What sort of Board Games do you Play (1 Viewer)

[Sam Posten]

I mean, isn’t that a valid strategy?

 

[DaveF]

I take it the granddaughter is collecting cards on the basis of “Ooh! Pretty!” and not out of any game strategy. And that doesn’t make for a good gaming session.

 

[BobO'Link]

I saw the NYC TTR at Target, and wondered if it was any good.

I don't know if it's still active, but via the Cartwheel app (maybe even the site) they have (had) TTR:NY for $10/copy (limit of 4). After playing last night my son ordered 4 as gifts for his gaming friends. I think you can do either ship to home or store pickup but don't know as I don't own a smartphone to be able to check.

I highly recommend it at $10. Having played, I'm very pleased with the ~$14 I paid on sale a couple of weeks back. At $20 (regular price) I'd still recommend it but would qualify that with a "They have regular sales on games so wait if you'd rather save a couple of bucks."

 

[DaveF]

I’ll have to look for it within the TTR ios app. I’ve bought most of the expansions now within the digital version. When we play TTR — which is infrequently now — it’s digitally.

Also, the wife has indicated I need to slow down on new games for a while.

 

[BobO'Link]

'''the wife has indicated I need to slow down on new games for a while.

I've received a similar comment a couple of times in the past month or so. I have to agree as there are a dozen or more unopened games in the piles. The problem is I'm a rather opportunistic buyer and if I see a good deal on one I think we'll like I get a copy just in case. I have 5 open game orders right now at Amazon and am trying to decided if they're going to get finalized or not...

Sushi Go
Lancaster Big Box
Imhotep
Steam Time
In the Year of the Dragon

All look like they'd be fun and all were at their lowest historical price when the order was placed... but it really comes down to "Do I really need any more right now?"

 

[Sam Posten]

Woohoo Q23 secret Santa got me Reef and Gizmos. Both on my list to get but on the ‘oh shit I bought too many games in 2018 already’ file

 

[BobO'Link]

We played several games yesterday. It was generally a quiet day as all the relative visits/gatherings were on the 23rd and 24th. Yesterday was just my wife and I, the 2 kids, and 6 grandkids. A cousin of my wife's dropped in mid-afternoon with her 20ish son and that was it. A great day for playing games.

Here's what hit the table:

Splendor: We played my son's new copy. First impression is that it's good. My grandson and I like it so I will keep the copy I purchased. I don't think the new chips are as cheap as some of those Amazon reviews would have you believe. I was expecting something like those crappy plastic poker chips in some games but they're on the heavy side and a good thickness. Overall I liked the quality of the game and enjoyed the single play through we did.

Five Tribes: It's not bad but went rather slowly as we were all trying to figure out just what to do. Because of this there were several bouts of AP and, on more than one occasion, one of the grandkids trying to figure out how to do a move that was clearly impossible. They had a rough time visualizing where that last "meeple" would land. I'd like to play again soon but don't know if I'll be able to get it on the table as I don't think the kids liked it much. We'll see...

Formula D: My grandson wanted to play this one Thanksgiving day and on the 24th (lots of company) but things just didn't work. Yesterday it all fell into place as we pulled my cousin-in-law's son into the game. There were 6 of us playing and we all had a good time. I "blew out" my car and was out of the game on the first multi-stop turn, but I was also playing very aggressively as I got off to a slower start and was generally moving without counting out the move after rolling. My oldest grandson and oldest granddaughter also "blew out" by accidentally missing required turn stops. I think we'll be playing this again. I also think we'll be "house ruling" it so that you simply move your car after rolling without counting out to see where the car will stop. Essentially remove the "Well... if I do *this* then I'll overshoot but if I do *this* I might be OK." type scenarios. It'll make for a more tense and exciting game plus also make the game play faster.

New York 1901: My son and I played this as a 2 player since the grandkids had gone home. We liked it so much we played twice. I really want to get the kids on this one as I think they'll really like it. And I'd almost cancelled the order on this one. It was a "Rhado Runs Through" that convinced me to go ahead and keep it. I'm glad I did.

And I almost forgot...

