Thursday, October 15, 2020

Black Sonata - A board game review

 


Black Sonata is designed by John Kean and published by Side Room Games. It is a solitaire game of hidden movement and deduction. In many of Shakespeare's Sonnets he writes of a Dark Lady. For 400 years historians and literary scholars have tried to figure out who the Dark Lady is. In this game you are an investigator travelling around London looking for clues to deduce who the Dark Lady is.


There are twelve possible women who could be the Dark Lady and the game includes a booklet telling you a bit about each of them and one of the sonnets that hints that this could be the lady. This book is not needed to play but gives you a lot of great flavor and historical context.


You will set aside one of the Dark Lady cards face down and shuffle the rest. Each of these cards has a suit and three identifying characteristics. You will pick a location on the London map to start at and use a deck of location cards to track where the Dark Lady moves next.  Each turn you will first move the Dark Lady along her path designated by the next card. This could move her to one or more location. You use Dark Lady tokens to mark her potential spots on the board. Once she moves you have a few option. Most turns you will often move to a new location. If it is your first time in a location you will collect the spot's Key Card. Each Key Card has a keyhole cut out of it. If you are in the same location as as a potential Dark Lady location you can search for her. You will hold the Key Card up against the underside of the Location card and flip them over. If the Dark Lady's Silhouette is in the keyhole you have spotted her. You collect one of the remaining Dark Lady cards from the deck. and compare it to the suite of the card you set aside earlier. It will tell you how many traits this lady has in common with the Dark Lady. Once you have done this a few times you will be able to deduce what the three traits of the Dark Lady are. Once you know her traits the next time you find her you can confront her. Look at the Dark Lady Card if you have the correct three traits you have one the game otherwise you lose. If you have not solved it by the third time you go through the location deck you also lose.


I have never seen hidden movement done in a solitaire game but Black Sonata does it very well. I was surprised at how well this game works and how challenging it is to play.


The components in this game are excellent the tokens are all made of wood and the cards are of a good quality. There is also a small expansion called The Fair Youth which I have not tried yet but look forward to exploring.  If you like solo games, deduction and logic puzzles Black Sonata may be just the game for you.

Thursday, September 7, 2017

My Grandmother's Legacy

A couple weeks ago my Grandmother, Mollie Chenchinsky, moved into an Assisted Living facility. In the weeks leading up to the move she was busy packing and getting rid of things she would no longer need. Among many other things that she gave me was a card file box filled with all of her recipes.  All of these note cards are hand written and most of them are older than me.

One of the things my Grandmother is known for is her amazing cookies.  All of us grandchildren looked forward to cookie care packages when we were in college.  We loved getting a little taste of home and we often shared them with our friends. As each of our college years ended and our friend went in different directions they also remembered Grandma Mollie's cookies. I have friends to this day that live on other countries and still ask me if my Grandma is still alive and baking her amazing cookies.

Well yes, Grandma Mollie is now just a few months shy of her 100th birthday but has finally had to give up her baking. She no longer has a kitchen where she lives. The recipes are now mine and with them the legacy that goes with them.

I consider it a bit of a terrifying honor to have these cookie recipes as well as her other recipes. I have never been much of a baker but I feel I have to try and make each and every one of them so when my Grandmother is gone these flavors that we have grown to love will go on. So the next generation can love them like I do.

To that end, this year for Rosh Hashannah I will be attempting to make my two favorites of Grandma Mollie's cookies, The Toffee Bars and The Lemon Bars. I will take them to dinner at my parent's house and put them to the ultimate test. The family, including Grandma Mollie will get to try them.

They may not taste exactly like when Grandma makes them but hopefully they will be good.

Wish me luck.

Sunday, September 3, 2017

The Networks


Have you ever been watching TV and said to yourself; "Hey I can come up with better shows than this crap."  Well The Networks is a game by Gil Hova and published by Formal Ferret Games.

In The Networks you take on the role of the General Manager of a small Public Access television station and over the course of 5 years (game rounds) turn your station into a ratings giant.  You do this by developing the new shows with a variety of celebrities to star in them and attract the most lucrative advertisement deals for these shows.

Gameplay
Each player starts with a Network card.  This card has space for three time slots as well as a green room, a space for reruns, and an archive.  You will also start with three basic TV show cards, one Celebrity card, and one Advertisement card.  Each player's Network and starting cards have different names but are functionally the same.  You will place one of your shows in each time slot and put your star and advertisement in your green room. You will then place a black cube in the season one spot on each show. Every show has five season spots.  You will also get a small amount of money to start. the amount depends on your place in the turn order. You are now ready to begin.

