If we judge a Gathering by numbers, I set new personal bests by playing 89 new-to-me games with 143 different gamers. That was pretty cool. I did 53 new-to-me games in 2004 and thought that was good at the time but I’ve clearly levelled up since then.

High numbers usually indicate a paucity of meaty games though and while I did get some in (Endeavor: Deep Sea, Beer Pioneer, Marrakesh, Dead Reckoning, all of which I enjoyed, plus Tea Witches, which was one of the worst game experiences of my life), I would have liked to play some more (I had a list!) but found it tricky to organise/arrange without a ready-made crew on tap. So I’d wander the floor and fall into things as they were starting, hence the high player count (which I wasn’t pushing for, it just happened organically).

All the games I played were 7’s. Which was one of the running jokes whenever I played with an OG’er and who am I to deny some fun so let’s roll with it. I didn’t play anything that was an immediate buy (it’s a pretty high bar these days) but I particularly enjoyed Mistborn (deckbuilding with a strong theme), Endeavor: Deep Sea, Marrakesh, The VI of VIII (it re-frames hand mgt), Watergate, LotR Duel, Team Play, Xenon Profiteer (cool things I hadn’t seen before), and I warmed up more to The Gang with each game, especially at higher numbers.

Some really extraordinarily weak 7’s were Kabuki Tricks (abandoned after one hand), Skoventyr (which Joe Huber valiantly battled through a cold table-read for), Dale of Merchants (a random mess), Man-Eating House (weird trick resolution), and Ito (an argument over guesses).

The thing that surprised me (and it really shouldn’t anymore) was how many games were there that I’d never heard of. I’ve played over 3000 titles but as I walked the floor looking at what was being played, half of them I’d never played and half of those I’d never heard of. And as I’m reading other people’s best-of-show lists, I’m thinking wow, I didn’t even see most of those.

There were so many nice, warm, gregarious, friendly people. As I played with more and more people, it became a thing to know what their Alison number was (“you’re the 93rd different gamer I’ve played with so far”) and the numbers started being written on the badges. Yet, as I’m walking around during the last day, I still didn’t know 70% of the attendees!? It’s different from 2004, much more like just another convention. Only this one has more prototypes (I fell into a few) and designers walking around. But my days of fawning over designers are long long over. More on those later I guess.

New-to-me games played recently include …

AGENT AVENUE (2024): Rank 1498, Rating 7.7

Played in pairs, one partner plays a card face-up, the other face-down. The other pair must choose which card they’ll take and which card the placing partners will keep. Each card belongs to a set which variously scores more or less with each addition, with some eventually generating an auto-win or auto-loss. It’s all rather benign to begin with and gradually ramps up as sets get within one of potentially being great or catastrophic for either team. At this point you’re looking deep into your opponents’ souls to work out if they would risk placing poison in front of them. Building an immunity to iocane prior to playing is definitely an advantage. It’s fun and doesn’t outstay its welcome but it’s a bit of a one-trick pony after a while.

Rating: 6

BIER PIONIERE (2023): Rank 3278, Rating 7.8

Standard worker placement heavy Euro with traditional actions like upgrade meeples, get contract, activate new beer type, build beer, ferment beer, store beer, expand storage, sell beers to satisfy contract. Repeat. Everyone needs to do everything so there’s not a lot of strategic differentiation, just doing things in different orders depending on how turn order sees the action spots taken. Success seems to be dependent on getting as many cool bonuses as you can (which get better as you strengthen your meeples) and having contracts come up that match the beers you’re already making at times you can pick them up. Solid, enjoyable, but without that illuminating spark that would draw this game-moth back more than infrequently.

