February 2
King of Tokyo (Chris, Zoe)
We were just sitting around, pooped, waiting for Morph and Davina and as this was the only short game within reach, we gave it a try again two-player; never again. I won, but it really wasn’t any fun at all.
King of Tokyo (Chris, Davina, Morph, Zoe)
This was a little better, although it didn’t spark in the way I keep hoping it will – and did with the first group I played with at London on Board. I’d looked forward to getting King of Tokyo but it hasn’t gone down well with any of my groups, so I think I’ll reluctantly be trading it away – a shame, as it was a Secret Santa gift, a game I like and one I thought my lot would get into. As usual I was way too aggressive and went down early, Zoe followed soon after and Davina won it by a mile after claiming a few great cards and sitting back, before unleashing the smack on Morph.
Ticket to Ride (Chris, Davina, Morph)
Zoe succumbed to a long day and good Chinese food, while the rest of us had just enough in the tank for a ‘hardcore’ TtR (five cards each across the points values you have to keep them all). It was the first time Davina had played this way but it didn’t show – it was close throughout but she managed all five routes, while morph and me both missed out a short one. I got longest route for a tie of second (114) but Davina edged it with 122.
February 4
NEWThe Castles of Burgundy(Chris, Zoe)
I thought I'd like Castles of Burgundy and I was right - but I wasn't so sure about Zoe. But actually she really enjoyed the game, despite her being behind from early on and losing 179-162. The fact it was close throughout was great, while the way the dice and tiles work add fun random elements that can be well mitigated if you choose certain strategies. The game has gone from a possible to a wishlist definite now; it’ll be on my ‘please be cheap at Essen’ list for sure!
February 5
Unpublished prototype (Chris, Matt D)
When Matt and I had met up the previous week for Innovation, I’d introduced him to an idea I’d had for a mini card game. It involves each player having two cards on the table that act as four-sided rondels, while two cards in their hand are played secretly (and revealed simultaneously) each turn to show how far they move clockwise (one 90 degrees, the other 180, although you can ‘pay’ to alter this a little). There are three routes to victory (production, military, tech) and beyond a few cards, all you need are some chits to mark those three currencies. We had our first look at it tonight and it came together nicely for a first try; exciting!
February 6
Unpublished prototype (Chris, Matt D)
Matt and I met for lunch to refine the mini rondel card game. Matt made a couple of changes to the actions (swapping two on cards to make a strong obvious choice a little trickier) and we ironed out win conditions and what each action gave/prevented). Most importantly though, the game isn’t breaking and is creating interesting decisions/tensions/bluffs each round. Hopefully one more session will get us to a where we can take it to the wider design/test group (who will tear it to shreds lol).
NEW1655 - Habemus Papam(Andy, Carl, Chris)
Matt had lent me this and it sounded pretty intriguing. However, after one play I don’t need to have another go. It’s a simple bidding game where you’re collecting votes to become the new pope. It’s well thought out, the theme seems to fit well enough but there was simply no spark. I never cared about winning, felt I did anything clever, or felt repeat plays would bring anything else to the game. The cards were very samey and while I’ve played much, much worse games I certainly won’t add 1655 to my wishlist. For the record, I won on the tiebreak.
Ra (Andy, Carl, Chris)
From bidding average-ness to bidding excellence, there’s simply no comparison between 1655 and Ra. There are surprises, agonising decisions, every game seems thoroughly different and every time we play you can feel the level of animation around the table rise from whatever we’ve played before. I won a rather odd game with 55 (Andy 37, Carl 47) after scoring more than half of those points on Flood and Nile cards (14 in the last round, I think).
February 9
The Downfall of Pompeii (Chris, Zoe)
First play of this for a while, but my 20th game since purchasing it – and the game is still a lot of fun, which speaks volumes. I like the two-player game as it’s a lot less chaotic and a purer ‘gamer’ game for it. That said, the hectic nature of multiplayer is equally enjoyable, just in a different way. Tonight’s game was close but I felt I had it under control after getting a much larger share of the left hand areas of the board. It ended up pretty close though, with me squeaking a busy game 19-17.
