Renovating Your Zoo(loretto)

Now that Zooloretto has spawned enough expansions to make my box roughly the weight of an anvil, it's time for me to chime in again about the quality/usefulness of the various expansions that are available. (The original post like this was written in 2009 - and I've played a good bit of Zooloretto since then.)

I've divided my impressions into three categories: expansions I've played, expansions I own (but haven't played) & expansions I don't own. (When I've played with the expansions, I've noted how many times following the name.)

PLAYED (SMALL EXPANSIONS)

• The Petting Zoo(12 plays) - This is probably the best simple expansion out there. The trade-off between cash & victory points is really nice.
• The Savings Book(7 plays) - an exercise in delayed gratification... makes money less tight later in the game, which is a good thing when using some of the other expansions. (BTW, you should NEVER use this expansion when playing the combined game w/Aquaretto.)
• Three Extra Enclosures(4 plays) - These are 3 two-space pens specific to the zebra, flamingo & elephant. They are available for purchase from the center of the board for $2. I'd combine 'em w/the Savings Book and/or the Petting Zoo so you have some extra cash to make them easier to buy. We've liked these - though you do need to make sure that the appropriate animals are in play.
• * Polar Bear/Gorilla/King K(6/5/2 plays)- I like these better now that I have 3 of them and it's not simply a crapshoot to see who gets the special power first. All of these are single tiles which add a special power to your zoo - they are claimed by finishing your 6 space pen. My gut response is to put 3 of them out for five player games, 2 out for three or four player games.
• Three Additional Buildings(2 plays) - we used these a couple & I wasn't overwhelmed by what they did or didn't do. Had to look up the rules on them a number of times... which meant they slowed the game down without adding anything deeply meaningful to the game.
• Mission Cards(1 play) - Because of the makeup of the cards, these only work in 4-5 player games... but the one time we used them, they did some interesting things to what people would & wouldn't take from the trucks. I really want to try it again.

PLAYED (LARGE EXPANSIONS)

• Zooloretto Exotic(10 plays) - If you're just going to buy one expansion box/set for Zooloretto, it should be this one. It makes the end game dynamics very different as players have more tiles to avoid and scoring considerations to worry about.
• Zooloretto XXL(4 plays)- The addition of more animals of each type along with the ability to "clear" 2 of your complete pens for lower points (ship them off to another zoo) and refill them. I'm not sure the extra time is worth the trade-off... however, the Aquaretto XXL expansion is very cool (included in the same box).
• Zooloretto Boss(1 play... so far!)- I think this is going to be a very successful addition to the game... the combination of the Market (buy a single tile for 2 bucks), the sponsors & the workers (similar to the workers in Aquaretto) make for some much more gamer-y decisions.

HAVE NOT PLAYED

• Building Sites - introduces an element of "take that" to the game that I don't like... I probably won't ever use them.

DON'T OWN

The following are all "completion of the 6 square enclosure" reward tiles with various powers (like the Polar Bear or the Gorilla). Some of them have been printed on postcards and all of them are available at http://www.zooloretto.com. (Yes, I need to print them myself - but I keep hoping that there will be another "official" collection of expansions printed.)

• The Reindeer
• The Grizzly
• The Iberian Lynx
• The Christmas Tree
• The Octopus - this can also be used with Aquaretto
• The Christmas Gift

The Reindeer, Christmas Tree & Christmas Gift, BTW, all say that they are only to be used while playing the game on Christmas. :-)

There is another print-n-play expansion available that I must find the time to produce:

• Five Extra Enclosures - this adds the missing two space enclosures for the rest of the Zooloretto animals.

And, yes, I know about the Chameleon (an expansion for Zooloretto Exotic)... but I have real doubts about how well it will work to paste up two blank tiles in a game where drawing from the bag is a central mechanic.

FYI

Zooloretto Mini is a smaller portable version of the game and is NOT an expansion to the original Zooloretto... though the pieces are the same size & will allow you to put different types of animals into play.

Also, there is an iPhone app to play Zooloretto - it's not a bad implementation but the AI is VERY weak.

RANK 'EM

If I was going to rank the expansions in "need to own" order, here's how I'd go:

1. Zooloretto Exotic
2. Zooloretto Boss
3. Zooloretto - Rio Grande Games Expansion Pack #1 (includes the Polar Bear, Petting Zoos, Building Sites, 3 Extra Enclosures & 3 Additional Buildings)
4. Zooloretto - Rio Grande Games Expansion Pack #2 (includes the Gorilla, Savings Books, Mission Cards & 2 expansions for Aquaretto)
5. Zooloretto XXL

In fact, you can print-n-play most of the small expansions in the Rio Grande sets from Michael Schlacht's website, zooloretto.com. I just like having the nice professionally printed pieces for my set.

#11: Zooloretto / Aquaretto (Mark's Top 100 2022)

Zooloretto / Aquaretto

BoardGameGeek & BoardGameGeek

• rank: 842 & 1,404
• rating: 6.8 & 7.0
• published: 2007 & 2008

Print Status

• in print? & out of print?

Why It's On The List

• Michael Schacht takes the central game mechanic from his card game Coloretto & develops it into a full-fledged board game with delightful artwork & theme. And then, if that wasn't enough, he keeps expanding that world (thanks to the SdJ win) in some very intriguing ways.

