I have the most recent version of Swatch by Minerva & Scott James, got it at UKGE this weekend. I understand the main version of the multiplayer game and I do like it. I am just a little confused about the Solo version of the game. If you have any suggestions on how to play the Solo game, I would love to see a video made on it. Otherwise, awesome video!
For those watching in 2023, three piles of tiles isn't required. All the tiles are shuffled therefore their distribution is random. 6 piles, or 3, or 1; it's all the same.
Good video, congrats! I have doubts about the 1 below the deck, could you explain me better? whats happens if I draw it on the left side (free card) and what would happen if I draw on the right side?
8:20 Heads up. You can determine when you activate special abilities during the fight, not when you draw them. That's why you exhaust (turn sideways) the card to remind you when you've already used them
Great video! For some reason, Friday makes me more angry than any other solo game I've got. There was this one time (at band camp) that I almost tipped over a coffee shop table because I was *SO* close to reaching the part where you actually fight the pirates. I'm not sure why....but I hardly ever reach that section of the game. I usually lose my final life tree at the third stage of building the deck.
this game is definitely hard, its not just you. Its definitely up to luck coinciding with your strategy but without a solid strategy, youll always fail so it doesnt feel like its all just RNG
Thank you for this! Very clear and well presented! I finally started to pick this game up because of your video and it’s a super fun game to pick up and play a game or two solo every now n then
Playing completely wrong within the first turn…you don’t get to buy things until you have removed ALL dice in the USE DICE STEP. It’s: 1) Use all dice 2) Attack 3) Build and Trade 4) End of turn. So sorry, I had to stop watching after the first turn.
I was lucky enough to test a prototype with Scott @ludoquist, Croydon. A very original and clever game and this looks even more polished! Can't wait to get my copy.
Hey Ben, thanks for the awesome explanation. Recently bought this game and just finished reading the instruction booklet, which did seem a bit confusing. Your video makes it super simple to understand. The only thing that I guess is important to make use of (and understand how to use) are the special abilities, which you briefly touched on. I look forward to playing this. I think it's a great addition to anyone's board game collection. Greetings from Cape Town.
A very enjoyable and informative video. A very relaxed and calm presentation style too, very refreshing. I also appreciate that you had to check the rules, forget how many actions you had taken etc. A mere mortal just the same as the rest of us. The professionally made video are fine, error free and bloody boring. This is how it should be done. Thank you for putting all the effort into it.
Thank you for the kind words! I would certainly not have minded not making any mistakes on the stream but that's live video for you 😂 I'm just super glad you found it enjoyable to watch!
Love this list! Brain Games actually had a prototype at GenCon 2019 of a version of Ice Cool with multiple 3D levels so I think you're on to something.
Thank you Monique! The lighting for this one was just the sunlight from my windows, which is why I'm looking forward to the longer days so I can make more video content using it :)
Interesting list of game. Honestly, Rattle Battle wasn't on my radar. Most of the rest I'm either a fan of or want to play. I really wanted to try Flying Goblin at Cannes, but each time I went past, either the demoers were gone (outside of 'public' times) or it was just too gosh-darn-busy (during trade hours) so I went to try something else. What did you think of that game?
I've never actually played a full game of Flyin' Goblin just a quick demo at a convention, but I think the concept looks really fun and would like to give it a go!
5:38 extra cards should be placed to the right side of the encounter. But on 5:50 you put it in the left; it's right now not super important, but card combos later will target specifically either the left or the right cards, so best to do this correctly from the start. 7:16 you can do that a bit more efficiently.. 8:18 these "danger" cards (green/yellow/red eyes) I place them UNDER the challenge card deck. It's easier to see the level you're on that way. Also, at the start of the game you need to show the pirates, because your whole strategy will be based upon defeating the pirates! And also worth mentioning is: if you thin your deck so extremely that you create a kind of endless loop, after drawing the last age card there is a new Lose condition added by Friedemann Friese himself, you die of old age, thematically, you never got off the island. So Friday had a surprise for its creator ♪ (that lose by old age condition is missing from the retail copies but should be added in every copy of the game.)
First game, at 39:50.. Rules state: "If you must place a meeple because there is a free feature on the tile, but thre are no remaining meeples of that color, the game ends at the END of that turn (after scoring, if applicable)." So, if you had closed off the city at far right, you would have completed the city, (no way to place a meeple, as you were extending an already taken city), and gotten your meeple back, which would have resulted in no score for black, but you would have gotten your black meeple back.. basically, the last ditch "Hail Mary" pass in American football. Then you could have taken a chance and seen if you could do the same maneuver with yellow..
