My 2018 Mini PnP Secret Santa experience

Now that I know that my Mini PnP Secret Santa target has gotten my package, I feel like I can write a little about the experience.

2018 was the second time I participated in the Mini PnP Santa and I felt a lot more confident doing it this year. In fact, I’d been doing some definite planning for it earlier in the year. Last year, I was still a little shaky and just thew whatever in the envelope. Luckily, whatever included Pocket Landship so my target got something they liked.

This year, I was more prepared and confident and I feel I sent my target some solid little PnP games. Pocket Landship and its expansion went into the envelope. Even though I thought there was a good chance a fellow PnPer would already own it, Elevenses for One. The Palm Island demo which is a great game by itself. And Murderer’s Row since I am on a mission to get it more attention :D

One thing I realized is that I don’t make tuck boxes in general. Part of my goal in PnP is to expand my collection while taking up minimal shelf space so I bag everything. And if I’m shipping stuff overseas, tuck boxes make things more difficult and expensive, even if I included them flat.

In fact, I’m not sure I’ll ever feel up for the big boy PnP Secret Santa. I feel like that calls for tuck boxes and color printing and better quality  components than just laminating.

However, the mini one is pretty awesome for me. That’s something I feel up to and it’s a great way to be part of the PnP community.

Murderer’s Row - Tiny but tons of replay value

Murderer’s Row is a Print-and-Play solitaire game that hits a lot of sweet spots for me. 

One of my sins as a PnP solitaire player is that I usually don’t set aside time to play solitaire games. I just play them when I find I have a few minutes so I play a lot more games that are just cards or tiles that I can just shuffle and go and be done in five minutes.  

Murderer’s Row fits that bill ridiculously well.

The game consists of eighteen cards, each one showing a person/profession and a special power. Most of the special powers are about killing other cards but some of them involve moving cards or resetting them.

Shuffle the deck and deal out ten cards in a row. Then, using their powers, you have to kill everyone until there’s only one card left. Last man standing. (And it is theoretically possible to actually have _no_ cards left) And, every time you use a power, you flip that card over to indicate that it’s exhausted.

Between what cards come out and the order they come out, there is a lot of variability in the game. And, yes, the position of the cards is a big deal since the powers are very specific. For instance, the Swordsman can only kill an active card that is beside it.

My absolute least favorite type of card is the couple that kill a random card. After I get my random setup, I want to be able to solve the layout and killing a random card doesn’t fit into making real plans.

I have gotten an obnoxious amount of play out of Murderer’s Row. I made the half-size, simple art deck, which is small enough that I can play it just about anywhere. I could probably play it in my hand, fanning the cards. And I’ll probably will make the Birds on a Wire so I have a copy for my bag and a larger copy for around the house.

Murderer’s Row isn’t a deep or heavy game. But it does give me a seemingly endless series of little puzzles to spend a couple minutes solving. Between ease of crafting and play, it’s a game that I definitely recommend for PnP.

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/185813/murderers-row