Pagoda is a Tiered Tower of Fun for Two!

Pagoda

Designed by Arve D. Fuhler

Published by AEG

2 Players

30 Minutes

Card Game, Card Building, Gained Abilities

(9/10 Stars)

I take a look at Pagoda from AEG. This is such a fantastic game, and the best two player game that I was introduced to during 2014. I am always looking for great two player games or games that play well with just two players. This one is definitely one to add to your gaming library if you find yourself playing with just two players frequently. The quality of the components are top notch and colorful, not to mention that you are building three dimensional pagodas! This building element of the game is very fun and the game play provides just enough meat to it to be interesting as a strategic game, but it is simple and provides some luck elements that balance out the game nicely. I would say that Pagoda and Jaipur would be my must own two player games at this point in time and that is How Lou Sees It!

I received this review copy of Pagoda from AEG for free for the purpose of this review.

Twinkle Twinkle Little Mai-Star

Mai-Star

Designed by Seiji Kanai

Published by AEG

3 to 6 Players

30+ Minutes

Hand Management

(9/10 Stars)

This little card game surprised me in a great way. I think the theme of the game may turn some people off to the game, but play it once and I think you will be hooked. The game is elegant. The artwork and quality of the components and rule book are fantastic. The core game play is simple and easy to learn.

Players pick 1 of the 6 different geisha to be for that game. Each one has a different unique ability that will make a great difference for that player if used wisely. This adds some variability to the game. The rest of the cards are either played as a guest providing money (victory points) and usually very important and powerful actions to help yourself or hinder others. Or, the same card can be played as an advertiser increasing your reputation in one of the 3 areas that will help you be invited by a guest.

The game mechanics are solid and it provides some really interesting decisions from you on what to play as a guest and what to play as an advertiser. How are you going to use your special ability to get ahead? Playing guest cards to score points is one thing, but I was surprised at how interactive this game is. Whenever someone is laying a guest, you may just be targeted and you may lose the powerful advertiser you just laid down, or maybe your newest guest leaves you, or maybe you have to draw additional cards.

The game is simple and yet provides many choices and lots of fun and that is How Lou Sees It!

Mages Profit from Bluffing and Cheating

Cheaty Mages

Designed by Seiji Kanai

Published by AEG

3 to 6 Players

30 to 40 Minutes

Hand Management, Bluffing, Wagering, Take That

(8/10 Stars)

Cheaty Mages published by AEG with original Japanese artwork.  This is a really fun and interesting strategic bluffing game with good player interaction.  The game is easy to learn and quickly enjoyed by a nice range of individuals.  While players make strategic choices and try and bluff their way to victory, the game also provides some luck element from card draws and sudden changes from certain spell cards.  The game is very fun and I would recommend to those who enjoy games such as The Coup, The Resistance, Killer Bunnies, and/or Munchkin.  Designed by the same designer who brought us the huge hit Love Letter - this is definitely another top notch game.  AEG also does a great job with the production quality providing a great gaming experience that you will not be quick to forget - unless a mage casts a forgetful spell on you that is...and that is How Lou Sees It!

Love Letter: Legend of the Five Rings

Love Letter

Designed by Seiji Kanai

Published by AEG

2 to 4 Players

20 Minute Play Time

I recently received the Legend of the Five Rings version of Love Letter. You can see my review of the game Love Letter here. I am unfamiliar really with AEG's Legend of the Five Rings, but I will say that I enjoy this version. It really isn't too different from other versions - it really just comes down to the artwork on the cards and this version provides some really great artwork and good utility and that is How Lou Sees It.

Valley of the Kings

Valley of the Kings

Designed by Tom Cleaver

Published by AEG

2 to 4 Players

45 Minutes

Deck-Building and Set Collecting

A very unique deck-building game. It provides a new feel as it mashes together deck-building with set collecting. It provides an interesting balance of utilizing cards in your deck and putting those same cards from your deck into your tomb for points. Very enjoyable. Took longer than I expected to play and it felt like there were many difficult choices to be made. I'm excited to see how the game develops with time and that is How Lou Sees It!

