Anachronism is…

Anachronism is a non-random collectible card game. Anachronism is a way of learning about ancient peoples and how they fought. Anachronism is… fun!Anachronism

As I said, Anachronism is a collectible card game. You collect the different sets of warriors, weapons, armor, inspirations, and specials (random other stuffs). Each card has its category (of the above named), its special bonuses to help you as you play, and a little sentence or two explaining the history of the given object. The base game is the board and William Wallace against Joan of Arc. But there are many others…

William Wallace is Scottish, though they call it Celtic [for simplicity]. Joan of Arc is French. These are not the only nations. Some collectibles include Japanese, Greek, Norse, and Roman!

You can mix and match cards to get the set you want. I find this convenient, as it makes game play much more interesting.

Just like with every game, however, there are some kinks in this armor. The font on the cards for the historical info is quite small, and the writing is too close to the border of the card. On some cards I also wish they put more historical info on, instead of just one sentence.

Then again, this game is unique because the collectibles are real warriors, real weapons, and real armor types. It gives you historic facts to explain the importance of each. And one day, instead of playing, you may find yourself idly sitting on a couch, reading the facts and making full sets of armor, instead of just one piece, as used in the game. One day, you may find yourself looking through and going over to an adult, and saying something like, “Did you know sometimes the Scottish used to fill the castle moat with thistles instead of water?” (True fact, on the Celtic starter inspiration card).

I find this game quite fun and educational. I hope you will play it and enjoy it as much as I did!

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Don’t commit Zombicide!

Zombicide is a very strategic, gee, zombie game. Big surprise, right? Uh-huh. Anyway. You pick characters, and get one random piece of equipment. You also get a special bonus depending on the character. My character, Phil, started with a pistol. My random piece of equipment? A pistol. This was actually convenient for me, as on the equipment card it says you can use them as dual weapons, meaning I could shoot with both using just one action. Phil got the pistol at the beginning because Phil is a cop.Zombicide

In the scenario we played, we started in the middle of the board. Our job was to grab 5 objective tokens, spread all around the board, and search rooms to find canned food, rice, and water. Once we found/collected all of the objects, we had to get all 3 required objects (food, rice, water) to the exit.

There is a catch to killing every zombie you can see. For each zombie you kill, you get an experience point. In this game, experience points are actually a bad thing. There are levels for experience points. When any one player reaches the next level, you start spawning the next level’s number of zombies. In other words, the more zombies you kill, the more zombies will spawn.

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This would have been a +1 to rating +1 to rating+1 to rating+1 mto rating+1 to rating game, but it was just too long. We started playing at 5:30. We handed over the board to the people that were hosting (they owned the game) so that we could go home around 9:00. Nobody even died until around 8:00!

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Do you want Codenames?

Your answer should be yes. Codenames is a fun strategy game that can play with two or more players. If you have two or three players, you are on the same team; it is a cooperative race against the clock to have your teammates guess the locations of your team’s Secret Agents.Codenames

If you are playing more than three players, you split into two teams. One person on each team is the Spymaster (just like in 2-3 player). They pick a key card at random, placing it between both Spymasters. It shows placements in the array of random cards that are the names they need you to guess correctly.

As Spymaster, you give a 1-word clue and a number of your team’s Codenames that it applies to. They can guess that many Codenames, one at a time, plus one extra (to make up for ones they couldn’t find on previous turns), until they either run out of guesses or find a Codename that doesn’t belong to their team.

There are four teams that you could find a Codename for.

Your team: place one of your team’s tiles on top of the Codename card.

Other team: place one of their team’s tiles on top of the Codename card. This acts as a point for their team.

Innocent Bystander: place an Innocent Bystander tile on top of the Codename card. This does nothing, it simply shows that the Codename has been guessed.

Assassin: Whichever team found the assassin automatically loses. Game over.

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Are you going to Ninja Camp?

In Ninja Camp, you are all students, going through the training course and collecting points. Avoid walls and traps while earning points and messing up the other players!Ninja Camp

When you can’t find any legitimate moves to make, you must Pass, at which point you are out of the game. Even though you are out, you leave your pieces on the board, right where you last had them. Now that you are out, these pieces serve as obstacles. Count up how many points you have by counting the point  value on each card in your discard and hand.

It doesn’t matter who is the last one standing. Whoever has the most points wins! They get personal training from the Sensei!

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Are you in a Rushi?

Rushi is a very basic strategy game, and yet, a very challenging one. In it, you have a six column board and seven pieces. You put one on of your pieces on each of the assigned spaces in the row right in front of you, keeping one in your hand. Each turn, you may either place that tile where another tile is pointing, then remove the pointing tile, or swap tiles with one of yours already on the board.Rushi

This seems like a simple concept, but I assure you, it will keep you entertained for hours. You score by getting a piece to the other player’s side of the board. Once it gets there, it gets flipped facedown and stays there for the rest of the game. You win by getting all of your pieces to the other player’s side of the board.

