Ghostbusters re-boot should have feminist’s rejoicing

                       Melissa McCarthy leads comedic all-female cast

 

impaupwards.com

Who you gonna call? Apparently two amazing female comedians that’s who! Kirsten Wiig and Melissa McCarthy, who teamed up in Bridesmaids to make it a huge success, well in my opinion anyway, are teaming up again in the Ghostbuster reboot, which is set to begin filming this summer. They are not alone of course, the two other leading ladies are Leslie Jones and Kate McKinnon both known for their work on Saturday Night Live.

moviefancentral.com

Do I hear Ghostbuster fans grumbling right now? Why yes, yes I think I can hear those grown men moans of agitation and their deep voices in a winey pitch as they say girls, eew! Without Bill Murray this movie will flop. Okay, so maybe I am ad-libbing a bit there out of all the re-boots currently in the works I am super excited an all-female Ghostbusters movie. I’m not looking at this re-boot as a spooky, ghost gathering, let’s get down to business type of movie; instead, I’m expecting a hilarious female comedy that just happens to include ghosts. I hope I won’t be disappointed, but when does McCarthy disappoint? She simply doesn’t.

etsy.com

Alright let’s dive into the movie itself. While the new movie plot is unknown at this time according to www.imdb.com I can tell you that actor Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis get the writing credit for the characters. Aykroyd is also an executive producer on the film and I only point this out because he played Dr. Raymond Stantz in the original 1984 movie, that he and Harold Ramis actually co-wrote. So fans out there that may be fretting this re-boot, I bet you’ll be surprised at how well the movie turns out. Screen play credit goes to Katie Dippold and Paul Feig. Paul Feig will also direct the film.

screeninsults.com

In the original film we see three parapsychology professors create a ghost removal service and the movie starred Bill Murray as Dr. Peter Venkman, Dan Aykroyd as Dr. Raymond Stantz, Harold Ramis as Dr. Egon Spengler, Sigourney Weaver as Dana Barrett, Rick Moranis as Louis Tully and William Atherton played Walter Peck.

The movie hit theatres June 8, 1984 distributed by Columbia Pictures as a horror comedy with a PG rating. The production budget at the time was $30-million and the movies domestic lifetime gross is $242,212,467.

variety.com

While I may have only been a year old at the time it was released, I certainly ended up watching it in the 1980’s and eventually had Ghostbuster toys, like slimmer, the happy looking marshmallow character called Stay Puft and the cool Ecto-1 vehicle. I can just imagine how many collectors are going to start grabbing the original toy collections now, because you know everything from the 1980’s is making a comeback.

All in all, I am looking forward to seeing this new twist on Ghostbusters and it certainly won’t be the cast’s fault if it does flop at the box office.

 #keepitnerdy

Written by: Leanne Delong

Feeling fantastic about all the movie re-boots?

Fantastic Four just one of many movies getting a re-boot, err, I mean second chance at life

 

fantasticfourmovie.com

Get ready for the re-birth of Marvel’s iconic superhero team, The Fantastic Four this summer in the first of two movies, with the second coming in 2017, or so says www.imdb.com anyway.

Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, this team has been together in comics since the 1960’s. This famously fantastic foursome is made up of Reed Richards (Mr. Fantastic) who seems to lead the group. His super power is the ability to stretch his body. There is Susan Storm (the invisible woman) who at first gains the ability to become invisible and as her powers grow she is able to use force fields as protection. She also is Reed Richard’s love interest. Johnny Storm (Sue’s brother) becomes known as the human torch and can also fly. Now we cannot forget the fourth member of the group, Ben Grimm, a great football player, a pilot and was Mr. Fantastic’s college roommate. He became known as the Thing once he took on a solid rock formation with superhuman strength and endurance. If you ask me that is one heck of a combination for a super hero team and honestly one of my favorites.

geektyrant.com

Now it may surprise some of you to hear that the first Fantastic Four movie was produced in 1994 by filmmaker Roger Corman for Marvel; however the movie was never released. Rumor has it that you can find a bootlegged copy of it to watch. Plus a documentary was created to explain what happened to the movie. The documentary is called Doomed!: The Untold Story of Roger Corman’s The Fantastic Four.

