Game Profile: Golf

Like golf, low score wins!










Classification Family Card Game
Mechanics Set Collection
Publication Grandpa Becks Games, 2010
Ages 8+
Time 30
Players 2 – 5
Description
Golf is
the first in card games from Grandpa
Becks Games of Seattle, Washington. Grandpa Becks Games is a husband and
wife team creating card games that are family fun.  Their belief is that time spent playing games
is time spent building relationships.

“Grandpa
Becks Games™ is a unique way for us to make a personal connection between our
family and yours.”


Golf,
like in the sport, the goal
is to get the lowest score.  There are
two ways to lower your score.  First, you
can collect low-value cards.  Second, you
can eliminate rows of identical black cards.

Players are each dealt
nine cards that are arranged face down in front of them in a 3-by-3 grid.  To start the game each player turns over two cards
at random in their grid.  Card values
range from the always hard to hit “Hole-in-One” with a -4 score to the infamous
“Lost Ball” with a +11 score.  A player’s
turn consists of choosing a card from either the draw deck or from the top of
the discard pile and replacing a card in their 3-by-3 grid.  The card being replaced can be either a face
up card or a face down card.  In any
event, the card being played in the players’ grid will be placed face up.  If a player lines up 3 cards with the same
score either horizontally or vertically, that row of cards is removed from his grid.
 Not only does eliminating rows of cards
lower your overall score, bonus points that lower your score even more are
awarded.

The game consists of the
number of rounds as there are players. 
The player with the lowest cumulative score at the end of the game wins.
AWARDS: Creative Child Magazine Creative Toy Awards 2011 Preferred Choice
Award

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



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Continue to check 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: Cover Your A$$ets


Make pairs of assets  – cover yours – steal theirs – 1st Millionaire wins!







Classification Family Card Game
Mechanics Set Collection
Publication Grandpa Becks, 2011
Ages 8+
Time 30
Players 2 – 6
Description



Cover Your Assets is another card game from Grandpa Becks Games of Seattle, Washington.  Grandpa Becks Games is a husband and wife
team creating card games that are family fun.  Their belief is that time spent
playing games is time spent building relationships.


“Grandpa
Becks Games™ is a unique way for us to make a personal connection between our
family and yours.”

                
Cover
Your Assets is a fast paced card
game where the first player to amass $1,000,000 in assets is the winner.  Players make pairs of the same asset cards
and place them in a stack, face up on the table, in front of them.  Future pairs are placed on top of their pile horizontal
to the pair beneath, to keep sets separate. 
This is how you “Cover Your Assets!

During the course of a
game, players will play matching pairs of asset cards building their pile of
assets, draw cards from the discard pile to match with ones in their hand, and challenge
their opponents in an attempt to steal their assets from the top of their pile.  The key is to have the right cards in your
hand to defend your asset pile while building your pile.  But watch out, your opponent may have the
cards to counter your defending cards and steal away your asset.

This is a game with a
lot of interaction, you’re constantly trying to steal or defend and with lots
of laughs on the way to obtaining a million dollars.  We have an open copy of Cover Your Assets  available in our Store Demo Library for you come in and try out.


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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.

St Patrick’s Day Game Quiz

Happy St. Patrick’s Day. 



In keeping with the “Luck of the Irish” theme here is a Luck game quiz:

Can you match up these Press Your Luck games?

1. Pergamon
A Gryphon Game
2. Claim It!
A Wattsalpoag Game
 
3. Cardcassonne
A Rio Grande Game

                         

4. Incan Gold
A Gryphon Game

5.  Lord$ of Vega$
A Mayfair Game
6.  Zooloretto
A Rio Grande Game
A. What is your threshold for danger?  How much treasure is enough for you?
B. Be careful or before you know it, you’ll have too many and no more room.  That could bring you minus points!
C. 1st come 1st dig!  Go for the money, or go for the deeper dig, or go for the turn order.
D. Can you manufacture the ultimate dream of easy money and impossible luxury?
E. You can keep rolling as long as you want.  But watch out: If you make a bad roll, you lose your turn!
F. Each player has a chance to claim a row.  How long do you wait?
Need a clue?  Just click on the game name and read our game profile to see if you can determine the answer.
Come in to the store for these great Press Your Luck games.  And remember, if you want a fabulous selection of family games, strategy games, Euro-style games, war games, card games, dice games, and puzzles in Gresham and the greater Portland and Vancouver area visit us at Off The Charts Games!  We are here to help you put fun on your table. 
          

