NATURALLY NERDY

SMAKdraw Publisher: High5 TeamBuilding |Playtime: 15-90mins | Players: 3-10 Designers: Robin Hardin, Glenn Orfino| Ages 10+ | Graphic Artist: Logann Fitt Kickstarter May 3rd, 2022 https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/high5teambuilding/smakdraw-not-your-average-drawing-game Sometimes the daily grind can leave you jumbled, and you just need time to reconnect with a board game. Gaming puts us in friendly competition and a chance to recharge but finding a game that encourages banter, deduction, and just plain delightful can be challenging. How about a game smooshing the good bits of Superfight, Quelf, and Pictionary into one new innovative game? SMAKdraw delivered on all counts. We found there is plenty of variety which leads to nonstop laughter. SMAKdraw will be on Kickstarter on May 3rd, 2022! easy-to-read rules, or you can also scan the QR code in the rulebook for a How to Play Video. Gameplay The rules say that the player that got out of bed the earliest becomes the first Guesser, and the last out of bed is the first SMAKer. That is a light-hearted way to pick first players; however, what if you play more than one game or fancy rolling dice? When there is a choice, we roll dice, which is how we pick the first players. The back SMAKer picks a word card from the deck, concealing it from the Guesser. Then use the SMAKhand and SMAK it gently onto the back of the Guesser. The Guesser, turns around, the timer is flipped, and all players draw the word on the Guessers back. * Blank Card – Anyone can create a word card during any drawing round using this card. * Acting Round – Before any drawing round, the drawers can agree if they would rather act out the word card simultaneously instead of drawing it. Two or more can team up to act if desired. The word card is held on the forehead of the Guesser, and the same Scoring rules apply. We played every other round as an Acting round because we had an artist at the table- trying to level the playing field. It was just as delightful and silly. The designers note that "Drawing skills not required to win" is true unless you have our artist at the table. 😊 Choose Drawings: When the timer runs out, stop drawing, and place the drawsheets face down in the middle of the table, lightly shuffle, then turn them face up. The Guesser now turns back around to study the drawings. Flip the timer, and feel free to SMAKtalk and laugh at any drawings. When the timer runs out, the Guesser, declares they have a guess, however, does NOT reveal it yet! At this point, the Guesser, chooses the drawing, or multiple drawings, that helped them arrive at their guess the most, and the drawing or numerous drawings that enabled them the least. Scoring for Helped Most: The Guesser, reveals their answer, and if it is the Correct Guess, or is like the word or phrase on the word card, then the Guesser receives 2 points, and the drawing, or drawings, that helped the Guesser the most receive 1 point each. All players earning points should celebrate with a High 5 handSMAK! Needed Hint: If the Guesser's answer is not a match, do NOT reveal the answer yet. If anyone does, the Guesser automatically scores 1 point, then Continue to Play to the next drawing round. If not revealed, then the drawing, or drawings that helped the most get a second chance to score one point each; by quietly discussing then each giving a one-word hint. The Guesser listens to all hints, then takes only one guess. If correct, then those players, and the Guesser, score 1 point each. Scoring for Helped Least: The player, or players, that drew a picture that helped the least can now defend and explain how their drawing resembles the word card. The Guesser, and all other players, become the Jury. The Jury votes, and 1 point is awarded to each drawing or drawing received 50% or more Jury Vote in favor. Scoring for Others (Optional Recommended!): The players whose drawings were Not selected as helped most or helped least can earn points. Continue Play. Last Word Easy to learn and very engaging, the SMAKdraw Game is more than a party game. The outbursts and synergy of Bonus Challenges and Helpful Hints make for enterprising gameplay. We found a lot of entertainment to be drawn out of the game by the players, coming up with good arguments, competing for extra points, and deciphering the clues that lead to interesting situations. Additionally, we played SMAKdraw After Dark expansion pack for ages seventeen and up. The twenty-something Nerdz at the Garage that played were laughing so hard that the tears were flowing. They thought it was inappropriate in all the right ways. Some of the words/phrases require quite a bit of creative use of drawing; however, relying on the creative without forcing you to be a great drawer. Both versions of SMAKdraw were brimming with high jinks while still keeping it in the imagination zone. This Preview was kindly sponsored by High5 TeamBuilding. Thoughts and opinions are my own.

