Tag: Tom Vasel

As a game reviewer, I play piles of new games each year, which means that most of my games stay in pristine condition, receiving only a handful of playings a year. Ticket to Ride is an exception to that rule, however, receiving so many playings that my box, board, and – most of all -…

When reading feedback from the Dice Tower, one of the hottest topics revolves around games for kids. In fact, about once a week or so I get an email from someone who is looking for good, interesting games to play with their children. Invariably I will point them to the Bright Idea line of games…

I was very pleased when Justinian: Intrigue at the Emperor’s Court (Phalanx and Mayfair Games, 2006 – Allessandro Saragosa and Leo Colovini) arrived, because it was on the exact day that I was teaching about the Byzantine emperor. I showed it to my class, announcing that this was exactly what we were talking about, even…

All right, I’ll be honest; when I first read through the rules of Castle Merchants (Z-Man Games, 2005 – Jerry Dziuba), I was less than impressed. Moving goods around from castle to castle really sounded like a drab affair, even though I heard that the game was an excellent “gateway” game. Armed with this information,…

I’m a big fan of expansions, and I want to see them produced for many of my favorite games. Many expansions really enhance the experience and cause me to almost exclusively utilize them when playing the basic games. But in the case of S.U.P.E.R. Scrap’s Upgrade Pack and Expansion Revision (Quest Machine, 2004 – Sam…

Bridge has always been a distant phenomenon for me, as it has permutated a good deal of society; yet I have never actually seen it being played. From articles in the paper to almost crazed fanatics I met, Bridge was certainly touted as a deep, fulfilling game, yet for some reason never attracted me. However,…

I’m always anxious to play new games from R & R, as they’ve made some tremendous games – such as Time’s Up and Smarty Party. I had no idea what Disorder (R&R Games, 2006 – Frank DiLorenzo) was about but was ready to dive into it, as soon as I first got it. After reading…

With the stereotypical images that are often conjured when a group of folks get together to go dungeon delving in a role playing game, it seems simply natural that a game parodying the entire genre would be produced. Once of these games has achieved a certain degree of popularity – Munchkin, although there are many,…