Two days down, and sadly, I’m now past the halfway point of my trip. Due to covid and work reasons, my trip this year is quite short. But – trying to make the most of it!
First up, a quick workout and then rewarded myself with another Frankie’s Donut. Yet again, someone was kind enough to bring in a few dozen donuts. No cherry donuts today, but the Red Velvet is a really nice consolation prize.
Games today were punctuated by two really good prototypes – both of which I’m able to talk about. First up was Daybreak, an ecologically themed cooperative game from Matt Leacock and CYMK Games. It was an amazingly close game, and we lost on literally the last card. As I was playing the game, I was discussing with Matt Leacock about how I love the way that his cooperative games are such an emotional rollercoaster – you think you’re winning for a bit and then suddenly you’re one card flip or die roll away from winning. Good times.
Next up was Findorff (sp?) from 2F and Friedemann Friese. FF was unable to join us in person this year, but we had a nice Google Chat/Teams game where he monitored our game via the magic of the interwebs and we played a tight engine building game set in the town of Findorff. The rondel action mechanic added a interersting bit of puzzle solving.
I’ll try to get another game in of this tomorrow before I leave and then maybe I’ll feel comfortable enough to talk a bit more about the game then.
Lunch was a walk in the sleet to a food truck. Goat curry and samosas in the freezing rain ALWAYS hits the spot.
When we got back, a few games I had never heard of before – Cross Talk (looked like 1970s) and Citta stato (Giochix). Citta Stato had a super interesting scoring system which I would like to explore more, and the owner of the game (Rodney) made it easy and difficult at the same time to put the game. Lets just say if Rodney and Eric Martin ever touch each other there will be some sort of quantum explosion.
Dinner was Rock Burger – once we figured out where it was located. This is the place with stuffed hamburgers. I got a fairly traditional burger stuffed with mushrooms, onions and cheese. JP got his favorite burger with Fruity Pebbles within, on top, and around. Also there is a cream cheese / marshmallowish topping to hold all the cereal on top of the burger!
Afterwards, small games because my brain needed a rest. And as if a >1/2 lb burger wasn’t enough, I had to have a Buffalo inspired Wing cocktail (like a Shrimp cocktail but spicier.)
And after that, it’s bedtime. As a closing note, here is some game I know nothing about. But it had a big plastic skyscraper and they were laughing a lot. They told me later I didn’t need to try it.
My game list for the day
- Dungeons Dice and Danger
- Daybreak
- Findorff
- Exhibition 20th Century
- Word Radar Tantango
- Cross Talk
- Citta Stato
- Nana x 2
- Mille Fiori
- Exxtra
- Seikoro
Until your next appointment,
The Gaming Doctor
Yeah, I’m pretty much the polar opposite of Eric when it comes to putting games away. (i thought of posting some rules for games and starting with Eric needing to be supervised when putting games away.) I try for quick set up, rather than clean up. Unfortunately, due to the fact that I’m often punching and bagging a game before I read the rules, it isn’t always stored in the most optimal way. I try to improve that when I finally get around to playing.
I’ve started labeling bags in the hope that people might be able to actually put the game away in a similar state to the way it starts. Even I can’t remember what all those bags are for without the labels!
Rodney, it was helpful to have the labels so that we could put the game away back how you wanted it. It is the least we can do for your generosity in bringing all those games for us! I can’t imagine how much work it is to catalog, pack, shelve, etc all those games! Sorry that we didn’t get a chance to play a game this year – maybe in 2023?