Area 42 Games

Vacation

jhines0042 — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 04:27:27 +0000

From May 4th through May 18th, Area 42 Games will be entering limited service due to vacation. You may feel free to order items from our store but those items will not be processed or shipped until after May 18th. We apologize for any inconvenience that this may cause, but it simply cannot be avoided.

Our game night on May 11th will still occur, this vacation affects only the online portions of Area 42 Games. Thank you, as always, for your support.

Photos of Game Nights

jhines0042 — Sun, 11 Mar 2012 04:35:16 +0000

We have some photos to share of our game night exploits courtesy of Chris Hines our resident photographer. To see them at their best I suggest friending us on Facebook or circling us on Google+. You also might want to follow us on Twitter @area42games, sometimes we post pictures there as well. Anyway, here is one to whet your appetite.

Puzzle Strike

jhines0042 — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 15:23:57 +0000

Puzzle Strike is a game that I have been enjoying recently. For those of you who have experience with Dominion or other deck building games the experience will be very similar, except that there are no cards. The whole game is played with round punchboard discs called chips. You will find yourself playing with the chips much like one would with poker chips. Shuffling involves dumping your chips into your bag and shaking it. This process is by itself very enjoyable and adds to the fun of this game. One other major difference from most other deck building games is that each player starts with a different character with different capabilities, represented by three unique chips you add to your starting deck. These powers make each player’s experience just different enough that it keeps things interesting. Oh, and you are also breaking up gems and “crashing” them at each other. If you have too many gems in your gem pile then you lose. For me this is an exciting new twist on the deck building genre and I look forward to playing it again soon.

Leaving Mundania by Lizzie Stark

larrywile — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 15:07:24 +0000

I have the privilege of announcing that Area 42 Games will be sponsoring Lizzie Stark’s DC stop on her Leaving Mundania book tour. As we learn more about exact dates and times, we’ll be certain to forward it on to our readers.

Be sure to check out her website with details on her upcoming book.

http://elizabethrstark.com/leaving-mundania/

Mysticon 2012

larrywile — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 14:58:55 +0000

We’re back from Mysticon 2012, recovering from our various ailments (you always get something at a con), and/or lack of sleep. This year was fantastic! We were set up in a corner of the dealer’s room and introduced our demo table to the world. The layout of our booth worked very well, allowing folks to browse as well as sit around our demo table and try the wide variety of new games we rolled out. Tsuro (while not brand new) certainly proved popular, as well as Puzzle Strike, Showbiz Shuffle (I really liked that game), Zombie Dice, and Eminent Domain. Our dice (including the fugly ones) proved a wild success. Our thanks go out to Necropolis Studios for letting us sell her bizarre goggles and boxes. They were certain an eye catcher and brought many a folk to our booth. I think our most talked about game was Win-Lose-Banana. We even ended up giving copies to the convention’s Guests of Honor, Richard Hatch and Nicki Clyne from Battlestar Galactica. They were both gracious enough to autograph some pics to Area42 Games, which shall now hang in our new Hall of Fame. If you come to one of our Meetups, check them out.

Overall, a fantastic experience. Our congratulations to John Meagher of Tales of the Left Hand fame. He was 1/3rd of the winning team in Mysticon’s Iron Author contest. His story about a sentient mohawk, cow tipping, and a kosher vampire is worth a read.

We’ll definitely be going back next year. Be sure to stop by and say hello.

Milkshake on Kickstarter

jhines0042 — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 13:58:24 +0000

A friend of ours makes music for kids … and now they have a Kickstarter campaign… you should back them: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1384545463/got-a-minute

Code Monkey Game Review

jhines0042 — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 04:27:59 +0000

The folks at Father Geek have done a review of Code Monkey which is a game designed by friend of Area 42 Games, Mike Young. We have a few copies for sale at our events but you can also check it out on The Game Crafter if you like.

White Elephant Party

larrywile — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 14:55:36 +0000

Last Friday, we had our First Annual Area 42 White Elephant Party at our weekly meetup.

It was a very amusing collection of gifts, from a magic staff to a waterfall made from candles. Oh, and a few games were in the mix as well.

Our thanks to all of our loyal friends and customers who made it a rousing success.

From the folks at Area 42 Games, we wish you all the happiest of holiday seasons and hope you have a wonderful New Year.

See you all again in 2012!

John Meagher reads for you on Psuedopod

jhines0042 — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 00:25:13 +0000

John Meagher has narrated a short horror story for Psuedopod this week. Give it a listen if that’s your taste, and drop a comment on the forum!

http://pseudopod.org/2011/11/18/pseudopod-256-repler/

Open Gaming and Super Sale on Friday 11/18/2011

jhines0042 — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 00:21:31 +0000

Don’t miss out on our last Super Sale night of the year. For full details and to RSVP, please visit our Meetup.com site!

Roller Derby and Book Reviews

jhines0042 — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 00:09:34 +0000

This weekend was a busy one for Area 42 Games. Friday night we had a game night and a super sale. It was so successful that we will be having another one on November 18th! Then Saturday we met up with a few folks to enjoy the DC Rollergirls at the Dulles Sportsplex. That was a lot of fun and I know at least some of use will be going again.

I also wanted to point people to Dust Jacket Wasteland where Rebecca has put up another book review. This one is of Shadowheart by Tad Williams.

Tales of the Left Hand: Book 3 sneak preview!

votishal — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 06:00:06 +0000

Tales of the Left Hand: Book 3, Sneak Preview

To celebrate “National Talk Like a Pirate Day” on Sept. 19th, here’s a scene from the in-progress Book Three. Enjoy!

TCEP Roundup

jhines0042 — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 23:41:13 +0000

We traveled to TCEP 18 this weekend, a gaming convention in Laurel Maryland, where we found many gamers doing what gamers do best, having fun. We were able to attend Sunday and Monday only (next year we will try to attend the whole event) but even within that time frame we had a blast. Sunday found John Meagher running a GURPS game set in the world of the Tales of the Left Hand. Apparently we were having a lot of fun because occasionally we attracted a crowd of people watching us. Sunday evening many of use played other games including the much played Innovation. Monday morning we got doughnuts (including some to share with the other con goers) and settled in for a day of gaming.