Taelmoor Board Game Cooperative Fantasy Adventures with Digital and Physical Gameplay 1–6 Players | 45–90 Min| Age: 14 | Designer: Eli Delventhal, Willem Delventhal, Zac Delventhal | Artist: Brendan Milos, Paola Bonacina, Dattan Porto Puzzles, love them, especially when it is in a dungeon. Taelmoor board game is a fresh take on a dungeon crawl. Steeped in fantasy and adventure with "Oh!" of surprise immersive experience played with the Scan & Play QR codes. The story unfolds through the DM (narrator) that points you in a direction than it is up to the players to work together to escape the dungeon. Can you have a collaboratively generated mystery that also allows the element of surprise to be present? Absolutely, yes! Tasked to investigate and collect items while battling through tumultuous booby-trapped dungeon dodging to complete missions in hopes of joining the Scattered Band- the most prolific mercenaries. It is sleuthing with the ability to collect items and utilize powers with spell and combat cards. We played the game via Tabletop Simulator, and after playing the demos, we got such a kick out of the game that we jumped over to Kickstarter and backed it. It is – as of posting- is ninety-five percent funded with many days to go. We keep the faith that Taelmoor reaches all their stretch goals because that will be the chef's kiss on the game. Taelmoor is a dungeon crawl board game, and players face multiple scenarios and challenging quests. With powerful abilities, magic weapons, and spells. You must overcome traps, fight monsters, and find treasures. It has unique interactions between an app and physical board game pieces. Taelmoor is a solid crawler board game with exciting problem-solving chances with numerous characters and puzzles. It has an intriguing storyline and a delightful experience. Did I hear SteamPunk Pirates?! Please and thank you. You can find out more at https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/delvebros/taelmoor-the-scan-and-play-dungeon-crawler/description https://twitter.com/taelmoor https://www.facebook.com/taelmoor/ https://www.instagram.com/taelmoor.boardgame/ https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/334565/taelmoor https://discord.gg/Rrf5vYf

Caper Europe by Keymaster Games Players: 2 – 2 players | Game Duration 25 – 35 mins | Min. Age 10+ Is there “Honor among thieves.” We put it to the test by playing Caper Europe by Keymaster Games. Recruit a quirky crew of thieves and equip them with clever gear to steal from famous places across Europe! Caper is a tactical 2-player game built on the mechanics of card-drafting, hand-passing, and set collection played over 6 rounds. It is a head-to-head war of masterminds, where players take turns drafting gear to add to your thieves. Each player places one at a location, then passes the deck on to the other player who will pick one, etc. When one card is left, discard it. Now to time to equip the thieves with gear. Players draft cards, placing one and then passing the deck to the other player till one card is left- discard. Gear can cost coin, but that’s ok; some Crew comes with coin. Some equipment Steals goods at their location. These Stolen goods are points at the end of the caper. Or you can earn some coin with gear cards. Each crew can only hold three gear, so plan ahead and hope you get lucky with gear cards. Repeat till the sixth round. Then see which crew took control of the location and bonuses. Calculate Points. Total crew and gear bonuses. Points. The sneakiest scoundrel with the most points wins the caper. Bits and Bobs 109 Location, Thief, & Gear cards Custom Box Organizer - Designed by Game Trayz 10 Punchboard Coins 15 Wooden Tokens 1 Gameboard 1 Score Pad 2 Quick Reference Cards 1 Rulebook Last Words It is highly portable, sets up in minutes, and even less to reset and play again- which we did many times. Each location is valuable, and the tug of war to keep control of the location is fierce. Sometimes you have to just neglect a spot and go all-in on another. The drafting mechanics is nifty, swift, and lends to cool interaction. The card abilities are well thought out and crafty. Easy to learn and thus far endlessly entertaining to play.

