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Game Type: Pocket Card Game Publisher: Hip Pocket Games (A division of Cheapass games) Medium: Small ziplock bag? Price: $4.00 Reviewer: Paul Blake Ever played the old pencil-and-paper game "Dots?" The basic idea was that you and a friend (or possibly an enemy) would place dots on a piece of graph paper, and each time you completed a square, you drew the lines for the square and scored points based on its size. It's one of those games where distraction is good, and jumping in at the last minute on a good thing is better. When you play Nexus, you will probably find yourself reminded of Dots. It has some of the same feel, but instead of building squares, you're simply building closed shapes. As soon as a shape is closed off, it's point value goes to whoever controls the most points worth of intersections. One way intersections count for one point, two-ways for two, etc. The point value of the shape (or nexus, as the rulebook will constantly call it) is the value of all the uncontrolled intersections. That does give the game an interesting twist, in that players will build huge shapes, and trying to control a majority, while keeping enough unoccupied spaces to make it a worthwhile score. This is a quick and easy abstract strategy game, and, like most James Ernest games, is printed on inexpensive cardstock (hence the $4.00 cost). It should only take about 20 minutes to play for two players, and up to 45 for four. The luck factor is very low, being only the draw of a card, while the strategy factor is pretty high. Overall, well worth its price. This game also marks the start of a new line by James Ernest: The Hip Pocket Game. These games will all be compact little card games at about $4.00 each, designed to fit in a... well, a hip pocket. Other games currently in this series are Agora, The Very Clever Pipe Game, and Cube Farm. Playability: | |||||||||||||
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