Settlers of Catan: Explorers and Pirates!

Hello game fans! If you’re here checking out what’s new on the Minotaur Blogspot you’re in for a special edition of the game spotlight! It’s where we put games, new or old, under the searing hot light of the spotlight and figure out what makes them tick! We shall spare no bits or meeples, no board shall stay unflipped, good or bad, we will give the game an honest review. (well at least my opinion from the peanut gallery)

The first up for the spotlight is the brand new expansion for Settlers. Now some of you might have moved beyond Settlers to new and exciting Euro games, but it continues to be a favorite of mine, MINUS expansions. So typically I prefer to just play good ole Catan with no added bits and tag alongs and normally I prefer to play with the magic number of four. IE: three player games feel a bit hollow or empty and 5to6 has that odd rule where you can build on other people’s turns. That said, Explorers and Pirates is one expansion that I’d actually prefer to play with.

If you know me from the store then you might already know I’m the one staff member that will always pitch Seafarers over the other Catan expansions. I’d say it’s safe to say that MOST other customers/staff enjoy Cities and Knights more as it’s arguably the expansion that’s done the most to give the game more ‘meat’. But my reason for liking Seafarers over C+K is that I enjoy Catan because it’s simple and straight forward and because Seafarers felt like all it really offered but with cool new ways to set up the board and obviously with a maritime feel. So the reason why I’d say Explorers and Pirates is my new FAVORITE expansion is because it takes my favorite scenario from seafarers that features a fog of war effect of face down tiles that you need to discover with boats and takes it to a whole new level of epic! =P

So let’s break it down!

Gameplay: The base rules that you know and love haven’t changed. The bulk of what you already know from Catan will come into play with the new expansion. I’d say the only huge changes are that when a 7 gets rolled there is no longer a robber that moves about to steal resources. Instead, (assuming it’s a scenario with pirate ships) a 7 means that the player who rolled it can instead use their pirate ship to rob sea lanes to steal cards / gold. What is gold you say? In this expansion if a number is rolled and you don’t get any resources off that roll you instead get a gold token. (similar to the mechanic from Traders and Barbarians) These gold tokens can be traded in at a 2:1 rate for any commodity that you’d like. This is a HUGE plus for me. There’s nothing more frustrating than sitting there for 6, 7, even 10 turns where not a single one of your numbers gets rolled. This way you still get resources and have things to do each turn.

Ships aren’t like roads in Seafarers they are built for a sheep and a wood but move around during your turn. So there is still the roll of the dice, trading, building, but there is also a moving phase now. Each of your boats can move 4 spaces and can move an additional 2 spaces if you sacrifice a wool for extra sails. If your ship reaches an undiscovered hex you must end your movement and discover it. If it’s a terrain like a forest of a wheat you get one free resource of that type. If it’s anything else you get gold. This gives the game a feel of actually sailing around and finding the new world so thematically I find it way more immersive than Seafarers already. Each of your ships has a ‘hold’ or a cargo area and you can load these up with settlers which can form a settlement the minute you find an appropriate spot you’d like to colonize at. The holds can also hold fish and crew and spice which will come up later. If you don’t have a ship to load your settlers, crew, etc into you can instead build them in the hold of a port city like in the picture below and there it can wait until a ship comes to pick it up.

So I mentioned scenarios earlier. There are in fact 5 total.
The five scenarios included in Catan: Explorers & Pirates are:

• Land Ho! Explore the seas of Catan and discover two new islands to expand your settlements. Once you’ve discovered an island, you must use ships to ferry settlers from one island to another and colonize distant lands. (Introductory scenario)

• Pirate Lairs! In this scenario, pirates prowl the seas along with your trading vessels. Pay tribute to the pirates or drive them off, then find and capture their lairs to earn gold and VPs! (One mission scenario)

• Fish for Catan! The people of Catan are short of food, so it’s time to take to the ocean to fish for meals. These are deep water fish, though, so first you must find their shoals before you can catch them! The Council of Catan will reward players with VPs for returning fish to the island, as well as for capturing pirate lairs. Just watch out for roaming pirates, as not only will they demand gold for tribute, they might also get to the fish before you do! (Two mission scenario)

• Spices for Catan! In this scenario, the Council of Catan wants you to find fish and spices for the people of Catan! As before, they reward the most industrious merchant captains with VPs. Obtaining spice will require you to become friends with the mysterious inhabitants of the Spice Islands, but in return they will not only trade you spices but teach you their knowledge of sailing or even pirate fighting techniques! (Two mission scenario)

• Explorers and Pirates! This lengthy and challenging scenario brings everything from the previous scenarios together! Explore new lands, capture pirate lairs, find fish, and befriend the inhabitants of the spice isles! (Three mission scenario)

( Introductary scenario ↑ )           ( Scenario 5 with all game elements ↑ )

So here’s what I think everyone should take away from those blurbs about scenarios as they are taken directly off the online descriptions. Scenario 1 introduces you to the new elements of the game like moving ships around and exploring the new islands one by one and then each ‘scenario’ of 2 through 4 each introduces one of the new mission type aspects of E+P. #2 coaxs you into the idea of how to fight pirate coves by dropping your crew onto the hexes!

Then #3 helps you understand how to work the fishing tiles, #4 explains spices and then by the time you reach #5 you are playing with all of them. So I think that these ‘scenarios’ are actually more like a step by step introduction of the new game elements so it doesn’t leave some players reeling with 18 new things to learn and remember. But scenario 5 is how I would say the game is meant to be played or scenario 1 if you want a fast down and dirty fog of war tile exploration match. It’s worth noting that scenario one features a fixed starting set up for it. The island is premade and the players start positions are already determined. So if you have that group of newish Catan players and want to just kick right off with a balanced start it might be the way to go!

Analysis: But Henry, what does it all meeeaaaaaan? Let’s do Henry’s pro’s and Cons to see what we think about it. Pros 1st!

