Has anyone here tried using 100% plastic playing cards? I've spent some time today looking around for reasonably priced sets.
I found Hoyle Club Casino at $3.64 per two deck set, which by all indications is a great price, but unfortunately the shipping costs to Australia are ridiculous.
I considered using them when I played poker a lot more, but never got around to it. I know the pro's use them for tournaments. I assume it's because they have better durability. Looks like These ones on Amazon are highly rated. They cost a bit more than the ones you linked, but they are highly rated. This is a single deck that is also highly rated, and are see through as well. Not sure what would be the best option would be for Australia though. I imagine there may be some kind of store down there that would carry something that would fit your needs.
Any suggestions for an 8 player game that could be considered a team building exercise? Nothing that takes more then an hour to play or 15 minutes to explain.
Any suggestions for an 8 player game that could be considered a team building exercise? Nothing that takes more then an hour to play or 15 minutes to explain.
Any suggestions for an 8 player game that could be considered a team building exercise? Nothing that takes more then an hour to play or 15 minutes to explain.
You're in party game territory.
Say Anything Telestrations (essentially a commercial version of Eat Poop You Cat) Time's Up / Time's Up Title Recall (essentially a commercial version of Celebrities)
I'm in the process of putting together a huge order on amazon.de; it will work out to around $203 US shipped. The current contents are: Eclipse (backorder) Hansa Teutonica Istanbul Camel Up Qwixx Wizard Extreme Hanabi (I already have one, but I'm getting another because it's only ~$7).
Probably not particularly good pricing by U.S. standards, but very good for Australia. I've also focused on picking games that have no in-game text and have German/English rules (or are relatively simple).
I don't remember them reviewing Village, but it's a pretty solid worker placement game, so I likely disagree with whatever was said. Consider it for your next order! The expansion looks very nice too (Village Inn) from what I had read, but I have yet to try that.
I'm in the process of putting together a huge order on amazon.de; it will work out to around $203 US shipped. The current contents are: Eclipse (backorder) Hansa Teutonica Istanbul Camel Up Qwixx Wizard Extreme Hanabi (I already have one, but I'm getting another because it's only ~$7).
Probably not particularly good pricing by U.S. standards, but very good for Australia. I've also focused on picking games that have no in-game text and have German/English rules (or are relatively simple).
+ Saboteur for another ~$9.
I just did the same think yesterday however I used the US Amazon site, my problem lay with Amazon not wanting to mail me Pandante, Wizard or 'Fantasy Wizard' (the one that we played at PAX). This was on top of Tokaido not being available even though it was listed as being able to ship to Australia on the page.
For the Pandante folk, is it worthwhile getting the deluxe version if you don't already own poker chips?
I just did the same think yesterday however I used the US Amazon site, my problem lay with Amazon not wanting to mail me Pandante, Wizard or 'Fantasy Wizard' (the one that we played at PAX). This was on top of Tokaido not being available even though it was listed as being able to ship to Australia on the page.
So, what did you order, and how much did it cost?
By the way, here's twoplaces that are offering Fantasy Wizard for only ~12 AUD shipped, which is pretty reasonable. You can also order it from Amazon.de (EUR 7), but the rulebook may be German only and the shipping from Amazon.de is only reasonable if you put in a really big order like mine above;
As for Pandante, you can get it for 42 AUD shipped here, or you can get the Travel edition for 16.80 here (shipping is 7.50 but it's a flat rate per order).
Tokaido appears to be genuinely difficult to find a copy of; it's sold out at almost all of the major Australian and non-Australian stores I could think to check. If you're desperate for a copy I've found it at ~74 AUD shipped, though.
Any suggestions for an 8 player game that could be considered a team building exercise? Nothing that takes more then an hour to play or 15 minutes to explain.
Jeremy and I saw this game at a shop yesterday and thought it looked interesting. Ugg-Tect
In Ugg-Tect, first released as Aargh!Tect, players work in teams to construct fabulous – well, let's say "functional" – structures out of materials lying around them. All the players are cavemen, however, so you have only rough blocks with which to build and you can communicate only through primitive gestures and sounds. Ugungu!
