Q and A with Carmarace Game Designer Luca Caltabiano

Luca Caltabiano founder of Board to Death TV and designer of the featured Kickstarter project Carmarace provides some As to my Qs.

I am very excited about today's post as you get to see the results from my very first interview (or Q and A) session. And since that interview was with someone as talented and well known as Luca, I feel very honored to have this opportunity. My purpose in interviewing Luca was to get some inside scoop on Luca and his new game Carmarace which is currently on Kickstarter.

Kickstarter 101
For those who don't know, Kickstarter is a great website that allows people to gauge how well received some new product or project will be by asking the world to pledge a certain amount of money that will help them complete their project. Board games can be very expensive to publish (or so I have been told) and this is a way for people to say, "Hey! This game looks awesome...of course I will pay in advance for a copy so that the entire gaming population may partake in its perfect mayhemness!" If the project doesn't get funded (people don't pledge enough to meet the minimum goal) then no money is actually given and the project doesn't get too move forward. Frown Face. But, if the game does meet the minimum goal, all money will be taken from the people who pledged and this money will be used to produce the product. Stretch goals are usually then given to encourage continual growth of the pledged amount which usually enhances the quality of the game or adds really other cool rewards (I really hope Carmarace can meet 30k - foiled cards and box...sweet!). So, with that being said, check out my currently featured Kickstarter - Carmarace and enjoy my interview with its creator.

Interview with Luca

Q - As founder of Board to Death TV, can you briefly give us a little background about yourself and what inspired you to start making videos about board games in the first place?

Well I never intended on making video reviews, it happened by accident. I was a film student making short films for film festivals and then started a video production company. One night, during game night, I thought I would try out my new camera and film our game. I then posted that video online to show people the quality of the camera and other specs, but most people actually just commented on the Boardgame istself. They wanted more, and we got plenty of emails telling us to make reviews. So I emailed companies asking them to send us review copies to start off the website. Some companies jumped right in like Rio Grande, Gamewright, AEG, and others. Fantasy Flight however did not want to support us. But now that we have grown to what we are today, we do not send emails out anymore, luckily, the companies come to us. I saw how many people loved our videos, so I just continued doing them.

(I think I can speak for the gaming community when I say that we are all grateful that you have continued doing them and we are all excited for this new game of yours.)

Q - What is your all time favorite board game?

Oh man...nice question. Um...I would have to say my First board game. Fireball Island. Why? Well, because it's the first game that always comes to mind when people ask me that question. If I would get that game for Christmas, I would probably cry a little. No other game would do that to me. It's probably the game I have played the most too. I must have played 'till it broke.

(Very cool! I have never actually heard of this game before, but after checking it out online - I can see why it would be a favorite. It looks like any of our readers could be the proud owner of a copy if you win the bid on e-bay for $150 plus. Check out info on Fireball Island at Board Game Geek.)

Q - Give us a little background on how you came up with the idea for Carmarace. What games would you say influenced your design of Carmarace the most? 

Well, I love racing games and there isn't that many out there. I play lots of video games too and my favorite games are the Need For Speed ones. I wanted to make a simple card game at first, which anyone can play, even children. But then as we play tested, the guys said why not add abilities to some of the cards? And so, we did. Once we play tested that for a while, we thought, man, it would be cool to actually visualize the race. So, we made a board and play tested that until we knew we had a really fun game.

The Karma aspect of that game came to mind when I accidentally hit a cat with my car. I went back for it, he was still alive, so I picked him up and brought him to the side of the road and called the SPCA to pick him up. I waited 1 hour there with him, he was always starring at me, as if to thank me or something for not leaving him on the road. This was at 2 a.m. and I might have been seeing things, but he really looked like he was thanking me.

The next day, I went to pick up my fiance and in front of her house there is a bus stop. Someone had left their bag under the bus stop bench. I went to go check if it was school stuff or something I could return, but when I opened it, there was a camera in it. I brought it in and tried to see if there was any info or footage that I could use to bring it back to the owner but there was nothing. I told my fiance and she said it was Karma for what you did for the cat. I waited to see if anyone would come back for it, but saw no one.

