Surprise Visit

On Friday, local game designer Lisa Steenson of Gut Bustin’ Games popped in for a visit.



Lisa is the designer of these popular board games.  While here she autographed several copies of the games.

Redneck Life
Do you say redneck like it’s a bad thing?
Trail Park Wars!
Live the dream . . . be a Trail Park Manager

Oh Gnome You Don’t!
Get ready for a Gnome-tastic Adventure
For a game overview, just click on the game name to link you to our Game Profile located on our website OffTheChartsGames.com and learn more about these hilariously fun games.  A demo copy of Redneck Life is open and available for play.  While you are here in the store we are happy to teach you the rules and get you started on the fun.

We are working with Lisa to arrange a play-test event for a couple of new games she is working on.  Stay tuned for details.


At Off The Charts Games we have a fabulous 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, and White Mountain.
We
proudly serve Gresham and the greater Portland and Vancouver
area.


News Flash: Table Top Episode 6 Features Castle Panic

Pull up a chair and get ready for this week’s Table Top episode hosted by Star Trek’s, Wil Wheaton on Felicia Day’s You Tube Channel, Geek and Sundry.  This week Wil’s featured board game is Castle Panic.

Castle Panic
Fireside Games

Watch as Wil and guests: Tara Platt (actor – Naruto), Yuri Lowenthal (actor – Prince of Persia), and Andre the Black Nerd work as a team in this co-operative game to defeat the advancing trolls, orcs, and goblins.  Do they live to tell the tale?



Click on the name Castle Panic to read our Game Profile write up.  You can find Castle Panic available in our store.


Continue to tune in for more Table Top Episodes

At Off The Charts Games, we have a fabulous 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, and White Mountain.
We proudly serve Gresham and the greater Portland and Vancouver area.


New Game Arrivals: Jun 12th – 17th

This week’s store arrivals include:


Cthulhu Dice
Steve Jackson Games




Serving Cthulhu is fun . . . except for all those other cultists out to get you.  So get them first! 

Cthulhu Dice lets you drive your rivals mad . . . very, very quickly.  Introduced in six new colors: Sparkly Green, Copper, Swirly Pink, Ice Blue, Ichor Green, and Gold Pearl. Additionally, eighteen Sanity marbles are included.  Lose all your marbles and you’re mad.  The last sane cultist wins . . . unless everyone goes mad together.  Then Cthulhu wins!



Saboteur
Z-Man

You are dwarves digging for gold in the depths of a mine.  Suddenly, a pick-axe breaks and the light from the lantern goes out.  The saboteur has struck again – but which of your fellow players is a saboteur?  Will you find the gold or will the saboteur’s sinister actions be successful?  After three rounds, the player with the most gold nuggets wins the game!

Continue to tune in for the latest in board games.

At Off The Charts Games, we have a fabulous 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, and White Mountain.
We proudly serve Gresham and the greater Portland and Vancouver area.


Game Profile: Sunrise City

The Sky’s The Limit
 

Mechanics Auction/Bidding, Tile Placement, Card Drafting, Variable Player
Powers
Theme City Building
Publication Clever Mojo Games, 2012
Ages 13+
Time 60
Players 2 – 4
Description
In Sunrise City players will get to
assume the role of a different character in each of the game’s three
rounds.  There are sixteen characters to
choose from and range from Protester to Crime Boss to City Manager each with a
unique ability.  Players will work to
create zoning which will benefit them later with the buildings they need to construct.  They will then bid to gain control of
undeveloped zones.  Then Building
construction begins. Construction of
buildings must comply with zoning restrictions. 

The winner of the game is the player who amasses the most points.  Points can be gained by clever zoning.  They can also be scored by construction
buildings on zones you controlled during the bidding process.  Additional points can be earned for
constructing buildings next to certain valuable community locations and by
building higher and higher in the city scape. 
Manage your roles well, plan ahead and you could be the master builder
of Sunrise
City.

 

We have an open copy of Sunrise City available in our Store Demo Library for you come in and try out.


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Continue to tune in for the latest in board games.
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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 Profile: Infiltration

Corporate Larcency in a Dystopian Future



Mechanics Hand Management, Press Your Luck, Modular Layout
Theme Corporate Sci-Fi
Publication Fantasy Flight Games, 2012
Ages 14+
Time 30 – 45
Players 2 – 6
Description
Infiltration is a game for 2 to 6 players to control futuristic thieves
infiltrating a highly secure corporate facility to steal digital files.  The “board” consists of 13 cards representing
rooms of which six will make up the first floor rooms.  Another six will make up the second floor
rooms, and one will be a secret room.  Each
of the 32 available room cards is unique so that the facility will be different
each time you play.  On each turn players
will play either an action card or an item card.  These will be used to move deeper into or out
of the facility, and to download data files. 
The player who gathers the most valuable data files and escapes from the
building without being caught by security will be the winner.  Players can watch the security forces drawing
nearer.  Their speed will be determined
by alarms triggered in the various rooms. 
Along the way the thieves will encounter lab workers, tech locks,
interface tokens, and a variety of characters who are not any of the players.  Move stealthily, download well, and get out
of there before security arrives to be the winner.
We have an open copy of Infiltration available in our Store Demo Games Library for you come in and try.



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Continue to check 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, White Mountain, and Cobble Hill.

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

2012 Kennespiel des Jahres Game Nominations

In our last post we told you about K2 being nominated for this year’s award.  The other two nominees are:

Targi



      ~And~

Village



The following three are game recommendations by the Spiel des Jahres jury:

Friday
Hawaii


Ora & Labora



The Kennespiel des Jahres award was newly created last year to cover  more complex strategy games.  7Wonders was it’s first recipient, the 2011Kennespiel des Jahres.  Prior to 2011, an informal special prize was occasionally awarded for the more complex game and was awarded to such games as Agricola and World Without End.

