Idle Remorse

Review: California Dreams

By On April 18, 2021 With No Comments

Review: California Dreams
Publisher: Pressman
Year: 1993
Players: 2 to 4
Tagline: Be the one to help the “CALIFORNIA DREAMS” reach the top of the music charts…and win!

The band members in a photo together

how we met

I believe I may have already mentioned the wonderful thrift stop where I found California Dreams in a past post. It was the same trip where I found a complete, dirt cheap copy of Roller Coaster Tycoon and my first copy of Murder, She Wrote. That is a pretty good stop!

I did not know much about California Dreams the television show, but I do know a little something about my ability to withstand a great board game cover. And I think you do too. I was thrilled to add California Dreams to my shelf of shame for the next several months.

how it plays

The goal of California Dreams is to have the most points in the end, indicating that you were very helpful to the band as they climb their way to the top! Then you win!

California Dreams throws a couple of unique things at you right off the bat. For one thing, the player with the shortest hair goes first. For another thing, you do not have a dedicated pawn; all pawns are in play all the time. The first step is to get them out of the Garage, so if you roll a number you can move whatever band member. Once they are all out of the Garage, you must always move the band member that is furthest behind – or choose between any that are tied for last place. Move them that number of spaces and follow the directions for the space you land on.

The pawns and dice for you to see

Here are some spaces on the board:

  • SECRET DREAMS space: draw the top card from the SECRET DREAMS deck and read it out loud. Then secretly set aside your answer A, B, or C. Then each player will verbally say what they thought you picked. If anyone matched with you, they get one check for the band member you moved. You get 1 point plus another bonus 1 for each match. If no one matches, well, that’s a bummer!
Cards include things like "What is the best quality in your dream guy/gal? Good looks, sense of humor or great personality
California Dreams brings you all the hard-hitting questions
  • LUCKY STAR space: draw the top card from the LUCKY STAR deck and read it out loud. This one is a bit of a crap shoot. Each player places their bet using their LUCKY STAR TOKEN on the face of the band member that they think matches. Then the spinner is spun and anyone that matches gets 3 points for that band member!
Card example "Someone admires your great personality! Who asks you to greet people at the door at the next band's gig?"
I’d be a great greeter! Jake said that, didn’t he?
I think Jake said I’d be a great greeter, so I’m going to put my chip on Jake
  • BATTLE OF THE BANDS space: the player moving a band member here chooses another player. Starting with the player whose turn it is, they take turns rolling the BATTLE OF THE BANDS DIE until one of them gets a “no guitar” symbol. That player loses, and the winner rolls one last time to see how many points they get for that band member.
  • CORNER spaces: if you land on a corner space by exact count, take 2 points for the band member you moved there.
  • TOP OF THE CHARTS: when you land on TOP OF THE CHARTS you get 5 points for the band member you moved there!

If you roll a SUN, take the top card of the CALIFORNIA DREAMS deck and follow the instructions. This deck gives you valuable points which you track by placing checkmarks next to the name of the band member. But watch out because this deck can also give you negative cards which award BUMMER points!

Card example includes "Bummer! Sly loses they money from a gig. Score 2 BUMMER POINTS."
Tony! Tony! Tony!

After following the directions on the CALIFORNIA DREAMS card, take another turn!

The game ends once each band member has reached the TOP OF THE CHARTS space. Then all players add up their points, subtracting any BUMMER points. The player with the most points wins!

how it went

I had not seen California Dreams prior to finding the game and only watched a couple of early episodes on YouTube after playing. This was not nearly enough info to compare gameplay with the show. So I turned to an expert, Stef of HappiMess Media (check out her hilarious and creative coloring book out now). Here was her response when I asked if she would mind sharing her experience and/or memories of the show:

“Do I MIND? I LIVE for discussing ‘90s sitcoms starring privileged, unchaperoned teens, especially ones who are in a band and get into wacky hijinks.

“Can I recall a single episode of California Dreams, though? Not at all; it was a rare treat for me to actually catch it on TV. I remember they had a dope rehearsal area, with a Beach + Trapper Keeper aesthetic. There was the tough-but-sensitive guy in the leather jacket, and the gorgeous blonde, whom I so wanted to be because she was a gorgeous blonde. And I of course recall Sly, a girl-crazy, slick-tongued schemer who finagled a role as band manager.

