Tag Archives: on the dot

Board Games and Puzzle Games For Solo Gaming!

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stack of games

[Image courtesy of StoreMyBoardGames.com.]

Friend of the blog Lori reached out to me last week and asked about the best puzzle games and board games for solo play. A pal of hers was in need of game-centric distraction, and given the current global circumstances, she had no one with whom to play.

Never fear, friend-of-friend! We’ve got you covered.

There are all sorts of puzzles and games out there to keep you busy, and we’ll do our best to collect a few examples from different play style to provide a host of options.

So, without further ado, let’s look at some single-play fun!

Puzzle Games

thinkfun many

ThinkFun

When it comes to one-player puzzle games, ThinkFun should be your first stop. They’ve got puzzles with magnets, electrical circuits, marbles, dominoes, putty, rollercoasters, robots, computer programming, and LASERS. Whether you like disentanglement puzzles, logic puzzles, or mechanical puzzles, any one of these games is a terrific place to start.

[Link for more details.]

Knot Dice

Inspired by Celtic knot designs, Knot Dice is a puzzle game where you must turn, twist, and spin these beautiful dice to complete elaborate patterns. A handbook full of single-player (and multi-player) puzzles is included to get you started, but honestly, sometimes you can just roll the dice out, arrange them, and then challenge yourself to complete the pattern!

[Link for more details.]

enigmasmall

Wish You Were Here

Imagine an entire mystery hidden across a handful of postcards. That’s the multilayered puzzle experience offered by Wish You Were Here, where a series of coded messages awaits you. An entire narrative unfolds based on the clues you uncover and the puzzles you solve. It’s code-breaking, puzzling, and spycraft all in one.

[Link for more details.]

photo-1024x7682

Puzzometry

If you’re looking for a jigsaw-style challenge, Puzzometry might be your puzzle of choice. These beautiful pieces can be combined in seemingly endless combinations, and yet, there’s only one solution. Available in seven different formats — including Puzzometry, Puzzometry Jr., Puzzometry Squares, and Puzzometry Hex — there are different levels of difficulty and different challenges posed by each.

[Link for more details.]

Board Games Designed for Solo Play

There is a small but thriving market for solo board games, which cleverly alter established game mechanics to pit you against the game itself.

black sonata

[Image courtesy of Board Game Geek.]

Black Sonata

In this movement and deduction game, you are a 17th-century detective, exploring London while trying to hunt down the identity of the Dark Lady who inspired Shakespeare’s sonnets. As you pick up clues to her identity and search for her in different locales, a stealth deck determines the Dark Lady’s movements. It’s a very cool mechanic that holds up after multiple replays.

[Link for more details.]

coffee roaster

[Image courtesy of Board Game Geek.]

Coffee Roaster

Have you ever tried to brew the perfect blend of coffee? Then Coffee Roaster might be up your alley. In this game, you randomly draw tokens representing coffee beans in order to roast them and improve your score based on their taste value. The game quickly becomes a balancing act of roasting the bean to its target level while handling other tasks. This mix of skill and random draw adds spice to a game all about flavor.

[Link for more details.]

sherlock holmes

[Image courtesy of Board Game Geek.]

Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective

Have you ever wanted to be the Great Detective, deciphering strange clues, finding evidence, and unraveling peculiar crimes? The closest thing I’ve found to being Holmes is playing Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective, where a number of mysteries await the player. (You can play this game with up to 8 people, but the solo game proves to be a challenge worthy of master gamers and puzzlers.

[Link for more details.]

palm island

[Image courtesy of Board Game Geek.]

Palm Island

Many games are designed for ease of travel, but this is the only one I know that fits in the palm of your hand. Build your island, gather resources, and conquer challenges as you hold the fate of your island in your hand. With only 17 cards involved in the entire game, there’s a staggering amount of replay value included.

[Link for more details.]

Solo Mazes/Dungeons/Labyrinths

One subset of the single-player game genre is labyrinth-style gameplay, games where the player must explore and/or escape a labyrinth, dungeon, or other maze that unfolds in front of them and is different every time you play.

one deck

[Image courtesy of Board Game Geek.]

