Forbidden Island

I was so excited when we went to the new and improved game section of B & N this weekend. There are lots of good 'gamer' games that they haven't had before. Agricola, Dominion, Alhambra, Castle Panic, all the Munchkins, Word on the Street (which will probably be my next game purchase there), all sorts of stuff. And the B & N Onyx editions of some old favorites, including Stratigo, and more kid's games.
It seems that Barnes and Nobel are getting into the game business seriously. And good sales are always included, so we perused the 30% off table too.
I had been wanting to pick up Forbidden Island since I heard about it on the Spiel. Great bits, cooperative game play, and it comes in a TIN!! (I collect useful tins to store things in, so any game in a tin is a bonus!)
With an e-mail coupon to save on the already very reasonable price of Forbidden Island, I was able to pick up a little Connect Four carabiner key chain from the sale table for basically free.
We tried it tonight twice, first The BFF, The Munchkin, and I, and we didn't even come close to winning. The second time, The Munchkin opting for season four of Angel he's watching on Netflix, so we tried it two player. We had some great luck, like drawing no Waters Rise cards for most of the Treasure Deck, then drawing two at once, which actually makes the water rising not as bad. But second time through the Treasure Deck, the Waters Rise cards came up too quick, and bit us in the ass. We opted to play through our plan as if we hadn't gotten the last one at just the wrong time, and we would have won if that last card had been even one card lower in the deck!!
It's a very compelling game. We're excited to try it four, five, and six player, to see if it's better or worse. Also excited to push that 10+ age suggestion, we have some very bright game players at our church game day, that are 7 or 8 that I think would really bring something to the game.

Party on, Gayme!

About exactly a year ago, the BFF suggested we make a gaming resolution for the new year: to refrain from making any game purchases in 2008. Guess how long THAT lasted??
Well, we actually did pretty good for a couple months, maybe even four or five, but we HAD to get Zombie Clowns!!! And, yes, we've picked up a few more than that.
But between the holiday game buying, gift received, and after-holiday sales, I would be comfortable making THIS year's gaming resolution not buying more party games, we are pleasantly well stocked.
The latest in the collection is Gift Trap. I fell in love with this game maybe a year and a half ago, when I saw Scott (Board Games withScott) review it. The game play sounded pretty good, nice family party game. But what really excited me were the awesome BITS! Every player (3-8) gets an adorable little gift bag filled with their game pieces, two plastic "gifts" one to represent gifts you gave, and one that looks open to represent the gifts you got, and several cardboard markers.