Merriment

After eating breakfast and opening presents it was time to crack plastic wrap and have fun. We started with the present I got for Liz.

CVliz@tions 2-5 players
Liz loves CV and one of her favorite video games is Sid Meier's Civilization, so this was an obvious present. The game takes place over 3 ages. Each age contains 3 rounds of playing actions. All players start with the same 8 possible actions to take. Each player, in order, picks 2 to play in a round, one face up and one face down. Once all players have picked, the actions are revealed. Most the actions get players resources (food, lumber, and stone). How much is dependent on how many people played the specific action. For example, if only one player plays Logging, then that player gets 2 lumber. If two people play it, then each of the players gets 3 lumber. If three or more people play it, then each player only gets one lumber. After each round, all players have the opportunity to use their resources to buy an idea card. The idea cards allow a player to bend rules or grant them additional victory points. At the end of the 3rd age, the player with the most victory points wins.

Liz and I played with Becky. None of us had any strategies since it was our first play, but there was a lot of interaction. I made a lot of purchases, which also meant I was strapped for resources most of the time. This payed off because I won.

We all really enjoyed the game. Liz and I talked about it later and agreed that we wished the game was longer. We wanted to have more idea cards to make some awesome power moves, but it ends a lot sooner that you would expect for a civilization game. We may experiment with doubling the amount of ages, but for now we want to see how a 4 or 5 player game feels.

After that game, we followed up with...

Antimatter Matters 2-6 players
A Kickstarter game that I backed mainly because it was made by a local Portland group. It also helped it was physics themed. It's mainly a roll and move game. You have a bit more agency than a standard roll and move and can use cards to mitigate the die at times. The goal is to create an atom from quarks, gluons, photons, and electrons, then make it back to the center. It's an okay game, but I don't love it. I did get to make a nice insert for it though. I may have enjoyed making that more than I did playing the game.

Liz and I played with Sarah this time. We added the neutron boards to make the game a bit longer and to get some use out of them. We actually had a lot of fun playing it. With the third player in the game it makes the tension a bit higher. All of us were close to winning at some point, but the die or other players messed with our plans. Sarah pretty much lost everything she gained. While we were busy reveling in her misfortune, I was able to finish my atom and make it to the center.

My opinion of this game has gone up a lot from this play. It still isn't the best game in the world, but for a roll and move it isn't too bad.

It was around this time that more of the family had shown up and we were ready for dinner, but once the plates starting filling the sink I got Sarah and Liz to play...

Array 2-5 players
Liz brought this home from New Seasons probably because it was returned and they couldn't resell it. It's essentially dominoes, but with 10 sided cards and colors instead of numbers. There are a few cards that make your opponent draw cards as well. You can add as many cards to the array on your turn as you want as long as you keep adding to the one you added last. If you don't add cards, you can just make a selected opponent draw cards or gain points by playing a splatter card. After one player runs out of cards, the round ends and all players gain points based on the cards they have left. If a player ever has 100 points or more, they are eliminated from the game. Rounds continue to be played until only one player is left.

We decided to play a short game to 50 points. Carl was actually in for the first round, but had to leave early. The lighting was a bit low and I had to get my phones flashlight out a few times. I was in the lead the entire game. After a while we were tiring of the game and so we called it before reaching even 50 points. I still had the lowest score.

I like the style and look of this game, but is has a lot of flaws. It a very long game. It requires very good lighting. It needs a lot of table space or has to played on the floor. There is also a card that simply forces a player of your choice to gain 10 points. It's kind of a cheap mechanic. In a two player game, it's even more unbalancing.

The parents were lounging around now around so it was easy to talk everyone into playing a game Carol received...

Movies Trivia Game 2-99 players

This is the most basic trivia game you can make. There are 4 categories of questions, comedy/cartoon, action/adventure, musical/drama, and horror/sci-fi. A player picks a category. If they get it right, they get a point in that category. Right or wrong, the turn moves to the next player. Once a player gets 2 points in every category, they win.

This was a fine game to pass the time, but nothing I would want to own. I won. Thom, Carol, and Liz were all half way to winning. Sarah only got one question right. I prefer the trivia I make. It's much more of an experience than a game.

Tally: 156/182  Bonus: 42/50