I must say that the "winner card", that I have now seen in several games, is one of the most brilliant ideas I have seen in gaming in the last few years. It's utterly pointless in gameplay terms, but in terms of engaging players and adding just a little extra fun (as well as adding a little viral marketing) it's a stroke of genius, and in game production terms it would almost certainly add no cost, just a few minutes' work for the graphic designer.
For sure, like I said it's only silly to me because I am not part of the youth any more! I still included it because as you mentioned, for gameplay purposes it is completely useless, and this list is mostly tongue in cheek and hopefully not going to irritate anybody :) Thanks for checking it out by the way!
I'm sure you'll irritate some people -- this is the Internet, after all! But yeah, it's just a bit of fun. :) Mind you, you could always lean into it some more and get clickbaity with the titles: "Russ hates fun; watch to find out why".
Nice work, Russ - I'll argue that the toyetic nature of some of the things of the list outweighs their uselessness, but hey, that's a philosophical discussion for another day!
Thanks for your comment! I definitely agree that games have that element (see basically all miniatures games, could be tokens/standees but people love the figures!) so I think superficial probably covers it? It's a tricky line sometimes between what is needed and what is desired in a board game, but at the end of the day this is just a little bit of fun so I hope people don't take it too seriously :)
This is the only one about the game Friday on RU-vid that did not just talk about non sense, but actually told how the game is played in a good amount of time
Thank you for checking out the video! I've included a preview link to the kickstarter in the info section so you can check that out if you'd like to be notified when it goes live 😊
There's no doubt it was created in haste, if you check the rulebook they even said they haven't tested it with any of the expansions, but I think it's quite nice they did this as a response to so many people being stuck inside during lockdowns and I personally think the game feels really solid! Of course I don't speak for everybody though 😊
"Rushed" because of the pandemic. Very nice of them to do this for folks locked-down due to the COVID virus. I'm sure they'll finetune it eventually. Lots of people already have this game.
I now have 60 board and card games in my collection. I planned to have a regular games night with friends, then COVID happened. I am grateful for solo games. Thank you for this video, which I watched before buying the game. It has just recently arrived and I am eager to play.
Wow, thanks Joan! We have all been impacted in this hobby thanks to this pandemic, but thankfully solo gaming exists and has been a great way to keep playing throughout! You are so welcome, I hope you enjoy the game and we appreciate your kind words 😊
@@travelwithdrawal8067 I now have over 100 board and card games....lol! Some of my solo games or games that offer solo play are: 5 Minute Mystery, Bandido, Calico, Chai, Quiddler, Traffic Jam and Tubyrinth. Good luck with your single player collection.
The main reason I've been able to get into board gaming is through solo play. I actually got started playing Pandemic "two-handed", where I'd just play two characters. Now I'm at the point where I'm playing games as complex as Paladins of the West Kingdom. And I just got my copy of Friday a few days ago and I'm going to play it for the first time right now!
I know! I was very excited to hear they'd released solo rules as I had no idea it would even work but they did a good job! Let me know what you think when you get a chance to play it 😊
2 hours just flew by! Wow that was good. Though im sure that even though you played great, the scoring system is a bit lacking due to the great disparity in points. I hope this gets addressed like doubling points for the adventurers in vendertron's ledger or extra points for set collection.
Thank you Mark! You're right, I think that the fact the rules are still in beta mean that they're is an opportunity for the game to be tweaked so it is more difficult to win. I know I did good but I don't think I did so good as to destroy the AI! 😅
@@ForChitsGiggles I've been playing some solo variants, but it's always nice to see one coming from the actual publisher. It'll be hard to get it working with expansions (especially stuff like Princess and Dragon or The Plague) but I'll just stick to the base game. Just printed out the rules and will now continue the video :) Might have some time tonight to get a solo game in!
@@dutch_blades Oh nice! I hadn't heard of a solo variant before this came out but I was really excited to try it (you'll see on the channel I've been trying out a lot of solo games in lockdown!) I agree with you that some expansions won't be great for these rules, but some I think might work (like the first two!) so I'm likely to try it in the future :) Let me know how you get on!
@@ForChitsGiggles I just finished a solo game of Robinson Crusoe yesterday (with the new expansion for horror mode) and got absolutely destroyed :') This'll be a nice change of pace! (big solo game fan as well and I still need to find myself a copy of Mage Knight Ultimate Edition... out of stock everywhere I look though)
I know that game is notoriously difficult, I've never managed to win it! Certainly carcassonne as a solo game feels easier to complete so best of luck 😊
I just ordered this game and then found people complaining about the rule book which made me a bit nervous. But then I found this gem of a video! Thanks, this will help me a lot!