My son brought his Catan collection home (several years back I purchased the base game and *all* of the expansions for him for Christmas) as all I own is the base game and Seafarers. He wanted us to play Knights and Cities. We did that Sunday afternoon - him, my daughter, her oldest (my 15 yo grandson), and me. My daughter got rather tired of the complexity about 2/3 through the game and quit. The rest of us stayed with it until the end. It was interesting but added complexity that I don't think the game needs. Some of the new mechanisms were interesting, especially the method of earning the new "Development cards," but as a whole it just didn't click for me. Maybe if I play with it a few times I might change my mind but right now I'd rather play vanilla Catan. And I won the game which is unusual as my son normally wins if he's playing.

 

[DaveF]

Played three games of Settlers of Catan (original, no expansions). I’ve got the original expansions: Seafarers, Cities and Barbarians, and the 6-player expansion. I’ve played Cities once and haven’t played any of the expansions in maybe 20 years. I still love Catan, but never get to play 6 player so that expansion has been idle in the closet. Still, we get to play the core game at least once of year with family.

 

[Carabimero]

We just got the sequel to FORBIDDEN DESERT, entitled FORBIDDEN SKY, where you're challenged to explore an aerial platform and complete a real circuit to launch your escape rocket. We have played it several times and really like it.

 

[BobO'Link]

Those are some ugly tiles... and it just looks "fiddly" with the circuit pieces. I *do* like the tile laying mechanism to get the "board" on the table. I watched the Dice Tower review and Rhado Runs Through game play to get a feel for this one. Both commented on the pads and difficulty of making the final connection work even though it's laid out correctly. It's those foil pieces/pads not making good contact - a general failing of those mechanisms. We've had some kids games with those type of connections that failed after a couple of dozen plays and required some jury rigging to get working. Of course it's not necessary to make the circuit work as you can see the connections are made. Based on my gut reaction, the Dice Tower review, and Rhado Runs Through I'll give it a pass.

I'm also curious as to whether or not you had issues getting the circuit working properly. And the reviews weren't clear, or I just missed it... does placing connectors use moves? It seems as if it should by having you place them on the way back to the ship.

I purchased Forbidden Island a few years back based on good reviews and a sale price. We've played it three times and didn't like it any of those times even though we beat it once. We just got better card draws (got lucky which seems to be the prime way to win - either get lucky or not with little skill required).

I'm still looking at Forbidden Desert as it looks to be a more engaging and interesting version of Forbidden Island. I like the way the board moves around and think the sand piling up would be better than tiles "sinking" as with Forbidden Island. Our initial reaction to Forbidden Island is what's keeping me away (and also coloring my opinion of Forbidden Sky). Well... that and our general dislike of "Coop" type games. In spite of that, we *do* own and like Ghost Fightin' Treasure Hunters and play it every couple of months. I tend to think it'll be the sole representative of coop games in the library that see will any type of "regular" play.

 

[BobO'Link]

Played three games of Settlers of Catan (original, no expansions). I’ve got the original expansions: Seafarers, Cities and Barbarians, and the 6-player expansion. I’ve played Cities once and haven’t played any of the expansions in maybe 20 years. I still love Catan, but never get to play 6 player so that expansion has been idle in the closet. Still, we get to play the core game at least once of year with family.

I just purchased the 5/6 player expansion this year (Amazon put it on sale at a price I felt was OK). That decision was solely based on a few plays with 4 people on the regular board. Space was so tight that it made the game less fun, especially so for those who got trapped in a small part of the board due to poor initial settlement placements. That's the other aspect I liked playing my son's Knights and Cities expansion as we decided to use the 6 player board even though there were only 4 of us playing. It gave everyone a bit more space to spread out. We still ran into each other but no one truly got locked into a small area.

 

[DaveF]

Standard four player Catan is always a tight game. It should encourage more trading and player interaction, but it can feel more lean. Three player tends to be the most open feeling.

In the case of four player, you can add “government cheese” rules. I think it’s in this expansion. It’s also in the player rules in the BGG forums.
Catan Expansion: Traders & Barbarians https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00U26V5A6/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_0lqjCbNVR43NZ

 

[BobO'Link]

My Little Scythe came in. I was somewhat surprised at how heavy that box is! Amazon says it's 2.2lb. It feels like more. Considering it doesn't look to have a lot of minis or pieces I was expecting something much lighter.