One Deck Dungeon

Essentially an entire roleplaying campaign distilled into a single-player experience, One Deck Dungeon allows you to defeat enemies, outwit other dangers, and explore a dungeon as your character develops new skills and gains valuable insights into their quest. You can play standalone games or an ongoing campaign as your character grows into a full-fledged master dungeon raider.

[Link for more details.]

(There’s another game, 5-Minute Dungeon, that scratches a similar itch.)

onirim

[Image courtesy of Board Game Geek.]

Onirim

Instead of a dungeon or a labyrinth, here you explore a realm of dreams, trying to find the keys necessary to unlock the doors and escape before the deck of cards runs out. With a 15-minute play time, a fun setup, and multiple expansions which add new wrinkles to future games, you’ll want to journey into the dreamworld again and again.

[Link for more details.]

The Abandons

Probably the toughest of the dungeon romp games, The Abandons pits you against a merciless labyrinth with limited resources and the deck literally stacked against you. You’ll need luck, quick decision making, and puzzly skill on your side to see daylight again with this one.

[Link for more details.]

Solo/Multi-Player Games

Finally, here are some great games that are best known as multi-player games, but with solo modes that still capture the playing experience.

jetpack6

Jetpack Joyride

Plenty of games are about getting from Point A to Point B, but Jetpack Joyride makes the journey a puzzly delight. You must pilot yourself through a random collection of grids, using only a handful of Tetris-like game pieces to represent your path. You must complete your goals and escape, all without reusing a single Tetris piece. Jetpack Joyride combines puzzles and board games for a unique and fun gaming experience.

[Link for more details.]

Sagrada

One of the most beautiful strategy games on the market today, Sagrada is a singularly peaceful gaming experience. In this game, you’re trying to build a beautiful stained glass window out of dice while dealing with the requirements of your particular window AND the random dice rolled for your particular game. It’s challenging, soothing, and infinitely replayable.

[Link for more details.]

on the dot

[Image courtesy of eBay.]

On the Dot

On the Dot is a pattern-matching game. You have four clear cards with randomly-placed colored dots on them, and you must arrange all four cards so that the colored dots showing match a given pattern. Although this game is usually played in groups with the first person to complete the pattern winning that card, you can easily challenge yourself to see how fast you can conquer the various patterned cards awaiting you.

[Link for more details.]

bananagrams

[Image courtesy of Board Game Geek.]

Bananagrams

Bananagrams is a tile game where, much like Scrabble, players pull letter tiles and try to form small crossword-like grids. But in Bananagrams, you can anagram and rearrange the grid as needed, instead of being locked into using the words you’ve already played. This game will test your vocabulary and your anagramming skills, but it’s always satisfying to hear the tiles click as they’re placed beside each other.

[Link for more details.]

castle panic

[Image courtesy of Board Game Geek.]

Castle Panic!

You have to defend your castle in the center of the board from monsters on all sides in this deviously enjoyable game. Careful strategy and planning is critical in stopping them from taking down your defenses, collapsing your towers, and leaving your castle in ruins. Randomness can play a big role in this game, but even when you lose, you still enjoy the adventure.

[Link for more details.]

Honestly, most cooperative games like Castle Panic! can be played solo, since it’s you vs. the game. (You just might have to play more than one character to do so.)

In Forbidden Island, you must collect treasures and escape a sinking island. In Flash Point, you’re a fireman trying to fight a building fire and rescue the trapped occupants. In Burgle Bros., you run a team of robbers trying to pull off a heist in a multi-story building you have to climb in order to escape with the loot.

These are just a few of the cooperative games that really adapt nicely to a one-player game experience. (Some folks would recommend Pandemic as well, but I’ve found that the expansion set Pandemic: In the Lab is a more satisfying solo experience.)

I also went with simpler games here, but for more intensive play sessions, you could tackle solo versions of Terraforming Mars, Scythe, Viticulture, Eldritch Horror, Elder Sign, and Ghost Stories. These games have more set-up and deeper, more complex gameplay, but also provide satisfying gameplay experiences for a single player.

Do you have any other suggestions for puzzle games and board games that are terrific for solo players, fellow PuzzleNationers? Let us know in the comments section below! We’d love to hear from you.

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Our Annual TableTop Tournament: Recap!