One feature that I was particularly interested in was Craig’s Chaos machine. I could have spent all weekend just playing with that. Sadly I didn’t actually get to add anything to it this time. (Next time… I’m planning ahead)

Area 42 would like to thank BarkingMad.org for hosting a great gaming convention and we hope that it continues for many years to come.

Arkham Horror First Timer

larrywile — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 15:48:26 +0000

I had the pleasure of finally getting to play a game of Arkham Horror this past Friday. I got to play Finn Edwards, the Bootlegger and started out ready to take on the Forces of Evil ™ with my Ancient Spear and Credit Rating (this will be explained later).

First off, let me clear the air. Upon seeing this game set up, it appeared to be incredibly overwhelming. There are a LOT of pieces. However, I had the luck of playing with several veterans, so things went quite smoothly. Within a turn or two, it was very easy to understand what was going on, and things went very well after that. Do not be discouraged by the supposed complexity of the game. It actually is quite a lot of fun. The rules are well written and were easy to understand and the board has clearly marked instructions for what to do.

Another very important aspect of the game is that it is cooperative. Everyone is working together with the same goal in mind: Don’t let (Insert Elder God Name Here) wake up and eat us all.

Each character has two main stats: Sanity and Stamina. Additionally, characters have access to Skills, Spells, Common Items, Unique Items, and Money. While I’m not going to go into much detail here, all of these are clearly spelled out on cards and very easy to use and/or manage. My Ancient Spear was a Unique Item and my Credit Rating was a Skill.

The goal (as I understood it) is to close a number of Gates (to a variety of Horrible Places ™) before the aforementioned Elder God wakes and eats everyone.

Alas, we were not successful in stopping the Elder God from waking up, however, in a final, cataclysmic battle, one lonely man, Dexter Drake the Magician, managed to survive long enough to defeat Abhoth (the Elder God). The rest of us got eaten.

The game has a number of expansions and is certainly an all-day affair if you decide to play. I enjoyed it immensely and due to the variety of characters, settings, Elder Gods, and other assorted baddies, it is a very different game each and every time you play it.

I give it four tentacles out of four.

Go Pods!

–Larry Wile

How to Play – Dixit

jhines0042 — Sun, 19 Jun 2011 17:08:01 +0000

Now for the second in our series of How to Play fliers, How to Play – Dixit

How to Play – Zombie Dice

jhines0042 — Sun, 12 Jun 2011 16:13:31 +0000

We recently started to make fliers to help people learn how to play new games when we are at events. The flier is a one page summary of what goes on during a game and also includes a statistics block to tell you how many players, how long it takes and what kind of game it is on the Complexity, Luck and player Interaction scales. The goal is actually to help someone understand the purpose of the game rather than to teach it completely.

I am attaching here the first of these files that we have created and will slowly be releasing more as time goes on. But with no further wait, I give you How to Play – Zombie Dice

Dixit Review

adamdrew3 — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 15:46:29 +0000

This past weekend, I was introduced to the game Dixit. It is a social or party game where the players are dealt cards that have art work on them. Kind of like Apples to Apples, one person is the judge or, in this case, storyteller. The storyteller picks an image in their hand and (without revealing it to anyone) says a word, phrase or sentence about the picture that describes it. The other players look at the cards in their hands and try to pick an image that best fits the storyteller’s phrase (word or sentence). Then the players and storyteller place the selected cards face down, ST shuffles them and then turns them face up. Then the players vote on the card that they think is the storyteller’s. If everyone guesses, the ST gets no points and everyone else gets 2 points. If no-one gets the storyteller’s card, the ST also gets 0 points and everyone else gets 2. So, the challenge is to make the phrase cryptic enough that not everyone gets it; but obvious enough that someone gets it. This was a great game! I played it three times and each game was vastly different. It is also challenging to turn a picture into 1000 not so obvious words. I think Dixit is fun, interactive, cerebral, and very re-playable. I would recommend this game to all of my friends and I hope to be playing it with them soon. Check it out if you are looking for something new to add to your collection.

Ill Wind Review on Dust Jacket Wasteland

jhines0042 — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 02:41:24 +0000

Check out the latest book review that Rebecca has posted on her book review blog!

What happens after the adventure…?

larrywile — Mon, 16 May 2011 18:54:23 +0000

This past Friday, I had the distinct pleasure of playing a game that ended up being a lot more fun than I initially thought it would be. That game was Red Dragon Inn.

The game is based on the premise that the players (2-4 for the basic set, an additional 4 characters are included in the expansion pack, Red Dragon Inn 2) are adventurers having just returned from a grand…well, adventure. Purses full and throats parched, they all sit down at the Red Dragon Inn and proceed to try to out drink and out gamble each other.

Each player is given a stack of character action cards, some gold, and a character card with 0-20 on printed on it. 20 is your starting health. Zero (0) is your starting alcohol content. If and when your health and alcohol content meet, you are fall down drunk (and possibly injured) and are removed from the game (taken to your room to sleep it off). Also, if you run out of gold, you are out of the game (thrown out of the inn). The goal is to be the last conscious person at the table.

The game is highly amusing, viciously cutthroat, and each character has their own actions, making them each quite unique.

I had the pleasure of playing Zot the Wizard and his familiar Pooky. I lost badly when Diedre the Priestess informed me that she wasn’t that kind of priestess and slapped me so hard I was knocked unconscious.

A fun game for those who are fans of tabletop roleplaying games, board games, and trash talking your opponents into submission.

I give it 4 tankards of dark stout (out of 4).

Happy Friday the 13th

jhines0042 — Fri, 13 May 2011 14:00:59 +0000

The weather outside is perfect for a Zombie Apocolypse. Hope everyone survives until next Friday when we are having another game day!

Happy Mother’s Day

jhines0042 — Sun, 08 May 2011 12:19:28 +0000

Area 42 Games would like to wish all of the moms in the world a happy Mother’s Day!