February 10
Snowdonia (Andy, Carl, Chris)
First Snowdonia play of 2013 and the first time I’d introduced the guys to it, for shame. It wasn’t the best introduction either, as the white cubes came thick and fast and – mixed with sunny weather throughout – I think the game got more points than we did. We were all down in the 50s going into the final round, but Andy (84) got a couple of bonus cards completed late to get over the line ahead of me (76).
February 12
NEWBasari(Bonnie, Chris, Lloyd)
Having got to the pub early (surprise) we sat down with this super filler; I’d never even heard of it, but after one game Basari is now on my wishlist. Basari is a simple racing game at heart, but getting over the line first is just one way of scoring points – and the player with the most points is going to actually win. Each round you choose an action – move, score points or gain gems. If only you choose an action, you do it – if two players pick it, you barter gems until one backs down; if you all choose it, no one does it. Points are rewarded for having the most in each of the four gem colours too, so holding onto them is often equally attractive. For such a simple, speedy game there is a lot going on and I was totally sold. Oh, and I won too, which helped.
NEW Chinatown(Bonnie, Chris, Lloyd, Martin, Paul)
Another new game for me and another I enjoyed, although I don’t see myself needing to own a copy – negotiation and maths aren’t really fortes of my group and this one relies on heavily on them for the fun factor. Also, its not a game I need to play often. Each round begins with players drawing random real estate cards (representing the 100 interconnected spaces on the board) and shop unit tiles that are placed on them (ranging in required size and value) – then it’s loud, untimed negotiation time. When things die down, you place your new tiles on your new real estate. Lloyd pipped Bonnie (960) with 1,020 by completing two five-space shops with a few rounds to go – but I was more than happy with a debut third on 900.
NEWLiar's Dice(Bonnie, Chris, Lloyd, Martin, Paul, Vica)
As we had six Martin pulled out Liar’s Dice, which I hadn’t played. I’d normally try to push it to two groups of three but I was happy to learn a new (to me) game and ended up having a great time with this one. It’s an odd but fun dice game where the push-your-luck element comes from your prediction of how many dice will be of a certain number (we started the game rolling five each turn), rather on rolling the dice themselves. Predictions ramp-up as you go around the table until someone calls bluff – then you count up and the loser loses die. I got lucky and ended up winning with three dice left, having taken down Martin and Lloyd early on – clearly a great game!
Uruk: Wiege der Zivilisation (Chris, Lloyd, Paul)
I ended the night with a bit more Uruk evangelism, this time bringing Paul and Lloyd into the fold. It was another great close but low scoring game, with me pipping Lloyd on the second tiebreaker with 21 points (Paul was just behind on 19). They both seemed to enjoy themselves too, which was the best thing. It’s interesting how people’s early games tend to be more of a race and end quickly with lower scores, while later games get more tactical as people wait for specific cards or combos. Still loving it though, however it plays out.
February 13
NEWAndroid: Netrunner (Chris, Matt D)
Calling this ‘new’ isn’t technically correct – I played it when it came out, but wasn’t recording plays back then. It was Matt’s first game but he’d familiarised himself with the rules, so played Corporation (as it’s a little more complex). We used the suggested decks for new players, but I hadn’t looked through it – so had no idea how it played. We were close for a while (a two-point agenda each) but one big turn saw Matt take out two of my key programs which paralyzed me. He took a second two point agenda and a third a few turns later for a comfortable win. It’s a good game, but even with the LCG format I’m not sure I care enough to invest either time or money into a deck building game. I’ll have a few more games before I make my mind up though.
