Sunday night was my first-ever time hosting a Meetup - our Girls' Game Night. I was so incredibly nervous.
Originally, I decided to host these nights as there seemed to be quite a few people who were interested in my Tuesday night group and I wanted to provide something similar for them. I actually have an incredibly full gaming schedule already, let alone family time and other parts of life, so this one would have to be less often. I started a Facebook group, but I didn't get the numbers to make it worthwhile. 4 or 5 people is fine for a game group, but only if most people attend every single time, and I know from experience that wasn't going to happen. At that point, I had to decide whether to abandon the idea or to throw myself fully behind it. Abandoning it was tempting. I have plenty of gaming opportunities and get my girl-game time regularly anyway - to be honest I was/am doing this for other people. I decided not to be a quitter and decided to shell out the small fee to host a Meetup Group. So yes, I'm paying to run a game group to benefit other people, and providing the rather pricey games, and can't afford to hire a space for the meetup so I also had to invite strangers into my own home which was certainly not the greatest set-up. Why am I doing this?? I'm doing this because I want to provide other women the chance to play these games and enjoy the social experience they bring because I know it's fun. I'm doing this because although there are a quite a few gaming groups around, they are male-dominated and quite a few women are just not comfortable with this. I'm doing this on the offchance I get to meet other awesome women who share my interests. I'm doing this because so many women (especially mums) just don't get the opportunity to give their brains a regular workout, and I believe that it's a really important thing to do. So - Sunday night. Everyone arrived and we had a huge potluck - there certainly wasn't a lack of food. Unfortunately it was absolutely pouring with rain which made a real racket on the conservatory roof. Trying to play a game in there would have been very unpleasant, so I decided to set everyone up around the coffee table and pull out a modern party game. I also thought this was a good idea as a bit of an icebreaker since about half the group were friends of mine and the other half were strangers, not to mention that some members of the group had never played a modern game before! I bit the bullet and practiced being decisive by setting up Codenames. I felt like a few people were apprehensive over the idea (more likely they just didn't know the game so didn't have an opinion either way) which made me more nervous than I already was and that caused me to do my typical jumping-into-the-rules-too-quickly and messing them up. This is doubly frustrating as I know, intellectually, how to do a good rules explanation. I can do it if I make sure to be mindful and deliberate. Next time! Codenames isn't complex though, so once we got playing everybody cottoned on to the idea and seemed to really enjoy it. I was super impressed that almost everyone tried out being Spymaster - if you've played it, you know how difficult that is. I love that "give it a go" attitude. :) I think we played 4 or 5 games before the end of the night and one person even put the game on their own to-buy list! There were difficulties. I've run games events for my friends for years, but I've never run a Meetup before. It was a bit awkward for everyone to have the meetup at my place. My house is small and my family is right there. This might have been less of an issue if we'd been able to use the games room and kept everyone separate from the general household. The location is something I'd like to address and we have a couple of ideas, but I really can't afford to hire somewhere as that would put the cost of running this to the point where it's not worth it (even if I asked for contributions). Let's call this a work-in-progress. Overall, I think the Meetup was a success. It seemed like everybody had a good time.