(I know that I enjoy racing games. Mario Kart anyone? A friend of mine hit a dog once. He really just grazed it I guess, because it seemed to be just fine. There was a terrifying yelp though that caused us to look back and see the dog run off back into its yard. Karma. A nice theme for this sort of game. I hope if that person out there missing their camera is reading this that they will now know where their camera ended up. It is in good hands.)

Q - When I learned about the game, I immediately thought of the card game Milles Bornes taken and made much more interesting! I loved playing that game growing up, and this game looks like a really fun improvement on that. Would you mind comparing the two games? 

I have a confession to make, I never played that game. A lot of people told me about it and if I take a quick glance at the game, the artwork is very different and I think CarmaRace has more abilities and will be easier to Expand with new maps, new cars, and new mechanics. I will have to try that game one day.

(For those who don't know, Milles Bornes was a French card game where players are racing to travel 1000 km before anyone else. Playing speed limits, giving each other flat tires or stop signs, etc. This definitely takes that concept and improves upon it greatly - very excited!)

Q - Have you ever hitchhiked before?

No, but I have traveled a lot. I've been to Japan, Italy, France, South America, and more... I've taken all my experiences from those travels and incorporated them into this game. Actually, we have over 50 cards that are NOT in this game which are reserved for expansions. If my artists were required to make these cards too, we would have to wait longer for the game to come out. So we are launching with this and then expanding it with card packs.

(I haven't either. Heard some interesting stories though... One in particular, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Expansions, nice.)

Q - I love Kickstarter. The only thing I really struggle with is being patient for delivery of the game. This Kickstarter seems to have a pretty quick turnaround on the game relatively speaking and getting it just before Christmas is a brilliant idea. Where are you currently in the game making/publishing process?

The game is ready for print. The day we get the funds, we ship the artwork to china for print. Once printed, they will ship out to AMAZON and from there we will ship them to the backers and distributors.

(Music to my ears.)

Q - I really like the artwork for the game. How did you decide to work with Squish Image?

She is a local artist who is exploding in popularity. She does all the conventions I can think of and mostly works with pins, prints, t-shirts, etc. When I approached with the game, she was on board and took a HUGE risk making all the art for it with no pay. She believes in it so much that she knows it will be a success and she will get something out of it for sure.

(That is really cool that you can incorporate a local artist in this process. Readers, you can check out here webpage here: Squish Image)

Q - If you had to describe yourself with one word, what word would that be?

Gamer.

Q - If you had to describe Carmarace with one word, what word would that be?

Mayhem.

Q - Open mic! What would you like everyone to know about Carmarace and why they should click over to the project page and back it now?

As a reviewer, there are some things I've learned to love about games. Fun artwork (Dark Humour), great player interaction (You never WAIT for your turn), awesome bluffing mechanics and quick gameplay.
The strategy is there for hardcore gamers and the fun of gaming is there for the noobs as well. Not to mention that it's customizable and expandable. We play tested with a panel or reviewers, and the play tested with my little cousins, and then play tested with my fiance's girlfriends and they all had a blast and played more then once. I think you should back this game because it's something that you'll pull out more then once from the shelf. You'll WANT the expansions, you'll want the new maps, and you'll want to customize the decks to make you gaming group happy. It's just an awesome, growing, game that you don't want to miss out on.

(I can echo you on that. I think we are all excited about this project and will be ready for more expansions before you can say "Road Trip!")

A big thanks to Luca for taking the time to answer these questions. Check out the video trailer for the game below and check out the Kickstarter page for Carmarace to pledge now and secure your copy of this sure to be a "hit and run" game that you will be sure to enjoy and the game will sure to continue expanding and that is How Lou Sees It!

