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Avalon Hill, 3M Parker Bros. Business European Mystery Politics Space/Fantasy
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EXCERPTS
FROM THE WINTER 1998 GA REPORT
FROM "SID SACKSON SAYS": A to Z (Fundex; about $25)Even though a multitude of word games are available to lovers of the form, there is always room for one more, as long as it has something different to offer and it is fun to play. A to Z certainly fills this bill. As the name suggests, the object is to be the one to first collect a complete alphabet...Four plastic "letter boards" showing the alphabet are supplied... a player starts by throwing the "timing die"... [to] indicate...30 seconds to gather letters [or] 15. An opponent now draws the top card from the 56 card "category deck". This shows six categories and a throw of the "category die" indicates which one is to be followed...players now call off words and their starting letters, placing a transparent disc over each letter that fits the category...[Other die rolls allow a player to] cover any one of his/her uncovered letters [and sometimes] choose an opponent and then have 15 seconds to remove letters from an opponent's board. - - - - - - - Sid Sackson
FROM "K-BAN'S KORNER": MISSISSIPPI QUEEN (Goldsieber Spiele; around $35)Mississippi Queen (MQ from here on) is a Werner Hodel design and is the three to five player game of paddle steamer racing along the Mississippi River that was named the 1997 German Game of the Year. Each player receives a 3D plastic steamboat with two wheels, each with numbers 1-6. The red wheel controls speed in number of hexes traveled, the black (coal) wheel starts at 6 and is reduced by one for each increase or reduction in speed above one and for turning more than 60 degrees... The object of MQ is to be the first steamer to get to the landing dock (12 river tiles from the start) at a speed of one while picking up and delivering two southern Belles....The novelty of MQ is that the river tiles are only gradually revealed. As the leading steamboat reaches the last hex on a tile, a die is thrown resulting in one of three different orientations for placement of the next tile. When the 12th tile is added, the landing dock is placed as well. This uncertainty concerning the river's path leads to many interesting decisions. Sometimes it is better to hang back and then charge forward once the river reveals its meandering path...Mississippi Queen is a fun family game with top-notch production values... Whether it deserved Game of the Year honors is highly questionable but it does have appeal to most who have playtested it despite its simplicity.---Steve Kurzban
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