We’d recently put together a video to launch the still-unpublished Kickstarter campaign for Unplugged. Our plan was to launch the campaign as we announced our finalized location. With all of our plans on hold for the time being, Katey has assembled some outtakes from our video, and we’re happy to share them with you here. Happy gaming!
(We played Azul; Mark won)
Estimated delivery March 2021
Estimated delivery October 2020
| Game Details | |
|---|---|
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| Name | Vast: The Crystal Caverns (2016) |
| Complexity | Medium Heavy [3.64] |
| BGG Rank | 899 [7.10] |
| Player Count (Recommended) | 1-5 (2-5) |
| Designer(s) | Patrick Leder and David Somerville |
| Artist(s) | Kyle Ferrin |
| Publisher(s) | Leder Games, 2Tomatoes Games, Mandala Jogos, MS Edizioni and Quality Beast |
| Mechanism(s) | Action Points, Dice Rolling, Grid Movement, Hand Management, Line of Sight, Modular Board, Pick-up and Deliver, Pieces as Map, Role Playing, Secret Unit Deployment, Take That, Tile Placement and Variable Player Powers |
From Boardgamegeek:
“Vast takes you and your friends into the torch light of a classic cave-crawling adventure, built on the concept of total asymmetry. Gone are days of the merry band of travelers fighting off evil. In Vast, you will become part of a new legend… Any part you wish!
Play as the classic, daring Knight, the chaotic Goblin horde, the colossal, greedy Dragon, or even the Cave itself — powerful, brooding, and intent on crushing the living things that dare to disturb its gloomy depths. Each role has its own powers, pieces, and paths to victory…and there can be only one winner.
As the ultimate asymmetric board game, Vast: The Crystal Caverns provides a limitless adventure, playable again and again as you and your friends explore the four different roles in different combinations. Play one-on-one in a race to the death between the Knight and the Goblins, or add in the Dragon and the Cave for deeper and more epic experiences, different every time.”
Katey and I began this game with our kids, Avery & Emmett, but they lost interest as we slowly learned the nuances of the game, so we finished on our own. Because Vast is an asymmetrical game, it can take a bit of getting used to, and you might need multiple playthroughs to learn all of the characters (we played twice). But once you have it down, Vast is a pretty cool game. The balance seems well-tuned; in our second game (we each played two of the characters in the suggested 4-player setup) the cave won, but both the knight and dragon were arguably one turn from victory. We both liked the rock-paper-scissors element of play – the goblins are trying to kill the knight, the knight is trying to kill the dragon, the dragon eats goblins, and the cave is trying to collapse and kill everyone (we didn’t use the thief). Vast was lots of fun and Katey and I are looking forward to playing again, and checking out the various expansions available.
Unplugged Games Cafe is hosting Game Night at Crossroads Coffee & Ice Cream, on Monday nights in March and April.
We’ll have our mobile game library – a carefully chosen selection of “greatest hits” games for all ages and skill levels. We’ll help you choose a game, set up, and start playing.
Join us from 4-9pm every Monday for fun, food, and drinks!
Crossroads Coffee & Ice Cream is located at 3600 Forest Hill Avenue, Richmond, VA 23225.
Estimated delivery March 2021
| Game Details | |
|---|---|
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| Name | Dead of Winter: A Crossroads Game (2014) |
| Complexity | Medium [3.01] |
| BGG Rank | 229 [7.46] |
| Player Count (Recommended) | 2-5 (3-5) |
| Designer(s) | Jonathan Gilmour-Long and Isaac Vega |
| Artist(s) | David Richards, Fernanda Suárez and Peter Wocken |
| Publisher(s) | Plaid Hat Games, Arclight Games, Cube Factory of Ideas, Edge Entertainment, Filosofia Éditions, Galápagos Jogos, Game Harbor, Gém Klub Kft., Gemenot, Heidelberger Spieleverlag, Korea Boardgames, Meanbook Games, MINDOK, Raven Distribution, Rozum and Siam Board Games |
| Mechanism(s) | Action Points, Area Movement, Dice Rolling, Hand Management, Narrative Choice / Paragraph, Push Your Luck, Scenario / Mission / Campaign Game, Semi-Cooperative Game, Storytelling, Trading, Traitor Game, Turn Order: Progressive, Variable Player Powers and Voting |
This “mostly-cooperative” game features players as members of a colony of survivors trying to live through winter during a zombie apocalypse. The players will have a shared colony objective detailed on a scenario card, plus each player will have their own secret objective, too. In our game the colony objective was to collect a variable number of dead (re-dead? extra dead?) zombies.