I opened the box to see if the storage trays are part of the weight. Nope. I was expecting a thicker, stiff plastic affair but it's the same rather thin "vacuform" type plastic used on just about every plastic game insert made. It certainly won't stand up to much abuse so if there are kids around, beware. At least it has a spot for every game piece and comes with a small card showing you where everything goes.

About half of the heft comes from the game board. It's a 6 panel fold-out board that's almost the size of the base TTR board. The rest comes from the large amount of paperboard pieces. There are 4, quite full, punch out sheets. Also in the box are some smaller cards, dice, and an assortment of other small plastic parts.

A nice touch is the box is designed so everything sits flush *after* you've punched out the pieces and removed those 4 sheets. Before that's done the components sit higher than the box. That means you don't have to put the punched out board pieces under the insert so everything sits properly.

When I showed it to my grandson he said "We should play that one before regular Scythe." I'm going to try and get them to play later today.

 

[BobO'Link]

We played My Little Scythe this evening, although not with the group I anticipated. My son and his family rented a AirBnB with one of my daughter-in-law's cousins for a few days so they could have time to visit. The 3 grandkids that live here and I had set up MLS and were about half way through a rules explanation when they called and said "Hey! Why don't you guys come over here for supper. Pack up your game and bring it along." So we did. Unfortunately my oldest grandson also took his new Nintendo Switch system (w/Super Smash Bros.). About the time I got MLS set up there he'd set up the Switch and the 4 oldest were playing that. After about a half hour I managed to pull him away and he, my son, and I played a game.

It's enjoyable enough and I think it will be very good for the younger kids. It's not very "deep" and won't likely be played unless there are younger (I'd say ages 10-12 or younger) kids who will be at the table. I really wish the 3 other older grandkids (ages 6. 7, and 12) had played to give us a better idea of its appeal to that age group. Maybe tomorrow (they'll be back at my house for a few days before returning home).

There are lots of rules and ways to score but surprisingly the game went fairly quickly. In spite of the many rules it's really a simple game once you get the "movement" rules down (you can either move, generate resources, or trade resources for other needed items once per turn and can't repeat the same move on your next turn). At first it sounds limited but you have lots of things you can choose from so it helps keep interest up. It's a very "cute" game that, IMHO, will appeal more to girls than boys. There's not a lot of player interaction and you're generally rewarded for being "nice" to other players. The thing that got me most is its quickness. It felt like things were just starting to get rolling when "end game" was triggered. I don't think that'll be an issue with younger kids as it's long enough but not so long as to cause them to lose interest.

Game production is top notch. I commented about the plastic tray before and after getting things punched out and in their respective slots decided it's a bit stronger than I'd originally thought. It's still not as tough as I'd like but that plastic is about twice the thickness of those cheap plastic inserts. Basically still a bit flimsy feeling but not as bad as I'd originally thought. In spite of that it *is* a well thought out design with a place for everything and a few spaces for expansions (they even say so on the card showing where things go). It looks like the main "expansion" spaces are simply for more minis and their required player pieces.

There's also a "roboplayer" option for single player mode with a separate instruction manual and deck of cards that control your phantom opponent. I may give that one a try later to see how it plays in comparison to a live player.

If you have younger gamers in your house/group I highly recommend giving this one a look.

 

[DavidJ]

Has anyone here played The Quest of El Dorado? The grandparents bought it for one of our kids. My wife has been tasked with learning the rules, but she’s finding it complicated.

 

[BobO'Link]

Has anyone here played The Quest of El Dorado? The grandparents bought it for one of our kids. My wife has been tasked with learning the rules, but she’s finding it complicated.

Yes. We've played it once and liked it. It takes quite a bit of table space for some of the board layouts. I think we played correctly. What is she having trouble with?

 

[BobO'Link]

My son and I played Suburbia yesterday. Our first game was good. Working out rules and exactly how to play slowed things down considerably but we had fun. It looked as if I was going to have a runaway win but in the late game, when I started crossing multiple red lines every turn, I found my resources quickly drying up and he caught up enough to pull out a win.