Alien Frontiers Review

jhines0042 — Sun, 24 Apr 2011 04:00:14 +0000

Alien Frontiers was cracked open and played tonight after dinner. There were three of us (Mark, Rebecca and myself) and we all enjoyed the game very much. Rebecca ended up winning (she has a knack for winning games the first time we play them) but it was a close game.

What is it though? Well, it is a space themed worker placement and resource management game. Your workers are “ships” that are represented by six sided dice. Each player starts with three ships and can build up to three more during the game. At the start of your turn you roll your dice. What numbers come up will influence where you can place your ships. Certain places have restrictions on the placement, others have a cost, some have both. For example, the Mining Station requires that you place a single die that is equal to or greater than any other dice present. Another location requires that you place a pair of equal numbered dice and the value show on one of the dice is the cost of using the space. But while there is a bit of randomness in your rolls I always felt like there was something that I could do to advance my goals.

I am looking forward to playing this one again, probably at Friday’s Open Game Night. It may even be my favorite worker placement game to date.

Tales of the Left Hand: Book 2, Epilogue

votishal — Sun, 17 Apr 2011 22:20:15 +0000

Tales of the Left Hand: Book 2, Epilogue

Open Game Night a Success

jhines0042 — Sat, 16 Apr 2011 05:06:54 +0000

Tonight we had about 15 people gather at our new location in Sterling above Affinity Computers for an open game night. Everyone had a great time (or were really good at pretending to have a great time) and the space accommodated us well. So we will be returning. But I wanted to say to everyone who came tonight: THANK YOU! You made tonight awesome!

So our next event is scheduled for two weeks out. See you all there!

Joe H.

Tales of the Left Hand: Book 2, Chapter 26

votishal — Sun, 10 Apr 2011 19:37:23 +0000

Tales of the Left Hand: Book 2, Chapter 26

Open Gaming Night moves to a new location

jhines0042 — Sat, 09 Apr 2011 03:45:24 +0000

Next Friday, April 15th, we will have another Open Gaming night, but make sure you sign up with us on meetup and check the new address. Here is the link: http://www.meetup.com/area42games/events/17081726/

Tales of the Left Hand: Book 2, Chapter 25

votishal — Sun, 03 Apr 2011 16:19:01 +0000

Tales of the Left Hand: Book 2, Chapter 25

Tales of the Left Hand: Book 2, Chapter 24

votishal — Sun, 27 Mar 2011 21:03:33 +0000

Tales of the Left Hand: Book 2, Chapter 24

Tales of the Left Hand: Book 2, Chapter 23

votishal — Sun, 20 Mar 2011 13:20:54 +0000

Tales of the Left Hand: Book 2, Chapter 23

Cargo Noir First Impressions

jhines0042 — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 03:43:31 +0000

Cargo Noir is the game I have chosen to play on my birthday next week. I like the theme, Days of Wonder games always impress me and it seemed like it would be fun. So tonight I opened the box up to get a head start on the rules.

Components: The first impression most games give people are by the look of the components. The box has great artwork that communicates the theme very well. That artwork is continued on the inside with the boards, the family cards, the coins, contraband, everything is top notch. The coins themselves appear to be casino size poker chips in both diameter and thickness (an important part of making the game easy to play as I will explain later) but don’t have the heft of a casino chip. Never the less I like the chips. They are double sided with a different image embossed on each side and I believe they will serve their purpose well. The boards, when lined up, have the feel of panels in a comic book. Each board is a port and each port is either open or closed based on the number of players. Some are open for 2 and 4, others for 3 and 5. This is a balancing mechanism for how many contraband are out at any given time and I believe it will work out well. The contraband comes with a nice draw string bag (with the Cargo Noir anchor logo on it) to allow you to randomly select them during game play. The cards are easy to understand and also have lovely art.

Rules: The rules are simple. One player starts and remains the first player for the duration of the game. First turn people only send out ships to ports. Most ships will get stacked on top of coins to indicate how much you want to pay for the goods in that port. After everyone has bid then the ships get resolved. If you are in a port, alone, on your turn then you get the goods for the price you set. If you are not alone you can opt to remove your ship and take your coin back or up your bid. You bid must exceed any other bid by at least one coin. After you resolve your ships you can spend your contraband to get victory points. The more contraband that you have the more points you can buy. You are generously rewarded for having multiple of the same kind of contraband instead of just quantity. Spent money goes into the common supply, spent contraband goes back in the bag. Ports that have been emptied get refilled and then you send your ships out to compete in other places. Next players turn.

I’m looking forward to trying it out next week, I believe that it will be a heck of a lot of fun!

Tales of the Left Hand: Book 2, Chapter 22

votishal — Sun, 13 Mar 2011 19:51:46 +0000

Tales of the Left Hand: Book 2, Chapter 22

Tales of the Left Hand: Book 2, Chapter 21

votishal — Sun, 06 Mar 2011 17:00:56 +0000

Tales of the Left Hand: Book 2, Chapter 21

Tales of the Left Hand: Book 2, Chapter 20

votishal — Sun, 27 Feb 2011 17:00:30 +0000

Tales of the Left Hand: Book 2, Chapter 20

Tales of the Left Hand: Book 2, Chapter 19

votishal — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 01:08:17 +0000

Tales of the Left Hand: Book 2, Chapter 19

Tales of the Left Hand: Book 2, Chapter 18

votishal — Sun, 13 Feb 2011 20:31:48 +0000

Tales of the Left Hand: Book 2, Chapter 18

Rebecca’s Picks February 2011

jhines0042 — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 14:29:38 +0000

Each month I look through Game Trade Magazine at the upcoming games. I like to read the descriptions and try to figure out whether I would like them or not. So, here is a list of the hopefuls for the upcoming months with a short description (in my own words) and my hopes or thoughts on the game.
Be advised, I am not big on war games.

Cargo Noir – by Days of Wonder:

It is described as an auction game that is easy to learn but could take a while to master. The description has that Euro games quality: you collect cards and some of them give you immediate benefits; but not so much for the end of game victory. Some of the cards give no immediate benefit; but play a key part in victory at the end of the game. The theme is the 1950’s Film Nior style, one of my personal favorite. I have high hopes for this game. I like all of the Days of Wonder stuff we have played thus far. Cargo Noir will be available in February 2011.