The game is “mostly-cooperative,” because one of the players may have been dealt a betrayal card, which means they will be secretly working against the best interests of the colony. This element means that you can never be to sure of the motivations of the other players, which can lead to suspicion, and sometimes a player being voted out of the colony, which has benefits or penalties based on whether the player exiled was the betrayer or not.
During a turn, each player rolls dice and uses equal to the number of survivors they control +1, and uses those dice to perform actions around the game board. Survivors can travel to locations around the colony, search those locations, battle zombies, use items, clean up the colony, contribute cards to each round’s “crisis,” and more. Many actions can expose players to wounds, frostbite, or dreaded zombie bites. Crossroads cards are an interesting feature of the game. At the beginning of your turn, another player will read a Crossroads card for certain gameplay “triggers.” If, during your turn, you perform actions that trigger the card, it is read out loud, and you, or the other members of the colony will have two or more story choices to make that will affect the game in a variety of ways.
Each scenario has it’s own victory conditions and predetermined number of rounds. The game ends when the victory conditions have been met, the final round is completed, or when colony morale reaches zero (in our game’s case, our morale reached zero, which led to Andrew revealing himself as the betrayer and claiming victory based on his win conditions).
This game does a great job of simulating survival in a freezing zombie apocalypse. There is always another crisis to manage, and more and more zombies to deal with. It’s very thematic, and the Crossroads cards provide a bit of story to enhance gameplay. The possibility of a betrayal player creates a great deal of suspicion and tension around the table. It might be best to play this game with people you know well.
Estimated delivery September 2020
Sean has been an avid tabletop gamer for more than 30 years. He worked in the foodservice industry for almost 15 years, in restaurants but also as a sales representative for a national distributor. After many years in the foodservice industry, Sean is now in his sixth year as an elementary school teacher, where he combines his love of fun and games with a passion for education, and working with kids. He runs an afterschool board game club for 5th graders, helping students learn about strategy, probability, sportsmanship, and more. Sean especially enjoys living card games like Lord of the Rings: the card game, and Marvel: Champions.
Katey has spent 20 years in the customer service and sales industry, working closely with clients, and building lasting relationships. She has held management positions, and worked as an industry educator and mentor to bring out the best in newly hired colleagues. She enjoys games, and planning and hosting events. Katey is an amatuer filmmaker and has appeared in several short films shot and premiered in the Richmond 48 Hour Film Festival. She is eager to use her passion for photography, film, and production to develop content for Unplugged! Katey routinely beats Sean in close games of Dominion.
Together, Katey and Sean own a collection of over 200 games, and today they share their love of fun and gaming with their two children. Avery & Emmett, ages 8 and 6, are already developing keen minds for strategy. Avery loves playing Loopin’ Louie, and Emmett rarely loses races in Flamme Rouge. Katey and Sean are excited to share their passion for games, food, and fun with the Richmond community by opening Unplugged!
Ever since playing Tank Battle in 1975, Mark has been hooked on all types of gaming. Since then, he has received a computer science degree, worked in the restaurant industry and written web software in the education, telecom and restaurant sectors. Now that his kids are headed off to college, he has time to put all those skills and passions together. Bringing his collection of over 300 board games, he is ready to provide the perfect atmosphere for bringing all types of people together to experience tabletop gaming.
Mark and Sean met in the early 90s over games of Magic the Gathering, Dungeons & Dragons, and Spades. They still get together regularly to enjoy both the latest and classic games.
Estimated Delivery: January 2021