War Is Hell

We had just the right amount of people show up for our lunch gaming for us to play...

The Grizzled 2-5 players
This is an interesting cooperative game that I saw a play through of. You all play as French soldiers during WWI. The goal is to make it through the war together. This is done by removing and playing all the trial cards on the "peace" pile before all the trial cards get removed from the monument pile. On players' turns, they can play cards from their hand (mostly all bad) or use what little the have to help the cause (remove played or unplayed cards). If the mission is failed (three cards with like symbols), the peace pile gets bigger. If the mission is survived. The peace pile... still gets bigger, but by less. At the end of a round, players show who they offered support to and if there is one majority, they can ease some of their burden. Players then start a new round by dealing more cards from the peace pile and making it through the war.

We had the full 5 player experience. It started out okay. Nothing too bad happened, but the hard knocks cards (cards that are played on your character and change the rules in bad ways) continued to pile up. We failed to have a majority of support in the first round, but improved as things went on. During the entire game we never failed a mission. We even got to the peace card, but it was hard to get rid of cards in our hands and the hard knocks kept coming. We eventually failed because at the end of a mission I had more than 3 hard knocks on me.

We all enjoyed the game. Well, maybe not Rob. He doesn't ever play games and was new to the group. He was trying to find a way to unwind from work. This may have added some stress. He definitely saw the value in the game, but I'm not sure he'd ever play again. One of my co-workers wanted to borrow the game which I would have gladly let them, but I still wanted to play the game since it was still new to me and I had a feeling I was going to play it later in the day.

And we did. After trivia, Spencer, Sarah, Liz and I jumped into the trenches. It was brutal. We failed at least two missions and 3 of the 4 speeches given were complete duds. As soon as we started making traction, the memorial card reared it's ugly face. Poor us.
Spencer had to leave after that and Sarah needed to relax so I dumped out Jungle Speed. We played 4 games of it in all and I won every one of them. I was definitely aided by the fact that Liz and Sarah were a bit inebriated. We still had massive amount of fun.

Tally: 170/185  Bonus: 43/50

Anything Sells If It Sounds Dirty

We gathered together at the parent's house to have dinner and play games. I got picked up by Sarah since Liz didn't get off work until 6. When we got there, Becky was ready to play a game and Sarah suggested Dutch Blitz. I started out horribly and Becky started out okay. After about 6 rounds I was able to shake off my bad luck and went quickly from -30 points to winning the game.
By this time, Thom was up and about and Carol had gotten back from the grocery store. Thom named the the next game to play.

Fact or Crap 3-8 players
Crap. It's a fact that this game is crap. I got it as a present, I think. It's a trivia game where you make quick bets on whether information is true or false. Everyone starts with 8 tokens. The youngest player reads 3 T/F questions. After each, player's secretly play cards with their answer. If correct, the player gains a token. If wrong, they lose a token. If you were first to answer, that doubles the reward or penalty. Once a card is finished, the player to left reads the next card. Occasionally the reader draws a Rush Hour card. They pick one person to answer 5 T/F questions. If correct, they get a token. If wrong, the reader gets a token. Once the tokens run out, the game ends and the player with the most tokens wins.

I have never wanted to slap Becky more than when I played this game. She made it very obvious she hated the game. When she read questions, she made it obvious what the answer was and tended to give the answer before Thom was able to play an answer. She also tried her best to hide tokens from the box. Everyone else played like a normal human being. Once the game finally ended, I was one token shy of tying Sarah for the win.

I am completely with Becky on this. They game is horrible and I'll most likely never play it again. A lot of the questions are pretty absurd. I think there was only one question that I wasn't completely guessing on.

After dinner, we played a 5-player game of Paperback. It went on a little long, but everyone enjoyed it. I won, but I was only 2 or 3 points ahead of Liz and Sarah.
We finished up by teaching the parents Dutch Blitz. I sat out to keep score and make sure they were following the rules. Carol nearly won, but lost her touch in the final round allowing Liz to take the glory.