Let us play some mind games Throughout the whole game Strikingly Artful Mind Games Court of the Dead: Dark Harvest is a bidding and bluffing game in the dark fantasy universe of the Court of the Dead. The Court of the Dead had tasked you to shepherd many souls to safety, but you must be be devious because there are others vying to collect these same souls. At the games end, the player who as wrangled the most souls safely behind their screen wins. Game Play Court of the Dead: Dark Harvest is played in multiple rounds with three phases repeated each round. Income Phase There are two currencies used for bidding in this game. In the Income phase players will receive Souls and Influence to spend. Souls are gained as tokens dependent on the amount of players. Each player will have 5 Influence and can gain 1 each round. Souls can be earned and lost through cards and bidding. Court Phase In this phase, players will choose from one of three cards that are face up on the table. Each card is related to a specific symbol, Flesh, Spirit and Bone, these Faction Favor cards have additional bonuses, such as raise a bid or break ties. Once obtained by a player, they hold this card till to use another player bids enough Influence and they acquire the cards and now have the between turn abilities. Players secretly pick one of the three decks to bid on using a chip with a symbol on it matching the Faction and a number of influence tokens they believe will win them that card in a closed fist. This is where the mind games come in, with the scarcity of the Influence currency, do you bluff to seem like you will go for the card that will benefit all players and bid on the card that cause havoc on the other players? A bit of both for us. Player with the highest bid then resolves the card, the player takes the Faction favor card for that faction. There are Faction cards in the Court Phase that are better than others and will provide some type of advantage and provide a damaging blow to a player. We did find that there was a fair balance in the cards. Harvest Phase Here is where some team cooperation is required. A card will be flipped stipulating the number of souls that need to be offered, by the group, in order to pass the Harvest and not receive any of the penalties of failing. If the Harvest fails, the player who offers the least souls will receive the negative impacts of a fail. Fail three times, and the player who submits the least souls is actually eliminated entirely from the game, which is a strategic way to eliminate players from the game. We definitely worked towards passing the Harvest and never intentionally tried to eliminate a player. When it succeeds, the player who contributed the most gains a bonus Influence token. This continues for six rounds of bluffing, bidding and soul grabbing. Once the final Harvest occurs and is successful, the player with the most Souls is the winner. Mechanics We found the game was better with more than three players, however the majority of our plays were with three and it was still engaging and nerve racking. The Flesh Faction card was favored in our house and if an obviously popular card were up for bid, I would move on to another faction to bid on. Bits and Bob In- Game Trayz 6 Privacy Screens 18 Faction Tokens 30 Influence Tokens 9 Harvest Cards 3 Final Harvest Cards 3 Faction Favor Cards 3 Court Deck Markers 60 Soul Tokens 3 Failure Tokens The Last Word The bidding phases are pretty serious throughout the game. The tension does build in the last few rounds. The last Harvest card has steep goals and dangerous repercussions, which can leave the competing players out of luck if they do not work together to defeat the final boss. The blend of two types of currency layers the scheming and plotting each round. Thematically, the cards detailing is striking, and the art is idyllic of the fantasy genre. They are extraordinary, and the abilities are well thought out. It combines a sizable amount of strategy and sabotage that Nerdz Garage has a penchant for. Court of the Dead: Dark Harvest is a thoughtful, challenging game that moves swiftly. Court of the Dead Dark Harvest https://store.skybound.com/products/court-of-the-dead-dark-harvest https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/285105/court-dead-dark-harvest @skyboundtabletp @skyboundgames Court of the Dead: Dark Harvest 3–6 Players 30–45 Min Age: 14+ Designer: Ben Kepner Artist: Abigail Larson Publisher: Skybound Games Categories: Bluffing, Card Game, Comic Book / Strip , Fantasy , Mythology We play. We invent. We review. We are an independent, creative pop culture studio that looks beyond what is contemporary. We grew up in pop culture and strive to present a positive and diverse forum on everything nerdy. Nerdz Garage Dylan Smith Nerdz Podcast Theme Licensed Music Purple Planet Music Ecstasy