The movie we are most familiar with is the 2005 release of the Fantastic Four with Ioan Gruffudd as Reed Richards, Jessica Alba as Sue Storm, Chris Evans as Johnny Storm, Michael Chiklis as Ben Grimm and of course, Julian McMahon as Victor von Doom.

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This cast really pulled off their roles and I enjoyed the first Fantastic Four movie, however I remember not liking the sequel as much, probably because it was a sequel and sometimes you just don’t need them. Chris Evans pulled off the cockiness of Johnny and Jessica Alba had that hint of shyness about her that made her role as the invisible woman believable. Now to mention Julian McMahon made an excellent villain and I must say I remember watching him on the television show Charmed where he was half good - half evil. Simply put I think he is a fantastic actor, no pun intended. But when you watch this particular movie, your heart melts for Ben Grimm who turns to stone and is shut out in the cold.

The main cast for the upcoming movie this summer includes, Miles Teller as Reed Richards, Kate Mara as Sue Storm, Michael B. Jordan as Johnny Storm and Jamie Bell as Ben Grimm. I have to be honest here, this is a young cast I am not familiar with their work, so I will not comment on how I think this might play out, but I am hoping for the best.

thehollywoodnews.com

Now as for plot differences, here is where it changes up a bit. In the 2005 version of the movie the Fantastic Four gain their powers as astronauts exposed to cosmic radiation and go on to attempt to defeat their new found enemy Doctor Victor Von Doom. However, in this re-boot the Fantastic Four acquire their super powers as young scientists in a teleportation experiment that obviously goes wrong and then they must save the world from an enemy. Coincidently both versions of this movie have sequels to them.

My only beef is why did they need to change the plot? That seriously baffles and annoys me, but I definitely will still watch this so called, re-boot.

If you’d like to read more about the 1994 version of the movie follow this link: http://geektyrant.com/news/trailers-for-doomed-the-untold-story-of-roger-cormans-the-fantastic-four

To get up to date with the latest cast, crew and movie plot before this summer’s new release visit www.fantisticfourmovie.com

 #keepitnerdy

Written by: Leanne Delong

A computer broke my heart

                                 Why technology has become family battle

 

themaclawer.com

I write these words on a Gateway laptop that is about seven years old. It is red in color, has traveled across the country with us and in all honesty it is my husband’s laptop. He is a gamer you see, so he has this beast of a laptop that has lasted all these years, out beating my HP laptop that cost twice as much as this one when we purchased them at the same time in 2008.

I am saddened by the fact I am on this machine, which means nothing to me because it is not mine. You see I am an Apple user, through and through, I have owned an iMac for five years now and that beautiful machine has won my heart from the day I brought it home from the retail store.

Its majestic 27 inch screen, the quick start up and easy menus, what is not to love really? It is built for an artist’s mind; I like to say anyway, while a PC is more for those who are actually interested in knowing how a computer works, or play games. I grew up on a PC, learned my way around and know more about them than I care to admit, but when I made that transition to a Mac, my headaches over errors, blue screens of death and constant updates came to a halt. I was in love.

Leanne DeLong

My Mac and I never had any problems, we got along well, we shared beautiful edited family photos together, watched YouTube videos together, spent hour’s video editing and that Mac was my soul mate. It literally had become a part of my daily life, essentially, a part of the family as well. That is why it was so devastating when after five great years without one argument, NOT ONE, that Mac broke my heart overnight. I woke up Sunday morning (January 25, 2015) and it was gone.

You see Macs are sly little computers; they remain loyal, do as they’re told and never complain for years, until one day, BAM they slap you in the face and end it all. A PC on the other hand, while you have your ups and downs, fights with small errors and constantly has to upgrade to the latest trends, PC’s break your heart more slowly. You kind of see it coming, unlike a Mac.

Leanne Delong

Ok let’s cut the sentimental crap and get down to some actual facts, because let’s face it, most people buy a PC simply because the cost is much lower than an Apple product but, www.businessinsider.com shares some important differences between PC’s and Macs in an article written by Lisa Eadicicco.