Tally: 169/185  Bonus: 43/50

Happy Space Beads

Liz and I love our lazy Saturdays. Once awake, I got straight to setting up 504 for game 567. Halfway through the game I had the realization that the money tokens we were using had different values on the flip sides, so there may have been a few rounds where Liz got a wrong (usually larger) income. We both felt soured by this and we just cleaned it up and Liz suggested a heavier game.
I set up Agricola as Liz made breakfast for herself. I started out strong with a great agriculture bias. Mid-game, Liz really found her gears with her occupation cards and gave me a run for my money. In the end my saving grace was that I had a larger stone house than she did.
Shortly after that game, the mail arrived and with it, the next game we would play...

The Game of Real Life 2-6 players
This is a game that is mostly available in Oregon. The guy that sells them lives in Eugene. I had seen him at Saturday Evening Market a few times. Liz and I got a taste of the game while visiting Emily and Drew. They had borrowed it from a friend. Liz liked it a lot. I'm not sure what inspired me to order the game years later, but I did. It's a roll and move game that is a parody of The Game of Life. Your sex, status, and health are random. Spots you land on vary from the bad, like drive-by shootings, war, and midlife crises to the good, like first loves, spirituality, and trips. There are also crap shoots like sex and drugs which could be really good, but also could be really bad. Happiest player in the end wins.

I started as Malik: A middle class boy with good health. Liz started as Bitsy and soon died in a drive-by. She started again as some other female only to be killed in another drive-by. Lastly she started as Barry: A rich boy with poor health. She made it through the drive by this time (Rich are exempt from them). I got a middle management job, married rich, got disabled, divorced, went into space, lost my fortune, reunited with my high school sweetheart, and wasted away in a crappy retirement home. Liz became a disowned bum, had lots of sex, moved to Canada to avoid the draft, had a near Donner party experience, got a motorcycle in a mid-life crisis and died of influenza.

This is a really interesting play on Life. They best part of the game is you actually write a little diary as you play so that once you are done you can recap the life you lived, or have a nice little party favor.

We needed to get going, so we worked out, got cleaned up, got dressed, and headed out the door. We got food and Red Robin and played The Duke. It lasted a while, but I eventually trapped Liz. We have very little time to do anything but get Liz some new jeans. I dropped her off at home and headed to my game group.
One guy got a bug or something so we didn't play Descent. We started with one of Brian's.

Galaxy Trucker 2-4 players
Everyone plays as space truckers hauling what they can in their scrap pile they call a ship past meteor field, pirates, and God knows what else. The game is played over 3 rounds. Each round has two phases. The first phase has all players frantically flipping over tiles to build a ship from spare parts (lasers, engines, cargo holds, shields, batteries, etc.). Once complete (and connections are verified) it's on to phase two. Cards are then revealed one by one. Some are good, like planets with cargo. Others are debatable, like pirates and smuggler (if you don't have enough lasers or have too much cargo) that will make your life hell. Some are just bad, like meteor fields. If you can make it through the deck without having your ship lose all it's parts and crew, you can sell your cargo. Each new round allows for bigger ships, but also a larger deck of cards to navigate. Richest player wins.

We had a false start because Josh and I both misunderstood a building rule. After that, it was unsmooth sailing. Overall, Bryan did very well,  I did moderately okay, and Josh did poorly and barely passable.

I liked it more than I thought I would. I was kind of hoping to see more ships fall apart than I did, but Bryan always had a seriously solid ship with a laser on every surface. I would still gladly play again.

Next up...

Trajan 2-4 players

I watched a game of this and liked the mancala mechanic. I'm always willing to add a game to the pile if it has something new to show me. It takes place during Roman times. You are... um... doing stuff. The theme is pretty loose. You are basically taking different actions to build up points. You can construct, get bonuses, get favors, move armies, jump in politics, and ship goods. All the actions are good and better to take at different times during the game. It's not hugely important in an explanation. It's how all the gears move that are important. Everyone has a player board with a tiny kind of mancala board. It has 6 dishes and starts with 2 "beads" in each dish. On your turn, you draw the "beads" from one dish and drop one each in the dishes (clockwise) until you run out. Each dish represents and action (the ones I mentioned). The one you land in is the one you take. So you have to do a little planing as the game goes on to get to take actions you want. The game doesn't just stop there. Each "bead" has a color. If you can get the right two colors in the last bowl with a trajan tile, you get a bonus (it could get you a number of things from points to free dudes on the board). So now not only are you worried about the number of beads in each dish, but also which color you want to drop off in which dish. If you thought I was done, then you're wrong. The number of beads you move also advances the game timer. The more beads you move, the more it moves. After a "quarter-year" of game time each player needs to have met the "demands" of the people or suffer point penalties. It's a crazy awesome thing.