Pros:- This expansion isn’t reinventing the wheel or anything since it’s still all the things we love about Catan, but it really does have a host of wicked cool game elements like fighting pirates, racing to get fish first, and discovering new lands and native tribes that gives this a really fresh and brand new feel.
- It offers even more cool naval exploration with how the ships work and allows players to man their pirate ships and don silly pirate hats
- You get so much bang for your buck! It’s one of the heaviest expansions to date and it’s worth every penny. The bits are gorgeous as always with mayfair products and the unique new design of the boats / harbors is really neat. I’ve seen the European versions and apparantly some of theirs are done in plastic instead of the nice wooden ones o.O So glad ours weren’t done that way.
- In settlers, short of robbing or maybe blocking someone off with a road, there hasn’t been this feel of a you vs me. There aren’t tons of options to actively ‘attack’ or struggle against one another. If someone is clearly winning people might refrain from trading with them or robber them frequently but that’s not really the same. THIS expansion allows players  (for the first time in my opinion) to all struggle to beat one another to objectives. Players will all be on the same mission and collecting VP’s from who has the most Pirate Coves destroyed or who’s collected the most fishing hauls. It makes each tile that still lies undiscovered a race.
- It’s still shorter than Cities and Nights. The game will be a little longer than base, but still be no where near as long as the the other expansions.

Cons:- The Border. I’ll be up front. I HATE putting those stupid borders together. But that’s the same with ANY catan game/expansion. I wish there was a solution short of just playing without them, but the good news is the border for this expansion doesn’t matter the way it does in the base game. There aren’t ports to trade to, so if need be you can just play without the stupid border.
- Catan is a classic but many players have moved on to other Euro games. While this expansion has brought a whole bunch of cool new features and a ton of flavor, let’s be honest. It’s still Catan. If you wouldn’t play base Catan then you won’t want to play this. Plain and simple. But this is a cut above base in my opinion.
- The scenarios for me seem less like ‘different’ scenarios like in Seafarers and more like a step by step ‘how-to’ guide of how to incorperate all three major game elements of pirates/fish/spices. I wish there were additional scenarios of how to set up the board, but I guess at the end of the day you can always homebrew up something if needbe.

Rating: So for me the pros way outwiegh the cons for this game and there’s so much good to be said for it that I’m going to have to rate this pretty high. If it had just a few more options for set up it’d be pretty darn close to a 10 for me. It also loses points just for being an expansion instead of a brand new game but overall for me I rank Explorers and Pirates a 9 out of 10

Hope some of this helps if you’ve been wondering what the new expansion is all about and hope to see some of you down @ the store on games night to play it!

I’m Henry McCulloch and this has been the Labyrinth. Game On!

Hey all, it’s that time again. Ze blog calls!
There have been a slew of things popping up that need to be brought to everyone’s attention and I have so little room to do it in XD

I’ll have an overall recap of upcoming events and then in a few days time I want to throw out a detailed review/explanation of the brand new Expansion for Settlers called Explorers and Pirates. It’s been a while since I did a game feature on the blog, but it shall have to take a back seat to all the many events that have recently finished up or are about to take place.

So let’s get to it folks!
In no particular order…

Cribbage Tourney: We are hosting the next round in Minotaurs ongoing cribbage ‘league’ on Saturday May 25th! New players and vets welcome! Players pay $10.00 each to enter the tourney and play 7 games, each against a different opponent. The winner will be the player with the highest cumulative score at the end. The play will commence at 7pm and prizes for first and second place will be gift certificates. The amounts are purely based off how many players participate so bring your friends!

Last tourney’s winners were a father/son Duo coming in 1st and second. Tony and Kyle Cadogan! They’ve already signed up for the one coming in May so let’s see how this dynamic duo fares in tournaments to come! They may be the ‘new kids on the block to beat!’ *picture to follow*

The Blitz: The 3rd round of Kingston’s Board Game Blitz has come to an end. We have a winner for card games!

The fighting was furious and the games varied, but in the end there could be only one victor. Robert Armstrong! The player ‘strong-armed’ his was to a slew of 2nd places and one win, leaving him with a score of 17 which was enough to secure him the victory! Speaking of 2nd places, David Edwards managed his second 2nd place finish of the Blitz so far. He was a single point behind Robert, but take heart, David! Player’s scores all carry forward and count towards the overall blitz winner. He doesn’t walk away empty handed for his close place finish either. Here they both are below holding their gift certificates!

Round 4 of the Blitz is already scheduled! It’s going to be on May 18th @ the store and the round theme is Military Strategy. There is a wide range of military strats to chose from, but due to the length of the games there will be only one round of play. Each table will have 1 winner and those winners will break the multi-way tie by having a deciding game of Smallworld. The full 4 hour+ games for the main round are: Age of Conan, Game of Thrones, Ikusa (Formerly known as Shogun), Eclipse, Chaos in the Old World, and Civilization!

As always, it’s $10.00 to register for the event and it will begin at noon on the 18th and run until a king or queen stands atop a pile of defeated competitors! So if military gaming is your thing or you want to try your hand at learning a bunch, then come on down to the store on Saturday!

Current Standings / Leader Board for the Blitz
(Updated for your convenience)

Andrew Hoyt 46
John Dupont 44
Jody Steele 44
Darius Gorganzadeh 42
Abi Scott 35
David Edwards 34
Corey Campell 32
Sarah Simmons 31

And then a slew of players all in the mid to high 20′s! It’s still a very tight pack! One good round separates anyone from victory! I’m calling it right now, as long as someone new continues to win overall and no previous leaders win, it’s going to come down to the very final round.

Book Launch for Evarde’s Legacy:

 (Click for a close up)
I write the blog and all for the store, but it’s not very often I get to promote myself or my own work! But here is one of those rare chances. If you haven’t heard already, I’ve written a book! A fantasy / epic novel. Publishing a book was something I’ve wanted to tackle for years. In fact, probably most of my life.  I’ve always been an avid reader of all genres and I adore writing short stories, poetry, or full length novels. But I’d never tried to take it a step further. That all changed for me in 2011 with a very rough draft of EL that was the end result of a Nanowrimo challenge.(National Novel Writer’s Month) which is a challenge to write 50,000 words or more in a single month. I’ve spent the last year and a half rewriting, editing, and improving the writing. With wonderful support from fellow authors/critiquers from Critique Circle the book is finally at a stage I can be proud of. It might be a bit cliche to say ‘blood, sweat, and tears’ went into the making of this, but the saying fits. I’m so happy to be able to share this with you.

