free learn to play & open about our game library gaming in … · 2020-03-10 · issue 82 march...

Issue 82 March 2020

Free Learn to Play & Open Gaming in MarchCheck out the exciting games

we’ve got on the schedule this month...

Tzolk’in: The Mayan Calendar Game ReviewLearn more about this unique worker placement Euro strategy game with a time element...

About Our Game LibraryOur game library sets up apart from other stores. Learn how you can try before you buy...

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Here Be Books & Games

Novel Coronavirus Precautions While GamingWhile at the time of this writing, there are only a few cases of the novel coronavi-rus COVID-19 in South Carolina, the virus is far from being contained and authorities expect more people to become infected. �ere are a few things we can all do to prepare and help prevent the spread of the virus, as well as the usual colds and �u, including: washing our hands frequently; avoiding touching our mouths, noses and eyes; sanitizing our smartphones and other frequently touched items and surfaces; covering coughs and sneezes with tissue then immediately disposing of them; and, of course, staying home when we’re sick.

According to the World Health Organization, it’s not yet clear exactly how long the coronavirus can survive on inaminate surfaces; it may persist on surfaces for a few hours or up to several days. So, we ask that you take the extra precaution of washing your

hands or applying hand sanitizer before and after playing a game. To aid in this,

we’ve placed hand sanitizer

dispensers just inside the front door and in each game room. Please also do not blow on or touch game pieces with your mouth.

We hope and pray that the coronavirus will be contained quickly.

FREE Learn to Play and Open Gaming Events Saturdays in March! Ah, the �rst month of Spring, a time for new things and planting. Did you know that the month of March is named for the Roman god Mars and that up until 153 BC it was the �rst month of the Roman calendar, then called Martius? Hurray if you did. If you didn’t, well now you do.

Anywho, the games we picked to teach this month include two new games we recently added to our game library, namely Ticket to Ride: Japan & Italy and Taverns of Tiefenthal, two games about planting Cottage Garden and Bohnanza, a calendar game Tzolk’in: �e Mayan Calendar and Stone Age just because it’s a classic that’s just come back in print and in stock.

As always, admission is free to our Saturday Learn to Play events. You’re also welcome to play anything in our Game Library, even if it’s not on the schedule, hence “Free Open Gaming,” too. Come alone or bring a friend or two.

We’d appreciate it if you’d RSVP so we can save a seat for you and have an idea of how many to expect, but feel free to drop in anytime. You can RSVP by phone or text at (843) 695-1498 or via Facebook or Meetup.

Saturday, March 14: Ticket to Ride: Japan & Italy and Stone Age

Ticket to Ride: Japan & Italy is Volume 7 in the Ticket to Ride Map Collection. It includes a long, double-sided game board that features Japan on one side and Italy on the other, providing two new Ticket to Ride games to play.

What’s di�erent on the Japan map is that some of the routes are reserved for the Bullet Train network. Once claimed, the routes on the Bullet Train network can be freely used by all players to complete destination tickets. When claiming a route that’s part of the Bullet Train, you’ll still discard a number of same-color cards equal to

the length of the route. However, instead of placing your trains on a Bullet Train network route and scoring points on the regular score track, you’ll place a single Bullet Train miniature on the route and advance your marker on the

Bullet Train track as many spaces as the length of the route. At the end of the game, the player who contributed the most to Bullet Train Network receives a bonus, and the player

who contributed the least is penalized.

�e Japan game board also features a small inlay for the Tokyo subway system, so you’ll all e�ectively be working on two networks at once. For example, you might have a ticket that lists a city outside Tokyo and a station within Tokyo. In which case you’ll need to complete a route from the outside city to Tokyo, then from the central Tokyo station to that particular subway station.

�e Italy side of the game board is divided into regions. Here you’ll score bonus points based on how many regions you connect with your network. �ree of the regions - Sardegna, Sicilia, and Puglia - count as two regions for bonus scoring purposes. If you have separate networks, then you score each one separately.

