Malaysian Politiko 2E review

Politiko

3-6 players

Play time 1 hour

Setup time 3 mins

Teaching time 5 mins

It's election time (Finally!)

Politiko is a card game about wacky scheming, cynical realpolitik - in other words, it is about a game about winning the Malaysian general election!

The player to get 8 voters in his/her voter pile, wins. Easier said than done. 

As we all know, through the news, TV, internet, reader's digest or any media of that sort, that the Malaysian general election was filled with all the hanky panky stuff you can think of, from frauds to phantom voters and everything in between. This card game tries to emulate all these, but they were wise enough to mask the party's names with other names. But of course, everyone knows which parties they actually represent. We just hush hush about it. Sshhhh!

Mechanics 7/10

Typically, you start by choosing a party to run. The party card gives you Voter Restrictions (which type of voters may/may not vote for your party), which prevent you from adding certain voters to your voter pile. On each party card, there are also Alliance Restrictions, which lets you know which parties you cannot form an alliance with.

After that, each player is dealt a hand of 7 cards. Throughout the game, your hand can only have a maximum of 7 cards at the end of your turn. During a turn, the active player will start by drawing 2 cards into his/her hand. Then they either add voters (election time - no quantity restriction) into their voter pile following their Voter Restrictions OR play 2 schemes.

Schemes can be "Scheme" cards they can play during their turn. These "Scheme" cards can vary from stealing voters from other players to enhancing your party further. Schemes may also come in the form of joining/creating/breaking out of an alliance with one other alliance or party. Schemes may also be in the form of closed door meetings, i.e. exchange as many cards as you want with as many cards the other player wishes to exchange (the number of cards need not be equal for the exchange - I guess parties never get their fair share during closed-door meetings).

After their actions, the turn ends and the next player begins.

The mechanics are typical of a cards game but what rocks in this game is the double mechanics. You can choose either to continue adding voters from your hand into the voter pile or play schemes but not do both. This provides the players with thought based strategy, to think up a plan before their turn comes around.

Gameplay 8/10

I thought that a game with a bunch of cards would be like playing UNO, but in Politiko, you get so much more than just wanting to play all your cards. The choices for strategy provided in this game is wide. Do you form an alliance or win alone? Do you play schemes or add voters into your voter pile so that other players cannot steal the voters they would need from your pile? What do you do with the voters in your hand that you cannot play? 

There is so much variety to this game that you are always on your toes thinking of your next move.The fact that the other players can sabotage you is also a plus. If they see you are winning, everyone will come around and start attacking you. But if you have a solid plan, you will not crumble so easily. 

The thing that attracts in this game, and this is the same thing that attracts one to buy the game, is the theme itself. So far in all the games that I have played, I have learnt so much about the politics in Malaysia. Very often it is the dirty parts that make a party win the election (at least in Malaysia). And this game emulates it so well. Give away free wifi and you get voters. Give away money and neutral voters will vote for you. So much of Malaysian politics is displayed here. We laugh about all the cards being played (even the voter cards). You will need someone to roleplay and read all the titles being played because if players are too focused on what the card does instead of what the card represents, you will miss out on a lot of fun.

Downtime in this game is minimal. You still have to wait till it's your turn to play cards. However, interaction is definitely guaranteed because even the quiet ones become loud when they get their voters stolen. 

Replayability 8/10

Even if I already know what every card does, every different group you play with has a different play style. And play style changes when they learn new strategies after a few plays.

There are also 9 different parties for players to represent. Each party provides players with different opportunities to try out different things.

So replayability for this game is high on my list especially since it is light and can be played during travels.

Edit: Just to mention also that there is already an expansion out for this game. They title it "Sabah & Sarawak". More cards! These cards represent the schemes being used in East Malaysia thus adding more fun and laughter to our beloved game.

Overall 7.5/10

Since I bought this last week, it has never failed to hit the table. We are all excited to be a party and gain our voters. Randomizing the parties also add to the fun and laughter. I have played 5 games already (including lunchtime at work :p)

Politiko can be bought at any Borders bookstore in Malaysia. Or go online at LoyarBarang.com and see if you can get a copy for yourself!

If you have played the game and wish to share your experiences with me, do drop me a comment below here. I'd love to hear from you.

Elder Sign Board Game Review

Elder Sign

by FANTASY FLIGHT GAMES

for 1-8 players

Play time 1 hour

Setup time 10 mins

Teaching time 15 mins

Reason I bought Elder Sign is because of the dice, and because it can play up to 8 people, and because it is portable. The game works, but I've had some bad experiences teaching it. Since 3 months ago till now, we have not craved for this, so I'm not sure it is ever going to come back on the table again. I still play it solo though.