(My editors were tough on me)

The launch is going to be @ Minotaur 7pm on April 27th. I’ll be hosting and available to sign copies, talk about the book, and generally mix + mingle! Books are $10.00 but I’ll have to do sales in cash for the event. There will be plenty of snacks to be had and I’m thinking of heading out for drinks somewhere local afterwards if people are game. Everyone is welcome! Please support me and come on down to the store. Much love to all who manage to make it out and for those who can’t the books will be available through Minotaur after the 27th or on Amazon.com in print copy or ebook format. <3 http://www.amazon.com/Evardes-Legacy-H-L-McCulloch/dp/1482366266/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1366648800&sr=8-1&keywords=Evarde%27s

Yarn / BIke Bell Sale: We are having a big 20% sale on all yarn at the store so if you’ve been looking for a chance to stock up or are missing a few balls to complete that project on the go, then swing on by the store and see what you can pick up.

SALE: Our few remaining epidemic613 bike bells from 2012 are now on sale for $15 each!  When Barb Danielewski brings in her 2013 they be back at their regular price ($25 each)

Settlers of Catan Explorers and Pirates:

I wont go into ALL the details here, since a full blog post will follow as a ‘Game Spotlight’ edition, but just spreading the news that a brand new expansion of everyone’s favorite game is out!

It’s been set up at the store and was played by some of the games nighters this past Sunday. It got two thumbs up from those who played it! So if you have someone you know who is a huge Catan and want to get the coolest and newest addition to the collection then swing by the store and we’ll get you/them hooked up!

That’s all there is for now, but here’s hoping you stay tuned for more info on Explorers and Pirates and here’s also hoping you can make it out on the 27th for my book launch =D

I’m Henry McCulloch and this has been the Labyrinth. Game On!

Hey all! Hope everyone’s March went well!.
Things have stayed busy here at the store during spring and there are tons of fresh upcoming events, tournaments, and contests to announce! So without further ado, let’s start talking about what’s going on!

But before I do, don’t forget that we have a facebook site as well where our upcoming events get posted along with reminders for dates/times. https://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/89235835082/
So feel free to sign up and see what’s coming up next!

Blitz Round 2 Results

The word game/social gaming round had a larger turnout that round one! We got to see players tearing it up with great games like Bannanagrams, Dixit, Quiddler, and many more! As always the competition was fierce! Creationary (A lego version of pictionary) was a much sought after choice for many of the competitors!
But ultimately there could be only one winner. (Pictures of our winner and runner up to follow)

Jody Steele brought home the gold! He excelled at both genres of gaming, despite his protests before the tournament that he sucked at both. Was this a cunning ploy? Who can tell, but it’s worth noticing  and for his efforts earned a $90.00 gift certificate. Second place was a tie between Byrant Tong and Corey Campbell, but rather than play one final round of word games to determine a winner the pair decided to split the second place prize and both end up with a $20.00 gift certificate a piece! I’m always impressed by these gamers for their competitiveness to win, but also by their eagerness to share. Great work you two!

Blitz Round 3: Card Games

Yeah, yeah, Henry. That’s nice…but what about the NEXT tournament of the blitz? That’s what we really want to know about! Well, I hear you.

Saturday April 20th is going to be the next Blitz Tournament.
It will be $10.00 a head to enter, just like previous rounds, and will commence at Noon and finish up around 6pm.

The Card Games that will be featured in the tournament are:

7Wonders, Dominion, Tichu, Bohnanza, Condotierre, and Race for the Galaxy.

The scores from each round carry on from one to the next for the overall standings so winners and runner ups will win gift certificates on the day, but everyone’s scores will be counted towards the overall King or Queen of the Blitz!

Current Standings: Here are some of the top leaders! I chose to just post the top 5 so far. There are plenty in the ‘pack’ trailing a few points behind, and plenty of newcomers that had exceptional scores of but a single round, so it’s still anyone’s to take!

Jody Steele 35
Andrew Hoyte 34
John Dupont 29
Darius Gorganzadeh 29
Ryan D’Eon 26

Art Gallery Submissions / New Subject

The Into the Woods Art show was a blast! I haven’t seen this many submissions for an art show since Under the Sea. I continue to be floored by the range, scope, and variety of art we keep getting from all of Kingston’s wonderful artists!

If you weren’t at the opening night to hear, or if you’re a new artist wondering how you can get art into the store to be part of the Gallery exhibitions here’s the rundown and the next theme!

‘Time’ Each artist can submit one art piece as long as it connects in some way with the theme. With a broad subject like Time there should be tons of scope for different interpretations and concepts. Just make sure it fits the theme enough, or our top notch staff will have to crack down on you!

The submissions may be any medium as long as it’s ready to hang / display. You can chose to try and sell your submission or just have it showing for the duration of the show. It’s a 60/40 split %wise for sucessful sales in favor of the artist, so please factor that into prices.

Artists should submit their work with a Title (if any), Artist’s Name, Medium, Price (if any), and a contact number or email to let you know when to come pick up your art at the end of the show. The galleries usually run for a month and a half to two months.

The submission due date for ‘Time’ is May 22nd, the day before opening night which will be May 23rd as part of the Art After Dark Kingston galleries tour. We hope to see just as many or even more submissions this time! Tell your friends to all submit! Whether you consider your works Van Goh’s or you’re the Boss of Stick Figures all art is welcome!

Cribbage Tourny!

You guessed it, it’s that time again! Crib warsssss dum dum dum! Well…just plain cribbage. Not crib wars the game.. *gets back on track*

We have a cribbage tourney coming up for April 6th at 7pm. Players will play 7 round robin 1v1 games of cribbage. The winner at the end of the night will be the player with the highest cumulative score. It’ll be $10.00 per person to enter and winners/runners up will take home gift certificates based of the number of participating players.

The last Cribbage winners were Genevieve and Kyle in February. Seen below holding their gift certificates!

