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Welcome to Which Game First where we boldly explore the hilariously huge world of board games. Did we unearth any hidden treasures you’ve been missing out on? Let’s find out!
First: We see just how far a booklet and some d6’s can take us in Random Fun Generator
Next: We set our sights on building the most profitable fleet in the solar system in Space Base
And lastly: We screw our courage to the sticking place in the old old old fashioned way in Flinch
Random Fun Generator
Designed by: Samuel Mitschke, Randy Scheunemann
Published by: Steve Jackson Games (2021)
Players: 2+
Ages: 14 & up
Playing time: 30+ minutes
Random Fun Generator is a collection of 21 dice games for 2 or more players that use 6-sided dice. Most games do not require anything beyond a pencil and paper for scoring.
We played a game where we were a party of medieval fantasy adventurers, fighting a treacherous dragon. Each class in the party rolls a unique combination of dice in order to take down the dragon.
Another game we played was where each of us rolled 3 dice in secret. Players do not want to roll the highest dice. The highest dice are worth zero. All other dice are scored. First player to 50 wins.
And the last game we played was where each of us rolled 3 dice in secret. We are rolling against a monster who rolls a number of dice equal to the number of players. Then each of us decides what we are going to contribute to defeating the monster. The key is to do the least amount of work and win. Players are awarded 4, 3, 2, or 1 point depending on who had to work the hardest.
Space Base
Designed by: John D. Clair
Published by: Alderac Entertainment Group (2018)
Players: 2 – 5
Ages: 14 & up
Playing time: 60 minutes
Space Base is a dice rolling, engine building game, where players assume the roles of commodores of a small fleet of ships. Ships begin docked at their stations and are then deployed to sectors as new ships are commissioned under your command.
Every player get their own tableau, and every tableau starts out with one starter ship in each of their slots numbered 1 through 12. Every ship has a blue number and a red number. Everyone has the same starting ships.
A player rolls 2d6 and they assign the dice to that number to their ship, or split the dice and assign each die accordingly. The other players also get to use that same roll. They will assign the roll in the same way.
The player who rolled the dice uses the blue numbers on their ships to resolve the dice roll, while all other players use the red numbers of the ship to resolve the roll.
Numbers assigned to ships do different things: earn money, boost income, gain rocket points. Money can be used to buy more ships. Income boosting gives you a steady stream of income every round. Rocket points are victory points.
First player to 40 rocket points wins the game … propelling themselves to a stellar victory!
Flinch
Designed by: A. J. Patterson
Published by: Parker Brothers (1938), originally by Flinch Card Company (1901)
Players: 2 – 8
Ages: 7 & up
Playing time: 30 – 45 minutes
Flinch is an old-timey card game played with a deck of 150 cards numbered 1-15. The goal of the game is to be the first player to play all of the cards from your “stock” deck of cards.
Every player starts with 10 cards in their stock deck. Only the top card is face up. To be able to play a card from the stock deck, it has to be able to be placed upon a card in play in numerical order. So a stock pile card of 2, can only be played on a 1 that is in play. Or a 12 stock pile card can only be played on an 11 that is in play.
Players will start with a hand of 5 cards. These cards can be put into play in numerical order. Play as many cards as you can from your hand. When you can’t play anymore from your hand, you have to discard. Each player has their own discard piles, and there are 5 discard piles in front of the player. Discards are face up. On their turn, players can put cards into play from their discard pile … so long as it is in numerical order.
SO why is this game called Flinch? Because if a player is capable of playing their stock card and they fail to do so, another player can call FLINCH on them. The player who calls the flinch gets to take a card from their stockpile and stuff it into the Flinched player’s stockpile.