Elder Sign is a HP Lovecraft themed Arkham Horror Lite coop game with dice and lots of luck. There, I've summed up the whole game.

If you have not played Arkham Horror or Eldritch Horror before, then I'll need to explain this game a bit. You throw dice to complete tasks which will give you items or Elder Signs!!! Yes, one of the ways to win this game is to collect these Signs and once you hit the amount you need, then game over for the bad guys. The other way is to go head-to-head with the Boss. It is fun to throw dice but there are some drawbacks to Elder Sign that makes it not so fun which I will explain later in this review.

Game Components 5/10
Very beautiful artwork on all the cards. The cards make up your board. You don't get a board here, and I wish they had a board. It would bring so much more attraction to the game. But I believe this game was made to be protable (It comes in a box considerably smaller than most other board games of its kind) so the cards would have to do. But I still think they skimped on this to make it cheaper, which brings the game experience down by a few notches.

The cards are sized well but the words are so small, and in writing that makes them look like scribbles. I can hardly read them. To get into the theme of the game, you will need to read each card, but it is such a hassle because you have to lift each card up to read it that our gaming group just skimped on the theme itself. What a bore. No theme, no good gaming experience for me! The cards are quite thin so just sleeve them up.

Oh they also give you a beautiful clock to fix and play with. Though in the long run, I foresee the clock falling apart after plenty of turning.

You're given 6 green dice, 1 yellow and 1 red one. All are beautifully carved in dice and the only component I can find no fault with in this game.

Finally, you get a whole bunch of tokens (they look like hundreds) the size of lady birds, like really small. So take your kids below 6 years old out of the gaming room before bringing this out. So far I have yet to miss a piece but it is highly likely that a few tokens may go missing after some time.

Game Mechanics 7/10
During setup, an Ancient One is chosen (Boss evil) for your team to fight against. On the Boss card, you will see a number of Elder Signs you have to collect to win and the number of doom tokens you can afford before all hell breaks loose and the Ancient One comes into the world. Every player then gets a character card on which you will have Stamina points and Sanity points, get either of these down to zero and your character either dies or goes insane. Your character card also shows one special ability that each character will have that is important to win the game. Make sure you use it to its full ability.

6 adventure cards will be placed face up and during a turn, an investigator (character) will have to go over to any of these adventure cards and try to complete the task set before him/her by throwing dice equal to the requirement of that adventure. During the game, you may choose to lock a die roll on your investigator or on a friend who is already on that adventure (usually because he/she failed it before this). Or if you have items on hand, you use them, usually either to add the yellow or red die, or lock a die. These things will help you heaps during the game so make sure you stock up on items and keep using them to gain more items. If you fail to complete the tasks, you are punished with the items listed on the card. If you are successful, feel the victory as you get rewarded for your efforts and luck in dice rolling. Some of these adventures have Elder Signs as rewards, which you have to collect before the Ancient One awakens.

If the Ancient One awakens, then muahahahaha "the Dark Lord is aliiveeeee". Just kidding. Once you wake the Boss, everyone goes to battle mode and you will have to roll the combination on the Ancient One card every turn until either the all investigators die or go insane, or you reduce the Boss' doom tokens to zero and defeat him. Well all the best defeating the Ancient One. It is very hard to defeat the Boss. There is also the Boss, Azallalalalathu, who has no dice combination on his card, which means you all lose when he awakens.

Oh I almost forgot to mention the dreaded clock. After every turn, the clock moves 3 hours forward. Whenever it hits 12 (supposedly midnight), a myth card is drawn and effects resolved (usually add doom tokens to the track). This mechanic helps to scale the amount of players so that the game doesn't take too long and at the same time keeps the same difficulty level whether with 1 player or with 8.

Replayability 7/10
10 Ancient Ones to defeat, 12 characters to choose from, various adventures to play through. Yes, this game is made with replayability in mind. However, I'm not sure how I am going to get this to the table again considering all the other better board games that I have.

Game Experience 5/10
I had a really good experience with dice when I was playing King of Tokyo. They say all dice games came from Yahtzee. So I had this urge to find a coop game that was driven by dice. Elder Sign came into my list of games to get.

