1038 – Unboxing Action Park Bored Game

Episode 1038 – Unboxing Action Park Bored Game

 

[START OF RECORDING]

 

SCOOTER: Patrons, friends beyond the binary, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, it’s time for the podcaster who sometimes starts off like a vehicle stuck in the mud.  I’m not a stick in the mud.  What does that even mean, a stick in the mud?  It doesn’t…I don’t even know what that really means.  Anyway, what do you say we slow it down…oh, patrons, this is the podcast you make possible.  What do you say we get on with the show?

 

INTRO:    [INTRO MUSIC] Hey, are you up all night tossing, turning, mind racing?  Trouble getting to sleep?  Trouble staying asleep?  Well, welcome.  This is Sleep With Me, the podcast that puts you to sleep.  We do it with a bedtime story.  Alls you need to do is get in bed, turn out the lights, and press play.  I’m gonna do the rest.  What I’m going to attempt to do is create a safe place where you could set aside whatever’s keeping you awake, whether it’s thoughts you’re thinking about, things on your mind about the past, the present, or the future.  So thoughts, it could be feelings, anything coming up for you emotionally from the past, the present, or the future, or just emotions that are there.  It could be physical sensations, changes in time or temperature or schedule, work stuff, travel.

 

You may have something big coming up, school or a life thing, or you could be going through something.  Whatever it is that’s keeping you awake, I’d like to keep you company and take your mind off of that while you fall asleep.  So, what I’m gonna do here is…here’s the plan; I’m gonna send my voice across the deep, dark night.  I’m gonna use lulling, soothing, creaky, dulcet tones, and I’m gonna try to create a safe place, or a place that feels reasonably safe for you to be in here, and I’ll be here to keep you company while you drift off.  I’ll take some pointless meanders and superfluous tangents and repetitive stuff ‘cause I get mixed up, all while you fall asleep.  Now, if you’re new, a few things to know; I’m not everybody’s cup of tea, and it takes a few episodes to get used to this podcast.

 

One of the reasons for that is just it’s very different, so give it a few tries and see how it goes, ‘cause…and one reason it’s different is you’ve probably been through a lot of different options that say hey, this is what’s gonna put you to sleep.  Oh boy, is this gonna work.  Whatever…I don’t know what the latest thing is.  I’ve talked about some of the ones I’ve tried to get going; dipping your elbows in milk, and I’m sure that was one point…other than when I’ve given advice…at one point in the history of milk and saucers and sleep solutions.  Or let’s say…let’s try a new one; dipping your elbows in mud.  They say oh boy, you know what works for my boiler is dipping your elbows in mud.  She says…she keeps a pot of mud on a low simmer any time I go to visit her, because she knows that sometimes I have trouble drifting off.

 

I say, I’m sorry, really?  That sounds…that does sound refreshing, except the…especially if you’re visiting someone’s house.  The only place I would dip my elbows in mud is someone else’s house, because then I’d say…especially someone like a grand-parental figure would be…because then I wouldn’t have to…you say, why is there so much dirt in the bed?  Well, once it was elbow mud.  I’m sorry.  Oh, this also happened to me, just this part.  They said what’s…you…elbow mud?  Oh, well, I had trouble sleeping.  I got up, I was gonna fix myself some cereal, and then I realized…I said to myself, what would happen if I simmered some mud?  Brought it to a boil and then reduced the temperature below a simmer, technically, because it was…then I redistributed it.

 

You’d be amazed at the viscosity of the mud around your house and with your tap water.  Then I dip my elbows in it.  Also, I left some mud on.  I turned it off last night.  I left it to sit overnight, nothing like a pot…a un-watched pot of mud never boils, especially if it’s turned off.  So yeah, when I went to bed, I had…there’s probably some…there’s not just dirt in that bed, because there’s probably some…I’m sorry.  Oh, this is only my imagination, luckily, but I gotta get back to the new listeners.  So, this podcast is very different…because then you might try…you might say well, I’m just not…I don’t see myself in a situation where I could dip my elbows in mud without it…it sounds like a lot of work.  You’re like, you’re right, I agree with you.  It was more work than I anticipated.

 

It’s easier to imagine dipping your elbows in mud than to actually do it, but so, you’re right on that one.  What else should I agree with you on?  Oh, so if you’re new, the podcast is a bit different.  Give it a few tries.  Here’s a couple other things to know, though; one, this is a podcast you don’t really listen to.  Clearly, I mean, you figured that out on your own.  This is a podcast that only barely makes sense, so you just kinda listen, you kick back, you say okay, uh-huh, uh-huh, okay.  Elbows in the mud, okay.  Wow.  Really?  Okay, well, sounds like a interesting idea.  So, you just kinda barely listen, just like if you were looking at the clouds or if…when you’re a kid and you’re playing with mud, or an adult, that’ll be my new…one of my new…I think I already created that place.  I don’t know what we’d call it.