So get your game faces on and let’s crib!

Tabletop Day

Whil Wheatonnnnnn! *shakes fist*

So I’m sure many of ye olde followers of Tabletop and, by extension the channel Geek & Sundry,  are already well aware of this, but for those who haven’t heard March 30th is officially Tabletop day.

So here’s what we’ve decided to do. If on March you come in and either play or buy a game featured on Tabletop it will make you eligible to answer a trivia based question in order to win some free swag! We have free games to give away, limited edition game expansions for Gloom + 7wonders, extra card decks for Gloom, posters, bookmarks, dice, and much much more! Questions will vary in difficulty so players should at least be able to pick a catagory to answer within.

DisLoyalty Card!

So a bunch of awesome local stores have banded together! United! Allied against all evil! Really though what we’ve done is made a Loyalty card with a twist.

If you spend more than $20.00 at any of the participating locations (or every ticket purchase at the Screening Room) you get a stamp on your card. After your card is filled up with nine stamps, from a minimum of two participating stores, you can redeem your card at any location for 20% off a purchase of $20 or more (or obtain a free Screen Room Ticket)

Participating stores include: Novel Idea, 4 Color 8 Bit, The Screening Room, Minotaur Games + Gifts, Get Funky, and Bombshell.

So that’s all for now everyone! Should be a lot to chew on *gnaws away at it!* More to come early in April with updates and more events to come! Till next time.

I’m Henry McCulloch and this has been the Labyrinth. Game On!

Hello gamers, and welcome to another exciiiiiiiiting edition of The Labyrinth!! So, maybe I’m just a little overexcited, but we DO have some great news to pass on to those interested in the board game blitz and other upcoming store events!

Our phones are ringing off the hook with people asking us about how round one went! We will get back to you as soon as we can

But for those of you here, let’s get to ze news!

Blitz Round 1 Classic Euro Games: So, despite the pelting snow the day prior, and the mounds of snow on either side of princess street, (what i liked to refer to as the twin Everests of downtown) we still had a really decent turn out for players. The fighting was fierce and blood was shed!

Not like…real blood or anything, metaphorical bleeding, but things did get pretty heated. (we toyed with the idea of full contact Catan, but couldn’t get the details all sorted. Next time!)  There were several older Blitz regulars and a handful of new gamers to round out the tourney, but in the end the reigning champion maintained his crown.

For years there has been a gamer…His legend and renown growing with each passing day like William Wallace or Achilles

He swoops in like a bird of prey, his mighty cries shaking the cards and gaming pieces, destined to play for the gold. His name? It is whispered from the lips of fellow gamers…in awe or in abject terror.

Dr. John Dupont! Dumm dummm dummmmm. (I think Dr. makes him sound extra sinister/impressive) For his win he brings home a gift certificate for $80.00 He has won the blitz before, that much we know, but can the former king be decrowned? Does he have an Achilles heel? Can we don British garb and lure him into a cunning trap?

John Dupont (Left)   David Edwards (Right)

The scores were extremely tight. Second place, David Edwards, was but two points behind him and earned himself a $40.00 gift certificate. 3rd and 4th place were again only a few points behind him, so this was anyone’s tournament to win.

This new format for the blitz has new types of games that will test every gaming catagory and push gamers to their limits!

We’ve chosen the next round…

Round 2 Blitz Revealed:   The When: Sat. March 23rd 12-6pm
The Cost:  $10.00 per contestant
The Where: Well….here. @ Minotaur.

Word & Social Gaming.
This is a pair of gaming genres that haven’t featured before at the blitz! The games list is up too, so start preparing/training!

Games
Word: Bananagrams, Boggle, Quiddler, Scattagories, Scrabble, Upwards.
Social: Anomia, Apples to Apples, Balderdash, Dixit, Things in a Box, and a mystery Trivia game. (The last one we are purposely keeping secret so as to keep the questions secure )
Format: There shall be 4 rounds of play and each gamer will need to play 2 Word and 2 Social games to test their skills.

Pandemic New Printing: So the board game Pandemic is back! Some of you might already have it in your collection or just weren’t aware that it had ‘dropped’ off the shelves, but there’s been a lengthy hiatus where the game’s distribution was being handed off from Z-man to Filosofia. Now, the co-operative game that will have your friends and family working alongside you to cure the world of four deadly strands of a disease, is back.

We had copies in the store and have already blown through them all. Hopefully we can order a few more while our distributors still have some in stock, but it is a ‘brand new’ title, so no guarantees. We’re hoping to have more back in on Thursday. *fingers crossed* In the meantime I hope everyone who picked up their copy is struggling away to beat it on its hardest difficulty!

Art Show: Meanwhile, like a stealth bomber, flying beneath the radar, there is the steadily advancing deadline for the next Minotaur Kingston Group Art Show. Into the Woods is the theme. As long as your art relates in some way to the theme’s title then your art could be part of the show!

March 5th is the deadline for submissions and all art must be ready-to-hang.The opening night soiree will be the following day, Wednesday March 6th from 6pm to 9pm. We hope to see everyone out for the party, regardless if you have a picture in the show or not.

D&D Next and Minis: When is D&D Next (or 5th ed) coming out? That’s what I want to know. *grumbles* I want to run around with my fantasy garb on and the sooner the new edition comes out the quicker we can get to rping and slaying dragons.

I’ve been toying with pathfinder and my old 3.5 books and 4th ed stuff get occasional use, but I really want to try the new stuff beyond the beta and test material

That said, I’ve taken the down time to sort minis. If you have any of the old D&D or pathfinder pre-painted minis and either want to sell off or trade part of your collection, let me know. We have plenty of minis for sale in our cabinet, but I’ll also have a catalog up in a few days with all the minis i have/quantities etc. So if you’re a collector and want more/rare minis or have a bunch that you can’t or won’t be using anymore come in and trade them in!

That’s all for now. See you next time!

I’m Henry McCulloch and this has been the Labyrinth. Game On!

Hope everyone had a fun weekend watching Superbowl XLVII or doing things out and about! I know for my part I was happy to be inside out of the cold relaxing!

