In my quest to play eighty of the top 100 board games, I have finally been able to play Power Grid. I first heard of this game when I read the Cracked article 6 Board Games that Ruined It for Everyone. That article lists Monopoly as the worst board game of all time. Perhaps it’s only fair to say it’s the worst widely known board game of all time. But the article goes on to recommend Power Grid instead. The article states:
Power Grid is everything Monopoly should have been. You’re genuinely aiming to build a monopoly, earning ever-increasing fountains of money, but you still have to spend every cent to stay ahead of the competition.
I’ve only been able to play once, but I already know I need to own a copy for myself. Let me explain why.
One of the great things about attending Gen Con was getting to play new releases, or preview games that were about to be released. Oceanos is one of those games. It’s a new release from Iello, the company that publishes the King of Tokyo line. In this game, players control whimsical submarines exploring the depths of the ocean to collect animals for their aquariums. You also gain points for other items, such as treasure chests and coral reefs.
The time has come once again for a board game review. This week, I shall look at a new game that was only just recently published, with the help of Kickstarter, and was introduced to me by my good friend John Trobare. The game in question is: Area 1851. It is a game of ‘UFOs meet cowboys.’ Aliens and old west characters are competing to gain the greatest amount of reputation by constructing and delivering strange devices.