I was provided a copy of this game by AEG for review.

All Aboard the Deck-building Train!

Trains
Designed by Hisashi Hayashi
2-5 Players
Published by AEG
Deck-building Game (with a board!)

Background / Introduction
It seems like trains are "all the rage" these days when it comes to board games. There seemed to be an explosion of train themed games after the tremendous success of Ticket to Ride around the world. I like to actually call this effect "The Twilight Effect" (referring to the endless amounts of vampire themed books, movies, and TV shows after the success of Stephenie Meyer's Twilight book). Now, of course there were train themed games prior to Ticket to Ride (TTR), but when the money train took off that is TTR, everyone heard the conductor shouting "All aboard!" and many game designers and publishers jumped on board.

I really enjoy trains. Trains contributed to the rich history of the west and they play a very vital and interesting role in our society today. For those familiar with the TV show "The Big Bang Theory," I feel that one can get just as excited about AEG's game Trains as Sheldon can about the real deal (or a model). One family vacation years ago, my family decided to fly somewhere only 530 miles away and then take a train ride back. Part of the fun for the trip was that I hadn't been on a plane or train before this point. It was definitely a great experience and one that has stuck with me. Riding through mountains and beautiful countryside on a passenger train is an experience that not many know (those in Europe may be more likely to have this experience as they are still used frequently for passenger travel between towns and countries).

I will tell you right now that Trains has easily become one of my new all-time favorite games. I really enjoyed Dominion when it first came out a few years ago, and when I heard about Trains for the first time, it sounded pretty similar with the type of cards and mechanics used. I was intrigued. A deck-building game that utilized a train theme and added a board to the mix (now that was different!). Building and balancing a deck full of cards while trying to create the most beneficial railway system on the map. The cards are very well themed for use in the game, and the concept of "waste" cards being added to your deck as you progress in the game is really fun. The game provides many different strategies that could be used for victory.

Components / Rule Book
Trains retails at $59.99 and it includes a good amount of content. In the box, you will find 530 cards (yes,
you read that correctly), 124 wooden rail and station tokens, a double sided board, card dividers, a card tray in-lay to keep your cards organized, and the rule book. Besides the double sided board that is provided in the game, you can download and print other maps from online to play with (fans have created a bunch already including a "Middle Earth" from Lord of the Rings). The different maps add a great deal of replayability and can be a nice change for each game. The quality of the components are all really nice. The cards have a glossy type finish on them which seems pretty good. I did seem like I wasn't able to shuffle the cards as well with this type of card (they clumped up a little more so that I didn't feel like I was getting the best shuffle every time - this could just be me and how I shuffle the cards).

I guess there could be some resemblance... 

Really, the only things that I'm not too crazy about regarding the game Trains fits into this category
(components / rule book) - so, let's get them over with now so that we can focus on how the game is so amazing the rest of the time. While the cards fit the train theme really well and I like the artwork, the game pieces that you actually play on the board are just simple wooden cubes (for the railways) and white wooden cylindrical pieces represent the stations. These pieces are great quality, but I do kind of feel that they are little abstract and they could have improved upon the game by making tokens match the theme (little wooden rails or trains, with little wooden or even plastic stations).

The other thing that I found a little lacking was the rule book. It really isn't a bad rule book, but there just a few things that could have used some more explanation or detailed examples. It would have been really nice to have a FAQ section, or a separate book that discussed each card with perhaps some more detail. Not a huge issue, but it would be convenient to have answers to these very common questions in the rule book (perhaps future printings could include such a sheet for clarifications).

 Setup
The setup time for Trains isn't too long, but it can take a little while to actually sort through and pull out all 16 decks that you will be using for the game. You can speed this process up by everyone helping out. In each game, there are 8 kind of cards that are used each game and there are 8 other cards that are randomly chosen from another 30 different types of cards (huge replayability here folks as each time you can be playing with a different conglomerate of cards).

