150) Camel Up

It's a race! There are five different colored camels vying to be first across the finish line. Each player is betting on which camel will win. There is end game scoring based on which camel wins and which lost. Additionally after each camel has moved once there is a scoring round. A player gets one action on their turn in which they can roll the dice of a random camel, take betting tokens for the round, place modifiers on the track, or place an end game bet. After each round money is paid out (or debts collected based on bad bets). All the dice are added back to the dice tower and a new round begins.

Building a dice tower 

Ready to race 

This happened 

Yellow wins! My endgame score.

This game won the Spiel des Jahres this year so it has to be good...right? Well, this game does feel a bit random, which immediately turns me off to the game. Bets are largely based on statistics and that is a good learning tool, but in the end there is too much left to random chance and you're essentially betting on a dice roll. The highlight of this game for me is that the camels can stack and carry camels that are on top of it. This can cause huge swings in the race and can make for some interesting calculations when placing a bet. The dice tower is pretty neat as well. The one drawback to the game play is the worst action by far appears to be rolling the dice. If you roll then all the players behind you have a much better chance of making the correct bet on the round winner and thus are more likely to get more points then you.

I'm really glad I got to play this game once, but it won't ever be on the top of my list to play again.

127) Quoridor

This is a great two player game. It takes seconds to explain and is quick to play. Each player starts with their piece on one side of the board and eight walls. On your turn you either move your piece one space or place a wall. The first player to reach the other side wins.

Dark Quoridor 

Race to the other side

We ended up playing this game a few times in a row. It's so quick to play and after each game you want to try a different strategy or idea. That said, I feel like after 10-20 plays this game may start to get a bit boring or predictable as we started to get a good feel for how to play after our few games. But, if you get the chance to try it out I highly recommend it.

And, you may notice the pictures above are the same board state. The amount of strategy and planning required completely sucked me in and I forgot to take more pictures.

112) Spot It

A fast paced card game that takes less then five minutes to play. Speed and symbol recognition are the key to success. I ended up playing a two player and four player game and both were enjoyable. Each card has exactly one matching symbol with any other card in the deck. The goal of the game is to get rid of your cards by calling out the match on your card with another card and thus discarding your card.

The back of the cards

Lost my two player game

Can you find all the matches

Quick and easy, simple to learn, great for a filler game or to get everyone playing the same game before splitting into smaller groups. My guess is you'll either love this or hate it. If you like games that require real time speed then this is the one for you.

69) Mount Everest

This game recreates the experience of climbing Mt. Everest...for better or worse. You're in charge of two climbers who ferry tents, supplies, and people up and down the mountain. The more people you get to the top the better off you'll be, but watch your oxygen levels or you may be carrying someone down the mountain.

Ready to start

Gotta get those paying clients to the top

Tent  city

This game has a great concept, but the execution is a bit clunky. We all spent the first half of the game preparing to get people up the mountain (it was everyones first play). The second half of the game was spent ferrying people up the mountain and waiting for the ideal time to make a run for the top. As a whole this game felt a bit rote. Players all have the same strategy for winning and it becomes a bit of a chore running through the same steps over and over. There's no variety in strategy and there's limited player interaction making for a stale game play. There are a few things I did like about this game, but it wasn't enough to get me excited to play again.

55) Giro d'Italia

As someone who loves the sport of cycling I'm a bit biased, but this game is awesome! The pieces are sweet, the board is modular so you can create so many different race scenarios, and its a cycling game that mimics real cycling races very well. Also, you can build stages in different real life races.

Pre-race warm-up ride 

Early breakaways never survive

Hanging the mountain climbers (red base) out to dry

Peleton is bearing down

Game in all its glory

Again this game is awesome. I enjoyed that my knowledge of cycling races was actually pertinent to playing the game well. I got nervous about half way through the race when the breakaway was super far ahead of the peleton (where my two guys were). But, the peleton was paying attention and, true to most flat stage races, were able to reel in the break away for a bunch sprint. My only fear is that the best strategy in the sprint finishes is to sit in the peleton (basically doing nothing for the first 3/4 of the game) and wait for a strong finish. This can be mitigated by adding more mountains or adding mountain finishes. Regardless, this is cycling <game> at its best.

15) Zeppeldrome

Currently this game is not available for purchase although you can search for them on kickstarter and pre-order your copy. I was lucky enough to play a sneak peak of this game at a Sasquatch game festival. My initial reaction is that this is a mash-up of Salmon Run and Roborally, but, for me at least, this game does a better job of implementing the core mechanics of these games. In short this is a racing game where you're playing a route, using actions to modify your route or other players routes, and then executing the result. Of course the board is also presenting hazards that you need to work around.

Blurry picture of the box

Green wins

All the game components

Beware the falling lemmings

This is generally a style of game that I'm less interested in, but the game play is so elegant and smooth that I would highly recommend this game. It's really easy to pick up and has a lot of player interaction. There's also fun flavor to the cards and a good theme as a whole.