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We wrapped up our fourth annual in-house tabletop tournament last week, and as you probably expected, it was loaded with all sorts of board game goodness.

So what went down?

Well, it was a 12-person two-week tournament with different games to play every round. With four competition days across two weeks, it was a virtual gauntlet of gaming to determine who is the best in the company.

One of the things I liked about the layout of the tournament was how there are no one-on-one match-ups until the final. Instead of a single-elimination tournament, competitors were first slotted into groups of three. Each group of three played two games, and the two winners (one from each game) from each trio moved on to the next round.

So to survive round 1, you had to win either Timeline or On the Dot.

In the first bracket, former champ Kevin and last year’s defending champ Nikki moved on. In the second bracket, yours truly was bested in On the Dot by newcomer Ryan AND in Timeline by perennial top contender Rick. In the third bracket, Gordon and Sam moved on in impressive fashion. And in the fourth bracket, former champ Jen and newcomer Laura each earned a spot in the next round.

So right away, all three former champs were in the running, along with some new blood and some tough competition with tabletop experience. This was shaping up to be one heck of a tournament.

Round 2 began the following Thursday, and this time around, competitors were slotted into groups of four. Each group of four played two games, and the two winners (one from each game) moved on to the next round.

So to survive round 2, you had to win either Noueni or Guillotine.

Guillotine is a card game for 2 to 5 players set during the French revolution. As the royals are marched to the guillotine in one big line, you play cards in order to switch the royals around so that the most valuable royals are beheaded on your turn, adding their scores to your pile. (You can also manipulate the hands of the other players by forcing them to give you cards or discard them.)

Played over three rounds, the player with the highest score (i.e. the most valuable royals beheaded) wins.

Noueni is a card game for 2 to 4 players that involves pattern-matching, color-based scoring, and cards that can either overlap or sit next to other cards. Your score is determined by how many of your scoring orbs are on the board at the end of the game.

Each card has two colored scoring orbs and a pattern of black lines emerging from them. Those lines are the connectors, and they determine how the cards are placed in the play area. Any card played must link up with the other cards on the board, whether there’s zero, one, two, or three connectors along that neighboring edge.

Noueni was a new experience for all of the players, though it is similar to Qwirkle, which the competitors had played before.

All of the players quickly took to Guillotine, deftly maneuvering valuable royals into their score piles. Noueni proved to be a tougher play experience, as many players devoted so much time to covering up the colored orbs of other players that they neglected to play simpler moves to add colored orbs to their own scores. Too much defense can be a bad thing if it hinders your offense.

In the end, four more players were eliminated from the field, including the first two tournament champions. After this colorful round of play, only Rick, Gordon, Laura, and returning champ Nikki remained.

Round 3 began the following Tuesday, and the remaining players were collected into one final group of four. But they would all play the same game, and the top two point-scorers would move on to the finals.

The game for round 3? Sheriff of Nottingham.

Sheriff of Nottingham is a card game that mixes strategy, resource management, and bluffing. The players collect cards with different goods to take to market — apples, chickens, bread, and cheese — as well as cards of contraband items (like spices, mead, and weapons). Each of these cards is worth points, and the contraband goods are worth more than the legal goods. Of course, the contraband goods are illegal, so if you’re caught bringing them to market, there’s a penalty.

And, unfortunately, in order to get your goods (legal or otherwise) to market, you have to get past the Sheriff.

For example, in a four-player game, let’s say the first player is the Sheriff. The other three players will each place up to five cards in their bag, then snap it shut, and declare what’s inside to the Sheriff. A player may be telling the truth about the contents of her bag, or she may be lying. The Sheriff can choose to either let a bag pass through unchecked or open and inspect the contents of any bag.

Anything that gets through the Sheriff goes into your market stand and is worth points at the end of the game. If the Sheriff chooses to check your bag, one of two things happens. If you were honest about what’s in the bag, the Sheriff pays you the value of those items. If you lied about the contents of your bag and the Sheriff catches you, you must pay him a penalty, and any contraband goods in the bag are seized.

Of course, you can always negotiate with the Sheriff before the bag is opened. Bribes (of coin, product, or favors) can be offer, and deals can be made.

