Game Profile: Livingstone

Explore the Zambezi
River with Dr. Livingstone


Mechanics Area Influence, Dice Rolling
Theme African Exploration
Publication Playroom Entertainment, 2009
Ages 8+
Time 35
Players 2 – 5
Description
Livingstone is a light strategy game with a couple of interesting
twists.  A handful of dice are rolled by
the starting player on each round and arranged in numerical order.  Players then choose one of the die and
perform an action with it. Play continues in this manner until all dice are
taken or players are unable to take any of the remaining ones.  Players must keep in mind when choosing dice
that each succeeding die must be higher than their last die taken. The types of
actions include drawing a special action card, taking money, digging into the
black bag to grab a handful of gems and rocks, or placing tents on the game
board.  Tents are the primary means of
scoring both during and at the end of the game. 
The die will determine where tents can be played and how many points
they are worth.  Money will be necessary
to place tents and make donations to the Queen. 
One of the game twists is the donations. 
Each player has a donation box that they can put coins in on their
turn.  The player who has made the least amount
of donations in their box by the end of the game is not eligible to win regardless
of how many points they have scored. 
Another interesting twist is digging for gems in the mine.  There are more rocks than gems and gems can
either be cashed in for money or held for points at the end of the game.  The game play in Livingstone is fairly quick with interest tactics, a little luck and a little
press your luck element.


You can watch a game overview here:


We have an open copy of Livingstone available in our Store Demo Games Library for you come in and try.



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Come and visit us at 30 NW 2nd Street in Historic Downtown Gresham. We have a full range of family games, strategy games, Euro-style games, war games, card games, dice games and more. Also for the puzzle enthusiasts we carry quality puzzles from Ravensburger, White Mountain, and Cobble Hill.

We proudly serve Gresham and the greater Portland and Vancouver area.


Game Arrivals: Dec. 2nd – 8th

Arriving this week and just in time for your holiday shopping are these games:


Fleet
Gryphon Games

Brand new from Gryphon Games is Fleet, a strategic card based game that features a unique commercial fishing theme.

In the northwest corner of Nunavut, Canada, a formerly inaccessible bay off of the Arctic Ocean has become reachable through a secret inlet.  Untouched by the hands of time and fed by both the ocean and warm fresh water springs, Ridback Bay is teeming with sea life.  Acquire licenses, launch boats, and fish the great briny blue.  The player who best manages his resources and acquires the most Victory Points via fish licenses, and boats will build the strongest fleet and lead his crew to victory!

Pirate Dice
Voyage on the Rolling Seas

Gryphon Games

Also new out from Gryphon Games is Pirate Dice: Voyage on the Rolling Seas, a strategic dice game.

Players compete to be the first to find the sunken treasure in Treasure Cove.  Will glory and fame be yours, or will you and your crew end up at the bottome of the sea?  Players roll and place customized command dice to pilot their ships around the sea.  Commands allow ships to move, turn, fire cannons, and even interfere directly with their opponents!

Here is a game overview from Gryphon Games:



Love Letter
Alderac Entertainment Group

Love Letter is a card game of risk deduction, and luck stowed in a red and gold velour “Love Letter” pouch.  Win the Heart of the Princess!  Get your letter into Princess Annette’s hands while keeping other players’ letters away.  Powerful cards lead to early gains, but make you a target.  Rely on weaker cards for too long and your letter may be tossed in the fire!

All the eligible young men ( and many not so yung) seek to woo the princess of Tempest.  Unfortunately, she has locked herself in the palace, and you must rely on others to bring your romantic letter to her. Will yours reach her first?

