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!
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