Great two player games don’t cross my desk all that often.  I find that a lot of games say they can be played with two players but for a really great experience, you need more than 2 players.  Not with this week’s game – because it’s a true two player game.  Like backgammon or chess, you can only play City Square Off with two players – and I’m addicted.
I mentioned Gamewright’s City Square Off in one of my 2011 Toy Fair trends articles (you can see it HERE).  I talked …

Two weeks in a row we’re going to discuss games I came across for the first time at ChiTag (the Chicago Toy and Game Fair) – it’s unintentional, but pretty interesting. When I first saw FlipOut it was called Patchwork and the inventor/self-manufacturer, Daniel Weaver, had a booth with just this one game, but when you saw it you just kind of got it.  I love games that you “get” when you see them – I gives you that “well duh, why didn’t I think of that, okay let’s play” …

Earlier this week I posted an interview with Mary Jo Reutter who won the TAGIE award for Excellence in Game Design in November of 2010 and you can see that article HERE.  But now it’s time to take a peek at some of her games and Mary Jo has AGAIN been nice enough to share some tidbits about how the games changed from her initial prototype – which is something I always find interesting!
First up, Laundry Jumble by Educational Insights.  While this game has roots in the 1967 game Feeley …

Sometimes I think people are willing to cut games a little slack when they look really great but don’t play as well as they should.  Whereas I’m more likely to enjoy a game that is unattractive but that plays really well.  (What does that say about me?)   So when there is a good looking game that’s really fun to play I get downright excited!   (See my article on Pentago…I was drooling while playing that game!)  Anyway, Dweebies is just that kind of game.  I saw it at Gamewright’s booth at Toy …

This is going to be a review for Gamewright’s new game Order’s Up which came in a box of goodies from them last week, but before I get into the review I’m going to hop up on my soapbox for a second and talk about game play essentials.  I believe that there are a couple game elements that are crucial for a game to be good and one of them is having a “catch up factor.”  Granted there are games out there where you don’t need – and can’t really …