Review – Geistesblitz 2.0

2 to 8 Players, Aged 8 with a 30 minute playing time 

Gesitesblitz 2.0 designed by Jacques Zeimet was kindly provided for review by our friends at Zoch Verlag.

In Geistesblitz 2.0 –we meet the ‘ghostess’ (and 4 new objects) a friend of Balduin the ghost in Geistesblitz and this new game is essentially a re-working of the original. It is styled as ‘an independent game’ playable without the original but that can be combined with the original, in my view for unnecessary pain!

Given the similarities to the original Geistesblitz this review will build on my first review and seek to highlight the differences rather than go through the whole game again, although it will follow my standard approach.

What follows is an overview of the game broken down into 5 sections: The Game Components, Setting Up The Game, How To Play The Game, What Did We Think? and finally Who Do We Think Will Like It. So if you don't want to read the whole review scan down to the heading that interests you.

Review – Riff Raff

2-4 Players, Aged 8+ with a 30 minute playing time 

A review copy of Riff Raff , designed by Christoph Cantzler, was kindly provided by our friends at Zoch Verlag.

This is a tactile game of dexterity with quality components set loosely around a pirate theme. In the game blurb we learn that for some bizarre reason Captain Bullseye has decided that he should stow his cargo high up in the ships rigging, “so no peg-leg can get it”. Given the possibilities of losing the cargo to the pitching and rolling of a ship at sea, let alone the able bodied crew the last thing I would have thought the captain would worry about is those crew members with peg legs! As with so many games don’t worry too much about the theme, it is only loosely held together and doesn't stand up to close inspection. That said we think this is a real gem of a game so read on.

What follows is an overview of the game broken down into 5 sections: The Game Components, Setting Up The Game, How To Play The Game, What Did We Think? and finally Who Do We Think Will Like It?. So if you don't want to read the whole review scan down to the heading that interests you.

Review – Niagara

3-5 Players, Aged 8 with a 45 minute playing time

A game themed around the wild waters of the Niagara river and its famous falls offers an interesting set of challenges that will probably be preferred by those who like risk taking with a good dose of screwage.

Loosely set in the late 18th Century, when the Shawnee and Iroquois Indians pointed white adventurers in the direction of hidden caches of valuable jewels, along the banks of the river in the hopes of turning them against one another and away from their territorial expansion ambitions.

The players take on the role of these fearless adventurers (canoeists) seeking to collects gems from along the banks of the river close to the falls. It will come as no surprise that the most valuable gems are to be found closest to the waterfall!

The first player to collect either five different coloured, four of the same coloured or seven of any coloured gems, and bring them safely to land will the game and bring it to its close.

What follows is an overview of the game broken down into 5 sections: Game Components, Setting Up, How To Play, What Did We Think? and finally Who Do We Think Will Like It?. So if you don't want to read the whole review scan down to the heading that interests you.

Games in a Pub – 16th September 2012

The group gather after a summer break and immediately head off to Manila

Returning to the group after an absence of three Sunday’s gallivanting around Europe - make that a long drive to Venice for a camping holiday with family and more games of Uno than I care to think about – it really isn’t that good a game.

On the upside I played quite a few games of Hive which I needless to say lost to Gwen, Army of Frogs although one of the green frogs went AWOL, presumably preferring the Italian climate, Zooloreto Würfelspiel a game the boys enjoyed and has inspired them to play its big brother a number of times since they returned and Agricola: All Creatures Big and Small which I played on my own whilst the team went to Aqualandia losing to virtual Gwen (how can she beat me when she isn’t even present?!) and Carcassonne: Hunters and Gatherers a game I had acquired via a swap and which the team were distinctly unimpressed with.

Back to the Blue Anchor; whilst I had been away the group had played numerous games of King of Tokyo, and Takenoko plus Quarriors and Mansions of Madness.

Review – Flossen Hoch!

2 to 4 Players, Aged 4+ with a 15 minute playing time

A review copy of Flossen Hoch!, designed by Grein-Bottcher, was kindly provided by the team at Zoch Verlag.