· 2 Players · 1–30 Min · Age: 13+ · Designer: Gabriel Whittemore · Artist: Gabriel Whittemore · Publisher: Sisyphus Systems Dinn is a fast-paced deck-construction card game combined with alternate-reality puzzles. It is steeped in strategy and a dash of luck, surrounded by Villains and Heroes from mythology and history. My son played Magic the Gathering for years and on occasion he would ask to teach me to play. Hearing the banter while he played made it sound intriguing, however the vast amount of cards and their abilities prompted me to put it off for another day. Moons have passed and we have played smattering of cards games similar and still there was no spark or connection to the cards for me…. Until now. I could be that I love the art on the Dinn Cards or the mechanics of the card abilities, but it just clicked for me. The goal of Dinn is to defeat your opponent by playing a combination of three types of cards: Heroes, action, and equipment cards. Each player has three Heart cards that can crushed by the player having the highest Hero power that round. Vibrant Art Starter Decks Diverse Abilities Gameplay The starter game came with a neoprene player mat and two starter decks: Beast which is classic monster and Sentient which is King Arthur times. Each player places 3 Heart cards face-up on the mat. Then player’s shuffle their 36-card deck. Each player draws a hand of 8 random cards from the top of their deck at the beginning of the game. If you do not draw a Hero, discard, and draw a new hand. Hero cards are revealed simultaneously and the Hero with the higher value goes first. Once the Heroes are on the table, it is time to plan the best route to build an engine with higher values to crush hearts or build up your defenses. Players place face down and Action or Equipment cards that has matching icons. They are revealing simultaneously, and the higher value Hero goes first. These cards have various abilities that range from adding value to Hero, pulling cards from the Graveyard to negating the opponent’s ability. The third-round players place face down and Action or Equipment card. It should be noted that if you know that with the cards in your hand, you can not win, you can pass to save cards for the next round. The highest value Hero goes first and once the abilities have been resolved it is time to declare a round winner. The Hero with a lower Total Power loses the round. That player must then shatter a number of Heart cards equal to the number of Hearts on the Hero they played. The Clean up phase is to discard cards used to the Graveyard. If both players still have Heart cards in play, begin the next round by drawing two random cards from the top of their respective decks. Any card abilities that alter a card are only active during that round unless otherwise specified. Once a card is in the graveyard, it is effectively reset. The winner Dinn successfully crushes the opponents three hearts. Mechanics After a few plays we did get to forming a deck of combination cards that the abilities made difficult to beat. However, there is a big dose of luck in the drawing of cards and learning to pivot a strategy was crucial. The starter deck did supply enough combination and variety to keep gameplay fair and competitive. I was relying heavily on pulling hearts from the Graveyard and modifying power by +1 for retrieving for Equipment cards in hand. The card abilities are well thought and crafty. Bits and Bobs Player Mat Beast Starter Deck Sentient Starter Deck QR Code for Rules The Last Word The main reason I wanted to play Dinn was that the cards play a part in a large-scale puzzle that you follow through an interactive story driven mystery. I spent a few hours following down that rabbit hole. There are clues online and the community interaction to assist with the puzzles. This is a whole different adventure that I fully intend to dive back into, crack the codes and save the day. Crazy good puzzling! There are endless combinations to build a good engine; however, one opponents’ card can topple your engine. You are constantly defending your Hero while collecting stronger cards to put opponents at a disadvantage. It is a quick but complex game. Dinn the Card game has refreshing mechanics and multiple paths to victory make for a captivating experience. It is a rare mixture that we found had the perfect balance between depth, style and substance, and challenge. Season 1 Puzzle Page https://dinncards.com/season-1/ A new horror-themed deck for the expandable card game is available! https://dinncards.com/ Designer: Gabriel Whittemore Artist: Gabriel Whittemore Publisher: Sisyphus Systems Dylan Smith Nerdz Podcast Theme Licensed Music Purple Planet Music Ecstasy

