استریم

برچسب: for

  • Spooky games for a scary time — The Treehouse

    Spooky games for a scary time — The Treehouse



    In Betrayal, players take on the role of characters exploring a spooky mansion. You begin the game in the entrance hall, comfortable in the knowledge that you’re all on the same side, and feeling ready for an adventure. The mansion slowly reveals its secrets as you explore, which (spolier alert) pretty much always include some truly daft architectural choices, given that the room tiles are drawn at random. Some rooms contain items (often useful stuff like weapons, etc), while others trigger creepy little events or, most excitingly, reveal omens. Each time an omen is appears, six dice are rolled, and if the total number that comes out is lower than the number of omens you’ve encountered so far… then it’s officially SPOOK TIME, because The Haunt is about to begin.

    This is the point at which Betrayal really comes into its own. The basic game comes with a book of 50 different scenarios which can trigger at this point. Which one you end up with is determined by the number on the omen card that tipped the balance, and which room it was found in (who’s to say a scary plot line can’t begin with a look-up table? Certainly not us!). The only thing the scenarios have in common is that they will pit one player (the traitor) against the rest. Who becomes the traitor is determined by the scenario, but whoever they are, they will now become the keeper of the Traitor’s Tome which will provide them with their new, secret win condition and let them know their new spooky powers.

    We’ve played a few games of Betrayal ourselves and had a LOT of discussions with people who’ve playing it at the Treehouse, and are always astonished at the variety of plot lines. Yes, some of them are better-designed from a gameplay point of view than others, but we’ve never been disappointed with the narrative that develops: this game has genuinely produced some of our favourite board game storylines. If you’re up for some super-nerdy viewing, check out this episode of Wil Wheaton’s Tabletop, which does a great job of demonstrating just how funny and unpredictable Betrayal can be!

    Pretty much the only downside to this game at the moment is that you do need at least three people to play it, and ideally 5-6 to experience it at it’s best. If you’re lucky enough to have the player count right now, we strongly recommend giving this one a go.



    Source link

  • Searching for a Shedding Card Game of Turkish Origin


    I’m looking for any information about a card game that was taught to me by a friend, who claims this game is of Turkish origin.

    The game plays fairly similar to shedding card games like Mau-Mau, Uno, or Crazy Eights. It is played with one deck of standard French cards per two persons, including 2 jokers per deck (so 3 and 4 persons play with 2 decks + 4 jokers). The player who sheds their last card wins the round. At the end of the round each player counts the value of their remaining cards and adds it to their tally. If the last card played was a joker every opponent gets another 100 points each added to their score. At the end of the game the player with the least points wins.

    Before the start of the game one player shuffles the cars. The player to the left of them then cuts the deck anywhere and openly draws all of the "significant" cards or clubs, until they have either 7 cards or there is a regular card. The dealer then combines the lower pile on top, the upper pile (the one that just got drawn from) on the bottom, so that every player knows the last card. From this pile the dealer deals each player cards up to 7 cards. The remaining cards are then placed face-down in a drawing stack.

    The player to the left of the dealer begins the game by playing a club or a jack. Every player also has to play a club or jack. Significant cards that force another player to draw a card can be played, but have no effect. When the turn switches from dealer to 1st player (or vice-versa), these restrictions are lifted.

    If a player is unable or unwilling to legally play a card they have to draw one card from the drawing stack. If it enables them to play a legal card they may do so in that same turn, but they can not continue to draw more cards. If the drawing stock is depleted it is NOT replenished, instead you have to skip as many turns as you would have drawn cards.

    When you play your second to last card you have to announce Tek, or else you will have to take a penalty card (I think Tek is just Turkish for last card). You can chain significant cards to skip that announcement. For the next game the player that did the initial cut of the deck now becomes the dealer.