Carcassonne Mini’s
Rio Grande Games

Brand new for Carcassonne fans are these 6 mini expansions:

  1. Carcassonne: The Fliereight landscape tiles showing a pair of wings are mixed with the other tiles to be used in the game.  As flying enthusiasts, the players want to actualize mankind’s dream of flying by trying their wings.  Flight length and landing places can be troublesome.
  2. Carcassonne: The Messages eight message tiles and six new followers. Players gain a second scoring meeple to aid in securing messages.  Messages and grant additional points for smallest road, city or cloister, banners in a city, or knights… many possibilities. You may even get to draw and play an additional tile.
  3. Carcassonne: The Ferrieseight landscape tiles and eight ferries.  Some roads around Carcassonne lead to small lakes.  In these places ferries are operated to connect the roads on one side of the lake to the roads on the other side.  These present new opportunities for the players.
  4. Carcassonne: The Goldmines – eight landscape tiles and sixteen gold bars. Gold!  The excitement is huge and many come to acquire the precious metal for themselves.  At the end, all will settle their accounts.
  5. Carcassonne: Mage & Witch  – eight landscape tiles and two wooden figures.  Magical people visit the county of Carcassonne.  While the power of the mage brings extra value for roads and cities, the inhabitants view the abilities of the witch rather distrustfully.
  6. Carcassonne: The Robber  – eight landscape tiles and six wooden robbers.  Gangs of robbers are on the way and require their tribute.  When followers score points, the robbers take some points for themselves.


Catan Scenarios
Frenemies Mini Expansion

Mayfair Games

New for Settlers of Catan fans is this mini expansion, Catan Scenarios Frenemies.

Hark, friend! Let us… help… each other. We live in a time of altruism on Catan. We give away resources to help lagging players. We move the robber to isolated locations to ensure the safety of our fellows. We even go out of our way to connect our roads with our neighbors’ networks. Has everyone gone nuts?

Ah! Thanks to their beneficence, Catan’s guilds reward such noble-minded behavior by handing out “Favor Tokens”. Each guild helps us in different ways: granting us roads, development cards, random resources, preferential trades, or even Victory Points. 

Everyone is just in it for themselves. There is an ulterior motive for everything. In fact, sometimes you can “help a friend” while making things far worse for them.
Sigh… If goodwill really exists… it’s not part of this scenario.



Continue to Tune in for the Latest in Board Games



Come and visit us at 30 NW 2nd Street in Historic Downtown Gresham. We have a full range of family games, strategy games, Euro-style games, war games, card games, dice games and more. Also for the puzzle enthusiasts we carry quality puzzles from Ravensburger, TDC, White Mountain, and Cobble Hill.

We proudly serve Gresham and the greater Portland and Vancouver area

Economic Stimulus Plan

Looking for an Economic Stimulus?  This week, Dec. 5th through Dec. 9th we have these Economic games on a special 15% discount.




Automobile
Bullfrog Goldfield
Power Grid:
Factory Manager
Steam

Come and visit us at 30 NW 2nd Street in Historic Downtown Gresham. We have a full range of family games, strategy games, Euro-style games, war games, card games, dice games and more. Also for the puzzle enthusiasts we carry quality puzzles from Ravensburger, TDC, White Mountain, and Cobble Hill.

We proudly serve Gresham and the greater Portland and Vancouver area

Game Events: Week of Dec 2nd – 8th

Come and join in on the fun with Game Night. It’s a great way to meet other game enthusiasts. Here is this week’s schedule:


Date: Weds. Dec. 5th
Time: 6 pm

Place: Off The Charts Games Store


Weds. Featured Games
To learn more about each featured board game click on the game name below it’s picture.

Alhambra
Queen Games
Lancaster
Queen Games

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Date: Fri. Dec. 7th
Time: 6 pm

Place: Off The Charts Games Store



Friday’s Featured Games
To learn more about each featured board game click on the game name below it’s picture.

SmallWorld
Days of Wonder
Pillars of the Earth
Mayfair Games

No Experience is Necessary. While you are we will be happy to teach you the rules and get you started.

Come Play ~ ~ ~ It’s Free ~ ~ ~It’s Fun!


