Game Arrivals: Sept. 10th

 

Here are this week’s game arrivals


New Game!


Come back to a time when smartphones were just beginning to conquer the world, in Smartphone Inc., a 1 to 5 player game that plays in 60 to 90 minutes.

publisher description
Smartphone Inc. is an economic simulation Eurogame. Over five
rounds, players program their decisions about price, production,
research, and expansion in order to earn more profits and become the
most successful company in the world by earning more money than rivals.
The game features a unique mechanism of planning, which combines
patching mechanisms with bidding and action selection. Each of the
rounds consists of eight simple phases: planning, pricing, production,
development, research, expansion, selling, and profits.

In the planning phase, all players simultaneously make a decision for the next year by patching their two plan cards and all of their development tiles. This plan determines all of the other phases, as players will use planned actions in them.

During the pricing phase, players change their price, according their decision. A lower price helps to go earlier and sell more smartphones on the market, but higher price while risky help player to earn more money.

In production, all players simultaneously produce smartphones, based on their plan.

In development, players in turn order take the development tiles, which expands their plan possibilities in further rounds. All following phases will be played in turn order.

In research, players in turn order use their research points based on their decision to discover new technologies. Each technology has not only expanded players’ ability to sell smartphones to the customers, but also give them special power. There are 6 different technologies in the game, with every one of them has two different powers to use.

In the expansion phase, players use expansion points from their plan to open offices in neighbor regions, which allow them to sell in that region and develop their network of offices to more regions in further turns.

In the sale phase, players sell produced phones in regions, where they have offices. But there is limited space in regions – if your price is to high, faster rivals can block you from selling. At the end of the phase all unsold smartphones are utilized.

In the profit phase, you get income for your smartphones. All sold phones get you as many dollars, as their price. Also the player who sold more phones in the region gets profits for controlling the accessory market. At the end of this phase all sold smartphones discarded from the map – and a new round begins.

After five rounds, the richest player wins.

 

 

New Themed Game!

New to the Small World line comes Small World of Warcraft, a stand-alone board game for 2 to 5 players that plays in 40 to 80 minutes. 

Small World of Warcraft is set in Blizzard’s glorious video game universe, Azeroth.  Players vie
for control of several islands in this hostile world and their only
hope will be to pick the right combination of races and special powers.
After staking your claim to a piece of land, defeat your neighbors and
expand your territory. If you can occupy legendary places and control
powerful magical artifacts, you’ll reach new levels of domination.
However, empires must eventually fall, so be ready to put your
over-extended race into decline and lead a new one to glory so you can
eventually rule Azeroth.
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Restocks




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Continue to check in for the latest in
board games and jigsaw puzzles.
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Located 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 jigsaw puzzles from Ravensburger, Cobble Hill, Pomegranate, New York Puzzle Company, White Mountain, and Dowdle.

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



Game Profile: Stellar

Publisher: Renegade Games, 2020
Players: 2
Time: 30 Min.

Stellar is a 2-player card game with the theme of using a telescope to
discover celestial objects in outer space. 
There are five different types of celestial objects to discover with your
telescope: Asteroids, Black Holes, Interstellar Clouds, Moons, and Planets.
 

The game mechanics are easy to learn. 
Both players start by getting two cards. 
One is played at the top of their telescope.  The other is placed face up in front of them
to form the start of their notebook.  On
each round, a player will add a card to their hand from the common field, play a card from their
hand and play a card chosen from the common field with one placed in their
telescope and one to their notebook.  In
eleven turns, each player will build their telescope in three sections and add
eleven cards to their notebook.  Cards
placed in the telescope must follow adjacency rules.  Cards in the notebook are easier, but score
better when runs of numbers by celestial type are created and matched to
similar types in the telescope.  Additionally,
when selecting cards from the common field, the first one has no restrictions,
the second one is determined by the number assigned to the card played from the hand.  Play eleven turns – two cards
per turn.  Then add up your points.

Stellar really causes you to stop and think about every turn.  You only get eleven turns to play twenty-two
cards.  Every turn is important.  The game takes about 30 minutes to play, but
it is a fairly intense 30 minutes.  It is
one of the more thought provoking of the 2-player card games we have
played.  We like the artwork on the cards
and the intensity of the game play.
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Continue to check in for the latest in
board games and jigsaw puzzles.
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Located 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 jigsaw puzzles from Ravensburger, Cobble Hill, Pomegranate, New York Puzzle Company, White Mountain, and Dowdle.