The need for new and exciting gaming events is ever present and so with February upon us we can all celebrate a return of one of our favorite Minotaur Tournaments. Kingston’s Board Game Blitz!

It’s been a gaming event that we’ve held for several years in order to crown a King or Queen as the BEST all around gamer of 2013! In past years, the Blitz was a full day-long affair with as many hours of gaming crammed in as possible, but this year we thought we’d try things a little differently.

This year, each ’round’ of the blitz will be a shorter single day event focusing on just one type of gaming. The overall winner of The Blitz will be whoever scores the best at the end of all 6 catagories. Each month a new tournament will be announced for people to prep for! But before I get ahead of myself, here are the need-to-knows for all ye olde gamers, like what the categories will be and what game titles to expect. Starting with the 1st round coming up this Saturday.

Round 1 is on Saturday Feb. 9th from Noon-6pm
Format: 4rounds of play. So each player will play 4/6 of  the selected games.

• Classic Euro: Carcasonne + (Traders&Builders), Catan + (Seafarers), Ticket To Ride Europe, Kingdom Builder, Thurn and Taxis, St. Petersburg.

We have roughly 24 slots for round 1. A sign up sheet is in store at the front desk, and it will cost $10.00 per contestant. Hurry in to reserve your place. We’ve already had 11 people signed up, so the spots are going fast!

For the other upcoming rounds we don’t have an exact order of what will come 2nd-6th for the other catagories, but we do know the themes and several games that we know will be featuringÂ

• Intense Euro: Puerto Rico, Power Grid, Caylus, Pillars of the Earth, Endeavor, Dungeon Lords.
• Card Games: 7Wonders, Dominion, Tichu, Bohnanza, Condotierre, San Juan.
• Dice/Bidding: Princes of Florence, Goa, Ra, El Grande, Cyclades, Medici, Kingsburg, Quarriors, Alien Frontier, Macao, Seasons.
• Word/Social: Boggle, Scrabble, Scattergories, Balderdash, Apples to Apples, What?, Dixit, Creationary, Bananagrams
• Military Strat: Game of Thrones, Risk 2210, Risk Godstorm, Shogun/Ikusa, Chaos in the Old World, Small world.

So the idea will be the winner of each tournament or round will win a gift certificate with an amount that will be based on how many people we have sign up. The final overall winner will not only be crowned and awarded the title of best gamer in Kingston for 2013 but will also get a free trip to Fan Expo!

So get out your dice, put on your game faces, and come on out to compete! It’s going to be a blast. I’ll see you guys there

That’s all for now! Catch you all next time.

I’m Henry McCulloch and this has been the Labyrinth. Game On!
 

Guess who’s back? Back again!

Greetings all! Hope everyone had a Happy New Year and a merry Christmas, Hannukah, Bodhi Day, Kwanzaa, Yuletide Festival or any other festival that the holiday season heralds!

As the title of the blog post implies, I’ve taken a bit of a break here with writing @ Minotaur, at least on the blogging front. We had such a busy December that some things had to get left by the wayside. But I’m back on the job with a steely gaze and a fixed jaw! No events will slip by unnoticed, not on my watch!

Hope that Santa/Family Members/Friends/Strangers were nice to you with gifts. I know that on my end any holiday where I’m not socks, ties, and golf balls is a good one. The last one just reminds me of how I don’t get to play anymore T.T

But we’re into the year 2013! That’s right doomsayers the world didn’t implode in 2012, better go find a new ‘end date’. So what’s new in the new year? (You might ask.) Let’s see both what’s coming up and what we’ve been missing!

(That’s right…Christmas Lolcat! It’s on! )

Christmas:  December is a busy time for us. Most of our glittery and festive things related to Christmas sold, but for the few that remain are in the back room enjoying 50% off tags. Said room at the rear of the store  is also filled with other cool gifty items that are all on sale, so don’t be afraid to venture all the way to the back to find some good deals. If you’re opposed to being adventurous we do have a table near the front that has a few titles that we had a surplus of after the holidays. Some titles include, Escape, Seasons, Buzz Word, Quirkle Cube, Dr. Who Monopoly, Pick Two, Killer Bunnies expansions, and many more!

Our artisans, AKA ‘cool crafters’ did well through the holidays selling their wares. From tie wallets and purses, to handmade jewelry and stationary, the crafting community did a phenomenal job supplying Minotaur with a plethora of suitable xmas gifts!

Sales-wise, the holidays are always go go go for us here at Minotaur. It was a month that ended up being much what we expected, with more and more sales coming in throughout the later weekends. But with more time to breath now, it’s still interesting to reflect on what sold well in 2012.

Settlers and Bananagrams remained constant bestsellers, bar none, with other old titles like Dominion, Munchkin, and Small World staying strong as well. New games like Kingdom Builder and Dixit Journey also did very well, both due to the games’ merits and awards. Kingdom Builder for anyone who doesn’t know was 2012′s Spiel de Jahres winner.

The other titles that did exceptionally well were games featured on ‘Tabletop’, Wil Wheaton’s gaming blogspot. I am truly astounded by how much of an impact his show is having on the sales we see instore. Fluxx and its many versions have sold more this year than almost all the other years combined and Gloom has gone from a lukewarm seller to a game we can barely keep on the shelf. He is shaping what people buy today in many gaming communities!

Say what you will about the man, good or bad, but I found his blogs an exceptional learning tool for those interested in getting into the Eurogame scene. He tackles the really tricky task of laying out a bunch of new information in a quick and entertaining fashion. The explanations and the stylistic choice of having key words appear or close ups on certain game elements really makes learning the games seamless! If you haven’t checked his stuff out before, I’d highly recommend starting from cast one and working your way through. I’ll post the first one that I watched.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9QtdiRJYro

I know this might be my inner nerd geeking out, but Sean Plott is in it!!! Who’s Sean Plott you ask? Well, he’s only THE e-sports gamecaster of all gamecasters! Day9 ! From casting starcraft2, to being a former pro Broodwar tournament player himself, this guy is just a hoot to listen to!

I’ll include his link too for good measure *pssst you’re my hero!*
http://day9.tv/

So that’s it for the…Christmas section? Easy to get off topic I know Onwards!