Tips & Tricks:

• I didn't like Zooloretto particularly the first time I played it... that, as you can see, has changed. (The theme drew me back in, btw.)
• Lots of people like Coloretto better than Zooloretto - they're wrong, of course, but I think that's more a function of "liking a clever mechanic" versus "liking a clever mechanic in the midst of a thematic & enjoyable game".
• Zooloretto spawned Aquaretto - which I've included in the family for purposes of this list. Aquaretto is the more gamer-friendly of the two - there's more potential for a new player to mess themselves over with bad tile placement.
• The plethora of large & small expansions can be confusing - but I like how you can tailor the game to your personal tastes.
• The game is best with 3 or 4 players... 5 has a little too much downtime (if you're using any expansions) and 2 is bland. 
• If you're going to play Zooloretto & Aquaretto together, you should only play with 3 players... or with Michael's 6-player partnership variant.

Extras

• I wrote an extensive post about Zooloretto & the various expansions entitled Renovating Your Zoo(loretto) for this blog.
• I translated the Big Boss variant from Michael Schacht's site - it's used w/the Zooloretto: Boss expansion.
• One of the proudest moments of my life - my son, Braeden (who was 7 at the time), created a really great variant idea for Aquaretto - and Michael Schacht published it on his website! Check out the Touch Pool...
• The picture above shows a game with all the expansions in (the white meeples are workers from Zooloretto: Boss).

#21: Zooloretto (Mark's Top 100 2024)

Zooloretto 

BoardGameGeek 

• rank: 1,002
• rating: 6.8
• published: 2007
• designer: Michael Schacht

Print Status

• out of print?

Why It's On The List

• Michael Schacht takes the central game mechanic from his card game Coloretto & develops it into a full-fledged board game with delightful artwork & theme. And then, if that wasn't enough, he keeps expanding that world (thanks to the SdJ win) in some very intriguing ways.

Tips & Tricks:

• I didn't like Zooloretto particularly the first time I played it... that, as you can see, has changed. (The theme drew me back in, btw.)
• Lots of people like Coloretto better than Zooloretto - they're wrong, of course, but I think that's more a function of "liking a clever mechanic" versus "liking a clever mechanic in the midst of a thematic & enjoyable game".
• Zooloretto spawned Aquaretto - which was ranked #199 for me on this year's list. Aquaretto is the more gamer-friendly of the two - there's more potential for a new player to mess themselves over with bad tile placement.
• The plethora of large & small expansions can be confusing - but I like how you can tailor the game to your personal tastes.
• The game is best with 3 or 4 players... 5 has a little too much downtime (if you're using any expansions) and 2 is bland. 
• If you're going to play Zooloretto & Aquaretto together, you should only play with 3 players... or with Michael's 6-player partnership variant.

Extras

• I wrote an extensive post about Zooloretto & the various expansions entitled Renovating Your Zoo(loretto) for this blog.
• I translated the Big Boss variant from Michael Schacht's site - it's used w/the Zooloretto: Boss expansion.
• One of the proudest moments of my life - my son, Braeden (who was 7 at the time), created a really great variant idea for Aquaretto - and Michael Schacht published it on his website! Check out the Touch Pool...
• The picture above shows a game with all the expansions in (the white meeples are workers from Zooloretto: Boss).

Big Boss: An Expansion for Zooloretto Boss

The following is my machine-aided translation/paraphrase of a variant for the newest Zooloretto expansion, Zooloretto Boss. It has been checked & approved by Michael Schacht, the designer of Zooloretto. (The graphics & original German rules for the variant can be found in the 4th issue of the Zooloretto newsletter.)

Big Boss

Big Boss is a variant for the new expansion, Zooloretto Boss.

Instructions:

First, glue the 6 office tiles to cardboard (approx. the thickness of the original game materials, then cut them using a ruler and craft knife.

The usual rules for Zooloretto Boss with the following additions:

Preparation:

The 6 office tiles face down on the supply table.

Play:

Oops! In the first round, the 6 office tiles lie face down on the market boardcan not be bought. At the beginning of the second round they are turned face up and can be purchased from now on.

II. Purchase or discard a tile - The active player can buy any office tile from the market board and places it on any empty office in his zoo, building over the office already printed there. The office tile works like a regular office & remains there for the remainder of the game.

The player may only cover one office... and only one without a worker on it. He may not cover an office tile with another office tile. The player may not buy a second office tile of a type he already owns.

Bonus for coworkers:

A. Business Consultant (2):

• If a player has a coworker on the office tile illustrated with the hand full of money, he receives an extra coin from the bank each time he receives coins for occupying the last space of an enclosure.
• A player can have only one business consultant.
• Example: Anne filled the five-space enclosure. She will receive the usual two coins and an additional coin for her consultant.
• Note: If a player has the business consultant and the fundraiser (from Zooloretto Boss), he receives both a coin and a donation from the bank when he receives one or more coins as a bonus for a full enclosure.
• Note: The business consultant does NOT give an extra coin for coins taken from the trucks or received from another player to purchase an animal.