 

So many places with mud…I think mud’s been used too pejoratively about destinations, so I’d want to call it Mudville.  But I’m like, well, people probably made fun of some place and called it Mudville, so I don’t want to use that term.  Maybe we just call it Muds, Mud’s Place, and we’d have a animatronic character, probably a bucket, because it would say I’m…I…you make mud pies inside…prepare…every visitor gets their own big bucket; fill it up with mud.  Because when you’re playing with mud, it’s just kind of passive.  There’s some basic stirring and forming.  You know what I mean.  So, that’s kinda how you listen to the show, just like if you were making a mud pie.

 

I’m sure there are people that have made well-structured mud pies, but for the most time…most of the time you’re just making a mud patty, and that’s about…compared to other podcasts, you say well, that podcast is like a bouillabaisse.  Oh boy, is that well…and I say, and Scoots is more like some sort of patty, word patty.  It’s a bunch of words; you smoosh them…glob together.  There’s a binder in there, but the binder is whatever’s going on in Scoots’ brain.  So, this is a podcast you don’t really listen to.  Also does not really put you to sleep.  I’m here to keep you company while you fall asleep, which is a bit different, so that’s why the shows are over an hour, to give you plenty of time to drift off, and if you can’t sleep, I’m gonna be here to the very end.

 

So, ‘cause there is a small percentage of listeners who just can’t sleep, so I’m here to keep you barely entertained hour after hour after hour if you need it.  So, those are two things you need to know.  A couple other things for new listeners is…the structure of the show is also very different, and this can get a strong reaction.  This is just how I make a sleep podcast based on the listener feedback over the years, and it is really not a one-size-fits-all thing.  So, some people use the show in different ways, but for the majority of listeners…and there’s no wrong or right way to listen.  This is just from the majority of feedback how we became the way the show is now.  Majority of people like to listen to the show for free, so we do it sponsor and patron-supported.

 

So, the show starts off with a greeting so you know you’re welcome and seen.  Then there’s support for listeners, then there’s sponsor stuff, then there’s a intro.  So, the intro goes from like, minute six or minute eight to about minute twenty, and I’ll come back to the intro in a second, and then there’s business again.  That’s where most of the sponsors like their business, in the first third of the show.  Then there’s a story.  Tonight it’ll be a board game unboxing.  Then we have thank-yous at the end.  So, that’s the structure of the show.  Now, the intro throws people off ‘cause they say wait a second, why does the intro go from minute six or minute eight to minute twenty?  I say well, 3% of people skip the intro.

 

Then a few thousand people listen to different types of episodes on Patreon, whether they listen all night or they listen to story-only episodes or intro-only episodes.  So, those are alternative ways to listen.  But most people, the intro serves a purpose, if you’re new, to introduce you to the podcast that doesn’t really make a whole lot of sense, doesn’t put you to sleep, and has creaky, dulcet tones.  But for the regular listener, the intro becomes a part of their wind-down routine or their relaxation or whatever, getting ready for bed routine.  So, it slowly eases you into bedtime whether you’re in bed already getting comfortable and relaxing or you’re doing something else to wind down.  For me, it takes me about an hour and a half wind-down.  That’s how long my wind-down routine really is.

 

It can get down to like, forty-five minutes if I’m under…if I’m over-thinking, let’s just say.  But I mean, a perfect world, I start getting ready for bed and then I start doing my relaxing stuff over an hour-and-a-half period, and then it still takes me…after I’m done with my hour-and-a-half period…or part of my hour-and-a-half period, really, maybe, ‘cause I’ve been timing it with a sleep thing, is…still takes me another ten or fifteen minutes to fall asleep.  So, the intro is meant to be kinda part of that last twenty or thirty minutes of your wind-down, wherever you are, or however you want to work it in, but that’s kinda why the structure goes as it goes.  But give it a few tries ‘cause you might be one of those 3% of people that like to skip ahead or maybe you want to become a patron, or maybe you say well, like a lot of people, I’m just fine the way it is.

 

I take my Sleep With Me straight as it comes.  I’d say well, with a thousand meanders?  Exactly.  So, that’s the structure of the show.  The reason I make the show is one, because I’ve been there.  I know how it feels in the deep, dark night, tossing, turning, mind racing, trouble getting to sleep, trouble staying asleep, so I’m happy to help if I can.  So, that’s one thing, and then the second thing is you deserve a good night’s sleep.  That’s why I make the show, because I believe that.  I believe you deserve a safe place where you can drift off, where you can get comfortable, and fall asleep.  Then if you get a good night’s sleep, our world’s gonna be a better place ‘cause your world will be a better place.  So, that’s why I make the show.  I think that’s it.  I’m really glad you’re here.  I really appreciate your time.  I really yearn and I strive, and I hope I can help you fall asleep, and here’s a couple ways I’m able to do it for you free twice a week.  Thanks again.

