It’s super duper early Saturday morning in Chandler, Arizona, a suburb of Phoenix, and a neon-pink sign in the church parking lot that says “Sellers” points people toward a building on the back of the campus. Outside the auditorium, another sign greets you: “Welcome gamers!” Today is Arizona Con.
I had so much fun playing Celestia at BGG Con last November that I bought a copy there. I mean, seriously, who can resist that adorable aircraft? Plus, I’m always on the lookout for fun games that can accommodate a medium-sized group of gamers. Celestia is a fun 30-minute push-your-luck game that plays 2-6 players. You are traversing the clouds of the kingdom of Celestia, and the adventurer who travels the farthest on multiple journeys wins the game.
I recently played a game I knew nothing about, that through the randomness of a Christmas White Elephant gift exchange in December had been sitting in my stack of unopened games. Upon initial inspection, TMG’s Steam Works looks like a whimsy board game that had a steampunk theme. But what I learned from getting it on table last weekend is that it’s actually quite a heavy worker-placement game. I was surprised, and the guys I was playing with (who are all heavy gamers) were, too, and we had a lot of fun!
Wow, where did February go? And how is it that it feels like the holidays were just yesterday? Well, here we are in March, and I haven’t been blogging as much I had hoped to. As I mentioned on Instagram, I got a new job early February, and my entire schedule has been non-stop and action-packed! With a bit of board gaming in there, naturally. So here’s a few things I was up to last month, and a few goals for March …
I love Trickerion so much that I purchased a wooden insert from Meeple Realty while I was at BGG Con in November. I just got around to building it. I actually started two weeks ago and realized that the set I had purchased was missing wooden sheets. I emailed the Meeple Realty folks, and they quickly sent me what I was missing. Love it when a company has great customer service!
If you follow me on Instagram or Twitter, you’ve noticed that I’ve been playing a lot of games recently, more so than usual. I think it’s been a way of decompressing from all the awfulness that’s happening outside in the real world. When your job requires you to stay informed with all the insanity that’s happening right here in our backyard, well … it’s upsetting and disheartening. Anyway, to combat all of that, I try to concentrate on simple pleasures and focus on uplifting things, such as family, friends and board games.
One game I’ve brought out a lot recently is Lotus. Lotus is a gorgeous card game that I purchased at this year’s BGG Con. It plays 2-4 players, clocking in at about 30 minutes. This isn’t a game I normally would pick up, but I couldn’t pass up on the artwork, and I’m always on the lookout for quality filler games. And truth be told, it’s actually a little bit cut-throat.
It’s been a depressing few months, and it’ll be even more depressing come Friday, but, hey, at least we can escape from the harsh reality of real life by playing board games, right? So … let’s all go back in time to 1960 to a very different presidential race that came down to Richard Nixon vs. John F. Kennedy.
Happy New Year, people of the Internet! I can still say that, right, even though it’s Jan. 11? I’ve been meaning to do this post for the past week or so, but life gets in the way — as well as board gaming. I just wanted to take a minute to celebrate hitting 1,200 followers on Instagram! Thank you for making the board-gaming community such a great one, and I can’t wait to see where our adventures all take us.
And with that, here’s a quick list of games I want to play soon!
We’re almost at the end, folks! 2016 is coming to a close. It’s been one of my most interesting years, for sure. I’ve met so many new folks in the board-gaming world, and I myself have gone through a lot of personal and professional changes. I’m glad to move on to bigger and better things in the upcoming year, and to leave behind 2016, aka “celebrity killer” year (I’m still super bummed about David Bowie, Prince, George Michael and Carrie Fisher — and hopefully nobody else). So without further ado, I’m counting down the best games that I played for the first time this year.
I recently played my new copy of Russian Railroads: American Railroads that I picked up recently at BGG Con. I’ve had the base game Russian Railroads for a few years, and while I always enjoy playing it, the game’s winner, for the most part, is determined by who advances the most on the Trans-Siberian railroad.
With American Railroads, that is no longer the case. This mini-expansion is great! It makes the original better, and I really like the new added mechanics, which allow different ways to score. I won’t be going over how to play the original Russian Railroads here, but I think I’d like to revisit how to play that game in a future post.