I made that in GarageBand.

If Mario Party DS had room for just two more playable characters, I think Birdo and Blooper would've been perfect choices.

I mean, Boo at least appears as an NPC in minigames, Donkey Kong, Toadette, and Diddy Kong have roles in Story Mode, and Dry Bones and Hammer Bro serve as bosses. Meanwhile, Birdo and Blooper don't appear anywhere in the game.

When I had just finished a Mario Party 8 board game that was 10 turns long, I was at the point where the bonus stars were being announced. One of the bonus stars was the green star, a.k.a. whoever landed on the most green spaces got this bonus star. As soon as the host said there was a 3 - way tie between me and 2 very hard cpus, I was surprised. I had never seen this happen to me before when I was playing Mario Party 8. Please let me know your thoughts and comments on this topic. Thanks.

Check out this quick video up above.

When a battle minigame is selected in Mario Party 8, there are coin amounts to wager from 5 coins all the way to 50 coins. While it is very common to get 10 coins and 20 coins, it will occasionally land on 5 coins and 30 coins. It is extremely rare to get the 50 coin option and thankfully I received it this time. I was lucky for this to happen to me because usually this moment never appears when people have a battle minigame.

Please let me know all of your comments and tell me what you think. Thanks.

Check out this quick video up above.

Personally, I prefer Bowser's minions, especially when Boo, Dry Bones, Blooper, and Hammer Bro are included.

Honestly they all vary in quality but if I had to rank them it would go:

2 = 6 > 7 > 3 > DS > 1 > 8 > 5 >>>>>>>>>>>> 4

Hey E. Gadd! What does thiiis button dooooo~?

E. Gadd's garage is the second of the five boards available from the start, and the only other board to geature traditional Star Hunt rules. Professor E. Gadd of Luigi's Mansion fame seems to enjoy acting as a tour guide here, personally showing up at most of the board's events, boasting about each of the inventions scattered around the board.

I think it's only natural to associate this board with the pair of Luigi and Waluigi. Though of course, Boo was a strong consideration as well, but I wanted him on a board with Pink Boo.

Atmosphere [5/5]

The first thing that comes to mind when I see E. Gadd's Garage is "Luigi's Engine Room." Though it's not quite exactly the same, it has a similar factory/workshop look to it. The entire board is set on the floor and catwalks overlooking a rather junky factory with multiple levels. The board is enclosed with tall brick walls on all sides, and further scaffolding and catwalks further up overlooking the entire board, higher levels and all.

This is one of those boards with so many details it'll be hard to describe them all. But I'll acknowledge some of my favorites! Along the south edge of the board are forklifts and a crane carrying large metal crates and girders. The billboard near the start is actually a map depicting the layout of the workshop--it even updates to show the current location of the star!

In the air above the board, and on the ground below the catwalks the majority of the board takes place on, there are drones that fly with propellers and scurry along the ground like mice. Between the forklifts and the mouse-like drones, I can't help but feel this is a missed opportunity to include a character like Heave-Ho who has mostly been forgotten since its debut in Mario 64. But it's not like it's a bad thing they're not here, it just would've been a cool reference to see. Anyway, these drones add a lot of life to this board which is important because there actually isn't much movement going on otherwise.

Speaking of references, there's a stack of crates in the southwest corner of the board where a GameCube can be found! Seems like a dangerous place to keep a game console, I'd be worried about it getting crushed! Somebody recover that GameCube quick!

The catwalks that make up the majority of the board seem pretty makeshift, sloppily assembled, banged up, or otherwise rickety in places, suggesting a rather negligent and scatterbrained scientist is behind them, which seems par for the course with what we know about E. Gadd. Some of these walkways are just sheets of metal laid across other objects. This wonky look gives this place far more character than if it was all perfectly clean and straight. It's really funny to imagine a walkway breaking and E. Gadd just throwing a box down and precariously balancing a sheet of metal over it. Osha would certainly not be happy with this place, especially with the sharp drop-offs with absolutely no guardrails!

The platform in the center rotates 90⁰ clockwise during every day/night transition. At the bottom of the platform is a small fountain of water with a family of robotic ducks swimming around in a circle!

In the very northwest corner, there's a pretty frightening display of two Pirahna Plants in some kind of stasis tanks. You can't really get a good look at them, but biological research seems outside of E. Gadd's usual expertise... it could be related to ghost research, but more likely they're probably here for capsule research and development. This is the board that introduces the Piranha Plant Orb, after all!

Strewn across the garage are several large machines invented by E. Gadd, including three teleporters, a giant fan, a large rocketship, and a strange machine resembling a Capsule Machine from Mario Party 5 but bearing E. Gadd's likeness.