Game Profile: A Fistful of Penguins

Name A Fistful of Penguins
Byline Here Come The Animals!
 

Mechanics Dice Rolling, Set Collection
Theme Animals
Publication Wattsalpoag, 2011
Ages 8+
Time 15 – 30
Players 1 – 6
Description
A Fistful of Penguins is another in a series from Wattsalpoag Games of Bellevue,
Washington.
Here come the
animals!  Add lions, camels, and
kangaroos to your zoo in this simple dice game the whole family can enjoy.  Lions are a big draw, but they scare the
camels.  Those pesky squirrels will
pilfer your peanuts, but a moose won’t go anywhere without a squirrel.  And, the more kangaroos the better.  Use your penguins wisely, and you can have
the best zoo in the country!
                
In A Fistful of
Penguins, players roll the dice to see which animals are available for their
zoo.  Some animals score more in big
groups, some score better together, and some won’t score with other animals
present.  Spend penguin tokens to buy
more dice or to re-roll the dice you have. 
If you roll a penguin, you get another penguin to spend.  Make the most money you can in three rounds
to win the game.

Who knew collecting
animals coud be so much fun!

If you
want a fabulous selection of family games, strategy games, Euro-style games,
war games, card games, dice games, and puzzles in Gresham and the greater
Portland and Vancouver area visit us at Off The Charts Games!  We are here to help you put fun back on your table.
Keywords: A Fistful of
Penguins, Wattsalpoag, Family Game, Children’s Game, Local Game Publisher, Game
Profile

News Flash: Games Sneak Peek

Here’s a sneak preview of what’s arriving to the store on Friday:

Airlines Europe
From: Rio Grande Games
Backseat Drawing
From: Out Of The Box Publishing

The Farming Game
From: Weekend Farmer

Food Fight
From: Cryptozoic Entertainment
Q-Bitz
From: Mindware Games

Don’t forget this week we are at the Game Trade Show in Las Vegas.  Have a great week and we’ll see you Friday morning at 10am.



Come in to the store and see us for these great game.  At Off The Charts Games  we have a fabulous selection of family games, strategy games, euro games, war games, card games, dice games, and puzzles.   Our goal is to help you put fun back on your table in Gresham or anywhere in the greater Portland and Vancouver area!

Game Goes Off The Charts: Patrician

Recently we took the board game Patrician “off the charts” somewhere in the Cascade mountains.

Patrician
From: Mayfair Games
Patrician
From: Mayfair Games

Let us know where you take your games “off the charts”.

Come in to the store and see us for this great game.  At Off The Charts Games  we have a fabulous selection of family games, strategy games, euro games, war games, card games, dice games, and puzzles.   Our goal is to help you put fun back on your table in Gresham or anywhere in the greater Portland and Vancouver area!

Game Profile: Pastiche

Recreate the world’s greatest masterpieces.


 
~ and~
 
 

Mechanics Tile Placement, Hand Management, Set Collection, Pattern Building
Theme Renaissance Paintings
Publication Gryphon Games, 2011
Ages 10+
Time 45 – 60
Players 2 – 4
Description
A world of beautiful
colors comes alive in Pastiche.  The word pastiche is used in literature and  in art to refer to something that is an imitation or recreation of
an earlier work, often as a respectful homage or tribute to the original.

In a game of Pastiche, players will place color palette hexes in a central
playing area to generate palette cards by mixing colors.  Each palette hex displays a single or double
primary color in the center of the hex, and six “dabs” at each point.  Placement of the hex is critical not only in maximizing
the number of palette cards you receive but in getting the right mix of colors
for the palettes cards  that you need for
your commissions.  A painting phase takes
place where a player may trade palette cards with the other players and/or the
bank, trade a commission card with the gallery, and complete commissions. A commission
is deemed complete when a player has collected all of the required palette
cards that meet the commission card requirement.  This completed commission card can be one
from a player’s hand or one from the gallery.  The appropriate commission card is then placed
face up in front of the player, the related palette cards are returned to the
palette bank, and a new commission card is drawn.

