Played one round of Anomia. Not as raucus as the first time, I think people were playing slowly and trying to win. But it’s not about winning.
One thing I’m stumped on, one of the cards said “Clown.” Ever since I’ve been trying to think of examples of clowns. Yes, I know what a clown is, but in terms of specific clowns you could should out? I’ve thought of only three so far.
Anyone else able to think of clowns?
Bozo the Clown, Krusty the Clown, Ronald McDonald, my boss, etc. 
I’d only be able to think of fictional clowns like Pennywise or Pagliacci.
Several come to mind: Coco and Ronald McDonald for starters, or your group might accept a broader definition including a physical comedian - a Buster Keaton or Norman Wisdom even. These sorts of games often come down to group consensus over such definitions, often discussed after the response to the card or question is made.
I thought of “It” but didn’t know the name was Pennywise. Ronald McDonald and the Joker eventually came to mind.
I’d forgotten Krusty!
I also know Proto-Clown from The Tick, but don’t expect anyone to know that one.
And yes, in the post-game debrief we mentioned several politicians (whose names I will withhold so as not to derail) which the group would have accepted.
Played Automobile by Martin Wallace. And easily one of my best “New to Me” this year. Players can compete to open up better car factories, and the owner of the lower tech factories will take a penalty. Not exactly the Train Rush concept you find in 18xx, but it does remind me a bit of it. You try to crank out cars by the volume and compete for sales with other players on certain markets: mass produced / middle class / premium. You don’t want to overproduce (as you will be penalised) nor do you wanna miss out on the demand for cars and not get some cash.
One thing I’m not sure about is how to deduce the demand tiles that each player possesses properly. But I’ll assume I’ll understand more with more plays. Again, one of my best games this year and Wallace impressed again.
Royal Visit - the new Knizia 2 player reprint from IELLO. I like it and I’m keeping it. The way you can manipulate the king and his guards, the wizard, and the jester and these characters meshing together made a very interesting tug-of-war.
The Hobbit - another Knizia game. Just awful
Letters from Whitechapel - only played with 2, which is deemed to be the only playable player count. Played both as the Met Police and as Jack, and the hide and seek action was very tense.
Passtally - it’s alright
Azul: Summer Pavilion - it’s alright
Aquatica - yep. SVWAG said that this game plays so fast that they joked about playing several sessions while they are talking about the game. And they weren’t kidding. Screw the basic mode, just go ahead with advance. It was alright, but there’s nothing for me to return here. It is very fast though.
On the Underground - a game about the London/Berlin Underground. We, of course, played with the London Underground map. I don’t know what to think of it, but there seems to be some long term implications with the game, except I can’t see it at the moment because I need to “git gud”. But yeah, it’s an interesting route-building/logistics game.
Good to hear! I bought it because of the absolutely gorgeous art/production, so it’s nice to know it’s a good game too 
(Though I doubted I could go wrong when it’s a reprint of Knizia.)
Aaah this looked so pretty! If it plays okay its going up the top of my list.
I can get Martin Wallace’s London cheap on Amazon… what do people think of it? I know the poverty mechanic is divisive for some reviewers.
For me clowns are just the most terrifying thing in the world
For its price, very good deal. Got it for £10-15 from an online bookstore.
Compare to other long standing card tableaus, like Race, San Juan 2, Innovation, etc etc: it’s alright.
London 2e has been a big hit in our house. On @LaLunaVerde’s comparables, I’d put it below Race ftg but above San Juan. Innovation is, and always will be, it’s own animal.
London has a nice arc to it, in that it is a much longer and more substantial game than others with its small, card-based footprint.
There is very little interaction - poverty is a greater than / less than proposition so you have to keep an eye on each other and can bring the heat on if you’ve both been playing loose and then you suddenly purge a bunch of poverty, but most often its more of a cost/benefit for yourself question. There’s also a mild dynamic of choosing what and when you discard to make things difficult for your opponent(s). But managing the market can also mess you up, so card deprivation becomes a minor thing.
All to say, you’ll mostly be managing your own corner of the city.
I’ve played maybe 10 times and definitely don’t feel I’ve mastered it. Managing loans, poverty, your district count, and your money supply is a satisfyingly complicated puzzle, while remaining approachable. And we’ve found the game will support a number of different strategies - my wife has beaten me running 12 districts but also running 4. She’s beaten me a lot.
It is also oddly thematic. When you take a closer look at the Police Station and see that it lets you push your poverty to other neighborhoods but doesn’t actually fix anything… Or that your best use for Paupers is to use them to run the East India Company… Little twists like that pop up with some regularity.
Got my first in person gaming on Sunday since the Before. 
A day of Flesh & Blood. Probably going to take a Dorinthea blitz deck and a Rhinar constructed deck. Everyone in the community I’ve spoken to has been dead kind, looking forward to it.
Thank you, that is super useful info!
Nice, thanks for the review. Another interesting Wallace game for my list.
Played two games with real people.
Civilization: A New Dawn plus expansion. Good game, lost badly
Canvas pretty and inoffensive. Don’t need to seek out playing it. Brain burner when making the paintings though.
There’s a scoring rule for Canvas which says that in the event of a tie, someone has to decide which painting is the best artistically. I like putting that into every round, because it gives players something to concentrate on in addition to just “gain the maximum ribbons”.
Had the first game night of our renewed game night series now that everyone is vaccinated! 
6 players, the perfect number for one I’ve been dying to play again, Letter Jam. It worked really well - everyone got all of their words correct and we had one clue token left over. I’m happy to have given the longest clue with warranted.
After that we played Mysterium with me as a ghost. My wife is usually pretty bad at being a psychic, but on this one she only missed one guess and her scoring marker was off the track! Everyone got their three cards, and the final vote was 2-1-1-1, with the 2 (including my wife) selecting the correct final combo.
We capped it off with Sushi Go Party!, which is just good quick fun. Our house rule is when everyone flips over their cards you all say “Su… shi… GO!” Which is extra fun when one last person still hasn’t picked their card and they have to deal with a chorus of sssssssssss.
Ended with a game of Mottainai with my reliable Mottainai friend, who reliably destroyed me with the Flute, allowing him to take the paper goods which were almost the only ones I managed to squeeze out. I only had two works completed when he finished the game with over double my points.
So a great first game night with a lot of games that deserve in-person-ness.
“It’s a pretty simple game, innit?” Lalunaverde on Lisboa, June 2021
Played some Kubb at lunch today.
Good fun.
What are your thoughts on Kubb stacking?