The Shipwreck Arcana

Trapped in a drowned world, you and your allies are doomed -- or are you? Using a mystical deck and a healthy dose of logic, you can predict each others' fates and escape unscathed.

And that is how we are introduced to Mesomorph's newest game, "The Shipwreck Arcana," a cooperative game of deduction and logic. It was on Kickstarter and I found it on Thursday. It seemed interesting, and I considered backing it, but wanted more time to think before I did anything. Unfortunately, I didn't have more time, due to the fact that by the time I found it it had 3 hours left in its campaign. 

Here's the thing with me and Kickstarter: I've only backed three projects, each for $5 or less. The first, "Steampunk Rally," I backed with $5 to get the print and play files, which I then printed off, cut out and formulated, and then gave to my mom for mother's day. The next, "Book of Mormon Heros: The Servant of Helaman," was a computer game created by a member of the church. By pledging $1, I was emailed a link to where I could download the game. I never did download it, come to think of it. Hold on a sec.     . . .     Okay I'm back. So the link I was given: bookofmormongames.com leads me to another page which has a whole bunch of other links to it, and I'm too lazy to try to search for it. Plus, right now it looks like one of those sites that could give you viruses. Anyway, it only cost a dollar and supported him, so all's good. The third project I backed, "Anachrony," was also a $5 pledge to get the print and play version. The difference between this and Steampunk Rally, however, was the fact that Anachrony is huge. Like, really big. Like, it's over 100 pages for just the base game, not including all the expansion stuff I also got. So I never did have the time or money to print it all off. But I still have the files.

So I have never really gotten a game through Kickstarter, just files to print off at home to make my own version. And I'm thinking, it's about time I got one. With Steampunk Rally and Anachrony, to actually get the game would have cost $55 and $59, respectfully. I just don't have that kind of money to spend on games. (Unfortunately. Maybe some day...) But with Shipwreck Arcana, not only did it seem like a really interesting game, it was also only $15 for the entire game, plus all unlocked stretch goals. I got a $25 gift card that I could use for whatever I wanted (read: games) so I decided to go for it. 

The Shipwreck Arcana is a real game about a fictional deck of cards. The deck exists in a world which is described only as "sunken" or "drowned." The world's history is unknown -- but it is hinted at by the fictional illustrator of the tarot deck, providing a glimpse of the history that surrounds it. The Shipwreck Arcana is a compact, cooperative game of deduction, evaluation, and logic, combining simple, speedy play with incredibly deep strategy. Players take turns playing tokens according to rules found on an ever-changing tableau of cards, in order to convey information to the rest of the group before their doom arrives. 2-5 players, 20 minutes, recommended ages 10+.

Although I was kind of rushed with my decision, I still think that it was a good one. In reality, I wasn't that rushed with my decision. I decided to support it, and gave the credit card information for my $25 gift card. A day later I got a notice telling me it was declined because it couldn't accept that kind of card, so I had a week to fix it or just drop out. So I had a week to really decide whether or not to get it, and in the end I decided that it would be a great enjoyable game.

Some reasons I backed it: (1) It is a short game. My favorite type of games are the ones where there's tons of different ways to score points and it's strategy driven and there are multiple paths to victory. For example: T'Zolkin: The Mayan Calendar. Great game, for those very reasons. Also, I'm really looking into a new game called Merlin that fits this exact style. My game Somerset was structured after these ideas. However, sometimes you just need a quick, light game. Timeline, for example. The Shipwreck Arcana lasts only about 20 minutes, and is a filler, which will be a nice breath of air after all the heavy strategy games.

(2) The game is like a series of difficult logic puzzles. You can read the rules and learn more about the game here, but basically every turn a person is using logic to get to to figure out what he has, and you are using logic to figure out what he has. With 30 cards that give a variety of different situations, and 49 (seven times seven) different tile sets you could be given to work the puzzle with, the variety of logic puzzles to solve is near endless.

(3) It supports adding and dropping out players super easily. Have you ever had a game where when you were in the middle of it someone came in and wanted to join, or somebody playing had to leave? This game allows that flexibility without messing up the flow of the game at all.

(4) It has a super quick set up time. One of the reasons why I love Splendor.

So all in all I'm excited for March 2018 to come, when I'll be getting my copy. Yes, in six months. That's about the amount of time it takes to get a game when you back it on Kickstarter after it has been successfully funded.

Games I plan on playing over Christmas break

Okay, so Christmas is in a little less than three weeks. This Christmas Heather, Henry and I are headed down to Fallon to visit my parents this year. Eric, Ryan, and Hannah will also be there. With Alex too, of course, but he lives there so that's a given. My hope is that we'll end up playing a lot of games. Therefore, I have made up a list of games that I plan on playing this Christmas break. Note: In this list if I include a game, I assume all expansions as well, but I'm not going to list them because that would take too much time. So if I say "Dominion" just assume that it includes all of the expansions as well.

I have attached a video to each game from youtube. This video either explains that game, gives a brief overview, gives a run-through or part of a run-through, or reviews it. Or more than one of the above. If you notice a lot of videos come from The Dice Tower, and that's because I like their videos: in their videos they both give a brief overview of how to play and give a review in the same video. Also, I almost never listen to youtube videos on normal speed anymore. There's an option in the bottom right that allows you to adjust the speed, and I almost always watch videos at double speed, or a little less if I can't understand the speaking in them at double speed. Just a hint if you want to watch a video but don't have 15 minutes (or whatever the length is) to spare.