February 15
Macao (Chris, Zoe)
Through the Ages is the game I play lest often compared to the love I have it; Macao is second. It’s also a game Zoe is convinced she’s rubbish at, but her 88-77 win tonight would suggest otherwise! With almost 20 plays now, I think we’re starting to get to the depths of it – there’s so much going on, so much randomness to contend with, so much to worry about. But then it’s all about mitigating that luck. Quite simply, it’s a great game. And Zoe was clearly lucky…
NEWThe Really Simple Rondel Game (Chris, Zoe)
I’m putting this as a ‘new’ because it now has a name and I’m starting to feel that we’ve got a real, genuine game on our hands – something I’ll be happy to put my name on and call my (well our, as in Matt and me) own. It was Zoe’s first game and unfortunately she’s rubbish at criticising stuff I do (aww, bless) so I didn’t get much feedback from her. That said, she genuinely seemed to enjoy it and I found a few important new (but easily fixable) flaws the day before it goes off to ‘big’ testing in London, so it was hugely useful. And I won – on the second tiebreaker. Rah!
February 17
The Manhattan Project (Carl, Chris, Howie)
One of my favourite games of 2012 made its first appearance of 2013 and was as fun as ever. I won, but Carl would’ve got in on next turn so it was very close. It was only Howie’s second game, and the first one was ages ago, so he’s really still getting to grips with the pacing – something Manhattan Project does in a very interesting and unique way. I won with only six buildings on my tableau too, two of which I hardly used; I’m coming to terms with the fact this is very much a game of efficiency. Two bombs and that was that. Annoyingly I forgot to use the mini ‘Nations’ expansion, although looking at the powers it seems pretty unbalanced – we’ll try it next time.
Copycat (Carl, Chris, Howie)
While I wouldn’t stand tall and defend this Coypcat against its many critics, I do enjoy it a lot. I like all the games it ‘copies’ and the result is a pleasant, stress free game that bowls along nicely. It was Howie’s first game but that didn’t stop him winning on the tiebreak, chasing me down on 90 points in the final round. Carl ended on 67 but more than doubled his score in the final round – another round and he would’ve been in contention. I started out by missing out on any cards that game extra gold and just rolled with it, which saw me take a great early lead that was slowly whittled away as the great cards I couldn’t afford started to come into play.
February 18
Power Grid (Chris, Zoe)
This was our sixth game, but our first using the Robots expansion. We added one to try it out and it was slow at first, but once we got going the dummy player really elevated the two-player game. I got a better board position than Zoe (something she needs to work on), got to place the robot, and then got lucky with the tiles (getting very cheap fuel costs for three rounds). This led to a slow start followed by a powerful run that put me into what proved to be an unassailable lead. I got to 17 plants and could power 14, with Zoe back on 11 and our robot friend on 7. The Robot was a pain though – it bought double all resources if in last place, which made for some pricey rounds and some added thought in plant buying decisions.
February 19
The Really Simple Rondel Game (Chris, Dave, John)
There had been two sets of rules changes since my last game and this was also our first attempt at a three-player game – so really it was a success, despite plenty of hiccups. John had played a week earlier with Matt and it was great to hear him say he thought even in that time it had come a lot closer to being finished. I was just happy to see the agonised looks on their faces as they tried to decide what to do each round – exactly what I wanted to achieve and pretty good for a game with 16 cards and a few cubes! Both Dave and John gave some great feedback though; I just wish I knew how close to ‘done’ we were; it seems really close, but each little change seems to lead to another. Game design definitely requires a hell of a lot of patience!
February 20
Endeavor (Andy, Carl, Chris)
We’d talked about Endeavor at the weekend and decided we all loved it, so off the shelf it came. This was a rare example of me getting the game right, ending up on 61 ahead of the guys in the mid 40s. I usually ship almost non stop, forgetting the importance of points on the board – this time I got 12 from colonies and shipping routes and plenty elsewhere too. I know Endeavor isn’t universally loved, but it’s a game where I really feel the influence of my fellow players during the game – which makes my occasional wins very satisfying. For me, this is an underrated game.