“How could Young Me NOT love California Dreams? Was it the most original thing? Not a chance, but it showcased close friendships with young, good-looking people and the taste of fame and freedom. There were no adults in sight, and everything took place near the Pacific Ocean. In other words, it featured all the elements that my little self aspired to—and, admittedly, what excites my adult self to this day.”

Stef of HappiMess Media

I am not sure our play revealed much of what California Dreams is all about other than the general aesthetic and very high level plot that band members want to do well with their band. But for example the LUCKY STAR space determines which character goes with which card by spinning the spinner. So while some cards specifically tie an event to a character (like UGH Sly lost all the money from the gig BUMMER!), many cards are assigned randomly to characters. Kind of an odd choice if the characters of the show are fully formed.

This is our play getting started, rounding the corner

I thought the choice to not assign individual pawns was actually pretty clever for this type of game. Sure, there’s not much strategy in having to always move the last band member on the track, but this also means you are not playing as one of the characters. So our girl Stef playing this as a young person would not be taking on a character but instead hanging out with all the band members as herself, and helping them rise to the top of the charts to boot!

The other dark photo I took of our play, probably because it cracked me up that Jake blew up his amp BUMMER!

Only one of our game group was unlucky enough to encounter BUMMER points during play, and they came in last. The rest of us were spread out a bit, and John won California Dreams!

play or pass

Not a complete bummer, but I still say pass. I think California Dreams does some interesting things with the pawn movement. I like how it places you as yourself joining the characters instead of playing as a character. But ultimately California Dreams is based too heavily on luck, even for me. I also don’t think the characters came to life in this game very well. We had a fun play through, but that was enough for me.

Review: Real People

By On April 14, 2021 With No Comments

Review: Real People
Publisher: Parker Brothers
Year: 1991
Players: 3 to 6 teams or players
Tagline: The Game Where Looks Can Be Very Deceiving!

The phrase Real People over a gathering of different people in diverse dress

how we met

Real People is my favorite type of thrift game find. The cover is amazing, I have never heard of it before, the price is right and the gameplay looks bizarre. It contains a bunch of photos and is a snapshot in time. I never knew I wanted Real People until I laid eyes on it for the first time. And then I was a real happy person.

how it plays

Players should decide in advance how many rounds they want to play, but this should be even for each player or team. The player or team with the most points at the end of the game wins Real People!

Players take turns being the Leader of a given round. When you are the Leader, you randomly choose four Face Cards (from the stack of 400!) and place them face-out into the plastic tray. Leaders should avoid looking at the card faces. This leaves the Leader with a list of ten facts about each of the people facing the other players. The Leader chooses one of these to read from for the rest of the round.

A photo showing four headshots
So here is a real world example from our play. May I introduce you to these real people, or at least their faces?
The accompanying list of facts for each of the people in the previous photo
Here are the list of facts to give you an idea of what to expect. The first fact card ties to first photo above, and onward respectively

To begin, the Leader chooses one fact to reveal about the person they chose. Next, players can take turns asking questions or decide together which question to ask next. But it’s important to take your time because you need to track the scoresheet as you go along.

Here is a look at the scoresheet, showing how you track and score

The faster you can guess the real person, the more points you will get. So if you think you know for certain it’s person B then turn over your scoresheet and wait out the rest of the round until other players are ready to guess. If you are correct after 3 questions you get 8 points. A player that also guessed B but waited for 6 questions would only receive 5 points.

A female cab driver with a nickname of Rocky
But do be careful. This card and her facts might throw your assumptions for a loop!

The Leader then slowly and dramatically pulls out the other people from the tray one by one until only the right person is left. Players then total their points for the round and the next round begins!

After all the rounds end, add up your total scores to find the winner of Real People!

how it went

Not only was I lucky enough to find Real People at thrift for a couple of bucks, but the cards were sealed and the stickers had yet to be placed! What a great score. No boogers on any photos, no weird smells, no dried old rubber bands.

Me holding sealed cards from the game
This is the dream. Also can we get a round of applause for this person that mentally dissolved a tumor?