Thunderstone – by AEG:

I just saw a one page ad for this game. It said, “Shuffle – Kill – Repeat” and “Deckbuilding with a purpose”. It looks like it might be similar to Dominion- by Rio Grande. The art work looks pretty cool, too, at least from what they show in the ad. This game was released in 2009 and it had a new expansion that was released late in 2010.

BASH! RPG core rules – by Cubicle 7:

I know I don’t really need to be in another role playing game; but . . . BASH! looks interesting. It is a Superhero RPG and was an ENnie nominee for Best Rules. I have been looking for a role playing game for Superheroes that doesn’t require you to know calculus just to create a character. GURPS is great; but sometimes I am looking for a narrower scope for character selection. I am going to check this out and if it looks good, there may be a BASH! game in my future. It will be available in April 2011.

The Castle of the Devil – by Dvgiochi

This looks like a game of intrigue and “Secret Societies”. The review I read said that this is a “combination of teamwork, deduction and bluffing.” It is supposed to have the same style of gameplay that BANG! has. Basically players are trying to find out which of the other players are members of the same secret society by spying, trading an object or dueling. The players collect various items that are required for victory. This is on my list of things I definitely want to play. It is available now.

Florenza – by Elfinworks:

This is a Renaissance themed game about wealthy rulers who are trying to get famous artists to create masterworks of art in their names. It looks interesting to me and I’d like to learn more about the game play. Available now.

Parsley #1 – Action Castle:

This was described as “a new style of social gaming inspired by old-school computer text adventures like Zork.” This looks like it might be a light-hearted fun game. It will be available in March 2011.

Loco Motive – by Playroom Entertainment:

This game looks interesting because you have teams of two. One person of the team controls where the passengers will sit and one person is the conductor who directs the passengers to their seats. The thing is the conductor uses words in languages he does not speak in order to get the passengers to their seats. I think this might be good for lots of laughs. It is available now.

Tales of the Left Hand: Book 2, Chapter 17

votishal — Sun, 06 Feb 2011 17:39:52 +0000

Tales of the Left Hand: Book 2, Chapter 17

Unhallowed Metropolis News!

jhines0042 — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 19:21:35 +0000

Jason Soles, Nicole Vega, and all of New Dark Age are pleased to announce the upcoming release of the Revised Edition of Unhallowed Metropolis, the gasmask-chic role-playing game of neo-Victorian horror. In association with Atomic Overmind Press, New Dark Age has revisited, revised, and renewed Unhallowed Metropolis. For full details, visit their press release.

Tales of the Left Hand: Book 2, Chapter 16

votishal — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 00:42:31 +0000

Tales of the Left Hand: Book 2, Chapter 16

Tales of the Left Hand: Book 2, Chapter 15

votishal — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 02:22:34 +0000

Tales of the Left Hand: Book 2, Chapter 15

Tales of the Left Hand: Book 2, Chapter 14

votishal — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 01:48:05 +0000

Tales of the Left Hand: Book 2, Chapter 14

Mysticon Dealer’s List is Up

jhines0042 — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 05:03:08 +0000

As you may already be aware, Area 42 Games is going to be traveling to Roanoke at the end of February to set up shop at Mysticon. The good folks at Mysticon have just released the vendor list, so check that out. Also, if you can make it down you will get to meet Mr. John Meagher of Tales of the Left Hand fame.

Hope to see some of you there!

Pre-order Cargo Noir

jhines0042 — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 00:04:17 +0000

Area 42 Games is now taking pre-orders for Cargo Noir from Days of Wonder.

Cargo Noir is a game of illicit trading in which players run “families” who traffic in smuggled goods. Designed by Serge Laget, the game takes place in the thrilling and evocative setting of 1950′s film noir.

Game play revolves around a changing set of notorious smuggling ports around the world, each filled with contraband. Players dispatch cargo ships loaded with gold to these ports – hoping to acquire goods that will later be traded for Victory Spoils.

Cargo Noir is quickly learned, but offers many routes to victory; and is the rare trading game that works equally well with 2 players as well as more.

Minimum Players: 2
Maximum Players: 5
Mfg Suggested Ages: 8 and up
Playing Time: 60

Van Helsing

jhines0042 — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 15:51:58 +0000

Now taking orders for Van Helsing

From the designer of Nuns on the Run and Bacchus’ Banquet! A team of vampire hunters, with its leader Doctor Van Helsing, prepare for a fierce battle with Count Dracula. Explore Dracula’s castle to find the equipment necessary to properly outfit the team. But, beware Dracula – he is able to disappear and appear suddenly! Should he catch you unawares, he can turn you into a vampire and have you join his side!

In Van Helsing, one player plays Dracula, moving through his castle searching for his brides. The other players portray Van Helsing and his associates, trying to avoid being bitten and searching for weapons and equipment that will help them defeat Dracula. Players bitten by Dracula become his minions and assist in catching the other players. Will Van Helsing and his brave team of vampire hunters stop Dracula before he can return his brides to his coffin or will them become his minions? Scheduled to ship in January.

Minimum Players: 2
Maximum Players: 5
Mfg Suggested Ages: 10 and up
Playing Time: 45

Now on Twitter

jhines0042 — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 04:14:59 +0000

Area 42 Games is now on Twitter. If you are a Twitter user, make sure to start following us @area42games

Tales of the Left Hand: Book 2, Chapter 13

votishal — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 03:21:29 +0000

Tales of the Left Hand: Book 2, Chapter 13

Pirate Fluxx Review

jhines0042 — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 14:50:53 +0000

I got my first chance to play Pirate Fluxx tonight. I had a blast (although my throat is a bit sore from talking like a pirate all night… arrrr!)

Game play is simple if you have already played Fluxx or one of its variants. If not, here is a summary:

You start with three cards. The rules at the beginning of the game are Draw 1 and Play 1. So you draw a card and then you play a card. Where it gets interesting is when you realize that the cards you play are New Rule cards that change the rules of the game.

