Happy Meeple

Nicolas from Happy Meeple contacted me about his online boardgaming website which focuses on quick and easy-to-learn games. The target audience is non-gamers and casual gamers. There are no rules to read. Instead the website provides tutorials to teach you how to play. So far there are already five games available, including Lost Cities, Finito! and Keltis. There is a resource collection and level-up system which determines how often you can play, how soon you can unlock certain games etc. This aspect feels like those free Facebook games and iPhone games which tries to keep you playing and persuades you to pay for in-game cash. However so far I have not seen any option to pay anywhere. This looks like a good website for an occasional quick game or two. The interface is clean and intuitive.

I have learned to play Finito!, which reminds me a little of Bingo. In Finito! you have much more control despite the luck element, and also a strategy does exist. However it is literally a multiplayer solitaire game, like FITS. So far my record against the AI's is 1 win 1 draw 3 lose, but I'm starting to get the hang of it. It's a nifty little filler.

In Finito! the objective is to arrange your pieces in ascending order. Initially all your pieces are face-down, and you turn three over. In the first half of the game, you roll a die to determine where to place one of your three active pieces. After that you randomly turn over another piece. You continue to do this until all pieces are on the board.

In the second half you roll the die to move your pieces. The die roll determines the destination, but you pick which piece to move.

The AI beat me again! I was only one move away. I needed to move #4.