Kingbeast's Lair

Date At Start Of Game: 10/01/206

[Author’s Note: This is the log for the 13th session. Note that the order of the events in this record may not be in the exact order that they occurred during play.]

The Temple Of Shazartza

After defeating the Ant Kin warriors the PC proceed carefully. Cillian and Bilby take the lead exploring the various side chambers. In one they find a well and in the other they find a posh room that is covered in mold. After checking the side rooms they head down the ramp towards where they saw the Ant Kin “butcher”. In one of the side rooms the PC are shocked to discover many severed limbs and body parts. Alongside the bodies are casks filled with blood. Po gingerly examines the room and notices that all of the body parts are from children, women, and the elderly only. One of the bodies is the Deer Kin archer Miya. Horrified the PC proceed.

In the next area they find a row of cells that are currently empty but appear to be recently used. In one cell there is blood and a red stocking cap. Bilby remembers the red cap on the woman they saw at Raftport. At the end of the hallway is a room with some bunk beds and a table with a warm lantern. When Po enters the room he hears a voice. His spell does not detect any magic but he appears to be the only one that can hear the voice. The voice is walking around the room and orating about the “virtues” of the Dark Mistress! Eventually it starts talking about various torture techniques. Po carefully speaks out to the voice. To his surprise it responds! The voice is from someone named Balthazar who claim to be the once high priest of Shazartza. Wanting to gain his trust Po convinces Balthazar that he is an ally of the Dark Mistress. After convincing the spectral voice that he is an ally Balthazar tells Po that the Ant Kin are minions of the current high priestess. The current high priestess is a woman known as the Scarlet Scorpion. She has been the only other person that has been able to hear him speak in quite a while. Balthazar then tells Po that if he gives a certain greeting and response it will be “deemed acceptable” by accoltyes of the Shazartza. The greeting is, “I travel with a heavy right hand laden with a hammer.” The response is, “May you find the vengeance you seek.”

During this conversation Cillian finds a secret door on one side of the room. On the other side of the door he sees larger natural cavern. Immediately outside of the secret door is a small metal pot with oil and a wick. After watching for a few minutes he observes an Ant Kin warrior approach then listen at the secret door. Cillian tells the party to quiet. When the Ant Kin leaves the PC start to devise a plan. After several different plans are discussed the PC decide to wait for the guard to return then to grab him and rush out to get any others.

The guard approaches and right before he touches the secret door Cillian opens it and Bilby grabs the Ant Kin warrior. He pulls him into the room then shoves him into a nearby cell and locks the door. While this is happening another Ant Kin warrior armed with two crossbows dashes out of the natural cavern to alert others. Bilby heads out into the dark cavern after the Ant Kin warrior. The rest of the PC grab nearby lanterns and head out after them. Eventually Bilby catches up to the Ant Kin but only scratches him with a hit to his leg. The Ant Kin fires his crossbows. One bolt nearly goes through Bilby’s chest! Luckily the rest of the PC are right behind and take down the Ant Kin with some well placed strikes. Po heals Bilby during the combat using his powerful Spirit Magic.

The Temple Of Dark Lady

With that the PC head into the large natural cavern. They can see many footprints leading down the cavern but only Ant Kin tracks are returning. After almost a mile of trekking through the cavern it narrows to a man made tunnel hewn out of stone. Carefully Bilby and Cillian scout ahead. Bilby hears a distant sound of mechanical gears in the distance. The first room is round and is flanked by two stone effigies of Shazartza with a hammer in one hand and flame in the other. Cillian looks through the statues and finds that they are doors that slide to one side. After carefully searching them he finds that they are trapped if opened the wrong direction. When he listens at one door and is startled when the status speaks to him, “The Dark Mistress asks how you travel in her temple?” He answers with the greeting, “I travel with a heavy right hand laden with a hammer.” The status replies with, “May you find the vengeance you seek.” With that Cillian opens the door. Inside one room is a mushroom garden. In the other is a well with some glowing fungus.

Opposite the entrance the PC find 3 doors. Behind the left door the PC hear Ant Kin speaking. Behind the center they don’t hear anything. Behind the right they hear mechanical gears. They decide to carefully check the right door. Inside the room is a stockade for 3 prisoners and some whips. Down a set of stairs Cillian finds a larger natural cavern that bends to the left. At the bend he finds a cage with waeary prisoners. At the far end of the cavern Cillian find 5 Ant Kin warriors whipping a set of prisoners who are turning a large cog. One of the prisoners is a large Horse Kin. The gears appear to be some type of bellows that are feeding a pipe.

What is all of this for?!?