Once the Sheriff has either let the players’ bags through or finished the inspections, everyone settles their goods in the marketplace, the next player takes over as Sheriff, and the cycle starts again.

The game ends after every player has been the Sheriff twice. Then the players count up the value of everything they’ve brought to market — including any contraband they’ve snuck through — as well as their coin piles. (Plus, there are bonus points to be gained if you brought the most of any product to market. For instance, the person who brought the most apples is King of Apples, and the person who brought the second-most is Queen of Apples. Both titles are worth points.)

Once starting coins and cards were allotted to each player (plus a few coins extra to encourage wheeling-and-dealing/bribery), the game commenced. In the end, only two of the four players at the table would be moving on to the finals. What combination of Nikki, Rick, Gordon, and Laura would face off for the championship?

As it turned out, a game all about duplicity can be won with transparency. In this cutthroat round, honesty reigned supreme as most players opted to avoid contraband and move only legal goods through the Sheriff to market. Rick, as the most suspicious Sheriff, ended up paying some hefty fines to players whose bags he checked.

(Personally, I probably would have cut a deal with one of the other players and promised to allow whatever they wanted through when I was Sheriff, in exchange for the same treatment from them. That way, you could move a LOT of valuable contraband one round, and play it safe the other rounds. But I am nefarious that way.)

After a tense game, the judges swooped in to count everyone’s haul, and the players stepped away from the table to enjoy some marvelous cookies and treats provided by the judges… and await their fate.

In the end, Nikki and Gordon had accumulated the top two scores, and they would be moving on to the finals.

Or would they? In the end, there was one more wrinkle!

It turns out that Laura had forgotten to empty her bag of goods in the last go-round, and with her additional contraband, she had outearned Gordon! Shock and heartbreak!

It would instead be Nikki and Laura in the finals.

Now, given that this was our fourth annual tournament, we’d finally amassed some proper stats and trivia regarding the event. You see, not only had no previous champion ever repeated as champion, but no previous champion had ever made it to the finals again!

So already, Nikki had set a new precedent as the only previous champion to return to the finals. Would she be our first repeat champion (back-to-back, even!) or would we have our fourth new champion in four years as the newcomer Laura ascended to the throne?

Let’s find out.

Unlike the previous rounds, this was a head-to-head match-up, winner-take-all. So, naturally, we made posters to hype the event like a prizefight.

And to survive round 4, the finalists would need some help from the audience, as they played a round of the card game Cult Following.

Cult Following is a card-based improvisation game, similar to Superfight, wherein you have to draw several cards that dictate what your cult is about, and then improvise your answers to various questions posed by the other players, who are potential recruits for your cult. Once the round of questions is over, the potential recruits vote on which of the cults they’d rather join, and the cult with the most recruits wins.

To make the task even more daunting, both players had to stand in front of the audience and plead their case.

Nikki’s cult centered around saving the planet from toxic waste (and yes, she did acknowledge the possibility that you might gain superpowers from said toxic waste). Laura’s cult centered around the magical ability to transform yourself into any animal you wished.

Although many potential recruits in the audience were wowed by this idea, I couldn’t get past the very real danger that you could end up as prey rather than simply enjoying life as an animal.

After answering questions from the audience about recruitment, rules, cult theme songs, and more, both competitors turned their backs to the audience so the audience members could vote for the cult of their choice.

Nikki made a valiant effort to retain her crown, but unfortunately, the cards were not in her favor, and more potential recruits opted for Laura’s were-cult. (Not me, though. I was a toxic avenger all the way.)

And thus, Laura dethroned the previous champion in impressive fashion to become the new tabletop tournament champion!

The traditional crown, scepter, and Game Night Gift Pack awaited the new champion, as did an enthusiastic round of applause and a well-earned chance to sit down after the fierce improvisational back-and-forth.

Alas, we must bring this marvelous recap to a close. With a new queen atop the tabletop throne, what will her reign be like? Peaceful? Warlike? Boastful? Quiet? Only time will tell.

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Our Annual TableTop Tournament Starts Next Week!

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With International TableTop Day fast approaching, we are once again teaming up with our pals at Penny Dell Puzzles to put together an in-house TableTop Tournament to celebrate the upcoming holiday (Saturday, April 27).