For example, at one point tonight we had “Draw 4, Play All, Long Live the Captain (+1 draw and +1 play if the Captain’s Hat is in play), Outrageous Accent (+1 draw if you speak like a pirate, +2 if you’ve been doing it since your last turn), and Swap Plays for Draws” all in play at once. This set of rules means that at the start of your turn you would draw 6 cards (7 if you’ve been speaking like a pirate since the last turn) then you would play as many of those cards as you wanted to (Play All normally would force you to play all of them but the Swap Plays for Draws causes an exception to occur) and the count how many cards are left in your hand and draw that many.

As you can see, this gets crazy.

So, how do you win? Simple, someone at some point, will play a Goal card. If anyone meets the conditions of that Goal card they win immediately. In Pirate Fluxx the Goals include things like “Powder Monkey” (you have the gunpowder and the money keepers in front of you) and “Armada” (Have at least 3 ship keepers in front of you).

There are also action cards that mix things up like “Steal a Keeper” or “Draw 2 and use em”, whose effects should be clear from their titles.

Two things Pirate Fluxx has that are not in regular Fluxx. Creepers (only two, Scurvy and Shackles) and Surprise cards.

Surprise!

Surprise cards are new to the Fluxx family with Pirate Fluxx. These cards are the first time that you have been able to play OUT OF TURN in Fluxx. There are only 3 of them in the deck so they don’t come up often, but when they do they are very useful. Essentially you can play them like a regular action on your turn to steal a keeper or cancel a rule or action card, OR you can play them on someone else’s turn to steal a keeper or cancel a rule or action card _before_ it takes effect!

How does it compare:

Compared to the other versions of Fluxx this promises to be the craziest one yet. With some of the new “New Rules” cards plus the use of the Surprise cards it plays very nicely indeed and although it may be crazy it also feels well balanced!

Tales of the Left Hand: Book 2, Chapter 12

votishal — Mon, 03 Jan 2011 03:09:34 +0000

Tales of the Left Hand: Book 2, Chapter 12

…and we’re back

jhines0042 — Tue, 28 Dec 2010 16:12:15 +0000

Just a quick update for those who may have noticed our outage. We were hacked. To put it more correctly, our service provider was hacked and our site got compromised as a result. Thankfully we don’t keep any credit card information so no real damage has resulted from this.

To resolve this problem we had to re-home our site to area42games.org temporarily and then move the .com to a new hosting provider. We have been back online for a few days now and everything is running smoothly.

So, what games are you looking to play in the new year?

Tales of the Left Hand: Book 2, Chapter 11

votishal — Mon, 27 Dec 2010 20:58:58 +0000

Tales of the Left Hand: Book 2, Chapter 11

Tales of the Left Hand: Book 2, Chapter 10

votishal — Sun, 19 Dec 2010 17:00:29 +0000

Tales of the Left Hand: Book 2, Chapter 10

Temporary New Location

jhines0042 — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 05:43:45 +0000

Due to the recent hacker activity and incompetence by our former hosting company (name available upon request), we have gotten ourselves a new hosting company. To ease the testing phase we have also secured a new domain name for temporary use. Area 42 Games dot Org is our temporary home and should stay functional once we get the .com name cleaned up and hosted on our new provider.

So fear not, we are on top of this hack job and are working hard to keep all of us safe.

Tales of the Left Hand: Book 2, Chapter 9

votishal — Sun, 12 Dec 2010 17:00:00 +0000

Tales of the Left Hand: Book 2, Chapter 9

Tales of the Left Hand: Book 2, Chapter 8

votishal — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 00:31:41 +0000

Tales of the Left Hand: Book 2, Chapter 8

Alien Frontiers

jhines0042 — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 15:48:10 +0000

Now taking pre-orders for the second print run of Alien Frontiers. Second print run is due out in March, but this is shaping up to be one of the best new games of 2010, so get your order in now.

Tales of the Left Hand: Book 2, Chapter 7

votishal — Mon, 29 Nov 2010 02:31:46 +0000

Tales of the Left Hand: Book 2, Chapter 7

Tales of the Left Hand: Book 2, Chapter 6

votishal — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 01:36:24 +0000

Tales of the Left Hand: Book 2, Chapter 6

Coins! Coins! Coins!

jhines0042 — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 18:24:36 +0000

What self respecting adventurer goes to the local tavern and has a scribe write down how much loot he, or she, gained in the dark nasty places? None! So why should you keep track of your character’s loot on paper when these coins are available instead? There are Copper coins, Silver coins, Gold coins and Platinum coins in small (1, 2 and 5) and large (10, 50, 100) denominations, suitable for any level of money tracking.

And don’t let these coins languish in a dice bag just because you aren’t playing your favorite RPG. Bring them out for keeping score while playing some euro games!

Each set comes with four coins of each of the three values for a total of twelve coins per set.

Here are the links to the larger denomination sets: Copper 5, 10 and 50 coins, Silver 5, 10 and 50 coins,
Gold 5, 10 and 50 coins and Platinum 5, 10 and 50 coins

Euro Quest 2010 Photos on Flickr

jhines0042 — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 14:11:07 +0000

There is a great collection of photos of the Euro Quest gaming action here on Flickr. In particular you might recognize these people

Paizo’s RPG Superstar

larrywile — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 13:18:07 +0000

Ladies and Gentlemen, gamers of all ages, step right up! Behold the weird and wild world of wondrous items! Don’t like what you see? Well, why don’t you come up with an idea on your own! That’s what Paizo Publishing is asking for in their latest press release. Paizo’s RPG Superstar program is an open call for a new wondrous item. Have a new idea that’s been itching at the back of your brain to get out? Want to potentially see that cool wondrous item you thought up in tenth grade come to life? Well, put in your submissions soon.

Full details at the link below:

http://paizo.com/rpgsuperstar

I also highly recommend reading the general discussion forums for the ever growing list of auto-reject items. Link below:

http://paizo.com/paizo/messageboards/paizoPublishing/rpgsuperstar/general

Good luck, all!