Race for the Galaxy (Andy, Carl, Chris)
Woop, another win for me – but in a weirdly symmetrical way. Our positions were the same and each of us scored within five points of our Endeavor scores. I got 58, Carl 42 (46 in Endeavor) and Andy 40 (45). The secret to my success? Blind luck. I got dealt a bunch of weirdness that ended up scoring points in strange, random ways. Andy started down a simple brown route… and got no brown cards. Carl went military, got nada, and scrambled a yellow tableau. Them’s the breaks!
February 22
Archaeology: The Card Game (Chris, Zoe)
Having finally admitted this as lost for good; Zoe ordered another copy that came in the post this week. It was great to play again after so long and it turned out to be a really close game. I got rotten luck on draws in the first two-thirds of the game and was well down, but then drew three maps in four turns shortly after the last Sandstorm had hit. A couple of late Thieves helped me amass a bunch of points late on and I somehow overhauled Zoe 105-102. Definitely still one of my favourite filler games.
February 23
Jaipur (Chris, Matt P)
This was the first night my colleague Matt and me were in Barcelona for a work trip and sadly turned out to be our only free time to play a few games. We headed to great, scruffy little board game café Bar Queimada and Matt preceded to beat me at Jaipur at his first attempt 2-1. Of course I put it down to luck, but then the game is always swingy – which means I don’t mind losing, I’m just happy to play.
Love Letter (Chris, Matt P)
We then moved onto the far more skill based (ahem) Love Letter, which I won 7-5. Matt was the second person (after morph) who just didn’t really see the point in this one; I think you need to be a certain type of gamer to ‘get’ it, and it just wasn’t his thing. Some just need to have a game behind the experience – the experience itself isn’t enough on its own.
NEWBattle Line (Chris, Matt P)
Despite us having no Spanish and the bar’s owner having practically no English, he still managed to recommend – and almost teach us – Battle Line. Luckily it had English rules and we soon picked it up. We really enjoyed it too and while Matt won by getting to five ‘peons’ first I didn’t feel like I lost properly, as I’d failed to pick up cards several times and spent a good third of the game playing with four or five cards. Sadly I can see Zoe hating Battle Line, so I won’t be picking it up, but I look forward to getting some more games in the future.
King of Tokyo (Chris, Zoe)
We were just sitting around, pooped, waiting for Morph and Davina and as this was the only short game within reach, we gave it a try again two-player; never again. I won, but it really wasn’t any fun at all.
King of Tokyo (Chris, Davina, Morph, Zoe)
This was a little better, although it didn’t spark in the way I keep hoping it will – and did with the first group I played with at London on Board. I’d looked forward to getting King of Tokyo but it hasn’t gone down well with any of my groups, so I think I’ll reluctantly be trading it away – a shame, as it was a Secret Santa gift, a game I like and one I thought my lot would get into. As usual I was way too aggressive and went down early, Zoe followed soon after and Davina won it by a mile after claiming a few great cards and sitting back, before unleashing the smack on Morph.
Ticket to Ride (Chris, Davina, Morph)
Zoe succumbed to a long day and good Chinese food, while the rest of us had just enough in the tank for a ‘hardcore’ TtR (five cards each across the points values you have to keep them all). It was the first time Davina had played this way but it didn’t show – it was close throughout but she managed all five routes, while morph and me both missed out a short one. I got longest route for a tie of second (114) but Davina edged it with 122.
February 4
NEWThe Castles of Burgundy(Chris, Zoe)
I thought I'd like Castles of Burgundy and I was right - but I wasn't so sure about Zoe. But actually she really enjoyed the game, despite her being behind from early on and losing 179-162. The fact it was close throughout was great, while the way the dice and tiles work add fun random elements that can be well mitigated if you choose certain strategies. The game has gone from a possible to a wishlist definite now; it’ll be on my ‘please be cheap at Essen’ list for sure!
February 5
Unpublished prototype (Chris, Matt D)
When Matt and I had met up the previous week for Innovation, I’d introduced him to an idea I’d had for a mini card game. It involves each player having two cards on the table that act as four-sided rondels, while two cards in their hand are played secretly (and revealed simultaneously) each turn to show how far they move clockwise (one 90 degrees, the other 180, although you can ‘pay’ to alter this a little). There are three routes to victory (production, military, tech) and beyond a few cards, all you need are some chits to mark those three currencies. We had our first look at it tonight and it came together nicely for a first try; exciting!
