Bombastic

 

Bombastic was first explained to me as advanced tic-tac-toe. It is a two-player-only abstract game played using 9 tiles laid out face-down in a 3x3 grid. Four of the tiles show a circle, another four a cross, and the last one a bomb. Each player is assigned an icon, circle or cross. Your goal is to reveal exactly three of your icon in a row on your turn. Beware. If you ever reveal the bomb, you lose. 

On your turn you have two options. You either attempt to win, as described above, or you perform a card action. The game comes with a deck of cards, and you always have two face up. On your turn you can pick one card to use. The cards have all sorts of powers, allowing you to peek at tiles and to move them around. It is by using these cards you figure out which tiles are yours, and which are your opponent's and the bomb. You and your opponent will gain different information. You can mess with your opponent when you get to shuffle some of the tiles. It is a race to be first to reveal a set of three icons. Sometimes you have to gamble a little, if you sense that your opponent is close to knowing where three of his tiles are. 

Bombastic is a light filler. There is a memory aspect. The game is quite tactical. You try to utilise the card powers as much as possible. It is a scramble to find three of your tiles, and sometimes you have to risk the bomb. 

The Fox in the Forest

The Fox in the Forest is a two-player-only trick-taking card game. It's a clever little card game and works well when you have only two. You will play multiple rounds and whoever gets to 21 points first wins the game. The most important thing to keep in mind when playing the game is this table below. 

Every round you will play 13 tricks. There are 33 cards in the deck, in three suits, and the cards are numbered 1 to 11. So every round 26 of those cards are dealt to the two players. One card is revealed to determine the trump suit, and you have 6 more cards in a draw deck. Based on the table above, the best case is you win 3 or fewer tricks, or you win 7 to 9 tricks. You have to be careful not to win too many because you will score nothing. The way points are scored creates a bit of dilemma. If you win very few tricks early in the round, you will try very hard to win no more than three. However that is not easy to do. Once you get to four tricks, you will try very hard to score more.

Most of the basic tactics in trick-taking games still apply here. The trump suit concept is standard. Cards in the trump suit beats other suits. Also you must follow suit if possible. One thing special about the game is that odd numbered cards have special powers. The 7's are worth 1 point each. The 5's let you draw then discard a card. The 3's let you change the trump suit. You need a draw deck because sometimes you will draw a card. When doing this, you get more information about what may be in your opponent's hand.

At the start of a round, you see 13 out of 33 cards. There are 6 cards still in the deck. You can't be exactly sure what cards your opponent has, but chances are if you don't have it, he probably has it, and that's what you have to be prepared for. As the round progresses, you will get a better and better idea what he may have in hand. So the game is quite strategic. You can make educated guesses about your opponent's hand. You can plan somewhat well how to play out the rest of your hand. You are constantly thinking about how the current round will end. Your aim may change during the round. Maybe you're originally planning to win 3 or fewer tricks, but you may find yourself aiming to win 7 instead halfway through. 

If you like trick-taking games and need one that works well for two players, this is a good choice. This is also a convenient travel game.