B. Controller (2):

• If a player has a coworker on the office tile illustrated with the donation symbol (and "+4"), he receives 4 points for each donation he has at the end of the game.
• A player can have only one controller.
• Example: Dirk has a controller and 4 donations. He receives 4 x 4 = 16 points.

C. Human Resources Manager (2):

• If a player has a coworker on the office tile illustrated with a coworker (and "+3"), he receives 3 points for each coworker he has at the end of the game.
• A player can have only one HR manager.
• Example: Claus has one HR manager and 2 coworkers in his zoo. He gets 2 x 3 = 6 points at the end of the game.
• Note: if you play Zooloretto & Aquaretto together, the HR manager does NOT get points for the Aquaretto staff.

#39: Zooloretto (Mark's Top 100 - 2026)

Zooloretto 

BoardGameGeek 

• rank: 1,121
• rating: 6.8
• published: 2007
• designer: Michael Schacht

Print Status

• back in print?

Why It's On The List

• Michael Schacht takes the central game mechanic from his card game Coloretto & develops it into a full-fledged board game with delightful artwork & theme. And then, if that wasn't enough, he keeps expanding that world (thanks to the SdJ win) in some very intriguing ways.

Tips & Tricks:

• I didn't like Zooloretto particularly the first time I played it... that, as you can see, has changed. (The theme drew me back in, btw.)
• Lots of people like Coloretto better than Zooloretto - they're wrong, of course, but I think that's more a function of "liking a clever mechanic" versus "liking a clever mechanic in the midst of a thematic & enjoyable game".
• Zooloretto spawned Aquaretto - which I also enjoy. Aquaretto is the more gamer-friendly of the two - there's more potential for a new player to mess themselves over with bad tile placement.
• The plethora of large & small expansions can be confusing - but I like how you can tailor the game to your personal tastes.
• The game is best with 3 or 4 players... 5 has a little too much downtime (if you're using any expansions) and 2 is bland. 
• If you're going to play Zooloretto & Aquaretto together, you should only play with 3 players... or with Michael's 6-player partnership variant.

Extras

• I wrote an extensive post about Zooloretto & the various expansions entitled Renovating Your Zoo(loretto) for this blog.
• I translated the Big Boss variant from Michael Schacht's site - it's used w/the Zooloretto: Boss expansion.
• One of the proudest moments of my life - my son, Braeden (who was 7 at the time), created a really great variant idea for Aquaretto - and Michael Schacht published it on his website! Check out the Touch Pool...
• The picture above shows a game with all the expansions in (the white meeples are workers from Zooloretto: Boss).
• This is the second of two Michael Schacht designs on my top 100 countdown.

#4: Zooloretto (Mark's Top 50 - 2020)

Zooloretto 

BoardGameGeek

• rank: 691
• rating: 6.85

Print Status

• in print (again... thanks to Z-Man Games)

Why It's On The List

• Michael Schacht takes the central game mechanic from his card game Coloretto & develops it into a full-fledged board game with delightful artwork & theme. And then, if that wasn't enough, he keeps expanding that world (thanks to the SdJ win) in some very intriguing ways.

Tips & Tricks:

• I didn't like Zooloretto particularly the first time I played it... that, as you can see, has changed. (The theme drew me back in, btw.)
• Lots of people like Coloretto better than Zooloretto - they're wrong, of course, but I think that's more a function of "liking a clever mechanic" versus "liking a clever mechanic in the midst of a thematic & enjoyable game".
• Zooloretto spawned Aquaretto - which I've included in the family for purposes of this list. Aquaretto is the more gamer-friendly of the two - there's more potential for a new player to mess themselves over with bad tile placement.
• The plethora of large & small expansions can be confusing - but I like how you can tailor the game to your personal tastes.
• The game is best with 3 or 4 players... 5 has a little too much downtime (if you're using any expansions) and 2 is bland. 
• If you're going to play Zooloretto & Aquaretto together, you should only play with 3 players... or with Michael's 6-player partnership variant.

Extras

• I wrote an extensive post about Zooloretto & the various expansions entitled Renovating Your Zoo(loretto) for this blog.
• I translated the Big Boss variant from Michael Schacht's site - it's used w/the Zooloretto: Boss expansion.
• One of the proudest moments of my life - my son, Braeden (who was 7 at the time), created a really great variant idea for Aquaretto - and Michael Schacht published it on his website! Check out the Touch Pool...
• This is my second of two games designed by Michael Schacht.

#12: Zooloretto (Mark's 100)

Zooloretto 

Mark's Ranking

• 2014: 12th
• 2012: 10th
• 2010: 10th
• 2005: new

BoardGameGeek

• rank: 457
• rating: 6.89

Print Status

• in print (again... thanks to Z-Man Games)

Why It's On The List

• Michael Schacht takes the central game mechanic from his card game Coloretto & develops it into a full-fledged board game with delightful artwork & theme. And then, if that wasn't enough, he keeps expanding that world (thanks to the SdJ win) in some very intriguing ways.