A lot of people call this game (and most Stephen Feld games) a point salad, meaning you get points from everything you do. It may be true, but I don't care. This mancala thing is so weird and awesome at the same time. Sure you can get point from pretty much everything, but knowing how to make the most out of your points is where it's at. Also, if you aren't great at the game, at least you can feel like you're accomplishing something.
Bryan and Josh caught on to the game pretty quick. Bryan had a good lead for most of the game, but I was able to earn a crap load of end game bonuses to get me into the lead. Josh was pretty far behind mostly because he kept suffering penalties for not meeting the people's needs.

Tally: 168/185  Bonus: 43/50

Wood You Or Woodn't You

Liz and I were having a very lazy day. So lazy in fact, that we forgot to eat lunch. We made it to Saquatch and we played ..and then, we held hands as we ate. We quickly lost the first game, but we actually won on the second game. Yippie!
As we got the check, we invited Sarah and Becky to come over for some games. In the end, no one could make it. Liz was still ready to get to business so I got out...

Jericho 1-8 players
This is a Jenga variant that I'm clueless to how it got in my collection. I don't believe that is officially license by the company that makes Jenga. From the title, I continue to think that after you remove a piece, you would have to read a bible verse written on the block, but it has nothing to do with that. Everything is the same except that there are fewer blocks and 5 of them have marbles hidden in them. You must catch the marbles before they hit the table or you have to take another turn right after you finish that one.

The entire game, neither one of us ever had to worry about a marble. And our game wasn't short. I think we got about 18 blocks in before it fell on Liz.

This is about as good as Jenga. I think the blocks in Jenga are sanded better or have a coating on them, because this version seemed to have a lot of very stuck pieces. It could have just been the way it got stacked, but the original is still a little better.

We followed this game up with...

Don't Tip The Waiter! 1-2 players

Another wooden stacking game. Liz got this free from work. Players stack dishes on a waiter's trays until the dishes topple or the waiter tips over. There are two variants. Players take turns adding one piece of their choosing. The player that topples loses. The other variant has a player add pieces alone and scores points for the dishes they add. The player to score the most on their try wins.

We played both variants. I won all of them. It's not a great game. The individual game is a bit better, but not by much. It's a cute looking game, but only worth it if it's free.

We had time for one more game before we needed to start making grilled cheese and tomato soup. Liz was eager and curious to play...

504 2-4 players
I got this one for Xmas. It's called 504 because it contains 504 different games. The box contains parts for 9 different modules. Each game uses 3 of the modules. The first module represents the the goal of the game. The second represents the income. The third adds flavor. This means 9 × 8 × 7 = 504 games. Each of the modules represents a different standard game type: Pick Up & Deliver, Race, Privileges, Military, Exploration, Roads, Majorities, Production, and Shares.

We played game 123 or The World of Traveling Pioneers with a Bias to Individualism. Points were earned by delivering goods to cities. Money was earned by being the first to build settlements in places. On a turn, we were also given the chance to purchase special rule bending powers. The game played pretty quickly. It started slow at first, but the game ramped up very fast. It was a pretty close game. I won by about 5 or 6 points. Had we purchased different privileges, it could have easily ended differently.

This isn't a very deep game, but I really like the diversity of it. This wouldn't ever be anyone's favorite game. I don't think it was ever intended to be. It is a really cool experiment for sure. I'm looking forward to playing game 567 or The World of Combative Explorers with Connections.

Tally: 166/183  Bonus: 42/50

The Standard

With my parents in town, we had Liz's parents over to watch the Vikings Seahawks playoff game. Thom and Carol also brought over Ida and Jack. A little past halftime, Ida got tired of playing Mario Kart and wanted to play a board game. She picked out...

