Hunger Games

Before all the food got started, there was a bit of down time to fit games into. We started off with...

Roll for the Galaxy 2-5 players

One of my "newer" lovelier games. It's a pretty easy game to play, but a real bitch to teach. I can literally see people's brains turn off as I teach this one. That's because to really understand the game you need to see how everything interacts. It's all about synergy. Here's the basics. You all simultaneously roll pretty dice and use those dice to do a variety of actions. These actions include ways to get more money or tiles, develop science, settle worlds, produce goods, and earn victory points. The more money you have, the more dice you can put in your cup. The more science and planets you have, the more powerful you become. Once the pool of points is exhausted or a player "builds" 12 tiles, the game ends and the most points wins. It's a game where you have to see what you're good at and capitalize on that. It also helps to know what the other players might do in order to make the most out of your dice. The last game I played included 4 new players one of which was Liz's dad. I was scared to play with this group. My brain would melt. Luckily, Sarah showed up and gave me a huge helping hand by aiding the other players. Lots of aid since her dad ended up winning.

This time it was Liz, Sarah and me. It had been a while since we played so I had to recap some of the rules. Even with a recap, I was losing people. Once the game got under way, Sarah started with a good lead. She always had lots of dice in her cup and she was developing and settling like crazy. Liz was close behind. With the tiles I was dealt at the beginning, I had more of a late game strategy. I spent most of my time producing goods then consuming them for points. Liz ended the game by build her twelfth tile. I had beaten Sarah by 3 points. We agreed to put an asterisk next to this game since Liz was transferring dice to her cup incorrectly. This gave her a large disadvantage for the first half of the game.
I'm excited to get the expansion for this game. It's too close to Xmas now so I can't go buy it myself, but it will be mine before the end of the holidays. How can one say no to more pretty dice?

Some of Liz's family started showing up, but we continued on with games. I set up...

Via Appia 2-4 players
Another game that just too interesting to pass up. You are paving the road to Rome. You spend your turns getting resources, money, going to the quarry, building road, or travel on said road. The quarry is the cool part of the game. You add the stones you have at the top of the quarry and see what you get out. It like those coin "games" you see at arcades and carnivals. Push in at just the right area and get all the riches, but in this case you get all the best stone tiles. It's strategy game with a little dexterity added.

One of the family joined in to play (Jess?). Sarah had a very travel oriented strategy. The rest of us were more focused on building the road, but we still kept tabs for the best times to travel. Sarah's tactics had puttered out near the end. She was left with a lot of bad choices.  I was left with some good choices, but difficult ones. I new Sarah had control over when the game would end, so I went with more of a 50/50 move rather than an all out ballsy move. In the end, Liz won by 2 points over both Sarah and me. I should have gone ballsy.

This is a pretty nice game that rarely hits the table. It does take a while to set everything up, but it's really easy to teach so that makes up for it a little. I enjoy the game, but fun-wise it feels like it's missing something. The end just sees very abrupt I guess. I'm glad I have the game. I mean, that hopper mechanic is so cool, but it's probably going to continue to not hit the table a lot.

The feast followed directly after that game. I, as usual, had my plate of turkey, mashed potatoes, and baked beans. After most of the dishes got cleaned and people got to mellow out, I pushed in one more game. I went with the party game Concept. Sarah, Liz, a foreign exchange student, and I played. We all had a laugh out loud good time with it. I still have yet to use the Pictionary cards with it.

Tally: 147/178  Bonus: 39/50