Splendor I love playing board games and card games. I love the puzzles and games themselves, but I love the socialising, playing with family and friends that goes with it...... (and the junk food and whiskey/coffee). I grew up with games. Me, my cousins, and friends were always playing something. If it was sunny, it was games outside. If it was raining it was inside games. I like games that are FUN, easy to teach, because I am often the one teaching them. I like games that are not too long, 2 hours is probably my max before I want it to hurry up and finish. I do love a good engine builder. I guess I'm a light to medium game type of person.. Here is a list of my collection ranking from my favorite downwards. I will do more blog posts with closer reviews on the games, and update this list as new games come and go. I do pass on any games that we don't play anymore, so keep an eye out in the Time and Beauty Store for these. My Board and Card Game Collection - Ranked from Favorite Downwards
I have also owned and passed on games from the Exit, Unlock and Deckscape escape room game series. As you only play them once I haven't put them on my list,, but I do rank them as Exit series first, then Unlock, then Deckscape. I grew up on a farm, so most fine days were spent outdoors, but some nights, camping, and when it was raining, the board games and card games came out.
Card game of choice was always Canasta and still is my favourite traditional card game. We had Monopoly, we sometimes played Monopoly, and then we happily gave it away. If we did play it, the only real fun I had was the house rule of dealing out all the properties in the beginning to all players and then seeing who lasted the longest. MOST FAVE CHILDHOOD BOARDGAME: STOCKMARKET Published in 1963 2-8 players The aim is to try and get $100,000 in money and share worth. (Because back in the day you had it made at $100,000? Well you could definitely buy a house and a new car for that.) You start by going to work as either a Policeman, Doctor, Deep Sea Miner or Prospector. Deep Sea Diver - $300 Salary Pays on a 3 or 11 dice roll Prospector - $400 Salary Pays on a 2 or 12 dice roll Policeman - $100 Salary Pays on a 5 or 9 dice roll Doctor - $200 Salary Pays on a 4 or 10 dice roll You are allowed to change careers if you think yours in not paying. We made it at $1000, you went out and played the stockmarket, (the outer circuit on the board). Everytime you land on a business square you can buy at least one share, if you already own shares, you get dividends. The stock market goes up and down on most moves. You try and buy shares cheap, and sell them later at a better price to make more money. There will always be some shares that are on the cheap side and while some shares will be on the expensive side. If you owned shares in a company you can also go to the place on the board where there is a stockholders meeting and gain free shares while attending it. The challenges: The dreaded white squares. The corner white squares shoot the sharemarket up or down 20 places and you have to pay $10 per share you own which towards the end of the game is a lot! The middle white squares make you pay a $100 fee. There is also the SELL ALL squares that make you sell at the lowest price on the board. 2ND MOST FAVE CHILDHOOD GAME: SCOTLAND YARD I think ours is a 1985 version for 3-6 players One player is Mr X who only reveals their position 5 times during the game. You have to avoid capture long enough for the detectives to run out of their fare tickets. As Mr X you start with 4 taxis, 3 buses, and 3 underground tickets, and as the detectives spend their tickets they have to hand them over to you, so you never run out. You also get 5 special black fare tickets which you can use to camouflage what transport you really took, or there is a special boat transport that you only can use. On top of that you also get 2 double turn tickets. You would think being Mr X is easy, WRONG! Well not for me anyways. I'm a terrible Mr X. I think I have only escaped once, yet many of my friends and family have done it, (I think I see the flaw, they win when I'm a detective which means I'm bad at this game, but I still like it anyways). All the rest of the players are Detectives out to land on the spot where Mr X is and capture him. Detectives only get 10 taxis, 8 buses, and 4 underground tickets to do it. I love the map in this game. I am now passing these games on to other families. We have modern games that we love and I found we just aren't playing these anymore. I think they are great games and I would much rather they be played than having them sitting in my collection doing nothing. Goodbye old friends, you were AWESOME!! Joni Splendor is in my top ten of games. Ranked 7th in my game collection list at present. GAME OVERVIEW During the game, the players take gem and gold tokens. With these tokens, they purchase cards which can be worth points and help towards purchasing more cards. If a player has a bunch of certain cards, a noble will visit them giving them even more points. As soon as a player reaches 15 points, the current turn ends and they player with the most points is the winner. WHAT I LIKE
THINGS YOU ARE LIKELY TO HEAR WHILE PLAYING IT "That's the card I want!" "Click clickety click" (Players playing with their gem chips). Various comments about favorite gem stones. "There is no more of the gems I need! Who's got them all!?" "Hurry up and spend those gems, I need them!" "Don't think you're too good for us now, just 'cos your the only one with a visiting noble." "15 points already!! How?" Beware the silent players, they are probably doing really well. GAME AUTHOR: Marc Andre' ARTIST: Pascal Quidault |
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