Cinque Terre

Cinque Terre: The Five Villages
Designed by Chris Handy

Introduction
Multiple games are named after famous or significant places throughout the world. One of my favorite games is actually designed and named after a famous fortified French town, Carcassonne. Other really fun games named after famous locals include but are not limited to: Puerto Rico, San Juan, Hawaii, Pantheon, Jamaica, Alhambra, and Jaipur. Cinque Terre for those who don't know is a rugged portion of coast along the Italian Riviera. "The Five Lands" consists of 5 cities which are close in proximity one to another. If you check out the pictures online, it definitely looks like a nice place to visit. I have visited Italy once seeing Rome, Florence, and Venice. I definitely would like to visit Cinque Terre if there is another trip to Italy. Also, I would like to mention that it is kind of crazy that while reading Dan Brown's newest book Inferno that is based on Dante's The Divine Comedy and which takes place in Italy - I have reviewed both Little Devils and Cinque Terre.

Overview
The goal of this game is to harvest produce to sell in the varying markets completing as many orders as possible. The game is for 2 to 5 players and takes approximately  an hour to play. The game's concepts are easy to understand and I would think that children 8+ could play it fairly well (manufacturer recommendation is 13+). When thinking about the complexity of the game, I would compare it to Ticket to Ride. The competitiveness of the game however may relate better to Thurn and Taxis. You can't physically block paths like in Ticket to Ride, but you can claim available points before someone else. I and the wife really enjoyed this game. Let's take a look at what's in the box...

Components/Instructions/Packaging
 As usual, Rio Grand Games has done a great job with the quality of the components (boards, cards, cubes, etc.). The game includes 128 wooden produce cubes, 80 produce cards, 16 starting produce order cards, 80 regular produce order cards, 16 dice (2 in each color), 1 large game board, 5 personal player game boards with matching scoring marker and produce carts, 5 MPV cardboard tokens, 1 cloth bag, and 1 instruction booklet. I do wish that there was a built in location to store the cards (I store them in the provided cloth bag, or you can use rubber bands to keep them contained within the box). I really like the personal player boards with references to available actions. The wooden cars or carts are a nice player piece, although I have really liked the idea that others have done by using matchbox type trucks as the players pieces so that they can physically carry the produce cubes around in their trucks (in the game, you store these cubes usually on your player board where there is a depiction of your produce cart). Very cool idea! The instructions are very clear with great illustrations and examples.

Set Up
Setting up the game does not take long and consists of shuffling card decks, placing produce cubes, and rolling and placing a few dice. If you have extra sandwich bags or game bags, I would suggest keeping the 8 different colored produce cubes in their own individual bag. This will help speed up the minimal set up time to
begin with. The cloth bag is provided purely for randomizing the produce cube placement and die placement. The bag will not be needed throughout the rest of the game. To help randomize the placement of the 8 different produce cube fields, place one cube of each color in the bag and draw them out placing them in the next field. You then can place the rest of the corresponding cubes in that field (see instructions for amount of cubes - varies with different amount of players). You do something similar with the die. Place one of each colored die in the bag, draw one out and roll it. Place that die in the top city on the left and continue until full (4 die). Then the next 4 go in the bottom city. Then you place the remaining 8 die in the bag and fill in the 3 other villages with die. The numbers represent how much each produce will be worth or sold in that village (if a die is not present for that village, people will be able to sell any produce still for 1 lire/point. Each player is also dealt a starting produce order card and 4 produce cards. The regular produce order cards are shuffled and a number of cards equal to the amount of players are dealt face up next to this deck. Players then place their cart on one of the 3 different harvesting locations.