First and foremost I believe this will be a forever on-going battle but, if you’re like me and make technology part of your daily routine, then you need to pick out the best computer suited for you and since my husband is trying to convenience or “convert” me to buy a new PC, I simply refuse and here are some reasons why.

One being that Apple is the only company designing their products, while there are multiple companies out there designing PC’s such as Acer, Gateway, HP, Dell and more. With so many companies competing in the PC world to be-dazzle you with their newest colour, fun feature or whatnot, Apple sits solidly like a lone soldier, confident of its looks and design.

One downside to buying a Mac is the price tag, however generally speaking if you drop $2000 on a brand new 27 inch iMac it is probably going to last you five or more years without any problems, depending on what you use it for and how hard on it you are. I can attest to that fact. No trouble for an entire five years. On the other hand, you can go out and buy a desktop PC for half the price and probably better specs than the Mac’s but will you go five years on a PC without an error, virus, multiple updates and other annoyances? Probably not. My husband openly admits he keeps his computers healthy by re-formatting every three to four months, which is a pain the butt to me.

pixgood.com

Also generally speaking Macs are safer against viruses compared to a PC, just sayin’.

I will admit that PC’s are definitely better for gamers; I cannot even argue this one. If you are a gamer, buy a PC hands down.

Obviously the operating systems on a PC and Mac are different, however I seriously have yelled at every operating system on a PC they have created since XP. I hate Windows 8 but the Mac OS X operating system makes my brain happy.

The article I listed above also points out that PC’s have more hardware to choose from and I’m just saying that to keep this fair. While I’m at it I might as well admit they point out that PC’s have touch screens and apparently when this article was written in December 2014, touch screen options did not exist for a Mac.

Another great thing about a Mac is that, if you really cannot choose to go one way or the other, a Mac can run Windows as well. So there you go. You get the best of both worlds.

I hope this helps you find your next new family member.

Written by: Leanne Delong

Keep Rockin’ Baby: TBT With Capcom VS. SNK

fightersgeneration.com

As a long time gamer, I enjoy games that can offer a fun experience. In this day and age, we tend to forget that but to me that’s the most important aspect of being a gamer. With that said, the game that I’ve had the pleasure of enjoying for many years is Capcom Vs SNK 2 (CVS2) on the PS2. Now I’ve already mention my love for Street Fighter and Tekken 2, but in all of the fighting games I’ve played in my lifetime, CVS2 ranks at the top of my list because it was such a fun game to play.

fightersgeneration.com

CVS2 was the “highly anticipated” sequel to the original Capcom Vs SNK that came out in 2000. CVS2 featured fighters from various fighting games across the Capcom and SNK universe. The Capcom side featured fighters from Darkstalkers, Final Fight, Rival Schools, and various versions of the Street Fighter series. SNK featured fighters from Art of Fighting, Fatal Fury, Garou: Mark of The Wolves, The King of Fighters series, The Last Blade, and Samurai Showdown. The game offered six different groove types to choose from, representing various modes and styles of play from previous Capcom and SNK fighting games.

C-Groove (Street Fighter Alpha 3 Style)

A-Groove (Street Fighter Alpha 3 V-Ism Style)

P-Groove (Street Fighter III Style)

S-Groove (King of Fighters Style)

N-Groove (Classic King of Fighters Style)

K-Groove (Samurai Showdown Style)

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To me the different groove types are just one of the reasons why the game is so much fun. For example, if you were to play as Ryu you can pick one of the SNK grooves and have a completely different experience compared to playing his more traditional CAP grooves. The other aspect of this game is the awesome special intros between Capcom and SNK characters before the start of the fight. It really adds a special element to the game. Oh and who can forget the Dramatic and Finest KO’s in the game either. One of the main reasons this game is so damn fun is that it gave me a chance to play as the SNK characters. Prior to CVS2, I’ve never played any SNK fighting game so this gave me an opportunity to play such characters like Terry, Iori, Kyo, King, and Kim. I actually started playing The King of Fighters series because of CVS2.

fightersgeneration.com

CVS2 is a very popular game that ranks high on every fighting game aficionado’s list. To this day many gamers are clamoring for Capcom Vs SNK 3 to happen (it’s unlikely though). It brought together an impressive list of fighters from both Capcom and SNK and featured amazing game-play. While later incarnations of the game came out after its initial release back in 2001 yielded less than “favorable” reviews *cough* PSN version *cough*, it’s still an amazing game.