The music has a busy sound resembling a methodical day of factory work and heavy lifting. With Xylophones representing small parts being hammered into place and tubas bringing to mind imagery of heavy pieces being assembled together. Heavy percussion signals hard work and consistency. A bell rings repeatedly throughout, as a repeated reminder for workers to get back to work or take a break.

At night, the music shifts to a much softer tone as most of the workers have gone home. But the sounds of tools hard at work still can be heard, someone's doing overtime, and it's probably E. Gadd himself toiling awau at his latest curiosity.

There are lots of cool details to spot on this board, far more than what was necessary. Theming the board around E. Gadd is a fantastic way to bring more characterization to a quirky fan-favorite character--He even has his iconic gibberish vocals when he speaks.

I look at this board and can vividly imagine exploring around E. Gadd's garage and interacting with all sorts of quirky machines toiling away around the factory. They easily could've gotten away with so much less here.

Strategy [5/5]

Where Towering Treetop was designed to teach you the basics of the Orb System, E. Gadd's Garage is designed around teaching the variery of effects orbs can have. The board specifically boasts its orb variety and the promonence of especially rare orbs. Orbs are easily accessible on this board and many of the happening events are orb-related.

Before we get into what is here, I want to start by acknowledging what isn't. Specifically, there is no Pink Boo on here. Ever since Mario Party 1, every board has had Boo or some counterpart to him. Mario Party 5's boards didn't have a static Boo, but it did have a Chain Chomp Capsule which was a stand-in with that game's design approach of turning board events into items. But this board has no Chain Chomp Capsule, nor Boo on the board. For the first time in series history, you cannot use Boo to steal stars. This places much more importance on Chance Time and Duels as comeback mechanics. The former is much higher risk while the latter requires more confidence in winning Minigames and can easily backfire.

That said, while Stars specifically are harder to steal, there are many ways to steal coins between orb effects and board events. So spend your coins wisely and try to redeem them for Stars whenever you can!

Speaking of star spaces, you might notice there are only 5 this time! It's actually kind of wild and I don't see any clear reason. But the limited number of star spaces combined with the stars spawning in the same order each cycle means it's easier than ever before to predict where the star will spawn. Navigating the board, however, can be a bit more complicated than it looks.

The main gimmick of this board is the central platform. As I said, during each day/night transition, the platform rotates 90⁰. This means that during the day, the west side will always connect to the north side, and the east side will always connect to the south side. But the side with the Star Space and Chance Time space will alternate. Meanwhile at night, the west side will connect south and east side will connect north.

Now, if you think about that long enough while looking at the board layout, you might realize a fascinating quirk about this platform. During the day, you'll travel around this platform in a clockwise direction. During the night, the other side of the arrow signs are visible, and you'll travel around the platform counterclockwise. As a result, if you're standing on the platform when it rotates, the direction you're moving in will actually reverse! I do believe this is the only time this has been possible since Mario Party 3!

So, if you want to cross the center of the board but maybe there's a projected character space blocking the way that you don't want to trigger, you could theoretically land right on the edge of the platform and have the day/night transition turn the platform so that you can simply step off without passing that space at all! It's very niche, but it's so cool that such an ability is even possible! And if you can't afford the star, you can potentially overshoot it by one space the turn before the platform rotates and be turned around to walk right back through it! Unfortunately, this can also work against your favor. If you undershoot that star even by a single space on the last turn of the day or night, you'll be turned around and forced to walk away from it instead.

It's critically important to keep in mind just how many turns you're likely to spend en route to your destination, and the likely position of the platform when you arrive. Being one turn early or late will send you to the completely wrong side of the board. For consistency, it may be better to take the long way around. But just because it's the safer route doesn't mean it's free of danger. This is prime real-estate for Orbs, after all! And some of the orbs on this board are pretty nasty, so you'll want to try and avoid them where you can. I generally try to roll first to see what number I have to work with before trying to plan out what to do with it.

The first junction of the board splits off between two roughly identical length paths. The western route is probably ideal if you're trying to take the long way around. It's one space longer, but it features an Orb Hut allowing you to get an early lead on that Orb Star! But the nothern route passes by a second junction, where you can either head west to converge with the previous western path, or head North to take a shortcut across the Conveyor Belts toward the central platform.

You can probably guess by the placement of the happening spaces here that landing on one will cause the conveyor belt to activate and carry you all the way ton the end of the line--that blue space four spaces away from the start. All conveyor belts on the board funnel back to this point, even the conveyor all the way at the top of the board which will drop you into a pipe. The second happening space in these two early conveyors will cause both conveyors to move. Otherwise, only the one you landed on will activate. When the conveyors are activated, all players on them will be carried away, and the spaces on the conveyor will change, too! Blue Spaces will be replaced with Red Spaces and vice versa. All character spaces on these conveyor belts will be lost as well, so be wary about placing traps here if you want them to stick around!

