Rapid Fire Roundup with Chris - April 2026
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Transcript
Boy, I tell you what, Mike, I'm really glad that you're back in the studio full time.
Oh, thank you. It's good to be back.
Yeah. Hey, do you remember how you gave me that little electronic flipping device? You said when I punched in a code, it would send you a voice message anytime that I was missing you.
No.
Well, I figured out pretty quickly that it didn't actually work. And you didn't get a single one of my messages.
Well, I mean, I guess you caught me.
Don't worry about it because I went out and I bought this little cassette recorder here and I have the last 3 years of messages saved right there for you. Um, there'll be a test on Monday. So,
that's when I realized the difference between an emu and an ostrich isn't just the number of legs. Anyway, now let me tell you everything I learned about brutalist architecture. Starting with the Hungarian school of thought in 1963.
Hey everyone, welcome back out to another rapid fire roundup here on the Dice Tower. I'm Chris and I'm going to be going over 10 games that many of these have been reviewed by other people on the channel and I've gotten a chance to play them and I have some other opinions on them or sometimes these are games that this is the review they're going to get. Uh so let's go ahead and get started first off with Photo Tour North America. This is a game I give uh a pretty good rating to. This is one that Camila and Z I think did a review. They really enjoy this one. I'm really glad I tried it. It is a very smooth, quick, buttery simple rule set kind of a game. You either collect a token or you collect a location card or you move around on a map and that's pretty much your turn. And so you just collect one of four different options and there's just a few of them and they don't refill until the last one gets taken and it kind of feels like well it's going to be really easy to just avoid doing that, right? No, because the rules are so nicely clean and smooth that you just have to take something on your turn and at some point you go, well, I know it's the last card. I know I'm about to refill the card market for everyone, but I do want to take that. So, I think that it's a nice 20inute game that feels strategic, has some good options with it, uh, and has this nice theme about traveling around the US. Uh, I think that is great or even North America, I should say, US, Mexico, and Canada. So, a seven out of 10 for me for photo tour in North America. Uh, one that I'm really glad that I checked out. Next up, Off with Their Heads. This is set in the Wonderlands War kind of universe. And this one is a follow-up almost
tricktaking game, uh, simultaneous card reveal game. It's a follow-up to the Title Blades Banner Festival, which I was a fan of. I enjoyed that one. I think this one's even better. Mixing this quasi tricktaking with a RollandRight game. I think that it's both a pretty fun roll and right game as you are trying to fill in these three different sections each with different little rules and a few little combos here and there mixed with this simultaneously revealing card game that has some trick- takingaking elements to it. There's a strongest suit and they're ranked and then you reveal them and every turn the strongest ranking suit changes. So you have this predictable pattern of whether it's going to be hearts next or diamonds next or clubs next. And then inversely which one becomes the weakest changes with that. I think it's a nice pattern.
So playing the highest or lowest card lets you go to special zones on the sheet. Playing the middlest cards lets you go to the middle of the sheet. And I think that those those few mechanisms tied in together work very nicely. I'm giving a 7.5 to off with their heads. A yeah, a a nice little twist on a Rolland Wright game. One I'm really I want to play some more. Next up, Red Carpet. This is from Dvere Games and it has this great uh artwork, this amazing look to it and a great hook. this idea that you are seeing celebrities walking down the red carpet and you actually will pull out your phone and place it on these little stands and try to take pictures of the celebrities with different markings on the back, sponsorships and other little things that will give you extra points for your photos. It's a neat idea. I don't think the execution of it is as good as the idea is. And as more you cell phones for a while have become kind of more uh similar to each other than dissimilar. So I think this game almost missed that window because now phones are differentiating more.