Rating: 7

CONFUSING LANDS (2024): Rank 5958, Rating 7.2

It’s 2p so cards pass between you, and you play them to your personal tableau Honshu-style. Each card has 6 terrain features and must cover up 1 or more already played cards. The element that elevated the game for me is that a card can be played on its non-scoring side (all terrain) or its scoring side (where one of the terrain spaces is replaced by a unique scoring rule, like pts for every forest next to a river). It’s not an easy decision because every scoring feature starts at -10, so you want to be making sure you can score at least that many pts to score positively by the end. So, start with some, build towards them, check you’re not giving scoring conditions worth a heap to your opponent, and hope to luck into some more that match what you have. It finishes in a nice time, looks nice, and has obvious replay.

Rating: 7

DELICIOUS (2022): Rank 6157, Rating 6.8

Flip two vegetable/tool cards and you fill in areas on your sheet aiming to complete areas and be the first for bonuses. Standard stuff but it’s about managing the imposed restrictions. You get a set of options on how you use the cards, and each option is one use only – ticking off the top veg in the top half of your sheet, or the bottom half, or the bottom veg in the top/bottom half of your sheet, or both in their right halves or in opposite halves. The tools open up spots as well so there’s some icon hunting on your sheet. Keep your most flexible options open as long as possible. It felt like once you’d made certain decisions however that you were too locked in and too dependent on how and when the cards came out next to earn the big points, ie a little too much railroading. As such I didn’t come away thinking I needed to play it again.

Rating: 6

EGGS OF OSTRICH (2012): Rank 6806, Rating 6.8

Cute little simul-reveal game, and I’m not sure I’ve ever used those words together in one sentence before. Each round a number of eggs are up for grabs. Each player secretly chooses which bag they wish to place their winnings in or if they’ll pass. Reveal. Divide the winnings, place them in your chosen bag. But if your bag overflows you lose the bag and its eggs … and that’s sad because most eggs wins. You can’t play the same card back to back and you can see everyone’s bag contents so you’re not flying blind, and it gets interesting rather quickly wondering how many ways the loot will split, how evil the other players are, and choosing your bag wisely. It’s a nice 10 minute filler I’d happily play again for its wiliness.

Rating: 7

THREE SISTERS (2022): Rank 704, Rating 7.5

It’s a roll-and-write where the available actions are dictated by dice which get assigned to actions (a la Yspahan) which are drafted, and then everyone does the action of the undrafted die (for 2 actions each round). The die value taken says which area you can do the action in – basically start an area off or fill in more spaces in a started area. But first you’ll want to use dice to buy a tech or two which will give ongoing benefits, and your choice here dictates how you’re planning to specialise. Then hope to get lucky that the dice suit. I didn’t mind it but felt a little locked in as the game progressed and fear the tech choices might drive similar game-play each time.

Rating: 6

TIPPERARY (2023): Rank 3942, Rating 7.2 – Burkhardt

Spin the wheel (a la Planet Unknown), each player takes one of the two tiles available to them and places it in their tableau (the tiles being polyominoes featuring different terrains and features). Scoring conditions are identical for everyone but you tend to specialise – biggest sheep flock, biggest area, breweries next to wheat fields and so on. Play is fast due to being simultaneous but it’s still challenging working out the right placement even when there’s only the two options available to you. Continue spinning, choosing, and playing until the tiles run out. It’s an enjoyable light-weight Euro that’s easy to teach, easy to play, and in a nice timeframe.

Rating: 7

WORLD WONDERS (2023): Rank 509, Rating 7.6

Each round sees a selection of roads and building polyominoes (in various colours and sizes) up for purchase and they’re not replenished until end of round so turn order is crucial. Also up for grabs are wonders which have various requirements (must be placed next to this colour, that colour, and a road say) and it’s a race to acquire for these VP’s as they come out. Turn order is crucial. Yes, I said it twice. It’s probably the biggest bug bear people have but I was more at peace with it, concentrating on building an expansive city that allowed for multiple possibilities and if something fell before I got it, there was always the next one – you only have space for so many anyway. If you like polyomino placement challenges, this will work for you. It’s pretty light for its length but it does have great components.

Rating: 7