At the end of the journey, coins will be dropped on the affected players' heads roughly depending on how far they were carried--more coins for being carried from the conveyor belts further away. The player who lands on the happening space will get more coins than the players that got caught up in the effect. Players who were already on the drop-off space before the event won't get any of the coins that fall.

Even though it's presented differently, this is basically the same typical rolling boulder type event we've seen in every game where one player can fuck with anyone and everyone else by landing on a happening space. But I really like the design of this one, because it's almost exclusively on shortcut routes that you can mess with people like this. It adds an inherent risk to taking these shortcuts and you also still get something out of the event.

The conveyor belt route will lead into the central platform, which will either loop back to just after the first junction at night, or converge with the longer, safer route on the final conveyor belt during the day. If you elected to take the safer route, you'll pass a Teleporter which I'll come back to in just a bit, and arrive at a third junction where you'll converge earlier with the conceyor route just before stepping onto the central platform, or continue avoiding that central platform by heading north.

Now, about that Teleporter. The game doesn't make it explicitly clear, but these teleporters do not take you to a random other teleporter like I initially assumed. Each one will simply take you to the next in a clockwise direction. The one on the west will go to the northeast, northeast to southeast, southeast to west. These teleporters are an optional event, though the Professor will be a bit offended if you turn him down. But what makes these Teleporters incredibly powerful is that three of the five star spaces are directly in front of one! Two of them are literally the very next space! If you're not falling behind and desperate to get on the board with Chance Time or Duels, then I highly recommend trying to use your Sluggish 'Shrooms to hit these happening spaces.

Continuing along the safe route, the next happening space is in front of the giant fan. This is the "Wealth Suckage Apparatus" and, shockingly enough, it seems to work like a free Big Boo! You obviously can't steal stars with it, but if you agree, you'll hop atop the machine and turn it on. Everyone will then have to mash A to hold onto as many coins as they can! The coins you lose will be sucked away into the fan and collected by the player who landed on the space. It's a pretty powerful event that can net you a ton of coins in a single turn! Worth noting, though, for reasons we'll discuss later, you might not want to carry too much of an excess of coins.

Continuing along, after another Orb Hut, the long path finally converges with the conveyor path. No matter what, these three spaces are required traversal outside of displacemeht using Orbs or Teleporters. But the only happening space on this conveyor is behind the point these paths converge, so players will have to go pretty out of their way to mess with you using it. Just remember again that Character Spaces here will get permanently erased if the happening space is pressed.

Passing another Teleporter, you'll next come across the two happening spaces in front of the giant Capsule Machine-looking contraption called the Shuffle-O-Tron. What this does is made clear by the sign out front, which flips over at nighttime. During the day, you'll have the opportunity to exchange your capsules for random new ones. At night, you'll instead exchange all of your orbs for coins--generally a much worse deal. The prices the Orbs sell for are inverse to how much they cost to buy. For example, 1st place's orbs will sell for how much it would cost 4th place to buy them, and vice versa. So this event is much more useful if you're trying to catch up to first. Even still, it's typically better to use your orbs than to get rid of them, even if they aren't particularly beneficial. I'd only do this if you really need coins.

ZoomZike suggested these capsules are distributed completely randomly--you can potentially get any capsule for any capsule. You could put a Koopa Troopa Orb in and get a Flutter Orb back. However, I suspect it's not entirely an equal chance. I watched an AI do this event and get a Flutter and Super 'Shroom. But I did it and got two Paratroopas once, and a Koopa Troopa and Mr. Blizzard another time. (Bear in mind, Koopa Troopa here isn't nearly as good as the Koopa or Paratroopa in 5, I wouldn't say it's a very good capsule at all) I suspect the odds of getting better capsules probably increase if you're in a lower ranking overall. But I obviously lack scientific data to support this. Just keep the possibility in the back of your head.

There is one last junction right at the end of the board. Heading East from here will bring you back to the central machine. This will either send you back to the catwalks near the start during the day, or north to loop back to the conveyor belt before the teleporter during the night.

