Between Two Cities, Oltre Mare, Istabul, One Night Revolution, Pairs, Qwixx
I went to go play board games! Oh man it felt so good to finally just go to a place and play board games. I don't know why I've been putting it off for so long. Oh, wait, I know, because my interests in board games don't intersect that well with most gaming communities, which we will soon see!
So I step in and immediately get pulled to play a hot new game, Between Two Cities, in which you build a couple of cities, one with the player on your left, one with the player on your right. You choose two tiles from a hand, and then put one in each city, and pass the hand. There are six types of buildings (technically 9, I guess), and they all score differently, depending on where they are put. One building scores in rows, one in clusters, one just cares about variety, one wants to be the most in a city, etc. After seven turns (one of which involves placing a double-sized piece), you have two little cities, and you score each one. Your final score is the score of the lower-value city.
We played a couple of games, and I did alright, never win but never completely failing the concept. Anyway, cool idea, well done, ten points.
Then a game I kinda didn't like, Oltre Mare, which is a set collection game that also includes a map with some boats on it for some reason. Seriously, all you care about is your little pile of cards, I have no idea why there is a board here, except to occasionally gain a few random bonuses. I didn't do great, and I kinda dislike how this game plays, so whatever!
I volunteered to teach Istabul, which I had not played before, but I've read the rules for once, and this is a skill I have. Well, mostly have, as I forgot two rules until the game had started and misrepresented one ability in such a way that people got mad. I'm sorry I'm not perfect, strangers. I am no Balki. Anyway, Istabul is fun, a game with a lot of things going on, several paths to victory (do you concentrate on money, goods, or upgrades?), and an interesting move mechanic. Set-up is kind of a complete bear, but once you get trucking the extremely busy board isn't that archaic. Good luck winning though, I completely dang lost this one.
Then I pulled out MY games, that I wanted to play, and everyone HATED them. Like, there were literally people walking up to my table, shouting "NEVER AGAIN" and leaving, as I had personally said something mean about their mom. Even the people who agreed to play did not quite grasp what was happening and it all ended unceremoniously, with all heads hung.
So first was One Night Revolution, which I like! It's an interesting direction to take this concept, and the fact that your role power is separate from allegiance is kinda neat, as you can use that to figure out if someone claiming to be the signaller is or is not a bad guy. It's cool! Too bad nobody understood how to play! At one point someone clearly broke a rule, and I didn't end the game right there like I should have, and at another someone just straight up said, "Oh, I'm a bad guy." So...not the right game for this crowd.
Then Pairs, which is a simple party game, too simple, in fact, as we played a few quick rounds and everyone believed that it was squirrel farts. Squirrel Farts!
So realizing that I guess I'm the worst, I played this game that I didn't like, Qwixx, a dice rolling game in which you mark off your score on a shit of paper like a common Yahtzee man. Except the score is just archaic enough to not be understandable with a dozen explanations, so I guess THAT is the fun part. Hearing this one example that I score a 6 before a 7 four or five times in a row.
All jokes aside, I did have fun. It was good to play board games, I should make it a point to do this more often, as I have all these games in my house and more arriving in the mail like every day! Why did I buy so many board games six to nine months ago?!
I went to go play board games! Oh man it felt so good to finally just go to a place and play board games. I don't know why I've been putting it off for so long. Oh, wait, I know, because my interests in board games don't intersect that well with most gaming communities, which we will soon see!
So I step in and immediately get pulled to play a hot new game, Between Two Cities, in which you build a couple of cities, one with the player on your left, one with the player on your right. You choose two tiles from a hand, and then put one in each city, and pass the hand. There are six types of buildings (technically 9, I guess), and they all score differently, depending on where they are put. One building scores in rows, one in clusters, one just cares about variety, one wants to be the most in a city, etc. After seven turns (one of which involves placing a double-sized piece), you have two little cities, and you score each one. Your final score is the score of the lower-value city.
We played a couple of games, and I did alright, never win but never completely failing the concept. Anyway, cool idea, well done, ten points.
Then a game I kinda didn't like, Oltre Mare, which is a set collection game that also includes a map with some boats on it for some reason. Seriously, all you care about is your little pile of cards, I have no idea why there is a board here, except to occasionally gain a few random bonuses. I didn't do great, and I kinda dislike how this game plays, so whatever!
I volunteered to teach Istabul, which I had not played before, but I've read the rules for once, and this is a skill I have. Well, mostly have, as I forgot two rules until the game had started and misrepresented one ability in such a way that people got mad. I'm sorry I'm not perfect, strangers. I am no Balki. Anyway, Istabul is fun, a game with a lot of things going on, several paths to victory (do you concentrate on money, goods, or upgrades?), and an interesting move mechanic. Set-up is kind of a complete bear, but once you get trucking the extremely busy board isn't that archaic. Good luck winning though, I completely dang lost this one.
Then I pulled out MY games, that I wanted to play, and everyone HATED them. Like, there were literally people walking up to my table, shouting "NEVER AGAIN" and leaving, as I had personally said something mean about their mom. Even the people who agreed to play did not quite grasp what was happening and it all ended unceremoniously, with all heads hung.
So first was One Night Revolution, which I like! It's an interesting direction to take this concept, and the fact that your role power is separate from allegiance is kinda neat, as you can use that to figure out if someone claiming to be the signaller is or is not a bad guy. It's cool! Too bad nobody understood how to play! At one point someone clearly broke a rule, and I didn't end the game right there like I should have, and at another someone just straight up said, "Oh, I'm a bad guy." So...not the right game for this crowd.
Then Pairs, which is a simple party game, too simple, in fact, as we played a few quick rounds and everyone believed that it was squirrel farts. Squirrel Farts!
So realizing that I guess I'm the worst, I played this game that I didn't like, Qwixx, a dice rolling game in which you mark off your score on a shit of paper like a common Yahtzee man. Except the score is just archaic enough to not be understandable with a dozen explanations, so I guess THAT is the fun part. Hearing this one example that I score a 6 before a 7 four or five times in a row.
All jokes aside, I did have fun. It was good to play board games, I should make it a point to do this more often, as I have all these games in my house and more arriving in the mail like every day! Why did I buy so many board games six to nine months ago?!