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


Game Night Home Version: Sept. 4th

During this period of social distancing, our in-store Friday Night Game Night sessions have gone to a Home Version. We encourage people to play their favorite games at home and then post results, comments, and any pictures to our Off The Charts Games Facebook page. This way we stay connected to our gaming community and share in the fun of what’s being played.  Who knows maybe you’ll discover a new game.


Week 25: Sept. 4, 2020

Here are the games that our gaming community played during the week and weekend and shared to our Facebook page:

Lynn and Ron play the new Monarch butterfly game Mariposas.
Mariposas
 Kadie and her husband traveled the U.S. in a game of Ticket To Ride.
Ticket To Ride

  
Tyler and Amber played the new game Tiny Epic Dinosaurs
Tiny Epic Dinosaurs


Marlo and his brother played Heaven and Ale
as well as A Few Acres of Snow.
Heaven and Ale

Elder Sign made it to David’s table…but did he defeat the menacing Ancient Old One?

   
Century: Eastern Wonders is played by Ron and Lynn.
They also played the card game Pyramids.  
The SD Group had a game-madness day playing these 5 games:

Tapestry, Finca, and Calico.

 

        
Great Games and Great Fun!
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Located 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 jigsaw puzzles from Ravensburger, Cobble Hill, Pomegranate, Dowdle, and White Mountain.


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

Game Arrivals: Week ending Sept. 4th

 

Here is this week’s game arrivals:


New Game!

New in the Tiny Epic series (big game, small box) is Tiny Epic Dinosaurs, a dinosaur ranching, worker placement, and resource management game for 1 to 4 players that plays in around 30 to 45 minutes.

In Tiny Epic Dinosaurs, players are Dino Ranchers, running large-scale operations on a remote tropical island.  Dinosaurs are bred and sold to the highest bidders for use in popular, high-thrill theme parks.  But ranching these prehistoric beasts is hard and dangerous work. The game is played over 6 rounds. With each round consisting of several short phases. During these phases players will be acquiring, breeding, and selling dinosaurs. At the end of the game, players will receive victory points for each dinosaur they have, public and private contracts they acquired and for their research developments. The player with the most victory points, wins the game.

How can you not love the components:  75 wooden Dino Meeples, 20 wooden ranchers, 26 wooden barriers, tracker tokens, a rangler die, 4 player mats, 4 ranch mats, 4 action mats, 3 game play mats, 30 research cards, and 36 contract cards.

~ Games Back In Stock: ~



Camel Up: 2nd Edition.  A family friendly crazy camel racing game – – 2 to 8 players – – 30 to 45 minutes play time.

Place your bets!  And then there off!  
5 camels in a quick race around the track. You need to be good at guessing early which will place first and second to maximize your wins.  Things get wild as the camels can end up stacking on top of each other or start off by running in the wrong direction.  It’s mayhem but fun is sure to ensue.
Pyramids.  A clever card drafting and necropolis building card game – – 2 to 5 players – – about 30 minutes play time.  Select the best set of stones from the quarry for construction of the structures in your necropolis – a pyramid, tomb and oblesik.









QuoridorAbstract strategy game with easy-to-learn rules – – 2 to 4 players – – about 15 minutes play time.  A classic Mensa Select Award winning game.  With simple rules all you have to do is get through the maze that your opponents create to get to the other side.






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Continue to check in for the latest in
board games and jigsaw puzzles.
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Located 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 jigsaw puzzles from Ravensburger, Cobble Hill, Pomegranate, New York Puzzle Company, White Mountain, and Dowdle.

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

Game Arrivals: Week Ending Aug. 28th

 

Here are this week’s game arrivals!


New Game!

From Elizabeth Hargrave and her popular game Wingspan comes Mariposas,  a boardgame of Monarch butterflies and their migration across Eastern North America.  It is a game of movement and set collection for 2 to 5 players and plays in 45 to 75 minutes.

publisher description
Mariposas is played in 3 seasons. In general, your butterflies will try to head north in spring, spread out in summer, and return south in the fall. There are an increasing number of turns per season: 4 turns per player in spring, 5 turns in summer, and 6 turns in fall. Each season ends with scoring. The player with the most victory points at the end of fall wins the game.”

