Cardboard Critique: Black Sonata

More Glen

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Glenmoreangie.

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i geekmailed them over at the geek. got my copy coming sometime??

i was reading the article and feeling the game, went to the usual haunts trying to get a copy, no dice. then checked amazon, saw that when i was searching it it popped up i got excited. then nothing. came back and read the comments, lol

guess everyone got fooled. glad i got a copy. looks like a lot of fun.

Yeah, I didn’t think about the Kickstarter part of it. I guess I assume that Kickstarters will, eventually, make it to retail. This is a pretty small company, though, and it didn’t dawn on me that retail copies would be so scarce.

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and it didn’t dawn on me that retail copies would be so scarce

If anyone is wondering what that sound is, it’s Dave’s shades falling into place.

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I grabbed a copy for my Shakespeare-loving girlfriend’s birthday. I hope she likes it!

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Just received my copy in the mail and played my first game (and lost). It’s great. Completely lives up to Dave’s glowing review. As he wrote, I kept thinking, “This isn’t going to work right,” but then it all totally does. Looking forward to a lot more time with this : )

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I can’t stop thinking about how mad I’m going to be if the title for the sequel to The Greatest Showman isn’t at least as clever as “The Second Greatest Showman”.

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Came in the mail today and it is seriously all I can do to not tear it open and get her something else.

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Dude, you really undersold just how nice this is for such a budget production. I’ve paid twice as much for games whose components were half as nice. This is so well done.

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Yes, you’re right. I got caught up in the mystery of how everything actually works, but the components are top notch.

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We played it together, and it was super fun. A lot of co-op games are really solo games in disguise, but I think this is the opposite!

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I’ve played it coop with my kids, and it does work really well. The deduction part totally draws them in, too, which is something I didn’t expect.

Black Sonata is getting a reprint and an expansion.
I’m on the fence about getting it, but I thought I’d let everyone else know.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/sideroomgames/black-sonata-strange-shadows

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I have a copy. Thought it would be a good option for bringing while traveling, as it’s relatively small and has a theme which wouldn’t provoke disdain from those who’d see goblins or colonialism and recoil. And … it is. There are some unintuitive elements, but it’s not that complex, and offers an interesting challenge. Ultimately, I found it unintuitive enough that I would need to relearn it to play again after a break, and, while I still mean to do that sometime, it hasn’t called me back yet. Currently, the top of the pile for solo play is Vijayanagara for long games and 20 Strong for short ones, and I have a lot more exploring to do in both of those before I want to move on.

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I also had a copy (I KS’d it the first time) and liked it but not so much that I went back to it more than once (and also had to relearn it then). I eventually loaned it out and never asked for it back. I completely agree with @rinelk 's description of it.

FWiW, I also backed SideRoom’s campaigns for Orchard and Maquis, both of which I still own. Their campaigns are run very well and they fulfill when they say they will. The components are good quality too.

The top of the pile for me ATM for physical format solo games is For Northwood, which I like more the more I play it and mess with the setups.

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Thanks for the comments!

I’m leaning hard into Button Shy solo games right now. Something about how small and clever they are. And when they get old there is an expansion to mess around with. The short game time really fits into what I can play right now and my attention span.

I’ve also played Orchard and Kickstartered their next game Forage. Though I’ve bounced off of Orchard. Just can’t get the feel for it.

I really love For Northwood and have started playing the campaign.

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They really pack a lot into very few cards. Here are three that I’ve liked : ) Do you have any faves to recommend?

I don’t know much about those games, except Ahead in the Clouds looks fun.

I’m playing The Royal Limited. It has several VIPs to place on a train (not sure this is really a “train” game) so I’m playing all the combinations. It’s a fun puzzle.

Also loving The Last Lighthouse. It is a horror themed tower defense game.

Unsurmountable has also been fun.

Revolver Noir is a great quick 2 person hidden movement game. Been playing it with my teen and he has been killing me.

I’m planning on going to the Button Shy convention in Denver in June.

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That bumps For Northwood up my want list. I’d looked into it, but hadn’t heard enough to be confident.

As for Button Shy, the biggest hit with me was R.O.V.E.—that’s been an electrifying challenge every time I’ve tried it. Skulls of Sedlec was okay, but seemed like it’d be a lot more fun competitively. I admire Sprawlopolis, but not only was I terrible at it, I couldn’t even get a handle on what I needed to pay more attention to in my next run. So I never got to the level of play where it starts to feel like you’re peeling the onion; I was just … looking at a perfectly intact onion. Unsurmountable was pleasant—a good little puzzle, but I got it at the same time as R.O.V.E., which overshadowed it for me.

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