�e Italy board also introduces a new type of ferry route. Actually, all of the gray routes on the Italy board are ferry

routes that include 1 to 4 spaces marked with a wave symbol. To cover a wave symbol, you must play a locomo-tive or a ferry card from your hand in addition to the other cards needed to claim this route. Ferry cards are a new special type of card that can be drafted on your turn. Each ferry card has two wave symbols, so it can be used to cover two wave symbols on a ferry route.

Ticket to Ride: Japan & Italy supports 2 to 5 players, ages 8 and up, with a 30 to 60 minute playtime. �e player trains and train cards from Ticket to Ride or Ticket to Ride: Europe are required to play the Ticket to Ride: Japan & Italy expansion.

I’m really excited to learn and teach this new Ticket to Ride game! So drop by and we’ll teach you how to play!

(or a lower position by paying some corn). You must do one or the other. If you don't have any available workers to place, you must bring at least one home and vice versa. After all players have taken a turn placing or picking up workers, the center wheel is rotated one day counter-clockwise. �is advances all placed workers one action space on the other �ve wheels.

Each wheel o�ers a variety of actions. Palenque (green wheel) allows you to harvest food or wood from the jungle. Yaxchilan (taupe wheel) gives you access to the valuable resources of the mountains: wood, stone, gold and crystal skulls. Tikal (red wheel), the center of archi-tectural and technological development, accordingly allows you to construct buildings and monuments, advance on the technology tracks and climb steps of the temples. Uxmal (yellow wheel), the commercial center of Mayan culture, lets you make o�erings to the gods for advancement on the temple steps, exchange corn and resources, hire additional workers, construct buildings or perform an action on any of the aforementioned wheels. At Chichen Itza (blue wheel), the sacred place, you can leave crystal skulls to earn the favor of the gods which they grant in the form of Victory Points, advancement in the temples and some-times a resource.

�e technology tracks are made up of spaces associated with actions on one or more wheels. As you advance on a technol-ogy track the associated wheel actions become more lucrative. For example, when you've reached the �rst space on the Agriculture track, you get an extra corn whenever you harvest corn from the jungle of Palenque. Bonuses stack, so when you get to the second space on the Agricul-ture track, you get a new bonus, plus the

one for the �rst space.

You can construct four types of buildings in Tzolk'in:

you’d be successful, maybe even super successful, and other times not so much. In the game, this luck aspect of hunting-gathering is emulated with dice. Ultimately, you’ll use the resources you acquire to build huts, make journeys by canoe (in game terms, acquire civilization cards), or eat if you get really desperate and didn’t �nd enough food that round.

Canoe cards are important. Not only do they provide an immediate bene�t shown at the top of the card, they also provide some type of end-game scoring shown at the bottom of the card. �e immediate bene�t could be food, resources, a �eld, a permanent or temporary tool, etc. During end game scoring, you’ll score points equal to the square of the number of di�erent cultural improvement canoe cards you’ve acquired.

You’ll also score points for the �elds, people, huts, and tools you’ve acquired, each multiplied by the number of canoe card mulitpliers you have of that type. So, a good strategy if you’re making lots of babies is to acquire as many canoe cards with people multipliers as you can. Building a lot of huts? Make sure you grab those hut multiplers.

Stone Age has that perfect, magical combination of traits that makes a game a classic: it’s accessible and easy to teach, provides multiple paths to victory, requires both strategy and tactics, has a well-implemented theme and quality components.

Stone Age supports 2 to 4 players, ages 10 and up, and plays in 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

You can read a more detailed review at http://theglassmeeple.com/stone-age/.

Drop by Here Be Books & Games and we’ll teach you how to play this fun and classic game.

Saturday, March 21: The Taverns of Tiefenthal and Bohnanza. �e Taverns of Tiefenthal combines dice placment with deck building to creat a challenging and accessible game for all skill levels.

