Tag: board games
Pandemic Legacy: An old game, a new experience

Pandemic Legacy: An old game, a new experience

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At a game day last week, my friend confessed to me, “I don’t have the energy to learn a new game,” and I agreed. There are those days where you just want to slip into something oh-so-familiar with a group of other folks who also know how to play that particular game. There is neither a 30-minute (or longer) explanation during game setup nor that drag where the one newbie is asking lots of questions on game play and strategy while everybody else is just eager to keep the game going.

Don’t get me wrong … I love introducing new games to people, and questions are always encouraged, but there is something deeply satisfying about opening up a box and jumping right in.

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This week’s gaming: Mombasa, Arkham Horror and others

This week’s gaming: Mombasa, Arkham Horror and others

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The new year has been busier than expected, and it’s been a little difficult gathering up the troops for a game night. But it finally happened this past week.

This past Thursday, I got Mombasa onto the table again with my core group of gamers, and it was awesome. I came thiiiiiss close to first place — only 2 points away! But it was definitely a lot better than the previous time I played, when I came in last. But most importantly, all the guys in my core group of gamers have played this game and love it as much as I do, which means it will definitely make it to the table more often than not. Woohoo! I ended up purchasing some Mayday card sleeves for the game in order to protect each player’s action cards.

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T.I.M.E Stories, Gold West, and Survive: Escape from Atlantis

T.I.M.E Stories, Gold West, and Survive: Escape from Atlantis

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Last weekend I went to Game Day, and a curious thing happened — all the games that I played were new to me! This hardly happens as whenever we learn a new game, somebody usually suggests an  old familiar game soon after, so that our brains don’t hurt too much. Or I usually suggest BSG because I do love playing BSG.

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Mombasa: My favorite game from BGG Con

Mombasa: My favorite game from BGG Con

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It’s been a busy week or so being out of town for my cousin’s wedding in LA, but now I’m back! Well, at least until Christmas vacation. I finally got a chance to get Mombasa on my table during last night’s game night. My two friends came over (we unfortunately couldn’t find a 4th player), but the night went well and my friends enjoyed it! Success! I always get a little nervous being the only person teaching a game as I’m afraid if I don’t teach the game properly, it could affect their judgment against a game that’s otherwise awesome. But I’m lucky I got to do a demo at BGG Con as well as play an entire game (albeit we got a lot of the game rules wrong) so I already had experience playing it. Plus, I read, read and reread the rulesbook so I could quickly answer questions.

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BGG Con 2015: From the eyes of a volunteer

BGG Con 2015: From the eyes of a volunteer

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I meant to write this post sooner but things got busy during Thanksgiving weekend. Hope everybody had a wonderful holiday weekend! And one of the things I’m thankful for is being a part of a wonderful board-gaming community.

Anyway, if anybody has any reservations about joining Team Geek at BGG Con, I would say to you: Do it! You’ll be glad you did! (Plus, you get a super sweet jersey!)

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BGG Con 2015: Games, games and more games!

BGG Con 2015: Games, games and more games!

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Wow, BGG Con came and went to so quickly! I arrived Dallas a day before the convention to attend Team Geek orientation, and immediately got into gaming that evening. I’m planning to write a follow-up post next on what it was like to be part of Team Geek, so this entry will be strictly about gaming and other activities.

BGG Con 2015 had sold out over 2,800 tickets and to make room for even more gaming, it had booked Room 25 on each floor so that folks had the option to game there instead of going down to the main ballroom in the convention floor. These rooms were pretty cool, each having about 6 tables each, complete with water stations and a bathroom inside. I met up with some friends on Tuesday night to play card games. The first one was a German set-collecting game from Essen that translated to 3 Is Too Much. The next one was Red 7, which is a hand-management player-elimination game. Both were fun, but now I realize I forgot to take photos of either one of them. I blame it on being tired from a travel day.

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Getting ready for BGG Con

Getting ready for BGG Con

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I flew out this morning from Phoenix to Dallas to help get ready for BGG Con, which begins tomorrow and runs through Sunday. This year will be my second time at the convention, and my first time on Team Geek, which will require some volunteer time throughout the convention.

I’m super duper excited! I’m already seeing familiar faces today.  I can’t believe a year has gone by since we all played games together. And I can’t wait to meet even more people in the board-gaming community and play some games!
Friendship Con: Our very own gaming convention

Friendship Con: Our very own gaming convention

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About six months ago, I was telling my board-game friends that I was going to BGG Con again, after having an awesome time last year. My one friend had this crazy idea to have our own convention, without the need for traveling and in the comforts of our homes, since they all couldn’t get away for an entire week to Dallas for BGG Con. I’m like, sure, let’s do this!

We decided to keep it as a convention of 5 friends, naming it Friendship Con! We took this event very seriously. During the planning stages, we voted on a list of games we all wanted to play, a schedule for said games, divided up who was in charge of learning the rules for a particular game, locations for gaming each day (we spread it out among 3 people, so that no one home would become overrun by us), and, of course, menu options. The host home would provide an easy breakfast, and then sandwiches for lunch, and then a quick healthy dinner. One of the cons that my friend had mentioned about going to BGG Con or similar events was that having limited access to cheap, healthy food because you either paid a premium at hotel restaurants or had to leave the gaming area to find other eateries, which resulted in less gaming time.

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My first Broken Token organizer

My first Broken Token organizer

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I finally had some time to assemble the Broken Token organizer for Caverna, both of which I received on my birthday.  Caverna is a game with a million little pieces, both in plastic and cardboard form, and having an organizer for it seriously saves like 20 minutes for setup and cleanup of the game. And having the organizer ensures that the piles of resources are contained and don’t get out of hand, thereby saving space at your gaming table.

I first encountered a Broken Token organizer for this game back at Strategicon, and I said to myself that I would never play Caverna without it again. With the organizer, you open the box, pop out the two trays, pass out the tableaus and place the little rooms on the board. Easy peasy!

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