Fugdale’s Funhouse

Object: Capture all the areas of the board by rolling higher dice totals than your opponents.

Review: Dice Wars plays very similar to the board game RISK. You start with a map of several neighboring territories and each one has a color and a random number of dice on it. On your turn you click on a territory and then attack a neighboring territory. An attack consists of rolling all the dice on your territory against all the dice on your neighbor’s territory. Whoever rolls the highest total number wins the battle. If you win, you leave one die in your attacking territory and all the other dice move in and occupy your neighbor’s territory. If you lose an attack, you lose all but one die and your neighbor remains on the attacked space. You cannot attack with just one die on a territory.

You can make several attacks each turn, until you don’t have any moves left or until you feel comfortable with the number of dice you have on each space. Then your opponent(s) each take their turns and try to attack your dice. After each round of attacks, the game will replenish your territories randomly with a certain number of dice based on how many successful attacks you made. The game has a few options. For instance, you can choose to play with one to seven other opponents and you can also choose wether or not you will play first. I found the games with more than 2 other opponents very difficult to win, sometimes you get wiped off the map before you even get a second turn. The games with fewer opponents play a little better, but even those can get difficult and often the game feels like a back and forth battle with neither side gaining much ground. But if you stick with it and plan your moves nicely you will prevail at least half the time. The game uses a good balance of strategy and luck.

Object: Seat all you party guest around the table so everyone sits next to someone they like.

Review: You are the host of a dinner party and you must seat all your guests around the dinner table so that each of them sits next to someone they like. In this card game the dinner table varies from level to level. Sometimes it is a big square and other times it is divided into rows of tables. Each guest is a playing card divided diagonally into separate colors. You must place each card next to a matching color in order to form a pair of mutually suitable guests.

You start with just three cards to place and as you place guests at the table your supply of cards will replenish from the deck. You have a few random wild cards thrown in for those difficult situations. Additionally, you have five chances to refresh all your available cards.

Once you place a guest at a space, they are considered a guest at the party. You can move guests around as needed, but they will remain at the table once they are placed. Due to the luck of the draw you will often find yourself in impossible situations, but if you think ahead a bit, you should be able to throw a few successful parties without angering the guests.

The design of this game is very 50’s retro, with muted colors and odd shaped faces. As each level progresses, the table layout will change providing new challenges. This game is easy to pick up, addictive and difficult to master. But if you put your Martha Stewart skills to work you can complete all 8 dinner table scenarios in no time.

Object: Get the Adachi Family to the giant Glass of Milk on the 3-D Island while avoiding the cops.

Review: This game is one of the most amazing graphical board games I have ever seen available for free online. The four members of the criminal Adachi Family are on a hunt to steal the large glass of milk stationed at the top of the island’s central mountain. After all, they need milk for strong bones and healthy teeth and the authorities don’t want them to have it.

This is actually a giant board game with looks reminiscent of the Game of Life by Milton Bradley. The family are in a miniature van which you control by rolling a die. The van moves forward along a path of spaces. Each space is either a fortune space, which moves you forward; a misfortune space, which moves you back; a challenge space, where you have to answer a trivia question quickly to advance; or a Hot Pursuit Space; where you must complete a challenging mini-game to avoid being captured by the police.

That’s right, the police do not want you to get to the milk and they are hot on your tail from the beginning of the game. The luck of the die and the extra spaces on the board will hopefully set you far ahead of the police car. The police car gets a chance to roll the die every time you roll it, so you have to roll high or they will catch up. When they catch you they helicopter you off to Milkatraz Prison where you must make bail, serve your sentence and lose a life, or risk escape by spinning a giant wheel of fortune.

If you manage to make it through all the areas of the board you will win, but this game requires a good deal of luck and a lot of various skills and brain power. It doesn’t seem to have any save points, so you must play it all in one sitting. The game doesn’t always seem fair. The first of the Hot Pursuit Challenges is enough to make you give up altogether and the Milkatraz Prison happens far too often and you almost always lose a life when you go. You only have 3 lives and the police can catch you so easily.

However, this game has the most beautiful board, the playing cards are elegantly tucked under the board and pop out when you need them. The cut scenes are amazingly detailed and have the look and feel of Pixar’s The Incredibles. The rolling of the die is nicely animated. This game deserves the highest marks on overall design, audio and technical implementation. It makes it worth the demanding effort involved in winning the darn thing.

Please let me know what you think of the game?