So I’m driving from Brunswick to Bar Harbor (in Maine). And every time I see the golden arches I hear the devil and the angel in my ears. On my left shoulder, fellow OG’er RJ Garrison is cajoling “McLobster. I know you’re curious, it could be so good. You’re only here once. Mmm”. And Tery Noseworthy is on my other shoulder “Don’t do it. Stay pure. I’ll never talk to you again if you cave. Stay strong.”. One by one the arches pass by. My eye’s starting to twitch. I make it to Rockland. And I cave. I have to know. I drop into McDonalds. “No. Sorry. Never heard of a McLobster. If we did, it was before my time.” (Which could be 3 mths ago, you know how it is.) I explain that I’m Australian and I wasn’t sure if I was being pranked by friends. They offer me a free meal. I love Maine. But it’s ok, I didn’t sully my body. It’s still a temple. My purity is intact. I’m not damaged goods in the search for future husbands. And to finish it all up, for lunch I had a Lobster Roll at Geddys in Bar Harbor. It blew my meal budget for 2 days but hey, I’m only here once and now I can tick that item off my Americana bucket list! Everyone’s a winner.
Things that have caught my eye travelling from Boston to Maine prior to attending the Gathering of Friends:
- All the cannabis retail outlets on Maine’s Highway 1. What the …? I had to stop and get snacks as I was getting the munchies just driving through. And I haven’t seen one police presence in Maine. I spent just one morning in Massachusetts and there were police everywhere – stopping someone, lying in a speed trap, patrolling a sidewalk. I thought that was America. Especially when I saw a few police palaces along the way (those stations are HUGE! And fly American flags. Of course.) It says something but what I’m just not sure.
- Walgreens is half pharmacy (Priceline), half snacks (7-11), half alcohol (BSW). When I can work out how that makes sense as a business model, maybe I’ll make sense of America. At the moment it’s all a bit of a mystery.
- Food is 50% dearer here than back home. No wonder cost of living is an issue.
- Makeup is still crazy expensive here. Guys, if your partners haven’t twigged you to it yet, if there’s a housefire, save the makeup, creams and lotions first. That’s thousands of dollars right there. Then the jewellery. Oh… then the kids I guess.
- Acadia NP is awesomely pretty. It’s very reminiscent of the rugged coastlines of Tasmania actually, which I explored 2 years ago. Colder though.
- I love how Maine newscasts lead off with the weather report. It says everything you need to know about this state. Back home it’s always the last thing because, unless there’s a flood or a fire, tomorrow’s going to be much the same as today.
New-to-me games played recently include …
BLANCO (2025): Rank N/a, Rating N/a – Staupe
Eliminate face-down cards in your 3×3 tableau (and when done, your 3×4 tableau for the win) by replacing cards with face up drawn cards, peeking, revealing, swapping places … until you can remove a column by having all matching face-up colours, or a row by having all matching face-up numbers. If everyone’s concentrating and remembering, it comes down to the luck of what cards are available to you. I can do it but memory is not my most enjoyable mechanic, and although game-play was quick I found it processional. Happy not to play this again.
Rating: 5
EXPRESSIONS (2024): Rank 6232, Rating 7.0
Co-op that’s pretty much Go Fish. Your turn can be to give a clue as to what’s left in your hand, or to guess a specific colour+number in another player’s hand. A bunch of cards are out of the game so even if I know you have two purples below 4, I can’t for sure know what’s there. And every turn you provide a clue or fail a guess, the clock ticks down towards a loss. It’s easy enough to memorise and then work out what’s remaining, but is it in a hand (whose) or in the deck? Go Fish.
Rating: 5
FOR A CROWN (2025): Rank 5858, Rating 7.0
Buy a card that gives you points, or gold (to buy better cards in future), or protection against bad events, or smack the leader capability. Add the bought cards to the communal deck, shuffle, run the deck. Repeat for 4 rounds, see who has the most points. Surprisingly simple (it’s all over in 30 minutes) but surprisingly fun. Moon Colony Bloodbath tries to spin this mechanic into 90 minutes but this shows that 30 minutes is its perfect sustainable length. There’s plenty of hit the leader whining required (and that’s probably the key strategic ingredient for victory) but the length is perfect for that as well.