The game comes with great thematic components:  wooden butterflies in 5 different colors, a map board,  seasonal cards, a flower die, flower tokens in containers, waystation markers, life cycle ability tokens and cards.  The rules are pretty straight forward however, as you start playing the game you realize there is quite a bit going on.

New Game Expansion!
Into The Cosmos is the latest expansion for the deck-building game, Marvel Legendary a co-operative game that also can be played competitively to determine an ultimate victor.

Into the Cosmos brings many of the Marvel Universe’s well known cosmic heroes against some of the universe’s greatest threats. Captain Marv-Vell and Adam Warlock are joined by Moondragon, Yondu, and Nebula to defend the Earth from the likes of Thanos’ Black Order and the Celestials. The 200-card deluxe expansion includes the return of Shards and unique keywords like Danger Sense and Cosmic Threat.

~ Restocks ~


Quacks Of Quedlinburg. A strategic push-your-luck bag building game – –  2 to 4 quacks and charlatans – – 45 minutes play time.  Pull ingredients from your stock to make your pot bubble, but hopefully not explode! 






Alhambra.  Set collection, tile laying, wall-building kind of game – – 2 to 6 players – – 45 to 60 minutes. Players compete to build their best Alhambra (a palace and fortress complex) by purchasing the right tiles from the market for their walled city.








 
Codenames.  Deduction and press-your luck card game.
Codenames Duet – – 2-player – – 15 to 30 minutes play time.  Swap one-word coded clues to try and identify all of the secret agents.  You each only know half of them but not the same half.
Codenames Disney: Family Edition – – 2 to 8 players – – 15 minutes play time.  Two teams try to be the first to identify all of their secrete Disney character by giving one-word clues.

 

Hero Realms.  Fantasy deck-building card game – – 2 to 4 players – – 20 to 30 minutes play time. Battle with your friends one-on-one or in groups. Multiplayer formats like Free-For-All, Hunter, & Hydra.




Qwixx.  Roll and write dice game – – 2 to 5 players – – 15 minutes play time.  With easy straight forward rules, you’ll everyone’s dice rolls to mark off numbers—but you can’t go back once you pass. Recipient of the Mensa Select award.





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Continue to check in for the latest in
board games and jigsaw puzzles.
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Located 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 jigsaw puzzles from Ravensburger, Cobble Hill, Pomegranate, New York Puzzle Company, White Mountain, and Dowdle.

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

Game Night Home Version: Aug. 21st

 During this period of coronavirus, our in-store Friday Night Game Night sessions have gone to a Home Version. We encourage people to play their favorite games at home and then post results, any comments, and maybe a picture to our Off The Charts Games Facebook page. This way we stay connected to our gaming families and share in the fun.


Week 23:  Aug. 21, 2020

Here is what our gamers played this week(end) and posted to our Facebook page:




It was a Rajas Of The Ganges weekend.  It was played by three groups: Hayden and Shawntel, Tyler and Amber, and Lynn and Ron.


Two games of Raiders of the North Sea were played by Tyler and Amber: one with Hall of Heroes expansion and the other with the Fields of Fame expansion.

Tiny Towns with the Fortune expansion was played by Amber and Tyler.



Architects of the West Kingdom and Four Gardens and Zooloretto were played by the SD Group.

Mystic Vale was played by Amber and Tyler.



Great Games and Great Fun!
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Located 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 jigsaw puzzles from Ravensburger, Cobble Hill, Pomegranate, Dowdle, and White Mountain.


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

Game Arrivals: Aug. 19th

Here are this week’s game arrivals:


New!


Century Golem Edition: Eastern Mountains is the second in the Century Golem Edition trilogy – – 2 to 4 players – – 30 to 45 minutes play time.  This game is a stand-alone game or it can be combined with the first, Century Golem.

Century Golem Edition: Eastern Mountains is played out on a modular board where players will create a unique map as they take to the seas to establish trading posts to get the spices they will need to deliver to the appropriate ports for victory points.  Additionally, special benefits can be gained by establishing a trading post in each of the 4 types of markets.

New!


New from Fantasy Flight Games is Fallout Shelter: The Board Game, a post-nuclear survival game – –  2 to 4 players – – 60 to 90 minutes play time.

publisher description
Fallout Shelter: The Board Game is based on the hit mobile game from Bethesda Softworks, Fallout Shelter sees you take on the role of a vault officer fostering happiness among the citizens of your vault. With the election of a new Overseer looming, the officer who can gain the most happiness among the dwellers is sure to lock up the election and attain victory.  As an officer, you’ll have to direct your dwellers to where they’ll spend their time in the vault, whether it’s spending some time relaxing in the lounge, gathering vital resources like food in the community gardens, or battling a radroach infestation in the game room. The choice is always yours, but remember, you’ll have to balance happiness and efficiency to lead your people to a brighter future underground!

Every game of Fallout Shelter will begin with the same basic setup for your exciting Vault-Tec Vault! But don’t worry, your vault will grow in surprising new ways as you construct rooms for your dwellers to visit. Your job starts small, assigning two dwellers at a time to their daily tasks, but with proper planning that number can grow to seven dwellers working under your inspired leadership. The tasks that your dwellers will take on are represented by spaces spread across the vault.

New!


Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion is a cooperative campaign adventure of tactical combat in a unique fantasy world – – 1 to 4 players – – 30 to 120 minutes (30 min. per player).  Jaws of the Lion is a stand-alone game that can also be integrated into Gloomhaven.

Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion players will assume the roles of hardened mercenaries and work together to fight through a campaign full of choices, challenges, and twists.  Each scenario offers stream-lined tactical combat without dice against fully-automated enemies, where using the right ability at the right time can mean the difference between success and failure.  The game includes 2 scenario books, four playable minis – each with their own decks and character sheets, 16 unique monsters – each with standee and decks, and more.



New!
Undaunted: North Africa is a sequel to Undaunted: Normandy by designers David Thompson and Trevor Benjamin for Osprey Games.  Undaunted: North Africa is a 2-player campaign-driven deck-building game of tactical World War II combat played in 45 to 60 minutes.

In this stand-alone game, each player will use their cards to seize the initiative, bolster their forces, or control their troops on the battlefield.  Suffering casualties will result in card losses to their decks.   The game introduces vehicles, new forces, actions, and objectives, deeper asymmetry, and eleven new scenarios.


~ Restocks ~


Photosynthesis Abstract strategy game – –  2 to 4 players – – 30 to 60 minutes play time. Plant and shape the ever-changing forest as you cultivate your seeds and your strategy.

Rajas of the Ganges. A worker placement, tile placement, and race game  – –  2 to 4 players – – 45 to 75 minutes play time.  Develop your province with the help of your workers and the clever use of your accumulated dice. In the end, you must win the race with a combination of wealth and fame.


Aftermath.  A cooperative adventure book game – – 1 to 4 players – – 60 to 120 minutes playing time.   Players take on the role of small critters struggling to survive and thrive in a big, dangerous world.


Modern Art. Classic art auction game – – 3 to 5 players – – 45 minutes play time.  Buying and selling paintings can be a very lucrative business. Five contemporary artists have produced a bunch of paintings, and it’s the player’s task to be both the buyer and the seller, hopefully making a profit in both roles.


Fox In The Forest.  A 2-player trick-taking game – – 30 minutes play time. Utilize the special abilities on the Fairy Tale characters to change the trump suit, lead even after you lose a trick, and more.


Carcassonne: Inns and Cathedrals.  Expansion 1 of the base game Carcassonne.  Inns and Cathedrals expansion will make your roads and cities more valuable.  Additionally it adds a 6th player making Carcassonne a 2 to 6 player game that plays in 45 minutes.





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Continue to check in for the latest in
board games and jigsaw puzzles.
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Located 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 jigsaw puzzles from Ravensburger, Cobble Hill, Pomegranate, New York Puzzle Company, White Mountain, and Dowdle.

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

Game Profile: Grand Austria Hotel

Publisher: Mayfair Games, 2015
Players: 2 – 4
Time: 60 – 120 Min.