On your turn you will take one of several actions.
1) Develop a Show - to do this you will take one of the available show cards from the center of the table paying it's development cost shown on the upper left side.  You will place it in one of your time slots. Every show has a Genre and a preferred time slot. You want to try and put shows in the right time slot and get multiple shows of the same genre.  Some shows will have symbols for stars and advertisements. If those stars are in color you must attach the appropriate cards to them immediately. If they are grayed out then you can attach them later. Any show previously in the time slot is turned upside down and placed in your reruns area.
2) Land an Ad - To do this you will collect one of the available advertisements and the collect the Landing  Revenue shown on the left side. You will then put the ad in your green room.
3) Take a Network Card - Take one of the available Network Cards. These cards have various affects and are used in several ways. Some are play immediately, some have continuing effects, others are for use in final scoring, and some are use once at the time of your choosing.
4) Sign a Star - Collect on one of the available Star cards. You must pay their signing cost at the upper left of the card and then put them in your green room.
5) Attach a Star or Ad - Take a star or ad card from your green room and attach them to an active show (Not a rerun) that has an open slot for it.
6) Drop and Budget - You move your turn order token to the first available Drop and Budget spot. You then collect money or viewers based on the spot you move into. This will also set the turn order for the next year. Once you Drop and Budget you are done taking actions for the year.

Player continue taking actions until everyone has chosen to Drop and Budget. The game then moves into the end of year phase.  In this phase first everyone will determine how much money their shows made or cost them. Then they will determine how many viewers their network generated for the year based on the season each show is in, the stars attached to them and extra viewers from reruns. Next all of their shows will age by moving the cubes on them to the next season slot. All reruns will move to the archives. Now you set the center of the table with new Show, Star, and Ad, and Network cards and start the next year.  If this was year five then the game ends with a final scoring round and whomever has the most viewers of the the five years wins the game.

There is an additional rule called The Genre Bonus.  This happens whenever you develop your third or fifth show of one genre. At three shows you get five additional viewers and the choice of drawing three stars and keeping one for free or drawing three ads and keeping one for free and collecting the landing revenue for the other two.  At five shows you again get five viewers and either of the two previous choices or a new choice of drawing three Network cards and keeping one of them.  Also at five shows you may buy viewers at the cost of $4M for 3 viewers.  You can do this as many times as you can afford.

Component Quality
I found all of the pieces of this game to be of fairly high quality and worth the $50 retail cost of the game.  The cards are of good stock, the card board pieces are thick and punched well so they will not fray. The cubes and scoring tokens are all wooden.

Final Thoughts
I really love this game. I am an admitted TV addict so playing Network executive appeals to me. A lot of the fun of this game comes from the humor of the cards. The shows are all parodies of real shows with names like NCISICBNGOMG: Scranton and Dr. What. The Stars are not parodies of specific people but stereotypes you may see on TV such as The Late Night Host and the Reality Star. The Ads are all funny things you may see on late night TV.  I would be happy to play this again any time. My only complaint is I would like there to be more shows so I do not see the same ones all the time, but there is an expansion in the works to fix that.


It's been a minute....

Well I started this blog a couple years ago and then immediately forgot all about it.  Well now I am back to once again talk about my two favorite things board games and cooking.  I hope you are interested in coming along for the ride.

Saturday, June 6, 2015

Bomba Tacos and Rum

Today I went to eat at Bomba Tacos and Rum in Rocky River, Ohio. Before I go any further let me preface this with the statement that Bomba is owned by the same people that own Paladar Latin Kitchen and Rum Bar, where I work.

Bomba is located at 19880 Detroit Road in Rocky River, Ohio. They specialize in Tacos, Guacamole, and Rum. They also have Tortas (Sandwiches), Salads, a couple entrees, shareable appetizers, and desert.  The menu is primarily a la carte selection of tacos and sides.

Today 3 of us went to lunch. Our combined meals included six tacos, one order of guacamole and chips, queso fundito, and a side of yucca frittes, and two iced teas. All of us walked away full and the total bill was only $46.

The tacos are $3 or $4 each depending on what type you get. There are 18 types of tacos to choose from. Today we tried one of  each of the following;

CRISPY FISH

jicama, mango, jalapeno remoulade

RIO STYLE CHICKEN

caramelized onions, poblano peppers, peanuts, cilantro aioli

BEEF PICADILLO

pico de gallo, chihuahua cheese, olives, key lime sour cream

SMOKED BRISKET

pickled onion, aji verde

LAMB BARBACOA

radish, tomatillo salsa, key lime sour cream

SLOW BRAISED DUCK

pickled onion & pineapple slaw, aji verde sauce

All of the tacos were delicious with well composed flavor combinations.  They were all a little sloppy to eat but that is expected with tacos.

We also enjoyed an order of the house made traditional guacamole with tortilla, malanga, yucca, and plantain chips, and an order of queso fundito. The queso fundito was served with soft tortillas. I feel it would have been better served with chips of some sort.

The atmosphere at Bomba is fun and casual. I can see it being a really hopping place on a Friday or Saturday night. It would also be a great place for after work meet ups with friend or coworkers.

I cannot recommend this place enough. Go check it out.