Tried playing this with someone who had one of those unfold out wide phones and so the pictures that he could take were much wider than the photos everyone else could take. It's it's a good idea, just not not the best execution, and some of it is game mechanisms, some of it is timing of the technology surrounding it. So, unfortunately, I'm giving Red Carpet a six, but it is gorgeous, and I do think it has some of my favorite illustrations in a game I've seen in a while. Pinatas is next. This is a trick-taking game. One of my all-time favorite trick taking games and the number one recommendation I give to people for an introductory trick-taking game. It's no surprise I love this one. This reimplements Rinitia's marshmallow test which also itself was a re-implementation of Voodoo Prince. I've played all three versions of it and I think that Pinñatas is kind of a best hits type of a thing. It has some elements of each of the two previous versions. has a great new theme, hilarious artwork as you get to see within the same suit the one up through the 15 are these piñatas just getting bashed to different degrees. It has this nice element of teaching you how to try to chase down tricks, but also how sometimes to purposely lose them so you don't win too many too fast. And in fact, when you hit a threshold when you win say three or four tricks, you score points for how many tricks other players have won. So it it has this nice tempo.
but teaches you some great elements. So, if you've never played a trick-taking game before, I think this is the best place to start. But I also think that it has enough depth that if you are an experienced trick taking player, I I still really like this one. I give piñatas a nine. I think it is that solid, that fun, that cute, that clever, and I love the little candy pieces, the artwork, the aesthetic, all of this. Really good. Uh, I like it a lot. Next up, Bombastic. This is a two-player tic-tactoebased game where all the tiles are face down. There's four O's, there's four X's, and there's a bomb in the middle. Of course, that's how it always goes, right? And so in Bombastic, you are trying to reveal three of your own shapes in a row when you go for it. Uh otherwise, you could take one of these action cards that allow you to to peek at things, slide things around. If you peek and you reveal a bomb, you're safe. If you go for it, trying to reveal three of yours in a row and you reveal the bomb, you instantly lose. It's very quick, very silly, fun little actions. And whether you win or you lose, it is just it's just a fun time. So, a seven for Bombastic one that I think is worth checking out. Good travelable game.
Zenith is a two-player. I know it also has a four-player mode to it. I haven't tried the four-player mode. I'm always on the hunt for a really solid, good two-player game. Zenith is that there are five different planets. You're trying to pull them your direction. It is five different tugofwar tracks going at once. I almost said tugs of war again. So, that one's live. Tugofwar tracks going on. But there's also this technology board on the side and there's also some little resource management and the clever card play. So, yes, you are trying to stack up more of the same color card to move the planet further and further your direction. But many games that have tugofwar in them, I feel like, well, I do something, it undoes what you do. There's enough clever branching paths here that I think that there's so much more to appreciate in this game. I think it's an incredible design. I think it's super fun. I love the three different wind conditions. I highly recommend it. This is one of my favorite two-player games to come out in a sea uh a busy year, the last year and a half or so of fantastic two-player games. That says a I'm giving an 8.5 to Zenith. I think that the way that it handles that card play, the technology, the tug of war, all that stuff, super good. Highly recommend it. Frygard. This is another Riner Kitia game. Uh this is from Impatience, the same company that does the Oniverse, Ony, uh Sylveon, like those games. And this is in their mini imp line. Imp, not imp. Uh but for
whatever that's worth. So, in this mini line of games, this is a deck of cards. And in this game, you are playing a solitire game. It's a little bit of a push your luck. You're trying to create suits of the same type of creature, and there's a little combos that you can get if you get the tree ants. But if you get them all of the same deciduous or coniferous variety, or if you get the little like rock golems, but you get them all of the same shape, size. There's bonuses to that, but you can play out three of a kind. Even if you don't qualify for these bonuses, I think it's good. I think it's a solid little solitire game. Maybe the biggest thing going against it is the fact that Impatience themselves publishes Onyum, which I think is a much stronger version of this, but this is kind of like a quicker, easier little little version. I think it's a neat game. I like it, but I also have that direct comparison of another solitire game that uses this card playesque feel. So, I give Fry Guard a seven. I do like it, but just has more oomph to it. Burger Burgle Bros. Blackjack is from Fowers Games, a company I love. They do the Burgle Bros line, uh the Run and Fugitive, all these great games. And so, I was really excited to try this one. I don't love this one. I don't really like it. uh this idea of playing cooperatively with other players, a blackjack type game, that's cool. And you have a little bit of card sharing around with each other
