Wednesday, April 5, 2017

My Gaming A-Z

R.a.n.t. for month of April
I know it's been a while since I've posted. To be honest, I've been in kind of a funk.
I feel like my writing is not all that great, and I've not been very motivated to do much writing.
But I miss it, and I wanted to let everyone know I'm still around, just laying low for awhile.
It's possible I will be back. I also want to let everyone who stopped by my last post and left a comment, that I am sorry I never got back to you with a reply. I shall endeavour to get back to everyone, at least by stopping by their blog and saying hi.

What sucks the most for me now, I'm missing a feature I got involved in two years ago; the A-Z posting in April. So I have decided to do at least one post this month, and see where I go from here.

Enough blah, blah. Since I am missing the April A-Z which I love so much, I will include a fun (I hope) A-Z in this post. This is the proposed A-Z I was planning for this year. Perhaps, I will use this next year and expand on it, if indeed, I get back to writing. Once again, thanks for stopping by.


Jeffrey Scott's A-Z favourite games

A is for Angry Birds
Type: Computer
A fun game I love to play to kill time.

B is for Boss Monster
Type: Card Game
My son asked me to get this.
Essentially, you are the boss of a side scrolling video game (and yet it's a card game. Go figure).
Your goal is to make the hardest castle for the other players to battle. Can you make sure they die in your dungeon before you die trying to run theirs?

C is for Carcassonne
Type: Tile Game
The object is to lay down tiles to form the best kingdom possible. Included on each tile is either a city, a road and/or a field. Each tile interconnects with one another. Depending on how you lay down the tiles, you can score more points. Use your "meeple" to indicate which city, road or field is yours. At the end of the game, the person with the most points, wins the game.

D is for Dealers Choice
Type: Card/Board Game
You are the owner of a sketchy car lot. Your goal is to pawn off your crappy cars to potential buyers.
But beware, you may accidentally sell a classic car worth more than you realize. As the game progresses, you also have to shop around at the other car lots. Will you get a deal? Or will you, yourself, get stuck with a lemon?
This is a classic game from the 70's that was always a family favourite. I recently purchased it online to play once again.

E is for Expansions
Type: Various
Expansions is not a game in itself. An expansion is actually an add-on to a previously released game.
Generally for card games, it also can add on to existing board games.
As an example, one of my favourite games, Dominion, is a card game with a base set of cards. The goal is to score the most points by collecting cards with Victory points on them. But to help you acquire those, you can purchase additional money or action cards. Each card help in a unique way. With the expansion, you have a greater set of cards to select from.
Buying an expansion is a great way to enhance a game you love, but is not required to purchase if you are not fond of the game. The core game is playable by itself.

F is for Firefly the Game
Type: Board Game with Miniatures placed on a galactic map.
Based on the Cult Classic TV show. In Firefly, you are the captain of your of ship. There are different game winning goals, can you be the first person to complete the winning goal before other captains? Fly around the 'verse, hire crew, take on odd jobs, and win the game. But keep on your toes and don't let the Reavers capture you.

G is for Gammarauders
Type: Card Game / Board Game
You live in a time after a horrific atomic war. Large creatures have mutated. Fortunately, you have captured one of these creatures and you must battle other bioborg to gain control of the world. Cards included in the game, give your bioborg grafted weapons, which will help insure you can defeat the other mutated monsters. As an older game, this was one of the first games I ever found that broke out of the pure 'board' game format.

H is for Heroclix
Type: Miniature
Heroclix is a game with miniatures of your favourite super heroes. Each minature has a card that tells you how to use it. Each miniature is different, i.e. it has different super powers. Your goal is to fight a rival super hero team. Can your heroes/villains defeat your opponents heroes/villains?
Depending on the version you buy, you can be either DC or Marvel heroes. There are also Star Trek type ship battles available, and a few other interesting versions. This game relies heavily on expansions.

I is for Intellivision
Type: Video Game Console
Back in the time when not everyone owned a video game console, my family owned the Intellivision game console. This was awesome at the time. The graphics were far superior to that of the Atari 2600 and there were even a few games that could TALK!!! Can you believe that? I video game system where you could actually hear it talking to you? One of my favourite games was called 'Space Spartans'. It was like Star Wars. It was simply amazing. As you flew through space fighting wave after wave of tie-fighter type ships, the computer would let you know when your ship was damaged, which feature was damaged and how far repairs were progressing. This was no side-scrolling game. It was simply jaw-dropping. To this day, I would play it if I were to find it.

J is for Jenga
Type: Family Game
I think most people I know have actually played this game at one time or another. The goal is simple. Take a piece from the bottom of this wooden structure, and place it at the top of the structure without making the entire structure fall over. The person who makes the tower fall, loses the game.

K is for Kerplunk
Type: Family Game
This was another of my favourites growing up, though we never owned it. Probably a good reason for that. The game was a cylinder tube with sticks poking through the tube. On top of all the sticks, were a pile of marbles. Each player in turn would remove one of the sticks, releasing more and more of the marbles below. The person who released the most marbles lost the game. AS you can imagine, it could be a very loud game to play at times. Especially when you have five other siblings and a mother and father who simply wanted some quiet.

L is for Love Letter
Type: Gard Game
This is a real quick game. The goal is to end the game with the highest point value card. Each card allows you to do something different. Change cards with another player, discard your lowest point value card, play a card to make you immune from other attacks. The possibilities are endless. The game is fast paced and you can complete a game in under ten minutes. A great filler game to play during a family game night.

