Return to the path

Manny had to run, but Christine came by to join the fun.

We decided to show her Tsuro, which we had played earlier. Christine couldn't stay long, an Tsuro is easy to learn and quick to play.

Tsuro is playable by 2 to 8 players, but it seems to me that the more players you have, the more un and challenging it is. With just 2 players, you may not encounter each other in the entire game. With more players, interaction is guaranteed.

We played a 3-player version with Jay, Christine, and Chris.

Jay was eliminated first.

Chris and Christine managed to continue to battle it out for a bunch more tiles, but Chris fell off the board first.

Christine wins!

A good time-killer

Manny found Fluxx in the pile of games, and wanted to know more about it, so I agreed to show them how to play. Danielle had to go, so it was just Chris, Manny, and Jay left for a 3-player game of Fluxx.

Fluxx is a goofy little game. It's mostly luck, and the playing of the game really is the fun... winning happens kind of surprisingly, haphazardly, and without warning.

Here's a quick rundown of the game -- the game starts with a rule: on your turn you draw one card and play one card. There are cards that change the rules -- making more cards to be drawn or more cards to be played. The cards you play are of 4 types: Rules cards (described above), Action cards (that may let you take extra turns or steal cards from opponents), Keeper cards (which are just odd nouns -- examples: The Eye, War, Taxes, Peace, A Toaster, Milk, A Rocket), and Goal cards (this tells how someone wins -- an example of a Goal Card is "Toast: Whoever has Bread and the Toaster wins!").

Most people who first experience the game feel it's complicated, but once or twice through, and you get the hang of it. All the instructions are written on the cards, which is a handy reminder.

The game can be over in a couple turns, or go on for 20 minutes. This game lasted somewhere in the middle...

Chris had the Rocket and the Moon when he managed to play the "Rocket to the Moon" Goal card. Chris wins!

Block US!

After Cathy left, Danielle was there to fill in the spot. And, it was time to bring out an old standard: Blokus.

We can never say enough about Blokus. Elegantly designed, simple to learn, infinitely replayable. I generally don't like games that have 0% luck. I prefer games that are mostly skill, but games like Chess, Checkers, or Go, where you just have a set of pieces and a definite set of rules I find to be just frustrating. Blokus somehow breaks the mold in abstract strategy games. It's just fun.

Jay, Danielle, Chris, and Manny played a couple 4-player games of Blokus.

Here's the scores:

Jay	Danielle	Chris	Manny
-35	-12	-3	-45
-9	-8	-5	-35
THE TOTALS FOR THE GAMES
-44	-20	-8	-80

Chris had a couple good games. Game number 2 was rather close, though, at least among the top three players.

Quid----

Manny was itching for a game of Quiddler, and since he won the last game (and we love Quiddler), we granted him his wish.

We started with 5 players, but Scott had to leave after the first hand, so really, we played a 4-player game of Quiddler with Cathy, Chris, Manny, and Jay.

As it turns out, Cathy had to go meet her kids after school, so we didn't even get to finish the game. We managed to get up to a 7-card hand (the 'official' game increases each hand until it gets to 10 cards).

Here's what happened during the short Quiddler game:

Cathy	Chris	Manny	Jay
CLOY = 16	SKIN = 18	(nothing) = 0	(nothing) = 0
(nothing) = 0	GUM = 13	DO + SO = 22	RINK = 20
PIE = 0	THEY = 11	VEGAN = 36	RUT = 5
SOLEMN = 30	QUEER + IVY = 35	HEAR + AM = 23	ZING + AT = 32
THE + KOI = 19	ICY + GAZE = 38	DID + RUST = 27	GAY + WAR = 25
TOTALS FOR THE GAME
65	115	108	82

Chris wins, but it wasn't a full game, so I'm not sure if it counts...

The Game of the Path

As we finished Pig Pile, Manny and Scott came by. Manny, a game day regular, was late becuase he thought we weren't starting until 2:30 (we start at 1:00!)... better late than never!

I (Chris) had recently bought a game called Tsuro. Scott had really just come by to watch, but I convinced hit to join us in this simple, clever game.

Manny, Jay, Scott, Cathy, and Chris played a 5-player game of Tsuro.

Tsuro is played on a 6x6 board. The board starts empty, and tiles are laid on the board to make paths. The game can be played with as few as 2 or as much as 8 players. The goal is simple -- make the paths on the board so your playing piece is the last one on the board.

You can only place a tile next to your own piece, but, as the board gets filled and players mover around the board, one player's tile will affect other paths. Also, if two players' paths get connected so that they collide, they are BOTH knocked out of the game.

It's a simple game, and can be played in about 10 minutes. It has a sort of Zen flow to it, and is one of the most beautifully crafted games I've seen. The playing pieces looked like carved stone, and the board has a beautiful dragon-like design. The tiles are muted, soothing, natural colors. When the board is complete, the sweeping paths draw your eyes around the board.

Here's how the game went:

Scott was the first to be eliminated, stuck at an edge with no useful tiles for escape.

Chris connected two paths so that Jay and Cathy crashed into each other.

Chris managed to back himself into a corner, forcing HIMSELF off the board.

Manny wins!! And is looking pretty proud of that...

Piles o' Swine

I've been dying to get in a game of Pig Pile for a while. It's an easy one to pick up, and doesn't require too much brain power. It has some similar elements to Spite and Malice, so I figured it would be a good next game to play.

Chris, Cathy, and Jay played a 3-player game of Pig Pile.

Pig Pile is a sort of silly game where you play cards to a discard pile -- you need to play cards equal to or greater than the previous card played. If you are unable to do this you have to pick up the ENTIRE discard pile. The game would go on forever if that was all there is to it, but anytime 3 of the same card is played, the discard pile is wiped away and removed from the game. So the cards involved get reduced throughout the game.


Each player has 3 cards face up on top of 3 cards face down in front of him/her. Once a player has played all cards from his/her hand, that player can then start on the piles on the table. The first player to have no cards left is the winner.

Cathy was the first to get rid of cards from her hand, but the cards on the table were not cooperating. Jay was close to winning, but his last card was unplayable, and he had to pick up the discard pile. Chris and Cathy were furiusly try to get rid of their piles, but Jay was able to play all of the cards from his hand, and was left with just a "Hog Wild" card which could be played anytime, securing his win.

It's S&M for short!

I (Chris) got to the table right around 1:00, and started setting up some games. Cathy came over a few minutes after, at right around the same time that Cheryl, a new player in the club, stoped by.

Chris, Cathy, and Cheryl played a 3-player game of Spite and Malice.

Cathy and I know the game well, and quickly got Cheryl up to speed. She picked it up pretty quickly... and quickly juped into the lead, having a couple really good turns.

It turned out that Cheryl only had 15 minutes to play before her class. She was one card away from winning, and she had to go!


Luckily, Jay was drifting by right around this time, and he filled in the gap. AND he on the game on the next turn.

I'm not sure if this officially counts as a win for Jay, since he only sat in for the very end.

I think we'll call this a warm-up practice game.