#keepitnerdy

Written By: Justin Cooper (@ItsMrCooper82)

Resources

The Fighters Generation: http://www.fightersgeneration.com/main.htm

Video Games, the Good and Bad

                                                        Video Games: Pros and Cons

“Video games change your brain”- both positive and negatively. Most common instance is, it makes you smart. There are many other benefits associated with it. However, like all other creations they may have many negative impacts as well.  In this article I will discuss the pros and cons of video games.

Pros:

These days, video game producers try to make more challenging games. Players spend time solving puzzles and beating the hurdles in the games. These require a high level of thinking which is not learned in school and colleges. Their mental strength increases here just like the way reading books do (proved by experts).  As such they become more intelligent.

Games like Angry Bird, Cut the Rope, Assassins Creed, Dragon Age, and FarCry involve solving quests in many different ways. Each level toughens with the progression and players are forced to innovate new ways to solve objectives. This aspect helps players become creative.

In shooting games, players are required to sprint, shoot, and defend all at the same time. They need to keep track of their position, where they are heading and if the gunfire is hitting enemies. All these has to be taken into consideration simultaneously when playing those games. These ask for great a deal of eye hand co-ordination that helps pass the information to the brain. These enable nerves to follow the rapid instruction to finger tips. Researchers suggest this allow players acquire visual, iconic, surgical and special skill. Also, a reason was given by experts as to why fighter pilots of today are more skillful is that this generation’s pilots are being taught on video games.

Economic theories dictate resources in the world are limited. There is no better way to teach this lesson than games. In most recent games particularly strategic ones, skill is honed to manage limited resources and make the best use of it, just like real life. Notably, The American Planning Association, the Trade Association of Urban Planners and Maxis, the game creator, have claimed that SimCity has inspired a lot of its players to take a career in urban planning and architecture.

Video games give your brain a real workout. Many stressful situation like battle against enemy forces in action games makes players to take quick decisions. According to the study video games can be used to train soldiers and surgeons as simulation. It’s also made clear action game players make accurate decisions. Bavelier said, "Action game players make more correct decisions per unit time. If you are a surgeon or you are in the middle of a battlefield that can make all the difference."

Gamers are always kept aware of the term game-over. They know this and develop strategies and anticipate danger early to survive. These not only levels them up in games but also in real life.

Situational awareness builds up through playing games. As mentioned earlier games take players to a world full of danger. They need to keep track of situation to beat opponent. They make arrays of consideration to track hostiles, friends, environment and the ever changing difficulty. These helps them adapt to changes. Defense News reported that the Army include video games to train soldiers to improve their situational awareness in combat.

The gamer reads to get instructions, follow storylines of games, and get information from the game texts. These inspire them in reading books and become knowledgeable.

War games like Battlefield, Call of Duty, Liberation War 71, Medal of Honor makes players patriotic as those games involve war against enemies of humanity and nations.

“If you fail once, try hundred times” is a motto developed by video games. Players generate perseverance to keep on trying even after failing many times at higher level. These also help them in harsh times of real life.

History lessons can be learned with pleasure playing video games. Assassins Creed could be your history teacher as it makes you take a journey to many historical events and renowned figures.

 Cons:

Some video games entices violence and chaos. The most popular open world game GTA (Grand Theft Auto) series is one of such games. This game involves plenty of immoral activities that can encourage teens to do thievery, robbery, murder, rape etc.

Playing games is acceptable, addiction is not. In most cases young children seem to suffer this problem that hampers their growth (according to the study of Minneapolis-based National Institute for Media and the Family).

These days, players seem to be hardcore enough to spend infinite hours in playing games. They waste endless hours and their productivity reduces. As such adults fall behind in jobs. Children and teens fail to achieve academic success.

There are some games that can cause health problems. Puzzle games and other strategic ones might give headache and nerve disorders. In addition gamers who play sitting on a chair, might loose their natural shape of the backbone. Some might also suffer walking problems.

