Game Review: Akoha

I sent out my first Akoha cards the other day. Akoha is a cool new game of social-media-meets-CCG-meets-Where’s-George. Akoha players start with a deck of real-life missions, from sending someone a book to reading a new blog, thanking someone or sending someone flowers. When they complete their missions, they give the card to the receipient, who needs to pass it on. Players can track the progress of their missions and good deeds across the country.

I sent my first missions (which I got from Gypsy Bandito… Akoha pay-it-forward magic in action!) to friends in distant states, to spread Akoha cards and coolness as far as I could.  Only one of them has been continued on, but it was a fun excuse to spread silly presents and share books. Like any social game, the coolness depends on the number of active players. Right now they’re still in beta so it’s a bit sparse, but it has the potential for a lot of chatter and connections.

If you’d like to try out Akoha for yourself, you can order your own deck from their website, or you can leave a comment and you can be the recipient of one of my Akoha missions! (At least until I run out of cards!)

Popularity: 24% [?]

Upcoming Herobits

Herobits is a new CCG about heroes who – no, wait, it’s not exactly a collectible card game. Although it has many of the elements of your usual CCG, there are no booster packs and no looking for rares in sealed packs (known to jaded gamers as kidding gambling). To play, you need two players, each with one fifty-card deck.

Each deck represents a different Herobit. These characters are post-apocalyptic heroes trying to save the few remaining humans from legions of robots, who are out to strip every resource from the planet and leave the world totally uninhabitable for humans.  In the Herobits world, the few humans who remain have retreated to an island, since the robots, and their evil overlord/CEO have looted all the resources to power themselves. Evil robots are a sci-fi staple, but Herobits also has an environmental message.

Three Herobits, James Willstorm, Li Kui, and Ulrika Vidar, will be released when the game comes out in June, and more will be released after that. Any deck can be played against any other hero’s deck. Each deck is drawn by a different artist, for more personality. I guess there is a collectible aspect to the game, since new decks for new characters will keep coming out, but they won’t be making the old ones obsolete.

Herobits will be released on June 21st, 2009.

Popularity: 21% [?]