February 6
Unpublished prototype (Chris, Matt D)
Matt and I met for lunch to refine the mini rondel card game. Matt made a couple of changes to the actions (swapping two on cards to make a strong obvious choice a little trickier) and we ironed out win conditions and what each action gave/prevented). Most importantly though, the game isn’t breaking and is creating interesting decisions/tensions/bluffs each round. Hopefully one more session will get us to a where we can take it to the wider design/test group (who will tear it to shreds lol).
NEW1655 - Habemus Papam(Andy, Carl, Chris)
Matt had lent me this and it sounded pretty intriguing. However, after one play I don’t need to have another go. It’s a simple bidding game where you’re collecting votes to become the new pope. It’s well thought out, the theme seems to fit well enough but there was simply no spark. I never cared about winning, felt I did anything clever, or felt repeat plays would bring anything else to the game. The cards were very samey and while I’ve played much, much worse games I certainly won’t add 1655 to my wishlist. For the record, I won on the tiebreak.
Ra (Andy, Carl, Chris)
From bidding average-ness to bidding excellence, there’s simply no comparison between 1655 and Ra. There are surprises, agonising decisions, every game seems thoroughly different and every time we play you can feel the level of animation around the table rise from whatever we’ve played before. I won a rather odd game with 55 (Andy 37, Carl 47) after scoring more than half of those points on Flood and Nile cards (14 in the last round, I think).
February 9
The Downfall of Pompeii (Chris, Zoe)
First play of this for a while, but my 20th game since purchasing it – and the game is still a lot of fun, which speaks volumes. I like the two-player game as it’s a lot less chaotic and a purer ‘gamer’ game for it. That said, the hectic nature of multiplayer is equally enjoyable, just in a different way. Tonight’s game was close but I felt I had it under control after getting a much larger share of the left hand areas of the board. It ended up pretty close though, with me squeaking a busy game 19-17.
February 10
Snowdonia (Andy, Carl, Chris)
First Snowdonia play of 2013 and the first time I’d introduced the guys to it, for shame. It wasn’t the best introduction either, as the white cubes came thick and fast and – mixed with sunny weather throughout – I think the game got more points than we did. We were all down in the 50s going into the final round, but Andy (84) got a couple of bonus cards completed late to get over the line ahead of me (76).
February 12
NEWBasari(Bonnie, Chris, Lloyd)
Having got to the pub early (surprise) we sat down with this super filler; I’d never even heard of it, but after one game Basari is now on my wishlist. Basari is a simple racing game at heart, but getting over the line first is just one way of scoring points – and the player with the most points is going to actually win. Each round you choose an action – move, score points or gain gems. If only you choose an action, you do it – if two players pick it, you barter gems until one backs down; if you all choose it, no one does it. Points are rewarded for having the most in each of the four gem colours too, so holding onto them is often equally attractive. For such a simple, speedy game there is a lot going on and I was totally sold. Oh, and I won too, which helped.
NEW Chinatown(Bonnie, Chris, Lloyd, Martin, Paul)
Another new game for me and another I enjoyed, although I don’t see myself needing to own a copy – negotiation and maths aren’t really fortes of my group and this one relies on heavily on them for the fun factor. Also, its not a game I need to play often. Each round begins with players drawing random real estate cards (representing the 100 interconnected spaces on the board) and shop unit tiles that are placed on them (ranging in required size and value) – then it’s loud, untimed negotiation time. When things die down, you place your new tiles on your new real estate. Lloyd pipped Bonnie (960) with 1,020 by completing two five-space shops with a few rounds to go – but I was more than happy with a debut third on 900.
