Potlatch - indigenous culture as card game

I recently came across a new game that was seeking funding on Kickstarter with a unique concept.  Educating people about the values and economy of a local indigenous people   by playing a game. Potlatch, the game,  was developed as a community effort with local elders and language experts. The game is written in both English and Lushootseed, the indigenous language of the Pacific Northwest. Game mechanics are based on sharing resources to meet other players’ needs for food, materials, technology, and knowledge.

Your goal is share your Resource Cards as Gifts to other players’ House Card needs so that each player meets all of their needs. Each House Card represents a human house that needs resources for everyone in their community to survive over time. A unique dynamic to try and achieve in a card game to be sure.

You can find  Potlatch - The Game on Kickstarter, and learn more. 

I'm a backer now, and I hope you'll consider helping this group bring Potlatch and other native population games to market. 

Gizmodo has all the best CyberMonday deals in one place

As always, Gizmodo and Kinja have teamed up to put together a comprehensive list of CyberMonday deals for all things tech and geek, I'll post deals as I find them but their list is a good place to start today.

Product Review: ANKI Drive

The Anki Drive Starter KitI have had the privilege for the last several weeks to be a Beta tester for one of the most eagerly awaited iOS games in a long time, Anki Drive.  For those of you who missed the great demo at WWDC in June, Anki Drive is a racing game brought to the real world in the form of the cars and racetrack included in the $199 Starter Pack, along with two additional cars available at an additional charge of $59.99 each.

Game play is fast paced and a TON of fun for the whole family.  Whether playing against the computer AI characters of the cars or family members, this was a huge hit in our house.  Most of our testing was done by my son and myself, but even my daughter who isn't really into games LOVED her time playing Drive.

Basic game play involves a dog-fight between you and the other cars in your race.  As you win races with other players or the computer you gain points which can then be used to upgrade your cars.  Better weapons, higher gear ratios, and faster engines all reward your success by increasing the abilities of your car.  What makes this better than most racing games on iOS is that these upgrades stay with the cars no matter who is controlling them, so if I upgrade Boson (one of the car characters), then start playing as another car, Boson still has his upgrades when controlled by another player or the AI, making my game play all the more challenging.

Replay is very high, especially when playing against other human players, and changes based on the number of cars in the race.  What this means is even if you get your strategy down against one AI opponent, adding another optional car to the set changes game play radically even if only competing versus the AI.

At $199 the Anki Drive set is a bit spendy, but well worth the time and money if you enjoy racing and friendly competition.  I can't wait to let my friends play now that the NDA is lifted and see how much fun they have.  I'm guessing Anki will sell a few more sets just from those matches.

First Look: Scrolls, the latest from the minds that brought us MineCraft

Today Scrolls, the latest game from the folks at Mojang who brought us MineCraft hit open BETA, giving everyone a chance to learn gameplay and strategy before the game goes world-wide in general release.  Gameplay is based on collectable card games such as Magic: The Gathering, but has some unique twists and strategy that will make it fresh and exciting.  I got my login for the beta this afternoon, and am taking this break to give you all a look!

Gameplay starts with customizing your game deck.You start by customizing your deck.  The minimum legal deck size is 50 cards, and you get a full deck from one of the three factions to start.  As you complete games versus the AI you earn gold, which can be used to buy additional cards, and allowing you to customize your deck in myriads of ways.  You also can trade cards with other players, giving you additional options to create a winning and powerful deck.

Once you have assembled your deck, to can play a quick game, or compete in trialsGameplay then begins, with quick play games to practice, and then trial scenarios allow you to win gold to use for purchasing more cards.  Gameplay is pretty simple to follow, but infinitely complex to master.  Each player has their own side of the board, and each row has an idol which you need to protect.  Once you get past the enemies and destroy three of the other players idols, you have won the game.  Likewise, if three of your idols fall, you are defeated.

When you win a game, you are awarded gold based on several criteriaOnce you win a game, awards and statistics are presented for your review.  Your ranking is based on how well you do against other players, not the computer.  The more you play, the more you increase your stats and improve your ranking.  One word of warning, the tutorial makes this game look very easy, but once you complete it the difficulty goes up incrementally.

As I get deeper into the game I will post updates, but this should give you a decent idea of what Mojang is up to.

Mojang — Makers of Minecraft:

Scrolls is in open beta! On-sale now!