The theme as with many of Zoch’s fames is a little abstract / far fetched but if it aids the artwork and fun then there is little reason to complain. The theme of this memory game is that as part of a festival at the South Pole the penguins are having a race. However in order to move round the track the penguins have to memorise where the longest fish are in the polar sea and only move on the race track based on the length of the fish they pull out of the sea. Presumably the fish don’t move much as they are in fact already dead and frozen, presumably in Iceland!

What follows is an overview of the game broken down into 5 sections: The Game Components, Setting Up The Game, How To Play The Game, What Did We Think? and finally Who Do We Think Will Like It?. So if you don't want to read the whole review scan down to the heading that interests you.

Review – Zozzle

2 -4 Players, Aged 4+ with a 15 minute playing time

The guys at Zoch Verlag kindly provided 4 review copies of their memory puzzle game Zozzle (the Kinder or young children's versions).

Of their most recent batch of games these were the ones I was least looking forward to and it has to be said I was very pleasantly surprised.

What follows is an overview of the game broken down into 5 sections: The Game Components, Setting Up The Game, How To Play The Game, What Did We Think? and finally Who Do We Think Will Like It?. So if you don't want to read the whole review scan down to the heading that interests you.

Review – Da ist der Wurm drin

2 to 4 Players, Aged 4+ with a 15 minute playing time

A first time game design by a mother (Carmen Kleinert ) and daughter combination, stunningly illustrated by    Heidemarie Rüttinger and kindly provided for review by the guys at Zoch Verlag.

With an age range of 4+ this is at the younger end of the family games spectrum. Perhaps surprisingly it hasn’t been rated as 6+ for fear of confused / immature 4 year olds putting the cardboard pieces in their mouths and chocking!

Anyway the game went down a storm last year in Germany winning the 2011 Kinderspiel des Jahres   Award for childrens’ games. The game offers players a simple race between earth worms who want to be the first to poke their heads out of the compost heap at the end of the garden, made more interesting by:

a. The beautiful and colourful artwork.

b. The hidden movement – they are earth worms after all.

c. The ability to place bets on whose worm is doing best.

What follows is an overview of the game broken down into 5 sections: The Game Components, Setting Up The Game, How To Play The Game, What Did We Think? and finally Who Do We Think Will Like It?. So if you don't want to read the whole review scan down to the heading that interests you.

Review – Alles Kanone! and Alles Tomate!

2-8 Players, Aged 6+ with a 15 minute playing time

Review copies of Alles Kanone! and Alles Tomate!, designed by Reiner Knizia, were kindly provided by Zoch Verlag.

These are two identical games, in terms of game play, that offer younger children a simple memory game with colourful artwork on the themes of farming, Alles Tomate!, and pirates Alles Kanone!.

The initial version of this game Alles Tomate! won an award from the magazine Spielen und Lernen in 2008 in the 6 years and up category (they have 4 categories ,"from 3-years old"; "from 6-years old" and "from 9-years old" and in one category for unreleased games) whilst Alles Kanone! was released earlier this year.

The Deutscher Lernspielpre award aims to promote the culture of educational games in German-speaking countries and highlight particularly good games for children. It seeks to promote playful learning to a wider audience, so that educational gaming is recognized as an essential building block in the development of children in all age groups; with the bi-product of heightening the social status of gaming. Whilst it is a German award it is promoting something that I think would be of interest to all parents.

What follows is an overview of the game broken down into 5 sections: The Game Components, Setting Up The Game, How To Play The Game, What Did We Think? and finally Who Do We Think Will Like It?. So if you don't want to read the whole review scan down to the heading that interests you.

Interview with Albrecht Werstein CEO of Zoch Verlag

We have had untold hours of fun playing the many Zoch games in our collection (Bausack, Hick Hack in-gackelwack, Furchs and Fertig and Safranito to name just a few) and I felt it would be interesting to interview their CEO, Albrecht Werstein and find out a little more about the company and its history.