 

Alright everybody, this is Scoots here and I’m opening a board game, another board game unboxing.  This is a game I bought a while ago.  I think it was either sold out or it was a Kickstarter.  I don’t know, some blog or somebody I follow said hey, this game is gonna be on sale and you could buy it ahead of time or you could get on the waiting list.  The theme of the game definitely had my interest, so that was part of the reason I bought it.  So, it’ll be fun, but I thought for a change in pace, we would open it in a different way.  So, I’m gonna open up the…it comes with three sets of cards in the box, and instead of reading the box and telling you the title of the game right away, especially since I’m gonna have to change the title of the game anyway, I thought this would be fun.

 

So, I’m gonna open up the first pack of cards and go through them.  I have no idea anything about the gameplay.  This is a fresh unboxing.  I’m gonna take the wrapper off one of the sets of cards.  I’ll be right back.  Okay, so the back of these cards…I’m not sure if it’s Youth Policy or Slightly Non-Major Policy…what it says on the back of the card, and then it has an official-looking seal.  Looks a bit like a certifricate.  These are playing card size.  This one is kind of insurance.  Keep this card when a ride closes due to a red spot, and you return this card to gain three money tokens.  Okay, so it’s a policy that’s…and this is…then the second card is the same as that.  Another one…so, this is a bit like the game of Life where you can get different policies.  Here’s another policy; this one’s the same, though.

 

It’s in case of your ride gets damage or a octagon…yellow octagon.  If your ride experiences a yellow octagon or a mustard octagon, you can return this card to gain $3.  Oh boy, the next one is trouble; Purple Triangle Insurance, or M-E-S-S.  This is what you need the kitty litter for.  Keep this card if your ride closes due to a purple triangle.  Return the card and gain $3.  Okay, this is…oh, maybe different; Fluid Insurance.  This one is a blue diamond or…not blue.  Not quite aquamarine, either.  What color is that?  It’s definitely a blue-green or a green-blue.  I’d call it a deep sea green, maybe?  Not sea foam.  But this is Fluid Insurance.  Keep this card and you get three bucks back.  Next up; Desolation Policy.  This is a Major Policy.  Oh, we just went from Minor ones to Major Policies.

 

This one; keep this card if there’s three closed rides in a row or a column.  Discard this card to gain $6.  This one’s Founders; when a player owns three adjacent rides in a row or a column, discard this to gain $6.  Founders Policy.  This is a Major Policy Insurance.  When a player has three Minor Policies, discard this to gain $6.  This is for a tap…Tapping Policy.  Keep this card when two rides have all exits closed or with a No sign.  Discard this card to gain $6.  This is a policy in case of unforeseen circumstances; when two rides close at the same time, get $6 back.  Crowd Policy; keep this ride, and if there are four meeples…and this actually has meeples.  I think my first experience with meeples was…what was that game?

 

A game I still don’t even know how to play even though I bought it on the iPad and…or my phone, and we play…we tried playing it online.  Not Catan, but it was a game I’ve still never understood totally how to play it.  It’s a game in that…Carcassionne, I think?  That has meeples, right?  Open the door and see all the meeples.  But this is a Crowd Policy; if there’s four meeples in the park, yellow meeples…meeple means it looks a bit like a person.  I think that’s what they’re called.  It’s made of wood.  It’s like a token, I guess.  If there are four people tokens in the park, discard this card to gain $6.  Now, I don’t know how you acquire these.  Here’s a Sardinye Policy; keep this card when there’s two meeples on a ride.  Discard this to gain $6.

 

Rebuilding Policy; when there are the…or two closed rides on the same place…space, discard this to gain $6.  Shutting it Down Policy; keep this card when there’s ten of these…like a turquoise meeple with something on it.  Discard this card to gain $6.  Clinic Policy; keep this card when there’s five of those turquoise meeples with something on it.  Discard this to gain $6.  Innovation Policy; keep this card when any row of the park except the first row is five cards wide.  Discard this card to gain $6.  Growth Policy; keep this card when the park is five rides tall.  Discard this to gain $6.  So, that’s interesting because I don’t understand how you get these cards or how much money’s worth, but one way to acquire money and insure yourself against things or to I guess take risks.

 

But there’s two more sets of cards, so I’m gonna get right into it.  I’ll be right back.  So, this game is similar to Action Park.  There was the Action Park documentary.  I did see it; I know some people asked me about it.  It did remind of me of the WPAX…what do you call it?  The WPAX commercials.  I mean, I don’t know exactly.  This is a park full of action.  So, these are improvement cards.  There’s definitely a lot of cards.  Should I count them?  Okay, I’ll count them.  I’ll be right back.  Might be seventy-six cards.  I’m not exactly sure.  So, I’m gonna flip these cards over.  One side says Park of Action Improvement and then the other side has the thing on the card.  First card is Complementary Lard.  Add one something to each ride in a row or column.  All meeples exit a ride with whatever that is.  Oh, jars.

 

I guess it’s jars of lard.  Then another…Fake Celebrity Sighting.  Add one meeple to a ride you do not own.  I’m pretty sure it was Abraham Lincoln.  Balloon Carts; add one balloon to each ride or something to each ride in a row or a column.  Close a ride that has two plus some round…I’m guessing it’s a balloon symbol, but I’m not sure.  Low Budget Signage; choose a row or column of rides.  All green meeples on those rides exit.  This one says Panger Dark.  Surprise quick mud.  Add one octagon, yellow, with a gear symbol to each ride in a row or a column.  All green meeples become one multiple-yellow meeple on a ride with an octagon with a yellow gear…yellow octagon with a white gear and two plus green meeples.  They will get to know one another there.