Each player starts the game with a deck of 10 cards (7 normal trains, 2 lay rails cards, and 1 station expansion card). These cards will be shuffled creating the players starting deck and they will draw 5 cards that will make up there hand. The starting player is chosen by determining who traveled most recently by train. To start the game, each player will choose a starting location on the map (yeah, you would also need to decide what map you will be playing) and place a rail token. The token may not be on a water space, a remote location, or on a location already claimed by another player. Then the game gets chugging.

Goal / Gameplay
The goal of Trains is to have the most victory points at the end of the game. The game ends when either of the following are met: a player runs out of rail tokens, all the stations have been built, or 4 decks from the supply are emptied (waste not included). You obtain victory points through various means. You can gain victory points from the board by building railways in cities with stations (city with no stations = 0 points, 1 station = 2 points, 2 stations = 4 points, and 3 stations = 8 points) and building railways to remote locations (point value shown on board). You can also obtain victory points through victory point cards.

Gameplay is very simple. You start each turn with 5 cards drawn from your deck. You then use these 5 cards for their special actions or abilities and their income. You can buy cards from the supply to help strengthen your deck, and/or you can build your train empire on the board with lay rail type cards or by building stations. The cards are color coded and their are some basic categories of different cards available to you (blue = trains (income), green = laying rails (also reduce cost of building), purple = stations, red = actions, and yellow = victory points etc.).

As you progress toward your inevitable victory or demise, you will be gaining waste cards. Lots and lots of waste cards. This is a really cool concept in my opinion. Whenever you do something that may be really beneficial, you usually will gain a waste card that will go in your deck. You lay a rail (waste), you buy a victory point card (waste), you enter a city already occupied by another player (waste), will the waste ever end? Well, there may be some handy cards available in the supply that allows you to avoid gaining these wastes, or maybe it allows you to dispose of them (properly of course, we wouldn't want the EPA after us). Balancing your deck is very important. You may be able to live with a few waste, but you will want to get rid of waste as often as possible. You can take a complete turn to dispose of any waste in you hand, but that could be a very vital turn you just missed out on. This is a very important part of the game (and really, if you think about it, we create lots and lots of waste each day - how do we take care of it and where does it go) and will be vital to victory.

I won't go into any more nitty gritty detail of the rules, but will rather talk a little about what I like about the gameplay. I really enjoy the deck-building and balancing aspect of the game, but what makes this game really different than those other deck-building games is that Trains has a very well put together board element to it as well. The deck-building element is really similar to other deck-building games, however, the waste cards and the concept of gaining waste (or useless cards) into your deck as you perform actions that gain you points (or place you in a better position to do so) provides a nice new game mechanic that works extremely well.

The rail laying portion on the maps definitely adds to the fun factor and the strategic elements of the game. choosing where to build and how quickly can make a big difference in the outcome of the game. With the double sided board and the maps available online (or if you are feeling creative, you could make your own) there is a nice replayability there to keep placement of rails and board strategy different each time.

Final Thoughts
AEG has now perhaps my top 2 deck-building games (Trains and Thunderstone). I am giving Trains my highest rating, a big Thumbs Up (or 10/10 stars). Even though the playing pieces are a little abstract, they are still great quality and they work well enough. The rule book isn't amazing, but it does well enough. I enjoy this game a lot. It really doesn't take long to play, the general gameplay is simple, and the game provides many different variations to keep each game fresh and different than the last. There are always multiple ways to find victory and each player must adapt to other player styles as well if they want to be successful. Is it Dominion meets Ticket to Ride? Maybe a little bit. Either way, the game is definitely one that I would recommend to everyone out there! Christmas is coming...and that is How Lou Sees It!

A big SHOUT OUT to AEG for providing this review copy and making this possible. The review itself was in no way influenced by the receipt of this complimentary review copy.