The theme of Grand Austria Hotel is about filling your hotel with guests better than your opponents. Guests are selected, fed, and then shown to their respective rooms over a period of 7 rounds. Some guests are easily satisfied, while others are a little more finicky – each will have a prescribed order. Additionally, most guests require a certain type (color) of room. A few ideal guests will take any room that is available.

Mechanically, the game is pretty straight forward. Dice are drafted from a central pool. Each of the 2 dice you select for a round will give you the option of 1 to 5 different actions. Actions include acquiring the four different food and drink items necessary to serve the guests. Another action is to prepare and make available rooms for the guests. Or you can choose the action to hire additional staff that provide added benefits in managing the hotel. The final action option allows you to move up the Emperor track. The Emperor is a stern task master. Satisfy him or pay the price. Bonuses are awarded for satisfying the Emperor and equally, penalties are inflicted for not satisfying him. In either case, points are scored based on where you are along the track. This is checked three times during the game and is crucial to your success.

Grand Austria Hotel is a medium to heavy level of game play. Don’t let the straight forward mechanics fool you. Making good decisions in this game is not that easy. Money is tight, resources can be scarce, and the Emperor can be really tough to satisfy. There is no direct conflict in the game, but another player can really make you squirm if they nab the guest you need or the dice you have been waiting for. The box says this game should be about 90 minutes long. That seems about right for a 2-player game. A game with 3 players will probably take a little longer unless all players know the game and play quickly anyway. A game with 4 players is going to be long.

We love this game at 2 players. There are 4 starter decks of staff cards to begin the game with. We put them face down on the table and each select one at random. Rather than shuffle the remaining starters into the rest of the staff deck we put them back in the box. That leaves more powerful staff members readily available. We like the game at 3 players and find that at 4 players it really bogs down. This is a great game if you are looking for a 2-player or 3-player game with seriously meaty decisions.





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Continue to check in for the latest in
board games and jigsaw puzzles.
~ ~ ~~ ~ ~~ ~ ~~ ~ ~~ ~ ~~ ~ ~~ ~ ~~


Located 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 jigsaw puzzles from Ravensburger, Cobble Hill, Pomegranate, New York Puzzle Company, White Mountain, and Dowdle.

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

Game Night Home Version: Aug. 14th

During this period of coronavirus, our in-store Friday Night Game Night sessions have gone to a Home Version. We encourage people to play their favorite games at home and then post results, any comments, and maybe a picture to our Off The Charts Games Facebook page. This way we stay connected to our gaming families and share in the fun.





Week 22:  Aug. 14, 2020

Here is what our gamers played this week(end) and posted to our Facebook page:


Both Tiny Towns and Lanterns: The Harvest Festival played by Allison and Daniel.





Hayden and Shawntel played Hadara.




Village and Carcassonne: The Castle played by Ron and Lynn.
Garrett also played Village with the 2 expansions, Village Port and Village Inn.

 


Marlo played Planet, Heaven & Ale, and Faux-Cabulary.





Raccoon Tycoon played by Jeremy and Elizabeth.






Great Games and Great Fun!
~~ ~~ ~~ ~~~~ ~


Located 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 jigsaw puzzles from Ravensburger, Cobble Hill, Pomegranate, Dowdle, and White Mountain.


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

Jigsaw Puzzle Arrivals: Aug. 12th

 

More jigsaw puzzles have arrived!  This shipment is from New York Puzzle Company.  We’re restocking our puzzle inventory as soon as they become available from the publishers.

About New York Puzzle Company:
New York Puzzle Company produces quality puzzles made with 100% recycled 80 point chipboard thickness. All puzzles are shaken before being boxed to help reduce the amount of puzzle dust. The puzzle images portray iconic artwork featured on magazines and books such as Conde Nast, Warner Brothers, and Penguin Random House. Additionally, New York Puzzle Company is a member of 1% for the Planet. As a member they pledge 1% of their puzzle sales to environmental non-profits committed to creating a healthy planet.


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Continue to check in for the latest in
board games and jigsaw puzzles.
~ ~ ~~ ~ ~~ ~ ~~ ~ ~~ ~ ~~ ~ ~~ ~ ~~


Located 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 jigsaw puzzles from Ravensburger, Cobble Hill, Pomegranate, New York Puzzle Company, White Mountain, and Dowdle.

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




to environmental non-profits committed to creating a healthy p