Date At End Of Game: 10/01/206

-== What is it? ==-

Richard Scarry’s Busytown: Eye Found It! (Busytown) is a cooperative family board game from I Can Do That! Games. Over the last few months it has won an astounding 6 family gaming awards. The I Can Do That! Games company was founded by Jacobe Chrisman of Cranium fame. Busytown was actually designed by Forrest-Pruzzan Creative, LLC. They are the design team behind several of the latest releases from I Can Do That! Games.

Busytown comes in a sturdy card board box that depicts the major characters from the Busytown Mysteries TV show. Inside there is a 6′ board in 3 sections, 4 counters (Lowly, Huckle, Sally, and Hilda), a spinner, a large ferry counter, a set of 10 magnifying glass tokens, 6 food tiles, a small deck of Goldbug cards, a small sand timer, and an instruction sheet. The manufacturer’s listed age is 3 and up.

-== What I Like ==-

The instructions for Busytown are VERY simple. The entire set of instructions fits on a 6″ x 6″ sheet of paper! Essentially the game is a race to get ALL of the players to a picnic lunch before Pig Will and Pig Won’t eat it all. Counters are moved by rotating a spinner. The spinner has several possible outcomes. There are movements of 1 to 4 squares, two pigs eat food areas, and two Goldbug areas. If any player spins a pigs eat food then 1 of the 6 food tokens is removed from the picnic. If Goldbug is spun then a card is taken from the Goldbug deck. This card depicts something that ALL of the players must try and mark with their magnifying glasses tokens. The amount of objects found before the sand timer runs out is the amount of spaces that ALL players are allowed to move. If for example the card is a balloon then all players must study the detailed 6′ game board to find as many balloons as they can before the sand runs out. Remember that this game is cooperative…everyone wins or loses as a team. The board has different paths to give players options as they progress towards the picnic. Eventually everyone must enter the ferry and proceed towards the picnic. The ferry really adds to the excitement as everyone ends up cheering for the player who is behind to make it on board so it can leave.

My family has been doing game night for roughly 6 months now. My boys are 5 and 7 years old. Often when I introduce new games the first questions is, “Is this a game where someone wins?” After hearing that I made it a mission to look for cooperative family games. Busytown is my first find. (Note that I have found others that will hopefully get purchased and played soon.) This time when the boys ask their question they got a very different answer, “In this game everyone either wins or loses together. If we play as a team we could ALL win!” After their little brains started digesting that they smiled and we gave Busytown a try. To put it mildly this game has been a huge hit for our family. It encourages teamwork, fosters turn taking skills, enhances their observations skills, and teaches basic movement strategy. Very importantly it also teaches the kids how to lose gracefully. It was really nice to hear them say after our first session in which we lost, “Wow that was fun but I want to play again so we can win!”

Busytown faithfully sticks to the theme of the Busytown Mysteries TV show from Cookie Jar TV. In show and the game a team finds clues around Busytown to solve a mystery OR in this case to get to a picnic before the food is gone.

The various components except for the egg timer are very nicely done and sturdy. The large playing board is colorful and detailed in Richard Scarry artwork. All of the counters are thick and the box is sturdy. All in all the package is very nice.

-== What I Don’t Like ==-

My only complaint with the components is the egg timer. It really needs a better stand as the game is made to be played on the carpet. We have lots of issues with it falling over or being out of view. Eventually we figured out to place it on some empty water near the ferry but since there is a lot of action around the board it can get knocked over. I think if I made a small stand for it that would help. Actually a better idea might be to ditch the timer altogether and instead use a small digital timer. 😉

Like a lot of family games I think the designated age is a bit off. I can see a 4 year old playing this game but it would be a bit tough in my opinion for a 3 year old.

We have been playing the game for about a month and so far it has good staying power but that is a concern. It feels like a game that might peter out after some use.

-== Summary ==-

Richard Scarry’s Busytown: Eye Found It! has the honor of being the first game that our family has absolutely loved. It is fun for adults and parents. This is the perfect starter game for a family with young kids. The price point of $19.99 at Toys R Us is ridiculously low for a game with quality components like this one. My gosh go out and but it already! 😀

You can get it from Amazon.com at this URL for $43.99. Toys R Us sells the game for a paltry $19.99 at this URL and right now they are offering free shipping!

I give it 9 out of 10 paws.

Frank Frazetta passed away today and like many gamers I am a huge fan. Growing up as a boy I had a poster of Frank’s hanging behind my bedroom door that I admired for many years. Today I have several of his art books and love opening them up. If any of you have not watched his biography called Frazetta – Painting with Fire I highly recommend it. Rest in peace Death Dealer…