Xenohunters Kickstarter April 7th Designer: Jack Ford Morgan Publisher: Half-Monster Games Pty. Ltd. 2-4 Player Play Time: 30-90 Minutes https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/jackfordmorgan/1930234349?ref=cumtug&token=aeb7062e Xenohunters is a science fiction horror double-hidden-movement alien-hunting board game that is launching on Kickstarter on April 7th. We had the opportunity to playtest Xenohunters for hours and hours. It is the 36th century, and the world's citizens live in station colonies throughout the galactic rim. However, colonies living on the outer galactic rim are going dark and have become uncontactable. The galactic council has expended their military forces to no avail - they need to call on the best. You, the Hunters, have been summoned as the elite mercenary crew who live on the edge of the law to investigate the stations. You know very well: this is another outbreak of flesh-eating Xenos, creatures that harvest living flesh to birth monsters. The only way to stop this advancing tide of evil is with the liberal application of fire. The best way to do so: detonate the fusion reactors at the heart of every Station. As elite mercenaries of the galaxy, your mission is clear: board the stations, destroy the reactors, and kill the aliens. Good luck. Warp ends in 3, 2, 1… There are four formable missions, female character Hunters and a Xenos Alien vying to gobble up all that is left of humanity. Choose your team, gather your wits, and board the ship that sent the distress message warning of the Xenos on board. The Xenos has eggs and spawns strewn about the ship. Hunters can proceed slyly hidden or garishly trying to draw her out. Either way, the vessel has all the equipment you need to be victorious if you can find them before she finds you! You turn a corner and see what once your fellow Hunter was now a gruesome Hybrid Spawn. Shall you try to revive her, seeks the bombs to blow the reactor, or dash back to your ship to live another day?? Steeped in strategies, treachery, and consequences- Xenos could be hiding just around the corner! FULL REVIEW AT https://www.nerdzgarage.com/post/effectively-intense-xenohunters-sci-fi-horror-beyond-the-outer-rim We play. We invent. We review. We are an independent, creative pop culture studio that looks beyond what is contemporary. We grew up in pop culture and strive to present a positive and diverse forum on everything nerdy. Nerdz Garage Nerdz Podcast Theme Licensed Music Purple Planet Music Ecstasy

Barnyard Round Up – Refreshing Playfulness Designer: James Hudson Artists: Lina Cossette Publishers: Druid City Games Release Date: 2016 Player count: 2 - 6 Age range: 6+ Time range: 10 - 20 minutes Mechanism(s): Hand Management, Set Collection, Take That On occasion, you fancy a hike up uncharted paths or a saunter in a park, but suddenly you run full speed and cannonball into a pool, feeling refreshed and giggling for the youthful fun. Barnyard Round Up delivered that lively feeling. Barnyard Roundup is a set collection game for 2-6 players employing bluffing or truthful tactics. In Barnyard Roundup, players try to gain the most points by convincing other players of their honesty, sincerity or misleading convincingly. Gameplay Each player begins with a hand of six cards and one Action token. On a player's turn, they choose a number of matching animal cards from their hands and offer them to another player face down. The player declares what the cards are –for example, two Pigs. The player receiving the cards face down must then decide if the player was genuine or bluffing. If they guess correctly, they keep the cards. If they guess wrong, the first player gets to keep their cards for their own pen. Wild Cards: Copy Cat and negative point Crow cards adds a level of trickery and deception. This is where the gotcha and giggle join the game. The Crow cards work oppositely that if the receiving player guesses incorrectly, they must take the Crows and add them to their pen. When a player reaches a multiple of 3 Crows, they get a new Action token, and if you draw the Scarecrow, it scares away 3 Crow cards to other players' pen. Barnyard Roundup also includes three types of tokens that provide special abilities to the players. The Burglar – The player can attempt to steal cards from a player. Once the player declares which animal has that animal in their hand, they must give all to the Burglar to put in their pen. If they do not have that animal, they provide all their Crows in their hand to the Burglar to put in their pen. Ouch!! Excuse Me – On another player's turn, interrupt and take over a deal between two other players. Scarecrow- The Scarecrow takes up to 3 Crows from your pen