Okay, here we go:

7 Wonders: My second favorite game of all time, right after Dominion. I love this game because there's no downtime, and yet what your neighbors do still affects what you do.

7 Wonders Duel: I have not yet played this game, but I am looking forward to it. The two-player rules of the original 7 Wonders weren't that great, so this game will fill that gap.

Agricola: This was the #1 game on board game geek for a long time. A classic worker placement game that my cousins own. Caverna is even better, but I don't think anyone owns that in my family.

Ashes: Rise of the Phoenixborn: Alex's favorite game, and one which I look forward to playing for the first time on Christmas break. I'll probably start with a pre-set deck.

Avalon: The Resistance: When we first played this years ago, it was me telling everyone the rules, and we used normal playing cards as the cards. Last year my family got the actual game.

The Castles of Burgundy: Another game I have not yet played but am really looking forward to. It is currently #10 on boardgamegeek.com, and I can't wait to try it.

Christmas Present #1: Hey, That's my Fish!?: Okay, so I don't know if I'll get this for Christmas, but I mentioned to my wife in Toys R Us that I wanted it. Brandon has a copy we played, and while it might seem simple on the surface, you can also put some deep strategy into it if you wanted to.

Christmas Present #2: Mystic Vale?: Another game which I'm not sure I'll get but I asked Ryan for it for Christmas so there's a good probability that I'll be unwrapping it Christmas morning.

Christmas Presents other than those, as well as any other games I forgot to put on this list: Any other games we get for Christmas, or that the Jamiesons get for Christmas, or that I forgot to put on this list that I want to play. In other words, this is my misc. category.

Dead of Winter: A semi-cooperative game which I have never got around to playing yet, even though the option has been available to me. Hopefully knowing how to play from this video will help.

Dominion: My favorite game of all time. Plus, for Christmas I asked for some new cards, some of which not even Alex has played with. I hope he still knows where The Card is.

Eldritch Horror: Another game that has been available to play but I've never gotten around to it, but am planning on this trip. Assuming that my family hasn't finished all the modules for it yet.

Elysium: A great game I bought about six months ago. This game and Istanbul I let Eric and Ryan borrow so that they could play at Thanksgiving. If they're reading this: bring it for Christmas, too!

Five Tribes: I haven't yet played with the expansion "that introduces a sixth color of meeple and they're purple" so I'll definitely give that a go this Christmas season.

Istanbul: I really love this game. It's simple and quick and fun. My mom also really loves this game, so much so that I'm making a prediction right now that she'll get it for herself for Christmas.

King of Tokyo: Thus game is really fun. This is a lighter game, a good filler when your brain is tired from all the deep strategy games you've been playing all day. Plus, it's fun to beat up other monsters.

Kingsburg: A worker placement game using dice. I first played this years ago back in Campus Plaza at BYU. So when my family got it for Christmas a few years back I already knew how to play.

Love Letter: So much fun for having so few cards. And it is also very thematic. A quick little card game that is a nice little filler game to pass the time between larger games.

Magic: The Gathering: I haven't played this yet. This is the game that introduced (I think) manna as a resource, as well as tapping cards, which I need to be more familiar with as a game designer.

Monopoly (with Hannah): I have to play at least one game of Monopoly with Hannah this Christmas break. It doesn't even have to be regular Monopoly, it can be dad's Fallonopoly or something.

Oltre Mare: The more goods you can store the smaller your hand limit, but the larger your hand limit the less goods you can store. This is an awesome little mechanic that I quite enjoy.

Pandemic: The first major cooperative game. Pandemic went on to get a Legacy version, which is now #1 on board game geek, but which was already played by my family.

SeaFall: Speaking of Legacy games, I get to play this one! And I'll actually matter in the game; unlike Pandemic Legacy where people can come and go in between games in the campaign and it doesn't really matter, this one suggests having the same people play the same characters the whole time.

Small World: With all the factions, powers, and additional stuff you can add, you can never play the same game twice. But the base game itself is still really fun.

Somerset: I'll be bringing my game so that Alex can play it (he likes games where you collect resources) and so that we can playtest it a little bit as well. No video here, but here's a picture:

Steampunk Rally: I bought the print and play from Kickstarter for $5, then printed everything out and cut it all out and after a lot of time finally got the finished project ready to play.

Summoner Wars: Another one of Alex's favorites. Plus I think since the last time I've played he's gotten even more races/armies that he's told me about.

Terra Mystica: I've only gotten to play this a few times, and I am still majorly working on my strategy (in other words, I'm not very good). But this Christmas break will be a great time to improve.

Ticket to Ride: Any version of this, really. I even got Sarah an LDS version for her birthday a few years ago which they still have in their games closet. In my opinion Europe is better than the original.

Timeline: Another quick, fast game to play if your brain is worn out by heavy strategy games. Even if you remember the dates on the cards to give you edge in future games, you're still learning: win-win.

TZolk'in: The Mayan Calendar: This game is super deep and strategic. The expansion makes it even more fun. You can win in a variety of ways, even if you just go the Corn Strategy the entire time.

Village: A worker placement game where your workers can die. I've only played with the Inn expansion once but won with it, and haven't tried the Port expansion yet.

Zooloretto: A game my family got a little bit ago. I haven't played it yet. One time Hannah woke everybody up in the middle of the night to play it, and they did, so it must be a pretty good game.