The game encourages you to use careful eye movement and some amount of faking it to respond to questions so it’s unclear which card you are reading. But sometimes the facts are bizarre or even a couple of sentences long so we ended up hooding our eyes with a piece of paper instead. I think an even better approach would be to have the Leader take a photo of each card back and then privately choose which they will read. Then they are not looking at the cards at all and that loophole is closed.

Foreground is the four headshots and background is someone holding paper over their face to look at back of cards
Our paper eye cover at work

The obvious lesson of Real People is not to judge a book by its cover…while ultimately requiring you to do so. There are certainly facts about people that your bias may direct to another person based on only their photo. And there are facts that seem so obvious based on the same bias and you can really lock in your answer early. So it’s the luck of the draw I guess.

You may walk away having been mildly surprised at some of the results of who tied to which fact. But I really don’t think you will be shocked, and if you are then you should keep playing over and over until you are no longer shocked. It should never shock you that people can be surprising. And if you have a boring round? People can be really unsurprising too. No shocker there.

Bill thinks the game is fake and rigged and he may be onto something because he won Real People!

play or pass

Play. Some of these people will surprise you. Some will not surprise you. So, real people indeed. But Real People is built on a foundation that I agree with: people are interesting. In this day and age you can leverage technology to hear stories from around the globe or even people on the street in your city. But if you want a flashback to 1991, Real People might be just the thing.

Review: Guinness game of world records

By On April 10, 2021 With No Comments

Review: Guinness game of world records
Publisher: Parker Brothers
Year: 1975
Players: 2 to 6
Tagline: Set your own Home Records in the fun-packed HOTTEST MOSTEST GREATEST LONGEST STRONGEST EVENTS

how we met

I have often seen this one in the wild, in all sorts of wilds really. I have seen it for high prices at flea markets, for astronomical prices at antique stores, and for more reasonable prices at thrift. Finally one day I found it for just $1 and decided to pull the trigger.

When I was in elementary school I would occasionally check out the The Guinness Book of World Records books from the library and flip through them admiring the tallest, shortest, heaviest, thinnest, longest neck, fastest, and whatnot people in the whole world. The books felt like such a strange celebration and I enjoyed taking part in it. So I think I was always going to buy the game to check it out. I was just waiting for the right copy.

how it plays

Players gain points by participating in events, breaking records, answering trivia, etc. The first player to participate in all five events and earn 100 points wins Guinness game of world records!

The board has the same visual charm as the cover

Guinness game of world records is a roll and move game where player pawns start in the starting space. Roll the die and move clockwise to determine which event you will participate in. There are several different possibilities. The first is just trivia.

  • Guinness Question: the player to your left chooses a question (hopefully randomly and not spitefully, the rules don’t say) from the booklet and reads it aloud to you. If you answer correctly, you get 10 points! If you are incorrect, a chip is placed on the space awarding 5 additional points to the next person to land in that space and answer another question correctly.
A few examples of the trivia questions. All answers are at the back of the book.

There are multiple events that you can land on, and each has a Challenge #1 and Challenge #2 that are slightly different. The instructions recommend that the group chooses #1 or #2 and everyone sticks to those challenges throughout the game. I suppose this is meant to make the game feel fresh and new if you play again.

Here is a quick look at the different competitions:

  • Longest 1: See how many consecutive times you can roll two dice without rolling doubles and take 1 point for each successful round.
  • Longest 2: Before you roll a die call out odd or even and continue to do so until you are wrong. Take 1 point for each successful round.
  • Strongest 1: Touching only the two on the end, lift 5 weights to shoulder height and down to the table again without any dropping. If you are successful add one weight to each end. Take 1 point for each weight you are able to lift without dropping in your final successful round.
  • Strongest 2: Stack weights on top of each other until they fall. Take 1 point for each stacked weight prior to the one that made them fall.
  • Mostest 1: Bounce a ball into a cup. You get 5 balls so 5 tries but can continue if your last ball goes in until you fail. Take 1 point for your longest run of successful balls in the cup.
  • Mostest 2: Use a large disk to push a smaller disk into the hole. You can try this 5 times but can continue if your 5th is successful until you fail. Take 2 points for each disk consecutively shot into the hole.
  • Greatest 1: Tiddlywinks! See how many disks you can land in the cup. Similar to other events you have 5 tries but can continue if the 5th is successful. Take 1 point for your longest run of consecutive disks landing in the cup.
  • Greatest 2: Drop disks from waist level into the cup on the floor. Again, 5 tries and take 1 point for your longest run of consecutive disks landing in the cup.
  • Hottest 1: Flip a ball in the air using the Distance Card, flipping the card fully over each time you flip the ball. Score 1 point for each successful flip-and-land combo.
  • Hottest 2: Place the ball in the cup and flip it onto the table and catch it in the cup again. Then repeat until you do not catch the ball. Take 1 point for each successful catch.
Here are the components plopped into the cup

