What I Played Today: February 5

Agricola, Incan Gold

I’m a member of a Meetup group that has a biweekly gaming night to play a more complicated game. It’s a private group, so the members are pretty constant. It’s hosted by a really nice guy who provides meals and everything, and it’s always a fun time, so I’m really happy with the group. Anyway...tonight was a game of Agricola, the supposedly best board game ever made, according to BoardGameGeek. I take it with a grain of salt, it’s a pretty good game, but it’s very Euro centric and becomes very difficult to track what’s going on late in the game.

I played with four others, one of my friends, the newest couple to join, and the host’s wife. We all knew how to play, so we got into it pretty quickly. I was the bank, which was the hardest task, because there’s always so many resources that need to go on the board each turn. It was a bit scattering, and because everyone was so confident in their plays, I got a little flustered.

It was fun, however. Each players starts out a random assortment of occupations and improvements that are unique to each player, so every game is a little bit different. We played with a more interactive set of cards, although I didn’t see much in that level. I did get some good cards, but not good enough, because I tied for second. I managed to get enough of every resource to avoid negative points, but didn’t build enough structures to rack up enough bonus points. Not much else to say except that I had fun and I’ve forgotten how much I like this game.

There were two groups playing, and we finished a good 45 minutes before the other, so we looked through the host’s collection and pulled out a short game to finish up the evening, a stinker called Incan Gold. It was a push your luck game with a poorly-attached theme and some crummy components, and our luck was just right (or wrong) that we had some real flub rounds that ended without anyone getting any real reward. It was just too random to be really enjoyable.

I surely have more to say, but my mind seems to be too tired to recall any more details. So, good night then.