Super Bowl Board Games
Football is not usually the main focus of the fraternity Super Bowl party that I try to attend in Philadelphia every year. While we always do watch the big game, the more so this year with the Eagles playing in it, what usually happens is something like this:
- On Saturday, Mike & I get breakfast. Then we play board games all morning and afternoon (both with and without his wife and kids). In the evening a bunch of PhiKaps come over and we hang out and have dinner. Sometimes more board games are played.
- On Sunday, I usually get breakfast with my friend Helene while everyone else has brunch out somewhere. Then Mike and I play board games until it's time to go over to Joe's for the Super Bowl party.
It's safe to say that play more board games that weekend than I do in most months. It's usually a mix of games we play every year and whatever new hotness Mike has acquired with his usual board game group. This year, the list of games played looked like this:
- In previous years we played a lot of 7 Wonders, to the point where I even bought a copy for myself in the hopes of playing it with people in Cleveland. One problem is that 7 Wonders isn't great with just two players. They've rectified this with the release of an entirely separate two player game built around the same concepts called 7 Wonders Duel. Mike and I played three times. I won twice and he won once.
- We've played a lot of Dominion in the past. I actually used to play this a lot in Cleveland and was even reasonably good at it, but I more or less forgot everything by the time we played with the base set and Intrigue expansion. Somehow, I still managed to rally enough to score a draw.
- Agricola: All Creatures Big & Small is the two player variant of Agricola. I own a copy that I got cheap/free somewhere and brought it along. I'm not actually sure I like the game very much, a feeling not helped by Mike defeating me twice without much effort.
- I returned the favor when Mike brought out Azul. I beat him twice head to head and then lost to Meredith in a four player game later in the day (or so claim my notes, I seem to recall winning but the notes are probably correct). Azul has one of my favorite rules - the player who was most recently in Portugal gets to go first, which benefits me as I've actually been to Portugal! This was my favorite new-to-me game of the weekend, although 7 Wonders Duel was very close.
- Mike showed me Castles of Mad King Ludwig, although we didn't get very far into the game before a lot more people showed up and it was deemed too heavy for most of the group. I liked what I saw.
- I had played Wingspan at Thanksgiving with my cousins a few years back and then a friend gave me a copy in return for Tribe tickets. I brought it along and four of us played a friendly "learn as we go" game that we didn't end up finishing due to the party really getting going.
- Lastly, we played two games of Kingdom Builder, one with 3 players and one with 4. Meredith won the first and I won the second. I enjoyed that one a great deal.
This was the first party in many years where we didn't get at least one game of Carcassone in, which is a shame.
Game sequence & Results:
Saturday
7 Wonders Duel - me
Dominion (base + intrigue) - draw
Agricola: All Creatures Big & Small- Mike
Agricola: All Creatures Big & Small- Mike
Azul - me
Azul - me
Castle of Mad King Ludwig - DNF
Azul (4 player) - Meredith
Wingspan (4 player) - DNF
Kingdom Builder (3 player) - Meredith
Kingdom Builder (4 player) - me
Sunday
7 Wonders Duel - Mike
7 Wonders Duel - me
Now that I have a new laptop, I'm finally able to play on Board Game Arena. Find me there with the same name as this journal.
- On Saturday, Mike & I get breakfast. Then we play board games all morning and afternoon (both with and without his wife and kids). In the evening a bunch of PhiKaps come over and we hang out and have dinner. Sometimes more board games are played.
- On Sunday, I usually get breakfast with my friend Helene while everyone else has brunch out somewhere. Then Mike and I play board games until it's time to go over to Joe's for the Super Bowl party.
It's safe to say that play more board games that weekend than I do in most months. It's usually a mix of games we play every year and whatever new hotness Mike has acquired with his usual board game group. This year, the list of games played looked like this:
- In previous years we played a lot of 7 Wonders, to the point where I even bought a copy for myself in the hopes of playing it with people in Cleveland. One problem is that 7 Wonders isn't great with just two players. They've rectified this with the release of an entirely separate two player game built around the same concepts called 7 Wonders Duel. Mike and I played three times. I won twice and he won once.
- We've played a lot of Dominion in the past. I actually used to play this a lot in Cleveland and was even reasonably good at it, but I more or less forgot everything by the time we played with the base set and Intrigue expansion. Somehow, I still managed to rally enough to score a draw.
- Agricola: All Creatures Big & Small is the two player variant of Agricola. I own a copy that I got cheap/free somewhere and brought it along. I'm not actually sure I like the game very much, a feeling not helped by Mike defeating me twice without much effort.
- I returned the favor when Mike brought out Azul. I beat him twice head to head and then lost to Meredith in a four player game later in the day (or so claim my notes, I seem to recall winning but the notes are probably correct). Azul has one of my favorite rules - the player who was most recently in Portugal gets to go first, which benefits me as I've actually been to Portugal! This was my favorite new-to-me game of the weekend, although 7 Wonders Duel was very close.
- Mike showed me Castles of Mad King Ludwig, although we didn't get very far into the game before a lot more people showed up and it was deemed too heavy for most of the group. I liked what I saw.
- I had played Wingspan at Thanksgiving with my cousins a few years back and then a friend gave me a copy in return for Tribe tickets. I brought it along and four of us played a friendly "learn as we go" game that we didn't end up finishing due to the party really getting going.
- Lastly, we played two games of Kingdom Builder, one with 3 players and one with 4. Meredith won the first and I won the second. I enjoyed that one a great deal.
This was the first party in many years where we didn't get at least one game of Carcassone in, which is a shame.
Game sequence & Results:
Saturday
7 Wonders Duel - me
Dominion (base + intrigue) - draw
Agricola: All Creatures Big & Small- Mike
Agricola: All Creatures Big & Small- Mike
Azul - me
Azul - me
Castle of Mad King Ludwig - DNF
Azul (4 player) - Meredith
Wingspan (4 player) - DNF
Kingdom Builder (3 player) - Meredith
Kingdom Builder (4 player) - me
Sunday
7 Wonders Duel - Mike
7 Wonders Duel - me
Now that I have a new laptop, I'm finally able to play on Board Game Arena. Find me there with the same name as this journal.