 

Garbage Partnership; add one triangle trashcan to each ride in a row or a column.  Do not…there’s a Do Not and Exit on a ride with a garbage can.  I guess that’s block an exit?  Pass and Gas.  Choose a ride; all green on that ride except one become a lighter green with some symbol on it.  There’s another garbage…Electrician Internship Program; add one octagon with electricity to each ride in a row or a column.  Big Farm; any one green meeple on a ride already with an electric thing.  Practice Walking Calmly; all yellow multiple meeples exit ride…exit all rides.  Taco Tuesday; replace one dark-green meeple with a lighter-green meeple with something on it on each ride in a row or a column.  Add one diamond with something on it to a ride with a green meeple with something on it.

 

One batch all year.  Vintage Hoses; add two diamonds with water to each ride in a row or a column.  Hobbyist Jugglers; choose three rides with a maroon circle but no green diamond.  Oh, close up to three rides with maroon circles but no green diamonds.  So, I guess you’re trying…I don’t know if the purpose of the ride is to try to build your own theme park or how you…if everyone’s building their own park and you’re trying to mess it up, or I don’t know.  Or you all work in the same park, interesting.  30,000 Sponges; choose a ride.  Move all green diamonds to the adjacent rides.  Mistake on the order form.  Large Motion Bag for Motion Feelings; choose a ride.  Move all green diamonds with a poof on there to…from adjacent rides to that ride.

 

Giant Umbrellas; remove all green diamonds from a ride with green diamonds.  Big Farm; one green…dark-green meeple on that ride.  Build up…choose a ride with a green diamond.  Add two trashcan triangles and block an exit on that ride.  Investor Bouffe; look at two random unused Major Policies.  Swap one with a Major Policy you have or take it…take one if you have none.  Cool.  Office Heist; swap ownership of any two rides.  You’ll be amazed what a family of four will do for quick passes.  Insurance Friend; add one exclamation point green square to the ride you just placed.  Take two different Minor Policies of this…of your choice.  Wow, that’s a powerful card, it seems like.  They work out of the back of a van.  Golf Carts with Buzzing Friends; add one triangle with a forest friend to each ride in a row or a column.

 

All triangle forest friends on a ride move to adjacent rides.  Magnet Suit Raffle; move all garbage can triangles and all octagon yellow gears once towards a ride with a green meeple.  Send one green or dark-green meeple to that ride.  It’s really attractive.  Volunteer Janitor; remove a dark-green meeple from a ride.  Move all purple triangles on that ride to adjacent rides.  They only last a day.  Worker Ant Union; add one triangle forest friend to a ride.  Move two other square exclamation points from that ride to adjacent rides.  Playing that game where you toss the bags…the bean bag…Bean Bag Cafe; choose a ride.  Replace one dark-green meeple on each adjacent ride with a lighter-green meeple with poof ball.  Hand-Drawn Maps; block an exit on three different rides.  Is this in crayon?

 

I can’t stand it, I know you planned it.  I’m gonna set it straight, this Watergate.  Choose a ride; add one square exclamation point of your choice to that ride.  Mandatory Souvenirs; two dark-green meeples/light-green meeples with a poof ball exit from a ride you do not own.  One square with an exclamation point on that ride moves with each of them.  Oh, some of these were contributed by listeners, ‘cause it has who it’s contributed by on the bottom of them.  Electric Fountain…Electric Light Orchestra Fountain; add one octagon lightning bolt to a ride with a green diamond.  Big farm one dark-green meeple on that ride and add one octagon electric to each adjacent ride with a diamond…dark-green diamond.

 

Fresh Coat of Paint; choose a closed ride that is not covered by another ride once opened again as your own with plus two octagon gears, including adding two new dark-green meeples.  That seems…False Advertising; add five dark-green meeples to the park entrance.  Coupon Day; add one multiple-yellow meeple to the park entrance.  Five tickets for double-half-off.  Discount for People with Poof Balls; add three meeples with poof balls to the green meeples with white poof balls to the park entrance.  Butterfly…Catching Butterflies; replace up to three light-green meeples with a poof ball anywhere with a dark-green or grey meeple.  Very reasonable solution.  Deep-Fried Meat; add one circle…I don’t know whether the circle is a balloon…to each ride with a green meeple with a poof ball.

 

Experimental Elbow Grease; remove all squares with an exclamation point from a ride, then add three…what were those things called?  Lard circles to the ride?  I guess that must be the grease they use on the rides.  Let it slide.  Double-decker Coaster; add one octagon yellow gear and two meeples with poof balls to a ride.  Face-Painting Forest Friends; add two forest friend triangles to a ride.  The owner of that ride gets $2.  Apple Throw That’s Been Passed…what is that called?  One of those apples that’s been lying around for a while throw; hold three triangle forest friends above the…high above the park as you can, and then drop them.  They remain on the rides they mostly land on.