Other spaces on the board let you challenge players or try to set records. The book includes a place to enter highest records.

The first player to 100 points wins Guinness game of world records!

how it went

Bill and I tackled Guinness game of world records last summer on some random evening.

I think one could argue that a lot of the trivia is probably outdated by now, and it maybe is. Maybe lobsters are bigger these days. But every single trivia question is multiple choice, so I don’t think this is the drawback that it could otherwise be.

Guinness game of world records does a neat job of making a variety of challenges using a minimal amount of pieces. The Distance Card, for example, is used in different, clever ways. However I think it’s a mistake to focus on either doing the #1 challenges or the #2 challenges in a single game. The road to 100 points is long, and I didn’t feel like we had enough variety. We were getting sick of the same challenges over and over. But, you know, a simple house rule solves that.

This card has instructions for various challenges on both sides of it. According to BGG comments some players perfect the ball bouncing challenge and can win the game in one turn!

I was rubbish at bouncing a ball into a cup. I was terrible at flipping a ball into the air and bouncing it on cardboard. I liked the dice challenge best (for us this was rolling until you roll doubles) because it is simple and because Lady Luck has always been kind to me. The weight challenge was okay and generally good for 7 points when you can do it. And this was my first introduction to tiddlywinks. I was not very good at landing my disk into the pot this way either, but it was very fun to try.

This is what the “weights” look like for the Strongest #1 challenge, where you must lift these to shoulder height and safely back down again only touching the weights on each end. Five weights is the minimum and you can attempt to go up to 20. Our best was 9.

I was consistently behind in these challenges and Bill won Guinness game of world records!

This was an action shot where the disk ended up flying distantly past the cup. Pro tip: set up a barrier for this and the small balls

I mentioned that one of the reasons I was intrigued by this game was growing up looking through versions of The Guinness Book of World Records. I remember the records as so extreme. This would be a tough note to achieve with a thematic board game, and I really don’t think Guinness game of world records pulled off its theme. The trivia touches on a variety of records, but the mini games are just mixtures of luck and dexterity.

I can think of multiple other ideas for events that would not require more pieces or minimal pieces and would tap into different types of talent. Balance on one foot, say the alphabet backwards within a time limit, juggle kleenex, who can get their disk the furthest distance, who can hold their breath the longest, etc. I know less is more and the designers likely don’t want to junk up the game with too many events. But they did need more variety.

play or pass

Neat, novel idea but pass. Thematically this game felt more like a decathlon than a Guinness game of world records; it really leaves behind the strange and bizarre records that haunt so many pages of The Guinness Book of World Records. Dice chucking and tiddlywinks can be fun, but even my favorite mini games did not feel HOTTEST, MOSTEST, GREATEST, LONGEST or STRONGEST. This was a mediocre attempt and we had an okay time.

Review: Polly Pocket

By On April 7, 2021 With 2 Comments

Review: Polly Pocket
Publisher: RoseArt
Year: 1994
Players: 2 to 4
Tagline: Party Game

Cover shows cartoon Polly Pockets standing on some grass looking happy

how we met

I found Polly Pocket at a thrift shop that rarely disappoints. The store is nearly an hour away, so I don’t get there very often; usually we only travel there when we need something for the sheep that is not available closer to home. And this shop usually only has eight to ten games at a given time. But more often than not, a single one of those games is pure gold. And one fateful day that golden game was Polly Pocket.

I am a bit too old to have enjoyed Polly Pocket dolls when they hit the shelves in the U.S., but I was very willing to pay $1.99 to see how this doll line was interpreted into a board game. And the cuteness felt guaranteed!

how it plays

Polly Pocket is a roll and move, pick up and deliver game where your object is to get invitations to parties, buy presents for the kiddos, obtain a balloon from each party and land back on your home space by exact count. Then you win Polly Pocket!

