The Outer Limits - The Board Game!

There is nothing wrong with your television set. Do not attempt to adjust the picture. We are controlling transmission. If we wish to make it louder, we will bring up the volume. If we wish to make it softer, we will tune it to a whisper. We will control the horizontal. We will control the vertical. We can roll the image, make it flutter. We can change the focus to a soft blur or sharpen it to crystal clarity. For the next hour, sit quietly and we will control all that you see and hear. We repeat: there is nothing wrong with your television set. You are about to participate in a great adventure. You are about to experience the awe and mystery which reaches from the inner mind to – The Outer Limits.

With those words viewers were able to participate in that great adventure of awe and mystery.  The Outer Limits was a one hour sci-fi television show that followed the "Monster of the Week" format.  Usually the monsters were some sort of alien or extra-dimensional being.  One of my favorite episodes, The Zanti Misfits, had rat sized ants with human faces invading a small town.  Pure 60's sci-fi madness.

If you were a monster kid in the 60's and you couldn't get enough Outer Limits then perhaps your parents bought your The Outer Limits Board Game!  I have only recently become aware of the game's existence thanks to the fine folks over at The B-Movie Cast.  Doing some investigating, (read as hoping on the internet and surfing over to Board Game Geek) I came across a few pictures and a (sort of) explanation of the game. The following description is taken directly from Board Game Geek and the photos the follow are also found on the same website.

The game consists of a deck of 42 cards: 8 'Radar Image', 32 'Monster Parts', and 2 Wild cards. A game board is also included which has spaces for up to four 'radar' screens'.
The entire deck is shuffled and five to ten cards are dealt to each player (depending on how many are playing).

On each turn a player draws one card and then may play one card to each active Radar screen on the board. If he holds a 'Radar Image' and an empty screen exists it must be played (this is the only compulsory play). Monster Parts may only be played on areas that have an Image.
The first person to get rid of his hand of cards wins.

A good card matching game for Ages 7 - 12... not much more.

Godzilla for the Commodore 64

Godzilla reared his head a few times on the Commodore 64!  Probably the most well known of his early 8-Bit appearances was in Epyx's much loved The Movie Monster Game (which I covered waaaay back when this was still the Wizard of Vestron blog).  However, his first appearance on the C64 was a fun little time waster called simply:  Godzilla!

The start of a new game

Back in the 80's, if you were an ambitious person you could buy books that contained software and games that you could actually program yourself.  Godzilla was in one such book (though I don't remember the name of it) and it also made it's way around via disk swapping of C64 enthusiasts.

The game itself is quite simple and plays much like a boardgame.  Godzilla will move around a grid, some representing the ocean and some representing Japan.  It's up to you to send in troops, ships, planes, missiles and even an atomic bomb to stop him.  You must try to keep him from reaching Tokyo.  If he reaches and destroys Tokyo, it's game over.

First attack on Godzilla and I've lost 5 ships and a bunch of troops!

You have the option to either attack Godzilla (you will be told how many ships, planes, troops, etc you have in a given square on the grid) or to move your forces closer to Godzilla.  This can be tricky though, because he moves quickly and he moves ALOT!

There is no real animation in the game, Godzilla will move from sqaure to square and occasionally a square will flash red when he's on a rampage.  Other than that, it's all up to your imagination.  There are some fun sound effects when you attack Big G, and you'll get a quick little funeral death march ditty if he wins.

Aw jeez, this isn't good.  Godzilla makes landfall in Tokyo and the death toll is high.  I've got to move quickly.

It may not sound like much, but Godzilla can be surprisingly addictive in the "I'm just going to give it one more go before bed" kind of way.  It's not always easy to bring the big guy down and I truly think it's down to the roll of the dice, so to speak.

.....and over twenty million dead.  I am probably the worst JSDF commander ever.  FAIL!

It's pretty easy these days to get a hold of games such as this.  Head on over to Lemon 64, go to the games section and you should be able to find a link to download the game (you will need a Commodore 64 emulator, of course....I suggest WinVice)

Though it looks like it's malfunctioning.....the game is really loading....

Kaiju Week!!!!!!!!

Alien week was fairly successful, I think.  By successful, I mean I had fun doing it, and I suppose that's all that really matters!  After watching Pacific Rim last night my love of all things Kaiju has completely been revitalized, so therefore this week is now KAIJU WEEK!  Huzzah!

The games that I reviewed seemed to be a hit, so I am going to make gaming a part of Midnight Cinephile!  So you can look forward to several Kaiju themed games to be featured here this week, as well as the usual smorgastborg of stuff.  If there is something that you would like to see featured, send me an e-mail or check me out on Facebook or Twitter!

Let the carnage begin!!!!!!!

UFO: Game of Close Encounters

We're pulling out all the stops for Alien Week!  You just never know what you're going to get!  We're trying something a little new here on Midnight Cinephile and today we're going to look at a classic board game from 1976.  UFO;  Game of Close Encounters was originally published by Gamma Two Ltd (a Canadian company) and then bought and redesigned and released by Avalon Hill (who is known for their "Hex and Counter" style wargames).  

Here is a description of the game as found on Board Game Geek:

UFO is a low complexity abstract game themed on an alien invasion of Earth. The alien player must land 5 of 8 available ships on Earth to win. The Earth player, with only eight rockets, must defend or perish. Movement is along orbital paths that form 7 concentric rings around the Earth. Each player rolls two dice and moves one rocket or UFO the exact count of for each die. In addition to the UFOs and Earth's rockets speeding around, the moon orbits the Earth destroying all in its path. Combat is not dice based, rather players capture opponents pieces by landing on them by exact orbital move of one die.

The advanced game adds dummy counters for the alien player and space stations for additional defence of Earth.

It feels really more like an abstract strategy game, but Avalon Hill classified as a wargame simulation.

The game consists of

-two 8" x 16" map boards with 2 black plastic clips to hold together.

-die cut counters (8 rockets, 5 space stations, 1 moon, 8 saucers, 12 decoy UFOs)

-2 six sided dice 

-1 double sided page of rules.

Avalon Hill Complexity rating - 1

Having never personally played the game, I cannot give a review of it, but it does look to be interesting.  

You may not know this but the ol' Midnight Cinephile is a huge fan of board games and I don't get to play them too often.  But I do enjoy learning about new games as well, and Board Game Geek is an invaluable tool to use when looking for a new game, so check 'em out!

Here's some photos of the game (also gleaned from Board Game Geek).

All Components

Box Front

Back of Box

Counter Sheet

Game in Progress

If  UFO:  Game of Close Encounters looks interesting to you, then you can either head over to Board Game Geek where several members have copies for sale, or you can head to E-Bay, where you will also find several copies of the game for sale!