Android

Two Sundays in a row now, we've had a game of Android. Both of my kids, The BFF, and me.
The BFF got this game on a great sale, 50% off, and I hadn't heard much about it before he brought it home.
It plays 2-5, and it has so many different parts to the game, we've likened it to playing 3-4 games at once.
It's kind of a mystery, because you're trying to figure out who's guilty, but it's no Clue. Who ends up being guilty is determined by how much/what kind of evidence is put on each suspect.
So there's putting evidence onto suspects (my least-best part of playing this game), plus there's points to get on the board, your own character's plot to resolve (or not), a conspiracy grid to resolve by playing puzzle pieces, and probably something else I'm not remembering.
There really are so many different things to do. But it doesn't seem over complicated, once you dredge through the rules.
Oh, and the picture is with my new camera! Woot! is awesome!!

Exploding Dice

We played a game of Deadlands Sunday afternoon, The BFF, The Artist Extreeme, and me. This was the second time we played, the first was last month including The Rawk Star, so this was the first three-player game.
It went well, except for one little thing we forgot, which was actually a big thing. If you roll a six, you get to roll again, and add the six to whatever the next number is. And if the second number is another six, you get to keep going.
So for the first 3/4 of the game, we were all getting creamed in fights because some of the NPCs start at 7 even.
Pretty embarrassing to be looking for a rules clarification on something completely different, and realizing that you messed up a basic rule.
But it did serve to remind us why we play, not to win, or even get the rules right, but for the fun of being together.

Also Last Weekend

Last Saturday was the first Family Game Day at my church. Organized by myself and a gaming friend met through yet another gaming podcast, Garrett's Games and Geekiness. We had twenty folks total, including the organizers and the baby, which was a great turn out for the first time, I think.
The age range was younger than I had hoped, one part of my plan is to get more teenagers involved (including MINE!), but that will come in later months. It was nice that the youngsters attending were roughly in the same age range, around K-3, so they could play the same types of games. I got to play Jumpin' Monkeys, Bat Man Uno (The BFF, when told this, replied 'you hate Uno' which is true, but I adore these kiddos!), my thrift store gold find Poppa's Pizza Topple, and even played a little Seismic, after taking out all the earthquakes and workers. It actually was great as a puzzle game, with it's hexagon pieces, and different amounts and styles of roads on each piece.
Also exciting was seeing a table of adults playing together, their children all at different tables playing other games.
A nice time was had by all. And next month, maybe I can drag my own kids? *fingers crossed*

SSG@B&S: December

We had a full house this month, as the BFF’s son, Yehaw McK, was able to join us for the first time, both of my kids were home, and my parents came down also. That makes a total of seven. And boy, do we need a bigger table!
Other game days we've played a longer, geekier game and a party game that's maybe short enough to play a couple times, and this month's game day was no exception.
We started with Killer Bunnies and the Journey to Jupiter the board game, which says it plays up to six, but there weren't specific pieces for the six, and there are lots of cards, so we figured we could do seven. We have been late to the KB extravaganza, and have only started collecting and playing Killer Bunnies and the Quest for the Magic Carrot earlier this year. The card game, we have blue, yellow, red, and violet so far. On the new board game, only the blue and yellow, ie, the starter. Not being experts on the card game, with the average plays around the table being maybe 2, and the rules for the board game being the same as for the card game for the first part, we got off to a slow start. The BFF had asked me to also read the rules, but unfortunately, I hadn't had time to. Having more than one person understanding the rules, and not having to actually read the rules at the table would have been nice.
Now, I know that a lot of game teachers say not to read the rules at the table, and I would definitely agree for teaching at a con. But sometimes at our house, the reading of the rules is part of the fun, especially when it's just the BFF and I learning a new game.
So Killer Bunnies board game didn't go so great on the first play, but I attribute that mostly to us all learning at the same time, there were too many stops to look things up and too many little things we got wrong along the way. We also wondered if just the blue and yellow together was a little defense-lite, we remembered that in the card game, the red deck brought more defense.
I'll definitely play this again, after more thorough read through of the rules, and probably a few less people.
After eating, we went for a much lighter game, also new from the big box, Zombie Fluxx. We actually did a few hands of Zombie and a few more of regular Fluxx, without mixing them together. Fluxx is the perfect simple game for this sized group. We laughed a lot playing this, and the earlier grumpiness was wiped away! Especially with the Zombie version, when the rule came out that everyone had to moan when they drew a Zombie Creeper card!

