Gave Cairn a try. Lovely little brain-burner, that, similar to Onitama. I am RUBBISH at it, as with most chess analogues. Unlike chess, though, I actually like this one quite a bit!
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Went over to a gaming group nearby for their Halloween Games Day, and played:
- Mysterium Park ā I know standard Mysterium pretty well, and usually play the four-phase variant (person, place, thing, background), so it was fascinating to see the rule changes which optimise for length. I think many of them could indeed be ported to Mysterium (particularly the cards that set up whose clue on the grid is whose for that phase), and I donāt feel the loss of the accumulation of psychic points from full-size Mysterium (though I do like the betting game). The āspooky carnivalā theme does nothing for me, though.
- Lovecraft Letter ā been a while since I had this out. (All right, January 2019 says BGG.) I didnāt love it as much as I like to love games Iām giving house-room to, but I did enjoy it, and at least one player wanted to rush out and buy it for her horror-fan Love-Letter-fan friend, so mission accomplished I guess.
- A Touch of Evil ā four against the vampire in coop mode, relatively cleanly thanks to my all-in-one coop rules document (thanks to @gmwhite999 for a hasty check-over). A tough Showdown, but we just barely prevailed - which I think is ideal.
ETA: on the Ribbon of Memes podcast one of our definitions of a film thatās a āmasterpieceā is one that we could watch, and immediately watch again. Thatās how I feel about A Touch of Evil, among a very few others.
10 Likes
Some games this past Saturday:
Spring Meadow, had a game of this with Mum while she was down for a visit. Super close game, like one point in it at the end!
HUE, my wife joined us for a couple of games of this, great little filler, my favourite of the Pack oā Games series.
Incan Gold
Azul, Iām ridiculously bad at this game. My score was like half that of the rest! Clearly Iām doing something wrong but beats me what it is. Ah well, maybe Iāll win one dayā¦
Ticket to Ride: Pennsylvania, big fan of this map, though the others found having to consider the shares as well as routes a bit much. I ended up winning by a decent chunk, with good share coverage and some big tickets.
Truffle Shuffle, this one is a lot of fun, simple but satisfying (though I donāt think itās quite as good as Point Salad by the same team). Close scores at the end too!
5 Likes
Played three more games of Cairn with my darling wife, I actually won that series, in a shocking twist. Love it, itās a fiendish brain-teaser wrapped up in an almost tauntingly simple little 25-minute (if that) game. I could see this turning into another late-night classic in the vein of Patchwork.
Also played a game of Space Base. @Bondy034 , that game is to me what Azul is to you. I get utterly demolished time and time again, I have no idea why. I won our first game by a narrow margin, but since then, the best score I was able to manage was a 28. The other times, I scored less than 20 points. Tonight? 14, and I was glad I made it past 10.
Granted, I lose a LOT regardless of game, but this feels like the game is mocking me. 
5 Likes
My first game of Cthulhu: Death May Die ā¦ It was touch and go, but I was victorious in my first outing.
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That girl and Rasputin are awesome characters to play withā¦
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OK, letās do this. One sentence hot takes
Itās Wonderful World - great game with a really interesting way to take resources
Beyond the Sun - Scored 69 (hur hur) with a last turn stretch to a level four tech, I really like it
Letter Jam - middling party game
Race for the Galaxy - lower scores than the app, my idea to get Alien Artifacts worked!
7 Wonders - first crack at the classic draft game, itās OK which I guess is fine for a SdJ winner
Steampunk Rally ran away with the win, almost, itās fine
Rallyman - I WON A GAME OF RALLYMAN! One player hated it due to spinning out on a four dice roll and never getting back into the race. (That deserved an extra sentence)
Roll for the Galaxy - Its good, but Iām glad I trimmed it in favour of Race
Power Grid - screwed myself into last place, player who got annoyed at Rallyman got blocked from winning by a resource buy on the last turn, ended up third and seemed surprised.
Awkward Guests - Donāt get the fuss on this one
Just One - what connects Driver, Helical, Nookie, Bang and Fuck
Scape Goat - Once the aha! moment passed with the group it got really good
Food Chain Magnate - Glad Iāve played it, but it isnāt a Ā£90 game, come on Splotter
Photograph - Possibly my favourite new short game from the weekend
Remember our Trip - (@yashima) Really good, starts off wide and open and by the end you are wondering why past self did certain things.