As the owner of a tavern in the village of Tiefenthal, which means “Deep Valley,” you strive to make your tavern the best. During the game, played over 8 turns,

guest will visit your tavern. With the money you earn from serving their needs, you can recruit temporary and permanent employees, and upgrade your tavern to attract even more guests and nobles.

Each turn has 7 simple phases:

1. beginning with the start player advancing the turn marker (1).

2. Simultaneously reveal cards one at a time and place them face up in the designated areas on your tavern boards until all of your tables are full. Nobles always sit together at the same table.

3. For each temporary Server you drew, plus your permanent server - if you have one - take one die of your player color from the supply (max 3), roll it and place it below your Tavern board.

4. Roll your 4 white dice and return them to your coaster. �en, in turn order, draft one. Pass your coaster to the next player and, in turn order, draft Repeat until you’ve drafted 4 white dice.

5. Simultaneously plan your actions by assigning your dice to the various action spaces on your Tavern board. Possible actions include: serving a guest for money; withdrawing money from your cash box; getting beer from the brewer, the barstop and/or your house brew barrel; serve the Monk to move up on the Monastery track and possibly gain a reward. You can use the money you acquire to purchase Tavern Cards and/or upgrade your tavern (also provides a Noble Card). With beer you can recruit Guests and Nobles. Any cards you acquire go on the top of your deck. Don’t worry, your plan isn’t set it stone. When it comes time to execute your actions, you can change your mind.

6. In turn order, execute your actions.7. Simultaneously discard the cards on your Tavern

Boards. Pass the start player marker and continue play.

�e game ends after 8 rounds of play. �e player with the most points wins.

In�e Taverns of Tiefenthal, the challenge is to skillfully draft

dice and develop your personal deck. �ere are lots of opportunities for strategy. Should you focus on money, keeping the beer �owing, tavern upgrades or some combi-nation? �e �ve modules included with the game let you add more levels of complexity and increase replayability as you become more familiar with the game.

�e Taverns of Tiefenthal supports 2 to 4 players, ages 12 and up, and plays in about 60 minutes. RSVP now to reserve your spot at the table. We’ll teach you how to play!

Bohnanza is a highly interactive card game in which you play a bean farmer. Your goal is to become a wealthy bean farmer by planting, trading and harvesting beans.

You begin building your bean empire with just two bean �elds and a handful of beans. No, Jack, they aren’t magic beans and there aren’t any giants in this

game. While there are 11 varieties of beans, you can only cultivate one type in each �eld, and each season (turn) you must plant at least one bean – the one in the front of your hand. If it’s not one of the varieties you’re already growing, you’ll have to harvest a �eld, perhaps before it’s reached its maximum yield – or any yield – in order to plant the new bean. So you’ll need to do some savvy trading and prudent plan-ning to turn your handful of beans into a wealthy bean empire.

�ere’s more strategy in Bohnanza than at �rst meets the eye. Lining up your hand by trading away, or even donat-ing, unwanted beans is crucial to success. It’s this trading and negotiating that makes Bohnanza so fun, engaging and interactive: “I’ll trade you a Green Bean for that Stink Bean.” “Will you take two Blue Beans for your Back-eyed Bean?” “What am I o�ered for this lovely, rosy-cheeked Red Bean?” �ose are just a few of things you might hear yourself saying while playing Bohnanza. �e artwork is likewise delightful and humorous.

Bohnanza supports 2 to 7 players ages 12 and up and plays in about 45 minutes. I don’t see any reason why younger players couldn’t play, too. For a more detailed review, visit http://theglassmeeple.com/bohnanza/.

Drop by Here Be Books & Games and we’ll teach you how to play!

Saturday, March 28: Tzolk’in: The Mayan Calendar and Cottage Garden.

Tzolk’in: �e Mayan Calendar is a worker placement game with a unique time element. �e theme revolves around the Tzolk'in Mayan Calendar wheel in the center of the board that, when turned at the end of each round, rotates the �ve smaller wheels

where you actually place your workers.

Game play is deep. See the article on page 6 for a full review.

