Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | RSS | More
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 slap our wigs on and jockey for jobs with our incompetent monarch in For the King (and Me)
Next: We develop our beach front property into a peaceful oasis or maybe a money grabbing tourist trap in Santa Monica
And lastly: It’s time for the community garage sale so were piling the goods high despite our nasty neighbors in Flaming Pyramids
For the King (and Me)
Designed by: Steve Finn
Published by: IELLO (2021)
Players: 2 – 5
Ages: 10 & up
Playing time: 30 minutes
For the King (and Me) is a card drafting and auction game in which you wish to become the most valuable minister to the court by collecting the right cards while trying to lower the value of your opponents’ objectives.
The game lasts multiple rounds with players first collecting cards, then bidding for cards. The game essentially has 2 halves to it. First half, called the collection phase, as the active player you draw cards one at a time, keeping one for yourself, placing one in an auction pile, and placing the others face up for the other players to draft. The collection phase ends when all the cards in the game have been taken, kept, and drafted. Then the auction phase occurs where players bid for each of the cards in the auction pile, one by one.
Some cards are worth points depending on their color, some are worth gold, and some allow you to manipulate the value of the various colors. Once all the cards have been auctioned, players reveal their hands and tally their points to see who wins. Heavy is the head that wears the crown, and victorious is the player who can best manipulate this court of advisors.
Santa Monica
Designed by: Josh Wood
Published by: Alderac Entertainment Group (2020)
Players: 2 – 4
Ages: 14 & up
Playing time: 45 minutes
Santa Monica is a card drafting game where you are trying to create the most appealing neighborhood in southern California. Will you choose to create a calm, quiet beach focused on nature, a bustling beach full of tourists, or something in-between to appeal to the locals?
Each turn, you draft a feature card from the display to build up either your beach or your street. These features work together and play off each other to score conditional victory points. As the game progresses, you will earn tourist meeples and local meeples which you will move around your beach and boardwalk areas, trying to get them to go to their ideal positions yield the most points. You also have a VIP meeple which will walk around your board, also yielding victory points.
The game ends when each player has placed the 14th card to their tableau. Tally all points, and the top point getter is hailed as the chief of Santa Monica
Flaming Pyramids
Designed by: Norbert Abel
Published by: Cheeky Parrot Games (2018)
Players: 2 – 6
Ages: 8 & up
Playing time: 20 minutes
Flaming Pyramids is a tile placement game where players are collectively building one pyramid together using square tiles. The object is to be the first player to get rid of all their tiles.
There are 40 regular tiles with a unique combination of color, number, and material. Players pull a hand of five tiles from their pile of tiles, but they are constrained by the building regulations. A tile can be placed if it matches a number below the placement, or if it matches the color of one of the tiles it is placed upon. Each tile value is its weight. New Tiles placed must always weigh equal to or less than the weight of the 2 tiles below it. For example, a tile with a weight of 50 can be placed on top of two tiles whose sum weight is 60, as long as it meets the matching number or matching color requirement.
Fail to meet the requirements, and you cause a collapse. Any collapsed tiles go back face down into your personal pile.
There are also tiles that can cause fires, causing more mayhem and unwanted tiles to go into your pile.
So be the first to get rid of your tiles, and take your perch atop the pyramid of victory.