Monopoly: The Simpsons 2-6 players
At one point in time I had this, Scooby-Doo Monopoly, and 2 regular monopolies. I cleared everything out, but kept this one to match my Simpsons version of Clue. I'm not a big fan of this game. I tend to win, but that's not the weird part. It's that I seem to piss everyone else off and turn all the other players against me when doing so. I've seen players dump their entire fortune on other players just so someone has a chance at taking me down. I don't get it really. It's not like I'm spitting on them as they go broke in my lovely hotels. With all the junk rules everyone throws into this game, it's largely luck based. I've never actually played with the written rules. In fact, I've never read the rules. Well this time, it's different. None of this crap at free parking and I instigated the auctions on lots that aren't purchased. Let's see if this game can be fun or at the very least interesting.

Ida was a little put off by playing with the actual rules but she went with it after sticking her tongue out at me. About mid way through the game, I was able to strike a quick deal with Liz to trade a light blue property she just got for a green one I had. Without much thinking she took it. I then had the first monopoly of the game. By the time all the properties were claimed, I had at least one of every thing except the rails and the dark purples. I purchased a purple from Ida to clinch the only monopoly on the board. After a number of rounds with not too few people landing on my monopoly I started negotiations with Liz. She got the monopolies in purple and green and I got monopoly in magenta. Liz having little money meant she could only afford to put houses on the cheap purple ones. I quickly went to hotels on my gain. Soon enough I bankrupted Liz and claimed all she had. A short while after that Ida fell too. I think Ida took the defeat a little better than Liz.

I have to say that I do prefer the real rules to the usual house rules. It moves the game along at least. The auctions also allow for a bit more strategy. It's still one of my lower ranked games though.

Much later in the day, after they Vikings lost and we went to a Winterhawks game, Liz, my dad and I played a rematch of Cribbage. I was able to keep pretty close to my dad this time, but he still beat me. Liz actually got skunked. We finished out the day by getting mom in on a game of Qwirkle. It went well. I was going mad with points by the end. Mo scored a few Qwirkles, but my dad scored none.

Tally: 163/183  Bonus: 42/50

Belated

My parents are in town to see the house and to celebrate our own Xmas. After exchanging presents in the morning we headed out into the world to get food. We stopped a 2 places that where still closed and decided to just go to the Clubhouse. We brought along the game my parents got me, ...

Dutch Blitz 2-4 players

My parents happened to see this and they knew I wouldn't already have it, so they got it. It plays a little like a mix of Solitaire and Speed. Each player starts with their own individual colored back deck. Each deck contains 40 cards labeled in 4 colors and numbered 1-10 in each color. The blue and red cards are labeled with boys and the green and yellow cards are labeled with girls. Each player shuffles their deck, then places 3 face up cards down, and then 10 stacked face up cards next to them. The stack of 10 is called the Blitz pile. The remaining cards make up the wood pile. The game now mostly plays like Solitaire. Each player can move up any 1s to the public center area. After, they can also move up any consecutive same colored cards to the public area. They can place any consecutive descending cards on the 3 cards first played as long as they alternate boy girl. If players get stuck, they can draw three cards from the wood pile to use. The Blitz pile is always open to use from and is never added to. Once a player has no cards left in the Blitz pile, the round ends with them yelling "Blitz!" and everyone stops. Every player earns a point for every card they played in the public area and loses 2 points for every card in their Blitz pile. Rounds continue until someone gets 75 points. Highest score wins.

We actually played wrong first. We were adding the wood cards to the Blitz pile when stuck. This didn't go anywhere. I check the rules and fixed the error. It was much more intense when played correctly. Throughout the entire game only Mo or I every Blitzed. I tended to fair much worse when I didn't Blitz which meant my mom won.
I'm usually not a fan of speed games. I hate the game Speed. This one works for me, but I don't think I wouldn't every play this with just 2 players. Liz is certain that Sarah will gobble this game up.

Later in the day Liz, my dad, and I played a game of Cribbage. My dad handley beat us. His strategy? Clean Living.

