NST 281109 - 'Tis the time for giving!

Think: ‘Tis the time for giving!

2009/11/28

EDWIN WONG recommends designer board games that’ll appeal to children and the young-at-heart this Christmas.

MOST people have heard of the popular sayings “It’s better to give than to receive” and “It’s the thought that counts”. But do you feel better after giving compared with receiving? Is it the thought, and not the gift, that counts? Either way, it really depends on what you give or receive.

So this holiday season, before you choose your gift, think about the person who will receive it. Recipients can always tell when someone has put no thought into their gift. What better than to give something such as designer board games which someone will enjoy for years to come?

FOR ADULTS

While some adults constantly seek challenges to sharpen their thinking, others swear they don’t want to do anything outside of work that remotely involves exercising their brains!

Puerto Rico This one’s available at Toybox, Paramount Garden — www.toybox.com.my/blog and perfect for those who constantly likes challenges. Many find this as a step-up from the introductory designer games such as Settlers of Catan and Carcassonne — but not to the extent that they’re complex to learn. Here, players try to run the most successful business growing cocoa, coffee, etc, processing and storing them, and then exporting them for profit. You also have to wear different hats during the game (as you juggle with the various tasks on hand) and the winner’s usually the one who uses the right hat at the right time.

Beyond Puerto Rico, there are a wealth of games that’ll test your strategic ability to the limit. From elections (Die Marcher) and big business (Wealth of Nations) to building your ancient civilisation (Tigris & Euphrates), designer games come in so many themes that, with a little thought, you’ll find something for everyone!

FOR YOUNG ADULTS

They say that it gets harder to find a thoughtful gift the older one gets. Not true! You can’t go wrong with my best pick for young adults!

World of Warcraft Adventure Game This one’s available at York House, Bangsar Shopping Centre in Kuala Lumpur. With more than 10 million people (mostly young adults and teenagers) playing World of Warcraft online, someone you’re buying a gift for is likely to be a fan! The board game offers an exciting and fast-paced journey through the world of Azeroth — where you can choose your favourite hero and embark on an epic journey from humble beginnings to immense power, battling vicious monsters and powerful overlords. And your treacherous fellow players as you strive to be the mightiest hero of the land! In that sense, it successfully offers the same “adventuring” experience without duplicating the online experience.

FOR TEENS

Fear not, for designer games have been successfully engaging many a teenager in this “lost age” group! As electronic games, online social sites, dating and other growing up pains dominate a teenager’s world, nothing less than a spectacular designer game will do. Both games are available at Borders @ Curve and Tropicana City in Petaling Jaya and the Gardens and Berjaya Times Square in Kuala Lumpur.

Tide of Iron Here’s one for the boys. Believe me, they all love Band of Brothers, Saving Private Ryan and lately, Valkyrie and Inglourious Basterds. They all love WW2 action. Tide of Iron should be the choice for every teenage boy! It allows players to recreate the exciting but tense squad level action seen in all these movies, where you control a squad of soldiers trying to achieve your mission objectives. These can be anything from holding the line to clearing a village to a reconnaissance mission.

Settlers of Catan Not forgetting the girls, Settlers of Catan concentrates on exploration theme, trading and negotiation element and social interaction. The recipient can also try his/her luck at the 2010 Catan World Championship Malaysia Qualifiers to win an all-expense paid trip to represent Malaysia in the World finals in a lovely castle in Germany! What a gift this would be!

FOR THE CHILDREN

Since kids are usually the biggest recipients of festive gifts, take a look at some winners guaranteed to please. Warning! Adults and older siblings will find these games lots of fun and challenging, so they may attempt to pry them away from the recipient! Both are available at Available at THINKToys @ Bangsar Village 1, Gardens and Pavilion in Kuala Lumpur and the Curve, Petaling Jaya.

Techno Witches Any child into Harry Potter will love you for giving him this game! Kids and adults play the role of apprentice wizards equipped with the latest high-tech broomsticks and challenge each other in a variety of scenarios where reward awaits the apprentice who can best manoeuvre his broomstick! This is rather challenging since “feel” and “intuition” are replaced by “programming” and “sequencing” in this high tech age, and apprentices have to programme their flight paths in advance before they can take off. And once they’ve taken off, only time will tell if they will successfully reach their destination in one piece, or not!

Hamsterolle A beautifully crafted game where players test the limits of gravity at every turn! Players start with a set of blocks that come in a variety of shapes, sizes and weights. Each turn, they try to place a piece on any part of the “Hamsterolle”, a large round wheel resembling a pet hamsters’ exercise wheel. Every piece placed will cause the wheel to move somewhat, but if it moves a little too much thereby causing other pieces (previously placed by other players) to fall off, then the player has to keep all the fallen pieces as penalty. In the end, the first player to finish placing all his/her pieces on the wheel wins! Hamsterolle is tense but fun, challenging players to defy gravity and rewarding players with a good sense of balance.