No WAIT. I lied. One more quick December shout out should be mentioned for Kevin Merrit’s exceptional Christmas Window which won an honorable mention for Minotaur during the Princess Street Christmas Window Contest. I’ve seen a lot of the ‘Stick Kid’s’ windows and while they are all eye-grabbers, this one had it all. Moving parts, flashing lights, and a fun carnival theme that had everyone stopping to stare at the the storefront.  Great work Kev!

(The Kevmister hard at work! Don’t complain about the photo, I could have posted your one from the S&R catalogue =P )

(Previous Year’s Window. Another of my favorites!)

T-shirts: Ever wanted to be Minotaur staff? Well you can’t! I like my job too much…please don’t replace me. But now you can look part of the crew! We just reordered all our black t-shirts with the bright red minotaur logo on the front. So for the price of $ 15.00 you could swing on by and pick up one in your size and swagger about town. I’ve often been asked while home in Ottawa what the shirt is from or what the symbol stands for, join me in promoting a great Kingston location!

Cribbage Tourney:  So our January Cribbage Tournament was a smash! We had about 20 people show up to compete! It was a close fought match, but for the first time in Minotaur league cribbage history, we had a tie! So congratulations to Kyle and Ros! But there could be only one winner…right? Wrong! Now, the protocol wasn’t exactly laid out for a tie, but strangely enough we HAD been talking about it. Sort of a, ‘Hey this will never happen in a million years, but what do we do if after 7 matches there are two winners with the same score?’ So we figured the only way to make it ‘fair’ without playing a decider match would be to cut for the win, since that way it would be completely random who won. But with the $125.00 and a $35.00  certificate for second place being vastly different amounts, our two winners decided they would prefer to go ahead and split the two amounts down the middle and both walk away with $80.00

What great sportsmanship from the both of you! Right on!
So for all those interested in UPCOMING cribbage events and who have been keen to get in on our ‘league’ play. Then I’m pleased to announce the next date for our Feb. Tournament.

The Where: Minotaur Games+ Gifts 165 Princess St.!
The Date: Saturday February 23rd !
The Time: 7pm!
The Cost: 10 bucks per person!
The Player: You!

For those who haven’t participated before, the rules are simple. Each player will get to play 7 games in total, each against a different player in a one on one game. The points from each match are cumulative so getting high scoring matches are more important than winning. The person who has the highest overall score at the end of the night wins and brings home a hefty gift certificate! At the end of the ‘season’, when all 7 tournaments are done, we will have extra hand outs and prizes for the overall outstanding player of the year.

Art Show: The next themed Kingston Group Art Show @ Minotaur is coming up! All submissions must be in for the 5th of March as the big release day party will be the next evening on March 6th from 6-9pm.

This show’s theme shall be Into the Woods! Artists must limit themselves to one submission each but any medium is acceptable. Artists are also encouraged to take as creative an approach with the theme title as they like. As long as it somewhat relates to the theme we’ll hang it! Artists can chose to sell their artwork or just display it in the show with a 60/40 gallery split in favor of the artist. We will take care of all of the tags for hanging as long as each artist provides us with the necessary information and framing. Info to include are – Title, Medium, Price(if there is one) Artist’s Name. We’ll also get contact info from people who submit in the form of either email or phone#, just so we can contact you to come pick up any art left at the end of the show.

And now, here’s a favorite of mine that I’m considering doing an Homage to or maybe just my own copy. At the very least it will be great inspiration!

That’s all for now Minotaur Fans! Hope to be posting more regularly now in the new year, and I’ll catch you all next time.

I’m Henry McCulloch, and this has been The Labyrinth. Game on!

October settles upon kingston! *creepy music plays*
Everyone get your costumes ready, Halloween is on its way!

With it comes plenty of events, so here is a list of reminders and some extra info packaged in with some general news.

Art Show

The ‘Monstrous’ show was a great success with a wonderful opening night to meet and greet some of the artists. Many thought one of the creepier paintings was Fest of Mirth by Michelle Parboosingh, featuring three creepy clowns. *Shudders a bit*

At that show there was some speculation over what the next themed group art show would be, but now it’s official! Urban

The deadline for submissions is the 26th of November with the opening night party on the 27th from 6-9pm. Everyone is welcome and here’s hoping we have plenty of very cool new works for the theme.

Halloween Costumes

We have all the catalogues here in the store. From generic monsters to licensed merchandise and all the acessories in between, Minotaur has them. If you want a raelly great costume to make your friends go WOW this fall then make sure you come and place a special order no later than Oct 22nd. You have been warned!

There are plenty of creepy costumes in store to chose from as well but if you want to get some of the fancier duds special orders are the way to go!

Kingston Zombie Walk

As an update on the Zombie walk there will be prizes on the night for best costumes awarded. The most impressionable and generally epic zombies will get gifts from organizors on the night.

Zombie walk braclets are still available here at the store for $2.00 with funds going to help children’s shelters and if you leave your name and number after purchasing one it will put you into a draw for a cool prize from us! The winner will be drawn on the night of the event at the park as well.

Several stores around Kingston are offering discounts or deals if you show your braclet.

@ Minotaur Games and Gifts enjoy Zombie Discount! Show off or buy a glow-in-the-dark Kingston Zombie Walk Bracelet, support the Kingston Youth Shelter and receive 25% off all Halloween items at Minotaur.  (Sale excludes special orders, consignment items and items already on sale.)

Pre Zombie Walk Makeup

Don’t feel like tackling getting zombified all on your own? Well come to Minotaur before the Zombiewalk and we can help get you looking creepy and decidely undead.For more details you should check out Minotaurs facebook page.

That’s all for now, until then start hoarding brains! *shambles off*

I’m Henry McCulloch, and this has been The Labyrinth. Game on!