Tips & Tricks:

• I didn't like Zooloretto particularly the first time I played it... that, as you can see, has changed. (The theme drew me back in, btw.)
• Lots of people like Coloretto better than Zooloretto - they're wrong, of course, but I think that's more a function of "liking a clever mechanic" versus "liking a clever mechanic in the midst of a thematic & enjoyable game".
• Zooloretto spawned Aquaretto - which I've included in the family for purposes of this list. Aquaretto is the more gamer-friendly of the two - there's more potential for a new player to mess themselves over with bad tile placement.
• The plethora of large & small expansions can be confusing - but I like how you can tailor the game to your personal tastes.
• The game is best with 3 or 4 players... 5 has a little too much downtime (if you're using any expansions) and 2 is bland. If you're going to play Zooloretto & Aquaretto together, you should only play with 3 players... or with Michael's 6-player partnership variant.

Extras

• I wrote an extensive post about Zooloretto & the various expansions entitled Renovating Your Zoo(loretto) for this blog.
• I translated the Big Boss variant from Michael Schacht's site - it's used w/the Zooloretto: Boss expansion.
• One of the proudest moments of my life - my son, Braeden (who was 7 at the time), created a really great variant idea for Aquaretto - and Michael Schacht published it on his website! Check out the Touch Pool...

#10: Zooloretto (Mark's 100 - 2012)

Zooloretto 

Mark's Ranking

• 2012: 10th
• 2010: 10th
• 2005: new

BoardGameGeek

• rank: 351
• rating: 6.93

Print Status

• in print

Why It's On The List

• Michael Schacht takes the central game mechanic from his card game Coloretto & develops it into a full-fledged board game with delightful artwork & theme. And then, if that wasn't enough, he keeps expanding that world (thanks to the SdJ win) in some very intriguing ways.

Tips & Tricks:

• I didn't like Zooloretto particularly the first time I played it... that, as you can see, has changed. (The theme drew me back in, btw.)
• Lots of people like Coloretto better than Zooloretto - they're wrong, of course, but I think that's more a function of "liking a clever mechanic" versus "liking a clever mechanic in the midst of a thematic & enjoyable game".
• Zooloretto spawned Aquaretto - which I've included in the family for purposes of this list. Aquaretto is the more gamer-friendly of the two - there's more potential for a new player to mess themselves over with bad tile placement.
• The plethora of large & small expansions can be confusing - but I like how you can tailor the game to your personal tastes.
• The game is best with 3 or 4 players... 5 has a little too much downtime (if you're using any expansions) and 2 is bland. If you're going to play Zooloretto & Aquaretto together, you should only play with 3 players... or with Michael's 6-player partnership variant.

Extras

• I wrote an extensive post about Zooloretto & the various expansions entitled Renovating Your Zoo(loretto) for this blog.
• I translated the Big Boss variant from Michael Schacht's site - it's used w/the Zooloretto: Boss expansion.
• One of the proudest moments of my life - my son, Braeden (who was 7 at the time), created a really great variant idea for Aquaretto - and Michael Schacht published it on his website! Check out the Touch Pool...
• At some point, I did the hard work of combining the rulebooks for all of the big expansions and base game into one document... and I'll post the link here when I find it. (Yes, I'll put it on the Geek, too... kind of surprised I hadn't done that already.)

 ==========

If you feel a need to catch up on my admittedly-aging Top 100 as of February 2012 list, you can check out:

• my Pinterest board about the Top 100 
• a BoardGameGeek Geeklist (in order of BGG ranking)
• the rest of the posts here on aka pastor guy 

Renovating Your Zoo(loretto)

I've been in a conversation over on BGG about the expansions for Zooloretto... just thought I'd post my thoughts here as well. I divided them into three categories: expansions I've played, expansions I own & expansions I don't own.

PLAYED

• Three Extra Enclosures - this is 3 two-space pens specific to zebra, flamingo & elephant. They are available for purchase from the center of the board for $2. I'd combine 'em w/the Savings Book and/or the Petting Zoo.
• The Petting Zoo - the OP is right... probably the best simple expansion out there. The trade-off between cash & victory points is really nice.
• Polar Bear/Gorilla - I like these better now that I have 2 of them and it's not simply a crapshoot to see who gets the special power first. I also own King K, which offers a 3rd choice. All of these are single tiles which add a special power to your zoo - they are claimed by finishing your 6 space pen.
• Three Additional Buildings - we used these once & I wasn't overwhelmed by what they did or didn't do. Had to look up the rules on them a number of times.
• The Savings Book - an exercise in delayed gratification... makes money less tight later in the game, which is a good thing when using some of the other expansions.
• Zooloretto XXL - have only played once w/2 players. Adds the ability to "clear" 2 of your complete pens for lower points (ship them off to another zoo) and refill them. I'm not sure the extra time is worth the trade-off... however, the Aquaretto XXL expansion is very cool (included in the same box). I want to try this one some more.
• Zooloretto Exotic - have played twice now and really enjoyed it both times. It makes the end game dynamics very different as players have more tiles to avoid and scoring considerations to worry about.

HAVE NOT PLAYED

• King K - see notes on Polar Bear above
• Building Sites - introduces an element of "take that" to the game that I don't like... probably won't ever use them.
• Mission Cards - Looking forward to trying these... but only good with experienced players.

DON'T OWN

• The Reindeer - was a Christmas card giveaway postcard... a single tile like the Polar Bear & the Gorilla. You can print a copy from http://www.zooloretto.com.