It’s a 12-person two-week tournament with different games to play every week, and round 1 kicks off next Tuesday. (This is actually the fourth year of the tournament, with all three previous champions competing again this year.)

One of the things I like about the layout of the tournament is that there are no one-on-one match-ups until the final. Instead of a single-elimination tournament, competitors are slotted into groups of three. Each group of three will play two games, and the two winners (one from each game) from each trio and move on to the next round.

So to survive round 1, I’ll need to win either Timeline or On the Dot.

Timeline is a card game where every card depicts a different moment in history, and the players are trying to place cards from their hand into a historically correct timeline. Players take turns adding cards to the timeline, placing them before or after previously played cards. You don’t have to know the exact year the event on a given card took place; you simply have to figure out when it happened in relation to the other events that have already been played.

You play your card, and then flip it over to reveal the actual year the event occurred. If you’re correct, the card stays, and you have one fewer card in your hand. If you’re wrong, the card is removed from the timeline and you draw a new card. The first player to place every card in their hand wins.

On the Dot is a pattern-matching game. Each player has four clear cards with randomly placed colored dots on them, and it’s up to the player to arrange all four cards so that the colored dots showing match a given pattern. The first player to match three patterns moves on to the next round.

Timeline can be a bit of a crapshoot, depending on your knowledge of a given subject and whatever cards you draw. I suspect I’ll have a better chance of making the second round with On the Dot; I’m fairly quick with pattern recognition and manipulation, and actually won three games in a row last year to secure my spot in the next round. Hopefully I can repeat the same feat this year.

But you never know. With new competitors and returning champions in the tournament this year, there are sure to be some diabolical surprises.

Here’s hoping when it’s all said and done, I’ll be wearing the Game Geek crown and holding the scepter high…

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PuzzleNation Product Review: ThinkFun’s Kaleidoscope Puzzle

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[Note: I received a free copy of this product in exchange for a fair, unbiased review. Due diligence, full disclosure, and all that.]

Clear, or transparent, cards are a rarity in puzzles and games, but they offer a terrific gameplay mechanic: the ability to stack cards without obscuring information.

The clear cards in the storytelling game Gloom allow players to add and subtract points from various characters as the grim and whimsical stories unfold. The quick-play pattern-matching game On the Dot — which was part of last month’s Tabletop Tournament — challenges players to properly arrange four clear cards — each with randomly-placed colored dots — in order to match a given pattern before their opponents do.

Now, the creative minds at ThinkFun have put a wonderful, vibrant twist on the clear-card genre of puzzles and games with their latest release: Kaleidoscope Puzzle.

[Two of the six kaleidoscope tiles.]

In Kaleidoscope Puzzle, you have six octagonal tiles, each with its own pattern of tinted and clear quadrants. It’s up to the solver to arrange either two or three of the six tiles in order to recreate the patterns on the challenge cards.

First off, I want to say that this might be the most aesthetically pleasing puzzle I’ve ever solved. Just turning the kaleidoscope cards in my hands in front of a light is enjoyable, letting the snowflake-patterning on each card blur and come into focus anew as the cards line up, each time matching and mixing the various colored quadrants to create eye-catching effects. It’s brilliant in its simplicity, and unlike any color-based puzzle I’ve seen on the market today.

It almost feels like putting together a stained-glass window, particularly as the challenge cards progress and the patterns grow more elaborate.

[One possible combination of those two tiles.]

The Beginner challenge cards help to familiarize you with the gameplay. You quickly figure out placement and color combinations. As you transition into the Intermediate challenge cards, the patterns grow more elaborate, and honestly, more beautiful. It’s amazing the combinations you can conjure with just two of the six possible kaleidoscope tiles!

Halfway through the Intermediate challenge cards, they ratchet up both the possibilities and the difficulty, as you now have to create the patterns with three kaleidoscope tiles. Now you’re trying to cover all four quadrants with color patterns, and it becomes about maximizing what each tile offers.

But it’s in the Advanced challenge cards that the game really separates itself from On the Dot-style solving, because Kaleidoscope puzzle has the color-mixing element as well. Not only are you manipulating the kaleidoscope tiles to place the basic colors where you need them, but you also need to create green, orange, and purple patterns as well.