When you're the architect on your team, you see a building plan that shows how the blocks should be placed in the finished design. To get the builders on your team to do the heavy work, you must tell them which piece to use – through gestures like stomping your feet or raising your arms above your head – and what to do with it. "Manungu" tells them to put the piece at the front of the structure, while "Manungu manungu" means to put it at the back. Moving pieces left or right, up or down, laying them down or rotating them – lots of details need to be conveyed with only a few commands and your trusty (inflatable) spiked club. When you give a command and your team performs well, tap them on the head once to show approval. Hit them twice, though, and they know they messed up and need to pay better attention. I said, "Karungu!!" (stomp stomp stomp)
The fastest – and most accurate – architect/building team will carry the day...
It seems fairly ideal to what you're looking for. It's mainly about communication but with silly features like blow-up clubs.
I just did the same think yesterday however I used the US Amazon site, my problem lay with Amazon not wanting to mail me Pandante, Wizard or 'Fantasy Wizard' (the one that we played at PAX). This was on top of Tokaido not being available even though it was listed as being able to ship to Australia on the page.
So, what did you order, and how much did it cost?
By the way, here's twoplaces that are offering Fantasy Wizard for only ~12 AUD shipped, which is pretty reasonable. You can also order it from Amazon.de (EUR 7), but the rulebook may be German only and the shipping from Amazon.de is only reasonable if you put in a really big order like mine above;
As for Pandante, you can get it for 42 AUD shipped here, or you can get the Travel edition for 16.80 here (shipping is 7.50 but it's a flat rate per order).
Tokaido appears to be genuinely difficult to find a copy of; it's sold out at almost all of the major Australian and non-Australian stores I could think to check. If you're desperate for a copy I've found it at ~74 AUD shipped, though.
I usually get stuff from Milsims, I didn't even think of searching Oz Game Shop even though I get Steam games from them occasionally. My order ended up just being (AUD) - Splendour - $38.70 Coup - $14.50 7 Wonders - $38.64 plus a few comic books, an SSD and a new graphics card.
The shipping was $70 but that was easily covered by the SSD and the graphics card which I'm saving $500 on.
I actually wanted Wizard, Pandante and Tokaido as well but I'll have to source them from inside Australia.
I personally really like Village. I bought the expansion but haven't played with it yet. The mechanics are simple and the generations of villagers mechanic is one that I like.
I usually get stuff from Milsims, I didn't even think of searching Oz Game Shop even though I get Steam games from them occasionally.
Yeah, Milsims is pretty much the cheapest Australian store. For games that tend to be cheap in the UK Ozgameshop is very hard to beat due to their cheap/free shipping, but the UK is often pretty similar to Australia when it comes to being overpriced.
My order ended up just being (AUD) - Splendour - $38.70 Coup - $14.50 7 Wonders - $38.64 plus a few comic books, an SSD and a new graphics card.
The shipping was $70 but that was easily covered by the SSD and the graphics card which I'm saving $500 on.
Wow, $500 is an enormous price difference.
In general it seems pretty good to order from Amazon when you can get a big order in, because their incremental per-item shipping costs are much lower than the initial per-delivery fee. My shipping costs from Amazon.de were roughly 82 AUD, but their prices are so much cheaper than anywhere in Australia that it pretty easily makes up for the difference.
I actually wanted Wizard, Pandante and Tokaido as well but I'll have to source them from inside Australia.
Although they aren't in Australia the links I gave have decent prices; I've already ordered a copy of Wizard myself. Tokaido seems like a pretty cool game, but it's too expensive for my preferences. I wish you the best of luck in finding a reasonably priced copy.
As for Pandante, I'm interested in getting a copy of that as well, but 35-40 bucks is more than I want to pay for a card game, as nice as the graphical design is. The travel edition is a lot cheaper, and it's the exact same game, so I'll probably get a copy of that; I think the only caveat is that I miss out on those nice oversized cards. I guess at some point in the future I'll put together a reasonably sized order from Milsims.
Incidentally, if you want to play Wizard you can do it with standard playing cards as long as you have 4 decks with identical backing and two easily distinguishable types of joker---one deck worth of standard cards, 4 jokers of one type for Wizards, and 4 jokers of the other type as Jesters. I had a glance at the Pandante poker deck, and it's a real pity they only include two jokers, because if they included 4 you could use it as a Wizard deck as well... They include 4 wizard cards, so why not include enough cards for people to play Wizard!?
Incidentally, if you want to play Wizard you can do it with standard playing cards as long as you have 4 decks with identical backing and two easily distinguishable types of joker---one deck worth of standard cards, 4 jokers of one type for Wizards, and 4 jokers of the other type as Jesters.