On their turn players roll the die and move that number of spaces (any direction but no changing direction in the turn). If they roll the envelope they can draw from the Invitation pile to get a party invite yay! If they don’t want an invite, like later in the game, they can move one space.

Overview of the board
Here we are setting up and almost ready for play

Once a Polly Pocket has a party invitation they can stop at the gift shop (does not need to be exact count to stop) and grab a gift in the color of their vehicle. Then they will race to the closest party they have an invitation for – and have not visited yet – and trade the gift for a balloon. They are able to leave the party at their next turn and continue the quest for four different colored balloons, one from each party.

Spaces on the board with purple hearts allow a Polly Pocket landing there to draw a Lucky Card. These can allow you to draw Invitations, steal Invitations, Move additional spaces, things like that.

Example lucky cards let you move or draw invitations or take a gift, etc
A few of the Lucky Cards

If a Polly Pocket tries to get an invitation but fails over two turns then they are able to draw one from the top of the pile – which still might be the wrong one so…

The invitations include a picture of the girl and say Invitation to Midge's Party, for example
A couple of the Invitations

The first Polly Pocket to collect all four different balloons and return to their home space wins Polly Pocket!

how it went

I was pretty excited to find Polly Pocket for a couple bucks. It has soooo many little pieces. It turns out that my copy was missing 3 balloons, 2 gifts and one house partition. None of this impacted gameplay. The game comes with extra pieces so if you are only playing with four players then you will have more pieces than you need. That’s important if you are looking to purchase a copy that is incomplete.

A shot of our play

However there are only four vehicles and four Polly Pockets, which are exclusive to the game!

The Polly Pockets are just taller than a penny
Gross old penny for scale

FUN FACT: While I feel like Polly Pockets were more popular with people slightly younger than me, I did have a few Sweet Secrets when I was young and I loved em. I would go nuts over a Sweet Secrets game and keep it forever.

Polly Pocket is adorable and really fun to take pictures of. It did not disappoint on the cuteness factor. It probably goes without saying that I appreciated not having to land by exact count when stopping at the gift shop or stopping by a party for a balloon.

A bunch of Polly Pockets waiting to join a party
Here’s a few Polly Pockets lined up to party

The biggest problem with Polly Pocket is that at some point you are likely waiting on getting the right invitation. Maybe you got lucky and are hoarding invitations, but if not then you are stuck waiting for the roll of the die to let you draw the top invitation. Then if you manage to get the right invitation you still need to get a gift, get to the party, chill for the rest of that turn, and then you need exact count to win. Our play became long.

This frustration mounted with some of our players. Bill tried to cheat by choosing the invitation he needed and claiming victory. For those of us that played properly, I won Polly Pocket!

The winning Polly Pocket just about to leave her final party for home!

play or pass

Props for cuteness but Polly Pocket is a pass. Next to a penny, my enjoyment of the game would appear very small. Polly Pocket suffers from typical roll and move shortcomings that overly extend gameplay. And if it’s that difficult to get invited to a party, you probably shouldn’t go. Maybe Midge doesn’t want you there.

Review: Fat Chance

By On April 4, 2021 With No Comments

Review: Fat Chance
Publisher: Gamewich, Inc.
Year: 1996
Players: 2 to 6
Tagline: Winner Loses All!

A plate that says Fat in what appears to be fat, then chance in a skinnier font and underlined by celery

how we met

I found Fat Chance at some random thrift shop during some random stop. As you can probably tell from the cover image, this is not to be confused with the 1978 Fat Chance in a similar vein which I hope to find someday. I could tell by looking at the box that gameplay and theme is similar to Heavenly Body which we reviewed very early on in setting up this site.

But Heavenly Body is 1988 while Fat Chance is 1996. I wondered how differently they might approach the topic of nutrition and dieting nearly ten years apart, if they approached it differently at all. And I have this game group, and the darlings will play just about anything. So I picked it up!

how it plays

Fat Chance is a roll and move game. Each player begins the game with 20 Lard tokens. The first player to successfully get rid of all of their Lard tokens wins Fat Chance!

