Attendees: Angela, Martyn, Jeff (and daughter), Mike (and family), Lhizz (and family), Emma, Devon, Amelia I thought it would be a quiet one this year, and even had to change my plan due to so few people able to make it. The invitation was to turn up this afternoon and join me and Devon for some gaming, super casual, and family friendly.
It turned out really well! The adults played games, the kids played nicely together and some of them tried a couple of the kids' games. Games played today (all pretty light): Love Letter No Thanks! Settlers of Catan Summoner Wars (Devon and his friend Amelia) Pictionary Escape: The Curse of the Temple Ticket to Ride 10th Anniversary Kudos to Brad and Lauren for hanging out patiently in the lounge with the kids while we did our gaming. Thanks to everybody who came! :)
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This evening we (minus Brad) played my new copy of Ticket to Ride I simplified the rules since I was playing with the kids. Zac, Katie and I played with our hands laid openly on the table, but Devon chose not to. I gave everybody a single face-up destination ticket to work towards, and encouraged them to place trains in connections that helped them complete their ticket. If they completed their route, they got another one. I also discouraged them from blocking each other on purpose to keep the game friendly. Zac(4): Although he could sort of understand the rules, Zac got tired after a bit. He most enjoyed placing the trains and felt a bit let down on turns where he had to pick up cards instead of getting to use his trains. He struggled with the idea that the coloured cards related to the routes on the board, not his own player colour. Zac had the job of passing cards to people from the deck. Katie(7): I had Katie in charge of keeping score. I showed her how to work out the points using the little chart printed on the board. She would count out the points and then I would show her how it worked as an equation. "See, Devon was on 7 points. You added 7 more points and he is on 14 now. So, 7 + 7 = 14 which also means 7 x 2 = 14". Games are great for maths skills. Katie decided that if there was a face up rainbow card she would take it. Unfortunately she spent rainbow cards even when she didn't have to, but it made her happy and that's the whole point of playing. Devon(12): Devon was our most reluctant player as he was scared the game would go into his computer time. He also likes more heavily themed games like Marvel Legendary, Summoner Wars or Android Netrunner, so Ticket to Ride is a little bland for him. We didn't play until the end, but stopped the game at an agreed upon time, and the winner was a very pleased Katie! It is exciting to see Katie reach an age where she can enjoy and engage in these games, make her own meaningful decisions and see where they lead her!
Today I was very excited to receive my copy of Ticket to Ride 10th Anniversary edition. I'd been wanting it since I played a friend's copy, but couldn't really justify it and put it in the "sometime" box. Then, late last month I was window-shopping local board game sites (as you do) and realised that just about all of them had stated that the 10th Anniversary edition wasn't available, for the very worst reason. It was [dun dun dunnn] out of print. Out of print means that they are no longer printing copies of the game. When it comes to board games, that's a concern - modern board games are a niche hobby and often don't have very big print runs. Even when there is high demand amongst board gamers, it's often not worth it to the company to make another print run, so sadly many games become no longer available to buy. I hadn't actually planned to buy a game this month (because of, you know, finances) but I really wanted this copy. The kicker is that my best friend's birthday fell just a couple of days before pay day and he liked Ticket to Ride, so that gave me an affordable gift option in time for his birthday that was awesome (I also got him the 1910 expansion to make it better) AND gave me an excuse, once we got paid, to buy a copy to replace the one I gave him. Luckily, I tracked down a copy at Amazon. So. Why the love for the 10th Anniversary edition? Basically, I'm a sucker for aesthetics, to the point where it makes a real difference to my enjoyment of a game.
What is Ticket to Ride Katie, Zac and I also played a game of Coconuts this afternoon. It's their absolute favourite game. Katie still needs to work on not getting upset when things aren't going her way - she is still a very poor loser. What is Coconuts? Also, I have finally run out of shelf space!
It's been a long time since I've played a game. Brad has quit agreeing to play games with me now - I think giving him a pass on playing during games nights has put ideas in his head! So, this evening I had to rope my eldest son into playing something and he chose Dominion. (Dominion is in fact one of the few games Brad likes as well, probably because I get caught up in filling my deck with "fun" cards and it ends up completely non-functional, so they both beat me more often than not.) What is Dominion? Devon went with a Duke + Duchy strategy. Dukes give you a medium number of points, but each duchy card increases it's value. When you multiply them at the end it can give you quite a high score. I did a similar thing, except buying a lot of Gardens cards which give you points for every 10 cards in your deck. They were easy for me to acquire as I had an action card that allowed me to get one for free. Both our strategies were terrible because they bunged up our decks with points cards, but since we were both doing it I guess it evened out! (As I said, I'm terrible at this game. But I still enjoy it.) Devon focused on buying Torturer action cards, simply because it was called Torturer and he loves going on the attack. Look at his smug little face. I bought a large number of Tribute cards which made Devon flip cards over in his deck - the cards he flipped gave me stuff. Lots of stuff. So his Torturer can suck it.
