I was never a big fan of dominoes.  I thought it was pretty boring putting tiles in a  line or getting to turn it at right angles until I ran out of tiles that fit and then drawing from the pile until the pile was gone and I lost.  Then my sister got a game called Tri-Ominos and a whole new world opened up.  To even think about placing a tile, you have to match at least 2 numbers.  You might have to match up to 6 numbers and there are only 3 numbers on each tile – it boggles the mind.  The line squiggles and turns back on itself.  You can form hexagons and bridges and you keep score getting more points for making challenging matches.  I suppose dominoes was a game that got scored too but my family never did, so scoring gives this game the advantage of a purpose in my mind.  Anyway, I just played the game again recently and was reminded that when my older sister isn’t playing, I have a fighting chance of winning so I like it again.

A couple of days ago I posted a review of Fluxx, the card game where the rules are in constant, well… flux. I played my new copy of Zombie Fluxx tonight and was favorably impressed.

The mechanics of the original game return making it easy to learn and fun to play for even the most casual card or board game player. A few simple additions to the rules make the game even more fun than the original. The first new type of card is the Creeper cards. These are zombie cards that slowly but surely fill up the table space in front of you. These cards make it difficult to fulfill some of the goals but are occasionally useful to set loose on opponents. Many of the Keeper cards now have additional abilities than just satisfying the conditions of the goals. This is where I see an improvement over the original. Instead of just watching your Chocolate or Sleep cards sitting in front of you, now you can use the Shotgun and the Bat to fight off zombies.

I can’t wait to let my brother give it a shot. (Oh, and by the way, I won the first game. Yet another reason to like it.)

The War of the Ring is a fairly popular strategic board game set in the land of Middle Earth. Two players control the evil forces of Sauron and Saruman while the other two players move the fellowship of the ring and the forces of the elves, dwarves, and men. However, only one of the four players can win.

The look of the game is very good with a large, colorful map, beautiful character tokens, and lots of tokens and cards. The mechanics work well but take a good hour or so to figure out all of the nuances in the rulebook. I definitely recommend playing this game a few times right after you’ve learned it so that no one in your gaming group forgets how to play before next time.

The evil forces vastly outnumber the good, and oftentimes the forces of Rohan will be overrun before they can be reinforced. The good players must concentrate on always moving the fellowship closer to its goal so that the ring might be destroyed. It is rare that the good armies can muster enough force to achieve a military victory.

By pitting each of the four players against each other, the game is designed to force allies to turn on one another towards the end of the game. However, in our games the allies almost always stick with each other so that their “partner” wins. After a couple hours doing battle it’s easier to let your “ally” win then try to help the enemy.

It’s a little expensive and the rules take a few times to really nail down, but the game is unique and fun.

Last year I saw a fun little card game at my local board game store. The thing that caught my eye was that it was billed as the card game where the only rule was that the rules were always changing. That intriguing little premise sold me on the game.

The game starts with each player drawing a card and then playing a card. As cards get played they can change these first basic rules, change the object of the game, or reset the rules back to a more basic form. It only takes a minute to learn as most of the rules change constantly and the new rules are printed on the cards that are played.

My group of card-playing friends loved the game. It was easy enough for girlfriends and wives to join in too. One of the best parts is that new players can be added in the middle of the game. There’s no real disadvantage to starting in the middle. Conversely, the game is not ruined if someone has to leave early. Not that that situation would happen. Games move fast and are lots of fun.

I just got Zombie Fluxx and can’t wait to try it out. As you play either of these games, just remember not to mispronounce the title.