Buy, sell, and manufacture your way to riches in upcoming City of the Big Shoulders

November 8, 2018 David Neumann 1

Tabletop • As someone who’s spent much of their life in Wisconsin, I’ve been taught to react with revulsion to anything that comes from south of the border, the Wisconsin/Illinois border, to be exact. It’s just not cool to show any appreciation for Cubs, Bulls, or even the pristine, toll-funded freeways that turn into potholed monstrosities as you meander north. Now, having a wife that lived for many years in Chicago (and living there myself for a period) has made me a tad more appreciative of what other Wisconsonites call FIBs. It’s with this more accepting eye that I peered at a new board game on Kickstarter set in the City of Big Shoulders called, appropriately, City of the Big Shoulders. It looks and sounds like Automobile and Arkwright had a baby, and I’m more than okay with that.

Terra Mystica playing with Fire & Ice over the holiday break

December 19, 2017 David Neumann 3

iOS, Android, PC/Mac/Linux • Digidiced‘s digital version of Terra Mystica brought one of the heaviest and most complex board game titles to our tablets earlier this year and, for the most part, did so successfully. I say “for the most part” because the digital version didn’t alleviate any of the game’s complexity, which is usually something you expect when the CPU is handling the rules and fiddly bits. I’m not saying they didn’t create a good port–I’m not sure how they could have fit everything TM has to offer in any other fashion–but it’s a daunting game to play and even those of us who have played the tabletop version need to dedicate our full attention to follow just what the hell is going on. It’s worth the effort, however, as TM is a pretty great euro game once you wrap your head around it. It gets even better when you add the Fire & Ice expansion which is currently being worked on in the Digidiced labs. Luckily, they need our help to iron out the bugs, so we’ll have a chance to try it out for ourselves over the holidays when it becomes available for owners of the TM app as part of an open beta.

Raise a glass for Codito, classiest chaps on the App Store

September 5, 2017 David Neumann 14

iOS Universal • As we draw nearer to the doom that is iOS 11, it’s becoming more and more clear which of your apps will still work in October and which won’t. Some of the apps we wouldn’t have been surprised to see go away are the catalog of board games released by Codito. After all, Codito is a one-man show that left the digital board game biz years ago when he needed to make enough money to buy luxuries like food and shelter. So, if Codito had said, “Sorry!” and let their apps die, it would have been sad, but understandable. Codito’s not doing that, however. Instead, they’ve promised that all their apps will be converted to 64-bits and that process is well underway. Ra has already been converted and, last night, Le Havre made the leap to 64-bits as well.

Terra Mystica Coming to Mobile in 2017

October 28, 2016 David Neumann 0

Of all the games I’ve tried to teach over the years, none has generated more blank stares than Terra Mystica. A heavy euro, the game features a confusing magic system, tons of different races to play each with their own special abilities, and enough wooden pieces to deforest a small nation. While complicated, once it clicks it’s a fantastic game.