Toward the end of the Advanced challenge cards, you start to deal with eighths instead of quadrants, divvying up the field into increasingly more complicated designs, reminiscent of pie charts.

Sometimes, you might discover alternate ways to form the patterns, which is very satisfying indeed. It also speaks to how adaptable the six kaleidoscope tiles are, since you can arrange them in seemingly endless combinations.

By the time you reach the Expert challenge cards, you’ll be turning, flipping, and rearranging these tiles like crazy to form the intricate patterns on the cards. It’s an unexpectedly relaxing form of puzzling, a meditative mix of challenge and aesthetics.

[The same pattern coming to life under a desk lamp.]

I cannot say enough good things about this puzzle. Mixing the resource management of how to get the most out of each tile you choose with the striking visuals of the kaleidoscope tiles makes for a unique solving experience.

Puzzles that are as satisfying to look at after the solve as they are to solve in the first place… that’s a true rarity. What a treat.

[Kaleidoscope Puzzle is available from ThinkFun and participating retailers, starting at $9.99!]

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PDP Tabletop Tournament Finals (+Tabletop Day Festivities!)

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Over the last few weeks, we’ve been chronicling an epic sixteen-person game tournament held by our friends at Penny/Dell Puzzles.

In Round 1, the field was culled from sixteen players to eight after well-contested battles of On the Dot and Bananagrams.

In Round 2, it was halved again as this group of elite puzzlers went to war in games of Timeline and Qwirkle.

In Round 3, two more contenders said goodbye as an intense game of Sheriff of Nottingham determined the finalists.

Only two competitors remained — #TeamNikki and #TeamGordon — and with only one more round standing between them and the title of PDP Tabletop Champion, spirits were high and anticipation reached a fever pitch.

What awaited them in the finals? Let’s find out, shall we?

Unlike the previous rounds, this was a head-to-head match-up, winner-take-all. So, naturally, we made posters to hype the event like a prizefight.

The game for the finals? Linkee.

Linkee is a trivia game that requires both general knowledge and associative thinking. Each trivia card has a letter on the back, and the traditional goal of the game is to acquire enough letter cards to spell “LINKEE.” (But for the purposes of the tournament, the first person to collect six cards would be the winner.)

One person acts as the Question Master, while the other players each grab a pencil and pad. The Question Master reads each of the four questions on the card. The players write down the answers and try to figure out what theme links the four answers.

The first player to shout out “LINKEE!” and identify the link gets the letter card. You can shout out “LINKEE!” at any point, but if you’re wrong, you’re out until the next card is played. So confidence and boldness has to be tempered with strategy.

That’s what makes the game more intriguing than your average trivia game. It’s not just knowing the answers to individual trivia questions; it’s figuring out the link between them, and doing so before your opponents.

[The room was packed with enthusiastic fans and interested parties,
including many of the competitors from the tournament.]

Gordon had an inauspicious start to the game, as he figured out the link between the first card’s questions, but neglected to yell out “LINKEE!” first, disqualifying himself from scoring the point.

Nikki, seizing the advantage after scoring that first point, quickly followed up, cracking the links for the next four cards, leaping out to a commanding lead. It seemed like a shut-out was imminent and Nikki would be crowned the winner in commanding fashion.

But no, Gordon would not go away quietly. As Nikki puzzled over the possible links for the game point, Gordon yelled out “LINKEE!” and scored his first point.

It was now Nikki’s LINKE to Gordon’s L. This would not be the clean sweep many expected after the opening flurry of action.

Gordon scored a second point (for the I), and then a third for the N. It was now LINKE to LIN. There was a change in the air, a buzz of excitement among the spectators, a frisson of uncertainty. It would appear we had a Comeback Kid on our hands.

On the next card, both players yelled “LINKEE!” simultaneously, and the judges couldn’t decide who was first, so that card was discarded.

Astonishingly, Gordon followed that up by going on to score two more points back-to-back, tying Nikki LINKE to LINKE. Hollywood could not have scripted it any better…

The next point scored would determine the winner of the entire tournament.