Upcoming!
Christmas is almost upon us! My next set of reviews will be on some "stocking stuffer" type games. Games that are small (easily travel), and easy on your pocket book too! These games would make for great stocking gifts, neighbor gifts, or would be great for anyone looking for some simple, quick, less expensive type games. I also will have an exclusive coupon code for some of the card games - so keep your eye out for the next review!

Throwing Down to the Max

Maximum Throwdown
Designed by Jason Tagmire
2 - 6 Players
Card Throwing Game
AEG


Background / Introduction
Do you enjoy throwing things? How about throwing around some cards in an all out brawl; dragons, martians, and even pirates try and come out victorious as the cards fly. Dexterity games are kind of an odd duck in the board gaming world if you ask me. They are fun a lot of the time because of the stark contrast from purely strategic worker placement or decision making games. Like with the excitement of playing shuffleboard or other such games, the skill of your hands guiding your game pieces to victory can be very enjoyable. Maximum Throwdown makes this dexterity game focused on your ability to throw or toss playing cards into the play area covering other player's cards while trying to keep your cards exposed for better special abilities and points. While there is some strategy in trying to place your cards in certain areas, the concept of the game is very simple. Cover your opponents cards while trying to not cover your own. If you are not a fan of dexterity games or if throwing cards doesn't sound like much fun, you may want to skip this one (and check out Thunderstone instead, because I'm pretty sure you will like that one - who wouldn't).

Components / Rule Book
I continue to be impressed with AEG's quality they put into their components (especially the boxes that the games come in - feel great, durable, and look really nice).

The game comes with 6 different factions or decks that you can choose to play with (those who have played other AEG games like Smashup will notice the artwork to be very familiar). Each deck is made up of 15 cards with different symbols arranged on the cards. The decks vary slightly, although I don't feel any real big differences between them myself during game play. The cards are nice and the game includes reference cards (these can also be randomizer cards if you want the decks to be chosen at random) as well as 6 different starting locations that help set up the initial play area.

The rule page included is detailed enough for this simple little game. The hardest thing to get the hang of are the different symbols, but you have a nice reference card for that. I do wish they included some sort of way to keep track of score, but that isn't really a big problem either seeing that with the short game play usually groups could easily keep track of their own scores even without writing them down.

Setup
As I mentioned before, the game includes 6 starting locations. To set up the game, it is pretty much left to
you and the other players on how you want to start the game. The rule book suggests a few different formations of starting cards that you may want to try, but there are a plethora of ways to decide how to start the game. You can use the given designs, you can make your own designs, you can take turns throwing cards onto the playing area, or anything else that really floats your boat!

Here are some crazy ideas for setups! You can set up different obstacles in the playing area (like I did with some Barrel of Monkeys) or you can even do some sort of multi-layered playing area. I really think that a big part in making the game fun is to customize your playing area to be as fun and different each time as possible. Creating challenges for card placement makes the game more enjoyable.

You will also need to establish what the playing area will be and where you will restrict people to throw cards from. You can make the game more challenging by making the throwing distance much larger. You could even play by dropping cards down to a playing area from a loft or something like that. All up to you and your imagination. Shuffle your deck and you are ready to step into battle.

Gameplay

Red and Yellow will score 1 point.
Yellow is only 1 pip away from scoring another point! 

The goal of the game is to have the highest amount of victory points when the game ends. The game ends when all players have exhausted their entire deck and hand.

The player who yells "Maximum Throwdown" the loudest goes first (although, I'm not sure that going first is really a benefit). On one's turn, the player evaluates what icons he/she has active (icons are completely uncovered). Then the player will score points, 1 point for every 6 pips showing, and either remember this number or add it to the scoring card or paper. Resolve any active Attack or Steal icons. Draw one card, plus any additional cards for your active draw icons. Throw one card, or more depending again on your active icons.