    Significant cards are as follows:

    • Ace: Every other player has to draw one card, you are required to continue your turn by playing another legal card.
    • 10: Direction of play changes, you may play another legal card, but you don’t have to.
    • Jack: You can determine the suit to be played by the next player. The next player can also play a jack instead.
    • 7: The next player has to draw 3 cards from the drawing pile. If they themself have a 7 in their hand, they can instead play that 7 and the next player has to draw 6 cards, and so on. The player drawing the cards is allowed to continue their turn as normal. This card can not be combined with the joker.
    • Joker: Same effect as the 7, but instead the player has to draw 10 cards. It can not be combined with the 7. It
      can be played on every suit. After a joker play resumes to whatever card was played before the joker.

    The cards are valued as follows:

    • Numerals: Their number
    • Queen, King, Ace: 10
    • Jack: 25
    • Joker: 100

    This game was taught to me over 10 years ago by an acquaintance of Turkish origin. Since then I have played this game with many friends and family. It is our absolute go-to card game, as it is taught easily, it requires some strategy, but is not too involving as to not have a little chat while playing it. With my closest friends we even have coined a little trophy that the winner of each session gets to keep. Usually when we all get the chance to meet up we tally our scores over multiple days, but we don’t add them up until the very end to keep the rankings a secret.

    The game rewards building up chains and keeping high valued cards until the end. Ending your game while others still have their jokers on their hands, seeing their desperation growing with each card you play is a priceless feeling. 😀 In the opposite direction, jokers can sometimes feel like they are "burning" in your hand.

    This type of game tends to vary the rules a lot, and we had to come up with some ourselves to deal with edge cases. Therefore the rules depicted here may not reflect the exact rules you know – however I am looking for any game from the same region with sort of similar rules. We refer to it as Tek simply because the name stuck, but I’m sure the actual name was different. Any hint is appreciated.



    Source link

  • board games for Christmas — The Treehouse

    board games for Christmas — The Treehouse



    Slowly but surely we’re getting a clearer picture of what’s in store for us over the festive season at the end of this weirdest of years. It’s looking like getting family together around a table will be ‘a thing’ this year in our part of the world, but with pubs shut in a lot of places and household mingling still limited, Christmas merriment might still need a bit of a helping hand.

    That’s where (you guessed it) board games come in! Long a traditional component of Christmas for lots of families, board games have come a very long way over the past decade or so, and have never offered so many effective ways to get the fun started. Here’s our Christmas Games Guide 2020 to help you navigate these crowded waters and find the perfect family game for Christmas…



    Source link

  • travel games for UK holidays — The Treehouse

    travel games for UK holidays — The Treehouse



    It’s summer! And it’s actually been warm! Ridiculously warm! And sunny! Ridiculously sunny! You may have decided to venture outdoors, or even outside of Sheffield for holiday-related fun times over the coming weeks. But if you, dear readers, are anything like us here at the Treehouse, you will be incorporating games into your travel plans.

    Yes, I know this summer is different than most, and we can lament not being able to play Carcassonne in Carcassonne, play Santorini in Santorini, or the dream: play Jaipur in Jaipur while drinking a bottle of Thornbridge Jaipur IPA (this may just be my dream). But we are big fans of making our own fun, and so here is a roundup of games for holidays and it goes out to our tribe whom we know will play them rain or shine, Near and Far (available in our library). Read on for a round up of travel games for everyone. 

    Beach (and rain!) proof games

    We are an island nation, and although Sheffield may not have a coastline, we’re surrounded by water (sometimes more than we would like!). I am a beach girl and wild swimmer at heart, so this first group of games is for anyone who’ll be out on the water, or relaxing in the sand, games in tow. Some of these games fit into other categories below, but I wanted to give a special mention to games that are easy to clean and conveniently play well near sand, water and even ice lollies.

    • Blokus: This colourful abstract strategy game looks like a very cool analogue version of Tetris but the goal is to fill up the board, not empty it. It can be played by up to four players but works well as a two player game and even has a variation that allows for solitaire mode. Without any text it is easy for kids to pick up and for multilingual groups to play. It’s not necessarily travel sized in the traditional sense but the box is flat and very easy to slip into a suitcase or car boot. I should mention there are some small bits involved, but nothing that a picnic blanket couldn’t contain, and the plastic pieces and board are easy to clean.

