Creepy Freaks. Our Origins Best of Show is finally available in stores. Expensive game though: $13 for a starter set of four figures and $5 for booster packs of two figures. Counting the freebies we netted from Origins, we have about 20 figures, plenty for good-sized multiplayer battles. As Mike pointed out, it's definitely a game of attrition; if you lose figures faster than your opponent it's tough to catch up. One rule we tossed was the concession rule, where you're supposed to admit defeat once you're down to one figure left. Since you roll dice to move, your paths are unpredictable... so it's entirely possible (but difficult) to have one figure simply roll better and out-maneuver three enemy figures. However, I think the game lacks balance at this stage of release. The figures themselves do not have any kind of numerical point value, so why not leave out the weak and only play with a team of figures with full life dials and Queen-like movement choices? Without a pre-agreed figure point limit, any Mr. Suitcase could own the field.

NeoPets TCG. Rhonda and I have already glommed on to this cutesy, easy card game. Although the initial card set is huge (300-some cards), the gameplay is a bit anemic. You field your NeoPets into four contest arenas based on their stats... but (and Mike was first to voice this concern) if you and your opponent happen to have decks tuned to different arenas, you'll just end up fighting by yourself and always scoring points. Then it becomes a boring race to see who can slap down 21 points first. Regardless, I've committed to it - if only to create a deck based around my own pet Red Nimmo and Yellow Grundo once those types make it to the TCG. I suspect that if you're familiar the NeoPets website you'll enjoy the game more. I think the game has potential, but it's no Pokemon.

Volcano and RAMbots. Both of these games are played with generic Icehouse pieces from Looney Labs (order your own from their online store and tell them Joe Fourhman sent you!) Volcano is a multiplayer puzzle game that's extremely engaging. You can hear a pin drop while four players are staring at the grid of volcanoes planning future moves. RAMbots lets you program little robots that run around a chessboard. I like RAMbots a lot, but it has a hell of a learning curve. There's a lot to grasp before you move your 'bot one single space. Highly suggested for those with a good sense of spatial relationships, because you plan out your RAMbot's path ahead of time, and then carry out your instructions simultaneous with your opponents. So the carefully planned moves you intended can get totally wrecked by the moves of the enemies.

Weapons & Warriors. The gamefield looks like this: two plastic castles, one at either end, each with a bunker and bivowac to the left... the fiefdoms connected by a winding cardboard path with a forest in the middle. Phalanxes of archers stand to one side, mounted knights await inside the castle walls, hordes of soldiers standing near and on every structure. Each player - to date primarily Mike and myself - gets four weapons that shoot little plastic marbles: two catapults (which suck), one ballista (for low shots) and one cannon (for high shots.) And everything is spring loaded with rubber bands so when you hit certain pressure points shit starts exploding. We've written our own rules for the most part, but the game's one big rule is that your weapons can't get any closer than the furthest advanced soldier (along that tree-lined path that leads to the enemy.) Of course, the closer the weapon, the more accurate and dramatic the carnage... but those scout troops inevitably get a marble at point blank range. Eventually plastic soldiers are scattered, castles are crumbling, and about 10% of the marbles are missing.

And then there was the best Doomtown game of 2003. Mike's Law Dogs vs. my retooled Maze Rats deck. Mike's gimmick is to play a ton of Flight of Angels against me and count on cheating. To increase the odds of seeing me cheat, a runs A Friendly Game, and uses the Dogs' home ability to move my dudes around unexpectedly. My deck wants to get a lot of Kung Fu abilities on several choice dudes and then sit on my opponent's deeds for double control points. A few turns in, Mike had applied some heavy pressure. I had multiple Flights on me and kept losing dudes to that. Luckily I kept pulling new dudes out, and I was able to avoid cheatin' hands often enough to keep me in the game. Once we had some shootouts that thinned down the dude herd, his guys ended up booted through various means (including the Still!) and I had enough mobile influence to takeover enough of his deeds for the win.