All the players must adhere to the throwing boundaries set up at the beginning of the game and unless a player has an active "Break" icon, that card must land touching at least one other card. If you miss any other card and don't have a "Break" icon, then that card gets removed from play. Pretty simple right? Well, let's take a closer look at the icons and just what they do:

When a player runs out of cards to draw and/or throw, they still take a turn like normal performing what actions they can as well as still scoring any possible points. Here are the different cards in each deck followed by a video look at the game:

Thoughts and Conclusion

Maximum Throwdown is an interesting game where dexterity is the only real role to victory. I don't feel that the game has a lot of strategy too it, but it remains a nice light card throwing game. Sometimes the game can feel very one sided if one player is dominating the play area with icons giving them even more icons; hence, it can be challenging to catch up with some players if not in the running early on. I like the concept of this little card throwing game, but I feel that setting up the game with obstacles or something different each time could definitely help keep the game fun and fresh. I give Maximum Throwdown 1 Finger Up or 6 out of 10 stars and that is just How Lou Sees It!

A big SHOUT OUT to AEG for making this review possible!

Starting Thunder

Thunderstone: Starter Set
Designed by Mike Elliott
2 to 5 Players
45 to 60 Minutes
Deck-building Game

Introduction
Dragon. Magic. Heroes. Weapons. Gold. Fantasy. Cards. Deck-building. Awesome.

This starter set is a great introduction to the world of Thunderstone, or I think so anyway. This is actually my first and only experience with the Thunderstone realm of deck-building and I really like it. I was introduced to deck-building by playing Dominion and it was a really new concept to me. Deck-building games are exactly what it sounds like; they are games where players start with a minimal starting deck and throughout the game cards are chosen to be added to a players deck by utilizing the cards already in his deck. The winner is the player who best builds and utilizes that deck (usually obtaining victory points of sorts). Take the fun of deck-building and add a solid fantasy theme with heroes fighting monsters in dungeons (leveling up your heroes as you go) - and you have Thunderstone! (Plus the name is really fun to say, and I find it a bit funny that recently there has been a big thunderstorm every night for the last two weeks - coincidence?)

Components / Rule Book
First of all, the box feels amazing. Yeah, is it really weird that I like the feel of a box? The box is nice, the cards are great. The inside of the box allows for many more cards to be added from other expansions and it also comes with card dividers. This starter set however does not include any means of keeping track of experience points (I just use dice face which works pretty well - although, I do believe some or one expansion(s) exist that provide means of keeping track of experience points). The rule book is pretty easy to understand and does well at providing visual examples/instruction on the cards. The rule book does have a nice summary on the back that can be referred to as you get used to the different actions etc.

Game Overview
Setting out with 6 basic soldiers, 2 torches, 2 stone shards, and 2 spears each adventurer sets out to strengthen their coffers, heroes, and gain the most glory (victory points) by defeating monsters and of course the dragon which is found deep in the dungeon. 12 card start, players draw 6 cards for their turn. Players can then choose to go to the village and use the cards in his hand to purchase/hire other cards to help strengthen their deck adding cards with greater money, attack values, or light (to help fight those nasty monsters). In the village players can use experience to level up heroes making them much stronger to handle the more difficult monsters getting a greater reward. The other main action to be taken is to run into the dungeon and fight monsters. You win, you get experience and victory points (maybe a disease card or two - battle damage is not uncommon even in a win). You lose, the monster heads back into the dungeon and you lose the opportunity for progression (sad day for you). Game progresses, monsters flee or get killed and players rack up victory points. Once the dragon is slain (or sneaks out of the dungeon) the game is over! Easy as that.

Gameplay and Thoughts
In these cards, there really isn't any way to attack or affect your opponents other than defeating the more valuable monsters before they do, or getting the level 3 amazing heroes first. Although there isn't great player interaction, the gameplay and theme of the game is fantastic as you and the other players battle through the dungeon and choose different ways to strengthen and use their decks.

Players take turns deciding what would best help their deck with the cards they currently have in their hand. Usually, that means checking to see if you can easily defeat a monster gaining victory points, experience points, and perhaps a bonus provided by that monster. Killing monsters means obtaining victory points and very important experience points which help level up your heroes to become more powerful (and get you another 2 points if you get them leveled up to the max level 3). If you don't have a good fighting hand, then you need to decide what village card can best help you in either future battles, or in purchasing better cards
in the future.