Because of its lenghty playtime, we’ll likely only be able to run two sessions of Tzolk’in: one starting at 1pm and the other around 3 or 4 pm. Please RSVP now and specify which session you want to play in to reserve your spot at the table. We’ll teach you how to play!

Cottage Garden is similar to the puzzly two-player game Patchwork with a few extra twists, much prettier artwork and support for up to four players.

In Cottage Garden, you compete in the art of gardening and are working two beds with a variety of �owers. When-ever you �ll a bed completely, you

score points - all of the visible pots and planting bells - and take a fresh, unplanted bed to work on.

In more detail, players select various polyomino tiles of �owers from a central market grid, depending on the location of the gardener, then place them on one of their two personal garden boards. Each board has several garden elements that are worth points when not planted over, and these are scored on two di�er-ent tracks as soon as a garden has been �nished. Cross-ing over a line on each track awards bonus tokens that can �ll in empty spaces or give you a better selection of the �ower bed tiles. Whenever a garden is

Stone Age is a classic worker-placement game that I never tire of. It’s wonderful.

In Stone Age, you lead a clan of stone-age hunter-gatherers with the goal of surviving and prospering - that is, earn the most victory points.

Game play is straight forward. Each round consists of three phases:

Phase 1: You and your fellow players take turns sending a group of one or more of your people to work at one of the places on the board. (�ey won’t perform the action there until Phase 2). You can send them to work at:

• the hunting grounds to gather food.• the forest to gather wood.• the clay pit to make bricks.• the quarry to acquire stone.• the river to look for gold.• the farm to till a field which provides ongoing food.• the tool shed to fashion a tool.• the love shack to make a baby.• an unbuilt hut to build it.• a canoe to take a journey for an immediate benefit and

an end-game scoring multiplier.

Phase 2: Beginning with the start player, bring all of your people home, one group at a time, in whatever order you desire, performing their actions as you do so. For example, if you sent one of your people to fashion a tool and several others to gather wood, you could bring home the toolmaker �rst, then use the tool he produced – should it be needed – when the others gather wood.

Phase 3: Finally, feed your people and reset the board. You need one food for each member of your clan. Each �eld you have feeds one worker. To reset the board, slide any leftover canoe cards to the right �lling in any holes with new cards, then turn up the top hut of each stack as necessary. Pass the start player token clockwise to the next player and you’re ready for the next round.

One of the things I love about Stone Age is how the game’s mechanics re�ect the theme. For example, were you to go out hunting-gathering during the stone age, sometimes

Farms, Civic Buildings, Tombs and Shrines. Farms help you feed your workers for the rest of the game. �e other three types of buildings provide a one-time bene�t which could include: corn, resources, advancement on a particu-lar technology track or in a temple, a worker and/or victory points. Monuments provide end-game points for particular achievements. �e available buildings and monuments vary in each game, so replay is always di�er-ent and interesting.

�e components of Tzolk'in are top notch. �e board is beautiful. �e wheels are an unpainted light beige plastic. �e center wheel is rich in detail that really shines with a good (or

even ok) paint job, even if all you do is a base coat and a simple wash. �e other wheels have a grainy texture that lends itself well to washes, too. You can, of course, play the game perfectly well without painting the wheels. Paint just makes it prettier.

�e simple game play of Tzolk'in makes it easy to intro-duce to new players. �e wheels/gears, and the corre-sponding time element they represent adds an interesting and exciting three dimensionality to the game. You're not just placing and retrieving workers each round. You place them, and retrieve them at some later time. Hopefully, when you can best use the actions they provide. �is may twist your brain a bit as you try to wrap your mind around the new time element (it does mine), but I think you'll �nd it both fun and compelling. In my opinion, the unique time element makes Tzolk'in a medium to heavy-weight Euro game (although the playing time is not that long) with lots of strategy and multiple paths to victory.

�eGlassMeeple.com/tzolkin-the-mayan-calendar/

Tzolk'in: �e Mayan Calendar supports 2 to 4 players ages 13 and up with a playing time of 90 minutes. Drop by and we’ll teach you how to play!