If I was going to rank the expansions in "need to own" order, here's how I'd go:

• Polar Bear expansion pack (includes the Polar Bear, Petting Zoos, Building Sites, 3 Extra Enclosures & 3 Additional Buildings) - online cost: around $7
• Gorilla expansion pack (includes the Gorilla, Savings Books, Mission Cards & 2 expansions for Aquaretto) - online cost: around $7
• Zooloretto Exotic - online cost: around $19
• Zooloretto XXL - online cost: around $22
• King K & the Reindeer (both giveaway postcards you can print'n'play)

In fact, you can print-n-play most of the small expansions from Michael Schlacht's website, zooloretto.com. I just like having the nice professionally printed pieces for my set.

Gaming Highlights: Memorial Day Weekend 2014 (Saturday)

Zooloretto/Aquaretto

I am an unabashed fan of Michael Schacht's zoo games... in fact, I find them much more enjoyable and compelling than the more straight forward (and portable) card game they are based on, Coloretto. (For me, Coloretto has always felt as if it was all mechanic and no fun.)

This is only the second time I've managed to get ZooloAquapalooza to the table... and it was a little long but a lot of fun. We not only used the two base games, but also added in:

• Zooloretto: Exotic
• Zooloretto: Boss
• Zooloretto: Big Boss
• Zooloretto: Iberian Lynx, Grizzly & Octopus
• Aquaretto: Three Co-worker Tiles
• Aquaretto: The Trains

The plethora of expansions involved probably reduced some of the tension (with the expanded number of strategic & tactical options) but it made for some really interesting decisions as each of us blazed our own path.

Important safety tip: the first time we played ZooloAquapalooza, we used The Savings Book expansion from Zooloretto. This is a BAD idea when using both games - do not do this!

Braeden chose to focus primarily on building his aquatic zoo in the early- to mid-game, which gave him a good score there but hampered him in the end-game as he was forced to take numerous animals into his pool and barn. Collin went for a more middle-of-the-road strategy, as did I... but I figured out how to get the donation/sponsor engine (from the Boss/Big Boss expansions) working and rode them to a commanding victory.

Monsters Ravage America

Yes, the original Avalon Hill version of the game... which for some of today's young whippersnapper gamers is "old school". But for those of us who cut our gamer teeth on Wooden Ships & Iron Men and Squad Leader, this is actually one of the last gasps of a once-great wargame/board game publisher. (If you want to read the story of the final days, you can check out an excellent Geeklist entitled My Days at the end of Avalon Hill... in which the designer refers to the art design on Monsters Ravage America as "a graphic Chernobyl, and we knew it.")

Braeden & I played two player - which was, as I had remembered it would be, a little weak compared to a four player game. Still, this is "King of Tokyo: The Wargame" - and any time your monster can get hit with missiles and mutate 3 different times is a bonus.  (I had War Spikes, Atomic Breath, & Iron Stomach - what turned out to be a winning combination.)

Other monsters ravage something or other games you might be interested in: Rampage (a very family-friendly dexterity game based on the arcade game) and The Creature That Ate Sheboygan (a chit-wargame/microgame from the long-defunct SPI that could use a fresh development polish & reprint with plastic minis).

Monopoly: Tropical Tycoon DVD Game

I'm already on record as a fan of Monopoly (played correctly, of course) - but if push comes to shove and I have to pick a favorite version to play, this is it. Designed by Rob Daviau (yes, the same guy responsible for Risk: Legacy and the upcoming SeaFall), this is Monopoly reimagined by someone aware of current gaming mechanic technology: individual player "roles" (the Mayor, the Developer, etc.), more variety of building options, and a well-thought-out system of Fortune points (victory points) that makes it much easier to stop the game at whatever point you need to and find an actual legitimate winner.

I freely admit that the DVD "News Flash" portion of the game can become grating (especially when you've played it enough times to have seen each & every arc of news stories at least 3 times), but the random elements for Chance & Community Chest are very nice... and the variable payment system for the new buildings (parks, casinos, restaurants, and piers) is a nifty addition to the game.

Braeden violated Monopoly Wise Trading Rule #1: big properties aren't worth much if you don't have the cash on hand to develop them. So, I traded him the dark blue monopoly for the pink monopoly... and held onto one property of the rest of the groups to choke off any more monopolies from coming into play. It was just a matter of time.

Rogue Agent (solo play)

I'm currently working on a full-blown review of Rogue Agent... and needed to get it "to the table" at least one more time to make sure I wasn't missing something before finalizing my conclusions.

I realized a few things in my four "player" play of the game in Android Mode:

• I was still missing some of the rules.
• The game "works" better with 4 players than 3 players... and with 3 players better than 2.
• I'm really conflicted about this game - there are some things I really like but a couple of plays have fallen flat as a pancake. On the other hand, we've had two other games of Rogue Agent that were nail-biting fun.

The jury is still out - but I have to say I appreciate the helpfulness of the designer & the publisher (Stronghold Games) in trying to answer my questions, both about rules & about design choices.

Look for my full review in the next week or so.

Read about Friday's games here!

Kid Game Reviews: A Quartet of Mini-Reviews

OK, these are not new games (well, with the exception of the Magic Labyrinth expansion)… but they’re new to me. And, more importantly, they’re new to my kids.