News Flash: K2 Award Nomination

The board game K2 has been nominated for this year’s prestigious Spiel des Jahres Kennespiel award.
K2
Common Man Games/Rebel PL

K2 is the second largest mountain in the world with a height of 28,251 ft (8,611 meters) above sea level. It is also considered one of the most difficult “eight thousanders”.


You can learn more about this mountain climbing game by clicking on K2 and reading our Game Profile that includes a game overview video.  You will find K2 available on our store shelves.


At Off The Charts Games, we have a fabulous 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, and White Mountain.
We proudly serve Gresham and the greater Portland and Vancouver area.

New Game Arrivals: Jun 5th – 10th

These newly released games arrived this week:

Infiltration
Fantasy Flight

Just released from Fantasy Flight comes Infiltration a card game of corporate larceny in a dystopian future .  Infiltration has the variable game play we now expect from a Donald X. Vaccarino designed game (Dominion and Kingdom Builder).


In Infiltration you take on the role of thieves that infiltrate CyberSolutions, Inc., a highly secure corporate facility to steal digital files.  Your objective is to penetrate as deep as you can within the facility, moving from room to room collecting as much data as you can while outwitting your counterparts, and then to escape before the security mercs arrive.  Each room contains specific elements that you can interact with, such as heavy machinery, locked compartments that can hold valuable data, and employees working after hours. Some effects can delay your movements or even wound you.  All sorts of challenges await you.  You can be assured, while inside security alarms will be triggered and the security mercs will come so you must decide how long to stay in and when to retreat and escape.  The player who escapes CyberSolutions, Inc. with the most zettabytes of data wins the game.

~And~

Sunrise City
Clever Mojo Games

Sunrise City is the next offering from Clever Mojo Games, the makers of Alien Frontiers.  This is a tile-laying game of strategic zoning, opportunistic bidding, and tactical construction.  The game components are nicely done.  The various tiles are thick and have colorful graphics depicting it’s type.


In Sunrise City, players select different character roles for each of the three rounds.  You will create zones for development and bid for the right to control the zones. You will then construct buildings that can rise up floor by floor above the street level.  Points are earned by clever zoning, careful bidding both smarter and higher than your opponents.  May the best builder win.
We have a demo copy of Sunrise City included in our Demo Library.

Continue to tune in for the latest in board games.

At Off The Charts Games, we have a fabulous 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, and White Mountain.
We proudly serve Gresham and the greater Portland and Vancouver area.


Game Profile: Alhambra

Publisher: Queen Games, 2003
Players: 2 – 6
Time: 45 – 60 minutes
Mechanics: Card Drafting, Hand Management, Set Collection, Tile Placement
 
 
Alhambra is a set collection, tile laying, wall-building kind of game.  Players will work to build their own “Alhambra” by purchasing buildings at the market.  There will always be four buildings available for sale. Each of the four market spaces requires payment in a particular color of currency.  Buildings are assigned to a market by blind draw.
 
On a player’s turn they can buy a building or take one of the four faced up money cards.  Paying the exact cost for a building allows the player to take another turn where they may buy more buildings, replenish their hand with money, or take a building out of reserve and place it in their Alhambra.  Once a building is purchased it is either immediately placed in the player’s Alhambra or place in a players’ reserve for future placement.  Players must take care when placing their buildings to both leave openings for future building opportunities and to build one long wall.  Each building tile will have walls on zero to three sides.  Open sides must be played on open sides and walls on walled sides.  There are six different colors of buildings.
Players collect sets of colored buildings to score points during each of the three scoring phases. Points are awarded for having the most of a building color type.  Additionally at each scoring phase, players score points for the number of segments in their longest contiguous wall.
 
Awards: 2003 Spiel des Jahres (Game of the Year), 2006 International Gamers Award



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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, White Mountain, and Cobble Hill.
 
We proudly serve Gresham and the greater Portland and Vancouver area.
 
 
 

Game Profile: Caylus

Once upon a time…

Mechanics Worker Placement
Theme French Castle, Economic
Publication Rio Grande Games, 2005
Ages 12+
Time 120
Players 2 – 5
Description

It’s 1289.
 To strengthen the borders of the Kingdom of France, King Phillip has decided to
have a new castle built in the humble village of Caylus.
Around the building site a city is slowly rising up.  The players are
master builders.  By building the King’s castle and the city around it,
they earn prestige points and gain the King’s favor.  When the castle is
finished the player who has earned the most prestige points wins the game.

Caylus is a strategy game with each player
controlling a team of six workers.  The workers can be placed in either
the city or the castle.  Players have to develop the economic activity
along the road because huge resources are needed to build the castle.
 Development is expensive so players must watch their money carefully.
 Every time a worker goes to work the master builder must pay them.
 Workers can work in another player’s building which will gain this other
player prestige.  To win a player must take advantage of their own and
other players’ buildings without giving away too much advantage.

Along the way,
production buildings become obsolete unless a lawyer transforms them into
residential buildings, which then brings additional income to players.
 Play is also inspected by two royal agents, the bailiff and the provost.
 The provost can be moved, for a price, to determine which buildings can
be activated each turn.  The bailiff constantly moves forward pushing the
pace for building the castle.  The castle is built in three stages:
Dungeon, Walls, and Towers.  Master builders must move quickly and well in
building the castle to accumulate prestige.  The player who earns the most
prestige points will be the winner.

Caylus is a strong economic strategy game with
seven phases per turn and many ways to achieve points and victory!  

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


AWARDS: 2006 Spiel des Jahres Special Award for
Complex Game, 2006 International Gamers Award




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Continue to
check 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, White Mountain, and Cobble Hill.

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