Saturday, April 25, 2015

The Castles of Mad King Ludwig


King Ludwig II became King of Bavaria in 1864. 2 years later Bavaria was taken over by Prussia. Ludwig was not a great king. Rather than worry about matter of state he spent his time studying medieval castles, eventually commissioning the building of three castles, one of which became the inspiration for the castles in the Disney theme parks.

He spent his entire fortune building these castles, and like the man himself they were amazing and quirky. They were full of strange and specialized rooms.

In 1886 Ludwig was removed from power by being declared insane. The next day he was found dead floating in a lake. His cause of death is still disputed to this day, but his legacy remains in his castles which are popular tourist attractions.

In The Castles of Mad King Ludwig the players take on the roles of architects designing crazy castles for the Mad King.  Each room scores points based on it's room type, what type of rooms surround it, and it's size.

Gameplay
Each player begins the game with 15000 marks (money) and three secret bonus cards. They will get points at the end of the game for completing their bonus cards.

There are also a number of King's Favor tokens in play equal to the number of players. These will provide bonus points at the end of the game based on who achieved them best.

Each turn one player will be the Master Builder. This player will draw cards that show what size rooms will be added to the available rooms for the turn. The number of rooms is determined by the number of players.  He will then take room tiles of the appropriate sized along with any unclaimed rooms from the previous turn and set them out for purchase. Each room will be priced differently.  It is up to the Master Builder to determine the value of each room. For example a 600 square foot room that was 8000 marks last turn may be repositioned to be worth more or less this turn at the current Master Builder's whim.
Each player, starting to the left of the Master Builder will then take their turn. On their turn a player has a few options. They can purchase a room. They can purchase a hallway or staircase (these are always available for 3000 marks as long as they have not all been purchased already), or they can collect money.  If the player purchases a room, hallway, or staircase they pay the money to the Master Builder. The Master Builder pays his purchases to the bank. If they chose to collect money the player gets 5000 marks from the bank.

Purchased rooms, hallways, and staircases must be placed in your castle immediately and can never be moved. At least one door of the room you bought must connect to an already existing door in your castle.  The room is then scored. Each room has a base score along with a bonus score.  The bonus is based on either what kind of rooms are adjacent to the new room or the total number of a type of room in the castle.  The types of rooms are Living Rooms, Activity Rooms, Sleeping Rooms, Outdoor Rooms, Utility Rooms, Food Rooms, Corridor Rooms, and Downstairs Rooms.  Living, Activity, Sleeping, Outdoor, Utility, Food, and Corridor rooms all derive their bonuses from that is adjacent to them.  Downstairs rooms get their bonuses from the total number of a specific type of room in your castle.  Activity Rooms have penalties rather than bonuses and you will lose points if certain rooms are adjacent to them.
Rooms also earn bonuses when you complete them. Completing a room is successfully using all of it's doorways. The bonus is different depending on the type of room it is.
Living Rooms get to collect their score a second time.
Activity Rooms get a bonus 5 points
Sleeping Rooms get to place up to two room tiles on top of the room card stack making them the next rooms to come up to play.
Outdoor Rooms get you 10,000 marks.
Utility Rooms get you bonus cards.
Food Rooms get you an extra turn.
Corridor Rooms get you a free hallway or staircase
Downstairs rooms let you pick any of the other bonuses.

When the last room cards are drawn a final round is played and then the final scoring happens.  In the final scoring, each King's Favor token is scored. These can be for things like Most Activity rooms, or Most small rooms. There are different King's Favor tokens and you will only use between 2 and 4 per game, creating a lot of variety. The player who did the best in each token gets 8 points, second gets 4 points, and third gets 2 points.

Next you check to see if any of the room tile stacks were completely depleted. If they were each player gets 2 points per room of that size.

Next each player reveals their secret bonus cards and collects how ever many points they say if successfully completed.

Finally everyone gets 1 point for each 10000 marks they have left at the end of the game.  Whoever has the highest score wins.  If there is a tie the player with the most square footage in their castle wins.

Components
The game consists of 75 room tiles, 6 staircase tiles, 9 hallway tiles, 24 King's Favor tiles, 50 room cards, 27 bonus cards, cardboard money tokens, 4 wooden score tokens, 1 wooden Master Builder token, A central scoreboard, and 4 player reference cards.

The tiles are all fairly sturdy punch board but they could be a little thicker.

The Details
Designed by Ted Alspach
Published by Bezier Games
2-4 players
Ages 13+
Playing time 90 minutes
MSRP $59.95

Conclusion
This is a very fun game. The secret bonuses and King's Favor tokens make the game different every time. The rules are easy to understand. The strategy of the Master Builder setting the prices and getting the money from the other plays is unique and fun.  I would highly recommend this game.


The Granola Adventure part 2

So my first batch of granola came out pretty good. It is very tasty and not too sweet.

The only problem I had was that when it cooled, it stuck to the baking pan. I had to heat it up again to get it off the pans.