 

Exclusive Audience; remove one dark-grey or dark-green meeple/green meeple with a poof ball from each ride in a row or column.  Place them at the park entrance.  Hey, Weather Alert; swap the location of two rides.  Two dark-green or grey meeples become light-green poof ball meeples on each ride.  Bueno Boardwalk; each player chooses a ride.  Remove all exclamation point squares and add two water drop triangles to each one.  No Bueno Boulevard; draw four Improvements.  Give each player one of them and use them now in turn order.  Do not move the incident marker because of those cards.  Alright everybody, so those were the Improvement cards, so I don’t know, I guess they were like action cards.  Now I’m gonna go through the rides and we’ll see how much time we have left here.

 

There’s also…then we’ll go through the Reference cards that also came with the Ride cards.  Oh, how many Ride cards are there?  There’s a lot.  I don’t want to count them ‘cause I don’t want to disrespect your time.  Okay, the first one is like a scrambler; Fully Randomized Whirl-Twirl.  Before rolling, gain $1 for each gear on this ride.  Take your chances.  The next one is the swing-type ride, Hirly Bird.  It’s a…really good art, oh, by the way.  Yeah, we’re…so, this one has a…it’s a swing-type ride.  On the top of it, it has…what is that?  A flamingo.  Then there’s a burger stand next to it, then there’s…oh, there’s also Arrow cards, so it looks like something could go to the right, left, or below it.  It also has a symbol in the upper-left corner which is the poof ball, green poof ball diamond.

 

Hirly Bird; on failure, replace one dark-grey meeple with a light-green meeple poof ball.  Exiting poof ball green meeples move to any ride. Bring an umbrella.  So, fun art.  Oh, a hedge maze with only dead ends.  This one is a garbage can upper-left diamond…no, triangle garbage can.  This one looks like it can only…stuff can only go below it or something, ‘cause it only has a down arrow.  The front of it looks like the entrance to a funhouse.  If this ride has only one dark…or one grey or green meeple with a poof, it cannot be…cannot move…be removed or exit for any reason.  So, this one can kinda get locked in place.  I don’t know if that’s good or bad.  Oh, we have a castle.  Too-Tall Tower; it’s a castle with a big center tower.  It has arrows left, right, and down.  No symbol in the upper-left corner.  It does have a fountain.

 

It has people walking around the park enjoying themselves.  A green meeple with a poof ball on it; create one diamond poof ball when moved to or entering this ride.  But it doesn’t have a ride…oh, I guess that’s more of an attraction or walk-through.  This one’s called the Ferrous Wheel, like F-E-R-R-O-U-S, and it has a magnet on the side of it, but it is a Ferris wheel.  It has left, right, and down arrows.  It’s a octagon with an electric symbol.  On failure, move all garbage cans once towards this ride.  It has a certain magnetism.  Next one is called the Gravy Train and it’s a train going around a Western town, but with a giant thing of gravy in the middle.  Also has a little farm with some sheep.  Right and left symbols; no down symbol.  Life-sized popcorn stand, and it has the circle…a maroon circle with the lard or grease symbol.

 

When a dark-grey meeple or a multiple-yellow meeple here move or exit, add one lard or grease to each…each to the rides they enter.  Okay, next up is a triangle garbage can on the left.  Unstoppable Bumper Cars.  It only has a down arrow.  It’s bumpers…cars going on a checkerboard thing.  It also has a ice cream cone stand, soft serve swirl or twist.  Before rolling, block an exit on a ride in the same row or column as this ride.  Secondhand Swing Ship; so, this is a swing ship.  It’s over water, like all good ship rides are.  It has a under-the-sea friend waiting.  It also has a splash pad to the upper left that toddlers could play on.  It has a octagon gear symbol and down and right arrows.  On failure, add one octagon gear to the rides to the left and right.  The ad is still…the ad said it still has the boat.

 

Here’s a Kids’ Boat Adventure, so this is a bit like Pirates of the Caribbean or Jurassic Park.  It has waterfalls and a tunnel and then a flume ride.  It’s a diamond water symbol on the left, upper-left.  It has a right arrow and a down arrow.  All grey meeples on this ride become light-green poof meeples on this ride.  This ride is immune to diamond poof balls.  This was much cuter in the 1950s.  Methane-Inflated Obstacle Course; so, this has the circle maroon symbol which is kind of like a puddle, I guess.  On failure, add one puddle to each adjacent ride.  You get two minutes in this, and this is just one of those big bouncy house obstacle courses, but methane-inflated.  There’s also a kid on the top playing with a sheep or playing the hide-and-seek almost, it looks like.  Oily Teacups; this has the circular maroon grease symbol.

