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MAVERICK'S ALBUM GAME LIST

Album Game Series: Yaquinto Games designed and
released this unusually packaged series of games 
in the early 1980's.  Although the Album Games 
spanned a variety of topics (much like some of 
the microgame lines), the most unique thing 
about the album games was their packaging.  
The original album game releases resembled a
double LP record album.  However, instead
of "liner notes", the mapboard was printed
inside the folded cardboard jacket and the
game instructions and components could be
slipped inside the cardboard sleeves.
However, these early thin album games
really couldn't hold a set of punched
counters that well.

This lead to the second series of album
games which were approximately an inch
thick.  The game box still folded open
to provide the game map but a cardboard
tray was inserted to provide the girth
and to make room for storage of dice,
counters, rules, etc.  This unique format 
was not adopted by any other publisher 
and faded away with the demise of 
Yaquinto as a game company.

The following games were released in 
the original thin album format:  Apache, 
The Barbarians, Beachhead, Dallas, 
Fast Attack Boats, Hero, and Swashbuckler.
With the possible exceptions of Dallas and 
Fast Attack Boats, all of these were later 
released in the inch thick album versions.

A third variation on the album style 
package was used for Close Assault. 
That game came in a two inch thick 
album with a center box used to hold 
the components.

The Album Game Series was notable for
the inclusion of the highly popular
out of print game Swashbuckler.  Other 
notable titles include the critically
acclaimed The Roaring Twenties and a
game based on the TV series Dallas.

The following is a complete list of the
Yaquinto Album Game Series.

Looking for games? I may have some of these for sale!





YAQUINTO ALBUM GAMES
--------------------
ADVENTURER 
 A science fiction game of man-to-man combat.
 Based on the popular Swashbuckler album game,
 this is a tongue-in-cheek game of tavern
 brawls and spaceship boarding actions.
APACHE 
 An oddball game of settlers vs. Indians in
 the old west.  Strange events like UFO's
 make me wonder what the designers were
 thinking when they came up with this one.
ASTEROID PIRATES 
 Tactical space combat.
ATTACK OF THE MUTANTS 
 Very cool 50's monster movie parody involving
 a horde of mutants invading a college science
 lab.  One player controls the onslaught of
 mutants, the other plays the stereotypical
 human characters (brainy scientist, his daughter,
 jock, etc.) and robots defending the lab.
THE BARBARIANS 
 Simple wargame that offers two games in one:
 The Sack of Rome and The Mongol Invasion of
 Europe.  They don't get much easier than
 this...  good introductory games.
BATTLE 
 Nice execution of the "generic wargame" concept
 with a twist: diceless combat.  Battle proclaims
 itself an "all skill" wargame since there is
 no luck element.  Generic counters represent
 troops of various historical eras (or fantasy
 armies.)  Terrain is represented by counters
 as well allowing for great variety in scenarios.
BEACHHEAD 
 Tactical WWII game representing an amphibious
 assault on a Pacific island.
CLOSE ASSAULT
 Technically not an album game, this man-to-man 
 WWII game system would serve as the basis for 
 AH's Firepower.
COMMANDO ACTIONS 
 Tactical WWII game of small unit actions by
 British Commando units.
DALLAS 
 Yes, that Dallas...  play one of the characters
 from the TV series as you compete to (yes, you
 guessed it) make the most money.
DEMON'S RUN 
 Interesting tactical spaceship racing game.
THE FALL OF SOUTH VIETNAM 
 A simple area movement wargame that has lots of
 nice chrome dealing with the conflict.
FAST ATTACK BOATS 
 Introductory game of naval combat.  A lot of
 dice rolling in combat makes luck a big factor
 here.  Even though the simulation value is
 negligible, there's a lot of fun in zipping
 around launching missiles and torpedoes at
 your opponent.
THE FRENCH FOREIGN LEGION 
 Arabs attack the lone desert outpost in a game
 that owes a lot to old foreign legion movies.
 Man-to-man combat system.  Tactical options
 are limited by the single fort map.
HERO 
 Unusual game for three players where each
 controls a hero moving through a separate
 "dungeon" to get to a princess trapped at the
 center of the mapboard.  The monsters in your
 dungeon are moved by an opposing player.  A
 straighforward if somewhat flavorless hack and 
 slash style fantasy game.
MARKET MADNESS! 
 Simple stockmarket simulation.
NECK AND NECK 
 One of these things just doesn't belong here...
 A dog that really stands out in comparison to the
 other album games.  Simple game of horse racing
 and betting.  Might be a good chidlrens game.
RAIDER! 
 Interesting game of German commerce raiders in the
 Indian Ocean during WWII.
THE ROARING TWENTIES 
 Fun, wild many-player game of warring mob factions.
 Players take turns being the police chief who can
 take bribes and then controls the police cars during
 the heist segment of the game.
SUPERIORITY 
 Lackluster game of modern land combat in Europe.
SWASHBUCKLER 
 A gem of a game if you take it for what it's worth:
 brawling and boarding actions from all the great
 Hollywood swashbuckling movies.  If you are expecting
 a fencing simulation, prepare for disappointment.
 Especially fun with several players as mugs fly,
 tables are flipped, carpets yanked, etc.  Followed
 by the science fiction adaptation Adventurer.
UNITED NATIONS 
 Another album game that can accomodate several players.
 Nations seek to gain control over countries through
 aid, diplomacy, and force.


6/19/00

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