Games, Games, Games....
The geek in me has been carefully recording each time I play a boardgame on boardgamegeek.com since November. I thought it might be interesting to see what I've played the most since the start of the year. It is, to me at least.
Arkham Horror (11 plays)
Co-operative, Semi-role-playing, Bits Galore. Mostly with the erstwhile kauket and zenithed back in the UK. Though I've still had a couple of games here. Huge game, with lots of replayability. The rules take a while to get down, and the tweaks and chrome can make it fiddly. but with the right group, co-operating well, it's as much fun as a bucket of zombies.
Liar's Dice (11 plays)
And this is almost the opposite. Very simple dice game, also known as bluff, and a version of which is the dice game from Pirates of the Carribbean 2. Roll dice secretly, bid on how many of each side are under all the cups. Until some calls you out. Repeat, with much profanity as you get done over. Play this lot at the end of the night in my Local Friendly Games Store (TM).
Caylus (9 plays)
For me, the ultimate 'eurogame'. Lots of little wooden cubes, intertwining mechanics, thought, depth and variable routes to victory. A hard thinking game, often played with deep furrowed brows and silence, and definitely not a light party game. Plays well from 2-5, but does take a little long (2-3 hours). Hopefully the card version (Caylus Magna Carta) will speed things up a little.
For Sale (8 plays)
Realy simple filler game. Bid on houses. Then use those houses to bid for sellers cheques. an auction game, but takes about 15 minutes to play with enough decisions to make it less luck based than a lot of quick games.
No Thanks! (6 plays)
Another filler, with very simple rules and can be played down the pub to decide whose round is it (anyway). Either take a card for negative points, or play +1 token to pass the card on. Eventually some takes the penalty, or maybe it fits into their pattern and will score nothing at the end of the game. Fun, quick, with some tactics and elements of screwing your neighbour.
Imperial (5 plays)
It looks like a wargame, but it is really an investment game. Set in 1900's on a map of Europe, players of Diplomacy will recognize the set up (except for Turkey is missing). Players buy bonds in a country, and the biggest bond holder runs the country for their own ends, trying to generate income, expand their borders and build the economy up... until their use for the country is over and they can get someone else to take over a lame duck, laughing all the way to the bank with their plunder in order to repeat the same somewhere else. Takes a few plays to get the tempo of the game, and to really realize that attacking others is secondary to making money. Plenty of opportunity to really get head to head with your opponents, but often the third party wins in any outright war between two nations.
Power Grid (5 plays)
Auction-based game of building up a power company across a map of Germany, or the US, or France (or wherever depending what board you have brought). Regularly played by my friend in Vancouver. Not as taxing as other games, but enough competition to make winning worthwhile. Balancing expansion of your network with investment in power plants is the key.
Thurn and Taxis (5 plays)
Simple card collecting game that won the Spiel Des Jahres in 2006. Simple in execution, but has some tension as everyone races to the end.
Coming Up...
I suspect these two to make at least 5 plays by end of year, having just brought them and played 3 times each:
Yspahan (3 plays)
A little dry (well it is set in desert) this introduces some nice dice rolling mechanics. Your trying to build up souk's and a camel train with goods bound for somewhere else in Arabia. Each turn is pretty fast, but a long term strategy is needed to decide where to concentrate your efforts: building new buildings, stocking up the souk's or sending goods of to the camel train. Play in less than hour, and not overly taxing, but with enough nice little twists to keep it interesting.
Zooloretto (3 plays)
The Spiel Des Jahres winner (Game of the Year), this is a update of the excellent Coloretto game. Adding in cute zoo animals, a couple more rules to make the decision harder, this is a fine game. Your trying to build a zoo of similar animals, while making sure your opponents zoo's is as diverse as possible. You can either add a random animal to a truck, or take an existing truck (this is how London Zoo works, honest) to fill up your zoo as best as possible. Placing the new animals is all important, trying to leave yourself with the most useful truck possible. Plays in less than an hour, real simple to learn with plenty of thought (or not if you want to play nice).