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Girls' Games Our Tuesday girls' group held an end-of-year potluck and played some Cards Against Humanity. Most creative pot-luck moment - Julia's failed fruit-salad turned amazing smoothie! Angela and I, addicts that we are, continued to catch up on Tuesday nights anyway with a friend or two. A couple of people have shown interest in our Girls' Group. I'm actually the newbie here - this group was started by the other members and unfortunately we don't have space to add anybody else. However, my plan this year is to implement another group like this (although less often - something like once a month) if the interest is there. New to the collection My Amazon haul arrived early in the month, and I decided that I could have one now, one as my Christmas present, and one later when I would appreciate it. The first game I opened was Tokaido, as I thought it would be a good one for the family. I hadn't expected much as the general opinion is that it's very very light. I was actually pleasantly surprised with the gameplay it contained. To my shame, I still haven't played it with the younger kids. For Christmas "Brad" gave me Broom Service and I got a full group of players to try it out with me on New Years' Day. With light rules and cute graphics, it's still pretty strategic and one of my more "euro" games. I still have not played my copy of Splendor, but I finally gave it to myself the other evening. :D It's a game I've played a few times and am familiar with, and one which warranted owning so I could play it more often. I also went to Te Wharehouse and picked up good ol' Uno and Skip Bo. The kids love these and they are great for number skills. Don't underestimate young kids' ability to play Uno - as soon as they can recognise numbers they're good to go! Katie first played it when she was 3. Other gaming Christmas Day itself was definitely a success in the pressie department! Not only did I get Broom Service, but managed to convince my Mum into getting me Junk Art (a wooden stacking game) and my friend Gareth gave me a copy of Mombasa! I was grinning from ear to ear getting three whole games this year!! I didn't get any games played on Christmas, though, as Mum and Ken generally don't enjoy them. Although I haven't made it to a Wednesday for a while, I also managed to get a few games in with various friends. Recent Gaming Moments Games I played in DecemberTokaido* (x3) Fluxx (x2) Junk Art* (x2) 7 Wonders Blood Rage* Cards Against Humanity Coloretto Amazonas Dominion Magic: The Gathering Sherlock Holmes: The Card Game* Skip-Bo Takenoko *New to me Played online at BoardGameArena (as Kyanite): Carcassonne (x2), Takenoko (x4), Seasons, Puerto Rico, Tobago, Bombay*, Dragonheart. Most enjoyed: Takenoko Why? My love affair with Takenoko continues, and the Chibis expansion has breathed some new life into it, too. It's just a fun, light, relaxing game. Least enjoyed: Sherlock Holmes: The Card Game Why? I actually played a lot of games I don't like very much in December, as is always the case when you are catering to many different people. Good thing I enjoy playing anything - even games I don't like! However, Sherlock Holmes had the biggest gameplay problem. In Sherlock Holmes you play cards to travel, investigate, arrest etc, and those cards inform which ones you are allowed to play next. Unfortunately we kept getting stuck in the "countryside" by a certain travel card that was very common. You could only play two specific cards to follow it and we just weren't drawing them. We played a couple of rounds but this happened each time. The game is thematically entertaining, but it's never fun being unable to move forwards. (Sorry John! I would still play it again, though.) I've managed to catch the nasty cold-thing going around which put me on the couch unable to do much for a week. Since I couldn't make it to anything I decided now was the time to jump in and try out an online board-game platform. I chose BoardGameArena since it seemed to be the easiest to use. I really like that I can choose whether I want to play a whole game at the time or just take a turn once or twice a day. Among other places you can play games online are Yucata and Boiteajeux. (My username is "Kyanite" on both of these also.) On Tuesday I went to my friend's dinner and game night. After enjoying the delicious lamb dish she prepared we introduced her two friends to Lords of Waterdeep (with expansion, naturally). They seemed quite uncertain about it at first, but they ended up really enjoying it. I suspect I may be bringing that around again! The only sad thing is that we forgot to eat the pineapple upside-down cake we whipped up as emergency dessert! It was a quiet evening at Mark's on Wednesday, and most of us played Railroad Tycoon (also known as Railways of the World). I am always quite intimidated by this game but I'm not sure why. Maybe because of it's sheer size. Mark had a bad start after overbidding for being first player, which he was unable to overcome through the rest of the game. Michael won (just) followed closely by me, then Steve. Railroad Tycoon is a pick-up-and-deliver game. That means that you must take goods from one location to another, where you will earn money for them. In Railroad Tycoon you also need to build your own railroads and upgrade how far your trains can travel. You want to invest wisely so you can maximise your income, and you get points for delivering goods - the further you take them, the more points you earn. You can only deliver goods to specific locations that are marked as wanting them. Finally, on Friday Devon's friend came over for a game of HeroQuest. They played 2 characters each and beat my evil wizard easily. Next games night date has been set: Saturday, 25th June at 7pm. Hope you can make it!