    • Bananagrams: This Scrabble free-for-all only requires a flat surface to play and each player races to complete their own crossword-style grid in front of them using only the letters they’ve picked up. You can play it alone or up to a group of eight, but eight can get kind of frantic. It’s most enjoyable for two to five players in my experience. And it comes in a cute little fabric banana bag. The whole thing is sand-proof and washable.

    • Cobra Paw: Cobra Paw has a cardboard box, which will admittedly get a bit battered the further it strays from your admirably arranged board game shelf. You can accept this hazard, or store the components in a travel bag… or even do as some friends of mine have done and create a special travel box that helps you both store the pieces more compactly, and immediately see if one is missing so that you don’t leave the campsite without it. Cobra Paw is a very speedy matching game for two to six players requiring quick reflexes and good observational skills. It relies on rolling dice and matching symbols on domino shapes and has the extra competitive mechanic of stealing pieces from other players if they are not quick enough to defend them. It is suitable for both adults and kids to enjoy, as long as neither are tantrum-prone when they’re not winning!

    • Qwirkle: This one comes in a big-ish box, but don’t be discouraged. Inside the box is a bag of tiles and you can easily take it on holiday with you in the bag and leave the box on your aforementioned beautiful game shelf. You’ll need a large, stable playing surface because these tiles get layed out sort of like dominos and there is no limit to how far you can place them other than the table’s edge. This is a pattern- and colour-matching strategy game for two to four players and is also family friendly and requires no reading. It can be difficult to master for younger players but they may just enjoy making patterns with some of the shapes. You may need pen and paper or a phone to keep score as you and your opponents aim to use up all of the tiles by placing them in sets of matching or contrasting shapes and colours. The design is simple and bright and would suit an outdoor playing table.



    Source link

  • When does school start again? Games for keeping kids entertained through the ‘end of summer slump’ — The Treehouse

    When does school start again? Games for keeping kids entertained through the ‘end of summer slump’ — The Treehouse



    Animal Upon Animal is fun for all ages including adults but is particularly popular with the four- to six-year-old crowd. In this game from Haba for 2-4 players, you compete to see who can stack all of your animals first. The stack you are building is shared (the French name of this game, ‘Pyramids Des Animaux’ may offer a better visual of what happens as the game progresses), which means you don’t have the luxury of setting up sturdy balancing positions for yourself. Everyone is dealt a hand of adorable wooden animal-shaped blocks. A crocodile block is placed in the center of the table and players take turns rolling the die and following the instructions.

    The instructions on the die are really quite ingenious for moving the game along in clever ways. You may be instructed to place one animal on top of the crocodile’s back, or you might see two animals on the die, meaning you have to place one after another. You can also be asked to give one of your pieces to someone else to place or have the other players choose which of your animals to place next (and they will invariably select one that is harder to balance). The final option is a picture of a crocodile, which means you can extend the base block to have a larger area to balance animals upon.

    The reason I think this game is particularly enjoyable for younger children starting school especially is because even if you make the tower fall, you don’t lose and the game doesn’t end. The maximum penalty if more than two fall off the pile is that you take two animals back into your hand and continue playing. This keeps the focus on dexterity, strategy, and making stacks of cute animals, and nicely swerves siblings blaming each other for quote ‘ruining the game’ or a fear of failure at a time when there are a lot of new expectations. (OK, I clearly have some some childhood Jenga tower collapse issues to explore but never mind that now). Haba games are great generally for this age group. Dragon’s Breath is another lovely Haba game that fans of Animal Upon Animal may enjoy.

    Games for very little ones

    And finally, even if they’re not ready for big school yet, that doesn’t mean they aren’t ready for gaming (some of my friends’ toddlers have attempted to prove this by taking out every game on the lowest shelf ready to play…).

