I spent the end of last week at a local Massachusetts board gaming convention, Lobster Trap. LT is an invite-only con that started as a few friends getting together for a weekend at a friend’s art studio and has morphed into a much larger event that requires actual event space and lasts for four and a half days.  It is always a good time, with many new releases from Essen, some fun activities, some tasty snacks and, most importantly, some really great people. Since I can’t possibly describe all the awesome people, and you are here for the games, let me tell you about some of my gaming highlights from the con. They are not listed in any particular order, other than the first one, which was my favorite.

Bier Pioniere

I had not heard of this game prior to playing it, nor had the other two people I played it with. Why did we choose it? We were pursuing the new games table and we saw this game that appeared to be about beer, something the three of us have been known to enjoy together from time to time. We decided to give it a try. That’s what is great about having days to play games; no one is worried about the time and you can take a chance on something and see how it goes.

Players are small-time brewers who are trying to grow their brewery, making improvements and taking advantage of innovation along the way.  It combines worker placement, resource management and hand management into an engine builder that works very well both from a player experience and theme perspective. It took us close to 4 hours to learn and play from the rules, hampered slightly by the german-only cards despite a published English rulebook, but BGG had a handy translation.  I thoroughly enjoyed the game and am hoping to hear about an English version in the works, because I would definitely buy it. This was my favorite new game of the event.

Cabanga!

I was convinced to stay up for “just one more game – it’s a quick one” and it turned out to be Cabanga!, a game I had read about and really had no plans to try, since it sounded silly.  There are 4 suits of numbered cards that are dealt to players with some left over, so you don’t know all of the cards in play.  Your goal is to be the first to get rid of all your cards.

There are 4 discard piles on the table, one for each color, with two number piles. On your turn you play a card to one of the piles. Other players can then toss any cards that fall between the two numbers in that color at you; you draw that number of cards from the deck as a penalty. Sounds kinda boring, but much to my surprise it is not. There is a surprising amount of strategy involved and it is FUN. Really fun. I tried it again the next morning and it was still fun.

At the Office

I am kind of done with the roll and write genre, but had heard good things about this one so wanted to give it a try, and I am glad I did because I enjoyed it. Part of my ennui is that they don’t feel new or different and, if they are based on a board game I’d probably rather play the boardgame. This one stands up well on its own, though.

Every player gets a sheet with a pyramid of workers in different colors, some with eyeglasses.  The active player rolls the dice and chooses a colored die to use, also removing any other dice rolled that had the same number.  Other players choose from the leftover dice. All players can use the white die either exclusively or in combo with a colored die. You write the value on a worker of your choice, keeping in mind various opportunities for bonus scoring. It was just puzzly enough to make every turn interesting without causing major AP. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

TALL TALES

Not an Essen release, but a new game nonetheless, one that has been sitting on my shelf waiting for a gaming opportunity with more than 2 players. Tall Tales is a trick-taking game with a unique twist. Players are all storytellers, trying to outdo the stories of the other players.

The cards of value 10- 19 are placed in stacks of descending order on the table. The dealer plays one card in front of each player, and then players are dealt a hand of cards valued 1 – 9 and play a trick-taking game following the usual trick-taking rules.  The person who won the trick takes their choice of cards from in front of any player, and all the other players follow suit, except the player who played the lowest card – that player chooses a card of their choice from the top of the 10 – 19 stacks. All of the chosen cards go into each player’s discard pile, the card they played on the previous trick stays in front of them, and play continues. After the second round you score half the value of your discard pile and after the fourth round you score the full value. It’s a really interesting game, because you have to balance taking cards that will win you tricks with taking cards that will let you choose the higher cards at the right time. I like this one a lot.

EVENFALL

This is both another engine builder and a game that I am going to write a full review of, so stay tuned for that.

This is a card-based, worker placement engine builder. Players are all wizards, performing rituals in places of power and using familiars and council members to help them along the way. On your turn you take a place of power so that you can cast rituals, or play cards to cast rituals, or take another action to build up some resources.

DARWIN’S JOURNEY

This game had been on my list to try, and my friend Phil was willing to teach, so we were off on our voyage. Thanks to Phil for doing such a great job – teaching this one well is not a small feat. This is another game with a LOT going on. A LOT. There are A LOT of actions, there are A LOT of icons, and the board is very, very large.

I suspect I asked Phil 1.2 zillion questions over the course of the game trying to understand everything available to me.  It’s a worker placement game; place workers to learn and gather resources and move workers to explore and discover new species, but you also can’t forget to keep up with the Beagle.

