New Door Mats

Even more awesome welcome mat designs. I wish I had more doors.

Come On a-My House Door Mat
by whatsitsgalore

Choose Your Own Adventure Door Mat: You See A Door Doormat
by whatsitsgalore

Role Player D20 Door Mat: You See A Door Doormat
by whatsitsgalore

Game Review -- Encyclopedia

When I heard the name of this game, I thought it would have to do with trivia knowledge. In reality, it's a dice-placement game.

As an assistant involved in the creation of the world's first encyclopedia, you travel the world researching animals and publishing your findings to earn prestige (and victory points.)

It took a few turns to get the hang of the game, but once I did, I enjoyed it. The dice-placement mechanic is structured so that you're torn between taking the die you really want and giving rewards to your opponents. Add to that the fact that the available dice get progressively worse and you have some really tough decisions to make. But there are so many choices on the board that you always have useful moves on your turn. If you can get animals with matching habitats or diets, you have a chance to score big, really big, in a single turn.

A few details my be off-putting to some, but they have less to do with game play and more to do with game design. For example, the cards feature pictures of animals without names, except for the Latin taxonomic name. That's no problem for my family of animal-loving encyclopedia-readers, but those who can't tell a wombat from a fruit bat might grow tired of calling every creature 'that thing.'

The names of the various sections (Expedition, Publication, Experts, etc.) should be printed on the board; it took me several turns before I could remember which was which. And the reference guides are so badly organized as to make them almost useless. But none of these things should stop you from having fun collecting your critters, sailing the world to study them, and then rushing to publish your findings, all in a mere six rounds of play. And, who knows? You might even come away knowing what a Monodon monoceros is.

By Whatsits Galore.

Top 10 Best Dice Games

Dice and games, games and dice...they just go together. Here are my nominations for the ten best dice games, in no particular order:

Qwixx

Fun to play, hard to spell. You move higher on 2 tracks, and at the same time lower on 2 tracks, hoping for the right die roll in the right color. And you can even score on your opponent's turn.

Rattlebones

In Rattlebones, you actually create your own dice, thanks to an ingenious method of replacable die faces, and then use them to collect tokens in a creepy carnival.

Sorcerer City

You choose which tracks to advance in order to score. Sounds simple, but since one track affects another, it's really a fun and challenging mechanic.

Roll For the Galaxy

Your dice give you choices of actions, from exploring new worlds to shipping planetary resources. The trick here is guessing which actions your opponents will pick so you can piggyback on their dice.

Super Skill Pinball

I've never been a pinball fan, but I like using dice to decide which bumpers to hit for maximum ball time. More fun than actual pinball.

Sagrada

Sagrada wins the prize for most beautiful game. Draft the jewel-colored dice by color and number to try to create the highest-scoring pattern on your stained glass window.

Pirates Dice

Yes, it's just Liar's Dice with a Pirates of the Caribbean overlay, but the barnacle-encrusted cups have a cool texture, and the classic gameplay is still fun. Get yourself two copies and play with eight people for an awesome experience.

Dice Town

A Wild West overlay makes this game interesting as you choose which of the six stations on the street to try for. You need to roll the most of one face to become the Sheriff, pan for gold, have a shoot-out...

Martian Dice

The Martians are the good guys here, trying to roll and capture chickens, cows, and humans without being overpowered by tanks. A push-your-luck game.

Dice City

Not to be confused with Dice Town, players buy cards to lay out in their town grid, creating mines to roll resources, public buildings to roll special powers, and armies to roll attacks on other towns.