If you head south from that final junction, you'll pass one more event: The Calamity Launcher. For an exponentially increasing fee, you can pay E. Gadd to launch 1-5 random orbs onto random spaces around the board. The cost will be cheaper for players in lower ranks. 1st place has to pay a whopping 150 coins for 5 character spaces, while 4th place only has to pay 60, the same peice 1st has to pay for only 3. If you've been falling behind in the real-estate department, this might be a good way to get some territory. But it's really not the best solution at all. These Orbs don't count toward your Orb Star, and some of these orb effects might actually be actively detrimental to your game state depending on where they're placed. Even still, this event adds some fun chaotic energy to the board and there's some utility in having character spaces where even you don't know what they are--most players are going to fear the worst and steer clear even moreso than if they know it's just something like a Goomba. This is a fun event, but I'm not sure it's really all that practical. If you wanna go for the big investment, I would only recommend going for it if/when you're in last place.

Finally, you'll pass by the final teleporter and then return to the start.

Orbs

Of course, with each board having its own set of Orbs, you can only expect new ones to appear here!

Green Orbs

The three standard Mushrooms return as per usual, as does the Flutter Orb. The Warp Pipe Orb is not available.

Metal Mushroom Orb [10 Coins] - Turns you into metal! You will be immune to any Red Orb effects you'll pass. This is your primary means of countering these effects, some even have unique animations that play out! The events will still be triggered, simply wasted.

Bullet Bill Orb [20 Coins] - Returns from 5 and is functionally identical, just free to use on yourself. Hop on a Bullet Bill and roll a dice block. You steal 20 coins from anyone you pass, similar to a Bowser Suit. Unlike the Bowser Suit, it turns randomly at junctions, so make sure you're either okay with either direction or you're already on a committed path.

Red Orbs

The Thwomp Orb is not present on this map.

Podoboo Orb [5 Coins] - Returning from 5 where it was called a Bubble instead of a Podoboo, but it's functionally very different. Rather than destroying all your capsules and moving you forward 10 spaces, this simply destorys 10 Coins as you pass it, kind of like the Sparky Sticker from Mario Party 4.

Zap Orb [15 Coins] - Speaking of the Sparky Sticker, this Orb contains Amps! As you pass, they'll attach themselves to you and shock you, causing you to lose 5 coins per space. This can make a Super Mushroom cost you a fortune with a theoretical cap of 150 coins! But it's just as likely you might only lose 5 coins if you land exactly on it. Try to remember where these have been placed, and use Sluggish 'Shrooms to avoid them until someone else has to pass them, or if nobody's around, land directly on them if you have no means of covering them up.

Bob-omb Orb [10 Coins] - Returns from 5 but again with a much different effect. Rather than counting down and exploding to make the unfortunate victim lose 20 coins, ironically being the only red orb-like effect in 5, this now works like a nerfed version of the Thwomp, reducing your remaining number of spaces to half, rounded down.

Koopa Troopa Orb [10 Coins] - Another mistranslation, huh? In all other languages, this is called the Paratroopa Capsule. Anyway, it returns from 5 but with a drastically different effect. There, Paratroopa would have you roll a dice block and all other players would lose that many coins. But here, the Paratroopa merely swaps your place with the player who owns the space.

Sigh... look, I see the vision. You throw this in an advantageous spot and then go the other way to get some benefit until someone else passes this trap and brings you back. Maybe you put it before a powerful event or use it to get another chance at the star if you had to pass it before, or even just let you get a second Orb Hut trip. But this seems like such a poorly thought out Orb. It assumes your opponent is stupidly going to bilndly wander into it while going the direction they wanted, and be swapped onto a route they didn't want. But that's more than likely not going to happen. Metal Mushrooms are really common, and Orbs in general are really abundant. There are so many ways people can get around this thing even if it's right in their face. And if they do, now you have a ticking timebomb just waiting to kidnap you from wherever you are the moment somebody decides to hit it. I'm not gonna say this capsule is useless because your opponent won't always be able to dodge it, but it just has so much stacked against it, I don't see any world where I would comfortably use it.

Yellow Orbs

The Goomba and Kamek Orbs return, but the Spiny Orb cannot be found here.

Piranha Plant Orb [15 Coins] - This capsule returns from 5 and works similarly but becomes way more powerful here! Rather than jusy making the target lose half their coins, the coins are now stolen and given to the orb's owner. Besides Chance Time, I'm pretty sure this is the strongest way to get coins in this entire game! It's definitely for the best to keep this thing in a high traffic area so lots of players end up stepping on it. Just be wary that Kamek might steal it from you and make it your problem!

Klepto Orb [5 Coins] - Returning from 5, but instead of carrying you off to a player chosen by spinner, it simply carries you to the start. Considering you're probably tryijg to pass over it to get to where you really want to go, it's certainly not the worst capsule, but it also really doesn't change much and could end up helping them. Recall that players can use Sluggish 'Shrooms to intentionally land on this if it benefits them.