So I’ve managed to let August slip through my fingers into oblivion, but September is upon us and there are things to blog about! For starters we are seeing the hot summer days of 2012′s summer being replaced by milder fall days and chilly nights. It was freeeeeezing last night on my way back home! That being said, it means that Halloween and everything creepy is just around the bend. Time to bust out your best costumes, zombie lurches, and Transylvanian accents. Lets get haunting Kingston

Costumes Special Orders

  

Whether you’re going for a painted look, a mask, or an elaborate costume this Halloween, we can help you find the right outfit for the coming holiday. We have 8 different catalogues in store with everything from props, makeup, wigs and full blown costumes. Drop on by and take a peek! If there is something that catches you eye just leave us a special order with your size and any other relevant details.

Zombie Walk

Kingston Zombie walk 2012
Saturday Oct 20th 2012
McBurney Park (Skelton Park)
4:00 pm (walk will be leaving the park around 5pm)

There will soon be zombies lurching around in Kingston! Everyone should spend some time practicing their groans and shuffle. Not the dance…unless you’re being Michael Jackson zombies I suppose. I think the best way to get into character for me will be to watch Seasons 1+2 of the Walking Dead and just practice getting the face paint just the right hue of pukish yellowy green.

For those that don’t know what a zombie walk is, the above pictures should give you a good idea. Essentially it gives you the excuse to suddenly desire brains and zombify yourself with makeup or costumes. Then at the set date and time everyone will meet up and lurch around downtown together in a ‘pack’ or ‘herd’ to hunt pretty much anyone who isn’t dressed up as a zombie. The picture on the left has some of our regulars from a few years back and the one on the right is of yours truly going after an Ambulance. Presumably since the freshest brains would be stored inside? I dont know… I was a zombie, it seemed like a good idea at the time.

We also have 2012 zombie walk arm bands for sale at the store for $ 2.00 each with all proceeds going towards Kingston Youth shelters and buying at least one enters you into a draw to win a store prize. So hurry on out and buy some for yourself and all your undead buddies.

Art After Dark Tour / Minotaur Monstrous Art Show

So hopefully you are almost done your ‘Monstrous’ submission for our group art show. There are already several that have been dropped off this weekend but you have until the 24th to get your art in. For those that missed the earlier posts it will be our next installment of Minotaur’s group art. Each artist may submit one peice of art of any medium. Watercolor, acryllic, collage, pencil, computer graphics, you name it and we will take it! The only condition is that the art needs to somehow relate to the word ‘Monstrous’. You can submit a literal monster or beastie but it can also be an interesting take on the word that also works. Artists can choose to sell their art or just have on display for the show but any items sold will be split 60% to the artist and 40% to the store. The big opening night will be Thursday Sept 27th from 7-10 and we encourage both the artists and viewers to show up to enjoy some free snacks and beverages and to have a fun time meet and greeting.

Below is a link to the Art After Dark site in case anyone wants to read more of the details for other stops on the tour and what artists notebooks are on display at the State of Flux Gallery, in a new installation titled Take Note. (Cheers for Kevin Merrit and his notebook)

http://www.modernfuel.org/art/programming/event/582

Cribbage Tourney Outcomes and New Tournament Date

So our 1st season of cribbage comes to an end but a new one begins! The tournaments have been a great success and hopefully are a continued source of fun for everyone involved. Last night’s event had a pair of different winners and a runner up

Elaine H. has won our first series! We are running our cribbage tourneys in sets of 7 that span the course of a year. Our 1st tournament was last November in 2011 and the one last night was the 7th in that series. Elaine has won a couple along the way but for being the cribbage player with the highest cumulative score of all the tournaments combined, she was awarded a $70 gift certifcate! Congrats Elaine for being an outstanding crib star Saturday’s winner of this last tournament  was won by a new contender, Allan W. and takes home a $110 gift certificate with Tony C. coming in second and earning himself a $40 gift cert. Congrats to both of you and all the other players as well for a well fought contest!

The 1st tourney in the new set of 7 that will span through 2013 will be this November on the 10th at 7pm. Sign up sheet is up @ the store!

That’s all for new Minotaur readers! I’ll catch you next time as events and news comes up!

This has been the Labyrinth and I’m Henry McCulloch. Game On!

Seems these weekly or biweekly posts are becoming month long affairs and not for lack of cool things going on. I think between being away and enjoying the hot summer weather we’ve been having I’ve just been enjoying slacking a bit on posts but here’s hoping I can get back on track an keep interesting info on upcoming events flowing to you all in a timely fashion. This July we have a lot of stuff to cover so let’s not waste any time and get right to it!

Art in Kingston + Minotaur! 

If you’ve been following the Art After Dark Gallery Tours of Kingston or are just an enthusiast of local art displays we’re happy to say that our next group art show will be part of the fall Tour. We will be accepting one submission per artist, any medium is acceptable as long as it fits within this show’s theme ‘Monstrous’. As long as your idea and image fits within this group theme or has a creative link that might be a less literal interpretation of the word we’ll be happy to display it for the tour. Artists are free to set prices for their pieces if they wish and any items sold will be split 60% to the artist and 40% to the store. Alternatively if artists simply want to have their art in the show but not for sale that is also welcome!

The big opening night will be Thursday Sept 27th from 7-10 and we encourage both the artists and viewers to show up to enjoy some free snacks and beverages and to have a fun time meet and greeting. As always we will have an artist canvas and a collection of coloured markers standing by for everyone to sign their ‘mark’ as one of our attendees for the night. Here’s hoping we see plenty of you out there!

Crafter’s Exchange

Minotaur is hosting a crafter’s exchange! The actual exchange begins August 1st, but we are already accepting items. All yarn,beads, or other crafting supplies must be in good condition and every ball of yarn or vial of beads or equivalent item will net you one marked Monopoly bill that you can then use to trade for other items that have been brought into the exchange. In this way you can hunt around for what you need and trade it for things you have excess of. So if you’re sitting on a pile of yarn balls from those scarfs you just ‘ had time to make but want to start on some bracelets or necklaces without spending all that money then drop on by and trade in some of your extra supplies!

