Hey kiddies. Welcome to Keith's Board Game Korner, aptly named, for the small corner of my mind dedicated to the world of face on face gaming. Or face to face for the less homoerotic of our readership. (For the more homoerotic, see you Tuesday for all night high-fives.)

First thing this month, is a story about my beautiful wife. About eight years ago, she introduced me to a couple of great films I had never seen. She of course tried to introduce me to more, but I had already seen the other ones, so I told her to shut it, and we focused on the aforementioned two. The first film, one State of Grace starring Sean Penn, Gary Oldman and Ed Harris, is great, but sadly no board game has to date been fashioned from its angry likeness. The second was called The Name of the Rose. It starred Christian Slater and Sean Connery (sans accent; just kidding) and is the tale of Batman level monk-detectives (monktectives) trying to solve an old-fashioned murder mystery. Originally it was a novel and in 2008, Stefan Feld designed a game "Freely based on the novel by Umberto Eco" as the front of the box says.  And yes, freely based indeed, but initially an intriguing enough concept to encourage yours truly to get his proverbially webbed feet wet.

The Name of the Rose, published by Ravensburger, is one of those rare board games of subtlety. And although I can see many a hardcore gamer turning their nose up at the level of simplicity in its mechanics, I believe this game is worth a second, or even, dare I say, third look. The subtlety, you see, lies not only in its rules and expected gameplay, but in the players themselves. Now perhaps I was just blessed to play with "the right people" but I felt the game was an utter joy, mixing misdirection with outward bravado and cunning. Sure, you're just moving monks, but how you move them, when you move them and which monk you choose becomes a dense and nuanced experience as the game progresses. The beauty lies in the fact that all monks are played, no matter the number of players. The hook is that nobody knows which monk you are representing until the end of the game! And guessing the monk represented by each player in the final round can turn the result on its strangely shaven head.

But enough. Just give The Name of the Rose a try. And if you like it, may I recommend that rare, rare nerdgasm which results from enjoying something from two separate mediums by watching the movie as well.

Secondably this month, is a story about my beautiful wife. She likes games, which is awesome. For years now, I've been keeping my ear to the train tracks in search of great two player fare. During this hunt, I came across Lost Cities, the Kosmos two-player rummy-style game by Reiner Knizia. We played it, she loved it. But I was skeptical when I heard about the release of Dr. Reiner's revamped board game version, Lost Cities: The Board Game. But, no reason to be skeptical it turns out. The game is a well-designed, fun romp, with little complexity and naturally evolving strategy. It doesn't spurn its predecessor, but instead includes it and augments the two-player original. Worth a look, for sure.

Good gaming, Keith out.