and divides them between any other players. Only one can be given to another player; the remainder is removed from the game. A game of Barnyard Roundup ends when the last card is drawn. Math time. Bonus point cards are awarded for having the most of any type of farm animal and having complete sets of farm animals, one each of Cow, Pig, Goat, Sheep, and Chicken. Each player adds points for the animals in their pen and subtracts points for the Crows cards. The player with the most points wins. Bits and Bobs 90 Animal cards (15 each cow, pig, sheep, goat, chicken, crow) 7 Copy Cat Cards 5 Animal Bonus cards 8 Set Bonus cards 6 Thief tokens 6 Excuse Me tokens 1 Scarecrow token Last Thoughts Barnyard Round-Up is a family-friendly game that educational and amusing. We had planned to play with an adorable six-year-old; however, he was not up for learning a new game. The adults played and found it highly interactive with a big dash of sabotage to intensify the gameplay. It is set collecting with a cagey twist. Twitter: @skyboundtabletp Instagram: @skyboundtabletop Facebook: Skybound Tabletop https://store.skybound.com/collections/games/products/barnyard-roundup-card-game https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/186793/barnyard-roundup http://www.druidcitygames.com/barnyard-roundup Let’s be honest; there is still a bit of drama when we play. Sit Down -Grab a Drink – Join the Game Suzzan Smith https://www.nerdzgarage.com/ We play. We invent. We review. We are an independent, creative pop culture studio that looks beyond what is contemporary. We grew up in pop culture and strive to present a positive and diverse forum on everything nerdy. Nerdz Garage Nerdz Podcast Theme Licensed Music Purple Planet Music Ecstasy

As with most classic whodunits'- Dead Little Roosters begins at a lavish mansion in the snowy mountains. The promise of great fortune draws 10 little roosters together. As per the stipulations of the genre, the show introduces us to the Rooster Teeth family members as they are locked in their rooms after the discovery of the murder of their host, Nicodemus. This Interactive Whodunit dares the audience to become sleuths-in-the-making because a killer is hiding amongst the guest, search for clues, predict the murders, and in the end, the audience will have a chance to win great fortunes (slick prizes.) Paranoia and suspicion are the guiding principles of any good whodunit, and its resolution is the genre’s most tantalizing promise. This is satisfyingly played out through the stylized episodes. In the homage to Wes Anderson-esque spirit, each scene is impeccably designed. We have taken copious notes and fallen down the rabbit hole (happily.) We have watched each episode multiple times and believe we have some solid theories. Thus far, we have been wrong, but ardently watch each week to play the game. Is this the future of gaming and media? 2020 brought constraints and or halt to theater, music, and even going out to eat and consuming more online and media content. The gaming community lost conventions, playtesting, and weekly game nights. Businesses are learning to PIVOT to survive, and the gaming community is merging innovations with interaction. Dead Little Roosters takes it a step further with the blend of media and gaming. Dead Little Roosters is clever and expertly staged; it successfully balances the comedy, suspense, and wry dialogue. Good Luck, Detectives! Dead Little Roosters will be a Rooster Teeth FIRST member exclusive series and premiered on January 8. Airing new episodes Fridays at 3pm. The series stars Fiona Nova, Barbara Dunkelman, Hannah McCarthy, Alfredo Diaz, Blaine Gibson, Eric Baudour, Yssa Badiola, Michael Jones, Lindsay Jones, Ify Nwadiwe, Trevor Collins, and Elyse Willems with Josh Flanagan serving as writer and director as well as co-showrunning the series with Nova. You can head over to the official site to learn more about winning the weekly contests. https://deadlittleroosters.com/ Other shows by Josh Flanagan https://roosterteeth.com/series/arizona-circle https://roosterteeth.com/series/day5 https://roosterteeth.com/series/eleven-little-roosters https://roosterteeth.com/series/ten-little-roosters Where to find Josh Flanagan https://twitter.com/JoshtheFlanagan https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2376655/ We play. We invent. We review. We are an independent, creative pop culture studio that looks beyond what is contemporary. We grew up in pop culture and strive to present a positive and diverse forum on everything nerd Nerdz Podcast Theme Licensed Music Purple Planet Music Ecstasy

