Habitat was first published in 2008 by Valley Games Inc. It is now in its 2nd edition.

Habitat:

• Designed by: Elliot Hogg
• Published by: Valley Games Inc.
• Number of players: 2-6
• Playing time: 30 min
• Player ages: 8+

A Quick Overview

In the Northern forests, you create a Habitat and build a diverse ecosystem consisting of resources, complex organisms and deadly predators of the forests.

Your habitat can consist of multiple food chains and a variety of wildlife. The winner is the one with the most biologically diverse ecosystem.

Game Play

There are two game phases in Habitat. The first is the growth phase that occurs simultaneously. The second phase is the event phase where each player takes a turn to play an Event card (which affects ecosystems) or exerts Territoriality.

Events range from seasons (Spring/Winter) to natural disasters (Wildfire, Pollution, etc.) Each player tries to attract a diverse ecosystem consisting of cards numbered from 1 to 8.

The winner is the one that has an ecosystem with at least one card numbered from 1 to 8.

Observations

Disclaimer: This game was provided as a sample game by Valley Games Inc.

I have played Habitat a few times now and I kind of like it. It is a card game and it can be played very quickly though we found our games taking about 30-45 minutes.

There is a lot of “luck” involved in this type of game because of the card draw. The goal is to get a numbered set of cards from 1 to 8. This is a little difficult to do as there are only three “8″ value cards (Cougar, Black Bear, Grizzly Bear).

There are also three “Wolves” cards which are numbered “7*” with the exception that if you have two of these distributed along your food chains, they count as BOTH “7″ and “8″ value cards.

The idea of the game is to build a habitat consisting of resources (eggs, plants, fruits and berries, etc.) which have a value of “1″ and add animals that subsist on them. You can only add to a food chain an organism of a higher number or, thematically, an organism that feeds on the item below it.

It is a nice concept and the cards are lavishly illustrated giving you the feel of actually nurturing a habitat. I have played this game with 2 and 3 players and I prefer playing it 3 players.

The designer took pains to make the ecosystem building process thematic and I appreciate that. I think younger children would enjoy a nature lesson that these cards provide.

It is a little more complicated than a game such as For Sale.

Happy gaming.

Here’s a second video of one of Valley Games’ games that was sent to me for review. This one is called “Habitat” and it looks quite nice.

My first impression is that the artwork is beautiful. Since this is the “North Woods” edition, there are animals and vegetation representative of this part of the world like grizzlies, moose, lynxes and so forth.

Enjoy the video.

Here’s a quick unboxing video of Valley Games Inc.’s “Beep Beep”. It’s for ages 8+ and plays in about 5-15 minutes.

Stay tuned for a review coming up shortly and please enjoy the video.

I was forwarded this post by a friend and Fallcon organizer who wanted to share the reasons why we still play games.

There is a lot of competition out there for our entertainment hours and dollars including computer games, console games, iPads, iPod Touches and the lot. However, there are a great number of people playing “traditional” board games and building relationships with their friends and families.

Board game publishers long ago stopped fretting about computer games putting them out of business. “Everybody had that fear,” says Ravens-burger’s André Maack. “But the fear has simply been proven wrong. The computer games are everywhere and they’re strong. But we’re still here,” he gestures to the bustling hall, “and we’re still here, playing board games.”

While the online communities have Settlers of Catan, Carcasonne and Ticket To Ride, there is something so energizing and refreshing about sitting down and playing boardgames around a table.

You can read the rest of the FT article by clicking here.

Happy Gaming!

Valley Games Inc. sent me a package a couple of weeks ago containing a selection of games. I was excited to get the games and write about them. Here is a short video that I made about the games in the package.

Please enjoy:

Instead of writing a review, I thought I would put up a video of the boardgames that I took photos of last year. You will recognize most of the boardgame photos as the ones that I used for the reviews.

A few exceptions are games like Torres and Attika which I have not yet reviewed.

Please enjoy and thanks for reading!

Schotten Totten – Review

Schotten Totten is a two player game designed by Reiner Knizia in 1999. It is currently published by Pro Ludo.

Schotten Totten:

• Designed by: Reiner Knizia
• Published by: Pro Ludo
• Number of players: 2-2
• Playing time: 20 min
• Player ages: 8+

A Quick Overview

Each player is the leader of one of two villages in the Scottish Highlands. These villages are usually peace-loving folk but love to make sure that no one encroaches on their territory.

Every once in a while, however, the border stones that delineate territories get moved and then things start to get a bit scary!

As village leader, you get to line up your 27 clansmen at each of the boundary stones and reassert your village’s territory!

Game Play

The deck of 54 cards is shuffled and six are dealt out to each player. The remainder form a draw pile. The cards are broken down into six clans (colours) of nine clansmen (numbered “1″ through “9″).

On a player’s turn, he performs the following actions:

• Play a card
• Claim a boundary stone (if possible)
• Draw a card

A player must play a card at one of the boundary stones; no more than 3 clansmen may be present on either side of the boundary stone.

A player then can claim stone if his combination of played cards is stronger than the opponents or can prove that his opponent cannot play a stronger hand.

Hand rankings use poker hands and are as follows (highest to lowest) :

• Ordered Clan = straight flush
• Schottentot Team = 3 of a kind
• The Clan = flush
• Schottentot Squadron = straight
• Wild Horde = Any 3 cards

The winner is the one that can claim any 5 boundary stones or 3 adjacent boundary stones!

Observations

A 2-player card game is always handy every once in a while. This one is designed by Reiner Knizia and it is fun. It plays in about 20 minutes, cheap and is easily transported.

For such a little game, there is much going on here. Throughout most of the game, you will have a hand of six cards and you must play a card and commit your clansmen!

Do you hold out to get the straight flush or play it hoping you’ll get a stronger card when you draw? These are some fun choices to make.

And when your opponent plays a card that you needed, you will have to rethink your plays.

This game is reimplemented as “Battle Line” and has a wargame theme with a few additions. One of the additions is the inclusion of the “Tactics” cards which allow you to break the basic rules in a few ways.

The newer edition (2004) of Schotten Totten includes a set of “Tactics” cards with the same goofy cartoony Scots A whole lot of fun indeed.

Personally, I prefer the “Schotten Totten” version over Battle Line as the cartoony Scots are delightfully illustrated.

Happy gaming.