If figured this out too I'm going to try and find the one with the German artwork, there is something interesting about it, I already made a Wizard deck at home when I got back from PAX.
Wizard Pandante would actually be kind of fun. Except I would want the panda to wear a dope ass Wizard hat.
My boardgame purchases are at least partially influenced by what my local store has in stock that is currently out of print... usually these are shorter games that seem shallow but have hidden tactical optimization puzzles that I really enjoy. San Juan, St Petersburg, Aladdin's Dragons. (Ok, the first two are actually getting reprinted now)
Just yesterday I picked up Santiago... I'd be wasting my money and time if I weren't actually playing all of these games multiple times.
Comments
I found Hoyle Club Casino at $3.64 per two deck set, which by all indications is a great price, but unfortunately the shipping costs to Australia are ridiculous.
Say Anything
Telestrations (essentially a commercial version of Eat Poop You Cat)
Time's Up / Time's Up Title Recall (essentially a commercial version of Celebrities)
Eclipse (backorder)
Hansa Teutonica
Istanbul
Camel Up
Qwixx
Wizard Extreme
Hanabi (I already have one, but I'm getting another because it's only ~$7).
Probably not particularly good pricing by U.S. standards, but very good for Australia. I've also focused on picking games that have no in-game text and have German/English rules (or are relatively simple).
+ Saboteur for another ~$9.
EDIT: Checked Scrym's podcast review; I won't bother.
EDIT #2: DONE!
For the Pandante folk, is it worthwhile getting the deluxe version if you don't already own poker chips?
By the way, here's two places that are offering Fantasy Wizard for only ~12 AUD shipped, which is pretty reasonable. You can also order it from Amazon.de (EUR 7), but the rulebook may be German only and the shipping from Amazon.de is only reasonable if you put in a really big order like mine above;
As for Pandante, you can get it for 42 AUD shipped here, or you can get the Travel edition for 16.80 here (shipping is 7.50 but it's a flat rate per order).
Tokaido appears to be genuinely difficult to find a copy of; it's sold out at almost all of the major Australian and non-Australian stores I could think to check. If you're desperate for a copy I've found it at ~74 AUD shipped, though.
My order ended up just being (AUD) -
Splendour - $38.70
Coup - $14.50
7 Wonders - $38.64
plus a few comic books, an SSD and a new graphics card.
The shipping was $70 but that was easily covered by the SSD and the graphics card which I'm saving $500 on.
I actually wanted Wizard, Pandante and Tokaido as well but I'll have to source them from inside Australia.
In general it seems pretty good to order from Amazon when you can get a big order in, because their incremental per-item shipping costs are much lower than the initial per-delivery fee. My shipping costs from Amazon.de were roughly 82 AUD, but their prices are so much cheaper than anywhere in Australia that it pretty easily makes up for the difference. Although they aren't in Australia the links I gave have decent prices; I've already ordered a copy of Wizard myself. Tokaido seems like a pretty cool game, but it's too expensive for my preferences. I wish you the best of luck in finding a reasonably priced copy.
As for Pandante, I'm interested in getting a copy of that as well, but 35-40 bucks is more than I want to pay for a card game, as nice as the graphical design is. The travel edition is a lot cheaper, and it's the exact same game, so I'll probably get a copy of that; I think the only caveat is that I miss out on those nice oversized cards. I guess at some point in the future I'll put together a reasonably sized order from Milsims.
Incidentally, if you want to play Wizard you can do it with standard playing cards as long as you have 4 decks with identical backing and two easily distinguishable types of joker---one deck worth of standard cards, 4 jokers of one type for Wizards, and 4 jokers of the other type as Jesters.
I had a glance at the Pandante poker deck, and it's a real pity they only include two jokers, because if they included 4 you could use it as a Wizard deck as well... They include 4 wizard cards, so why not include enough cards for people to play Wizard!?
Wizard Pandante would actually be kind of fun. Except I would want the panda to wear a dope ass Wizard hat.
Just yesterday I picked up Santiago... I'd be wasting my money and time if I weren't actually playing all of these games multiple times.
I realized that Splendor scratches some of that same itch.
There is an expansion that replaced/rebalanced some of the cards. I suspect the reprint will include the alternate cards:
(Original on top, new cards on the bottom)