There are many ways to improve your deck and things to consider. If you venture into the dungeon without any "light" (certain cards like the torch, and rolling sparks have a light value - or the Tower hero) the monsters become more difficult to defeat due to the darkness (darkness increases as you go farther into the dungeon). Getting too many victory points upfront could cause issues, but that is generally want you want to do. You may want to start getting cards that have a nice dungeon ability while also providing money if you need to expand your deck that way or purchase new heroes.

Some cards have a "magic attack", which just gets added to your other attack numbers. Some monsters require magic however to defeat it. I like the concept here, but this is one area where it is a bit disappointing because the game only has one of the monsters in the entire monster deck that requires it (would love to see some of the expansions). Some of the magic cards such as Rolling Sparks doesn't require a hero to use it which is nice though - which takes me to weapons. Weapons can add great numbers to your attack, but they do require a hero to wield it (and that hero must be strong enough to lift the thing in the first place).

There really is just a lot going on in this game, and yet it isn't too much. Everything is understandable and I really enjoy the defeating monster concept of the game. There are 3 different variety of monsters and they all have a nitch of sorts (beginner - battle damage type, medium - infest you with disease undead type, and hard - just a lot of hit points type; *keep in mind these are not the official name of the types). There is a lot going on with these monsters! Experience points, victory points, gold rewards, trophy rewards, disease infestation, battle damage, and the timing element of the game. And it all works beautifully.

Keep in mind that this is a "starter set" and the game comes with just enough to wet your palate. For example, 4 different heroes are chosen and available for purchase (or leveling up) and the game comes with 5. The village is made up of 8 cards and the game comes with 10. The game is amazing, and there are opportunities for great variety and expansion with other sets. Not being familiar currently with the other sets of cards, I think these cards are good ones and I do feel that this is a great base/bare bones version. I really can't wait to try some of the other expansions and I think that after playing this game, you would be right there with me adding all the expansions you can to your wishlist and that is How Lou Sees It!

A big SHOUT OUT to AEG for making this review possible. THUNDERSTONE!

Unemployed Unite!

Guildhall: Job Faire
Designed by Hope S. Hwang
2 - 4 Players
45 Minute play time
Ages 10 and up

Background / Introduction
Are you one currently unemployed or looking for a better job? A good place to go and hand out resumes is your local Job Fair. At this Job Faire your options are Robber, Tax Collector, Scholar, Peddler, Hunter, or Bricklayer. Out of those options in this day and age, I think I would have to be a Scholar myself.

Well, in Guildhall: Job Faire, players are trying to collect and grow the different chapters in their guildhall so that they might be able to perform more powerful actions and claim victory points. This review today is just based on this Job Faire version of the game which is a sequel of sorts to the first Guildhall game. The game can be played on its own, or integrated with cards from the first game. I hope to get you a review of the first version sometime in the future, but the game mechanics are all the same, just with different professions. Each of the professions are represented in all the different colored cards. As you add different colored cards of the same profession to a chapter in your guildhall, that profession becomes more skillful and powerful when you play them in the future. When you have a full chapter, you can then use that chapter to buy victory points. The player who can reach 20 victory points first is the winner.

Components / Rules
AEG does a great job with the box and quality of the components and rule book. The cards are of a nice quality, although I would have liked the little cardboard victory points provided to be upgraded to a nice metal or something (I'm not a huge fan of little coin like pieces being made out of cardboard and popped out of that large print out. For some reason I always tear a few of them while I try to get them out. Could just be a personnel error.). AEG leaves other slots or room for other cards if you decide to purchase both Guildhall games out now (or perhaps a future expansion?) which is nice to have.

