This Place Be Mine!

After waking up, Emily had us start in on the game we setup up the day before.

Eight-Minute Empire 2-5 players
This may have been the game I was always looking for when I wanted a small game to play in restaurants. I missed the Kickstarter by a long shot, but had a chance to get the sequel Eight-Minute Empire Legends. I did not want this, since it took up more space than the original and that would ruin the whole playing it in a restaurant idea. I kept my eye out in the shops, but all I would ever see is Legends. Eventually it popped up in Rainy Day Games and I nabbed it then and there.

It's a tiny little area control game. You all purchase cards which get you a resource and lets you take a certain action. Once all players have taken a set number of cards, then the score tallying begins. Each player scores a point for each country and continent they control. Each player also scores points for how much they have of each resource. It's kind of like Risk if you put it on 20 minute time limit and armies didn't attack, they just occupied. Oh, yeah, don't be fooled by the name it usually takes about 20 minutes to play. Maybe if you played speed Eight-Minute Empire it would be possible.

We played two games and Emily enjoyed each of them even though she lost both. She did learn a lot from each game so she's only going to get better. We'll probably pick up a copy for her while she's here.

We then followed up with a game Emily picked up yesterday in Hood River.

Walk the Plank 3-5 players
This is a programmed movement game intended to be played by the younger crowd. Each player has the same 9 or so action cards and 3 pirate meeples on the ship. The ship has a plank with 3 spaces. In a round, everyone plays 3 cards face down in front of them. One player at a time, each person flips over their first card and takes the indicated action. Actions consist of pushing, pulling, running, changing the plank size, and variations on those actions. In order, players continue to play the next card in their series of three. This continues until the last action. If a player loses all of their pirates, they are immediately out of the game. If there are more than two players with pirates left, then another round ensues. If one, two, or no players have pirates left, then the remaining players at the end of the round win.

Liz joined in for this game. We all made the bold move of shortening the plank in the first round.  This was very dangerous. I was left with 1 pirate and they each had 2. In the next round Emily lost a pirate. And in the last round Liz lost both of her pirates. Emily and I shared the victory.

This is a neat little game and can be played really quickly by any age group over 8 probably. I'm sure it's much better with the full hosting of 5 players.

A little while later, after we cleaned up a bit, we broke out Agricola. Emily hadn't played it and it peeked her interest. She was a little confused in the beginning of the game, but that was to be expected with this behemoth. By mid-game she was doing better, but making a few sub optimal moves, partly out of unfamiliarity with the game, and partly because she like the idea of seeing me squirm, even though it was to the great benefit of Liz. I was able to bounce back a little, but in a game like this, if you have to bounce back, you've probably already lost. Liz beat me by 7 points and I beat Emily by 8 points. This is what I get for knowing a game well enough to teach it.

Once we had a plan, we went to dinner and pumpkining. While eating we played a game of 3 player Cribbage. Liz again won. She barely had a had a hand under 8 points. Emily did okay. She had some good hands near the end. I had an average hand of about 5 points and the high was 7 points. I got skunked. It was a very depressing game.

Tally: 127/175  Bonus: 31/50