Our Question Master delivered the next four trivia questions, and Gordon shouted “LINKEE!” and answered that “Italian names ending with i” was the link. There was a gasp from the crowd! Had he pulled off the comeback of the century?

Unfortunately, no. The correct answer was “Italians.” By being so specific, he made his guess incorrect. (Versace, one of the trivia question answers, doesn’t end in i.)

That card was ignored, and a new one selected. For now, the finals would continue.

But not for long, as Nikki would secure the game-winning point with one final cry of “LINKEE!”, earning her sixth and final point.

At the 38 minute mark, the finals were over, and a new champion was crowned. #TeamNikki had triumphed!

After congratulations were offered to both competitors for a worthy battle, Nikki was awarded not only her Game Night Prize Pack (consisting of popcorn, candy, and two games: Forbidden Island and Exquisite Beast), but the championship crown and scepter!

She was even crowned by last year’s winner in a marvelous little passing-of-the-torch ceremony.

With the tournament concluded, our Tabletop Day festivities had begun, and audience members became players as games of Loonacy, Slapzi, and Timeline quickly formed while participants grabbed snacks, including some amazing D20-frosted cookies:

We had a full spread of games available for visitors to enjoy, and regular readers of the blog would no doubt recognize several of the games on display, including Tak, Qwirkle, Tsuro, and Fluxx.

And, as it turns out, Nikki wasn’t quite finished with her winning ways, as she proved victorious in every round of Loonacy she played after the finals.

All in all, it was a marvelously successful day to cap off an incredible tournament, full of spirited competition, tabletop fun, and puzzly displays of skill. Sure, we celebrated International Tabletop Day a few days early, but we did it in style.

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PDP Tabletop Tournament: Round 3

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Two weeks ago, 15 intrepid members of the Penny/Dell Puzzles crew (as well as yours truly, your friendly neighborhood PuzzleNation blogger) embarked on the first stage of a four-week journey: The PDP Tabletop Tournament.

In Round 1, the field was culled from sixteen competitors to eight after tense battles of On the Dot and Bananagrams.

In Round 2, it was halved again as this group of elite puzzlers went to war in games of Timeline and Qwirkle.

We’re down to just four competitors, each inspiring their own hashtags: #TeamNikki, #TeamRick, #TeamGordon, and #TeamJenn.

What awaited them in Round 3? Let’s find out, shall we?

Unlike Rounds 1 and 2, there wouldn’t be two games to play. Instead, all four competitors would play a single game, and the top two scorers would go on to the championship finals next week.

The game for Round 3? Sheriff of Nottingham.

Sheriff of Nottingham is a card game that mixes strategy, resource management, and bluffing. The players collect cards with different goods to take to market — apples, chickens, bread, and cheese — as well as cards of contraband items (like spices, mead, and weapons). Each of these cards is worth points, and the contraband goods are worth more than the legal goods. Of course, the contraband goods are illegal, so if you’re caught bringing them to market, there’s a penalty.

And, unfortunately, in order to get your goods (legal or otherwise) to market, you have to get past the Sheriff.

For example, in a four-player game, let’s say the first player is the Sheriff. The other three players will each place up to five cards in their bag, then snap it shut, and declare what’s inside to the Sheriff. A player may be telling the truth about the contents of her bag, or she may be lying. The Sheriff can choose to either let a bag pass through unchecked or open and inspect the contents of any bag.

Anything that gets through the Sheriff goes into your market stand and is worth points at the end of the game. If the Sheriff chooses to check your bag, one of two things happens. If you were honest about what’s in the bag, the Sheriff pays you the value of those items. If you lied about the contents of your bag and the Sheriff catches you, you must pay him a penalty, and any contraband goods in the bag are seized.

[Nikki places a kindly offering of cheese from a fellow player
into her marketplace during her turn as the Sheriff.]

Of course, you can always negotiate with the Sheriff before the bag is opened. Bribes (of coin, product, or favors) can be offer, and deals can be made.

Once the Sheriff has either let the players’ bags through or finished the inspections, everyone settles their goods in the marketplace, the next player takes over as Sheriff, and the cycle starts again.