Zooloretto Mini

The first time I played Zooloretto (the original game that won the Spiel des Jahres), I was underwhelmed. It was nice to look at, it worked just fine… but somehow it just didn’t grab me.

But I was willing to try a second play – and that was enough to get me to buy a copy… and then track down the multiple little expansions. And then Michael Schacht got serious about expanding the game: XXL, Exotic, Boss & the sequel/sister game, Aquaretto.

For the record, I’m a huge fan now – esp. when using Exotic & Boss together. (If you’d like to know more about my opinions of the plethora of expansions, check out my blog post Renovating Your Zoo(loretto).)

I managed to get Zooloretto Mini from my gamer ‘brother from another mother’ (Mark Johnson of the Boardgames to Go podcast)… primarily because I thought that having the new animals would be kind of cool. (And, yes, there was a bit of the whole “I want to own everything Zooloretto-ish/I’m a collector” bug involved.)

Surprisingly, there’s more… well, less AND more in the box. By stripping out the money element of the game, the designer (Michael Schacht) has managed to make a version of Zooloretto that plays quickly and is simple enough for my six-year old son to enjoy. Yet there are enough interesting decisions to make it an involving 30 minute filler for gamers.

Monster 4

The Lego Games series debuted to much anticipation… and then an equal amount of groaning & complaining from gamers who were miffed that Lego, a toy company, wasn’t making games for adults. Seriously, I mean, who do they think their target market is? Adults males who spend 5+ hours a week on BGG, right?

Well, no. It’s kids – and by that measure, Monster 4 (which is a dice-y variant on tic-tac-toe) is a success. Players have a set of four monster pawns which they place on a 4×4 grid of “graves”. The die roll tells you where you can place your pawns… or if you get to add a skeleton (wild pawn) to the board… or if you can send the giant spider to clear off a section of the graveyard. The first to get four in a row wins.

The game is quick – quick enough that we typically play 3-4 rounds in about 15 minutes. It’s not going to set the gaming world on fire, but both my boys (10 & 6) enjoy the theme, the cool Lego pieces and the speed at which it plays.

Note: like I’ve said before, the Lego Games series has one major same feature and/or bug (depends on how you look at it): by leaving wide creative space for players to customize & change the games, they’ve left pretty big holes in the rule sets. For their intended audience, I think this is actually a good idea – but it’s pretty much guaranteed to make adult gamers a little nutso.

Kinder Bunnies: Their First Adventure

What can you say about the Bunnies that hasn’t already been said? It’s Gamer Uno… and that’s damning Uno with faint praise.

Kinder Bunnies: Their First Adventure is less violent & less complicated… but with no more game than the original Killer Bunnies. It’s still too easy to get shut out of the game because you’ve been shut out of bunnies (which power all of the “good” cards in the deck). The game still ends with a lottery – if you have the one magic carrot, it doesn’t matter how the rest of the game went. It’s an exercise in futility for any adult with a half a brain. OK, I exaggerate – a quarter of a brain would suffice.

At the same time, my six-year old son (who is reading pretty well) absolutely adores the game – and not just for playing by the rules. He arranges & rearranges the cards, inventing his own (very possibly better) games with the components.

I can not recommend the game – it’s a chaotic mess of a “take that” card game that nearly drove my wife to throw the cards across the table during her one play. But that doesn’t mean your kid will agree with me.

Das magische Labyrinth: Erweiterung (The Magic Labyrinth: Expansion)

The Magic Labyrinth won the Kinderspiel des Jahres (Childrens Game of the Year) in 2009 – and it deserved it. It’s the first truly functional hidden labyrinth game (yes, I know & love Magical Maze/Goblin’s Gold, but it has some problems as a game) that works for 2-4 players. The design rewards players who pay attention not only to their own moves but also the moves of others as they create a mental map of the hidden walls.

Obviously, a review of the expansion is aimed at those folks who already own the game – so, what does this long thin box contain?

• a set of eight “magic walls” – which, due to their construction, act like one-way doors. You can pass through going one way but are stopped going the other.
• a set of four “magical hats” (made of felt) – once per game, you can cause another player to lose his turn
• a set of four magic wands (wooden) – once per game, you can discard the tile you’re searching for & draw a new tile
• a set of four potion bottles (wooden) – once per game, you can move without rolling the dice… moving as far as you want (until you hit a wall)

We’ve found that all of the elements in the expansion make the original game even more enjoyable without drastically changing the game. My one worry is the long-term viability of the “magic walls” (the design looks a little flimsy) but so far they’ve done just fine.

Sadly, while the original game is now easily available in the U.S., the expansion is (so far) more difficult to track down. I got my copy from amazon.de.

This article originally appeared on the Opinionated Gamers website. And although I do receive review copies of some games, all of the games here were purchased by me personally.

The Dice Tower Gaming Awards

Let's start with a (sad) admission... I don't listen to The Dice Tower much anymore. My podcast listening time has always been pretty limited anyway & I found that I didn't enjoy it enough to justify the time involved. (No shot at Tom - I consider him a personal friend - and I loved certain elements of the show... but it's kind of the same way I feel about David Letterman. In other words, more icing than cake.)