The lard tokens look like small white gold bars
This is a snapshot of my Lard tokens during play

Players begin on the large center starting space and must make a decision which path to travel when they roll: Healthy Lifestyle or Crash Diet? Healthy Lifestyle takes more long-term approaches to weight loss. Many spaces on the board are trivia, and correct guesses allow you to lose one pound in Healthy Lifestyle. Incorrect guesses do not cause any weight gain. This track also includes special Sweat Stop spaces that allow you to roll the die and lose weight.

The Crash Diet track is more risky. Correct responses lose two pounds, but incorrect guesses will gain you one pound! And instead of Sweat Stop spaces we see Chow Down spaces that cause you to roll the die and gain weight!

Players must get all the way back to the starting space before they can change their diet approach. So once you begin down one of these tracks, you are on it for a number of turns.

Here’s a closer look at the board showing two different approaches to weight loss

Most of the spaces on the board result in you getting a question asked in that category. Other spaces on the board include Psychic Bonbons which mostly cause weight loss, or Heartbreak Plateau which causes you to lose two turns.

Most cards have flavor text and then list an amount of weight loss, but they also include the ability to confess weight loss stories and to do real exercises for weight loss
Here is a look at some varying Psychic Bonbons cards. I think these cards help demonstrate that the real challenge of the game is playing without touching something that is trademarked.

Eventually a player will manage to lose every single Lard token and they win Fat Chance!

how it went

Fat Chance is one of the last games our group played before we stopped in-person gaming, in February 2020. We all fondly remember the weirdness that was Heavenly Body, and Fat Chance was very easy to explain.

An overview of our board mid-play
Here we are mid-play

It seems clear that the right decision, the smart decision, is to take the Healthy Lifestyle track every single time. But you know me, why would I want to shed one pound when I can shed two? Keri and I stuck to the Crash Diet track the entire game while the guys stuck to Healthy Lifestyle.

I did not think our trivia knowledge was too far off of each other. Generally speaking, we all did okay at trivia. But at the end of the game us Crash Dieters were in pretty bad shape while Healthy Lifestyle players took first and second place. Bill won Fat Chance! John still had ten pounds to lose, I had 16 and Keri had 27!

A look at some of the trivia that Fat Chance has to offer

The differences that I was looking for between Fat Chance and Heavenly Body were even more pronounced than I expected. I’m not sure how much of that is tied to the years they were published vs just adopting different ideologies. But it was interesting. Both games emphasize smart decisions and exercise, but if you were to follow the diet advice of each game you would be on very different paths.

If you read the Heavenly Body review I talk about some of the weight gain tied to certain foods being strange and causing us to make up our own. Really Heavenly Body was introducing foods into our every day diets that a lot of people had abandoned. Heavenly Body was all about a balanced diet.

In contrast, Fat Chance seems to boil things down to “Fat is bad.” One of the things I read is that the Surgeon General’s report pointed out the dangers of dietary fat specifically in 1988. The problem here is what you replace that fat with. Carbs? Sugars? Or worse, high fructose corn syrup?

The Lard Card is meant to track your game weight loss over several plays. We did not take advantage of this tracking, but the point to show progress over time was well-made

The funny thing about board games that are meant to help you learn how to lose weight is that they imply there is some magic trick that you do not already know. That someone curated all the garbage science into the real answers. The real answers are portion control, counting calories and to a lesser degree staying active.

I have to give props to Fat Chance for its attempt to educate players via trivia on different foods having different calories – it’s not always obvious what you should choose. I also appreciate the different tracks and how clearly we saw the negative consequences of choosing what was obviously the wrong track. But I also think Fat Chance and its implication of fat being the worst thing for your diet has led us down a troubling road. That just makes it the kind of dated game I adore.

play or pass

Pass. This is not the first weight loss board game we have played and the review covers a lot of the differences. Fat Chance introduces neat new aspects to the gameplay thematically that I very much appreciate, but they are not enough to sustain a recommendation of tracking Fat Chance down. I recommended playing the other weight loss board game we reviewed, Heavenly Body, and I stand by that. Fat Chance does not have the same weird novelty that we so thoroughly enjoyed with Heavenly Body. Like, I didn’t get hit in the head with a soy bean even once during play.

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