You can read our preview of it here https://opinionatedgamers.com/2021/12/03/larry-levy-review-preview-of-darwins-journey/ . After we finished our game, which I thoroughly enjoyed, I thought “well, I am glad I got to play that, but I don’t think I need to own it. I would like to play it again sometime, though”. Well, my brain has not stopped thinking about this game since and all of the different possible strategies and things I am sure I am missed and gosh darn it, I just might NEED this game. . . .

TIPPERARY

Who needs another tile-laying game? I do! I am a big fan of tile-laying, but even I am starting to be wary of them, since there are so many. This one turned out to be a nice surprise.

Players have a starting tile with a symbol on it, and there is a sort of grid in the center of the table with a spinner. There are always two tiles in each area of the grid. One player spins and you choose a tile from the grid that matches your symbol and place it in your area. It doesn’t sound all that new, and it probably isn’t, but it is fun and it plays very quickly, so you could play it multiple times or use it as a meatier filler. 

All the Games I Played

Here are all the games I played at LT Turns out I played them with 29 individual people, both old and new friends.

Other Things That Saw a Lot of Play

Path of Civilization was almost always in play; I had played it as a prototype and enjoyed it, so am looking forward to giving the published version a try. Most people seemed to like it.

Terraforming Mars the Dice Game was commonly spotted on the table as well. I own this one, already.  I love Terraforming Mars and like Ares Expedition, so was curious about this one. I am glad I bought it, because I am thoroughly enjoying it. I’ll be writing a full review of this soon.

Other things I noticed being played: Nucleum, Barcelona, Havlandi, Amalfi, Amygdala, and, of course, Tichu. 

Miscellaneous Other Stuff

A big thank-you to the organizers. They do a great job of making everyone feel welcome and ensuring the space works, people have water and snacks and generally feel comfortable.  

One cool thing that the organizers have done is to have a raffle for prizes, rather than a prize table.  You get a set number of entries just for showing up, with the potential for more for advance pre-registration for the next year or for participation in an event (turns out my terrible bowling skills have an upside. . .) and there are jars next to all the prizes, many of which are new Essen releases. You put your tickets in the jar or jars of your choosing.  On Saturday afternoon names are drawn. It is fair and it is quick, so it doesn’t take away from too much gaming time. 

One other cool thing that happens is the swap shelves that one of the attendees organizes. Anyone can bring games or game components that they don’t want any more and put them on the shelves, and anyone can take anything they want. One person’s trash is another person’s treasure, and it’s nice to find a home for games that you don’t want to sell but don’t want to own anymore. Steve B. takes anything left over and donates it at the end of the con.

THOUGHTS OF OTHER OPINIONATED GAMERS

Dale:  Like I wrote yesterday, I was very pleased with both Cabanga! And At The Office.  Cabanga! was simply unexpected.  It’s been a blast every time it’s hit the table, and it’s really cathartic to yell out Cabanga and fling cards at people…  At the Office honestly doesn’t do a single thing new; yet it was a roll and write that I actually want to keep playing.  These days, that says a lot.  I still have to get Evenfall to the table; the rulebook has kept it from making it there – there are so many world-building terms used in the rules that I have had a hard time figuring out what actually happens in the game.  I’m sure that I just need to play it to figure it all out, and Tery’s enthusiasm makes me want to do it sooner than later.

Simon: Evenfall is one I haven’t yet got to the table but I played a partial game at Essen and really enjoyed it. Lots of variability in the cards and a really good theme with great art. 

Joe: I had already played and enjoyed Cabanga! and Tipperary multiple times before Lobster Trap, so I was not surprised by them.  I _was_ surprised by Bier Pioniere, which I had a much shorter experience with (I played two player, with someone who played before and therefore didn’t have to learn from the rules; even with rules, it only took about 75 minutes).  There are things I’m not so fond of with the game, particularly that there seems to be more ability to do things than the game needs given how quickly it can be over.  But unlike Spitzer’s other designs I’ve tried, this game feels thematically consistent and easy to pick up – at least other than the German text on the cards.  I enjoyed it, but I enjoyed Bonsai a bit more, and 5 Towers a bit more still, making it my favorite new-to-me game of the event.

Larry:  Darwin’s Journey is one of my favorites from this year and Tery is absolutely right–there’s a LOT going on.  Upgrading your workers so that they can take more and better actions is the central innovation in the game and it works really well.  It’s a long teach and it’s not a short game, but I find it well worth it.