After Shock: No Agricola

So I waited until the deadline day to volunteer to teach Agricola. at the Nuke Con After Shock 2008.3, which was Tuesday, and the rest of the week found some free time to reread some of the rules, dig through the cards as there were still some I hadn't seen before, type up some notes, and Friday night re-watched the Board Games with Scott video on Agricola.
And no one signed up.
I even for a while put my cool jars of bits up on the sign up counter for enticement, but no takers. Oh, well.
I joined a few others in a cooperative game of A Touch of Evil, The Supernatural Game instead. We played cooperatively, and we creamed the bad guy. I even got in the last punch. But, honestly, the other three really, REALLY weakened the monster before my puny dice rolls got into play. He had twenty-two wounds to take, and by the time it was my turn to charge, he was down to just a couple wounds.
I also played Pandemic, three player, twice. We lost big time first, and won big time the second time. Both games seemed really unbalanced, but in opposite ways. It just depends on where the cards lay.
Also learned and played for the first time la Harve, created by the same designer who did Agricola. Very nice game, like Agricola in many ways, resource gathering, planning ahead, many steps to some things you want to do or buy, and victory points. Different in that there are way more resources, each resource can 'level up', actions are played on buildings that you or the town buy and then anyone can use (usually for pay) the building to do the action the building provides. The three guys I played with had all played together a few times, and were very kind to the beginner. I got a score that they said was in par with their first plays, so I wasn't too disappointed, and their scores were the highest they'd ever gotten, which I'd like to take a little credit for. ;p There are many buildings to come out, and since every building had victory points, I was trying to buy as many as possible, and the guys didn't mention 'till the end that usually all the buildings don't get bought, I just assumed we all try to buy the better buildings and keep buying 'till they're gone! Very fun and intricate game. The resource refreshing is random every game, and the number of players definitely would change how the game goes. There's only seven total actions in each round (and you feed after every round), so in a four player game, someone only gets one action per round. Some of the things that happen at round end, ie how much to feed, when buildings and ships come out, if there is a harvest or not, these things all change depending on the number of players as well. I do think it had 1-5, so it must have a solo element as well. I don't think I need to buy this one, yet, but only because I think we have many more games of Agricola in store at home before bringing this one home. I would like to play it a few more times though! I'm not sure if it's out in the US yet, we played from an Australian version picked up at Essen.

Agricola: Family Photo

So here's the photo of us playing Agricola on game day.
Sorry, I'm not in the shot, someone had to take the picture. ;p



Update: The comments are now corrected, Dad, so you can post anonymously.

Agricola: Family

On our family game days, I try not to be too bossy about what we will play, and just see who shows up and what they want to play. I was hoping to play Agricola, so I was glad when Dad asked about it. Since both of my kids were home this time, along with both of my parents, me and the BFF, that's six and Agricola only plays up to five. I offered to just be the teacher, and let them all play, and that way I could help anyone with their turn, but my folks opted to play as a team. This worked out great, I think, because while my Mom is a great gamer, she is a bit of an unconfident player with new games, and playing on a team with Dad gave her someone to confer with about each turn.
I wanted to introduce the game to the new players with the Family way to play. This was the first time playing Family for the BFF and I, so we were all trying something new. The Family way to play mostly means no cards, no Occupations and no Minor Improvements. The first board piece for possible actions is turned over, with a couple slight changes on actions that involve the cards; Starting Player has one food instead of a Minor Improvement, Occupation is changed to Build Stable &/or Bake Bread, and the Day Laborer is changed from two food to one food, one building supply (not sure why the change on the Day Laborer). Playing five player gave us lots of great action possibilities as well, I think I like playing five player best, lots of wood and clay available!
We had a good time playing, and ended with most of the scores pretty close, the BFF excited that he beat me by one point! Team Mom & Dad got a somewhat slighted, since there are only four stoves/ovens to be able to cook animals in, and they didn't get to buy one. They ended up having to take a couple begging cards, but if they had been able to get an oven, they wouldn't have had to beg, and would have had a comparable score. (BTW, the BFF only beat me by one point because I forgot that I had to have TWO plowed fields to get a point.)
I thought it would be fun, since the game or version was new to all of us, to do a bit of a survey about what everyone thought of the game. So here are same questions I asked everyone:

1)What did you think of the game? (BFF and I-What did you think of the Family way of playing the game?)
2)On the BGG scale, please rate the game.
3)What was the best part of the game?
4)What was the worst part of the game?
5)What’s your favorite game right now?

