Five Santa Rosa Junior College students, including this author, ventured out to Gamescape North in San Rafael to try out demo copies of board games and tell you if they’re worth playing. The verdict? Yes.

Rampage: 2013, 2 – 4 players, ages 8 & up, by Repos Production

In “Rampage,” you get to act out all of your fantasies of mass urban destruction without harming a fly. First player pick goes to the one who can make the best monster sound, and the silliness only ramps up from there.

Though the character you play is referred to as a monster, the more accurate term would probably be “kaiju,” the Japanese term for “strange creature” – those often seen running amok and destroying cities. If you’re familiar with the classic 80’s arcade game of the same name by Bally Midway, then you already have the basic concept down.

The most striking aspect of “Rampage” that sets it apart from other tabletop offerings is the gameplay itself. This is categorized as both a dexterity and a finger-flicking game, a burgeoning genre meaning that the players have to actually aim and flick to try and reach different areas with their character. Your basic arsenal includes the abilities to drop on top of buildings, fling vehicles and even test your lungs by blowing down anything that dares stand in your path.

Between crushing multi-level buildings and eating human-shaped blocks called meeples, the kaiju are also on the lookout for each other. Any offensive talent that you have can also be used on other players.

At the end of the game, the players tally up how many differently-colored sets of meeples they have consumed, the amount of damage they’ve caused to buildings (measured in floors collected), and the teeth that have been gathered from other players’ monsters in knock-down, drag-out fights. Overall, this title sports brightly colored art and a hilarious B-movie theme sure to amuse those who enjoy things that are fun.

Will Rohrs: “I really like ‘Rampage.’ I think it’s really fun to be able to move around the board, where it doesn’t just go down to luck at the end of the game, but it is really easy to lose the pieces because they do go flying everywhere.”
Rating: 8 rampaging monsters out of 10

Jenne Kaivo: “I agree, but I would rate it lower actually because of the inconvenience of losing pieces. You can only replay it so many times before you lose all the parts.”
Rating: 7 squashed meeples out of 10

Stephen Radley: “It’s really fun, it’s kind of a work to set up and break down, but if you wanna just toss things and throw things around, it’s definitely the game for you. It’s really fun, and I would play it again, but I don’t know how often I would replay it.”
Rating: 7 crushed buildings out of 10

Asa Hackett: “I would like to play it with people who were experienced players, who actually know what they’re doing, who have experience aiming their flicks and blowing their blows.“
Rating: N/A, was spectating

Tsuro: 2005, 2 – 8 players, ages 8 & up, by WizKids games

Sometimes it’s necessary to ditch complexity and production value in favor of pure fun.

“Tsuro” is a game that catches you off-guard. Its unassuming box belies hidden genius. With a simple tile system of ‘play one, draw one,’ it allows players to pick up the rules very quickly while also keeping them entertained.

Everybody starts at the edge of the board, and must quickly figure out how to stay alive the longest: for every tile that you place in front of you, you must follow that path to the end. If you land off the edge of the board or collide with another player, it’s game over for you.

As a result, it’s a crazy frenzy of attempts to plan ahead that get foiled by other players trying to achieve the same goal as you. This happens all while maintaining a very ‘Zen’ feel, including motifs of Eastern dragons.

It should be mentioned that everybody voted for a second round right away.

Will: “I’ve never played a game like ‘Tsuro’ before. This kind of reminds me of Dominoes. You know what I like about this? This is a game where you don’t know who the winner is until the last 4 turns.”
Rating: 10 wandering paths out of 10

Jenne: “It’s really intuitive, I grasped the rules right away, and it’s also very attractive.”
Rating: 10 dragons out of 10

Asa: “It’s kinda short and simple, but that’s good. It’s anyone’s game.”
Rating: 9 out of Zen

Stephen: “This is a great filler game. If you’re playing a D&D campaign and need a break, you can play this for a couple of seconds.”
Rating: 8.5 out of 10

Tsuro of the Seas: 2013, 2 – 8 players, ages 8 & up, by Calliope Games

That’s right, there’s another version of “Tsuro”! This one adds a new layer of challenge – kaiju on a larger scale – “daikaiju.”

The first thing to notice is that this version has a nautical theme. Instead of traveling through abstract sand-garden paths of burgundy and beige like in the first game, players now command their own ships and try to make it safely across the ocean; still without colliding or falling off the edges of the earth.

However, menacing daikaiju sea monsters block your watery path with their unpredictable and sporadic movements. This adds dice rolls to the game, which probably makes it twice as complicated as its previous incarnation.

This is great for those who found the original Tsuro just a little bit too simple, but only if they’re willing to sit down and digest the extra rules. The presentation has more pizzazz than its predecessor, including a printed tatami mat-style design on the side of the box and a rice paper insert.

Asa: “In the original, the pieces were just little pleasingly heavy stone plastic pieces of indeterminate shape with little symbols on them, and you just move around little paths.. and this one has intricately carved boats that are kind of ugly. I think I preferred the first one. I just dislike the element of random chance.”
Rating: 7 out of 10 rating systems

Jenne: “I kind of liked the little boats, but the other one was very intuitive. You didn’t even really need to read the rules once you got the basic idea, and this.. the rules are kind of complicated, and it’s hard to keep track of the movements of the monsters. There’s a lot more strategic thinking in the other one.”
Rating: 8 out of 10-tacles

Will: “I kind of like this level of complexity though, y’know? What I like about the first one though it’s like, you don’t know who’s gonna win until the last couple turns, this one, the luck is going to destroy half of us. I like the more advanced gaming though, because you can just go back to the regular rules.”
Rating: 8 southerly winds out of 10

After playing one round, Jenne suggested banishing the kaiju to the outer realms “until the stars are right” and playing with the original rule set. This led to more favorable reviews.

Stay tuned for new tabletop adventures in forthcoming Boarding School columns. In the future, look out for an extra rating system for our readers 21 and older: “Can I still play this game drunk?”