Category: Multi-player

Yes, that’s what a group of crows is called. But no, that’s not actually what I’m going to talk about today. Not that way. I’m here to, for the first time in a couple of weeks, actually talk about a game! Yeah, I know, it’s about time, but there’s a reason we re-branded….

Anyhow, there’s this game called Murder of Crows that I got in my stocking for Christmas. Crows are actually barely involved, it’s mostly about the murder. Each of the five letters (yeah, there are five letters in “murder”: the “r” only counts once) has an effect when played. It either affects the players’ hands or their murders, which are the cards set out in front of them. When you play a card, you put it in the stack for that letter (“r” has two stacks but one effect). The goal is to get the six stacks necessary to spell out “murder.”

Once you spell murder, you get my favorite part of the game: the story. Each letter has a part of a sentence (who, where, why, how…) that, when put together, create a story. As a writer, I love this method, and it gives you some interesting stories, like the guy who killed someone in a dark alley with nail clippers thanks to a misguided sense of justice. Not as well worded here as it was with the cards, but just be glad you didn’t get the pictures. The bloody nail clippers are the stuff of nightmares.

Or, well, it isn’t so much a Knuckle Sammich as a Kobold sammich or just a non-descript sammich… but that doesn’t sound as cool, so Knuckle Sammich it is!

In Knuckle Sammich, everyone is a Kobold, trying to eat the most sammiches without getting eaten by your friends (oh yeah, did I forget to mention that Kobolds have cannibalistic tendencies?) and serving King Torg (“All Hail King Torg!”). Because Kobold paws are quite small and don’t have opposable thumbs, they can only hold one card at a time, so when they draw a card at the beginning of their turn they must immediately play one of their two cards.

Cards have five important parts. There’s the meat, the flavor, when in activates, what it does, and the footnote. Meat is only really important if a card someone plays specifically says so. The numbers range from -1 to 13, and there are also variables such as how many beverages are on the table or how many sammiches you’ve eaten. Flavor can be chicken, bacon, beer, Kobold, baby, pretzel, everything, and, if you have the Kickstarter special, pickle. Again, these only really matter if a card brings it up.

Cards can activate in three different locations: In Your Paw, When Played, or On Your Plate (your plate is the pile of cards you’ve played). In Your Paw cards react to what someone does while you’re holding the card. There’s a card called Cursing where if one of the players swears while you have Cursing in hand you eat them. Eating a Kobold means that they place their paw face-down on their plate and are out for the rest of the round, and you get to eat a sammich. When Played is exactly what it sounds like, and On Your Plate means that it is the most recent card you have played (so, at the top of your plate).

Obviously, the most important part of the card is what it actually does. I used the example of Cursing earlier for In Your Paw. A common card is Fork, where you guess a Kobold’s flavor, and, if you’re right, you get to eat them. While the action is the most important part of the card, it’s also pretty straightforward, so I’m just going to move on. My favorite part of the card is definitely the footnote. Occasionally it’s something useful, like “You both get a sammich if you tie,” but most of the time it’s just funny. Some of my personal favorites are, “You would be surprised at what a Kobold considers soup,” “Kobolds have been known to not stop eating when they reach the plate,” “Kobolds will never understand why ‘adventuring parties’ don’t have a buffet,” “Random horrible death is the leading cause of death in Kobolds. Being lunch is in the top ten though,” and “#Drunk #Yolo #BeerAndPretzels #AllHailKingTorg.” I was shocked to find out that not all cards are fortunate to have a footnote. Oh, and I suppose the title of the card is mildly important. But not important enough for me to actually talk about.

A round ends when there is one Kobold left or when all Kobolds have been eaten, a card says to end the round or the deck (“Kitchen”) runs out and a Kobold needs to draw. The survivor (if there is one) and King Torg (“All Hail King Torg”) each eat a sammich before everyone is brought back to life, their paws and plates discarded, and a new round started. The game ends when the Pantry is out of sammiches, or if King Torg (“All Hail King Torg”) eats nine sammiches, automatically winning the game. Whichever Kobold (King Torg [“All Hail King Torg”] included) has the most sammiches by the end of the game wins and is crowned The Victor of Lunch! All Hail King Torg!