Exploration. Mystery. Sabotage. Crimes in History: H. H. Holmes' Murder Castle travels back to the time of 1893, daring to investigate the twisted and unpredictable World's Fair Hotel. Tasked to collect evidence while battling through the absurdities of a chaotic, booby-trapped castle - all while dodging Holmes himself. It is not just sleuthing for evidence while exploring the maniacal hotel; the other detectives thrive in solving the case first, which leads to sabotage and backstabbing, all while alluding Holmes. The concept sounded intriguing and the art bewitching. After a lengthy wait due to the upside times, the captivating game arrived! After much investigating, Unboxing the game did not disappoint. The game tiles, components, cards, and tokens are all of high quality. First-time designers Brandt Hoffman and Seth Cooper, who published it under their company Blueprint Gaming Concepts, blew the door off the hinges! Now that the door is open let us examine the game……. Our Thoughts We found this game to be teeming with amusing and challenging mechanics. There are thirty room tiles inspired by the original blueprints of the Murder Castle that contain safes with varying amounts of evidence for players to collect. The tiles have a comic book vibe, and each image tells the narrative of the room. It is tile placement reminiscent of Betrayal at House on the Hill game. Each game, the order is random, bringing a fresh methodology play. The World's Fair Ferris Wheel is revamped to be the evidence cube holder. Each gondola holds five randomly chosen cubes. The bottom gondola is the Unloading Zone for the adding of new evidence on the tiles. Knowing what evidence would be next helped plan ahead to see when you should place a room tile and fill the safe. The rotating Ferris Wheel refills from the evidence bag. The first player marker is an old skeleton key, which is a nice touch and furthermore needed as turns can get confusing the first few games. The event cards can make around fascinating and or frustrating. These cards can sabotage with trapdoors and pickpocket a fellow investigator. They can bring lucky breaks with free evidence from the Evidence bag and finding hidden pathways. H.H. Holmes gets a turn each round and can move freely through the castle. Some cards offer the choice of rooms to move Holmes, and there is where you can play more cooperative and move him away or cutthroat and place him in a room with a player. There are adverse effects when you run into H.H. Holmes. We didn't want the game to end when the first player succeeded that we made a House Rule to continue playing till the last investigator made it to the end. The only addition we would like to add is a way to sabotage the safes in the rooms. Then it would not be a guarantee that the evidence is collected when is a room. Yes, this would make the game longer, and we would be very alright with that. Game Play The game-winner is the first player to collect all of their evidence and move back to the Pharmacy. Players select a character and evidence set up cards. Fill the Ferris Wheel with Evidence cubes. Players begin the game with their evidence board partially filled and based on a starting evidence setup card. Players select action tiles to explore the castle. Turn actions, move into rooms, place a new room tile, collect evidence cubes from safes, draw an event card or move Holmes. Every player gets a chance to use every action selected, the action tile has a special bonus action available only to the player who selected it. Once all players have taken an action card, it is Holmes’s turn. Regardless of the Move Holmes Action Tile was selected during the round, the player with the Skeleton Key that began the round will always reveal a Holmes' Movement Card at the end of the round and then follow the same rules as the Move Holmes Action Tile. Holmes knows every nook of the Murder Castle and he can appear in any room forcing players to drop their evidence or head down a different path. The next round begins with the Skeleton Key being passed to the next player in clockwise order. Repeat the above steps until a player collects all of their Evidence Cubes and moves back to the Pharmacy. Crimes in History: H. H. Holmes' Murder Castle is a competitive tile-placement and card drafting game. Very engaging with significant interaction and new mechanics. Art is campy, and very impressive components. Steeped in strategies and treachery but remember the consequences- H.H. Holmes is just around the corner! Nerdz Garage recommends trying to solve this caper! https://www.blueprintgamingconcepts.com/news ~ We play. We invent. We review. We are an independent, creative pop culture studio that looks beyond what is contemporary. We grew up in pop culture and strive to present a positive and diverse forum on everything nerdy. Nerdz Garage Nerdz Podcast Theme Licensed Music Purple Planet Music Ecstasy