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WYPS

I've been playing WYPS recently. It's a new abstract game that combines word game with a connection game. It's like The Game of Y, except the pieces have letters on them and must form words. The goal is the same:...

Posted by Mikko on March 28, 2010 6:54 AM

Shogi and Race for the Galaxy

I met Olli for a quick round of two-player games. Since the ever-friendly postman brought me my Shogi board, that was what we played. Olli has this thing with abstracts: he doesn't really like to play them, because he...

Posted by Mikko on December 18, 2007 7:29 PM

Da Vinci's Challenge

Review in Finnish here DaVinci's Challenge is yet another game trying to milk the popularity of Dan Brown's books. Once again, any connection between this game and Leonardo Da Vinci is fairly thin and based on art alone (and even...

Posted by Mikko on October 18, 2006 12:41 PM

Pentago

This review in Finnish Pentago, the Finnish Adult Game of the year for 2006, is a twist on good old naughts and crosses. Players try to form five in a row on a 6x6 grid. That's fairly boring, but fortunately...

Posted by Mikko on October 17, 2006 2:21 PM

Da Vinci's Challenge

I played Da Vinci's Challenge with Johanna yesterday. She hated it, and I didn't like it much better. Basically it's a simple abstract game, where pieces are laid on a board with a Flower of Life pattern. Da Vinci's Challenge-->...

Posted by Mikko on October 16, 2006 12:28 PM

Quick touch with Pentago

I played Pentago, the Finnish game of the year, yesterday with Johanna. My darling wife was amazed when she heard that was the winner. She may not be a hardcore gamer, but she isn't clueless either! The game sucks, simply...

Posted by Mikko on October 13, 2006 12:36 PM

Terra Nova

Review of Terra Nova in Finnish. Terra Nova--> Terra Nova is a fairly abstract game of fence-building. Players try to move their men on the board and fence off as much land for themselves as possible. If the land features...

Posted by Mikko on September 26, 2006 10:27 AM

Board game club: Terra Nova, Viva Topo!

Board game club was a big hit yesterday, with almost a record crowd of over 20 gamers. I made a quick visit and had time for just a few games. I've wanted to play Terra Nova to get it off...

Posted by Mikko on September 25, 2006 11:53 AM

Farlander

Farlander reviewed in Finnish. Farlander--> Estonian Revaler published Farlander back in 2002, but now it's out from Finnish Tactic. This pretty game is warfare as simple as it gets. The medieval theme is pretty stale, but actually the game is...

Posted by Mikko on August 28, 2006 7:27 AM

New game session: Farlander, Terra Nova

Once again I met Olli for games, this time focusing on new material. We started with Farlander, since Olli had just bumped into it in a shop. The game looks nice, and inside the pretty box lies a simple war...

Posted by Mikko on August 11, 2006 6:42 AM

Kahuna

Review of Kahuna in Finnish. Kahuna--> Kahuna is a game that has bugged and frustrated me. I've found it hard to form my opinion of it, but now it's clear: I want to like it, but I can't. The game...

Posted by Mikko on July 29, 2006 7:45 AM

Byte

Iain challenged me to play Alien City on Super Duper Games. It's a neat game, which I'll write about when I finish the game. Alien City--> However, I also got a challenge to play Byte from the game's designer. I...

Posted by Mikko on November 18, 2005 1:43 PM

Pünct

A review of Pünct in Finnish. After trying Pünct in Essen and knowing I probably won't play again, I thought I'd write a review since my opinion is already well-formed. Pünct is a great addition to the Project GIPF line....

Posted by Mikko on November 11, 2005 3:17 PM

Thursday, day two: Shopping for games

The morning started off quite well. We were having breakfast, when I suddenly noticed a familiar-looking gentleman in a salmon-coloured shirt: herr Knizia! I wasn't quite brave enough to go talk to him, but maybe I'll ask for his signature...

Posted by Mikko on October 14, 2005 9:16 AM

Dvonn

After a big silence on the game review front, I wrote two reviews yesterday. The second one was Dvonn. Dvonn is neat, like most of the GIPF series. Well, at least Zèrtz and Yinsh. The games are close to perfection,...

Posted by Mikko on September 23, 2005 8:11 AM

Einfach Genial

Another review I wrote: Einfach Genial aka Ingenious aka Mensa Connections. Einfach Genial is a clever game by master Knizia. It's an abstract game, a rare thing from Knizia whose games are often fairly thinly themed, but still have at...

Posted by Mikko on February 19, 2005 1:40 PM

Book on connection games

An interesting book was advertised on Little Golem boards. Connection Games : Variations on a Theme is written by Cameron Browne. Here's a summary from the publisher's website: A comprehensive study of the connection game genre, Connection Games provides a...

Posted by Mikko on January 20, 2005 5:55 PM

Games and artificial intelligence

Yesterday I watched a bit of a documentary about Garry Kasparov and how he lost a match to IBM's Deep Blue. As the story goes, Deep Blue pulled an untypical move in the second game, causing Kasparov to lose. After...

Posted by Mikko on December 2, 2004 1:40 PM

Little Golem news

Iain got me playing Dvonn - I've been meaning to, but I have lacked motivation. Now I started and hey, it's a good game. Right now it ranks second in the Project GIPF games, right after Zèrtz. I'm still to...

Posted by Mikko on November 1, 2004 3:32 PM

Ta Yü

I wrote a review of Ta Yü. It's in Finnish, as usual. Ta Yü is one of the most beautiful games in my collection. I just love the plastic tiles, which remind me of Mahjong. It's the same kind of...

Posted by Mikko on July 6, 2004 1:47 PM