Gameplay
The game is played by choosing to perform 3 actions each time it's your turn. You have 4 different options and these actions are listed on each players individual boards. You can perform these actions in any order and can perform each of the different options as many times as you like. The 4 different action options are:

1. Move up to 4 spaces: The player can move his cart up to 4 spaces clockwise around the board. Remember that if you move your cart just 1 space, that will count as one of your actions just the same as if you choose to move 4 spaces. You may, as stated above, perform each of these actions more than once per turn. So, you could move 7 spaces, but that would be 2 of your 3 actions. You could also move 1, perform a different action, and move again.
2. Draw 1 produce card: You may draw/take 1 produce card from the board and add it to your hand. Each produce card you take counts as an action. When you take a face up card, you immediately fill the empty space from the top of the draw deck. You may choose to draw blindly off the top of the produce deck for your action. There is no limit to the amount of produce cards in your hand. We created a house rule that when all 4 of the face up cards are of the same type, you discard all of them and flip over 4 new cards. This seems to have worked well.
3. Harvest produce: The player may harvest up to 4 produce cubes if at one of the three locations to harvest. The player may only harvest the produce cubes available at that location and remember that you can't have more than 4 produce cubes in your cart. To harvest a cube, there must be a cube for you to harvest and you need either 1 matching produce card, or 2 cards of the same type can be used for any produce cube.
4. Sell produce at a village market: The player may sell up to 4 produce at any one village for one action. They must have an available space on their player board for that city for all produce to be sold (this isn't made really clear in the rules, but after assuming and confirming that assumption - each player can only sell 8 produce to each city). You receive lire (or in other words, points) equal to what is shown on that produce's colored die. You can sell any type of produce in any village. If you are selling a particular produce not represented in that city by a die, you get one point.

How to Score

Besides gaining points for selling produce in the villages, the other key way to obtain points is from the
produce order cards (starting and from the table). Produce order cards are available from the table (# of them face up equal to the # of players). Players may score one order card at the end of their turn if they have all the produce sold in each city as described on the card. The player then places that card in front of them and scores those points. Now that player secretly draws the top card of the order deck. Then that player may choose whether or not they would like to keep that card secretly in their secret deck of order cards (with their starting card). Any cards kept this way remain secret until the end of the game scoring positive points if complete, and negative points if not completed. If they choose not to keep the card, it goes down onto the table face up to fill in the empty space. They player then gets one final choice -
draw another order card from the top of the deck or pass. If they choose to draw, they must keep this second card.

The final way to obtain points comes from being popular. The Most Popular Vendor (MPV) tokens are obtained when a player fills in the 8 slots for a city before anyone else. The player scores these points immediately and places the token in front of them with any other MPVs or publicly scored order cards.

Game End
The end of the game is triggered when a player gets a total of 5 point cards/MPV tokens which are laid out in front of them. Any completed order cards in a player's hand are scored at the end of the game, but do not count toward the 5 needed to trigger the end of the game. All players then get one final turn, including the player who triggered the ending.

Closing Remarks
This is a great game! I am giving it 4 fingers up (or 9 out of 10 stars). Cinque Terre is one of those games that provides a nice light (not too competitive) experience. A good "gateway" euro-style game that is easy to learn. I think people who enjoy such games as Ticket to Ride, Thurn and Taxis, and Jambo will enjoy this game. The game has some nice variation built into the set up to make each game a little different. Setting up the game doesn't take long at all and explaining it to new people doesn't either. Some people may not like that the game doesn't have more player interaction with each other (i.e. no trading aspect, markers don't interact or restrict people from spaces, etc.), but everything works well as designed and not having a lot of player interaction keeps the competitive nature more similar to Thurn and Taxis. Some of the hard-core gamer types might find the game a little too simplified, or may find that it doesn't provide enough strategy for them. I would say that this is a great family game where even kids who are 7 or  8 could get a grasp on the game pretty easily. I would recommend this game to everyone and that is How Lou Sees It!

A big SHOUT OUT to Rio Grande Games for making this review possible and for continuing to make great games!

Little Devils

Little Devils
Designed by Michael Feldkotter

Introduction
I am a big fan of trick-taking card games, and they are definitely not in short supply. One of my all time favorite trick-taking card games is actually Rook. For those unaware of what a trick-taking card game is, it is referring to a game in which players take turns playing a card or cards from their hand until by some evaluation specific to that game (highest card, trump, etc.), a player wins that "trick" or "hand."

