Tabletop Spotlight: Bottle Imp

I had an idea for this week’s post: let’s do a little bit of a lighter game. Something substantial, but easy to play, and quick to learn. So I looked around, and figured why not an old favorite like Bottle Imp? I mean, it’s December, people. It’s the perfect time to damn your friends to hell via an ancient trapped demon! Talk about getting into the holiday spirit… LOL

Bottle Imp is a tidy little trick-taking card game for 3 or 4 players, most recently published by Z-Man Games in 1995. Like other trick-taking card games (e.g. Hearts or Spades), gameplay relies on clever deceits and cutthroat card passes to win the game. And the story of Bottle Imp really is as dubious as my opener suggests!

Tabletop Spotlight: DC Deckbuilding Game

It's a bird, it's a plane, it's.... another board game review!

Our spotlight shines tonight on a game more recently put out by Cryptozoic Entertainment, the DC Comics Deck-building Game. (Yes, that's the title. No, it isn't very creative) This is a well-polished deck building card game for 2-5 players using the Cerberus engine- we'll get to that, don't worry- set in the DC comics universe. Have I piqued your interest yet?

I have to admit, I was a little taken aback by the New 52 art style, but they've really pulled it off in few ways that even the DC comics themselves haven't been able to do. The same DC heroes and villains we've all come to love over the years are in action, and let me tell you, this game is beautiful. The art on the box and the cards is gorgeous, and overall, it's very sleek. But aesthetics aren't everything; Dominion is the best deck builder out there and the art for that game looks like crap. How's it play?

Tabletop Spotlight: 7 Wonders

Today's spotlight features a game near and dear to my heart: 7 Wonders. I've always had somewhat of a soft spot for historical games, and this one caught my eye immediately when it came out in 2010. At the time, I was pretty new to deckbuilder type games; I had tried playing through Dominion and Ascension, and was starting to see the similarities between the TCG games I knew already and a streamlined card game. I was hooked right away and have since purchased multiple expansions, too!

7 Wonders (by Repos Productions) is a drafting style board game for up to seven players, incorporating a fast-paced game economy into a strategic deck builder with a diverse number of ways to score points. What that translates to is the fact that 7 Wonders is a difficult game to master. A deceptively simple gameplay mechanic- drafting cards (buildings) around the table and creating your own wonder of the world- cleverly hides a game with a ton of ways to score victory points and backstab your neighbors.

Tabletop Spotlight: Sentinels of the Multiverse

Today’s spotlight shines on a game that is up-and-coming amongst board gamers and is one that I must admit I am totally hooked on: Sentinels of the Multiverse. This is a deeply thematic, fully cooperative card game for 2-5 players from Greater Than Games. Debuted in 2011, this game has already warranted three full expansions (with another in the works!) and was one of the top 10 board/card games funded on Kickstarter. The most recent expansion, Infernal Relics, boasts contributions from Richard Launius of Arkham Horror fame. Needless to say, it’s getting big.

What really attracted me to this game at first was the theme. I am an enormous comic book nerd, and I have already had a lot of personal success with other cooperative board games (e.g.Pandemic, Castle Panic, and Forbidden Island… even Shadows over Camelot and Battlestar Galactica if I had to). When I saw this box, the art and theme immediately jumped out at me. The gorgeous aesthetics conceal an incredible easy game mechanic system. It’s accessible to the point of learning how to play in five minutes!