With that said, I still enjoy reading Tom's reviews online - agree or disagree with him, but he does a bang-up job of describing a game & his opinion of it without being Snarky Snarkerston from Snarkville.

I am excited, however, about The Dice Tower Gaming Awards. Now, I'm not on the awards committee (evidently an oversight on their part - snicker/giggle) but I still have some input for them.

The BEST GAME OF THE YEAR award goes to a game that is the "cream of the crop", the one game which a sense defines the year in gaming.

This is a combined result of the games' physical presentation, strategic choices, and most of all - a sense of fun.

• 1960 - the Making of the President
• Age of Empires III
• Duel in the Dark
• Race for the Galaxy
• Zooleretto

Well, I haven't played Age of Empires III (I'd like to try but I'm guessing I'd be just so-so on it) or Duel in the Dark (which I think I might like if I could find people to play it with)... so my recommendation will go to neither of those games.

My one playing of 1960 left me cold - I liked the historical elements of the game but felt like it was pretty much 2 hours of min-maxing in order to see who got a better draw out of the bag on Election Day. (Granted, this pretty much was the way the actual election went... but it didn't make for a very satisfying gaming experience.)

That leave two of my favorite games from the last year: Race for the Galaxy (which I think packs an amazing wallop for a 30 minute game) and Zooloretto (which deserved the Spiel des Jahres & take the mechanic from the overrated Coloretto and puts it at the center of a very enjoyable game). The production on both games is darn near perfect... so how do I pick?

Well, I can play Race twice as many times as I can play Zooloretto... so I'll give it to Race for the Galaxy in a photo finish.

BEST REPRINT will go the company who has reprinted an older game with the best updated rules and/or components.

• Caylus - Limited Edition
• Fire & Axe
• Hannibal: Rome vs. Carthage
• Princes of Florence
• Thebes

I'd like to try Fire & Axe - and the reprint is really sweet looking - but I haven't played it. In the same vein, I haven't played Caylus (either edition) but after watching a game, I don't really have any desire to do so.

That leaves three possible choices: a reprint of a card-driven wargame I enjoyed but feel no real need to play again, a reprint of one of my top ten games that I haven't seen yet (the reprint, that is), and a reprint of a small publisher game I fell in love with but couldn't possibly afford.

The award goes to, of course, Thebes, which went from limited edition collectible with so-so components to beautifully produced mass release that took full advantage of the reprint to tighten the game & make it easier to teach and follow.

The MOST INNOVATIVE award goes to the tabletop game that has a fresh, interesting mechanic driving the game. It is a game that will likely have future effects in the industry.

• Cutthroat Caverns
• Duel in the Dark
• Galaxy Trucker
• Kingsburg
• Tannhauser

I'll leave Cutthroat Caverns aside (not having played it)... but I feel qualified to say that Duel in the Dark (haven't played but read the rules), Galaxy Trucker (the same), and Kingsburg (have played) are not particularly innovative games. Duel in the Dark is a mixture of Euro & wargame - nicely put together but nothing ground-breaking. (I think the stellar production hides its wargamer-y heart.) Galaxy Trucker sounds like my kind of game: real-time spaceship construction followed by a Dungeonquest-like avalanche of random events guaranteed to take some players out in a blaze of glory... but that's not innovative, just cool. Kingsburg uses dice in a new way - but they're still being used to generate resources for a engine-building game, which sounds a lot like Stone Age (which was just released).

That leaves what I think is the only really innovative mechanic out there, the Pathfinder system from Tannhauser. I think it's a great leap forward for individual combat board games & I hope it finds a more balanced game to live in. (I liked Tannhauser - the theme was evocative of Capt. America v. Red Skull or the original Hellboy comics - and the production was really nice - but I didn't think the game that we played actually gave one of the sides a fighting chance.)

The BEST EXPANSION award is given to the add-on to a game that increases variety, fun, and more strategic options. This is one expansion that owners of th original game should rush to buy.

• A Shattered Empire (Twilight Imperium)
• Switzerland (Ticket to Ride)
• Call to Arms (Battlelore)
• Air Pack (Memoir ' 44)
• Yakuzas (Ca$h 'n Gun$)

I am decidedly NOT a fan of Twilight Imperium, so out the window goes any hope of getting me to play the expansion. Yakuza sounds nifty but nobody in our group has a copy yet. Switzerland is not an essential expansion to the Ticket To Ride series (that honor belongs to 1910).

Which leaves me with two expansions for two different Command & Colors games. Call to Arms is the connective tissue which helps hold the expansion sets together for Battlelore... but I think that the reworking of all the official scenarios of Memoir '44 alone qualifies the Air Pack as the winner - and that doesn't take into account the air rules, the extra pieces, and the summary rules deck!

BEST ARTWORK will go to the artist and game which have best brought the theme to life - via the box and components.

• Chateau Roquefort
• Colosseum
• Duel in the Dark
• Race for the Galaxy
• Starcraft

All of these games do a great job of "bringing the theme to life" - I guess it's pretty much a toss-up which leaves me to decide my recommendation on other non-artistic factors. I think Colosseum is prettier than it is enjoyable, which takes it out of the running. Duel in the Dark I haven't played... yet - out it goes. Starcraft was enjoyable & nicely done, but a lot of the art design for it came from an existing universe (computer game), so no cigar there.