    At this age, the focus for parents choosing games is about two things, really – replayability, and doing something that looks like what the big kids are doing, so the big kids’ game doesn’t get wrecked (for example, my three-year-old niece recently ripped the Candyland board clean in half, in the most impressive WWE style rage quit I’ve heard about in years. It would have been more impressive, I suppose, if I hadn’t been the one who bought it for her and if it hadn’t been my favourite game when I was her age. I hope she is not still doing that when she’s 30, but it was epic nonetheless).

    I know, you wouldn’t think there could be a game that would keep a two-and-a-half-year-old entertained, but there is actually an entire series of them by a lovely French toy and game company called Djeco. They have a whole host of adorable games that are both beautifully designed and suitable for toddlers, which is incredibly rare in the world of board games. These games look like a game and feel like a game, but are more about gamifying toddler skills like matching and sequencing and recognising colours. It’s really very clever and the history of this company originally had a child development focus. Add in materials and designs that appeal to a grown up aesthetic and these games are pretty great for everyone. We have several of their games in the shop and our games library but I will focus on Little Collect (in the first of the photos below).

    Little Collect is for ages 2.5 to 5. It’s a cooperative game for two players and takes about ten minutes… or as long as attention spans allow. The object of the game ostensibly is to follow picture instructions on the cards you draw until you have completed a scene on the game board. But beware! There is mild peril! The pastoral tableau of adorable bunnies eating peas and carrots can be disrupted. If you are unlucky enough to draw a fox card, one bunny must be ominously removed from your board. It can be returned on a later turn to complete the game, but still. Hey ho, circle of life. Sun rise, sun set. As sure as autumn follows summer, soon enough, even your littlest Little Connect player will be starting school too.

    And you know what that means: more time for gaming for you.



    Source link

  • Brutal soulslike ARPG No Rest for the Wicked buffs loot drops as reviews plummet

    Brutal soulslike ARPG No Rest for the Wicked buffs loot drops as reviews plummet


    As Grinding Gear Games buffs its unforgiving loot drops in Path of Exile 2, fellow ARPG No Rest for the Wicked is getting similar treatment from developer Moon Studios. Several months in the making, new NRFTW update The Breach introduces more zones, weapon types, boss fights, and endgame systems to the soulslike spin on Diablo. However, it might have been a little too vicious – with the arrival of The Breach, the game’s recent Steam reviews have fallen dramatically to just 43% positive. In an attempt to course correct, Moon Studios delivers a first major hotfix to make overcoming the hordes more manageable.

    The Breach has dramatically expanded No Rest for the Wicked, but its focus on challenging encounters has left players complaining that fights felt too long and laborious, gear upgrades are too rare, and the overall grind is too slow. “We’ve seen your feedback roll in, and we want you to know we hear you,” the RPG‘s developer writes at the top of the patch notes for its new hotfix. “Not everything landed the way we hoped, and that’s on us.”

    YouTube Thumbnail

    To start with, the new hotfix increases the experience you earn from defeating enemies, including bosses, and there’s no longer a cap on the amount of XP that overcoming high-level enemies can award. The parry window on enemy attacks has been widened, and there are more invincibility frames for the medium roll. The focus cost of firing arrows is “significantly reduced,” and has also been lowered for the Illuminate and Return runes. The Polished Caretaker boss gets a rebalance, while attacks from the Bonded Witch, Nith Screamer, and Shackled Brute can now be interrupted.

    The price of gear upgrades has been reduced to one-third of what it was, and repairs are now a little cheaper. Changes to the gear score system will make it more likely that “a really nice item drops for you every once in a while.” You’ll find less plagued gear, but more herbs, fallen embers, weapon shards, and ore veins. Both Filmore and Whittacker have additional shop inventory (including two extra weapons for the former to increase early-game variety), and you can craft the Cleric armor set directly.

    Moon Studios has also made some additional UI improvements, including an overhaul to the bounties and challenges screen that should make it clearer to sort them and judge the expected difficulty of each one. The backstab indicator will now appear (and disappear) more quickly, giving you a clearer indication of when you can take advantage of an opening.

    No Rest For The Wicked - A player rides a hanging block across a burning mine.

