Kingdom of Solomon

Kingdom of Solomon
Designed by Philip duBarry
Produced by Minion Games

Kingdom of Solomon is a very fun game for 2-4 players and it takes about an hour to play. I have recorded a video review of the game that I will hopefully get up soon as well (after I figure out the best way to do that). I really liked this game a lot and from what I have heard of The Manhattan Project, Tahiti, and of the upcoming Hegemonic (currently on Kickstarter) combined with my love of Nile deLuxor - Minion Games is creating a real name for itself right up there with Rio Grande Games.  A big SHOUT OUT to Minion Games for making this review possible and for making such great entertainment.

The game is basically about worker placement, resource management, and strategic building. I like the theme, and as such it may become a Sunday usual around my place. The components are good, but I love the game play. It really has a great mash up of different gaming elements that remind me of a lot of other games I like:

Agricola - The fact that you take turns placing pawns out on the board and each space is limited to one pawn is very reminiscent of the farming favorite.

Settlers of Catan -You obtain resources (by pawn placement instead of dice rolling in this case - I like this difference between Catan and Solomon) and you use them to build roads and to build "cities."

Power Grid - The Market phase and the fact that you have limited resources reminded me a lot of the green wonder's energy game. Sell them high, buy them low. Make sure you have the resources you need.

Roll Through the Ages - The fact that you can build different things that give you a special ability or advantage along with victory points reminded me of the great dice rolling favorite, RTTA. The temple building also reminded me of checking off little boxes, but here we are placing little cubes to represent the temple being built. It can trigger the end of the game like finishing monuments in RTTA, and it is another way to obtain victory points.

What do you get when you combine all of these great elements? You get Kingdom of Solomon. I think that the game is very well done and I know that my wife and I really enjoyed it. I give the game 3 fingers up (or an equivalent 8 stars out of 10) rating.  I can't wait to try out another Minion Game, seems like they are all fantastic. Check out their newest game Hegemonic on their Kickstarter page and check out what games are in your local store or check out Minion Games' website. This is a link to be able to buy the upgrade kit which includes a really cool promo card. Stay tuned for the video review or at least an update with some pictures.

Buy a board game instead of a video game - and that is How Lou Sees It!

Power Hungry

Day 60 - Power Grid
Designed by Friedemann Friese

Power Grid is seriously one of the best board games out there. If you are unacquainted with the game, then it is about time that you do. I would like to meet the German game designer Friedemann because he sounds like a character and a half. He is well known for liking the color green (all of his game covers have green on them and he has died his hair green before) and all of his games (at least in German) begin with the letter "F." He owns his own game company called 2F.

In Power Grid, 2 to 6 players compete to power the most cities. This is done by bidding on more advanced power plants, buying the required resources to power your plants, and by spreading your power grid to more cities. The game includes a game board that has Germany on on one side and the U.S.A. on the other. This is nice because it provides a different city set up and dynamic during each game. Each map is also divided into regions and only a certain number of regions are played with each game providing even more variability. There are multiple kinds of power plants available (plants that run on coal, oil, garbage, uranium, or wind) and one must upgrade their plants to be able to power more cities. There is a set number of resources and the game has a great way of simulating resource availability (supply and demand) which increases the price of the resource as it becomes more scarce (resources are limited, and you may not even have the resource you need available when you need it). The turn order is determined at the end of each round which helps benefit the players who are behind (or those who strategize to be placed in a certain spot). The game is just chalk full of great game play and the game components are fantastic as well.

I really think those that enjoy the Ticket to Ride games would also enjoy this game. Power Grid is a bit more complex in strategy and game play, but it really is not too overly complex. Power Grid does take about 2 hours to play (maybe a bit less), so those that don't like longer games may have a bit of an issue with the length. Power Grid is a very innovative game that I like to recommend to pretty much everyone (including my thermodynamics teacher - random) and that is How Lou Sees It.