100% Authentic GuaranteeWith the recent rise in concerns regarding counterfeit games, it’s hard to know who to

trust to deliver authentic, factory-sealed products. Here Be Books & Games is committed

to providing customers 100% genuine products. We stand behind the authenticity of our products because we source from reputable distributors who get their product directly

�nished, you receive a new one to complete.

After the gardener completes her �fth lap around the market, the game enters its last round. �e player with the most points from their completed gardens at the end of the game wins.

Cottage Garden supports 1 to 4 players, ages 8 and up, and plays in 45-60 minutes.

Come on by and we’ll teach you how to play!

Sci Fi & Fantasy Book Club MeetingFriday, March 13, 6pm to 8pmReading: Ubik by Philip K. Dick (Zach’s pick)

Read the current book and join us for loads of geeky talk at our next Sci Fi & Fantasy Book Club meet-ing. Newcomers are always welcome!

Our meetings are full of lively discussions of the current book, other stu� we’ve read recently, movies and TV shows we’ve watched and assorted other geeky stu�. It’s always fun, even when some of us don’t like that month’s book.

�e Sci-Fi & Fantasy Book Club meets once a month at Here Be Books & Games. We read fantasy and science �ction, old and new, including urban fantasy and alter-nate history.

Upcoming Titles:• �e Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury (Candela)• The Heap by Sean Adams (Carmen)• Pawn of Prophecy by David Eddings (Jason)• Mortal Engines by Philip Reeve (Je�)• Mage’s Blood by David Hair (Jonathan R.)• To Your Shattered Body Go by Philip Jose Farmer

(Jonathan S.)• Storm Front by Jim Butcher or Jurassic Park by

Michael Crichton (Kris)

Attending members each suggest a book to add to our reading list. �en we pick one book to read each month until they’re all read. Rinse and repeat.

A full list of all the books we’ve read so far in Book Club is available on our web site at: herebe.games/book-club/.

Tzolk’in: �e Mayan Calendar Game Review Tzolk’in: the Mayan Calendar is one of my favorite Euro strategy worker placement games. It utilizes a unique time element, implemented by inter-

locking wheels on which you place your workers, so you have to extend your planning two or more rounds into the future.

Tzolk'in’s �e theme revolves, literally, around the Tzolk'in Mayan Calendar wheel in the center of the board that, when turned at the end of each round, rotates the �ve smaller wheels where you actually place your workers. As in most Euro games, your goal is to acquire the most Victory Points (VPs). VPs can be scored during the game via the Chichen Itza wheel, erected buildings and the technology track; at the end of two of the four seasons for majorities on the god tracks; and at game end with monuments and unused resources. �ere are, of course, multiple paths to victory.

Corn is the primary currency in Tzolk'in. It is essential for placing your workers, feeding them at the end of each season, and for other assorted actions you might want to take. You'll also need resources - wood, stone and gold - to construct buildings and monuments, advance on the four technology tracks and climb the steps of the temples to the three gods who in turn grant you resources (twice during the game) and victory points.

Game play is actually quite simple. On your turn you can either place one or more workers (it usually costs some corn to do this) or take back one or more workers performing the action(s) associated with each worker's place on the wheel

810 Travelers Blvd, Ste A2, Summerville, SC 29485(843) 695-1498 Tue & Wed 1 to 7pm, Fri & Sat 11am to 7pmBoard game store & gaming salon. We'll teach you how to play!

Save the Date!Saturday, March 7, 2pm to 12amGame Night

Wednesday, March 11, 1pm to ?Free Midweek Gaming

Friday, March 13, 6pm to 8pmBook Club Meeting - Reading: Ubik by Philip K. Dick

Saturday, March 14, 1pm to 7pmFree Open Gaming & Learn to PlayTicket to Ride: Japan & Italy and Stone Age


Saturday, March 21, 1pm to 7pmFree Open Gaming & Learn to PlayTaverns of Tiefenthal and Bohnanza


Saturday, March 28, 1pm to 7pmFree Open Gaming & Learn to Play Tzolk’in: �e Mayan Calendar and Cottage Garden.