Personally, the theme of the cards being little devils isn't my favorite and I probably wouldn't have picked it up from the store because of the cartoon devil on the front (yeah, I judge things by their packaging or "cover"  occasionally). That being said, if you dismiss this game just for that, you will be missing out! I am a big fan of the game Slide 5 and I couldn't help but think of that game while playing this one. There is some good strategy that can help you out, but there is also a great luck element where you really aren't sure exactly what card your opponents are going to play. You will find yourself laying a card just hoping someone will play a card higher/lower than yours. A bit ironic that I am currently reading Dan Brown's new book "Inferno" as I am reviewing this game...

What's Inside The Tin
So, first of all, the game comes in a great portable tin. I am a big fan of the tin for its durability and visual appeal. All of the cards fit very nicely into the tin (I have some games that really don't fit everything well, and that is frustrating, but this one is great). You have 54 cards numbered 1 through 54 and the rules. The rules are very well explained and includes some example rounds which is nice.

Game Play
There is a little set up required for the game depending on the amount of players you are playing with. This can sometimes be a pain if you are constantly adding or dropping people, but it really isn't too bad. You just need to remove cards from the deck so that you have 9 cards for each player (no extras). So, for a 4 player game, you play with cards 1 through 36 removing cards 37 through 54 from play. I store my game this way since I will usually be playing with 4 people when I play.

The cards are then shuffled and dealt out. Play starts with the player to the left of the dealer and the role of dealer moves to the left after each round. That player picks a starting card and places it out in front of them. The player to the left then goes with play going clockwise. What makes this game so great is that the person leading or starting each hand AND the next player both make key decisions for that round. The second player then decides to play a card higher or lower than the starting card. If he plays a card higher than the first card, then all other players MUST play a card higher than the starting card as well. In this situation, the player with the highest card would take the trick. If a player can't play a higher card, they may then play any card, but they will be at risk for taking the trick. And if someone plays a card lower, then it becomes the player with the lowest card that gets the trick. May sound a bit confusing at first, but it really isn't it.

Likewise, if the second player plays a card lower than the first card, then all others must play a card lower as well if they can. If they don't have a lower card, they are forced to play a higher card with the highest card taking that trick. In Little Devils, each card either has 0 to 5 little devils on the card. These represent the point value of each card. Players are trying to avoid taking any points. Thus, avoiding taking any tricks or obtaining tricks with low points is your goal. Sometimes you will want to take a trick to get rid of a card from your deck, hoping to take low points now so that you can avoid larger point tricks later (lesser of two evils). The player who won the trick then starts with a new starting card. The starting card can't be a card with 5 little devils on it unless there is no other option. Game play continues until all 9 hands have been played, and then players add up their little devils adding it to their running total.

Game End and How I See It
The game ends when someone gets 100+ points with the winner being the one with the least amount of points. Simple game, for simple fun. There is definitely a pretty hefty luck element to the game, but there is also some great strategy that can keep the devils away. My friends really enjoyed the game, as did I. There is actually more strategy to Little Devils than there is in Slide 5 (which is nice). I do however like the 2 to 10 player range that Slide 5 offers while Little Devils you are limited to 3 to 6. Both games are different enough as well to warrant getting both. Besides the ability to strategize a bit more in Little Devils, that second player deciding higher or lower each round is really what I enjoyed most about the game. I give the game 4 Fingers Up, or 9 out of 10 stars. The game retails for $15 dollars which is pretty average for a nice quality card game like this. A big SHOUT OUT to Stronghold Games for making this review possible! I look forward to reviewing many more Stronghold Games (in fact, keep your eye out for another Stronghold card game review in the coming days)!

Avoiding little devils has never been so much fun! That is How Lou Sees It!