Mr. Blizzard Orb [10 Coins] - Returning from 5 and is functionally identical except you can't use it on yourself. Not that there'd be much benefit to doing so on this board in particular. Mr. Blizzard falls from the sky and crushes whoever landed on the space, causing them to lose all of their Orbs. Funnily enough, the description of this orb uses feminine pronouns when addressing the target. I guess it's a feminine trait to lose all your stuff to a Snowman?

And that's all the new orbs!

We have a wider variety of effects this time around. Stronger options for stealing coins as well as some displacement traps and even a trap that takes coins from you. However, there being 15 capsules instead of 10 means you're that much less likely to find the specific capsule you want. Especially as you reach higher placements. I find it a bit odd that the Thwomp is missing here, but I suppose it's to put emphasis on the Bob-omb instead.

There's definitely some major outliers. The Piranha Plant was already a pretty powerful capsule in 5, but being able to steal those coins seems insane to me! The Zap Orb is also a pretty terrifying Orb with bad enough luck. But I do feel like a lot of these capsules are really just kind of negligible? I'm finding that individual capsule events aren't nearly as scary or exciting in this game so far. But part of that might be because I'm playing against AI which really aren't the brightest. I'm talking "I'm gonna throw away my Flutter Orb to make room for a Podoboo Orb and then in the same turn sell all of my Orbs at the Shuffle-O-Magic" stupid. It just seems like it's very rare that I'm actually concerned about an Orb effect. The only one that's scared me into potentially altering my route is a Piranha Plant and, consequently, a Kamek because I'm worried about losing my own Piranha Plant.

Anyway, I think this board is pretty reasonably understandable despite the complexity of strategies necessary to play the board well. There's a bit of a knowledge barrier in how the central platform works, but by the time you have to meaningfully interact with it, it's pretty likely you'll see day turn to night and understand the assignment. But I think it's pretty easy to intuit from the design of the platform and the sun logo that it will spin around. The only thing that might not be immediately apparent is that it will keep rotating 90⁰ in the same direction rather than rotate back into its original position. All of the other events I'd say are incredibly transparent with what they do. The teleporters even have icons showing arrows moving clockwise, so that even suggests how the teleporters will move you. It's just that a more cautious player might me reluctant to jump to such a conclusion. I don't think that's a bad thing, though. It rewards personal confidence!

Even though the board does have some pretty significant luck factors, it also has a lot of opportunities to counteract bad luck. Stars are generally very easy to accumulate and you're given lots of chances to get the Orbs you need to find success.

The key to victory on this board is knowing when to use Capsules to keep your Orb Star up and when to save them for key points where you really need them. Individual capsule events may not be all that exciting, but the wrong one at the wrong time can still pose a significant danger! With no Blue Orbs, it's definitely important to make sure you stay on top of using Orbs as often as you can, so don't let them get too cold in your hands!

Narrative [5/5]

I actually love the narrative implications of this board. There is so much to work off of. First of all, directly tying this board to E. Gadd is genius because this gives a lot of lore background behind this board that's inherent to the Professor's lore himself. Obviously, Mario Party isn't canon to Luigi's Mansion, but considering Gadd even has unique dialogue when he interacts with Luigi on this board, it's safe to say Luigi's Mansion is canon to Mario Party. More specifically, Luigi's Mansion has happened prior to Mario Party 6.

As an aside, I've also noticed that one, if not all, of DK's Minigames takes place on a beach near Delfino Plaza from Mario Sunshine! Suggesting this may even take place a significant amount of time after the events of Sunshine as the plaza seems to have expanded since then!

To my knowledge, I think this is the first time since DK's Jungle Adventure where an actual setting of a mainline game is directly referenced within Mario Party. Which in turn suggests that "Mario Party World" is the name of the greater Mario world all the main series games are set in, according to Mario Party Lore which is hilariously self aggrandizing. Obviously that's not canon to main series Mario lore, but it's the argument 6 seems to be presenting for Mario Party lore! This means Bowser Jr. and the Koopalings are around but are currently excluded from Mario Party for one reason or another.

Anyway, let's focus on E. Gadd for now. In Luigi's Mansion, E. Gadd is the inventor of multiple strange machines including Luigi's Poltergust, the GameBoy Horror, and a Ghost Portraitification Machine. And in Mario Sunshine, while not explicitly named, he's all but explicitly confirmed to be the inventor of F.L.U.D.D. and all of his Nozzles, and Bowser Jr.'s mysterious paintbrush.

One thing you'll quickly notice about E. Gadd's inventions is that they're all repurposing household objects. The Poltergust repurposes a back-mounted vacuum. The GameBoy Horror repurposes a GameBoy Color, even his Portraitification machine repuroses a Washing Machine.