Tales of the Left Hand: Book 2, Chapter 5

votishal — Sun, 14 Nov 2010 21:40:23 +0000

Tales of the Left Hand: Book 2, Chapter 5

Tales of the Left Hand: Book 2, Chapter 4

votishal — Sun, 07 Nov 2010 22:09:30 +0000

Tales of the Left Hand: Book 2, Chapter 4

My Thoughts on Euro Quest VIII

adamdrew3 — Sun, 07 Nov 2010 04:20:18 +0000

Here are some of my thoughts about my experience:

First of all, it was awesome to meet so many people who were nice, friendly and wanting to play games with us. So many people were eager to learn and teach new games, it was very cool. Thanks to the Games Club of Maryland for putting on an excellent event!

I learned to play Agricola, Globalization, Eleminis and Illium. In addition I got to teach and/or play Dominion, Zombie Dice, Fluxx, and Eleminis.

The folks we met made a point of dropping by and watching or joining in our games. I was pleasantly surprised at how many folks looked for us again after we played games with them. This was a very cool and unique experience for me.

We got two great compliments as well. First, I was wearing my Area 42 shirt and someone said, “Area 42, hey, we know you guys.” So I went over and chatted with them some. Turns out, Joe had met them at a meetup group and they remembered Area 42.

Later we were checking out one of the games that Joe had a chance to play and some of the folks said, “Hey, we saw your car (with the Area 42 logo) and we knew you were from our area. So, thanks to John Meagher for making a great and reccognizable logo.

So, in closing, if you like to play board games and are not too far from Baltimore, this is an event you will want to attend next year. It is family friendly, new board gamer friendly and tons of fun. We are definitely putting it on our calendar for next year.

Thanks for reading,

Rebecca

Euro Quest VIII Report

jhines0042 — Sat, 06 Nov 2010 14:54:33 +0000

Armed to the teeth with excitement and a wheelie cart full of games my intrepid partner Rebecca and I travelled to Pikesville Maryland on Thursday night. Upon arrival we found a small horde of very friendly gamers eager to teach us games like 7 Wonders and others.

With our late arrival we had enough time to unwind before entering the first heat of the Dominion Tournament. In the tournament they allowed the base Dominion game plus the Intrigue and Seaside expansions. Tables were randomly assigned and game play began. Need I mention that there were at least 10 four player games going on at once? The format had four players playing two games back to back. Your finishing place in each game determined your points and high point players could advance to the finals. Rebecca did much better than I did, finishing second twice, but unfortunately that was not enough to get her into the finals.

We will update this story again today after more gaming. Reporting to you, semi-live, from Euro Quest VIII, this is Joe Hines.

Tales of the Left Hand: Book 2, Chapter 3

votishal — Sun, 31 Oct 2010 21:21:20 +0000

Tales of the Left Hand: Book 2, Chapter 3

Tales of the Left Hand – Book 2

votishal — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 23:14:38 +0000

Welcome back! I’m proud to announce the release of Book 2 of Left Hand. Once more, swords will be drawn and secrets will be revealed as our two heroes, Tesca and Kayrla, engage in further adventures in service to their sworn liege, the Duke of Kohaya.

Chapters will once again be released on a weekly basis, both in MP3 and PDF formats! Book 1 is available as well, if this is your first visit to the world of Left Hand.

Enjoy!

- John Meagher -

Tales of the Left Hand: Book 2, Chapter 2

votishal — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 22:52:47 +0000

Tales of the Left Hand: Book 2, Chapter 2

Tales of the Left Hand: Book 2, Chapter 1

votishal — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 22:37:43 +0000

Tales of the Left Hand: Book 2, Chapter 1

American Go Association Chapter formed

jhines0042 — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 17:37:24 +0000

Area 42 Games is pleased to announce the formation of the Area 42 Games American Go Association Chapter! If you would like to join the American Go Association you can join through Area 42 Games and get a 50% discount on your membership for up to two years. Membership with the discount is $15 for one year or $30 for two years. Renewals after that are $30 per year.

So come on out for our Go Game nights, play some Go, get ranked with the American Go Association and have some fun! (Membership in the American Go Association is not required to attend our Go nights, but is required to get an official ranking)

John Meagher to be a Special Guest at Mysticon

jhines0042 — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 04:01:56 +0000

Mysticon, which will occur February 25th through 27th, 2011, will have a special guest this year who is very special in our eyes. John Meagher, author, voice actor and graphics designer is a long time friend of Area 42 Games and also happens to have designed our logo and most of the other graphics on our site. Here is John’s Bio excerpt from the Mysticon website:

John Meagher is the writer and narrator of Tales of the Left Hand, a fantasy series released as a weekly podcast, which can be found at www.talesofthelefthand.com. In addition to producing Left Hand, John has narrated several audiobooks for HarperAudio, most recently

Introducing the Dominion Bundle

jhines0042 — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 15:11:06 +0000

Area 42 is pleased to re-introduce the updated Dominon Bundle. This 2009 winner of the prestigious Spiel des Jahres and Deutscher Spiele Preis awards has been bundled with all of its expansions (Dominion: Intrigue, Dominion: Seaside, Dominion: Alchemy and Dominion: Prosperity) into one package. When purchased together in this fashion you will receive ~~15% off~~ 20% off the list price for a total savings of $41.95!

Welcome to October!

jhines0042 — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 15:24:08 +0000

It’s October first, do you know where your game store is?

This has been an exciting year so far for Area 42 Games. We have completely redone our web site including the new look and feel that you should all be familiar with by now as well as new online shopping options. We started hosting meetup events and have made many new friends. We can now accept credit cards in person! And last, but not least, we have had tons of fun doing it.

Now we are starting to look towards the end of this year and the first half of next year. In 2011 you should expect to see us do many more meetup events, go to a few conventions (some as vendor, some as guests) and continue to work towards producing our own games. We hope that you will continue to take this journey with us, the trip is more exciting with wonderful people to share it with.

Pay with a Credit Card

jhines0042 — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 13:45:27 +0000

Area 42 can now accept credit card payments in person!

Thanks to a new company, Square, we are able to accept any US-issued credit, debit, pre-paid, or gift card with a Visa, MasterCard, American Express, or Discover logo!