Terraforming Mars: Ares Expedition - This is Race for the Galaxy, made into Terraforming Mars, fight me over it but Iāll die on this petty hill
Artemis Project - Standard dice placement euro, nothing special
8 Likes
Thanks for remembering 
I keep telling them when I teach it: letās just play, youāll get it when the first game ends. Some people need 2 games.
Ah, I need to play again. I need more word guessing in my life.
I agree. Forum seemed to be kind of letting me know this before I backed it and I still backed the German version and so far I am not quite convinced but have only played solos. I dislike having to get out specific cards from tons of stacks. Bad reminder of 7th Continent.
Why would I fight you when it is exactly that? Itās not even trying to hide it
2 Likes
Yes. Or worse (for me) receiving a card I have already seen
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This is why I donāt play Antidote as much as Iād like to: every time you set up for a different number of players, you have to sort specific cards in and out of the deck for that game.
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Limp Bizkit?
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Nope, not that
Screwā¦ my first guess was ābabyā, but Iāmma stick with āscrewā.
6 Likes
10 forum points* to you
'* Not redeemable anywhere, especially here
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Yesterday I died a slow and painful death in Antiquity. My offers to concede were refused, because my husband was determined to prove that he could ābeat the gameā. He seemed to be having such a good time working out how to get enough resources to win before my cities completely filled with the graves of my starving citizens that I didnāt mind too much.
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Screw, of course.
EDIT: Bah, someone else got it first.
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It could be baby.
The film baby driver baby has dna
Etc.
1 Like
Played In the Name of Odin at local game group tonight. And itāsā¦ OK, I guess, but to me it felt very mechanical and not particularly flavoursome. Strong feeling of Champions of Midgard, not just from the Viking theme, but in the way raiding (here the main point-scoring activity) requires this and that and the other prerequisite. I wouldnāt seek it out again but I wouldnāt whine if I were with a group and they wanted to play it.
2 Likes
My partner and I played a couple games of Sprawlopolis tonight. We lost the first one (our 21 points to a required 26) but managed to squeak out a victory for the second one (our 24 to a required 22).
She likes it! Which is nice. Iāve played it solo a few times, but this was my first attempt at co-op.
We also played a game of Dragon Castle, which continues to be a beautiful, clever game that is painfully frustrating to actually play. The little tiles are just a little too little, hard to handle and flip over. They have a good feel, but theyāre justā¦ too tiny.
Anyway, she crushed me (84 to 62), but Iām okay with that.
5 Likes
So a friend of mine brought over his copy of Star Wars: Rebellion the other day. Thanks to Covid lockdowns, he hadnāt had a chance to try it despite receiving it as a birthday gift earlier this year. I was a bit hesitant - Iām not that big a fan of Star Wars, and had heard it was a long game. Well colour me surprised: it was pretty fun! If you are a Star Wars fan, Iād definitely give it a try (Iām not sure what the replayability of the game is like, but I wouldnāt say no to another game for what itās worth!)
I was playing the Rebels and felt vulnerable and intimidated for most of the game! Memorable moments included: Obi Wan being captured and turned to the dark side, Nal Hutta being liberated by the Rebels, only to have the Empire turn around and destroy the planet with the Death Star, and the winning moment of the battle for Ord Mantell, where the Rebels secured victory in ground combat one turn before the Imperial fleet would arrive at the (not so secret by that point) Rebel Base on Yavin. And Luke never left Tatooine in our game (despite the secret Rebel base being located there for most of the gameā¦)
Itās not perfect - the criticisms of the combat are well founded which is particularly annoying for a war game. Thereās just not any interesting decisions to make during it honestly. And you can definitely get a bit screwed by not drawing the mission or objective cards you need at the right time.
It took about 3 and a half hours, all told, which is long but it didnāt feel too long to either of us - we were pretty invested for most of the game (even if I was sure I was going to lose for most of it!)
No snaps unfortunately (I forgot 
) But yeah, surprised I liked it but I did. Not a game Iād really want to own myself but I wouldnāt say no to another game (which is sure to happen at some point - he even has the Rogue One expansion if we want to complicate things next time (though Iāll probably vote for just the base game when we get back to it again, maybe with some of the advanced rules))
6 Likes