#keepitnerdy

Written by Mohammed Sadman Shahriar (@MSSK91)

All photo credits google.com

Reference:  http://www.raisesmartkid.com/3-to-6-years-old/4-articles/34-the-good-and-bad-effects-of-video-games

Dark Dungeons: The Movie: Parody Done Right

youtube.com

Back in the early 1980’s, D&D (Dungeons and Dragons) came as close as it ever was going to get to being cool. At the time, D&D was readily available in almost every toy and book shop, right on the shelves. It was even popular enough for an 80’s cheesy Saturday morning cartoon which I remember with equal parts nostalgia and shame.

As the game’s popularity grew, there was also a backlash from certain fundamentalist groups and moral crusaders against D&D (there was even a 60 Minutes segment on this) concerned that it would lead to Satan worship (just like He-Man and Rock & Roll). Enter Jack Chick. Jack Chick is a cartoonist who creates “missionary bibles.” These are short, free comics that warn people they are going to hell unless they worship Christ in precisely the way Jack Chick does. These are scattered in unlikely places in the hopes that sinners will read them and change their lives based on a comic instead of using them as TP.

“Chick Tracts” rail against a variety of targets (Muslims, Catholics, sex, drugs and rock & roll) but one of the most unintentionally hilarious is a comic he created called Dark Dungeons (1984) which showed how D&D is a tool of Satan that leads to players developing THE REAL (satanic) POWER from its intense occult training. It has been a source of unintentional amusement for gamers for years. Somehow, a gamer managed to get Jack’s permission (likely with a Charm Person or Suggestion spell) to use his eight page comic into a 45 minute movie. Naturally, once this sucker hit Kickerstarter, it was fully funded. It is now available for $5 here.

 

chick.com

So is it worth $5 for this 45 minute movie? If you are hard core role-playing nerd, I would give an unqualified yes. This is a movie made by gamers, for gamers, loaded with obscure cameos and references just for you. There’s even a cameo; the Gamer’s cast plays a bunch of hooded demons trying to conquer the earth for Satan from their dark tower in hell.

But even if you aren’t a gamer, you may still find it quite enjoyable, so long as you know enough about RPG’s (and reality in general) to get the idea that D&D nerds don’t actually go around casting spells, and can pick up the irony of the D&D club being “just too popular” to kick out of school. Even if most of the in jokes and gaming references go right over your head, this movie just works as a parody in general for one reason; Dark Dungeons takes its subject matter seriously.

 

darkdunqeonsthemovie.com

Most parodies these days make the critical mistake of not bothering to research or stick with the source material, instead relying on stereotypes, in jokes, pop culture references or zany manatee gags. However, the majority of a good parody’s comedy shouldn’t derive from in-jokes, pop culture references or manatee gags. A parody’s best source of comedy should be played off the inherent ridiculousness of the original source material. Dark Dungeons gets that: its best source of humor is the utterly straight delivery. Dark Dungeons is, at its heart, a faithfully adapted, utterly clueless movie based on an utterly crazy worldview in which the UN is at war with God and Muslims actually worship the moon*.

themarysue.com

Dark Dungeons takes the original material and adapts it faithfully, keeping as many of the lines as possible. When it can’t rely on the source material (presumably from extending a short comic into a 45 minute film) it at least keeps to the spirit of the original, adding in bits from other comics, or the aforementioned in-jokes I mentioned earlier. The result is funny, even if the gaming references mostly go over your head (or at least, my significant other found it really funny). I really wish Hollywood comedy writers would take note. Recently movie parodies make the mistake of flying way too far off the plot. You have to give a certain level of faithfulness and understanding of the source material for a parody to really work. You also have to let the actors actually act as though they are in the situation in the movie. You can’t just throw in pointless dated pop culture references, some zany manatee gags and call it a parody.

Having taking the ridiculous situations being taken with deadly seriousness adds another level of comedic appeal. When the source material in itself is ridiculous, it just makes sense to just play it absolutely straight. Every line in Dark Dungeons, no matter how ridiculous, is delivered with gloriously goofy earnestness, from the crazy cultists to the feminist/witchy/dominatrix GM to the nightclub D&D rave party that I really wish had occurred in my college days.