    No Rest For The Wicked: The Breach Hotfix 1 is out now. You can look through the patch notes courtesy of Moon Studios for a full list of bug fixes and tweaks. “Thank you for sticking with us,” the developer says. “We hope these fixes make your time with No Rest for the Wicked better. Please continue to share your feedback with our team. We are fully committed to delivering an amazing experience, and, with your help, we will.”

    Can’t get enough loot? Dive into more of the best games like Diablo to keep yourself rolling in it. Or seek out more tough encounters with the best soulslikes in 2025.

    You can follow us on Google News for daily PC games news, reviews, and guides. We’ve also got a vibrant community Discord server, where you can chat about this story with members of the team and fellow readers.



    Source link

  • Sackboy has been removed from the PlayStation Productions intro sequence, so much for job sack-urity

    Sackboy has been removed from the PlayStation Productions intro sequence, so much for job sack-urity


    It’s rough out there, even for video game characters. It looks like Sackboy, from the beloved Little Big Planet series of games, has been removed from the PlayStation Productions intro sequence. This was discovered by Twitter user Radec who sat down to watch the Until Dawn movie, a horrific start to an already shocking movie.

    Sackboy has been in a bit of a rough spell as of late, it’s safe to say. Media Molecule was hit by layoffs in late 2023, while Little Big Planet 3 had its servers turned off indefinitely last year, with years of community-created levels gone with the wind.

    As such, Sackboy isn’t the star of the office like he used to be. A newer generation of Sony stars are in the office, and old man Sack has sort of been pushed to a desk in the corner of the room. With his face off the PlayStation Productions intro, it’s as if he’s been removed from the office entirely. His stuff in a cardboard box as he waits for a taxi. Or maybe it’s all in a big sack, who knows.

    Upon hearing the news, folks were obviously upset. There’s a range of responses that sum up the final nail in Sackboy’s career coffin rather well, from usersr on Twitter called ‘LittleBigPlanet™ for the Playstation®3’ or what have you. I’d like to personally jump in here to say don’t lose hope just yet. Instead, you should wait to see if Sackboy gets dug up for an Adi Shankar adaptation.

    Are you sad about Sackboy being thrown out into the street like this? I am. Let us know below, as well as whether you think Sackboy will every come back!





    Source link

  • Festive Top Fives: Gifts for Board Game Geeks

    Festive Top Fives: Gifts for Board Game Geeks


    Got a geek in your life who’s hard to shop for? Welcome to our latest Festive Top Five: Gifts for Board Game Geeks. The following are all fairly recent releases or slightly obscure so it’s unlikely they’ll already own them, and they are also all very good indeed!

    The Red Cathedral is a bonified ‘small box stonker’ that manages to pack all the complexity, interest and replayability of a full-sized Euro game into a very moderately sized (and priced) package. The components and artwork are excellent too.

    Welcome to the Moon is a full-blown sequel to the excellent Welcome To. This time, the box comes complete with ALL SORTS of goodies, including eight sets of different player sheets (all dry-wipe compatible) and a ‘choose your own adventure’-style campaign mode. Deciding where to write a number has never been so much fun!

    Watergate is a super-thematic, two-player game in which one player takes on the role of the Nixon administration trying to bury signs of wrongdoing, and the other the free press trying to uncover what they’ve been up to. With great components, bags of tension, and stacks of historical detail, this game tells a memorable story every time.

    Fort is a curious and characterful deck builder about making a cool fort, eating pizza and making friends – all the most important aspects of being a kid. Don’t be fooled by the theme though: there’s a grown-up level of depth and interest here, not to mention exceptional artwork on every card.

    Quest is a remake of Avalon, one of our favourite hidden role party games in which loyal servants of King Arthur pit their wits against wily Minions of Mordred who are trying to secretly sabotage their effects without revealing themselves. Quest brings stunning artwork into the mix as well as a STACK of new roles to keep things spicy over multiple play-throughs.