As soon as our card reader arrives (hopefully this week) we will simply enter the price of your items, swipe your credit card, and then we will ask you to enter your email address and sign. The email address will be used to email you a link to your receipt.

This capability will greatly improve our ability to serve you, our customers.

Saturday, September 25th Game Day in Ashburn/Sterling

larrywile — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 13:21:42 +0000

Area 42 Games has been asked to set up our store at the Ashburn-Sterling Masonic Lodge Fundraiser Games Day on Saturday, September 25th.

** The lodge is running this fundraiser event and there will be an entrance fee charged by the lodge of $5.**

Area 42 Games will have our store set up in the gaming room and will be donating a portion of our proceeds to the lodge to help their fund raising efforts.

The address is 43881 Waxpool Rd, Ashburn, VA 20147 and the phone number is 703-470-2188.

Doors open at 10:00AM. Stop by and enjoy a day full of gaming goodness. Be sure to stop by our store and take a look.

See you on Saturday!

Fool your friends with Fictionaire

jhines0042 — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 14:46:37 +0000

Are you good at spotting a fibber? Can you tell when your leg is being pulled? Perhaps you can make up an answer to any question and sound credible? Then you should check out the game Fictionaire from Days of Wonder!

In Fictionaire, players make up a bogus definition or fake answer for a word or question asked by the game

What’s that funny box???

jhines0042 — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 14:38:32 +0000

So there you are, browsing around your favorite game store website when you see it. A funny looking box of black and white on the web page. You try to ignore it but for some reason you just cannot. What is this thing? Why is it sitting there with no explanation?

That funny box is a QR code.

QR Codes are extremely popular on the world stage and are gaining in popularity in the US as well. Essentially it is a way to encode a URL into an image so that you can take a picture of it with your cell phone and suddenly get to the web page. It is a way to link physical objects to their internet information pages.

How are we using them at Area 42? Well, for one thing we think they look cool. For another, we plan to start using these QR codes on our product pages as well as on the products themselves. So if you are at one of our events and have an iPhone or other smart phone and would like to know more about a product, simply snap a picture of it and you will get to our webpage telling you all about it. This is about convenience for you! Additionally if someone were to print off our web page, the QR code will be there allowing that print out to serve as a link back to us.

So do not be afraid of the strange little box. Its not going to steal your soul or cause you to lose during a game of Paranoia. But it will be there to guide you to the information you need when you need it.

–Joe H.

Search Engine Upgraded

jhines0042 — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 18:07:08 +0000

Ok, so this is probably only interesting to me, but over the past couple of days I have added some more functionality to the search engine used for Area 42 Games. Now you should be able to see pictures and prices right in the search results and links that will take you to meetup (which is still mostly not under our control) will have the meetup logo prominently displayed.

We have also cleaned up a lot of the results pages to reduce duplication where possible. There is still more to be done there, but I think its gotten a lot better.

Let me know what you think of the new search results!

Joe H.

Summer Game Day Recap

larrywile — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 15:54:13 +0000

On Sunday, August 29th, Area42 and crew got together for our Summer Game Day. This time, our games focused on set collection, so we previewed Tribune, Set, and Zombie Dice.

I had not had the pleasure of playing Tribune until the night before the Game Day, and I must say that I was impressed. At first, it seemed VERY overwhelming with so many pieces, but within a turn, I understood what was going on and by the end, only lost by a single victory point. I recommend the game for friends who have about two hours to spend.

Set is a card game of (you guessed it) set collection. Cards with various shapes, colors, and shading are placed on the table and the goal is to make a set of 3 out of what you see displayed. The game is a real thrill for those who are good at visual acuity tests. Not so much for those of us who aren’t as fast on the visual uptake as others. It’s an easy game to learn, a fast game to play, and a fun 15-30 minutes to spend with friends.

Zombie Dice is arguably the easiest game I’ve ever learned to play this side of Rock-Paper-Scissors. The game takes less than a minute to learn and less than ten to win (or die horribly at the hands of shotgun wielding survivors).

Additionally, several other games were played and enjoyed. Imperial, Trans America, Cthulhu Dice, Soaps, and Hive. If you’re not sure what these games are, be sure to attend our next Game Day where we’ll preview three games (board, card, and party), and sample the great selection we have at Area42 Games. See you then.

–Larry Wile

Fluxx Promo Cards

jhines0042 — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 03:02:37 +0000

Want to get one of these sweet cards for yourself? Let me know! We’ll be giving these away at our meetup events as well as free with any purchase.

-Joe H.

Announcing the Pathfinder Bundle

jhines0042 — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 14:13:15 +0000

To celebrate the release of the new Pathfinder RPG Advanced Player’s Guide we are offering a special bundle. Get the Pathfinder RPG Core Rulebook and the Advanced Player’s Guide together and save 15% off the price of each!

Back to the Future Demo

jhines0042 — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 17:38:42 +0000

I am very happy to share the news that Area 42 will be receiving early demo copies of Back to the Future: The Card Game from Looney Labs the makers of Fluxx. This game uses the unique game play mechanisms invented for Chrononauts but set in the world of Back to the Future. You, the player, will take on the role of one of the descendants of the characters from the movie and travel back in time to make sure the events in the movies take place as they should.

We will let you know when the demo games arrive and we will set up a special meetup to try it out. Watch this space for more information.

Congratulations to Annika

jhines0042 — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 15:44:33 +0000

Annika won the drawing for a free copy of Fluxx! Congratulations to her.

Keep an eye on this space for future contests and please recommend Area 42 Games to your friends and grow our numbers!

Win a Free Game!

jhines0042 — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 23:15:17 +0000

Do you want to win a free game? We will be pulling a name out of the hat at the end of July and announcing the winner of a free game. How do you enter? Simply be a member of our meetup group on July 31st (http://www.meetup.com/area42games). We will contact the winner and arrange to get the game delivered and then we will announce who the winner is. What game are we giving away? Well, that’s a secret for now, but I will tell you this, the more people in our meetup group the bigger game we can give away, so tell your friends to join!