We enjoyed it so much we immediately played a second game. During the course of this one we discovered another rule or two we were playing incorrectly. Fortunately that was early in the game so didn't really impact anything we'd done enough to be an issue. This one played a bit more quickly but not significantly so as he was overthinking almost every move. In a way it was OK as I just planned my next move, leaving open options that might arise with his move, while he was deciding. I rarely had to change my plans doing that. This one played more balanced during the course as we'd both adjusted strategies based on that first game. My daughter, who somewhat dislikes learning new, especially complicated looking, games came in part way through this one and watched us play a bit. We explained the rules and play as we went along and I think she might be interested enough to play at least once. My oldest grandson took a short break from the video games the other grandkids were playing long enough to watch a bit. He said "It looks interesting" and expressed interest in playing but "not now" as video games were calling (it's not often he can get the others to play with him as he's more experienced and usually wins).

After the kids were put to bed my son and I played a third game (I can safely say this one looks to be a favorite). We still played one part incorrectly and didn't notice at all - it was only later I realized what we'd not done properly. We'll fix that if we play again today, which I'd say is very likely. This was the closest game with him winning by 2 points.

Two of our games had at least one of us going over 150 on the score track and we came very close on the third. It tops out at 150. He looked up FAQs, rules fixes, etc. to see if that was common and found the developer indicated they rarely went over ~120 during play testing. That makes us think we did something wrong but he also found many other references to people getting similar scores. He did find a "fix" for that which is simply wrapping back to the beginning of the track and putting red bars in after every 2 points. We'd wrapped around but didn't add that penalty/adjustment. So... we're going to go over the rules again just to be sure we didn't miss something else.

This is a really fun game! The theme is integrated superbly with cause/effect based on certain building types and their closeness to other building types. He'd read a review that took the game to task for the way certain population tiles score and the benefits/penalties on some saying it was somewhat prejudiced. That prompted a discussion on how it can look that way but, like it or not, accurately reflects the real world and what you'd expect to see in a "good" city management plan.

There's good player interaction, a bit of "take that" (but not too much as you can hurt your burough if not careful), tension, and a feeling of success even if you don't win the population race (i.e. get the best score).

I'm already looking at picking up "Suburbia Inc" based on how much we like the base game and the enthusiastic Dice Tower review. The added mechanics look quite interesting. I want to be careful and not purchase it too soon as I think the base game offers quite a bit on its own so I don't want to "dilute" that experience until we've played the base enough to feel comfortable.

My biggest gripes?

The purple player tile color is dark enough that on the score track with the black tile it can be easy to move the wrong one unless you're paying close attention.

There's no insert of any type in the box. Some may not care but it could have been easy to do and make organization better (I'm a bit OCD in that respect). At least they provide nice, sturdy, bags for everything but it just looks like a jumble when in the box. And the box is easily twice as large as it needs to be. OK... OK... once you add an expansion or two that insert would likely be tossed by many people or you'd then have *two* boxes for the game. Oh... wait... they don't give you a box for the expansions. Just shrink wrapped tile sheets. At that point the extra space in the original box is good to have. Sigh... I'm looking at solutions, one of which is the "standard" Plano tackle box but I don't like those unless they fit inside the original game box.

The "path" on the score track is horrible and it's easy to move the wrong way due to the fold back on itself nature. Putting a few simple arrows below the numbers on the track pointing in the right direction would cure that. You'd only need a direction arrow every 3 or 4 numbers. I know for sure that we moved back instead of forward on several occasions. Some were caught, some not.

The score track board is so thin that it's already starting to warp a bit (I've read that same complaint from others) making it somewhat unsteady.

The side board on which you place the money is too small and absolutely unnecessary. OK... it's too small unless you take the time to put the coins in stacks. I may do that if we play today but it just seems like a waste of time.

They could also have made the main board a rectangle and put the tile stacks on it instead of an ancillary board. I'd say that was done in case of an expansion but the one that changes those boards changes them all so it'd be a wash.

Truly minor gripes. What some would call "First World problems" and in no way deal breakers.

I'm ready for game four!

 

[Sam Posten]

My game group has a few players that treat Suburbia like an olympic sport, they are so good at it. Fun and I bought a copy but it's not a top 10 for me.

 

[DaveF]

I’ve seen it, not sure I’ve played it. Been interested, though.

 

[DaveF]

Looking forward to playing the new 7 Wonders expansions! It’s been anticipated for over three years, I think. I hope to play tomorrow.