Gamin' and Grillin'!

Last Saturday I invited the group over to game and grill. We started the BBQ about 5 and started the gaming about 7.

We had 11 people show up all told, but 2 left before gaming and one arrived about 7:45. We played 7 different games, with 3 of them being new to game night, and one of those being new to me.

While we had 8 players, we split into 2 groups. One group played Vegas Showdown, with Rob, the Ricky Rat Reject winning over three other Kenny Rogers wannabes.

The other table played Ticket to Ride: Europe. T2R:E has not hit the table nearly enough, with only one play a year since 2005, but it is a good solid evolution of the original. In the game I held a strong lead of 10 points throughout the game but not until the very end did I realise that I had confused Wilno and Wien, which caused me to lose 11 points and finish second behind Brenda.

The other table was still playing Vegas Showdown so we tried RukShuk, a game of rock balancing. This is where I really came to the fore (ok I beat 2 people and finished third). Brenda won this as well in a very convincing fashion. She was 30 points ahead of second place.

The Vegas Showdown game ended and we mixed the groups up, with table one playing Winds of Plunder and table two playing another game of RukShuk.

I won the Winds of Plunder game by 4 points over JC, and there were only 10 points between first and fourth. I like this game, there is some goofiness and there are some decisions you have to make. The only downside is the cannons, which can be combatted by card play. All in all, I find this an entertaining pirate game.

Rukchuk had 4 players in it, and this time it wsa won by Brendan, over a field of three others.

Several of the players left for the night so table two started a game of Munchkin while we were finishing up Winds of Plunder. This meant that there were groups of 4 and 2. The group of two played several different games. First we cracked out Le Passe-Trappe a light dexterity game that takes about 10 minutes to play. I was crushed by Tim. Our next game while we awaited was Acquire, a game of business. Tim crushed me again, so I kicked him out...

The Munchkin game finished about 30 minutes before Acquire with Brendan winning his second game of the night.

I am unsure if there will be a game night, I am hoping to schedule one for August 17th, but I don't know my availability yet.

I have not posted much lately

I guess it has been too hot to sit in front of a computer, next week, or later this week, I will write about Cheapass-style games and the game night review.

A new "game store" opened up in Calgary, not really a game store, more of a teacher's store than a game store. It is named Scholar's Choice, and I had a coupon for 205 off, so it couldn't hurt to check things out. I ended up purchasing RukShuk and Blokus Duo and I was given a copy of Regatta. I have skimmed Rukshuk but have not looked at the other two games yet.

I did play a couple of new games last week as well, neither of them expensive but both seems to have a good value for the cost. The Very Clever Pipe Game, a tile laying game from Cheapass Games that plays in about 15 minutes, and Chrononauts a card game in which you are a time traveler. I liked both games, but I may have liked Chrononauts a little more (I won :)) but it may be a little too chaotic in a 6 player game. The Pipe game is 2 or 4 player, and I think it shines as a two player game, I think it would be less of a game with 4, I have not played it with that number yet, it is just a feeling.

I am still waiting for a review of Enemy Chocolatier from whomever got it at New Years.

Theme Game Days

I have been thinking that I may want to have more theme nights; these would be outside regular game nights and would focus on one style (or company’s) game. The first theme night I did was the Commands & Colours Day, which attracted 9 people. My thoughts for a second theme night (or day) is an Avalon Hill Day, a Cheapass Day, or a Puffing Billy (or Train Game) Day as well..

The Avalon Hill Game-A-Thon would be all AH games from their heyday in the 80s (and some earlier). I have an assortment of AH games, including Merchants of Venus, Wrasslin’, Acquire, Blackbeard, Tyranno Ex, Kremlin, Wooden Ships and Iron Men, Gladiator, and Enemy in Sight. The longer games such as Diplomacy, Civilization, and History of the World would be skipped in favour of the shorter 1-3 hour games.

The Cheapass Game Day would include other small game companies as well, like Placebo Press and Green Ronin Publishing. The games would all be light and cheap. I am thinking this would be better named to “Trashy Game Day, Bring Beer.” and go from there. These games would primarily last 10 to 75 minutes and would be at the lower end of the complexity scale.

A Puffing Billy Day would involve an assortment of train games, from Ticket to Ride (all three versions) to Santa Fe Rails, Empire Builder and Railroad Tycoon. These are all games that last around 1-3 hours as well. If someone brought over a copy of Age of Steam or an 18XX game I would not be averse to playing it as well.

Let me know what you preference is, and I can get started planning these. My months of July & August are pretty full, so the earliest I can plan this for is September. Please reply here so I can track to see if there is any interest.