The game ends after every player has been the Sheriff twice. Then the players count up the value of everything they’ve brought to market — including any contraband they’ve snuck through — as well as their coin piles. (Plus, there are bonus points to be gained if you brought the most of any product to market. For instance, the person who brought the most apples is King of Apples, and the person who brought the second-most is Queen of Apples. Both titles are worth points.)

This game is obviously more complex and involved than the games played in Rounds 1 and 2, so there was a practice game last Thursday to allow players to familiarize themselves with the rules and the gameplay.

Once starting coins and cards were allotted to each player (plus a few coins extra to encourage wheeling-and-dealing/bribery), the game commenced. In the end, only two of the four players at the table would be moving on to the finals. What combination of Nikki, Rick, Gordon, or Jenn would face off for the championship?

As it turns out, there was already a wrinkle there. Jenn unfortunately couldn’t make it to the tournament this week, but she was allowed to choose a player to sub in for her: JP. Although she didn’t know what game would played in Round 3 when she picked him, as it turns out, she chose well. JP not only won the practice round last week, but he’d won a previous game played a month or two ago.

JP started off as the Sheriff, and surprisingly, he let the other players off easy, choosing not to inspect any of their bags for contraband (perhaps hoping such kindness would be reciprocated when he brought goods to market in turns to come).

[As Sheriff, Gordon inspects the contents of Nikki’s bag, looking for contraband.
He’ll be disappointed, and end up paying her for the inconvenience.]

As Gordon, Nikki, and Rick each took a turn guarding the path to market, this first go-around proceeded quickly. There were only a few attempts to sneak contraband through. There was also a touch of bribery, but hey, that’s part of the game. In fact, Rick rejected a bribe from Gordon at one point and chose to inspect his products anyway, which was a surprise.

All in all, only ten minutes passed before the role of Sheriff returned to JP.

The tension picked up as the second go-around began, and game play slowed down considerably. People were being more deliberate in both choosing the items for their bag and in their deliberations as Sheriff.

[Rick watches intently as Gordon chooses what to take to market.]

One of the things that makes Sheriff of Nottingham so engaging is that you can’t ever really know who is winning. Whenever someone sneaks contraband through (or pays off the Sheriff to look the other way), you have no idea how many points they scored. All you know is that they got something of higher value to market. Unless you make a concentrated effort to keep track of the goods people are focusing on — particularly if they’re hoping to score those bonus points as King or Queen of a product — it can be tough to know exactly where you stand, points-wise, compared to the others.

Nerves began to fray as more goods flooded the marketplace. Sheriffs looking for “contributions” drove harder bargains, adding both coins and goods to their coffers. Apples became quite a valuable foodstuff for bribes, particularly when Nikki was Sheriff.

Rick’s second turn as the Sheriff coincided with the last turn, and he ominously declared, “This is going to be a very expensive round.” Everyone laughed, but given how strongly Rick had been playing, they also knew he’d be driving a hard bargain for anyone trying to score last-minute points by sneaking contraband through.

This second go-around lasted nearly twice as long as the previous one, and emotions were running high as Rick’s turn as Sheriff ended and the gameplay concluded.

We then counted up the legal goods everyone brought to market, and determined who would be scoring bonus points. Everyone did well here, racking up some valuable eleventh-hour coinage.

  • JP was King of Cheese.
  • Rick was King of Chickens and Queen of Cheese.
  • Gordon was King of Bread and Queen of Apples.
  • Nikki was King of Apples (thanks in part to those marvelous bribes), Queen of Bread, AND Queen of Chickens.

The judges then swooped in to count everyone’s haul, and the players stepped away from the table to enjoy some marvelous cookies and treats provided by the judges… and await their fate.

In the end, it was a very close game. Only fourteen points separated the top scorer and the third place finisher. (Less than 30 points separated the entire field.)

Gordon secured a spot in the finals with top score (165), followed closely by Nikki (159) and Rick (151), with JP closing things out (137).

So it would be Nikki and Gordon proceeding to the finals! Congratulations to both of them, as well as kudos to Rick and JP for their impressively strong performances throughout the game.

The finals will held as part of our annual International Tabletop Day event next week!

And, of course, a crown, scepter, and Game Night Gift Pack await the eventual champion.

To be concluded…

[You can check in on the next round of the tournament live on Tuesday on our Instagram account!]

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