Betrayed

Day 59 - Betrayal at House on the Hill
Designed by Rob Daviau, Bruce Glassco, Bill McQuillan, Mike Selinker, and Teeuwynn Woodruff

"Betrayal" is a very unique game in which 3 to 6 players enter a very spooky house and go exploring. At first, the players are working together to explore the house and to try and collect items for future use. Eventually, something happens in the house that causes a player to become a traitor. At this point ("The Haunting"), the game becomes the traitor and the house (along with any other evil help that is given him/her) against the rest of the explorers (whom we will call heroes). One of the greatest elements of the game is the replay value. As players move throughout the house face down tiles are shuffled and chosen when walking through an open door. The house is very different each time the game is played. The Haunting could happen very early in the game or after a lengthy exploration period. Each triggered "Haunting" is usually different because there are lots of different stories or scenarios to be played out (each game the traitor will have a different goal with different help from the house and the heroes will have a certain way of winning as well). This game is especially fun to play a few times for a Halloween party, but is fun any time of the year. A lot of the scenarios are based off of horror movies or classic books and it is really fun to see who turns out to be the traitor and to find out what the game is going to be like after "The Haunting." The components are pretty good, but the game's room tiles tend to warp and the little plastic pieces that keep track of player's trait values are either too tight or way loose. I really enjoy the story feel of the game and the excitement of not knowing what's going to happen next. I myself became the traitor during tonight's game and was successful in using my demons and demon lord to kill off all the other players (sorry about that guys, nothing personal). So, the game definitely has a horror type ambiance that you will have to be comfortable with in order to enjoy the game. The scenarios are well done and you might just get a bit spooked - and that is How Lou Sees It.

Dominion

Day 58 - Dominion
Designed by Donald X. Vaccarino

What can I say about Dominion other than the fact that it is one of my favorite games. Dominion won the Spiel des Jahres (Game of the Year) award in 2009 and has won numerous other awards including a Mensa Select. The box might be a little misleading to some who are unfamiliar with the game. The game is actually a card game and the box is such to provide an organizational tray. The game is a deck building card game for 2 to 4 players and it takes about 30 minutes to play.

This game has a lot going for it. The actual game play is quite ingenious and yet really simple to learn. Players start with some victory point cards and money cards. Players then use these cards to purchase action cards or better money/victory cards. The player with the most victory points at the end of the game wins. So, the concept of the game is simple and so is the strategy, but the multiple different action cards make the game very interesting. You can't just buy up victory cards either, because you shuffle your cards and only draw 5 cards at a time for your turn. If you buy too many victory cards in the beginning of the game you won't really be able to purchase other cards because your hands will be full of victory cards. Anyway, there are 25 different kinds of action cards provided in the base game, and there are a plethora of expansions that add more action cards and/or add different types of cards to the game. There are so many different possibilities to play with because you only play with 10 different action cards each game. Dominion and its expansions are fabulous and I recommend the game to anyone and everyone and that is How Lou Sees It.