Also Announcing the Settlers of Catan Bundle

larrywile — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 15:09:23 +0000

Area 42 is pleased to announce the Settlers of Catan Bundle. This bundle includes the 2005 Games Magazine Hall of Fame awarded Settlers of Catan, (plus 5/6 player exp), Catan: Seafarers (plus 5/6 player exp), and Catan: Cities and Knights (plus 5/6 player exp). When you purchase this bundle you will receive 15% off the purchase price of the base game and each expansion for a total savings of $27.90

Announcing the Small World Bundle

jhines0042 — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 13:37:28 +0000

Area 42 is pleased to announce the Small World Bundle. This bundle includes the 2010 Games Magazine game of the year award winning Small World along with its three expansions, Cursed, Grand Dames and the newly released Tales and Legends. When you purchase this bundle you will receive 15% off the purchase price of the base game and each expansion for a total savings of $12.75!

First time customer discount

jhines0042 — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 04:05:21 +0000

Area 42 has long had a policy of giving first time customers 10% off their first purchase.

Now that we have a new storefront we have a great way for you to take advantage of this offer. Simply put some games into your shopping cart and when checking out add the discount code “NEW42″ to your order. You will get 10% off your order and some new games to boot!

Since we have a new store now your old account will no longer work. However that also means that all of you are considered new customers! So go ahead and use your 10% discount code for something really good. Don’t see what you want in the store yet? Use the Contact Us form to request that we add the products. We should be able to add them in quickly so that you can make your purchase.

Online Store is Live

jhines0042 — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 02:51:48 +0000

The online store is live now and working. We will be asking folks who want to purchase items to use the store just so we can continue to work out any potential kinks, but right now you can order from Area 42 Games, specify shipping via USPS or that you wish to arrange to pick your items up and then you can either pay us via PayPal or you can pay us when you pick your items up.

Please let us know what you think of our new site!

Wooden Board Games Night, June 25th

jhines0042 — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 04:14:09 +0000

Join us for our next meetup on June 25th. The theme is, essentially, games made from higher quality materials.

Check it out at our Meetup Group

Welcome to Area 42 Games, Again

jhines0042 — Sun, 06 Jun 2010 22:58:15 +0000

Over the last few weeks, Area 42 Games has undergone an online face lift. We now have a new storefront with the shopping cart and payments handled through Amazon’s highly trusted and secure payments system. This represents the first time that Area 42 Games is truly selling online! We also have new blog software that should be less prone to spam and easier to navigate for our community. Last but not least we have our Meetup group that we are using to schedule our in house events.

So let us know what you think of our new look and feel! We will be loading up our full inventory of games for sale as soon as possible and we should start seeing some reviews of our games posted both in the storefront (by you, the community) and here in our community section by the staff of the store. Check back often and happy gaming!

Area 42 Games Site Redesign

admin — Sun, 06 Jun 2010 14:50:34 +0000

Area 42 is currently rebuilding a newer, hopefully better, website experience. If you happen to encounter sudden changes in cabin pressure, have an uncontrollable urge to hurl things across the room, or suddenly want to hide under your bed, chances are none of those things are related.

But if you get errors on the web pages, please hang in there, chances are we know it is broken and are working to fix it.

Area 42 Games is on Meetup.com!

admin — Mon, 10 May 2010 16:58:30 +0000

Click here to check out
Area 42 Games on Meetup.com!

Area 42 Games is proud to announce that we are now organizing Game Days and Game Nights through Meetup.com!

http://www.meetup.com/area42games/

This should allow us to reach a broader audience of gamers and bring in more new friends for everyone. So join us there and get in on the gaming action!

RIP Martin Bosworth

admin — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 15:27:02 +0000

I first met Martin through the Night Falls LARP and I cannot recall exactly when. He managed to always be very interesting which is hard to do in a crowd full of interesting people. Always well spoken, always generous and always remembered.

Martin was a gamer, a geek, an advocate for those whose own voices were not usually heard. He was a sounding board, a shoulder, a bear of a hug, a distinctive laugh and smile. He could argue a wall into moving if he needed to. Most of all though he was a friend. Excited about life, open about his challenges in the hopes that he could help others overcome theirs and always willing to listen to your side even if he disagreed.

Martin was a unique individual and the world is diminished with his passing.

April 17th Games Day

admin — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 02:52:33 +0000

Area 42 Games will be hosting a Games Day on April 17th, 2010.

Featured games are Race for the Galaxy, Smash or Trash and Triplica!

Doors open at 11 am and will close sometime around 6 pm unless we are having so much fun that we just keep going. As usual we will have a nice discount provided for our featured games as well as first time customer discounts. Also do not forget that we have a door prize which generally is your choice of one of the featured games!

To RSVP and for address and directions, please email jhines0042 at gmail dot com.

Hope to see you there!

Pathfinder RPG Restock

admin — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 04:03:55 +0000

We just received our latest shipment of games and in that were several copies of the Core Pathfinder RPG rules.

So let me know if you want a copy! That is all.

Happy Halloween!

admin — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 12:33:13 +0000

We hope that everyone has a safe and happy Halloween.

Small World is Games Magazine's Game of the Year

admin — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 16:36:21 +0000

Congratulations to Days of Wonder and Small World Designer Philippe Keyaerts for winning Games Magazine's Game of the Year award for 2010.

In celebration of this achievement we will be offering Small World for 25% off through the end of the year. We have a few left in stock so hurry up and get your copy.

I should also point out that there are two upcoming expansions for Small World that add new Races and Special Abilities to the game. Each expansion is only $10 and make a great game even better.

Tales of the Left Hand: Book One: Chapters 31-Epilogue

votishal — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 17:01:06 +0000

Tales of the Left Hand: Book 1, Chapters 31-Epilogue

Tales of the Left Hand: Book One: Chapters 21-30

votishal — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 17:01:24 +0000

Tales of the Left Hand: Book 1, Chapters 21-30

Tales of the Left Hand: Book One: Chapters 11-20

votishal — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 17:01:14 +0000

Tales of the Left Hand: Book 1, Chapters 11-20

Tales of the Left Hand: Book One: Chapters 1-10

votishal — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 17:01:42 +0000

Tales of the Left Hand: Book 1, Chapters 1-10