Come and visit us at 30 NW 2nd Street in Historic Downtown Gresham.We have a full range of family games, strategy games, Euro-style games, war games, card games, dice games and more. Also for the puzzle enthusiasts we carry quality puzzles from Ravensburger, TDC, White Mountain, and Cobble Hill.

We proudly serve Gresham and the greater Portland and Vancouver area.

Carcassonne: The River is Back! and More

What’s New:  Carcassonne is now being published by Z-Man Games.   The base game now includes the River.  The River gives you a new place to start.  For those who are not familiar with this simple tactical game you can read our Game Profile write-up by clicking on Carcassonne.

Carcassonne
Z-Man Games

What’s Coming: These 6 mini expansions for Carcassonne:


       1.  The Flier                    

 2.  The Messages

       3.  The Ferries                

4.  The Goldmines

       5.  Mage & Witch

           6.  The Robber

Continue to Tune in for the Latest in Board Games


Come and visit us at 30 NW 2nd Street in Historic Downtown Gresham. We have a full range of family games, strategy games, Euro-style games, war games, card games, dice games and more. Also for the puzzle enthusiasts we carry quality puzzles from Ravensburger, TDC, White Mountain, and Cobble Hill.

We proudly serve Gresham and the greater Portland and Vancouver area


Table Top Game Episode 17: Alhambra



The Table Top biweekly series hosted by Star Trek’s Wil Wheaton on Felicia Day’s Channel Geek and Sundry is taking a season siesta through the remainder of the year.


The next season of Table Top with Wil Wheaton will begin on January 3rd.  This episode will feature one of our favorites, Alhambra.  So, mark your calendar as we’ll be bringing you the next season of Table Top episodes.


Alhambra
Queen Games





Continue to tune in here for more Table Top episodes!


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Come and visit us at 30 NW 2nd Street in Historic Downtown Gresham.We have a full range of family games, strategy games, Euro-style games, war games, card games, dice games and more. Also for the puzzle enthusiasts we carry quality puzzles from Ravensburger, TDC, White Mountain, and Cobble Hill.

We proudly serve Gresham and the greater Portland and Vancouver area.

Game Arrivals: Nov 25th – Dec 1st

It’s Here!  Arriving to the store today is this much anticipated game from Queen Games.  It is the hottest game coming out of this year’s Essen Game Trade Show.




Escape: The Curse of the Temple
Queen Games

Escape… the Curse of the Temple is a real-time board game.  It’s an action-packed mad dash through the temple in an effort to activate the magical gems in the temple chambers before time runs out and the temple collapses.


Instead of playing the game in rounds, each player rolls their five dice as quickly and as often as they can without waiting for their teammates.  You only have 10 minutes to activate all the gems and escape from the collapsing temple, so don’t dawdle.  Watch out, though, as twice during the game a gong will sound throughout the temple heralding a count-down.  All must then hurry back to the starting chamber as only this location is guaranteed to be safe.  Fail to make it back in time, and you lose one of your precious dice.  Be sure to coordinate your actions and look out for another as some tasks can be completed only collectively.  What’s more, even if only one player fails to escape the temple in time, all of you have lost the game.

The countdown to total destruction is provided by either a sand timer or a CD soundtrack, both of which are included in the game box.


We have played this game and find it a blast.  Keeping your dice on the table can be challenging because you are rolling them as fast as you can.




Continue to Tune in for the Latest in Board Games



Come and visit us at 30 NW 2nd Street in Historic Downtown Gresham. We have a full range of family games, strategy games, Euro-style games, war games, card games, dice games and more. Also for the puzzle enthusiasts we carry quality puzzles from Ravensburger, TDC, White Mountain, and Cobble Hill.

We proudly serve Gresham and the greater Portland and Vancouver area

Just In For The Holidays

For the puzzle enthusiasts, arriving just in time is our line up of Christmas Limited Edition puzzles.

Christmas Limited Edition Puzzles
Ravensburger



Come in and see our complete Holiday puzzle line up.  We also have a fabulous selection of non holiday high quality puzzles from Ravensburger, Cobble Hill, TDC, and White Mountain.






