Tag: board games
Return of Saturday gaming

Return of Saturday gaming

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Last Saturday was my first all-day Game Day of the year. It was nice to get back into the swing of things, especially since I felt like the new year came and went so quickly because I got sick.

I attended Game Day with my biweekly group, and boy did I get a lot of gaming in! What made it especially fun, too, was that all my favorite gamers were free that day to play along as well. We all started with a light game of Mysterium. I was not the ghost this time, which was a bit of a relief. There’s so much pressure to guide the investigators to the correct item, location or suspect. Sadly, we ended up losing as not all 6 investigators were able to pick the correct items.

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Five Tribes: Dropping meeples in the desert

Five Tribes: Dropping meeples in the desert

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Hey folks! Let’s talk Five Tribes, a game I just received from Christmas. It’s a 2-4 player game that lasts about 60 mins. I swear though, it really should’ve been a 5-player game since it is called Five Tribes. But I digress. The tribes are actually the different colored meeples in play for the game.

The game is about controlling  tiles on the board through bidding for turn order, and then picking up and dropping off meeples. The person with the most victory points at the end wins the game.

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Holiday gaming recap

Holiday gaming recap

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I was so happy to get this game from my sister. It comes with a lot of meeples!
I was so happy to get this game from my sister. Plus, it comes with a lot of meeples!

So it’s been a crazy few weeks with the holiday season and then me getting sick. But now I’m back to 100 percent and trying to make up for lost gaming time. I totally get cranky when I don’t game at least twice a week.

First off, I received Five Tribes for Christmas from my sister. Woohoo! Who doesn’t love a giant bag of meeples?!?  I plan to write up an overview about it soon. I was lucky enough to travel to my hometown for the holidays, and, of course, I never travel without a board game or two in my luggage.

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Russian Railroads and holiday White Elephant

Russian Railroads and holiday White Elephant

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Hello, peeps of the Internet! It’s been quite a hectic December with the holidays and major life changes, but it’s been a great week of board-gaming.

I was happy to play my new copy of Russian Railroads this week. I actually received the game a few weeks ago from my BGG Secret Santa. On the BGG website, you sign up to be assigned a Secret Santa target and send $50-ish gifts out into the world. The person who received me was super duper generous, as I had received three large games, as well as a donation in my name to Oxfam so some impoverished family would receive a pair of goats. The other two games I received were Android: Netrunner and Lords of Vegas. I’ll keep you posted when I finally bring them to a gaming night.

My uber-generous Secret Santa gave me so many gifts!
My uber-generous Secret Santa gave me so many gifts!

So this week, I played Russian Railroads three times this week. I do love the smell of freshly punched-out cardboard …

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Francis Drake: Great game and components

Francis Drake: Great game and components

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I love the treasure chests, boats and gems in Francis Drake.
I love the treasure chests, plastic boats and gems in Francis Drake. And those barrel supplies in the back totally remind me of old-school root-beer candy.

I purchased Francis Drake about a month ago at BGG Con. I first played it back in May and have been thinking about it ever since. The game was out of my budget on Amazon, but I got a good deal on it at the Eagle/Gryphon Games booth in Dallas.

The game is a great medium-heavy euro, but, in all honesty, it’s the components that totally sold it for me. It has plastic ships, wood tokens, cardboard treasure chests and glass beads.

Let’s take a look at all the component goodness …

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Getting into board gaming

Getting into board gaming

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The one game that started it all!
The one game that started it all for me – Ticket to Ride!

A question I get asked frequently is, “How did you get into board gaming?”

It only took one game to get me hooked into a world of serious board gaming. The game was called Ticket to Ride.

It was the first eurogame that I had ever encountered. I received it as a gift for my 30th birthday, and board gaming for me has never been the same since.

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Takenoko … or when a panda stress eats

Takenoko … or when a panda stress eats

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This panda is super adorable.
This panda in Takenoko is uber adorable.

Takenoko is an adorable panda game that gets a lot of play during my personal game nights.

My friends enjoy the cute theme, as well as the not-super-complex style of playing. It also doesn’t hurt that the rule book is this visually beautiful comic book that’s easy to follow and reference.

The game plays 2-4 players, and it takes about 45 minutes. And who doesn’t love the little panda and gardener figurines?

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When punctuality matters …

When punctuality matters …

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board-games-pileDuring the workweek, I attend a meetup.com gaming group. If you’re not familiar with meetup.com, it’s a website where a group host will post an event, and people can join a group and RSVP if they’re attending or not.

It’s a great way to meet people who share similar interests. I’ve been attending this gaming group for over a year now, and through this group was how I’ve met even more gamers and friends who now I do weekend gaming with.

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Splendor: Easy to learn, complex enough to satisfy

Splendor: Easy to learn, complex enough to satisfy

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Out of my closest group of friends, I’m the biggest gamer. People enjoy coming over to my place (even though it’s the smallest location among our homes) to play games and learn new ones. I like having a variety of games for different group sizes and levels of gaming. There are some friends who like meaty eurogames while others prefer party-type games.

For introducing games to non-gamers, you have to understand your audience. Diving immediately into a heavy eurogame will leave new gamers frustrated and confused, which is no fun for everybody.

Splendor plays 2-4 players. Game time is about 30 minutes.
Splendor plays 2-4 players. Game time is about 30 minutes.

One such game that new gamers can jump into is Splendor. It’s easy to learn and fast-paced, but has enough strategy to satisfy even medium-heavy gamers. And a game is about 30 minutes.

In Splendor, you are a rich merchant trying to purchase gems in order to buy higher-value cards and win prestige with the nobles.

The components are well-made — cards and sturdy poker chips — and there is no board. The game plays 2 to 4 players. First player to score 15 victory points triggers one last round, and then the person with the highest victory points wins.

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Weekend gaming: Arkham Horror + expansions

Weekend gaming: Arkham Horror + expansions

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This past weekend, we met for our monthly game of Arkham Horror. My friend has done an amazing job of tricking out his game.

We added the Innsmouth Horror and Miskatonic Horror expansions to our game.
We added the Innsmouth Horror and Miskatonic Horror expansions to our game.

He replaced all the small cardboard tidbits such as hearts, brains and track tokens with color-coded glass beads. Each set of the glass beads also sit in awesome small decorative bowls that match the horror/occult theme of the game.

For this particular game, we included the Innsmouth Horror expansion board, and the Miskatonic University institution from the Miskatonic Horror expansion.

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