You have three characters per side, and each character is unique. Every round you take turns activating one character. Each character can be activated only once per round. When you activate a character, it may move then perform an action. Actions include various types of attacks and also some special powers. Some actions cost energy and some are free. Every character collects 1 energy at the start of its turn. It also gains 1 energy when dealing damage, and when taking damage. When to use your accumulated energy for a powerful move is an interesting decision. Do you want to save up even more for an even more powerful action? Or should you use what you have now for an opportunistic attack? 

 

Some attacks are melee, i.e. you need to be in the same space as your opponent. Some are ranged. I like how attacks are handled. The number of dice rolled by the attacker is determined by the attack action chosen. The number of dice rolled by the defender is determined by its inherent defense value. The attacker hits on a die roll of 3 or more, while the defender blocks on a die roll of 4 or more. This encourages attacking. One important ability some characters have is to push an opponent away from where they are standing. This is important in the contest for victory positions. 

 

 

You keep track of character health (life points) using a 20-sided die. When a character gets killed, it respawns at the starting location. Although you don’t lose the character, having to start so far away in a corner does set you back significantly. 

 

Characters have unique abilities. If the dog dies, its teammates gain a surge of energy. Think John Wick. It makes perfect sense. In the story of the cartoon series, the dog did actually die. Sorry for spoiling it. The boss of the villains has a funny ability. He can gain extra energy for his team, but at the risk of damaging one of his minions. When I played against Chee Kong, we kept calling this guy a bad boss, for putting his people at risk for the sake of winning. He was always lucky and the die rolls went well. I said he had a cunning HR manager who always helped him get away with such practices. 

 

 

Too Many Crowns is from Underdog Games, Korea. This is a 2-player microgame. It comes in a small and very portable box. 

 

You fight over five territory cards which have different point values. On your side of the play area you may play at most two cards. Normally you compare the sum of your card values to see who wins a territory. However if you have a pair on your side, you will beat your opponent, even if your sum is lower. Only if your opponent also has a pair, then you compare the card value. 

 

You draft cards. Every round, four cards are drawn from the deck to form two sets. One player chooses one set and leaves the other to the other player. This alternates. 

 

 

The numbers go from 1 to 10, and each number occurs twice. For each number, one of the cards has a special power. For example you can swap territory cards, or swap character cards, or exchange a hand card with the deck. I think the art in this game is lovely. 

 

 

 

Missing Girl is from Korea too, and this has a spooky theme. I like this art style. I have not properly read the rules and I only have a vague idea of how it works. This is a deduction game. One player is the detective and through questioning needs to work out the identities of the other players. 

 

 

Normal players are dealt two cards each, and your combination of cards determines your identity. If you get two student cards, you are a student. If you get two ghost cards, you are a ghost. If you get one each, you are a possessed student. Each player is allergic to some kinds of food. The detective needs to question the other players based on these food types. 

 

 

 

These are for assigning points to players. In the whole game you never see the face of the student or the ghost. That makes things more spooky than otherwise. I need to ask Jon how this works. I have not tried this but I’m curious. 

 

 

Word War is from Thailand. At Asian Board Games Festival Philippines this table was probably the loudest with the most laughter. 

 

 

 

The objective of the game is to get rid of all your cards. Each card lists several things. There are some keywords or phrases. There are specific actions people do at a playing table, for example refusing to answer a question, saying thank you, nodding, and sighing. There are also topics for discussion, or theme. This is a chatting game. You just chat around the table. So the topic or theme helps you get a conversation going. During the conversation, you want to get your opponents to say those keywords on your cards, or perform those actions on your cards. When they do so, you announce it immediately and show your card. You get to discard your card, while your opponent must now draw a card. When you play, you have to be careful of what you say, because your opponents are trying to lead you to say certain words. Yet you cannot just refuse to say anything. There might be actions like not responding to a direct question. No wonder there was so much laughter from this table. It is indeed exciting when you manage to get your opponent to say that exact word. 

 

 

Seek and Hide is the convention game for Asian Board Games Festival Philippines. It is an 18-card microgame. I think ABGF as a franchise is trying to have one such convention game for every time ABGF is held. I have played two other versions of this game, using the same mechanism but different themes. 

 

 

 

Here’s how the game works. Your spread all 18 cards on the table, then flip over one of them. The back of the card will show five items, and these five items will appear on five separate cards among those not flipped. You race to find these five items. When you find one of them, you claim it and flip it over, so that the other players don’t know which item you have found. The round ends once five cards have been claimed. Now you check whether all the five claimed cards have the correct item. You score points for correct items, and lose points in case you make a mistake. Some of the drawings are very similar so you need to be careful.