Saturday, April 4, 2pm to 12amGame Night

INSIDE: • Free Open Gaming & Learn to Play• Sci Fi & Fantasy Book Club• Tzolk’in: The Mayan Calendar

Game Review• About Our Game Library • New Arrivals & Back in Stock Lists• Game Library Additions• Used Games for Sale

from the publishers. We o�er a 100% Money Back Guarantee on all of our new games as authentic, factory-sealed items from the original manufacturer.

Here Be Books & Games’ Game LibraryOne of the things that sets us apart from other game stores in the area, as well as online mer-chants, is our substantial Game Library. Now 456 titles strong, we use our Game Library to teach you how to play and provide demos so you can literally Try Before You Buy! �ink of how much money you can save by buying games you know you like to play, because you’ve already tried them! Plus, if we teach you how to play, you won’t have to read the rulebook if you don’t want to.

�e walls of our three game rooms are lined with the games in our Game Library.

You’ll �nd family and casual games in the Gate Room, thematic games in the Dragon Room and Euro strategy games in the Observatory. You can view a full list at: www.boardgamegeek.com/collection/user/herebebooksSo, take advantage of this incredible service at Here Be Books & Games. All you have to do is ask: We’ll teach you how to play!

Join us on

HappySt. Patrick’s

Day

Issue 82 Here Be Books & Games News March 2020

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Tzolk’in board with my painted wheels.

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We’ll Teach YouHow to Play!

try before you buy!we’ll teach you how to play!

new to game libraryConcordia Venus: Balearica/ItaliaPaladins of the West KingdomSpy ClubTaverns of TiefenthalTicket to Ride: Japan & Italy

7 Wonders DuelAzulCat CafeCatan Seafarers ExpansionCentury: Spice RoadCodenames: DuetConcordia VenusConcordia: Salsa ExpansionCryptidDiscover: Lands UnknownForbidden IslandGizmosHiveKaruba�e Lord of the Rings: Journeys in Middle-earthMansions of Madness 2nd Edition Pandemic�e Quacks of Quedlinburg: Herb Witches ExpansionSushi Go PartyTaverns of TiefenthalTeotihuacan: City of GodsTerraforming MarsTerraforming Mars: Prelude Exp

Back in Stock!Abyss: 5th Anniversary EditionAtlantis RisingBarrageBruxelles 1897Concordia: Venus ExpansionIt’s a Wonderful WorldMunchkin Mighty MonstersMunchkin Star�nderMunchkin Teenage Mutant Ninja TurtlesMunchkin WonderlandNewtonTeotihuacan: Shadows of Xitle ExpansionTicket to Ride: Japan & Italy Tiny Towns: FortuneUnderwater Cities: New Discoveries ExpansionWho Should We Eat?

New Arrivals!

Requests & Pre-ordersWelcome!

Just tell us what you want.

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Here Be Books & Games810 Travelers Blvd, Suite A2, Summerville, SC 29485

Phone: (843) 695-1498 • Hours: Tue & Wed 1 to 7pm, Fri & Sat 11am to 7pmWeb: HereBeBooksAndGames.com • Online Store: HereBeBooksAndGames.com/onlinestore

Facebook: www.facebook.com/herebebooksandgames

Available in any denomination.Never expire.

Issue 82 Here Be Books & Games News March 2020Issue 82 Here Be Books & Games News March 2020

Used Games For SaleAfrika KorpsAnzioBattle of the BulgeDungeons & Dragons Basic SetEx LibrisFastrack�e Lost ExpeditionLuftwa�eMy VillagePath�nder RPG: Beginner BoxReefRoll for the GalaxyShadows Over CamelotShadows Over Camelot: Merlin’s Company expansionSoldier KingUnspeakable Words

free learn to play & open about our game library gaming in … · 2020-03-10 · issue 82 march...

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