This game runs a little longer than the standard wait time for food at a sit-down restaurant, assuming the restaurant is mostly empty. Definitely not for playing at a fast food restaurant! You also want to play it in good lighting, as the colors are very similar shades of green and blue.

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Don’t Blink!

Literally. If you blink, you might lose! In Blink, you all have an equal amount of cards. You can have 3 cards in hand at once. You are trying to match the card in the middle. This is a speed game. You are not waiting on the other player unless you cannot match the card in the middle. You can match by color, shape, or number. You win by finishing all of your cards before the other player.Blink

This is actually a really convenient game for waiting at restaurants, even fast food places. Shuffle, split the deck, play, put away, all in the time it takes for your food to arrive. The best part is, you don’t have to talk. You could be playing with someone who doesn’t speak English and still be able to play with them.

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Schrödinger’s Cats

Schrödinger’s Cats is a small card game with a lot of betting and (go figure!) cats. You are betting how many boxes (cards in the round) have dead cats, alive cats, or nothing at all! You are all Cat Physicists, trying to prove that you are right about the statistics.Schrödinger's Cats

It is an elimination game, so each round one player gets out until the next game. If there are 5 players, you each start with 5 cards. Then the next round 4, then 3, etc., until there are only 2 players with 2 cards each.

The Cat Physicists all have names and powers (unrelated to the name). Some names are Sir Isaac Mewton, Stephen Pawking, Albert Felinestein, and Madame Purrie. The powers include skipping your hypothesis (bet) for one turn, adding 1 empty box to the findings, and using a power someone else has already used this game.

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You Have To Babysit Lil’ Cthulhu!

Lil’ Cthulhu is another Kickstarter game. You are cultists of Cthulhu, and he has given you a challenging task: babysitting his young son, Lil’ Cthulhu. And you thought his Dad was bad!Lil' Cthulhu

You make toys for Lil’ Cthulhu, play Dark Toys to foil with other cultists, and endure many a Tantrum from the Lil’ Brat himself. I enjoy playing this with a plush Cthulhu to play out the Tantrums. One particular time, the title of a Tantrum card referenced “My Father”, as in, Cthulhu. My plush acted this out well:

Lil’ Cthulhu (as acted by my plush) “I’m telling my Daddy!”

Me: “Shut up, Malfoy.”

I have only played against Mom, winning twice out of three times. There are two ways to win: be the last with sanity or make Lil’ Cthulhu’s three current favorite toys (picked at random from the deck of 6).

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Windycon 43: King of the Nerds

Alas, another Windycon has come and gone. During this convention, I played Munchkin Cthulhu and Machi Koro (to name a few), went to The Melting Pot (mmm…), met a brilliant artist named Juan Carlos Martinez and bought yet another Cheryl Storm dragon (go figure)!WindyCon 2016 - MJachi Koro, Morse Code, Teletype machine

Let’s start with Juan: he makes flowers and others cool trinkets out of coins! One piece he was selling was a dalek! The coolest part was you could actually turn the dalek’s head, thanks to a magnet inside.

The charity this year was Save-a-Vet, where they rescue veteran dogs that can’t be adopted (due to trauma, having been trained to kill, or possibly having killed). Then they buy a house for the dog and hire a disabled veteran to live with the dog. Yes, it’s the dog’s house. If the dog wants to sleep in the sink, it will. In return, the veteran lives there rent-free. I bought a t-shirt to support the cause. (A $20 T-shirt, in camo colors, to be exact.)

I, as usual, did Critter Crunch. I, as usual, drove the Spider. I also drove Army Tank, which has a rotating turret. There are little buttons on the controller that “fire” the two separate guns. (Firing is a little LED light flashing red and making noise.) I, as usual, got lots of cool swag, including a toy dragon!

I spent some time with W9W, a group with a Morse Code set and a teletype machine. I got to try out both!

Most importantly, I had fun and socialized with people. After all, isn’t that what the con is all about?

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I’m A Chrononaut!!!

Want to film the Creation of the Universe? Want to go to the future and bring back a cure for cancer (in easy-to-swallow pill form)? Now you can, in Chrononauts!Chrononauts

Everyone has an ID with a timeline containing 3 things that either need to be changed or need to stay true in history. For instance, in 1939, instead of World War 2 initiating, fair-goers could enjoy German cake! You also have a mission involving what artifacts you want, like the Shakespeare’s Last Play. These are how you win. (There’s also the evil giant cockroach that wants the world to explode, which happens if there are 13 unpatched paradoxes).

Rewrite history and collect artifacts to make the world a better place (or, you know, to win)!

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English Lesson: The English word “chrononaut” comes from the prefix “chrono”, meaning “time”, like in chronological, and the suffix “naut”, meaning “traveler”, like in astronaut. Thus, “chrononaut” means “time traveler”.

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