Cribbage Tourney League

News from the cribbage front is that last months winners were Kyle ending up in 1st place and Paul in second. For Kyle it was his 2nd win and has had several other finishes in 2nd or 3rd so he seems to be the man to beat!
This final tourney in our series of seven isn’t going to be in Aug. sadly as we’re skipping to September for the grand finale. Once this one is over we will see who has the highest overall score from all their combined tournaments and they will be the proud owner of an additional $70 seperate from any 1st or 2nd place gift certificates and the ‘league’ or series of seven will reset to a fresh round of play. As always the admission fee is $10 for seven round robin 1 on 1 matches and it will be on Saturday Sept 8th at 7pm here at the store! Here’s hoping we see all the familiar faces this time round along with some more newcomers to duke it out!

Princess Street Promenade

The Promenade is coming, the Promenade is coming!
That’s right folks it’s been a whole year since that same time last year and we’re happy to say that Kingston’s very own Princess Street event is returning for a 3rd year!
The street will be closed from Division down to Ontario and transformed into a car-free, pedestrian friendly street festival. With restaurants and stores spilling out into the streets to serve their food, sell their wares and offer fun and exciting festival activities and live performances. Here at Minotaur we will certainly be doing what we’ve done in previous years which is a few free game tables outside for people to try our board games and more will be announced closer to the actual date.

The Promenade this year will be on Saturday August 4th so book off the weekend and venture down amongst the throngs of people that will be enjoying everything the downtown core has to offer. I’m still amazed by the turnout on both years because it really reminded me just how many people are here in this ‘little’ city and just how much fun the downtown can be when everyone chips and gets involved. Here’s to an awesome 3rd Promenade!

Kingdom Builder

In gaming news we have just had our 2012 Spiel des Jahres winner announced and frankly it couldn’t have gone to a better game this year! Queen Games’ Kingdom Builder has swooped in to claim the title this year with a wickedly fun 2-4 player game where players aim to build up their kingdom by establishing settlements and hoping to have collected the most gold by the end of the game. For more information or to see reviews on the game itself visit Board Game Geek. And as they say in their description there…”Each game, players will use a random set of Kingdom Builder cards (3 of 10), special actions (4 of 8), and terrain sectors to build the map (4 of 8), ensuring you won’t play the same game twice!” Any game that can keep us ‘hardcore’ gamers coming back again and again by introducing variable set ups and card combinations is worthy of some worldwide recognition!

That`s all for now I think but keep your eyes peeled for more posts this month!

 This has been the Labyrinth and I`m Henry McCulloch. Game on!

June already? Gah!
These dastardly weeks all melting into one on me.
I seriously need to get a calendar or a day journal or something to keep track of time!
At least there are a lot of fun events happening this month to chat about.
So lets get to it!

CFRC and the world of Radio!

First off there is an awesome window up at the moment at Minotaur if you are interested in the history of radio and broadcasting. We have two authentic control boards kindly lent to us by CFRC to showcase and commemorate their past 90 years of radio with a walking tour. 50 or even 20 years back a radio broadcaster would have been using these very boards instead of a digital interface to create interesting and stimulating audio. These analog machinery were used to control mixing sets of input channels such as mics, reel to reel, decks, tape decks and record players.

Both of the control boards here were used at CFRC radio. The older board is a Northern Electric control board circa 1950s used at CFRC radio around 1950-1980. Next to it is a McCurdy Broadcast Board dating from the 60s, donated to CFRC radio by the CBC in 1981. To learn about reel to reel tape decks and Acetate cutters please visit the equally impressive window display across the street from us at Novel Idea or alternatively check out more information at www.CFRC.ca or call 613-533-2257 to listen to an audio recording about our display.

Free RPG day!

The christmastime for gamers is nigh!
Grab your wands, swords, bows, and silly wizard hats!

Because on June 16th Free RPG day will be here!
No it isn’t free rocket propelled grenade day…its free role playing game day.
If you drop by the store there will be all sorts of free handouts to give away.
Modules galore! ‘Dead in the Eye’ a 4th ed D&D module, the pathfinder modules ‘Slavers of the sunken Garden’-'Dawn of the Scarlet Sun`-`Shadowfall The Temple of Orcus` and a `Neoexudus: Undying Legacy of the First Ones’, a warhammer 40k adventure ‘Only War: Eleventh Hour’, a quick start set of rules to Shadowrun, Conspiracy X, and many others.

In addition to free goodies to give out people are also welcome to grab a table and start playing any on the day. All you need is a game master and a group of friends and you can get in on the action! The store most likely will not run an event this Free RPG day but there may be a small glimmer of hope that we can squeeze one in.

A big announcement for us as a store though is that we will be kicking off our new line of Pathfinder material on the 16th as well. What better day to start supporting what is essentially D&D 3.75 than on Free RPG day? So if you were hunting around for a new game system or wanted to mix it up from 4th ed then Pathfinder will be a great go-to for everyone and will be at Minotaur in force.

Art show!

For those that missed out on the show for the group art show ‘Labyrinth’ you may have not heard what the next theme was going to be. While the current one is going to be up for at least another month or so we already have the next idea in the works. The announced theme was -

Monstrous.

Again remember it can be directly or loosely related to the word and any medium is welcome so get creating your monstrous peices and closer to the end of June and the beginning of July we will have an exact date to drop your work off by.

Magic Draft!

Our first every MTG draft went well with 14 people coming out to compete in an Avacyn fest. The fighting was feirce and the though the color red was left to wallow mostly unpicked in misery it proved to be a very entertaining event for all.

Based on the success we will be planning to hold another draft in July, perhaps to coincide with the release of M13 on July 13th. Again…more will be announced closer to the time.

So until then keep watching the skiiiiiies!
No?
‘Look to my coming on the first light of the fifth day, at dawn look to the east!’

‘Quickly, to the bridge of Khazad-dum’.

‘You cannot pass! I am a servant of the Secret Fire, wielder of the Flame of Anor. The dark fire will not avail you, Flame of Udun! Go back to the shadow. You shall not pass!’

‘An hour of wolves and shattered shields, when the age of men comes crashing down, but it is not this day. This day we fight! For all that you hold dear on this good Earth, I bid you stand, Men of the West!’

Whatever Gandalf and Aragorn rock…don’t deny it. I’m getting into character for free RPG day don’t judge me…

This has been the Labyrinth and I’m Henry McCulloch. Game on!