The rule book is well done and the game really isn't that complicated. Each of the cards have icons on them reminding players what they do. I will get into the cards a bit more in the actual game play section, but one thing that I think a lot of people may have trouble with is the symbology of the cards and keeping track of what each ones mean. For more experienced gamers, this may not be a big deal, but at least for the first few games, you will probably have to refer back to the rule book to remember how each profession works or what the bonus actions do with the victory points. You should get the hang of it after a few plays though, and then it isn't a huge issue. I do wonder though if it would have been better to summarize the concept or main action that that profession takes right on the card. Then they could have still had symbols on the card showing the difference as the cards get more powerful. For those interested, there is a file on www.boardgamegeek.com that has the action explanations for reference in a well presented way that you could print off and have handy for each player.

Game Set Up / First Turn
All of the profession cards (120 cards) are shuffled. This is a lot of cards to shuffle! The victory point cards (30 of them) are shuffled and 5 are flipped over face up for purchase. 9 cards are then dealt to each player from the profession deck. Each player then goes through a first turn set up phase. This includes discarding any cards you want, and re-drawing up to 9 cards. Then you place 3 cards from your hand face up onto the table in your guildhall (no cards can be duplicates here in your guildhall and you can't play a card into your action area later in the game if you already have that card in your guildhall). You group cards of the same profession together and these are called chapters.

Gameplay
On your turn, you have 2 actions that you can perform. Your choice of actions: Play 1 card, Discard any number of cards and draw back up to 6 cards, and Buy 1 victory point card. Each of the profession cards have an action associated with them and you can perform better actions if you match the number needed by how many cards are in that specific chapter. There are some limitations given with some of the cards, but I won't go into detail about that. The fact is, the game is really simple. The hard part is remembering the symbols and terms used in the game and getting used to those. At the end of your turn, all of the cars played in your action area gets transferred into your guildhall. When a chapter has all 5 colors, that chapter is complete and turned over face down (those cards no longer control the actions related to that profession). You can have a maximum of 3 completed chapters in your guildhall at one time. The game ends when at the end of a turn, someone has 20 or more victory points. The player with the most points wins.

The Cards

Here is a quick summary of what the general actions are from each of the professions. Keep in mind that they change slightly as you have more of that kind in your guildhall. Some very cool different cards and 3 of the six are very interactive with the other players.

Robber - Take cards from one other players hand into your guildhall. Doesn't she look so happy?

Bricklayer - Draw cards from the deck, then place cards from your hand back on top of the deck.

Peddler - Swap cards in your hand with cards in one other players guildhall.
Place the cards from the other player's guildhall into your hand. Then take another action.

Tax Collector - Gain VP equal to the number of Tax Collectors in your guildhall. Place 1 card from your guildhall in one other player's guildhall. He is going to go all Sheriff of Nottingham on all you!

Hunter - Look through the discard pile and swap cards from there with cards in your guildhall.

Scholar - Draw cards from the deck and put them directly into your guildhall.

Thoughts

I wasn't sure what to expect when I opened up the box, but what I found was a very enjoyable set collecting game. It seems that whenever anyone sees a game these days made up of cards, the immediate thought for some is "I wonder how much this game is like Dominion?" Well, the victory point cards have shields on them, and both games are made up of cards...but that is about it. Guildhall Job Faire does a great job at creating something very original and enjoyable. To score points you need completed "chapters" or sets, but what profession are you going to focus on while you do that? Then you have to decide what is going to be the best help to you to purchase? The 3 points that also allows you to play cards from your hand into your Guildhall? Or do you spend more and get more points but no bonus action? This game has a lot more too it than just a set collecting game, and it does it very well. The symbology isn't my favorite, but it is something that I can get past. The only other thing is that the game only has the 6 different professions. I feel that you may grow tired of using the same ones. Luckily AEG has the original version as well to help remedy that. So, with an available 12 different professions now between the two, you should be set for a while. 3 Fingers up or 8/10 stars. If you are looking for a fun new set collecting card game with a lot of strategy to it, I would recommend Guildhall Job Faire and that is How Lou Sees It.

A big SHOUT OUT to AEG for making this review possible. Remember to keep playing board games!