Between Race for the Galaxy (with an amazing combination of sci-fi art & intricate iconography to make clear all of the powers) and Chateua Roquefort (with a 3-D board that actually makes a difference in game play & looks delightful), I'll have to go with the more oddball of the two: Chateau Roquefort!

The BEST FAMILY GAME is the one game that can best be used to introduce new folks into the gaming hobby. It is a game with a low barrier to entry, but emphasizes fun and easy strategies. It is not necessarily the most strategic, but emphasizes a game that is fun for the entire family. Game components are of a high quality, and the game should appeal to a wide range of ages.

• Chateau Roquefort
• Felix: the Cat in the Sack
• Kingsburg
• Thebes
• Zooloretto

I've actually played all the nominees... and own 3 of them. The two I don't own are NOT bad games (Felix is a fun auction game & Kingsburg does the resource management/vp engine thing nicely) but I don't think either of them are a stand-out game. It's unlikely that the majority of the gaming community (or non-gaming community, for that matter) will be playing either of these much 5 years from now. (It doesn't help that Kingsburg runs just a little long for the family game category.)

I love Chateau Roquefort (I'm currently trying to hunt down copies of the giveaway expansion & the new box expansion) but I don't think it's the best family game - it can be distinctly unfriendly when you find ways to toss your opponents into the dungeons in order to sew up the win. The spatial/memory requirements to play at a high level aren't at the beck & call of most family gamers, either.

The ONLY knock against Thebes in this category is the length of the game - it tends to run 90 minutes or so, which is a tad long for family gaming. Otherwise, the theme & the mechanics work together perfectly to make a wonderful game.

Finally, and (as you've guessed by now), the winner of my recommendation is Zooloretto, which combines a family-friendly theme (building a zoo) with stellar components & quick play. The fact that most of our scores are pretty tight when we play is just another reason to give the nod to Zooloretto.

I'll skip the "Small Publisher" & "New Designer" categories, as I don't know enough about most of the games to comment on them.

Expansion Fever!

Ah, dear & gentle reader, welcome once again to my sporadic commentary about my obsessive need to collect board game expansion sets. Place a variant way to play a game in front of me & I'm like a demented 10 year old with a Pokemon CCG addiction who has been downing Mt Dew and mainlining Red Vines for the last couple of hours.

With that sordid admission out of the way, proceed forward from here - read on, gentle reader! You can check out an exhaustive list of 2010 expansions on the Geek... or simply continue with this more refined (read: "what Mark is interested in") list right here:

Played

• Be Not Afraid (Small World) - 5 new races, 5 new powers... and a very nifty plastic molded tray for all of the expansion races. There are - as always - some balance issues with particular races & powers combined, but the players can correct those by choosing & declining wisely. My favorite new race is the Leprechauns, although the Barbarians can be a lot of fun as well. There's even room in the tray for the Ghosts from...
• Necromancer Island (Small World) - This free expansion will get a full review in the next day or so - for now, I like how it tweaks the game w/out breaking it. (One rules note: the Necromancer does NOT get any starting gold - clarified by Eric H. at DoW.)
• Winter Wars (Memoir '44) - A Battle of the Bulge specific expansion for Memoir that includes a lot of terrain, some great scenarios & a couple of card decks... of special note is the Breakthrough deck, which coupled w/the Breakthrough map set makes those large scenarios really shine. (A full review will follow on BGN next week.)

Not Played

• Asteros (Tannhauser) - It's a big honkin' minotaur to dovetail nicely with the Labyrinth board in the Daedalus expansion... and, in Tannhauser parlance, he's a Legendary Figure, which means he replaces 2 other characters on a team.
• Bearded Brave (Battlelore) - I'm hoping this is the last box of Fantasy Flight "fixing" the holes left by the odd manner in which Battlelore expansions were released. If I were a betting man, I'd guess that this is the way they're cheapening the cost of a new base set... by dropping out the Goblins & Dwarves into separate expansions. Still, it's nice to have more dwarves for those really massive battles.
• Cavern of Soloth (Catacombs) - this flicking dungeon game is getting 4 new heroes, 4 new bad guys, 40 new pieces & 60 new cards. Excellent. (As I've said before, Catacombs = Descent: Journeys in the Dark + Carabande - 4 hours.)
• Daedalus (Tannhauser) - A new map set (along with new scenarios) for Tannhauser - now we'll have the Labyrinth at Minos and a French village to destroy with our Hellboy-ish combat.

• Expansion Set #2 (Smarty Party) - 200 new categories... all I can say is "it's about time!"
• Moltenclaw's Invasion (Heroscape) - The third set of D&D Heroscape figures... I've been pleasantly surprised at how much I've enjoyed the new figures, their powers, and the nifty scenarios/campaigns that go with them. This set looks really sweet, thanks to the previews over on heroscapers.com.

• Zooloretoo Boss (Zooloretto) - While I'm not a big fan of the XXL expansion for Zooloretto, all the others have been top notch... and Boss seems to fit right in. There will now be ways to earn sponsorships & put people to work to increase the fame of your zoo!