Olympic Mistborn Animals Avenge Homer Simpson

Mistborn: The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is the first Sanderson novel that I have picked up. I decided to check it out from the library after hearing multiple people say how they enjoyed them. I have to say that I am very impressed, and you can count on me reading Sanderson's other books - with the rest of the Mistborn series on the top of my list. Sanderson does everything well with this book. He creates such an amazingly descriptive world and has some great character development. Some moments were predictable, but not necessarily in a bad way. The story is fantastic and the intriguing abilities of the Mistborn and other Allomancers are very cool. The book is pretty violent (just a heads up) with many brutal killings, but the book is clean of bad language and sexual descriptions. I highly recommend this book to anyone wanting to read a good fantasy novel. Fantastic. (View all my 'goodreads' reviews)

The Avengers

I saw The Avengers this last weekend (with about a half million others probably) and I really enjoyed it (surprise surprise from the man who still goes and buys a comic book every once and a while). With the success of comic book hero movies over the past decade, Marvel used the oldest trick in the book to make this movie the huge success it is - combine many great things into one great thing. Thor, Iron Man, The Hulk, Captain America, and throw in Hawkeye and Black Widow and you have an amazing line up of comic book heroes (The Avengers) and some great actors (and actresses - including Cobie Smulders who plays some prominent agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.).

The Avengers is a non-stop action type flick with some witty one-liners, in other words, a comic book brought to life on the big screen. The story line could be simplified to the following: the world is in danger from an evil villain and these super heroes have to band together to save the world. You don't really need to see the other movies before seeing this film, but I would highly recommend doing so (not just because they are great movies, but it will help you get some of the jokes throughout this film). For story line purposes, the movie Thor would be the most important in understanding the movie a bit more because the evil villain in this film is Loki (Thor's brother). If you were not a fan of Thor, I don't think you will enjoy this movie either (maybe you will a bit more than Thor, but since the story line is heavily based off of Thor...). The fact is, I love comic books and I love the movies that Marvel has done. This is definitely a winner in my book, and I'm not surprised that Disney confirmed The Avengers 2 is already in the works. There is also Iron Man 3 to look forward to next year and other sequels coming out like Thor 2 and Captain America 2. Stay 'till the credits are done to get a couple more quick clips. It looks like Thanos will be the next villain The Avengers will have to face (or he may end up in some of the other sequel movies before then). Thumbs up for The Avengers.

Lou Compared to Homer Simpson

I was recently compared to Homer Simpson and I was very flattered (Mmmmm....Fat). Other than the fact that we have a similar work environment, I'm overweight, and I'm on my way to baldness... Homer was once a food critic who gave reviews like me. Let me explain. Homer Simpson loves food, but not only that...he loves everything he eats. I guess you could say we are similar in this regard as well. Not only do I love food, but I love board games. Now, contrary to popular belief I bet there are some board games out there that I may not like so much - I just haven't played them yet. I own games that I really enjoy, and hence the good reviews (and if we learned anything from that Simpson's episode, bad reviews can bring some unwanted attention). I may start including more reviews from The Wife along with mine to give readers a different perspective now and again.

Day 13 - Animal Olympics
Designed by Heinz Meister
Illustrated by Uwe Schildmeier


With the London Summer Olympic Games starting July 27th, tonight The Wife and I played Animal Olympics. 2-4 players, ages 7 and up, and taking 5-10 minutes to play, this is a great little game for teaching children to think critically and about ordering with numbers. Each player is dealt eight cards, face down in front of them in a line. The goal of the game is to get the cards in order from the lowest on the left to the highest on the right. This is accomplished by drawing a card either from the discard pile or the draw pile and replacing one of the face down cards in front of you. The first player to successfully have 8 cards face up in the proper order wins the whole enchilada. The Wife and I played best of three. I won the gold medal. The game is a little too simple for my liking but is a great teaching tool for youngsters. I thoroughly enjoy the illustrations. The hippo in 31st place is my favorite and that is How Lou Sees It.