 

It has down, left, and right arrows.  This is very much like the mad teacups.  It has the teapot in the middle and then three circles with teacups on them.  Teacup is steaming.  On failure, one grey meeple exits each adjacent ride.  Carpet Static Slide; so, this is your typical giant slide, three levels.  It’s purple, though, with the stairs that go up it.  This is the kinda thing you see at street fairs.  This one actually looks a lot nicer.  On failure, add one electric octagon to an adjacent ride and big farm one grey meeple on that ride.  Also has a bus…school bus dropping kids off, or maybe it’s a park shuttle.  Oh, it has a down arrow only.  Junkyard Go-karts; this is a…on the top left, a triangle with a garbage can.  Has down and left arrows.  Junkyard Go-karts; on failure, add one diamond…one garbage can to an adjacent ride.

 

This one kind of is like…it’s a road with the go-karts, but it’s…then it has…people are cheering.  It has a down arrow and a right arrow.  But then there’s a junkyard in the background.  Dropped Tower; this one has a…the octagon gear symbol.  Actually, it’s a septagon or something, a sestagon.  But I prefer to call it an octagon.  It has a down arrow and it’s very advanced-looking.  This would be a cool one to look at at night.  On failure, one meep…one dark-grey meeple or green meeple with a poof ball is going to the big farm instead of exiting.  Termite-Infested Roller Coaster; this one’s themed a bit like a Indiana Jones roller coaster.  It has a triangle with forest friends on it.  Down and left arrows.  On failure, move all the forest friends and a diamond to other rides once.  So, I don’t know what failure means.

 

We’ll have to figure that out.  Flappity-Flap Man Mountain; so, this is a train ride kind of like Big Thunder.  It has a forest friend triangle, left and down arrows.  It really looks like a fun ride.  Looks a lot like a version of Big Thunder.  On failure, add one triangle forest friend to a non-adjacent ride.  Stomach Roter; I don’t know what ride this is.  Oh, it’s the one where you…I don’t know what they were called, where you lie…Gravitron, that’s what we called it.  It has a octagon gear, left and right.  The pictures are very cheery.  I’m not even being ironic.  The art is very upbeat.  Before rolling, you may add one gear to gain $1 per meeple on the ride, of any type of meeple.  So, that’s a good…that’s the one I would want.  I would want the Stomach Roter.  Okay, Lightning Madness.

 

This is like an extreme coaster in a solar park with Tesla coils.  It’s a electric octagon, obviously.  Only has a down arrow.  Again, looks futuristic.  Before rolling, add one octagon lightning to the ride with the most green diamonds.  It’s the shocks that make it immersive.  Head Scrambler; this is a tilt-a-whirl, which I know some people don’t feel good on tilt-a-whirls.  It has some…also some renaissance fair tents nearby.  It has a green diamond with a splat symbol, down, left, and right arrows.  All exiting grey meeples become green meeples with a poof.  Fool Launcher; this one is one of those balls that…these are the rides that kinda cost extra, like a swing ride.  Also has a soda stand nearby.  It’s a garbage can diamond.  It just has a down arrow.  Exiting grey meeples move to non-adjacent rides.

 

Next up is Farewell Falls, which is a…looks like a boat ride.  Or maybe they’re in a shell with a big, steep drop.  It has a water diamond, down, left, and right.  Oh, maybe this was the Kickstarter ‘cause it says designed by Kickstarter previewers, this ride.  Farewell Falls; on failure, add one diamond water to an adjacent ride, then move one other exclamation point square on that ride to an adjacent ride.  Stay out of the splash zone, trust me.  After that, we have Sticky Wall Slam, which is one of the…a climbing wall.  Also looks like it has other fun things…like, what do you call that, a bounce zone or whatever?  Left, right, and down arrows.  On failure, this ride gains a diamond…or triangle garbage can.  Exclamation square, dark-grey meeple, and green meeple with a poof cannot exit or be moved or removed from this ride.

 

Forest Friend Manor; so, this is the one where you…for Halloween, you would say.  It has a triangle forest friend, down, left, and right arrows.  On failure, add one triangle with a forest friend to this ride…to each ride with a garbage can triangle.  This ride is immune to garbage can triangles.  Alpine Slide; this one has…what do you call those things?  Chairlift, snow…really well…really looks good.  It has the maroon grease symbol.  You may re-roll one die per grease symbol, diamond with water, or diamond with splat on this ride.  Exiting meeples move down twice.  Wave Pool; this is a water diamond.  It has down, left, and right arrows.  Before rolling, you may add one water diamond to this ride.  Twister ride; this has a gear octagon, down, left, and right arrows.

 

On success, one dark-grey meeple on an adjacent ride is replaced with a light-green meeple with a poof ball.  On failure, big farm one light-green poof ball.  This one’s…not called Wanda Vision, but I want to call it Wanda Vision.  It’s some sort of 3D motion attraction.  Down, left, and right arrows, tri…or a diamond with a splat.  When a dark-grey meeple or a poof ball green meeple here move or exit, add one splat diamond each to the rides they enter.  Reflection Misdirection; so, this is like a hall of mirrors-type thing.  Indoors, so they’ll probably be cool.  Left and right arrows, diamond splat.  When this ride gains an exclamation point square, when it is not your turn, add one exclamation point square of a same type to an adjacent ride.  Ooh, a hayride.  We used to go on these.

