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Fair Play Games Newsletter 12-1-03 Please note that this announcement is posted with an outgoing address only. If you want to contact us, please visit the site. www.fairplaygames.com Contents: 1. Christmas Tree Contest 2. Latest Releases and Catalog Additions at Fair Play 3. Mini-Review by Mike Petty: The Bridges of Shangri-La 4. Thanksgiving Gaming ---------------------------------------------------- Christmas Tree Contest ---------------------------------------------------- This contest really has nothing to do with Christmas trees. It's just a contest about trees held at Christmastime and here's how it goes. Visit the site and follow the link to the contest page. You'll find eight pictures of trees, or things that look sort of like trees, grabbed from the components of eight games. Identify as many of the games as you can and submit your answers. The weekend after Christmas we'll randomly draw five names from all those who participated. The entry that has the most games identified correctly wins a $10 gift certificate. In case of a tie, the entry that was chosen first will be the winner. ---------------------------------------------------- Latest Releases and Catalog Additions at Fair Play ---------------------------------------------------- We're expecting the latest Rio Grande releases early this week. Included in the shipment will be the new Carcassonne expansions--the Castle and King & Scout. ZooSim is being released as O Zoo le Mio, now in English. Also, Trias will be available and it includes wooden dinosaurs rather than the wooden cubes that came with the original German edition. Latest Additions since our last newsletter: Coloretto (English Version) $7.45 Mu and more - English Version (Mu und Mehr) $13.25 Dracula $13.95 Crocodile Pool Party $13.95 Trias - English Edition (with wooden dinos!) $17.45 ZooSim - English Edition (O Zoo le Mio) $19.95 Icehouse Pieces (in several colors) - $5.95 Carcassonne: the Castle $13.50 Carcassonne: King & Scout $3.50 Wildlife $31.95 Ark Of The Covenant $18.95 As always, please let us know if there's something you'd like that we don't currently have listed. ---------------------------------------------------- Mini-Review by Mike Petty: The Bridges of Shangri-La ---------------------------------------------------- The Bridges of Shangri-La is a new release published by Uberplay here in the US. It's designed by Leo Colovini and in some ways reminds me of his very popular Clans from last year. I'd recommend this game as a family game for families with children ages 10 and older. It will also appeal to more serious gamers who enjoy medium weight games like Web of Power and Aladdin's Dragons. The rules are very simple and the basics can be explained in about two minutes. After a round of initial placement of masters on the board, players will have three options on a turn. One option is to add a master token to the board at one village. The second option is to add "students" to the board by placing up to two tokens on top of masters you already control. The third option is to have a "journey of students" by moving all students from one village to another over a bridge. This is the only way to get masters in villages where you don't already have one. It's also a way to boot out opponents' masters and take the positions over yourself. After students travel over a bridge, the bridge breaks and is removed from the board and no further travels will take place over that path. From this aspect of the game, it should be clear how timing becomes so important. With only one action to choose from each turn, this adds a nice sense of urgency throughout the game. With simple rules and a quality presentation, The Bridges of Shangri-La is an excellent addition to the Uberplay line. From what Jeremy Young has told us, his goal with Uberplay is to make families and gamers in the US more aware of the great games being designed in Europe. I have no doubt this game is accessible to a wide range of gaming tastes and it should help to further that goal. It was a hit with the high school club when I introduced it and I'm looking forward to playing it much more myself! ---------------------------------------------------- Thanksgiving Gaming ---------------------------------------------------- Well, time off for Thanksgiving has meant plenty of gaming for Kendra and I. It started with the high school game club. We kicked off the four-day vacation by staying after school for about three hours. We then visited family and friends over the next three days. While we didn't play games constantly, this is an impressive list for us in a four-day period! The Game Club: The Bridges Of Shangri-La - Fun medium-weight strategy from Uberplay. What's That On My Head? - Good for laughs, but a real thinking game. I love playing this. Battleball - Tons of dice rolling, but kids love it. Balderdash - A great group game that's always hilarious. Crokinole - This game appeals to everyone it seems. I played it at school and during each family visit on Thanksgiving Day. 500 - People around here love euchre. This is euchre with some meat on it. Nobody But Us Chickens - I'm warming up to this light filler. Family and friend visits: Loser - A standard deck card game I based on Kemps. Works well for kids through adults. Warcraft: The Boardgame - Terry and I finally played this two-player to get the rules down. I'm really looking forward to more plays! Scream Machine - Heard many great things about this design. It's a cool filler because it has a theme that works! Mystery Rummy #4: Al Capone - I usually play this two-player with my wife. It was fun trying it in partnerships. Thingamajig - This word-guessing game is pure genius in my opinion. I'd play it anytime for hours. Some people are horrible at it, but that's one of the fun things about it! www.fairplaygames.com
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