My experience playing this game with casual gamers is... not so good. Like I mentioned, the cards are really hard to read and there are so many small components to keep track of. Everyone just wanted to find the cards that had Elder Signs as rewards. Soon enough they lost all their items and kept on failing tasks. We still won the game though so the claims that this game is too easy is valid to an extent.

The die rolling is really fun. Completing the tasks makes you want to do a victory dance. The mechanics to lock dice is fantastic too. But for some reason, it still lacks the ooommph that we had with King of Tokyo. Or maybe my friends weren't that into the HP Lovecraft horror theme in the first place. I do not know what was the reason behind it but game time kinda sucked with this game.

I do notably wish to state that playing the game solo is fun and I have played this a few times alone when I just had to free my mind off some work. Maybe I just haven't found the right group to play this with.

A friend just played it with his gaming group last night and they had a hard time beating it. They mentioned that the adventures and monsters locked the yellow, red and green dice at the start of the game. Then they couldn't even roll a peril and a terror at the same time. Funnily, I have never had a hard time beating the game. Must be really bad dice rolls that they experienced. Yes, this game will mostly be based on luck.

Overall 5/10
I'm a bit disappointed that this doesn't get more plays. Solo-ing is the only time I enjoyed this game. Usually when playing with other players, they get bored in between turns and talk about the sky, the moon and everything else. So instead of a coop game, it is a make your site rolls count game.

No point complaining now, just play solo all the way. Or maybe get wifey for a two player game. Yea, that might work...

Pros:
Dice are cool
Beautiful artwork

Cons:
High downtime with 4+ players
Complex
Teaching this is hard
Easy to win
Horror theme
Lots of small components



Played the game? Feel free to comment and let me know how much you enjoyed the game...

Love Letters Card Game Review

Love Letters

by AEG

2-4 players

Play time 15 mins

Setup time 3 mins

Teaching time 3 mins

A very light and quick game which shines with 4 players. Very simple to teach and mostly luck-based after the first few rounds. Strategies become very clear after two rounds. However, with that said, it is still a fantastic game to play especially when you are waiting for someone to arrive. The luck draws beginner gamers and it does little to impact your experience as you will be competing to see which one of your guesses are the most accurate.

Love letters paint a picture where you are the other players are trying to court Princess Annette. But the only way to reach out to her is via a love letter passed to someone in through the gates of the castle. Hold on to the higher numbered card at the end of the round and you win the round. Or you can try to knock out the other players to win the round. Basically only one love letter reaches to Princess Annette and at evening when all the doors are shut, she will open up the love letter to read it. The winner gets a love token from the Princess. Collect a number of love tokens and you win the chance to take Princess Annette out on a date... *sigh

Game Mechanics 7/10
To make the game as simple and as quick as possible, the designer did a wonderful job. At setup, each player gets one card. Every turn a player takes a card from the draw pile, adds it to his hand (now you have 2 cards in hand) and then chooses one card to discard. The card discarded activates and the player will have to follow the instructions given on the card, even if it hurts himself/herself. Sometimes, a player will get knocked out. This means that the player discards his/her hand and sits out of the game until the next round begins. At the end of the round, when the draw pile is empty, players compare their hands to see who has the highest numbers card. That player wins the round and receives a love token and another round begins again. Collect a number of love tokens and you win the game.

So easy, so smart. Although the game mechanics are simple, I have to give a high mark for this one as they do make the game as it was meant to be - quick and easy.

Replayability 6/10
I only bring out this game when I need a no-brainer and something light to play really quickly. The more you play, the more boring the cards will be (only 16 cards). We do enjoy it every time we play but this doesn't see the table as much as some heavier games. I keep it in the car for whenever we have to queue or wait somewhere, we can bring this out for a quickie.

Game Experience 8/10
Definitely worth the time every time we play it, although that's not saying much since after half an hour playing this, we move on to other games. The experience goes something like this...
  Dude: "I bet you're a priest, if you are then you're knocked out!"
  Gal:  "Oh Sh*t, how'd you know?"
  Dude: "Woohoo.. I'm on a roll today, I guess.."
  Bro:  "LOL, too bad I win, I've got the Princess"
  Sis:  "Not so fast, I play the Prince, you have to discard, haha, you're knocked out"
  Bro:  "!@#$%"

Overall 7/10
Anytime you have family gatherings, this game can be brought out before dinner, while mom's still cooking, instead of watching TV all day. It is really cheap and well worth the money. Get it and you can fill all those boring minutes waiting for something.. or someone..


What did you think of the game? Feel free to leave me a comment on your opinion of it...