NEWLiar's Dice(Bonnie, Chris, Lloyd, Martin, Paul, Vica)
As we had six Martin pulled out Liar’s Dice, which I hadn’t played. I’d normally try to push it to two groups of three but I was happy to learn a new (to me) game and ended up having a great time with this one. It’s an odd but fun dice game where the push-your-luck element comes from your prediction of how many dice will be of a certain number (we started the game rolling five each turn), rather on rolling the dice themselves. Predictions ramp-up as you go around the table until someone calls bluff – then you count up and the loser loses die. I got lucky and ended up winning with three dice left, having taken down Martin and Lloyd early on – clearly a great game!
Uruk: Wiege der Zivilisation (Chris, Lloyd, Paul)
I ended the night with a bit more Uruk evangelism, this time bringing Paul and Lloyd into the fold. It was another great close but low scoring game, with me pipping Lloyd on the second tiebreaker with 21 points (Paul was just behind on 19). They both seemed to enjoy themselves too, which was the best thing. It’s interesting how people’s early games tend to be more of a race and end quickly with lower scores, while later games get more tactical as people wait for specific cards or combos. Still loving it though, however it plays out.
February 13
NEWAndroid: Netrunner (Chris, Matt D)
Calling this ‘new’ isn’t technically correct – I played it when it came out, but wasn’t recording plays back then. It was Matt’s first game but he’d familiarised himself with the rules, so played Corporation (as it’s a little more complex). We used the suggested decks for new players, but I hadn’t looked through it – so had no idea how it played. We were close for a while (a two-point agenda each) but one big turn saw Matt take out two of my key programs which paralyzed me. He took a second two point agenda and a third a few turns later for a comfortable win. It’s a good game, but even with the LCG format I’m not sure I care enough to invest either time or money into a deck building game. I’ll have a few more games before I make my mind up though.
February 15
Macao (Chris, Zoe)
Through the Ages is the game I play lest often compared to the love I have it; Macao is second. It’s also a game Zoe is convinced she’s rubbish at, but her 88-77 win tonight would suggest otherwise! With almost 20 plays now, I think we’re starting to get to the depths of it – there’s so much going on, so much randomness to contend with, so much to worry about. But then it’s all about mitigating that luck. Quite simply, it’s a great game. And Zoe was clearly lucky…
NEWThe Really Simple Rondel Game (Chris, Zoe)
I’m putting this as a ‘new’ because it now has a name and I’m starting to feel that we’ve got a real, genuine game on our hands – something I’ll be happy to put my name on and call my (well our, as in Matt and me) own. It was Zoe’s first game and unfortunately she’s rubbish at criticising stuff I do (aww, bless) so I didn’t get much feedback from her. That said, she genuinely seemed to enjoy it and I found a few important new (but easily fixable) flaws the day before it goes off to ‘big’ testing in London, so it was hugely useful. And I won – on the second tiebreaker. Rah!
February 17
The Manhattan Project (Carl, Chris, Howie)
One of my favourite games of 2012 made its first appearance of 2013 and was as fun as ever. I won, but Carl would’ve got in on next turn so it was very close. It was only Howie’s second game, and the first one was ages ago, so he’s really still getting to grips with the pacing – something Manhattan Project does in a very interesting and unique way. I won with only six buildings on my tableau too, two of which I hardly used; I’m coming to terms with the fact this is very much a game of efficiency. Two bombs and that was that. Annoyingly I forgot to use the mini ‘Nations’ expansion, although looking at the powers it seems pretty unbalanced – we’ll try it next time.
Copycat (Carl, Chris, Howie)
While I wouldn’t stand tall and defend this Coypcat against its many critics, I do enjoy it a lot. I like all the games it ‘copies’ and the result is a pleasant, stress free game that bowls along nicely. It was Howie’s first game but that didn’t stop him winning on the tiebreak, chasing me down on 90 points in the final round. Carl ended on 67 but more than doubled his score in the final round – another round and he would’ve been in contention. I started out by missing out on any cards that game extra gold and just rolled with it, which saw me take a great early lead that was slowly whittled away as the great cards I couldn’t afford started to come into play.
