Orcs Must Die!
One of the big announcements from PAX East was about the board game Orcs Must Die! The game (which is actually two companion games: Orcs Must Die!: Order – The Boardgame and Orcs Must Die!: Unchained – The Boardgame) is coming from Sandy Petersen, designer of Cthulhu Wars. The game is co-operative if you own one box or can be a team game if you own both boxes. This is in line with the latest developments in the video game.
They had some mock-up components at the show, which looked up to the quality that was applied in Cthulhu Wars. If you have not played Orcs Must Die!, it is a sort of tower defense type game in which you lay traps to try and kill a band of orcs before they reach your base. It's exciting to see what they will do with it on the tabletop.
Check out this video for more details:
Cinelinx
Cinelinx is an interesting mash-up of dominoes and Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon. Each card in the deck lists an actor, director, film, or genre. You start with a hand of ten cards and a genre card in the middle. The goal is to empty your hand by placing cards in a positions that works.
I've tried the game myself and it is, in a word, challenging. It will push your movie knowledge to the limits. Luckily, the game allows you to use up to three connections to link a card, which is much easier than one-to-one links and prevents you from getting stuck as often. It's a unique idea and one that will surely delight movie buffs.
Mahou Shojo
On Kickstarter until April 8, 2015 is Mahou Shojo: Fight like a Girl!, a card-battling game between two "magical girls". The game features four factions, each with a prebuilt deck. The goal is to take gems from your opponent. It really needs to be seen. Check out the video for full details:
POOP
I hope you've saved up some giggles because it's time to talk about poop. POOP is a card game in the vein of UNO. Your goal is to empty your hand of cards by adding them to a toilet card in the center of the table. Each toilet card has a limit where it will clog, sticking a player with all of the poop cards in play. There's even an expansion available that offers new twists to the basic formula.
At the show they offered gift wrapping which involved wrapping each deck in toilet paper...all very dignified.
Check out the video for more fun: