Thursday, June 26, 2008

Tuesday, June 24th

Hey there.

We DID do some gaming on Monday, and I'm sure the info is around here somewhere, but my desk is a mess. I found Tuesday's stuff, and we played a few games, so I thought I'd post a little blurbish thing. There was only 3 of us playing. I'll try to be brief... (oh, who am I kidding, we all know I'm gonna blather on like an idiot...)




Brad a Fenwick played a few round of Pecking Order. It's a perfect two-player, waiting-for-other-people-to-show-up game. A round takes about 5 minutes, and you can play as little or as much as you like. The manual calls an "official" game 4 rounds. That's what we ended up playing! Brad won the first two round, Fenwick, the second two. When the scores were totalled, Brad had 118, and Fenwick had 123 for the win.




Still no one else around, so we pulled out Fjords, another 2-player one, which is strategic and fun. It's sort of somewhere between Carcassonne and China, but MUCH MUCH lighter than either. But, it has enough teeth to keep it ranked around 400th on BoardGameGeek. We only played one round (an "official" game is actually 3), and it ended with both of us placing 16 tokens. I'm going to grant Brad the win, though, because he hadn't even placed his 4th house, so he managed to cover that ground with less starting places than Fenwick. Brad wins!




Alex "Can't Stop" came by, so it was time to get a 3 player game going. Brad has been itching for some Citadels, so we decided to give it a go. 3-Player Citadels can be less exciting, so we decided to try it sort of as if it was a 6-player game, with each of us choosing 2 roles. Each person would still be building one set of buildings, though. Which means the game moves quite a bit quicker, building twice each round (maybe being able to build as many as FOUR in a single round, using the Architect. Theoretically the game could end in TWO turns!). It was a nifty little variant. I'd rather play with 6 actual people, but it was still fun, and still had the heart of Citadels, which is what we needed. Turned out Fenwick started as King, and remained King for the ENTIRE game. End of game: Alex triggered endgame with his 8 buildings. Brad had 19 points. Fenwick had 18 + 3 (5 different kinds of buildings bonus) = 21. Can't Stop had 25 + 4 (first to build 8 bonus) = 29. Can't Stop wins!





We needed a similar strategy game to follow: job drafting + territory building. Of course that means we play San Juan. It's funny that San Juan has similar basic game mechanics but has a TOTALLY different vibe to it. Now, I'm guessing some of you are asking "Who's the dude in that photo you chose?" Well, I'm glas you asked. That's Franz Vohwinkel, not the game designer (you're thinking of Andreas Seyfarth), but the illustrator of the game. Franz is an artistic genius. He's done the art for so many amazing games, and he has a huge diversity of styles. Let's see, he's done the art for Metro, Elk Fest, Big City, Torres, Sunken City, Oasis, Amun Re, the Catans, Hera & Zues, Evergreen, Samurai (so gorgeous)... and those are just a few of his that I own. I really enjoy a game with good style -- it draws your eyes to it, makes you pull it off the shelf more often, and just lends itself to happier playing time. If Vohwinkel is involved, you know it'll be eye candy. Anyway, about the game -- it was Brad and Alex's first time playing. It doesn't take much to get into the swing of it, though... Alex had 27 victory points, Brad had 28, and Fenwick had 36 VP for the win!




Now onto a COMPLETELY different-styled game: Hornochsen. It's all focussed about numbers, no theme, even those there's 'horned oxen' on the cards they have nothing to do with the game. There's certainly strategy, and a lot of trying to force everyone else to take bad stuff so you don't have to. Timing is crucial; being stuck with cards at the end is almost always bad. Anyway, after two rounds, Can't Stop had an impressive showing with -188 points (yes, that is a negative sign, and it is supposed to be there). Fenwick had 46. Brad ended with 137 points, earning a mind-numbing 120 of them in a single round. Not bad for a game in which we're usually happy to just be positive...




Brad headed off to class, and Alex and Fenwick went to return the games to their home. Alex started fiddling with TetraTrax, and Fenwick urged him to play a few game. TetraTrax is basically a cross between Tetris and Connect 4. When you drop a piece, for each of your opponent's pieces it touches you get a point. But creating a hole gives you MINUS a point. Using all pieces gives you a 2 point bonus (neither of us managed to do that). We played 3 games. Fenwick won the first 2 by a point. Can't Stop won the last one by TWO points. I'll do the math for you: after 3 rounds we were tied.

And we thought that would be a perfectly apt way to end a game day...

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Monday, the 16th of June.

Hey! This is the first real entry of game sessions we've done in a while!

We played a bunch of games on Monday... mainly quick, fun ones. Here they are!




Fjords


This was played by Brad and Fenwick (me!). This was Brad's first time playing, but the rules are fairly straightforward, and can be explained in a few moments. I love it when I can explain a game in terms of other games -- "The tile placement is a lot like Carcassonne." So we were up and running quickly. It's not surprising, this is a game by Franz-Benno Delonge who made TransAmerica/TransEuropa two of our favorite games in Game Club. We also pop out another of his -- Big City, a somewhat more obscure offering, but is amazingly beautiful and fun. (It's TOTALLY out of print, but Valley Games is in the process of making a reissue with new buildings! Oh, man, I'm probably going to have to buy that...) Unfortunately FB Delonge lost his battle with cancer last September. He was 50 years old. He's a great game designer -- makes me wonder what great games are now lost to us...

But I digress! Fjords gameplay takes place in 2 phases. Phase 1: Building the fjord. It's a simple "draw a tile, add it to the play area" mechanic. You have the option of placing one of your 4 starting houses on the tile you place. Your territory will be radiating out from those during phase 2.

Phase 2: You take turns placing small discs showing your territoty spreading out. Once a tile is claimed, it cannot be claimed by your opponent, and can block his/her ability to spread further. Careful planning, and careful claiming of territories is crucial to winning.

At the end of the game, Brad controlled 18 tiles, and Fenwick had 14. Brad wins! AND he only used 3 of his 4 starting places to do it.




Zombie Fluxx


This is turning into one of our new favorite fillers. Good near the start of game club as people are wandering in. People can join in or drop out (joining in is easier) basically at any time. The gameplay is rather chaotic and random. And there are Zombies. And, occassionally, you are forced to groan like those very Zombies.

Just like any Fluxx game, the rules for winning change as people play different cards. It often causes people to imagine that it is a hard game, when it is one of the simplest and silliest games we play. One of the niftiest things (in my opinion) of this Fluxx game is that the Zombies are a sort of NPC in the game, and they can actually win!

This was played by Brad, Sam, and Fenwick. Any of the three of us would be just as happy winning, or having the Zombies win. The Zombies did not, however, as Brad made his escape. Brad wins again!




Elk Fest


Cathy Willms called to say she was coming with Steven, so Brad and Fenwick (me!) knew we had a few minutes to kill. Elk Fest is perfect to fill that space.

This is a dexterity game where you flick 'stones' to allow your moose to get across a 'river'. It is definitely reminiscent of high school cafeteria tabletop games involving quarters and paper footballs.

The bits are remarkable -- beatiful wooden pieces. The gameplay is OBVIOUS -- just one look at the bits, and you know how to play. It's funny and frustrating and tense. It's amazing how much you have to adapt to how your opponent plays. I hate to attribute any kind of strategy to a game based on FLICKING, but it sneaks in.

Fenwick would have won if he'd had the opportunity for one final flick, but, just in time, Brad wins yet again!




Pecking Order


We had a few more minutes, and I suggested a new one to Game Club: Pecking Order. This is one by Richard Garfield, famous for created the massively popular Magic: The Gathering CCG. It was also published by Immortal Eyes games, which is a spin-off of Winning Moves -- an American game company. Immortal Eyes is an attempt to make more Euro-style games (less random, more resource management). Pecking Order is their first game.

This is a two-player game. Each player has an identical set of cards: birds valued 1 to 12, and a Jaguar. There are spaces on a board placed between you with different values. On your turn, pick a card, and put it face down next to a space on your side. If there is a bird opposite it, a challenge occurs. The bird which was there first is revealed. If it's number is less than or equal to the bird just placed, it is removed from the board. Otherwise, the new bird is removed. A jaguar instantly removes both himself, and the bird in conflict.

Once all the pieces are placed, the value of the perches is added up -- higher total wins.

Fenwick had 26. Brad had 37. Oh, look, once again Brad is the winner!

I see me playing this game quite a bit, if I can talk people into it -- quick and tense. There's a decent balance of luck and psycho-strategy.




Bull in a China Shop


This is a BIG Game Club game over the past few months. It's another simple and quick game. This game has the PERFECT blend of elements that make Game Club happy: 30% luck, 30% strategy, 30% screwage, 10% painful, very painful, choices. And it's done by Michael Schacht, a game designer I am growing to REALLY enjoy.

We can get a new person up and running on this thing in 2 minutes, but mostly we don't have to because so many of us have played it.

Each person has a shop of fine china. On your turn, if you have money you can buy china from the table, if not, or if you choose, a bull can come through and trash your store. You get money for that, so you can buy new china on later turns. Four times in the game you score in different ways -- you have to plan for those different scoring schemes.

At the end it came out like this: Steven had 44 points. Brad had 48. Cathy Willms had 70. Fenwick had 71, eking out the win by a point!




Incan Gold


Kaylin and Rachael came by, and requested Incan Gold. This is Game Club classic gold. It takes little effort to convince us to play this game. The accidental interaction between players is wonderful -- you are always trying to outthink both the other players and the cards. Each of you are adventurers wandering into dangerous temples. Each turn you can decide to go forward or not. Every step can bring treasure or danger. Every one of those steps makes the decision to take another step more and more painful. The more people that bow out, the greater the possible reward, but the risk of dying in that temple rises, as well. Ever card that gets turned over is a thrill.

Six of us ventured into the temples...

Kaylin left with 12 treasures. Rachael had 14. Steven had 19. Brad had 22. Fenwick had 34. But Cathy Willms easily ended the richest with 52 treasures!




For Sale


For Sale comes out quite regularly. Again, it follows the theme of the day -- simple to learn, quick to play, tough decisions.

It has 2 parts -- an auction round, where you buy properties, and a blind bidding round where they get sold. 20 minutes, and this game is done...

Here's how the real estate moguls fared... Steven had $33,000. Rachael had $37,000. Fenwick had $40,000. Brad had $41,000. Kaylin had $49,000. Cathy Willms wins with $50,000!!




Cartagena


OK. Just kidding. This didn't get played. Cartegena II was accidentally grabbed, and was quickly put back in its box.

I forgot to mention to Kaylin and Rachael that they could just play it the old fashioned way -- you don't need to play with the new crazy rules.

There is a score card filled out for this, so I figured I should still mention it.

OH! On the back of that card is also written the following...
Kaylin is pretty awesome I think! Also she has really small handwriting!





Horochsen


This is new-ish, but will definitely be a keeper for a while. The anguish of Rage, the simplicity of Yummy, and the excitement of Incan Gold. All in a game that can be learned in a few minutes, and played in a few more. It scales perfectly for 3, 4, 5, or 6 people. We played with 5.

There were a couple new folks for the game, and it really takes one full game to get the hang of it... we played 2 full games.

After the two were tallied: Steven had -28 (Not as bad as it sounds, it can be hard to stay positive in this game!). Cathy had -7. Brad had 5 (that's surprising -- he usually does a LOT better). Sam had 24 (a consistent "12" in each game). But Fenwick won with a ridiculous 116!




Farkel


We finished up with a classic -- Farkel. Sam had to go, so it was down to 4 of us. WE knew time was a little tight, so we decided to play to 7500 instead of the classic 10000.

Farkel brought me bakc to enjoying dice. It should be a casino game somehow -- I would go to Vegas. It's all about pushing your luck, and feeling the excitement!

We were all destroyed by the deft hands of Steven.

End scores: Brad had 3000. Fenwick had 3650. Cathy Willms had 4250. And Steven crushed us with 7600.




Another good game day. This one seemed more about quantity than quality, but there shall be other summer days for the lengthier strategy games...

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

General catchups...

OK, I promised to keep up with this better. Apparently I lied.

We have been playing games! Even up through the summer. And we will continue to do so.

I thought I'd blast down some of the games we have been playing -- some old faves, and a few new ones.

The list of games we've played in the past few weeks... and some notes... it'll be a bunch o' stuff. I put the games in alphabetical order, because the score sheets are all scrambled up, and there are even some games we played which we didn't record, but I had made a note of. So this is more of some quick game reviews as opposed to actually session reports. But it's something! And something a little different than usual. Different is often good. Anyhoo -- here goes...

Bohnanza

This is one we come back around to when we're in the mood. It can lead to anger and impatience and annoyance when the trading is not going well. Egos need to be put aside, but you still need some real shrewdness to get by. One of the hardest parts of this game is remembering that you can not reorder the cards in your hand -- it's painful sometimes. It's one that, in the right crowd, can be quite a bit of fun. In the wrong batch of folks it can turn into a bloodbath. It's amazing that a game based around bean farming could EVER be fun, but this actually is, most of the time (see above).


Bull in a China Shop

This is another unlikely themed game that turns out to be quite a bit of fun. I'm really glad I stumbled over this gem. I'm not surprised, really. It's made by Michael Schacht, who has made such wonderfulness as California, China, Zooloretto (described later in this blog entry!), and Fist of Dragonstones (together with Bruno Faidutti, who is another game genius). Each player runs a China Shop, and during your turn you can buy new china for that shop. If you have no money, or chose to not purchase, your shop is invaded by a bull, which may destroy some of your fine porcelain. You do gain money from this (I suppose you submit an insurance claim), so you'll be able to buy stuff in the future. 4 times during the game, the play is paused and scoring occurs. There are four different ways to score your shop, and you can use each one just once (the system is very Yahtzee-esque). Timing is crucial, buying stuff too soon, will almost ensure its destruction, but waiting will allow other players to scoop up the good stuff. The rules are simple, it plays VERY quick with players who know what they're doing. We'll play this one a lot.


Cranium: Cloodle, Humdinger, Letter Line-Up & Sculptorades

Cranium games have never been my favorites, really. They really are the ultimate games for non-gamers. I mean, they are good for some silliness, but the enjoyment gets kind of thin after a while. These MINIgames are actually a good way for me to get over this. Each game takes a MAXIMUM of 5 minutes. That's the time everyone has to work together to guess words by describing, drawing, sculpting, or humming. The only new thing to Cranium is the "Letter Line-Up", which is sort of like one of the elements of Hoopla -- in that you have to describe something using words starting with only one letter. In this you roll six letter dice, and you have six letters to choose from (maybe less, if there's a repeat). They're good, quick, cooperative games. And you can mix and match them together to make whatever you may be in the mood for. It's just a tiny little bite of Cranium, and that's perfect.


Elfenland

I do like this game. Designed by Alan Moon. He has probably sold more of his "Ticket to Ride" games than any others. Funny thing: those are my LEAST favorite of his -- I've actually come to avoid playing them whenever I can help it. I love his 10 Days... series of games. Incan Gold (which will be mentioned again below), is a super-simple super-tense wonder of a game. So, I suppose liking this would make sense. The ENTIRE game takes place in 4 turns. Each turn consists of a few steps -- you gather 'permission' tokens, than allow you to plan your path. You then place those tokens, possibly being thwarted by others placing theirs. Lastly you use cards to actually move along those paths. You're trying to visit as many cities as possible -- most cities visited wins! The board is gorgeous, the wooden bits are satisfying to hold, and the cards and tokens are solid and colorful. Pleasant to look at, and pleasant to play. I'm glad we've finally moved this into regular rotation.


For Sale

This one is by a fella named Stefan Dorra, who has also done Intrigue and Turn the Tide, two of my favolrite games ever -- both are quite different in style. Intrigue is completely about negotiation. Turn the Tide is a trick-taking game with painful twists, every point is hard-won. For Sale is also one I enjoy immensely, and is different still. It uses 2 VERY basic game mechanics: Auction and Blind-bidding. These two are often confused or lumped together as the same thing, when they are NOT at all. The game For Sale helps clear up the difference. The first round is an auction round -- some real estate is placed on the table, and the auction begins... the bids go up until everyone drops out, and the best property gets purchased by that person. Once all real estate is purchased, the second round begins: selling off those propereties. This time some money is put on the table. Each player secretly picks a property they've purchased... the highest valued property fetches the most money. Most money at the end wins! Another quick and wonderful game.


Hamster-rolle

This is a dexterity game, sort of in the land of Jenga-style things. But this one uses a wheel! Every person is trying to get rid of a variety of wooden blocks by placing them on the wheel. Each placement disturbs the delicate balance of the wheel, possibly dumping pieces on the table -- those go back into your collection of things you need to get rid of. First one ridding themselves on those pieces wins it all.


Heave Ho!

This is just a two-player game, where you are trying to win a tug-of-war game in Scotland. You win barrels of whiskey after each round. One of the wildest twists is the first part of each round is a furious sorting of cards -- each player gets a little less than half the deck. And then each player decides which half to keep and which half to give away. Then you play along playing cards to try to create a heartier team of tuggers than your opponent. Winning gets you a whiskey barrel -- most barrels wins!


Hornochsen!

This is relatively new to game club, and may be turning into one of our favorites! It's a card game with a deck of numbered cards (1 to 98). A bunch of seed cards are placed on the table, in order. The order determines what cards can be played on what cards. Each turn players can play one to three cards. When 5 cards in a set are played, it is claimed. Some cards are positive, some are neegative. There are also some +5 and x2 cards in the mix that can help or hurt. Points can be hard to come by. It's simple and fun, and has a really good "One more game!" factor.


Incan Gold

This one requires little explanation or description, because we play it often. This was an instant favorite due to its fun bits and theme. You are an Indiana Jones-style archeaoadventurer (the CLASSIC Indiana Jones, not the new piece of trash), and treasures and horrors await you in a variety of ancient temples. The bravest adventurers can get quite rich, but also risk losing it all to mummies or giant spiders. It's great fun, and there is is much yelling and cheering during each game.


Lost Cities

Reiner Knizia's best 2 player game. Don't just take my word for it -- besides Magic: The Gathering, this game has the MOST plays logged on Boardgamegeek. By quite a bit. Settlers? Puerto Rico? Power Grid? ALL PALE in comparison the number of plays of Lost Cities. And it's clear why -- the game is simple, portable, quick, strategic and beautiful. I will play this whenever anyone suggests it. The game is easy -- once you've played a card of a certain color, you can only play numbers greater. At the end, add up all your points, subtracting 20 (to pay back your investors), you get a 20 point bonus if you have 8 or more cards of a single color. Shuffle cards. Play again.


Odin's Ravens

Another 2-player game. You are each try to race a raven through an obstacle course of territories. It actually has a feel of being somewhere between Elfenland and Candyland. You have a route you need to take and you play cards to manuever through that route. You also can call on the power of Odin to help you, or thwart your opponent. It's simple and fun, with enough levels of things to do that it is fun every time. The narrow cards are well illustrated, and allow you to fit a lot of cards on a smaller table.


Quiddler

It's Quiddler. Far and away the most played game here at game club. It's rummy meets Scrabble. It can be played with 2 people or 10 people. It is easy to learn, and can be played however you may be in the mood for -- helpful, or cutthroat. I am on about my 5th Quiddler deck, I play this game so much -- I either make it so the cards are too grubby to be usable, or give a deck away to spread the joy that is Quiddler.


San Juan

Over the past coupl of months, San Juan has turned into a real regular for Game Club. It's definitely a "gamer's game", with strategy seeping out of every pore, but it is light enough that we can rope in new people fairly easily. It has turned into one where the regulars like to play with regulars, but we can still drag a new person into the fold now and again. This game has a clever use of cards. The single deck is used for everything. The cards have buildings on them, and you play them as buildings. You use the other cards in your hand as payment for those buildings or as products produced by those buildings. It makes for wonderfully painful choices as to which buildings you discard to build others. With hand limits in effect, the choice is required -- you can't just sit there and hoard cards to build whatever you like. This is based on the smash hit game "Puerto Rico" which I've never successfully played. That one seems to have to same unneccessary and unsatisfying complexity of Power Grid. San Juan is a lovely, lovely game. And the last time we played I actually won. This never happens.


Spy

This is a fairly weak offering from the game giant Reinere Knizia. I mean it IS fun, but it is mostly filler. It is just a set-collecting driven game, quite a bit like Ticket to Ride. BUT, each set made (there are twelve different "suits") increases the number of cards needed the next time. You make a set of 4 "Europes", the next person is going to have to have 5 to cash in. That difficulty increase really saves this otherwise simplistic game. I will play Spy as a filler, but it is certainly not my favorite Knizia game. (At least it's not Blue Moon. BLECH.)


Ticket to Ride

I have really come to avoid playing this game whenever possible. Its set collection is tedious, its unintentional screwage of others is annoying, its scalability is ATROCIOUS (2 or 3 players, and the game is too spacious, 4 or 5 and you can accomplish nothing), and its length and pace is just ponderous. The bits are tremendous -- hundreds of plastic trains, gorgeous oversized map, nicely colored and illustrated cards. It's not enough to save this otherwise broken game. His other offerings are so much better. I'd rather play Clocktowers... I am clearly alone in this regard, though. Ticket to Ride has sold, I dunno, billions of copies, I think. It's current number 43 on boardgamegeek. I cannot understand it.


Tongiaki

This is a fairly quick strategy-filler of a game. WAIT?! Strategy-filler?! It can't be! It's either a strategy game OR a filler! Not anymore. Tongiaki does them both quite well. You each play a group of explorers of the South Pacific, sailing through uncharted territory. The strategy is in how you expand your boats and at what times. The problem is that when an island fills up, your opponents can sail you right off the island without your permission. This potential expansion of your folks can help or harm you. And even though you are not actively participating, you feel involved in the game when it isn't your turn. It makes the downtime feel a lot less 'down'. And there is often groaning and screaming as an opponent forces your boats into dangerous waters to their demise. I really love this game. The bits, the action, the tension, the strategy, and the brevity of this game make it one I come back to often.


Word Blur

A new party game has been added to Game Club! This is a word-guessing game. It's a little tricky to explain for a really simply game, but here goes: Imagine Pictionary, but instead of DRAWING the word, you need to grab words from a head of Magnetic-Poetry-looking bits and arrange them so they describe to word. Every play is an all-play, so there is no down time at all. There is a card with modifiers on it, to help you better use the words you pick from the pile (plurals, 'sound like', opposite of). You have to be fairly clever, and have some real mind-melding going to be successful at this game. It is fun, and hilarious. There are some real "OH WOW!" moments when you finally figure out where someone was going with a cleverly wacky description. I see this one being played fairly often...


Zombie Fluxx

I've never been a big fan of Fluxx. I liked it when i first played it, but it got a little tired after a while. I think part of the problem is that new people tended to complain about its complexity. The simplest game on the PLANET, and people would whine, "This is TOO HARD." Then they'd go sit down and play Power Grid. ALL THE RULES ARE ON THE CARDS. READ AND DO. NOT hard. And everyone else will help step you through this monstrously easy game! That aspect always ate away at me, so Fluxx disappeared for a while. But now there's Zombie Fluxx. A little more complicated because ZOMBIES are involved. I think this could help... I amagine this conversation: "YOu know Fluxx?" "Yeah, that's too tricky." "Well, now it has zombies in it." "ALL RIGHT THEN, let's play!" Zombies make everything better. And it has definitely worked for Fluxx. This is FAR from a perfect game, but the hilarity of the Zombies (especially with the card that forces you to groan like a Zombie whenever one appears) gives it a nice edge. This is some fine, fine filler. And I just love the "Zombie Jamboree!" "Let's Shamble!!"


Zooloretto

This is a game designed by Michael Schacht, who I have learned makes very, very wonderful diversions. Bull in a China Shop (described above), California, China, Fist of Dragonstones, have all turned out to be ones I enjoy immensely. Zooloretto fits in with those very nicely. Each player owns a zoo and is trying to fill their zoo pens with a set of animals. FILL is the key, incomplete pens net you less points. You can also put vending machines around to help attract folks. Each turn starts with people loading up trucks with random stuff (animals, vending, money). During the loading process you can use your money to upgrade your zoo, move animals around, or buy animals from opponents. Endgame comes sooner than you'd like -- it's easy to get stranded with stuff you wouldn't like. Planning ahead is important, and unfortunately sometimes impossible. You have to keep an eye on everyone else's zoo, and see how they interact with your own. Each play reveals more subtleties in the gameplay. I couldn't possibly say enough about the bits -- the animals are adorable, and the wooden "trucks", though they don't look truck-ish are perfect. There are plenty of add-ons to this game, which I haven't tried, but would like to. Although, the base game is tremendous alone.





PHEW. That was a lot of reviewing. But hopefully it adequately filled in a huge gap in blog sessions...

Off to play some more!