 

This was what they had for Halloween by us, a Halloween hay ride.  It’s a garbage can diamond, left, right, and down arrows.  It has a pumpkin with some special effects.  It has…oh, it has just like the hayride by me; it has two women dressed as witches serving the special cider.  This ride and adjacent rides close if they have three plus maroon rounds or three plus yellow octagons.  Food Truck Corral; it also has a stage.  It has a maroon circle splat.  Has one, two, three, four…five or six food trucks.  Before rolling, you may replace one grey meeple on this ride with a light-green poof ball meeple in order to remove one exclamation square from this ride.  Carousel; before rolling…this is a country style one, so it’s set against…it has a down arrow, diamond green splat.

 

The carousel has a ten-gallon hat on it and it’s in some rolling hills.  Even has some cactus and diamonds.  People are cheering.  Before rolling, rotate this ride once clockwise, changing the exit.  This ride is immune to blocking.  So, this one is like…this game is gonna be…I mean, I don’t know.  I’m trying to just think of who I’m gonna have read these directions.  Okay, next one is the Cannonball Chute.  It’s a water slide, famous from the documentary…has the diamond water symbol, the down arrow.  Exiting grey…dark-grey meeples move to any ride in this row.  Add one diamond garbage can to each ride any dark-grey meeples enter.  Next up is Prehistoric Peril; before rolling, move one adjacent dark-grey meeple to this ride for each grease circle on this ride.  It’s a grease circle ride.

 

On the top-left has down, left, and right arrows, and it pretty much looks like a Jurassic Park jeep…if you were gonna do a jeep ride from Jurassic park.  This one is Ticket to the Halloween Special.  It has the dancing things that you see at car lots and other inflatables…seasonal inflatables for Halloween.  Down, left, and right.  On failure, this ride gains a diamond splat, green.  At the end of your turn, place this ride in a different space in the park.  Memory Wipe Light Show; so, this is like those light shows with…like a laser light show they used to have at theme parks back in the day, or…what do you call them?  IMAX theatres.  Exiting meeples, dark-grey or yellow, instead move to the park entrance.  I don’t know anyone who’s seen it, actually, it says.  They have left and right arrows.  It’s a electric octagon.

 

So, those are the ride cards.  You can also flip them over on the other side of all the rides.  It says Ride Closed.  It shows that the ride looks…on each one, the artist changed so the ride is permanently closed.  So, that’s cool.  Then into Turn Reference.  So, Turn Reference, this must be your choices.  You could build a ride, or this is what you can do; take an improvement from below the chosen ride, roll the dice for your own rides in any order, and for…gain money for patrons on your rides and patrons re-enter the park.  Then there’s challenge type and challenge color, so we kinda went through that.  Exclamation point square is any type of challenge.  Group patron is the yellow multi-meeples.  Dark-grey meeple is a single patron, and the green with the poof ball is a patron that said I’m poofed out already from being here.

 

Yeah, the other symbols are money, block, farming, and…I don’t think we’re gonna get to the instructions, but I want to do the box.  So, the box is adventuring in a park.  It’s a big board game box and it shows a…the art on the cover is more of like, adventuring in the park.  I say wow, this park is under refurbishment is what it says.  It’s for two to four players, forty-five to sixty minutes.  Ages thirteen plus.  It’s from Story Machine Games.  Maybe I know it from…I don’t know if Story Machine sponsors Fable and Folly podcasts.  Let’s see, the back side of the game says can you make…your park is about to go down for refurbishment.  Can you make some profit?  The easy part; build a theme park and make as much money as possible.  The hard part; it’s the chaos that comes with theme parks in general.

 

Players compete to make the most money by running an amusement park that needs…desperate need of refurbishment.  Players choose to add rides, make improvements, take out insurance, and most importantly, mess up their opponent’s park.  Rebuild when you can, keep your patrons happy to make it to the next ticket sale before your park closes for refurbishment.  It’s a game of risk and reward.  Then it has pictures of some of the cards.  It includes one rule book, thirty-five ride cards, sixty improvement cards.  For some reason I thought there was seventy-two or something.  Twelve Major Policy, twelve Minor Policy, eight dice, 221 tokens, sixty-five patron meeples, thirty-two ticket booth markers, four reference cards, one park sign, and three game trays.  So, it even comes with game trays.

 

Oh, it even has an ad for GameTrayz with a z.  Control your chaos; GameTrayz.  Alright, so all the things are in there, but I just want to look at the instructions for the last few minutes here.  So, we kinda went over this stuff.  So, the components…investor tip; tokens are not intended to run out, so if you run short, you could use something else until other components are thinged up.  Oh, also it describes the cards, the ride name, the ability text, flavor text, challenge type, exits…oh, so you can exit down, left, or right, and the ride type.  Oh, so you can block…so, ones with three exits have three exits.  Interesting.  Okay, so setup; place the park sign at the top of the tray and the incident marker in the zero space.  Shuffle the Ride cards.

