I have my good friends Troy and Lauren to thank for my love of modern board games; they spoke often of their weekly games of Settlers of Catan and I had never seen a board game with such a devoted following. I didn't get a chance to play the game until about a year later and I loved it. It didn't take long until I had graduated to Cities and Knights and then Seafarers (and just recently, Traders and Barbarians). The game was wonderful, varied, easy enough to get other non-gamers playing, and it became the catalyst to my further exploration into board games.
It was several years after my first game of Catan that I was recruited into the first and only board game group of which I've been a part. The four of us, all trained as engineers, got together once a month to play board games that we figured less analytical people would find boring, tedious, and/or overly taxing. I don't remember what we played in those early games but as we met over the years our repertoire expanded to include Puerto Rico, Carcassonne, and Agricola. We also played Thurn and Taxis and Scotland Yard once but they didn't seem to have the staying power. The group has grown in membership over the years as our schedules have become busier but most board game nights garner only four or five attendees.
The most unique addition to the pool has been Power Grid and not because of anything particularly unique about the game but because none of us in the group had ever played it prior to our first game together. I was the speculative purchaser of the game and spent the day of the game reading and re-reading the rules, trying to get my head around how the game played. When it came time to play that evening I discovered the rules had been left at home; we downloaded a PDF and made do. In fact, the game has been very popular in my group and we play it often.
The most recent new addition has been Dominion; it was recommended by a group member who had played it with some other friends. I bought a copy of the base set on this recommendation and have enjoyed it a great deal, so much so that I have also ended up with the Intrigue, Alchemy, and Dark Ages expansion. One of these days I'm sure the remaining expansions (Seaside, Prosperity, Cornucopia, and Hinterlands) will make there way over.
And there's more to say about this hobby: the storage systems I've assembled for games and their expansions, the iOS versions of games we play, the simpler, smaller games that we use to introduce our friends to modern board games....
I'm sure I'll get around to some of these later but I'll leave you with this: The game of choice between my wife and I right now is the iOS version of Le Havre. We don't own the physical game but have played this version in bed many evenings over the past three weeks. She really loves it and it goes without saying we wouldn't play it near as much if we had to set it up and take it down every time we wanted to play; as my favorite review of the game says, "Its Chit-tastic!".
Finally, a Progressive Odyssey post that I can fully understand. Dominion is our current obsession so i can fully get behind that. you need some of the other expansions, though. seaside and prosperity are two of my favorites! oh, who am i kidding, they're all great. (alchemy is actually the only one we don't own). did you know the last expansion is coming out this spring?
ReplyDeletewe just started playing Citadels... do you know it?
Yes, I'm looking forward to Guilds in the next few months. My wife is VERY interested in Prosperity as she likes having more money and more expensive cards. She actually dislikes Dark Ages because it is just the opposite, making do with what you can scrap together. I'm pretty convinced we'll be getting Prosperity soon. At least I hope we do.
ReplyDeleteI haven't heard of Citadels; are you liking it?
Citadels is good. It has a bit of a Puerto Rico feel in that you choose a character (or two, depending on number of players) which, in turn, determines the order of turns and the special ability you will have that round. It's fairly easy to learn/teach, and interesting to play. It works for two players. So I'd say it's a solid B in terms of strategy games.
ReplyDeleteOh Katie will love Prosperity... it's the opposite of Dark Ages for sure! We recently were given Thurn and Taxis... it's fine but not going to have too much staying power in our home. Have you tried out Zooloretto? Also, would love to hear your thoughts on Agricola.
I've played one game of Thurn and Taxis and I think I had the same opinion as you. There was a bit of a mix up and ended up receiving an expansion for the game a few years ago; sadly, I don't own the original so it has been sitting in shrink wrap all these years.
ReplyDeleteI have heard of Zooloretto but haven't played it; do you like it? Trent and his family are coming to visit and I'm looking for games that might be good to play with them. There boys are five and three (maybe) and based on what I had heard this seemed like it might be an option for them.
Which leaves us with Agricola. I have played several times in our gaming group and each time I have done horrid. The games seems to require more strategic thinking than I can muster, keeping many factors accounted and balanced in your head all at once. I don't know if I lack this skill in a genetic sense or if the games I played were cases of not playing to the best of my abilities. Regardless, it is a challenging game to me and I'd like to play it again.
Truly, there are more games that I would like to try than I'll every have time for. There are so many good games out there that I experience a temptation to collect beyond what I could play. So in thinking about games to purchase, I'm always looking for variety. For example, I'm eager to try some cooperative games since I have never played any; games like Pandemic, Shadows Over Camelot, or Battlestar Galactica. One of these days...
We like Zooloretto. It's one of those games that has layers. The more you play, the more you see options for strategy. I didn't see this reply comment until today so it may be too late for Trent's family visit, but Zooloretto would definitely be over the kids' heads. Especially a 3 year old. Although, my kids do like to play with the pieces since they all have animals on them :)
ReplyDeleteI feel similarly about Agricola. A hard time that I had with the game is that I never knew how I was doing in the game until the end. It's the kind of game I need to play a lot of times before I can grasp it. But it's so overwhelming that we don't own it and I won't play it often. Plus, it's not conversational at all.
Pandemic is fun! And I've heard very good things about Shadows Over Camelot. It's interesting to play the cooperative games with groups of people. Some people have a real hard time compromising their own ideas, even to win a game! You learn a lot :)
We were out of town this past weekend and had a chance to play Pandemic with friends, the first time with all four players. We all really enjoyed the game and I suspect it will be one of my favorites.
DeleteGood to know about Zooloretto. I'll keep it on my list of games to try when they get older. I got BJ Animal Upon Animal (Tier auf Tier as it is called in German) with the hopes it would be simple enough he could play it with the boys. The game is a dexterity one where you stack wooden animals in kind of reverse Jenga play. From what I've heard, the game is a hit with them as long as you don't try following the rules; just playing with the animals is enough.