So now we have this garage filled with his inventions. A giant fan used to suck coins perhaps inspired by how Luigi uses the Poltergust, a rocketship converted into an Orb Launcher, and... a machine that resembles the Capsule Machines from the previous game. But wait a minute, those machines also resemble repurposed technology. They seem to be repurposed Gacchapon Machines! Is it not possible, then, that E. Gadd is actually the man who invented the Capsules in Mario Party from regular Gacchapon capsules? It seems right up his alley, doesn't it? Even the existence of the Bowser Capsule doesn't seem entirely out of place since Bowser Jr. claims he gave him the paintbrush. E. Gadd isn't entirely above helping Bowser, even if it's purely accidental due to negligence.

And then there's the Gaddlight, which wasn't explicitly named after E. Gadd in the Japanese version, but perhaps there's some retroactive implications here? It's certainly made like one of E. Gadd's inventions, and it just so happens to find its way into the lineup of Capsules here? And then there are those strange Piranha Plants in the tanks in the back corner of the garage. I don't half wonder if E. Gadd is researching these crearures to find ways to more efficiently store them in capsules? Or pehaps... clone them? Is that how all these characters seem to appear in these capsules? Are they all clones? Maybe they're just volunteers on the sidelines and the capsules don't literally contain them, but instead just signal for them to appear. You probably do have to navigate some trademarks with Pokemon, don't you?

Regardless, for some reason E. Gadd seems to be studying these Piranha Plants, and they just happen to appear on this board in a powered up form compared to their predecessors.

Finally, in the Japanese version, this board is called "Trap Factory," though it doesn't explicitly name E. Gadd, much like the Gaddlight, it obviously still prominently features him on the board itself. The name "Trap Factory" further suggests that this is where the Capsules themselves are actually made. Pretty cool stuff, I'd say.

If you recall, though, the Capsule Machines were found in various Dream Worlds accessed by Dream Depot... so perhaps they appeared there after being conceptualized by E. Gadd, and not necessarily fully realized until now?

Another interpretation is that it's possible the Capsules themselves weren't invented by E. Gadd, but that he's simply fascinated by them and is trying to learn their technology. Maybe even that he's taken it upon himself to upgrade the Capsules and that's why they're so different in this game?

In reteospect, I find it really strange neither Mario Party 5 or 6 have taken the opportunity to create a story set around these Capsules and their origins explicitly. They just kind of exist in both games and aren't thematically tied to the events of either game.

Anyway, this isn't the end of E. Gadd's connection to Capsules, as I can already think of at least one more connection that will come up in Mario Party 7, but we'll cross that bridge when we get there.

For now, I'm going to settle on the headcanon that Professor E. Gadd is the inventor of the Capsules and Capsule Machines and he's fine-tuned them for use in Mario Party. Perhaps their primary function is to store his inventions for easy transport?

As always, my overactive imagination has led me down a rabbithole I certainly wasn't expecting. Suffice to say, this is another 5/5. Something about this game not having a well-defined setting has ironically been a huge boon to the narrative potential of its boards! I'm not sure if this trend will continue, but this game is looking unexpectedly promising in the narrative department!

Conclusion

If I'm being totally honest, after rating this board a 5/5 in every category you'll probably be surprised to hear me say I actually got very, very bored playing this 50 turn game. I'm not really sure exactly what it was, but it's probably related to the fact that I ended up with 16 stars and nearly 200 coins while second place only had 8 Stars.

When I play a new Mario Party, the first board I usually play against all Normal AI. From the next board onward, I bump the AI of the character I associate with the board up to Hard. There's usually a pretty steep skill gap between Normal and Hard. I do this to try and simulate a realistic casual friend group where one other player is fairly skilled while the other two maybe only play every now and then. I find Easy AI to be a bit unrealistically bad, clearly designed to be beatable even by players who don't really play games, so I tend to ignore that difficulty, while Very Hard or equivalent higher diffiuclties tends to be designed for players who have mastered the minigames... a bit above my pay grade playing some of these games for the first time, but I'll often bump a character on the final board to Very Hard if I have it unlocked. It's stressful, but also pretty fun to get my ass handed to me in a minigame I usually dominate and to actually worry about the minigame star. For this board, I set Waluigi to Hard and Luigi and Boo to Normal.