    Find all of the above and a whole lot more in our shop. We’ll be back with more ‘top fives’ in the next few days as the countdown to Christmas continues…



    Source link

  • Wahey, Helldivers 2 players have finally stopped the Meridian death ball’s advance towards Super Earth, and the Illuminate have responded by rage quitting the war for now

    Wahey, Helldivers 2 players have finally stopped the Meridian death ball’s advance towards Super Earth, and the Illuminate have responded by rage quitting the war for now


    Panic over. At least for now. Sort of. Fresh off of the news that Helldivers 2 is getting some fresh content in May, April’s closed with the Illuminate’s planet-eating death ball being stopped in its tracks – something players have been working towards for ages.

    Yep, this is not a drill. The Illuminate have gone into hiding too. Take that, the colour purple! I’m sure this relative peace will last forever, and that “more exciting news to come” not long after the next Warbond won’t have a chance of kicking off more squid shenanigans.

    If you take a glance at the Galactic War map right now on April 30, you’ll see no trace of the faction the divers have been going at it with on the reg for the past few months – there are only Automatons and Terminids left, because those two old foes will never totally die out. Though, as Arrowhead explained in its latest briefing, neither have the Illuminate.

    “The Meridian Singularity has come to a halt,” this briefing reads, “The Illuminate have disappeared completely; Ministry of Defense analysts have concluded this is likely explained by too few remaining to present a significant threat. The enemy is likely attempting to evade detection in order to survive a second total annihilation.”

    So, the big wormhole thing that was on its way to try and add the Helldivers’ home planet of Super Earth to the list of worlds it’s blown to smithereens has stopped in its tracks, and the squids have made a tactical retreat. Nice.

    This is Helldivers 2 though, meaning the fighting’s never over and there’s still a fresh major order. “The Terminids and Automatons remain significant threats,” Arrowhead continued, “In the Illuminate’s final hours, they dealt significant damage to the defenses of multiple strategic sites across both battlefronts, granting the opportunity for our foes to capture formerly well-defended territory.” Damn. It can never be easy, can it.

    So, players are now taking on the task of holding on those weakened sites – the planets Fenrir III, Turing, Claorell, Mastia, and Achernar Secundus. As of writing, the latter two are being battled for, while the first two are currently held by Super Earth with just over five days left on the order. So, by the time it runs its course, that next Warbond reveal on May 8 will be just around the corner.

    Are you glad to see that the death ball has stopped rolling towards your Super loved ones? Let us know below!





    Source link

  • duplicate bridge – Was it wrong for me to give an “intermediate” signal in the following situation?

    duplicate bridge – Was it wrong for me to give an “intermediate” signal in the following situation?


    With no one vulnerable at match points, right hand opponent dealt and opened one heart. I passed, left hand opponent raised to two hearts. and all passed. I led ace, king and third of clubs from the following:♠J985 ♡J76 ♢Q72 ♣ AK2.

    Partner captured the third club with the queen (both opponents following to all three rounds), and led the ace of spades. At this point dummy (to my left) showed the following: ♠ Q2 ♡K93 ♢K853 ♣J.

    Right hand opponent dropped the 4 of spades, and I signalled with m 8 of spades, my second lowest. Partner led another spade, which dropped the opposing K and Q together, leaving my J high (but leaving the opponents void of spades).

    Partner complained about being misled by my signal but conceded it didn’t matter. She was out of clubs and wasn’t about to lead trump, so it was a choice between spades and diamonds. I didn’t particularly want a diamond lead with the K in dummy sitting over my Q. Of course, she could have led the ace of diamonds if she had it, but she didn’t.

    I quoted what I had been taught (by the late Dorothy Hayden Truscott). With regard to following with four of a suit:

    Follow with lowest (5) means, “You’ll get no help from me if you lead another one.”

    Second lowest (8) means, “I can accommodate another one.”

    Second highest (9) means, “Please lead another one.”

    Highest (J) means, “lead another one for crying out loud.”

    I believe that partner was “disappointed” that I didn’t have the controlling honor after I played the 8. My understanding when playing the is that it means, ” I don’t see any better lead than another spade, whether or not it wins.

    Did partner have a good reason to complain about my signal?



    Source link