And here are everyone's answers:

Rawk Star Age 17

1)It was ok, pretty good
2)6
3)The little sheeples
4)First player system, I didn't like how it worked. It wasn't an incentive at the end, and if you're the last player, you're messed up
5)D&D 4.0


Artist Extreeme Age 15

1)It was fun.
2)7
3)Having to decide what to eat
4)The length
5)Munchkin / D&D


Grandpa Retired and Loving it

1)I thought it was fun, took a little long to get into.
2)7
3)I kinda liked the way it related to agriculture, to reality. You need to know that you have to eat.
4)Takes a while getting into it the first time.
5)Pegs & Jokers-depends on who you're playing with. With our volunteer friends: card games; with you guys: a board game.


Grandma Retired and feisty

1)I guess I enjoyed it, I think I will enjoy it more the next time I play.
2)8
3)Learning a new game.
4)Not understanding the rules to begin with.
5)The card game Golf / Pegs & Jokers


the BFF Forty-Something

1)I thought it was harder because getting things like grain was harder, not more than one way. was it more fun? no.
2)7 for Family, 8 for regular
3)Playing it with the family, almost a gateway game
4)Waiting between turns
5)Race for the Galaxy


ME A little older than the BFF, and he never lets me forget it

1)Not as much fun without the cards
2)6 for Family, 9 for regular
3)Playing a three generation game
4)Not having the cards
5)Agricola (did you even have to wonder?)

SSG@B&S

Yesterday was the second Sunday of the month, so time again for SSG@B&S (Second Sunday Gaming At Bryan And Shell's).
I started this family game day a couple months ago, it's not just about the gaming, it’s about the family and close friends. With the BFF’s son already a legal adult, and my two getting closer to that age every day, I wanted to set up a tradition, something that will give them an excuse to come home every once in a while after they have moved out. And the bonus is it gives my parents and brother the excuse to come over, too. My folks are retired and do volunteer work in different parts of the country, and are gone about half of the year on their trips, so it's nice to see them when they are in the state. My brother lives in the same city as we do, he actually lives across the street from the parking lot I park in for work, but just like in any busy family, we really don’t see each other that often. But since gaming was always a part of our life when my brother and I were growing up, it's still something that can bring us all together.
Yesterday was this months game day. My parents and my children played Agricola for the first time, with the BFF and I. We played the Family rules. My brother got here after we had started, but was happy to play Spore on the computer while we were farming. We also played a party game called Rapid Recall that I had picked up at the thrift store. I'll write more this week about each of these games.

Game Day October: Agricola

We started a family and close friends Game Day a couple months ago. I'd been thinking about starting this for a while, I wanted for one, to have a good reason for all the teenager-almost-adult kids to come visit once a month, to start a family tradition that will carry for years. So far, they've been small, which is fine, building up the tradition. This month, yesterday, it was the smallest so far, with just the BFF and I in attendance, but that's fine, because we all gamed a lot last weekend.
Since Agricola is my hot game right now, we played two games of that. We sure discovered the differences between a two player game and a five player game!
Part of how Agricola is varied depending on players, besides having three different decks to choose from, is that some cards are only in play depending on how many people are playing. Each pack has cards for 1+, 3+, and 4+ players, so for solo play and two player, the cards available are the same. We talked about having a ghost third player, and we could roll a die to decide their turn, or just cheating and adding in the 3+ cards, but we didn't try that yet.
The cards distracted us again, I would say, and not getting things out in the right order. Some of the cards have to be played before certain activities and vice-versa, and it's still tricky to plan far enough ahead of time to get it all done properly.
We each won one game, the BFF said on the second game, he purposely took the wood before I could get it, because he thought that was how I beat him the first time. I've heard that in each number of players, there are certain resources that are harder to get, I guess wood is harder to get in a two player game.