Tally: 162/183  Bonus: 42/50

Critial Mass

Most of the day was spent playing games or dealing with food. A great day if you ask me. We played Cribbage, Deep Sea Adventure, Hare & Tortoise, and Coconuts. After dinner, Liz helped me wrangle everyone together to play a game or two of...

Two Rooms and a Boom! 6-30 players
I got this in July from a kickstater that a funded a year and a half prior. This was the first opportunity I've had to play it since it plays best with larger numbers of people. Each player gets a card that they keep secret and indicates if they are on the red or blue team. One member of the blue team has a card the says President. One member of the red team has a card that says Bomber. Players are then randomly separated into two rooms. Each room elects a leader and the game starts. The game takes 3 rounds of decreasing time constraints in which players swap color information or full card information and the room leaders determine which hostage(s) to move to the other room at the end of the round. If the Bomber is in the room with the President at the end of the game, the red team wins. If not, the blue team wins.

The first game had an odd number of players so I added the Gambler card. This player is on neither team. If the gambler can guess which team will win before the reveal, the gambler wins. Luckily, I got this card so that a newbie (everyone else) wouldn't be confused. I figured everything out, but didn't notice that the last hostage exchange moved the location of the president. The red team won and I lost. Our second game had an even player count so the gambler was removed. I was on the blue team and had a good thing going, but Jess is a wily puppet master and was able to keep himself (the bomber) in the same room as Liz (the president).

I'm excited to throw in a few more of the character cards to make information sharing even more confusing and secretive. If only this many people wanted to play games every day of my life.

Tally: 161/182  Bonus: 42/50

Pre-Gaming

We met up with a bunch of Liz's friends at a cabin near Mt. Hood. It wasn't long until someone noticed we brought...

Rebound 2 or 4 players
I had the licensed version of this as a kid. It's basically a miniature version of shuffleboard with a bend in the track. Rubber bands make the bend functional. Liz and I won this wooden version of the game as a bonus prize during bar trivia. We got second in trivia, but the prize was a raffle where tickets were added for beers ordered. So really Liz won it. We played a number of times when we got it, but we haven't played it since. It's quite hefty and needs room to fit in the car. I've brought it to a few parties, but it gets ignored for other games.

This was not ignored at all. It's the first thing people noticed when they sat down. The first game was played with teams. I was with Jess (team: Ass Kickers) and we played against Gerg and Scott (team Cum Dumpsters). It was a pretty close game, but Jess and I won.
This is the perfect game to play for those who regular bars. You can drink and casually play. No thinking. Just hands and trash talk. This got played a lot all trip.

We wanted something that could play more people next and everyone seemed to be most familiar with...

Balderdash 2-6 players
I always remember my parents playing this game. It was always a riot, but isn't everything a riot with my parents. I tried it once as a senior in high school. It was a complete flop. I'm pretty sure most definitions written fell somewhere along the lines of "cow poop". Classy! I didn't consider playing it again until Liz had a go of a newer Beyond Balderdash. She enjoyed it a lot and now I really felt like I might be at that point where I could join in on the ruckus of my parents years. We picked up a used copy of the original at Guardian Games and held onto it for a while before the group was right for it to hit the table. It was fun, not as fun as my childhood remembers it being, but fun still. I am horrible at it.

I didn't do too bad this game. I had the lead for a while, but then stagnated at about the three-quarter mark. We had some funny definitions like "burgoo" is the grease removed from a burger. Liz actually got a correct definition once. The winner was Jane Lee.

The only flaw with this game is that it requires a lot of slips of paper. We probably used about half of them to play this game alone. I wonder if anyone made an app for this. I guess texting could work.

We also got a game of Dominoes going (Mexican Trains), but there was a lot of dispute over the exact rules. I think Scott one.
Once more people showed up, we ended up playing Cards Against Humanity. This was brought by Jamie who was gifted the bigger blacker box with all the expansions. We played 2 games and they ended pretty quickly because Gerg is a savant at it or something.

Tally: 160/182  Bonus: 42/50

X Marks The Spot

Once Liz got home from work, we picked up some food supplies and she got makin' with the food. I got makin' with setting up...