But I'm noticing something about Normal Diffiuclty AI in this game... they're bad. Like, exceptionally bad. I mean, it feels like they're employing the strategy of intentionally throwing a 2v2 or 1v3 minigame at times bad. I had this thought while playing Window Wipers and standing at the top while watching Luigi run around like an idiot the entire duration of the minigame. He sprayed just two windows (which I wiped right away). Meanwhile Waluigi and Boo just played the game like normal and won for free. And anytime I play Rocky Road, the Normal AI just goes out of their way to cross over to the rock I'm hitting even though there are several rocks closer to him, and just starts hitting me! I don't see the Normal AI exhibiting this behavior against the Hard AI, they seem to win for free every time! The only times I'm able to win against a Hard AI is if I'm alone or it's a team game that I'm able to hard carry.

Intentionally throwing the game when teamed up with a partner you don't want to win is a valid strategy, but I'm really wondering if that's what's going on. I think I'm going to break this convention next time and try bumping all of my opponents to Hard and seeing if I still struggle with this behavior. Because at Normal Diffiuclty, these guys just play like they're lobotomized.

Anyway, that's all for now! Who's ready to spend some cash? See you soon! 💰

I found it on Twitter

My point, much like what happened in *The Top 100*, is that while there was supposed to be an equal number of minigames from each installment (10 from each), the actual distribution is unbalanced. *Mario Party 1*, *2*, and *3* consistently have the highest number of minigames, while *8*, *9*, and *10* have the fewest.

If you don’t believe me, here is the list:

• Mario Party (Nintendo 64): 12 minigames

• Mario Party 2 (Nintendo 64): 19 minigames

• Mario Party 3 (Nintendo 64): 24 minigames (Most Minigames)

• Mario Party 4 (GameCube): 10 minigames

• Mario Party 5 (GameCube): 9 minigames

• Mario Party 6 (GameCube): 7 minigames

• Mario Party 7 (GameCube): 5 minigames

• Mario Party 8 (Wii): 3 minigames

• Mario Party 9 (Wii): 2 minigames

• Mario Party 10 (Wii U): 1 minigame (Fewest Minigames)

If you think they should have been distributed differently, let me know here.

(Humor/Satire)

This is just humor, and maybe a bit of rage bait for leaving out a character who deserves a spot on the roster. At one point, I was actually considering putting Birdo in Toadette's place.

As for the image, I just took it from when the Disventure Camp: Fans vs. Favorites cast was announced, which sparked a few complaints.

I'm trying to put together a printed version of Mario Party to play with my play group, and I've been making pretty good progress so far. The only issue I'm having is thinking up 1v3 and 2v2 mini-games. We don't really have the space to do high octane movement games, so they have to be playable just sitting down on a table. I'm also trying to keep these games to materials that I already own, which includes.
- A large collection of dice of many sizes
- A pile of dominoes
- A deck of Playing Cards
- A Small portable chess board with magnetic pieces
- Pencils and Paper

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Donkey Kong is not playable, instead hosting the returning DK mini-games.

Pianta, Cow, Pom Pom, and Stingby are unlockable characters.

Bosses:
* King Boo
* Petey Piranha
* King Bob-omb
* Boom Boom
* Mega Koopa Troopa
* Mega Shy Guy
* Mega Ninji
* Mega Madpole
* Kamek
* Bowser Jr. (The Final Boss)

I think we will have a new one by 2027 tell me.

Anyone up for a 2v2 tonight ? 15 turns no motion control on the mall.

Obviously looking for two players teaming up against me and a friend lol

And here are the Star Mechanics for each board as well how each board is categorized by difficulty rating—beginner (1/3 stars), intermediate (2/3 stars), and expert (3/3 stars)

🟢 Beginner Boards

1. Mario's Mushroom Kingdom: Straightforward paths with fun, predictable warp pipes.
-Star Mechanic: The Star floats right on top of a giant glowing Yellow Block in the center of the kingdom. When bought, it warps through a pipe to a new grassy plateau.

2. Goomba's Grassy Meadows: Very few traps; simple circular flow.
-Star Mechanic: The Star rests in one of the Goomba Wheel's passenger carts. Every time a player lands on the Custom Space, the wheel spins, physically rotating the Star to a completely different section of the track.

3. Toad's Item Bazaar: Easy navigation with plenty of shops to buy helpful items.
-Star Mechanic: The Star is displayed as the "Grand Prize" on a velvet cushion in the center square. Once purchased, it gets "sold out" and restocked at a random vendor's tent across the market.

4. Princess Peach's Royal Garden: Predictable crossroads with helpful defensive spaces.
-Star Mechanic: The Star appears floating over the central water fountain. When bought, a Royal Toad carries it off to a hidden dead-end deep inside the hedge maze.

🟡 Intermediate Boards

1. Princess Daisy's Flower Fields: Paths spin at the end of the round, requiring players to adapt.
-Star Mechanic: The Star is nested in the center of one specific giant flower. At the end of a round, if the paths rotate, the Star rotates with it, suddenly making it closer or farther from oncoming players.