 

Place them…place the Ride cards equal to the player count under the tray in a single row.  Add one challenge to each ride matching its challenge type, and two single patrons.  Then what you’re gonna…so, that’s the first two things.  Then three; you’re gonna shuffle the Major Policy cards and deal two to each player.  Each player chooses one to keep and discards the other.  Then you’re gonna place the remaining ride cards face-up…in a face-up deck at the other end of the play area.  Draw three cards face-up to form a supply.  I don’t understand what that means…four.  Draw three…I guess for…oh, for everybody or…?  Well, we’ll see.  Maybe that’s…five; separate Minor Policy cards into four types and set them within reach, face-up.  Oh, so you get to see the Minor Policies.

 

Shuffle all the Improvement cards and place them face-down below the Ride card deck.  Draw three…oh, and add them to the supply, three Ride card improvements.  Set aside the remaining patrons, meeples, money, and tokens to form a token supply.  So, there’s all little…you just make a pile, I guess.  Each player starting to the right of the first player places a ticket booth on one of the rides below the park sign to claim ownership of that ride.  Okay, so an overview; in this game, you take on the role of investors who collective…so, collectively building a amusement park, but running their own individual rides.  Starting with the first player and going clockwise, you take turns placing rides, choosing investments, rolling dice, and gathering money during a four-phase turn, which we’ve talked about; building the ride, taking improvement, rolling the dice, and gaining money.

 

The game ends when you hit Number 9 on the challenges in the park, either caused by rides closing or patrons leaving the park.  If you’re playing with four players or want to play a longer game, you could increase that to thirteen.  A word of warning; rides are designed to go down for refurbishment permanently, and patrons will probably leave the park without a smiley…super smiley face, so use this to advantage…your advantage.  Okay, so then we have the patrons which we talked about; singles, poofy patrons, poofed patrons, and group patrons.  Group patrons are valuable and resilient.  They leave your rides easily.  Standard patron is…makes poor decisions and patrons with poof, they produce poofs and move…so, move them to other rides.

 

So, then there’s a poof symbol which…poofy patrons leave their poof balls.  Mechanical symbol; broken rides.  Trash; that’s just garbage.  It’s not garbage cans.  Grease or…grease, water, electric, forest friends, and splatters.  Okay, so just finishing up here.  You could build a ride.  Current player selects one of the three Ride cards from the supply, adds it to the park.  There’s no cost to take a ride, so take the one you want.  Rides must be placed facing away from the park sign as well as adjacent to any other open or closed ride or on top of a closed ride.  Rides cannot be placed diagonally or separately from the rest of the park.  There’s no limit to the width and length of the park, but it can never go above the top row.  Once added, add a challenge to the ride’s ticket and a ticket booth in your color, and two patrons.

 

A ride with your ticket booth is owned by you.  Investor tip; when placing a ride, keep in mind the exits.  You want to funnel patrons to your rides, so advantageous ride placement is key.  Then you improve things which we kinda talked about.  You roll the dice.  Once all rides…improvements are a thing, player rolls dice ride by ride for the patrons on the rides.  Do this individually for every ride you own in the order of your choice.  This determines if the patrons enjoy the ride or leave for another one.  When you have rolled for the ride, tip your ticket booth over to show it has been rolled for and move to a next one.  Choose a ride.  You resolve everything for that ride and its effects before rolling for the next one.  Roll one die per patron all at once regardless of the type, maximum of eight dice regardless of patrons.

 

Check the roll; for each dice, roll higher than the total amount of challenge for that ride the roll succeeds.  Rolls equal to or below the total amount of challenge on that ride don’t work.  For example…and the example it has…two challenges, so rolls a three or a higher to succeed.  They’re using eight-sided die.  If the ride has no patrons on it, you simply put down its marker and do not roll.  If a roll fails, you resolve it based on the ride’s card.  If they succeed, you use the…complete any success ability, then move on.  Investor tip; if a ride has four plus of the same token or four plus different tokens, the ride closes.  This happens after resolving any on-failure abilities.  Failing rolls will cause patrons to exit, which might make you roll for them again on another ride.  Consider this when choosing the order of your rides.

 

Then you gain money.  Single meeples were…it’s just the…yellow meeples are worth five.  Then the patrons move.  Then there’s a lot more examples.  So, this does look like a really fun ride…or game.  I’m excited to play it.  But it definitely looks like it’s gonna take…it has a steeper learning curve, but that’ll be more rewarding.  Yeah, and plus, it takes forty-five to sixty minutes.  So yeah, looking forward to playing Theme Park of Adventure or Action.  Thanks everybody, and goodnight.

 

[END OF RECORDING]

(www.leahtranscribes.com)

Notable Language:

• Word Patty
• Meeple
• Poof Ball

Notable Culture:

• Action Park
• Carcassonne Board Game
• Fable & Folly Podcast

Notable Talking Points:

• An Animatronic Bucket filled with Mud
• What kind of blue is this?
• I don’t know what failure means