I've played about 40 different games so far this year... with 200-ish total games of all types. That makes me happy :)
Arkham Horror (11 plays)
Co-operative, Semi-role-playing, Bits Galore. Mostly with the erstwhile kauket and zenithed back in the UK. Though I've still had a couple of games here. Huge game, with lots of replayability. The rules take a while to get down, and the tweaks and chrome can make it fiddly. but with the right group, co-operating well, it's as much fun as a bucket of zombies.
Liar's Dice (11 plays)
And this is almost the opposite. Very simple dice game, also known as bluff, and a version of which is the dice game from Pirates of the Carribbean 2. Roll dice secretly, bid on how many of each side are under all the cups. Until some calls you out. Repeat, with much profanity as you get done over. Play this lot at the end of the night in my Local Friendly Games Store (TM).
Caylus (9 plays)
For me, the ultimate 'eurogame'. Lots of little wooden cubes, intertwining mechanics, thought, depth and variable routes to victory. A hard thinking game, often played with deep furrowed brows and silence, and definitely not a light party game. Plays well from 2-5, but does take a little long (2-3 hours). Hopefully the card version (Caylus Magna Carta) will speed things up a little.
For Sale (8 plays)
Realy simple filler game. Bid on houses. Then use those houses to bid for sellers cheques. an auction game, but takes about 15 minutes to play with enough decisions to make it less luck based than a lot of quick games.
No Thanks! (6 plays)
Another filler, with very simple rules and can be played down the pub to decide whose round is it (anyway). Either take a card for negative points, or play +1 token to pass the card on. Eventually some takes the penalty, or maybe it fits into their pattern and will score nothing at the end of the game. Fun, quick, with some tactics and elements of screwing your neighbour.
Imperial (5 plays)
It looks like a wargame, but it is really an investment game. Set in 1900's on a map of Europe, players of Diplomacy will recognize the set up (except for Turkey is missing). Players buy bonds in a country, and the biggest bond holder runs the country for their own ends, trying to generate income, expand their borders and build the economy up... until their use for the country is over and they can get someone else to take over a lame duck, laughing all the way to the bank with their plunder in order to repeat the same somewhere else. Takes a few plays to get the tempo of the game, and to really realize that attacking others is secondary to making money. Plenty of opportunity to really get head to head with your opponents, but often the third party wins in any outright war between two nations.
Power Grid (5 plays)
Auction-based game of building up a power company across a map of Germany, or the US, or France (or wherever depending what board you have brought). Regularly played by my friend in Vancouver. Not as taxing as other games, but enough competition to make winning worthwhile. Balancing expansion of your network with investment in power plants is the key.
Thurn and Taxis (5 plays)
Simple card collecting game that won the Spiel Des Jahres in 2006. Simple in execution, but has some tension as everyone races to the end.
Coming Up...
I suspect these two to make at least 5 plays by end of year, having just brought them and played 3 times each:
Yspahan (3 plays)
A little dry (well it is set in desert) this introduces some nice dice rolling mechanics. Your trying to build up souk's and a camel train with goods bound for somewhere else in Arabia. Each turn is pretty fast, but a long term strategy is needed to decide where to concentrate your efforts: building new buildings, stocking up the souk's or sending goods of to the camel train. Play in less than hour, and not overly taxing, but with enough nice little twists to keep it interesting.
Zooloretto (3 plays)
The Spiel Des Jahres winner (Game of the Year), this is a update of the excellent Coloretto game. Adding in cute zoo animals, a couple more rules to make the decision harder, this is a fine game. Your trying to build a zoo of similar animals, while making sure your opponents zoo's is as diverse as possible. You can either add a random animal to a truck, or take an existing truck (this is how London Zoo works, honest) to fill up your zoo as best as possible. Placing the new animals is all important, trying to leave yourself with the most useful truck possible. Plays in less than an hour, real simple to learn with plenty of thought (or not if you want to play nice).
I've played about 40 different games so far this year... with 200-ish total games of all types. That makes me happy :)