Where ever possible, the movie choses to go with Jack Chick’s original dialogue, stuff from his other pamphlets he’s written, or made up insanity that might as well have been written by him. Thankfully, his comic is only a few pages long, so the 45 minute run time gives plenty of time to add in its share of Easter eggs and in jokes to let you know yes, the writers and actors are in on the joke. 

Other than those reminders, Dark Dungeons takes place in the world as envisioned by Jack Chick. It’s world in which D&D really is a super popular addictive gateway drug into real magic, occultism, Satanism. Where playing around in college steam tunnels where you are likely to be eaten by a grue and your soul sent straight to hell. Your only chance is to burn your books and accept Jesus as your personal saviour, or C’thulu will be summoned and Satan will reign on earth!

 

darkdungeonsthemovie.com

You can check out the first 20% or so of the movie on YouTube for free. If you like it, you can get the whole movie for $5 at http://darkdungeonsthemovie.com/.  Incidentally, those creepy occult demons at the start in the robes? Those are the cast of The Gamers movies. Check out their stuff at http://deadgentlemen.com/ if you are a fan of tabletop RPG`s.

By Marc Thompson

#KeepItNerdy

Board Game Review - The Castles of Mad King Ludwig

 A fantastic Eurogame that anyone can enjoy.

boardgamegeek.com

Background

In 1873, King Ludwig II of Bavaria spent his fortune constructing some of the most elaborate and extravagant castles ever built to glorify the Bavarian culture. To this day, his castles are a giant tourist draw. His personal castle, Neuschwanstein was the inspiration behind Disney’s “Sleeping Beauty’s Castle” which remains a Disney icon to this day.

In The Castles of Mad King Ludwig board game, each player plays an aspiring builder; attempting to construct the castle that impresses both the world and the King the most (I.E. get the most points). The castles are built room by room and come into various categories. Rooms earn bonuses or penalties based on their proximities to other types of rooms. For example, putting a bowling alley next to a bedroom is a terrible idea for obvious reasons. Castles of Mad King Ludwig was designed by Ted Alspach, designer of the very well–regarded Suburbia. In fact, the game is quite similar to Suburbia only with much broader appeal and less bookkeeping.

Rooms also give immediate benefits when all of the room’s “doors” are connected to the castle (or closed off by another wall). Completed corridor rooms grant additional corridors, activity rooms grant extra points, gardens extra cash, food rooms give a free turn, and so-on.  There are also additional rewards for building the most of what the King likes, which varies game to game, and additional private rewards from bonus cards (which each player keeps separately).  One game, you might get extra points for every corridor. Another, you may earn points for every 10,000 you have. Finally, at the end of the game you also score points for each “depleted” room type.

Like Suburbia, rooms have variable prices and get cheaper over time. Unlike Suburbia, the base cost of each tile is determined by “The Master Builder” who changes each round. Any money spent to build a room goes to the Master Builder and serves as a major source of income.  This mechanic provides an interesting challenge to the Master Builder. They want other players to buy expensive items so they have to pay them more, but they don’t want to price things so high that the other players simply pass or settle for the cheapest building. 

So, what kind of player is this game for? Just about anyone really. That’s the beauty of the game. Mad King Ludwig is approachable to players who aren’t quite as big into complex, abstract Eurogames. Simultaneously, it contains enough complexity and elegance that the game is still enjoyable to the wooden cube loving eurogame fanatics who got bored of Settlers 15 years ago. 

boardgamegeek.com

For example the mechanics are superficially very similar to Suburbia, only with a lot less pointless bookkeeping. At the end of each turn in Suburbia, your population (score) grows by an amount equal to its reputation. However, as the population grows it crosses various lines which reduce income and reputation, which can go into negative numbers. It’s possible to drive yourself so far into debt that you can’t really play any cards, which isn’t very conducive to game play. Finally, almost every building has its own special rule text, many of which have global affects based on how many of the buildings is in your town. This results in a player having to check every tile they’ve played every time they play a tile to make sure they aren’t missing some affect, and can get quite confusing and discouraging in the late game.

The rooms in Suburbia are clearly marked with points. Most rooms either give or subtract points based on what kind of room is next to them. The strategy for placing them primarily involves the bonus tiles and scoring rules, rather than specific exceptions on the cards. Once a player understands those basic rules, it becomes much easier to figure out how many points a given room is worth and how many points they earn at the end of the turn. It may still take novice players a while to get their score correctly, but usually they can figure it out after 2-3 games.