Martinique 2 players
I got this from a co-worker who was trying to thin out his collection. It's a pretty basic game of treasure hunting. Each player adds one of 4 of their pirates to the board. The pirates move based on the number on the tile that they are on. They also collect the trinket or treasure clue that they left from. If they ever end their move on an empty square or in the center, that pirate goes to the first available stool in the bar. If a player has any matching trinkets to the three smaller treasures, they can trade them in for that treasure pile. Once all pirates are at the bar. The second phase begins. Pirates, in order based on seating at the bar, make guesses about which of the 64 locations the lost treasure can be found. There player can use the treasure clues they picked up to help know where the treasure isn't. If the treasure is found (based on the 2 treasure clues not added to the map), that player wins. If not, then the player with the most points, based on treasure piles gained, wins.

I took a strategy of getting as many treasure clues as possible and keeping my pirates on the board the longest. Once the second phase came around, I had the first guess and last three guesses. I had limited the location to columns F, G, and H and the rows 1, 2, 4, 7, and 8. I started with a guess of F1, then Liz made all of her guesses. Hers were all in the A-E range, but she did make 2 guess in row 2. I then put all of my 3 remaining guesses on F2, G2, and H2. It was at H2. I won! We did a points count anyway so Liz fully understood the game if we didn't find the treasure. I had 19 and Liz had 18.

It's an interesting game. It's not great, but I like it. It's a thinker that makes you constantly balance your strategy. If you go all out on treasure clues, you'll probably have very little treasures and therefore very little points. If the other player gets more points, they could bluff you into picking the wrong locations. I like that.

Tally: 158/182  Bonus: 42/50

I've Seen All Good People

Liz and I had the Sunday to lounge. We took it slow, but then planned to go see Star Wars. We stopped at the Mandarin Palace to get food and played...

Chess 2 players
I was on the lookout for a small folding chess board that I could take to restaurants or bars. It's actually quite easy to find that, but harder to find pieces to go with it. I got the board at Red Castle Games and was pleased it had backgammon on the inside. It did not however come with any chess pieces. I figured I would find them online somewhere. That search was fruitless and disappointing. I asked Chuck if he was willing to make a wood set for me and even sent him some specs, but with a kid on the way at the time I wasn't expecting anything. I decided to model my own and have those 3D printed. I like the results, but the queen pieces didn't end up exactly how I planned. It's still completely playable, but it nags at me.

Liz played as white and asked a for reminders a number of times. I made a few mistakes myself, but nothing huge, or at least nothing that Liz took advantage of. I eventually put her in checkmate.
I like the game, but I hate the beginning of the game. I tend to enjoy chess puzzles rather than an actual game of chess.

After the game we saw Star Wars (good) and then took to more relaxing at home. We eventually made it out to the Old Barn to do trivia with Sarah. We got 3rd. That was followed by a game of Biblios and then Hare and Tortoise. I won and Liz won respectively.

Tally: 157/182  Bonus: 42/50

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

Fist Full of Bullets

There was a lot of relaxing today. I watched TV and played some video games. Carl brought over the kids and some friends to play games, but had to go deal with his car. This left me to watch the kids play video games. When he came back to pick them up we played a quick game of Splendor. It was very close. I got to 15 points, but Carl was able to play 5 more points to finish with 17.
Once they left, I went back to video games and TV. When Liz got home we opened presents and left for the parents. While walking in the door we saw Sarah putting together the birthday present we got her.

Flick 'em Up! 2-10 players

The first time I saw this game I knew I was getting it for Sarah. She has a habit of flicking pieces around the table, even mid-game. It's a team game where players act as old west cowboys running around town and shooting things up. If you want to move around or shoot things, you have to flick tokens to accomplish them.

Carl and Sarah played the outlaws and Liz and I played the law. The goal of the scenario we played was to kill 3 of the other team's players or have the most points by midnight. Liz and I started losing guys first. Near the end we were able to tie it up. There was a little bit of tension at the end as each of us tried to kill our last man. Carl was the crackshot and finished off the deputy to win the game.
I love this game. It plays well with all numbers of players and has a mess load of scenarios to keep things interesting. I have to work on my flicking form though.

Tally: 153/180  Bonus: 41/50