The game dragged on while we got handfuls of points cards and nowhere near enough money, but it finally ended when Devon emptied the third pile of cards. This may have been motivated by our game going over the start of his scheduled time on the computer.... We were both convinced we'd won, but I took it out with 77 to his 69 points. Good always prevails! A decision has been made. Better late than never, right?
This year I'm going to go right back to basics and basically have all-day open house gaming and then modern party games in the evening. Because Tabletop Day is all about making gaming accessible I'm going to always veer towards gateway/simpler games, but of course that depends on who comes along - I may have already exhausted my supply of non-gamer friends haha! Hey guys - if there's anyone who actually reads this! The silence on here is because there hasn't been anything to tell. I've been really stressed and run-down lately so I haven't been to a games night in weeks. For the same reason I'm still struggling with what to do for Tabletop Day this year - I think I may have to go back to basics there. I certainly can't top last year, and I have to remind myself that I don't have to. I can't seem to get behind any of my ideas enough to move forward with them. Also, while my Tabletop Day events have never really been affected by the people who create and organise the whole idea, their focus this year is on game stores and promos rather than people's personal events and I guess it's just not very inspiring.
Something will be on though - tabletop day is about sharing board games with others - even if it's just a regular games night, so keep that date on your calendar (April 30), and I'll try to pull myself out of this funk. I am struggling to move forward and actually publicize my Tabletop Day plans (other than on here which is totally unofficial). I am hesitant for a few reasons.
a) The seats at these games are very limited, even if we have more playing than is ideal (both games are improved by a lower number of players). b) Both Tales and Arkham are divisive choices - people love or hate them. If there's a player who's just not getting into the game they might fall flat. c) I've been struggling a lot with my energy levels lately - I always have a massive gap between my motivation (usually high) and my actual energy (low), so I have to watch that I don't over-extend myself. Running both those games in a day will be exhausting. I kind of feel like the whole "tabletop experience" would be better as a themed game night. The reason I was keen on the idea was to introduce people to how cool it can be to tell an interactive story and have a laugh around a game. Anyway, I would like to get this sorted well in advance - April 30th is just under 4 weeks away, but at least you guys have a date, right? I guess I'll have a think about a possible alternative solution. Tabletop Day was set up as a day set aside for people to play games and share them with others. I jumped on board immediately, and now I host an event every year that's just a bit different from my usual games nights. In 2013, I extended an open invitation to friends to come and play my games. I had set up some well regarded, easy-to-grasp games at each location and everybody got a chance to try things out. My event was so well received that it was then that I decided to form a regular games group of my own. In 2014, I again widened the invitation beyond my gaming group and awarded prizes and trophies to game winners. Last year, I went all out and provided a three-course games-and-dinner menu. Each course was followed by it's counterpart game, both selected from special menus I made. (If you think of a games night starting with a light, short game ("entree") then into the main/larger game and finishing with something fun ("dessert") The food wasn't flash but it was so much fun and actually worked out really well. I also held a coffee-and-games event for my non-gamer friends during the day. Light games, baking and coffee - can't really go wrong! This year I am thinking of hosting The Tabletop Experience.
My plan is to run one or two larger games that are more story than strategy based. I will do my best to turn the game into an immersive experience with an atmosphere that suits. (Wish me luck with that!) I have decided the games in my collection that most lend themselves to this are Tales of the Arabian Nights and Arkham Horror. I have to figure out if running two of them (one in the afternoon and one in the evening) might be a bit much for me, and also if there is enough interest for both. Depending on whether I think I can manage it, I may also hold a Tabletop Bites event in the morning, due to the quietly successful Coffee and gaming last year. This will feature short and simple games (eg. Coloretto, Escape). This is also something I have to think seriously about whether I can manage on top of the other things. (Edit: I just clicked that Tabletop Bites is a terrible name. I'll have to think of something else.) As you can see I'm still in the ideas phase, but the date is set and I have prioritized getting this sorted out in the next few days. I've skipped my Wednesday games group the last couple of weeks. This week I was just too exhausted.
Today I've got the family started on a game of Merchant of Venus, taking a chance that it might interest the kids with it's spaceships and dice rolls. We are having to play it a bit at a time but they are actually enjoying it. We have left it set up so we can come back to it tomorrow night. We'll see if their interest holds... |
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