The theme also makes the game much more palatable to less experienced gamers as well.  “Hey, want to play a board game about a Mad King who builds crazy nonsensical castles?” sounds a lot more appealing than “Hey, do you want to play a board game about the establishment of the German Postal System?” It’s good that designers are starting to realize that, while theme doesn’t make a game good, it is still useful. Not everyone gets excited at the mention of a game with wooden cubes designed by Reiner Knizia.

The theme combines with the mechanics does a surprising job of creating a player-driven narrative. We had almost as much fun trying to justify the weird design of castles as we did actually playing the game. After several games, I noticed a pattern would develop for each player after a few turns. Either the player would develop a particular weird theme (“man, my builder must have weighed a ton! He’s obsessed with food!” or they form into this weird combination of rooms that has the player  creating their own stories to explain how the hell that happened. 

wikipedia.org

In one weird game, I had a staircase down, then up and down, the up and down again from my Coach House, which had a horse and buggy  that could move about 2m out of the gate before it ran into a castle wall. Another player had a “guest” bedroom with once exit… leading down into a bottomless pit and a dungeon. Either that guest has VERY weird tastes or is going to have a very unfun stay. Another player had a maze of activity rooms (and nothing else) and said they were building Disneyland. Another player cackled insanely on their turns and proceeded to hunt up all the supervillian themed rooms (the Dungeon, the Secret Lair, the Panic Room and of course the Torture Chamber).

The desire to see the castle get built, regardless of who wins, allows Mad King Ludwig to appeal to a very broad audience. The elegant euro strategy elements are meaty enough to pique the interest of your boardgamegeek.com obsessed uber–gamer snob, while the theme, design and simplified book keeping make it a great opener for the party crowd. It’s a great opener.

Components
The Castles of Mad King Ludwig has a fairly nice, if not exceptional component box. The tiles are pretty enough, with detail that differentiates the individual rooms (while the easily coded color groups are simultaneously easy to identify as well). I particularly liked the castle shaped assemblable board. The box art (shown above) does justice to the famous castle it depicts, in my opinion.

Overall
I am always looking for games that are both fun to play and easy to introduce to novice players, and this one certainly qualifies. I can’t say for sure whether or not I will be playing this continually, but even after I get tired of it, I expect to dust this game off every few months whenever I need to introduce some new players to Eurogames. Highly enjoyable, this belongs in the collection of every serious boardgamer.

wikipedia.org

Tips
When choosing initial bonus tiles, don’t keep ones that duplicate an imperial favor. For example, if the emperor is going to reward the person with the most bedrooms, it’s probably a bad idea to take a “bedrooms” bonus tile because everyone else will be going after that one. Pick something else instead.

Function rooms (which give bonus tiles on completion) are EXTREMELY valuable at the start of the game, because they you can adapt your playstyle to get rid of them.

Activity rooms are good to stack together. The penalties never affect each other.

Remember that tiles in demand (that run out during play) are worth 2VP each. If there’s only one staircase left and you already have 4, it might be worth it to build one just to get the 2 VP.

Food tiles give free turns. It can be useful to keep these unfinished until late game, or maybe when you are the master builder so you pay minimal cash to an opponent.

Your first or second turn should probably be spent building a staircase. Underground rooms come up infrequently and are highly sought after. It’s extremely amusing to be a master builder and have the only staircase: unless your opponent completes a food room, you can put the underground room at the lowest cost and grab it easily.

Avoid corridors like the plague, if possible. They are almost never worth it unless you are truly desperate for entrances to the castle.

Keep an eye out for what your opponent is building, particularly if you are the master builder. An inexperienced MB once needed some cash and let me have the Armory Room (+2 per Activity Room). The thing is, I had 6 activity rooms. Worse, I completed the room and chose to score it again as my bonus, soring something like 36 points.

Eurogame – Complex abstract strategy games with low player interaction, lots of complicated multifaceted strategies, and wooden cubes, usually from Germany.

By Marc Thompson
#KeepitNerdy