Apologies for the anticipation of a post a week ago - if anyone saw it - I started writing it and then got sidetracked... for a week... On the 22nd of May we had our semi-annual game of Twilight Imperium 3. This game is gargantuan, and requires at least an entire day so we need to plan it weeks or months in advance. There are a group of us who enjoy playing high-conflict, explorey games filled with betrayal, backstabbing and hilarity and are willing to devote hours to creating an alien empire, tabling and voting on ridiculous laws, and in Jeremy's case, suicide-bombing particular players with his explosive fish-ship. During the game there evolved a rivalry between Luke/Jeremy and Matt/Michael. We had expected Luke and Jeremy to be at each other's throats as they were next to each other and can both be very clever but aggressive players. To our shock, they decided that working with each other was more beneficial, and that was terrifying. As the game drew to a close, it became so close between Luke, Matt and Jeff that the alliances came to the fore and there was much bribery and corruption. Luke took it out in the end, with what I think was a well-earned victory. Other than that I have been enjoying games with Angela and her girls' group, Wednesday night gaming and even a lovely lunch-and-a-game with my best friend and his family while the kiddies played. It certainly seems about time for another games night soon so I'll look at my calendar and see where I can schedule one in. Takenoko at Mark's on June 1st with the expansion "Takenoko Chibis" (kindly provided by Martyn). It's a good expansion that adds a GIRL PANDA (!!!), some cool special tiles and cute baby tokens. Sorry guys, I won't buy it for the $54 it's retailing at, but maybe if there was a good sale it might turn up in my collection one day. Games I Have Played in MayColt Express
The Resistance: Avalon Codenames (x3) Dominion (base game) Star Trek: Catan Viceroy Dead Man's Draw Twilight Imperium 3 (with Shards of the Throne & Shattered Empire expansions) Sequence (x3) Catan Perudo (Liar's Dice) Lords of Waterdeep (With Scoundrels of Skullport expansion) Legacy: The Testament of Duke de Crecy Most enjoyed: Legacy: The Testament of Duke de Crecy Why? I just love the story that develops for each player as they build their family. Least enjoyed: Viceroy Why? The theme didn't seem to be attached to the gameplay and it just seemed fiddly for no reason. I've had a very busy and tiring couple of weeks, with a few opportunities to play games. May 4th was Devon's birthday so Mark gave me permission to bring him along to our regular Wednesday night games as a birthday treat. We played Kemet and Devon showed how he is as competent at gaming as anyone else. In Kemet you basically have troops that score points by winning battles or hold special areas of the board - it's very fighty! It was the perfect game for a boy his age, so he had a fantastic time! (Although the late night took it's toll.) The next evening a new friend invited me to join her and a couple of her friends for a girls' game night (including dinner!). I was exhausted because I'd had a full-on week, but it was lovely and I had a nice time. She cooked some delicious chicken and we played Dominion, followed by my favourite carrot cake for dessert and then Star Trek Catan. I hadn't played ST: Catan before (and honestly haven't played Catan all that much in general), and the different pieces combined with my overwhelming tiredness meant I was completely useless. Thankfully the other players were helpful. It's really hard to judge since my brain wasn't co-operating but I think I prefer regular Catan because I had difficulty seeing what was going on with the board and pieces due to the space theme. Finally I attended games group last Wednesday and was stoked that my friend Matt (who moved overseas recently) was back in town and could come along. We played a few games for higher player counts since there were a lot of us - Colt Express, Codenames and The Resistance: Avalon. Colt Express is certainly some table candy, it has a model train that your meeples literally move about in and shoot one another. It's fun enough but I don't think it'll ever be a game I'd request. It also feels that we seem to be quite over The Resistance. We used to play it all the time, and we pulled it out half-heartedly as an end-of-the-night game. It's fine but it certainly doesn't shine like it used to.
I really want to play something this weekend but I don't think it'll happen as I'm currently too broke and sore/tired to host. I will update with a date for the next games event at my place soon. (Sorry about the lack of links - BoardGameGeek's search function is currently down.) |
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