2. Yoshi's Fruit Safari: The paths are made of woven vines, mossy stone steps, and massive wooden suspension bridges.
-Star Mechanic: The Star is held by Yoshi's helpful and friendly companion, Poochy, who runs around the safari track. He moves to a different fruit zone every time a Star is purchased, forcing players to chase him through the jungle.

3. Donkey Kong's Jungle Trek: Requires using barrel cannons to jump across the board efficiently.
-Star Mechanic: The Star hovers high up in the jungle canopy on a golden vine. Players must often use a Barrel Cannon to launch themselves directly onto the Star's space.

4. Koopa's Shell Seaside: Players must watch the "tide turn" count so they don't lose coins.
-Star Mechanic: The Star rests on a sandbar out in the water. During "Low Tide," it costs the standard 20 coins. During "High Tide," players must swim (pay an extra 5 coins to a passing Dolphin) just to reach the space.

5. Toadette's Star Atelier: Shifting star locations mean players must constantly change direction.
-Star Mechanic: Because it's Toadette's workshop, she actively controls the Star. When a player lands on her Custom Space, they pay her to magically summon the Star right to their current location.

6. Bowser Jr.'s Crafty Fort: Blocking walls require players to find alternative routes.
-Star Mechanic: The Star is locked inside a cardboard chest. Bowser Jr. moves the chest around the fort, dropping makeshift cardboard walls behind him to block the paths.

7. Pauline's Neon Rhythm Rooftops: Constant path shifting and economy-altering mechanics.
-Star Mechanic: Instead of moving around static spaces, the board's Star is hosted by Pauline on a massive central digital billboard overlooking the New Donk City skyline. A five-turn countdown meter ticks down at the end of each player's turn until it hits zero, triggering a chaotic flash-mob concert. During this event, the entire board flashes to the beat and the Star dynamically shifts locations based on the music's rhythm.

🔴 Expert Boards

1. Luigi's Ghostly Manor: Multi-level maze with shifting doors that can easily trap players.
-Star Mechanic: The Star is guarded by a massive Boo in the attic. However, landing on certain spaces causes the doors to slam shut, locking down the attic and forcing the Star to haunt the dark basement instead.

2. Rosalina's Cosmic Observatory: Gravity mechanics and outer-orbit tracks require careful item management.
-Star Mechanic: The Star floats in an outer planetary orbit track. Players must collect a specific "Launch Star" item or land on a precise node just to be flung out into space to reach it.

3. Birdo's Ribbon Resort: Heavy toll booths mean players can get stuck if they run out of coins.
-Star Mechanic: The Star sits in the VIP lounge. Because the resort is highly exclusive, players must navigate a labyrinth of costly toll-booth spaces just to get a path clear to the lounge.

4. Wario's Greedy Gold Mine: Fast minecarts can completely ruin a player's positioning.
-Star Mechanic: The Star rides around the board inside a runaway minecart. Instead of staying stationary, the Star space moves forward 2 spaces at the end of every single turn.

5. Waluigi's Pinball Machine: Downward slopes and pinball bumpers make precise movement difficult.
-Star Mechanic: The Star sits right at the bottom of the machine, near the drain danger-zone. If a player fails to buy it before the giant pinball rolls down, the ball smashes the Star, launching it all the way back to the top plunger.

6. Boo's Haunting Graveyard: Disappearing paths require players to track odd and even turns.
-Star Mechanic: The Star is an illusion. There are actually two Stars on the board at once, but one is a fake ghost double. When you reach a Star, you must roll a dice—odds mean it vanishes into thin air, evens mean it's real.

7. Monty Mole's Underground Mine: Cave-ins can completely cut off a player right before they reach the Star.
-Star Mechanic: The Star is buried completely underground. It does not appear on the board until a player lands on a Custom Space and successfully wins a digging mini-game to unearth it.

8. Dry Bones' Desolate Desert: Quicksand pits actively pull players into a punishing secondary dungeon loop.
-Star Mechanic: The Star is located in an oasis at the far edge of the desert. However, if you get caught in the quicksand, you are sucked down into a subterranean bone dungeon loop and must escape before you can hunt the Star again.

9. Bowser's Magma Keep: Extremely punishing; rising lava destroys paths and stars cost double.
-Star Mechanic: The Star floats directly over Bowser's throne. Because Bowser hates giving away prizes, the Star costs 40 coins instead of 20. If a Bowser Event is triggered, he might steal the Star back from whoever is closest.

One of the best playable characters in Mario Party