September saw the return of strong gaming after the summer. October is going to be a problem with all the Jewish holidays in the middle of the week. And the end of October/first two weeks of November I will be in the U.S. for BGG.con . Games will be at Nadine's house, I'm hoping.
The following list includes only games played at the club, not those I personally played outside the club.
Amun Re - continues to be the "game that nobody doesn't like". While a good meaty game, it is not anybody's favorite - a little lackluster, not very inspired scoring. All the "better" games, however, such as Puerto Rico, Prince of Florence, etc., have people who love them and people who really dislike them. So when we only have 5 people playing, Amun Re is often called out. The game does grow on me a bit, I must say.
Boggle - played as an opener.
Can't Stop - played as an opener. I had just finished reading Dice Games by Knizia and wanted to see if my game group would be open to trying something different. Nope.
Chess - played as an opener by someone passing through.
Cities and Knights of Catan - Still enjoyable, I think it is better with three than with four. With four, one player often gets locked out pretty quickly and is bored for two hours. With three, natural balance keeps people ganged up on the leader unless something pretty screwy happens with the dice.
Cribbage - played as an opener.
El Grande - Nice meaty game, usually about 3.5 hours in our hands (we play all games pretty long).
For Sale x 2 - The regulars in the club don't like it, the newbies do. An easy game to have new players play while they are waiting for other people who are in the middle of a game.
Louis XIV - Best new game acquired in the last year. Also some clunky scoring issues, but otherwise much enjoyed. We can play it in about 2 hours, too.
Princes of Florence - Game that looks about as fun as watching paint dry when you're not playing it, but is just incredibly good. I still can't understand why. Most people love it, including me. You've got 7 auctions and 14 actions. How hard can that be?
Puerto Rico x 3 - Still a staple, but now a more relaxed staple, as David K and I have burned out a bit playing on PRG.net . Still amazing, diverse and fun every time we play, especially with variable buildings. If anyone at BGG.con wants a set of my best buildings, drop me a line and I'll make some batches.
San Juan x 2 - Should be less enjoyable than St Pete, but is actually better. Four player is probably best, as more phases are taken each round. Needs expansion buildings, pronto.
St Petersburg x 3 - Newest game. ... I can't help it. It's problematic. The position in which you sit when certain cards flip up basically determines the game. And the buildings are basically a waste of time against the power of the aristocrats. As far as I have been able to tell, the luck in picking the aristocrats is far more than the luck of picking 6 point buildings in San Juan - with the exception of buying an Observatory. I have suggested that the buildings score one more time at the end of the game, but we haven't tried this yet.
Tikal - Definitely a brain burner, but a lovely game. And beautiful to look at, too.
Yehuda
2 comments:
Personally I find in four player that there are too many roles being taken, reducing much of the tension. Combine this with the scarcity of the 6 cost building, and I prefer the three player game.
I agree that an expansion is long overdue. It's not as if it would be hard to do.
I should have mentioned that my above post is regarding San Juan.
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