M is for Mad Magazine
Type: Board Game
This game is a spoof of Monopoly. As you might imagine, Mad Magazine is played in a ridiculous way. The object of this game is to be the first person to LOSE all your money. That's right. You don't want to win. The player who wins this game, actually loses and the player who loses, actually wins the game. Can you lose all your money before everyone else? Be careful, you might be on the verge of losing all your money, when you are suddenly forced to either exchange money or even change your seat (leaving your money) with another player. Cards and stunts you perform can also help you lose more money.

N is for No Man's Sky
Type: Video Game
This is a new game released last year. It's a space exploration game. The goal is to get to the centre of the universe and explore the galaxy. As a procedurally generated game, each planet you visit is slightly different. From planet to planet the flora and fauna you discover changes. Also, each planet has different minerals you can mine. As you continue to explore, you can enhance your starship, find a better starship and build a home base. It's a great time waster and is essentially a solo game with little to no interaction with other players.

O is for Once Upon a Time
Type: Story Telling / Card
This is a very unique game. The goal of the game is to tell a fairy tale, utilizing the cards you have drawn. Every player has a specific card telling them how the story should end. As you play the game, others can interrupt your story (with specific cards) which will allow them to continue the story in hopes of finishing the story the way they need to. Each player also have specific elements they need to add to the story before they can conclude it. One player may need to make sure a dragon is included in the story, another player may need to make sure a room full of gold is found somewhere in the story, or a wicked step-mother or... well, you get the point.

P is for Pizza Party
Type: Dice
Another quick game. The goal is to completely fill a pizza pie with all the required toppings. The first person to do so, wins. Each die depicts different toppings to put on your selected pizza. To match the toppings on your pizza, you must roll the die. When it matches what you are looking for, you place it on your pizza. Hurry, finish the pizza before your opponent does.

Q is for Qix
Type: Arcade Game
Back in the day, you went to an arcade to play video games. This, along with Tron, was one of my favourites. The object was to surround an energy beam in the centre of the screen. In order to do this, you simply drew lines to make boxes. When the box is filled, you score points. But if the energy beam catches you before you complete the box, you lose a life. Can you completely surround the energy in boxes, or will he catch you before you can finish?

R is for Risk
Type: Board Game
Would you like to play a game? How about world domination? This is quite a safe way to control the world. And no one has to die. At least not in real life. The goal is to place troops in different countries and use those troops to battle other countries. If you can are skilled enough, you can take over other countries without losing the countries you currently hold. If you can do that one simple thing, you will control the world. Of course, your competitors are trying to do the same thing. Who will control the world, will it be you?

S is for Star Trek CCG
Type: Card Game
This is another game that relied heavily on expansion card packs you purchase in the store. The object of the game was to fly around the universe, attempt missions on various planets and score mission points. The first to 100 points wins the game. This game was unique in that you could play with any number of different factions. You could play with any number of different factions: Federation, Klingon, Romulan, Borg, Ferengi, Bajoran, Cardassian and more. With different 'treaty' cards you could even play with two different factions. You start the game with one outpost and you 'report' ships and crew to that location. When you think you have a decent crew and a decent ship, you can explore the galaxy. Be careful though, different planets and missions require specific player types to complete. To complete, you might need one of many different skills, Computer Skill, Medical, Officer, Science, Security, Astrophysics and many, many more. Truly, the possibilities were endless.

T is for Trivial Pursuit
Type: Board / Trivia
How good are you at trivia? You'll find out in this game. A classic game with many different variations out now. I have a few variants including: Doctor Who, The 80's, Saturday Night Live and Star Wars. Are you as good at trivia as I am? Let's find out.

U is for Utopia
Type: Video Game
A video game that goes with the Intellivision system, this was one of my favourite games. Not only could you play with another person, you could play alone if you were bored, against the computer. Each player must build up their island to the most perfect utopia possible before time runs out. In peace mode, you each tend to your own countries and fear the awful weather patterns that transpire. Or if you want to be evil, you can create PT boats to destroy your opponents fishing boats and place rebels in their country.

V is for Vector TD
Type: Computer Game / Tower Defence
Just another version of a tower defence game. The goal is to set 'towers' which shoot at to eliminate 'creeps' that scroll across your computer board. There are various towers you can place and you can make each tower stronger.

W is for Water Works
Type: Card Game
A classic card game. One of my families favourites. In this game, you are a plumber (naming yourself Mario is optional) and must lay a set of pipes leading from the tap valve to the faucet. Your opponents will try to lay leaking pipes for you to fix. If they do so, you must repair the leak before you can proceed. Can you finish your set of pipes before everyone else?

X is for X-Wing
Type: Miniature
This is actually a game I do not have, but would love to get into it if I knew enough people that would like to play. This is also another game that relies on picking up expansion ships. As you may imagine, the goal of this game is to fly around the map destroying all the other players ships. Every possible ship you can think of can be acquired in this game (each sold separately, of course). This makes the game rather expansion to collect and play. Part of the reason I have not picked this up yet.

Y is for Yahtzee
Type: Dice Game
Yet another game I don't think I really need to explain. You don't really even need to purchase the game as long as you own five dice. The object is to get the best score. Playable with others or solo. You can purchase game sheets or you can find ones online or just simply scribble on your own scratch paper. A fun and easy game for yourself or with a small group of people.

Z is for  Zelda
Type: Video Game
Okay, so I'm cheating a little with this one. The official title is the Legend of Zelda. However, most people I know simply call it Zelda, or the Zelda series as there are many games in the Zelda series. Though most people think the lead character is named Zelda, in fact his name is Link. Your goal is to walk the land, collect various objects in your quest to complete the game. Each item helps assist you in completing the game and defeating the boss monsters, and then finally, Gannon. How long will it take you to complete the game?

Which games sounds the most interesting to you?
Do you own any of these games?
Do they sound fun?
Would you like to learn more?
Would this be a good A-Z list to expound on at another time?
Would you play / have you played any of these games?