July Gaming at the JSGC

Summer is upon us and gaming attendance gets low as most of Israel goes on vacation. We still had good nights during July. August is going to be a difficult month for us in Israel, so I hope we can keep the game nights going.

The following are games played at the group, and does not include games I played outside of the group:

Amun Re x 2 - As I mentioned in my session report, Amun Re seems to be the game about which none of us have anything negative to say. I don't mean to damn it with faint praise; it is a very good game. Most of us have a few games we like better, but each of those games has people who don't like it at all.

Dvonn - I finally reached a first level of understanding of this game and published some strategy notes on the Geek.

For Sale - Sorry to say, a big 'eh' from most of us. The mechanics are fine, but the game is just too slight. And I like blind bidding, but not when the entire game is determined because of it. Blind bidding in Amun Re is a small part of the game; you end up a few dollars short or something. In For Sale, blind bidding directly determines if you win, and that's pretty much it. Too much luck, too slight. I'll play it, but 'eh'.

Geschenkt x 4 - Still good, but I think most of us prefer to play My Game Prototype #1 as a filler, instead. We'll play this if we have more than 4 and not much time. I'll also play this with other types of cards at other peoples house when I want to show them other things you can do with cards.

Louis XIV - Best new game in my collection. Seems to work well with two, three, or four. Much less problems for us than Goa.

My Game Prototype #1 x 6 - Still haven't heard from publishers, yet. They don't know what they are missing.

Puerto Rico + expansions x 2 - My expansion buildings, of course. Although I have a default set of expansion buildings that I usually play with, we still like to vary them once in a while.

San Juan - Still remains another good choice for a filler game up to 4 people.

Settlers of Catan x 2 - Still fun to play. I have been keeping track of all die rolls over the last few sessions, for those that are interested.

Starfarers of Catan - Ok, ok, yes this does go on too long. I admit it. It is still good if you're playing with reasonably quick players.

Taj Mahal - Great game, but the player we introduced this to HATED it. See my comments about Amun Re.

Yehuda