Come and visit us at 30 NW 2nd Street in Historic Downtown Gresham.We have a large selection of family games, strategy games, Euro-style games, war games, card games, dice games and more. Also for the puzzle enthusiasts we carry quality puzzles from Ravensburger, TDC, White Mountain, and Cobble Hill.

We proudly serve Gresham and the greater Portland and Vancouver area.


Game Events: Week of Nov 25th – Dec 1st

Come and join in on the fun with Game Night. It’s a great way to meet other game enthusiasts. Here is this week’s schedule:


Date: Weds. Nov. 28th
Time: 6 pm

Place: Off The Charts Games Store



Weds. Featured Games
To learn more about each featured board game click on the game name below it’s picture.


Cargo Noir
Days of Wonder
Stone Age
Rio Grande Games
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Date: Fri. Nov. 30th



Time: 6 pm

Place: Off The Charts Games Store

Friday’s Featured Games
To learn more about each featured board game click on the game name below it’s picture.

Infiltration
Fantasy Flight
Last Will
Rio Grande Games
No Experience is Necessary. While you are we will be happy to teach you the rules and get you started.


Come Play ~ ~ ~ It’s Free ~ ~ ~It’s Fun!



Come and visit us at 30 NW 2nd Street in Historic Downtown Gresham.We have a full range of family games, strategy games, Euro-style games, war games, card games, dice games and more. Also for the puzzle enthusiasts we carry quality puzzles from Ravensburger, TDC, White Mountain, and Cobble Hill.

We proudly serve Gresham and the greater Portland and Vancouver area.

Game Arrivals: Nov 18th – 24th

This week’s arrivals include the following newly released games:


Munchkin Apocalypse
Steve Jackson Games



New from Steve Jackson Games:


It’s The End Of The World!
In Munchkin Apocalypse, every possible natural (and unnatural) disaster has happened . . . or is about to. You are a rugged survivor in a world full of people – and things – that want to kill you and take your stuff. So do it to them first!












Star Trek
Deck Building Game – 
The Original Series
Bandai

New from Bandai is this Premier Edition to their Star Trek Deck Building Game series –  Star Trek: The Original Series.


“Space, the final frontier…these are the voyages of the Starship Enterprise…its five year mission…to explore strange new worlds…to seek out new life and new civilzations…to boldy go where where no man has gone before.”


You are the Captain of a Federation Starship with a standard crew and basic weaponry.  Will you use your crew’s experience to improve you ship’s systems or to recruit more experienced crewmen to your ship?  What type of Captain will you be?  










Ascension –
Immortal Heroes

Gary Games

Newly released from Gary Games is Ascension: Immortal Heroes. This can be played as an expansion to the popular deck building game Ascension:Storm of Souls or as a stand-alone 2-player game.



Kythis must be stopped! Bent on ascending to replace the slain god Samael, Kythis has begun gathering souls of fallen heroes to fuel his mad quest.  It’s up to you to marshal the forces of Vigil’s past and present to stop the demigod once and for all!

Crazy Creatures of Dr. Gloom
Stronghold Games

New from Stronghold Games, Crazy Creatures from Dr. Gloom is a card game designed for ages 7+ and features fast turns and a very simple rule set.


Each player takes a turn playing a card onto one of the machines of Dr. Gloom.  The goal is to get rid of all of your cards as cards in hand score penalty points at the end of a round.  The player with the fewest penalty points at the end of the game wins and become the new apprentice of Dr. Gloom!












Continue to Tune in for the Latest in Board Games



Come and visit us at 30 NW 2nd Street in Historic Downtown Gresham. We have a full range of family games, strategy games, Euro-style games, war games, card games, dice games and more. Also for the puzzle enthusiasts we carry quality puzzles from Ravensburger, TDC, White Mountain, and Cobble Hill.

We proudly serve Gresham and the greater Portland and Vancouver area