Cobra Paw? Sounds interesting. What’s it about? Snakes? Wait, snakes don’t have paws. Mutant snakes? No, but that could be an amusing game. Cobra Paw is about ninja cats snatching up stones. Why? Long story. It’s in the rules, if you want to know.

You place all the stones in the center of the arena (table or designated patch of floor.) The combatant with the smallest paws rolls the Catnippon Dice first. When the dice are rolled all players must attempt to find the stone with the matching pair of symbols. The first to “snatch” it gets it. Snatching is done by placing your finger/s on the stone. If there’s a tie, whoever’s finger is closest to the divot in the center gets it. If the stone rolled has already been snatched from the pool, you may snatch it from the player who has it. The goal is to have 6 stones, or 8 if it’s a 2-player game.

The rule booklet is one of the funniest parts of this game, because of the way the rules are stated. Tournament essentials are “21 Clawfuku Stones, 2 Catnippon Dice, and the will to compete.” Because obviously, you have to want to play to play. Other rules have additions to explain them, like, “Bickering over who touched a stone first makes Master Meow very sad,” or the constant justification of certain rules by codes of honor, such as “It is considered shameful to cover the stone with one’s paw.” My favorite is the very last rule: “Competitors who continue to play dishonorably may be forbidden from the Cobra Paw tournament and may even be cast into the Litter Box of Shame!”

This game also has three variations from the original, Ghosts of the Fallen, No Touchy and Two Ninja Stand-Off, but I won’t explain them here, since I haven’t played them yet.

Yes, Minotaurus, not Minotaur. Minotaurus is a simple, quick LEGO game about teams of heroes and a minotaur that guards the Temple at the center of the board.

As could be expected with a LEGO game, first you have to build it. This phase is pretty straightforward: follow the building instructions. Once you’ve built the board, the game can begin.

Choose the color of your little LEGO people’s armor (apparently that’s how you distinguish nations in this game?). The youngest player goes first, rolling the special die, which you constructed along with the board. The original die has 3-6, gray and black. If you roll a number, you move one of your heroes that amount of spaces (one pip on the board is one space, and no diagonals). If you roll a gray, you move one of the gray walls to wherever you’d like on the board, so long as there is at least one path from every starter corner block to the center. If you roll the black side of the die, you get to move the Minotaur eight spaces, again in whichever direction you choose.

If the Minotaur catches a hero during any of those eight moves, the hero goes back to their starting block and the Minotaur goes back to the center. The goal of the game depends on how many players you have. The game rules state that if there are only two players, you have to get two of your heroes to the Temple, and if there are three or four players, you only have to get one to the Temple.

That said, the rules aren’t concrete. There’s another side to the die that can replace the number three, if you chose. It’s green, and when you roll it, you can choose to move one of the hedges. You can also change the goal. By changing the rules, you could theoretically play this game solo, but I think it’s more fun with other people.

And, to continue their extensive Fluxx franchise, Looney Labs brings us: Chemistry Fluxx! Perfect for chemistry students, teachers, and fanatics. Learn chemical symbols while stealing them from each other!

Most of the actions in Chemistry Fluxx are the same as traditional Fluxx, but some of the rules are different. My personal favorite is what I believe is called “Spontaneous Reaction.” It’s a free action rule stating that at the beginning of your turn, if you can name a chemical compound of any two or more of the keepers in front of you, you may draw a card. This cannot be a compound that you have already named. For instance, if you have Barium, Nitrogen and Oxygen, you could say, “Barium Nitrate” Ba(NO3)2 and draw a card. There’s also the Lab Coat Bonus. Whoever has the lab coat draws an extra card every turn.

The keepers are mostly elements, but sometimes equipment. I already mentioned the lab coat, and there are also test tubes, goggles, etc. Because the majority of the keepers are elements, most of the goals are about the elements. Goals are compounds like Carbon Dioxide, Water and Salt.

Speaking of goals, I have a question that perhaps one of you could answer for me: one of the goals is Laughing Gas, for which you need nitrogen and oxygen. But aren’t nitrogen and oxygen 99% of what we breath?