February 18
Power Grid (Chris, Zoe)
This was our sixth game, but our first using the Robots expansion. We added one to try it out and it was slow at first, but once we got going the dummy player really elevated the two-player game. I got a better board position than Zoe (something she needs to work on), got to place the robot, and then got lucky with the tiles (getting very cheap fuel costs for three rounds). This led to a slow start followed by a powerful run that put me into what proved to be an unassailable lead. I got to 17 plants and could power 14, with Zoe back on 11 and our robot friend on 7. The Robot was a pain though – it bought double all resources if in last place, which made for some pricey rounds and some added thought in plant buying decisions.
February 19
The Really Simple Rondel Game (Chris, Dave, John)
There had been two sets of rules changes since my last game and this was also our first attempt at a three-player game – so really it was a success, despite plenty of hiccups. John had played a week earlier with Matt and it was great to hear him say he thought even in that time it had come a lot closer to being finished. I was just happy to see the agonised looks on their faces as they tried to decide what to do each round – exactly what I wanted to achieve and pretty good for a game with 16 cards and a few cubes! Both Dave and John gave some great feedback though; I just wish I knew how close to ‘done’ we were; it seems really close, but each little change seems to lead to another. Game design definitely requires a hell of a lot of patience!
February 20
Endeavor (Andy, Carl, Chris)
We’d talked about Endeavor at the weekend and decided we all loved it, so off the shelf it came. This was a rare example of me getting the game right, ending up on 61 ahead of the guys in the mid 40s. I usually ship almost non stop, forgetting the importance of points on the board – this time I got 12 from colonies and shipping routes and plenty elsewhere too. I know Endeavor isn’t universally loved, but it’s a game where I really feel the influence of my fellow players during the game – which makes my occasional wins very satisfying. For me, this is an underrated game.
Race for the Galaxy (Andy, Carl, Chris)
Woop, another win for me – but in a weirdly symmetrical way. Our positions were the same and each of us scored within five points of our Endeavor scores. I got 58, Carl 42 (46 in Endeavor) and Andy 40 (45). The secret to my success? Blind luck. I got dealt a bunch of weirdness that ended up scoring points in strange, random ways. Andy started down a simple brown route… and got no brown cards. Carl went military, got nada, and scrambled a yellow tableau. Them’s the breaks!
February 22
Archaeology: The Card Game (Chris, Zoe)
Having finally admitted this as lost for good; Zoe ordered another copy that came in the post this week. It was great to play again after so long and it turned out to be a really close game. I got rotten luck on draws in the first two-thirds of the game and was well down, but then drew three maps in four turns shortly after the last Sandstorm had hit. A couple of late Thieves helped me amass a bunch of points late on and I somehow overhauled Zoe 105-102. Definitely still one of my favourite filler games.
February 23
Jaipur (Chris, Matt P)
This was the first night my colleague Matt and me were in Barcelona for a work trip and sadly turned out to be our only free time to play a few games. We headed to great, scruffy little board game café Bar Queimada and Matt preceded to beat me at Jaipur at his first attempt 2-1. Of course I put it down to luck, but then the game is always swingy – which means I don’t mind losing, I’m just happy to play.
Love Letter (Chris, Matt P)
We then moved onto the far more skill based (ahem) Love Letter, which I won 7-5. Matt was the second person (after morph) who just didn’t really see the point in this one; I think you need to be a certain type of gamer to ‘get’ it, and it just wasn’t his thing. Some just need to have a game behind the experience – the experience itself isn’t enough on its own.
NEWBattle Line (Chris, Matt P)
Despite us having no Spanish and the bar’s owner having practically no English, he still managed to recommend – and almost teach us – Battle Line. Luckily it had English rules and we soon picked it up. We really enjoyed it too and while Matt won by getting to five ‘peons’ first I didn’t feel like I lost properly, as I’d failed to pick up cards several times and spent a good third of the game playing with four or five cards. Sadly I can see Zoe hating Battle Line, so I won’t be picking it up, but I look forward to getting some more games in the future.