Rating: 7
THE GANG (2024): Rank 782, Rating 7.6
Co-op Texas hold ‘em, where players take ranking chips indicating worst up to best hands after the hold, the flop, the turn, and the river. So if someone claims best rank after the flop after taking a low rank previously, you have a pretty good idea what they’ve got. You win the round if the rankings are perfect after the river. Win 3 rounds and you win. I like the mode where you flip effects that make things harder after each win, easier after each loss. It’s pretty dull with low player counts but shines at 5p-6p when a fun 15 minute game with close to zero rules is called for. It grew on me with each game for its ease and the fun it can bring to the table as you learn and get better together and watch the recriminations and plaudits fly.
Rating: 8
MELDING SNOW (2025): Rank N/a, Rating N/a
A shedding game when the primary goal is to win the cards with VPs, Tichu style, and where the primary reason for going out early is getting first choice of the benefit effect cards available that round. For game-winning bonus points, declare correctly how good your round’s score will be compared to your future round scores. Standard shedding skills required, but hold off a little to win as many points as possible. Standard genre stuff but it is executed well.
Rating: 7
LA PATISSERIE ROCOCO (2025): Rank N/a, Rating N/a
The common (but not universal) view at the table seemed to be that this was cleaner, quicker and better than the original Rococo. I can’t recall it well enough to say but this was fine. Each round, play out your action cards (aiming to maximise each card’s bonus action) to get resources, get contracts, resolve contracts, earn bonus pts on contracts, and then deliver contracts for VPs and place cubes in the area majority spots for bonuses and end-game VPs. Get good action cards, make the most of them. It was all fine but it became a little processional, round after round, doing the same – closely monitoring for available contracts that matched available resources, jumping on them, and then spending a bunch of turns to turn them into VPs. Which could also induce downtime if everyone wasn’t on top of their plan and the game felt a little long as a result.
Rating: 7
SHAPELY (2025): Rank N/a, Rating N/a
I was reluctant to try this, abhorring Pictionary in every way imaginable, but it surprised me on the upside. Get a secret word. Try and make a picture of it using little uniquely shaped magnet pieces on a magnetised board. Mix all the words plus some randoms and place them on the board. If you claimed first rank, you get a nice bonus and then everyone’s trying to guess your word (which both they and you want for points) but they all have to choose (secretly and simul-reveal) from among all the words. If you claimed last rank, no bonus, but it’s easier to score because there’s only a few words left. Why did I like it? You can get surprisingly clever with how you use just a few of those pieces to get an idea across and it’s rewarding when you nail it. And playing something creative without hating it due to embarrassing drawing skills is a welcome change! Nice timeframe, nice components, and it induces a fun time. Not something I’d want to play all the time but it’s a nice addition to the gamer-party genre.
Rating: 7
VOODOO PRINCE (2017): Rank 2839, Rating 7.1 – Knizia
A clever trick-taker where you want to be as late as possible winning your third trick, because then you’re out and you score the number of tricks that have been won up to that point. But if you’re the last one standing, you score zero. High risk, high reward. It has you thinking hard about hand management, when to duck, when to take, how to set up to gain control when you need to go out. All of which I enjoyed. The only reason for not rating higher is that I (and every other player) had exactly the same objective each round, bending hands to our wills, rather than shaping them to reach a variety of objectives.
Rating: 7
Thoughts of other Opinionated Gamers:
Larry: I haven’t played Voodoo Prince, but I have played Marshmallow Test, which is a very similar redesign. It’s fairly simple, but I like the twist where you want to go out late, but not be the last person standing. Not as daring as many of the other new trick-takers we’ve seen lately, but sometimes simple is good and that’s the case here.
Tery: I am so relieved Alison and I can continue to be friends after she resisted the call of the McLobster. Well, she didn’t exactly resist, but I am glad my co-natives of Maine saved her from herself. Although I doubt there is much actual New England lobster in that concoction. . . .
I am also a big fan of Voodoo Prince; I am always looking for a copy when I am at flea markets and used game stores. I love the risk/reward system and the hand management involved in that. It may not have all the new shiny bells and whistles, but it is a great game.
