Puerto Rico in Style

Passover is over, but before I go, let me take you to the climactic scene from The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: three desperate hardened gunslingers in a three-way standoff fighting for the ultimate treasures: wealth, honor, victory.

Puerto Rico 1

Nadine 45, Rachel 38, Jon 37

I used a number of different buildings from my usual different buildings. This made the game a mysterious passage through uncharted tactical waters.

Nadine started us off, with Rachel going third. Rachel started off with the usual third place advantage, and Nadine and I were almost resigned to her winning. In fact, after her initial vp boost, the game progressed rather evenly, and by the end I had no idea who was winning.

We ended at around 11:15 pm. Nadine won, her first win in a while, so she was happy. Whenever Rachel doesn't win, she wants to play another game, using the excuse that it takes so long to set up, anyway.

We were debating whether it was too late, when ...

Puerto Rico 2

Amitai 62, Jon 57, Nadine 48, Rachel 47, Beeri 39

Two of the kids from our good friends dropped by looking to borrow a game. In a fit of mischievousness, I invited them to play with us. They had both only played Puerto Rico a few times before. So what was going to be a possible extra hour turned into another two.

But it was a great game, anyway. Nadine gave advice, as usual, as did Rachel and I, but we still allowed them to play what they wanted so long as what they were doing wasn't egregiously bad. And the three of us were, in any case, less experienced with five player games.

I reset the board back to the standard buildings. Amitai began with Construction Hut and Hacienda, and it worked excellently for him. Then he managed a Coffee monopoly for some time, and managed to get both Harbor and Wharf.

My Tobacco, Factory, and Wharf couldn't compete with that monstrosity, though I gave it a valiant attempt.

After over 1000 games of Puerto Rico, even games with the original buildings can still surprise me. What a great game.

Other

Saarya and I started a Zertz game the next morning, but weren't able to finish it. Saarya also played a game of 24/7 with two younger children we had over for lunch. They were older than my niece is, however, so I thought maybe they would finally be the right age for the game (they were 12-13 years old).

Turned out I was right, as after the first game they wanted to play again. Success.

And lastly, the kids from last night came over one more time for another game and I handed them Carcassonne to try out. They had actually played Carcassonne Hunters & Gatherers before, not the original, and I am looking to sell this copy on behalf of my brother, so if they like it, maybe they'll take it off our hands.

Game News

Seacoast online describes The Sages of RPG, a venture by Wayne Moulton Jr. and how this has led to his collection of 460 games.

The Oregonian covers Eurogames.

The Huntsville Times tells us that "Davis Hills Middle School teacher Angie Hill had her students make board games, using their science books and their imaginations to build 38 games they used to go over the material they had been studying."

The Daily Titan finds vibrant games and gamers tucked in the back of a strip mall.

Yehuda