and everything, but you're trying to get to 21 and not bust. It's unfortunately a It's a little too high concept uh of how it feels like you're trying to get around these security guards and you're trying to break into the vault and everything. It has an okay way of cooperating with each other. I wish that there was a little bit I wish it was a little bit better kind of all around ruleswise a little strange execution-wise a little strange and the feel of it leaves me a little bit disappointed so it's a five for me for Burgl bros blackjack kebab
this is a cute very cute game about running an a barbecue and you got these kebab skewers and you're collecting these different ingredients It's onions and pineapple and chicken and meat and stuff to put on there and you're trying to put them in certain patterns. I have a big problem with the game unfortunately in that as fun as that is and as cute as like actually skewing the little vegetables and stuff are, the scoring is a little bit too random. You can luck into good points. So, it's fun. I like the look of it and it's a very approachable game. I think people will have fun with it, but at the detriment of the fact that it's not really there's not a lot of thoughtfulness to the way that you play the game, unfortunately. So, Kebab getting a six from me. Uh, cute, but that's kind of the most I can say for it. Uh, and then lastly, our thoughts on Arkham Horror, the card game, the chapter 2 starter box set. Uh, I've played through the basic campaign of the previous revised box set. that I did. I haven't played from the original Arkham Ora card game. I'm a little bit later into it. I've played through Dunwitch, played through part of Carcosa, uh, and that's the most that I've played with it really. So, when I jumped into this chapter 2 starter box set, I thought, well, this feels 99% the same. There's not a lot of changes. I guess there are some changes that I've had to read and look into about seeing why this is not considered fully compatible with some of the old sets and some of the old even some of the tokens and whatnot. The the modern token set
doesn't have everything the original set does. Um so yeah, it's it's interesting, right? Playing the three chapter campaign of this game I think is good. I think it's actually a step up from the Knight of the Zealot campaign. Uh, a lot of people are saying that they're incredibly similar, and I think that they are in some ways. I think that the difference is that this set, the three sessions show off a little bit better what Arkham Horror card game scenarios can do, but it is still an introduction to the system. So, I think that experienced players coming into this one are going to say, why even get this box set? So, it is a start of a new wave of content. So, if you already have a bunch of Arkham stuff, my thought is play what you've got. If you are looking for a new place to jump into this, you know, of course, this is going to be the in print box set, but this is a good place to start. So, my thoughts on are a little bit complicated because I think that it's in some ways a little bit better, in some ways not as good, and then the cross-co compatibility issue is kind of its own thing. If you have a lot of content for the game, probably hold off until there's more in the chapter 2 realm of things. If you have not jumped into the game, I think that this is overall a very solid place to jump into knowing that you're not going to be able to then buy some of the previous older content and make it a perfect one:1
crosscompatibility. But I don't think everything needs to be perfectly cross-co compatible as is. I think that you'll even if you get some old content, you can find you read the little changes that you need to do to make it worthwhile or play the new wave of stuff. So, yeah, like I said, kind of complicated thoughts on this as a product line, as a start, but I think that the box itself is very solid. So, with all those caveats, I give this box an eight. I think it's solid. I think it's good. Uh, but much like the original revised box, I think that what that offers is good, but then what's great about the game is when you get these, you know, big expansive campaigns and much more creative scenarios. So, an eight for me is a score saying I like it. Uh, I'm glad to have played it and I'm curious to see what more is coming.
So, there you go, folks. That's my thought on 10 different games here. Uh, let me know below what you think of some of these. If you have different thoughts than mine, that's that's great. Let's have some nice conversation about that. Thanks for coming out to this rapid fire roundup. My name is Chris Ye and you have yourselves a great day.
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