The game ends when a player
has completed commissions worth a cumulative total of points.  The cumulative point total is set by the
number of players (i.e. 2 players = 45 points, 3 players = 40 points, and 4
players = 35 points).  Final scoring is
based on points for completed commission cards, on palette cards in-hand that
match a commission the player is working on, plus a bonus for completing two
commissions by the same artist.  

Awards: 2011 MENSA Select Winner

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



 


~ ~ ~~ ~ ~~ ~ ~~ ~ ~~ ~ ~~ ~ ~~ ~ ~~ ~ ~~ ~ ~~ ~ ~
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.

New Arrivals: Elder Sign and Giza: The Great Pyramid

This week’s game arrivals to the store include:

Elder  Sign
From: Fantasy Flight – 2011

Inspired by the writings of H.P. Lovecraft, Elder Sign is a cooperative game of suspense and horror that can be played in 1 to 2 hours by 1 to 8 players.

~AND~
Giza The Great Pyramid
From: Mayfair Games – 2012

Newly released in 2012, Giza: The Great Pyramid.  
Here is the game description from Mayfair Games:

“If you would build something solid, start with something you know is stable… yourself.” Ancient Egyptian Proverb

Pharaoh is worried! His tomb at Giza is behind schedule and he fears it will not be done in time for his funeral. He is offering great rewards to the faction that contributes the most work on his pyramid in the next 10 years. If your people work the hardest and work the smartest you shall earn Pharaoh’s favor!

In Giza, the Great Pyramid™ you are the leader of one of four factions vying for Pharaoh’s favor. You have 10 years to outperform the other factions and contribute the most to his great pyramid, earning eternal gratitude and glory. You shall need to balance your labor! Farm and fish to feed your people. Sweat and struggle with the back-breaking labor of moving the giant stone blocks into place. Task your folk with the creation of exquisite artworks to beautify Pharaoh’s eternal rest.
Are you smart enough, organized enough and diligent enough to lead your people and earn Pharaoh’s favor?



Come in to the store and see us for these great games.  At Off The Charts Games  we have a fabulous selection of family games, strategy games, euro games, war games, card games, dice games, and puzzles.   Our goal is to help you put fun back on your table in Gresham or anywhere in the greater Portland and Vancouver area!

Classic Games: Illuminati, Mille Bornes, and More

Currently we have classic games like these on our shelves.  Are there other classic games you would like to see us carry?

Illuminati- Deluxe Edition
From: Steve Jackson Games

First published in 1987, Illuminati is the classic card game of Conspiracy and World Conquest…

~AND~

Mille Bornes – Collector’s Edition
From: Winning Moves
First published in 1962, Mille Bornes is the classic Auto Race card game.

~AND~

Acquire
From: Avalon Hill

First published in 1962, Acquire is the classic board game of Savvy Planning and Corporate Conquest.


Come in and see for these classic 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 puzzles in Gresham and the greater Portland and Vancouver area!  We are here to help you put fun back on your table.


Featured Game: Cardcassone, it’s not Carcassonne

Cardcassonne
From: Rio Grande Games

Cardcassonne has a “d” in the name for a reason.  It is a different game than Carcassonne but comes from the same great game designer Klaus-Jurgen Wrede.


Do I add another 3 to the city?  Then I can add my follower next turn and score lots of points.  Of course, then another player may claim the row and score those points.  So, what is the answer, add to the row or maybe claim it now.  Oh, what a dilemma.


In Cardcassonne the players place their cards in rows so as to make each card as valuable as possible.  A player may choose to protect a sequence of cards with a follower, but when to do so is the problem.  That brings excitement to this fast, merry card game.

Read more about Cardcassonne and catch a video review under our Game Profile – just click on the game and it will take you there.   This game is quick to learn and a great family fun card game.

Don’t forget, for a fabulous selection of family games, strategy games, Euro-style games, war games, card games, dice games, and puzzles in Gresham and the greater Portland and Vancouver area visit us at Off The Charts Games!  We are here to help you put fun back on your table.



Keywords: Cardcassonne, Rio Grande Games, Card Games, Family Games