Feels like a very long time since the last of these.
We started with
Cosmic Encounter,
which I haven't played since it was the Hot New Thing in the Games
Workshop edition in the 1980s. It's still a vicious and nasty game,
and I'd quite forgotten how much fun it could be. I took an early lead
as Tick-Tock, which meant that the other players Oracle and Remora
ganged up on me. I could definitely do with playing this again. The
basic set seems to have a fair bit of stuff in it, and I gather there
are lots of new expansions too. Definitely going on my "think about
buying" list.
Next was
Splendor, one of
this year's Spiel des Jahres contenders. In theory there's a theme,
but it's very very thin; basically you're collecting five sorts of
gem, or spending them to buy cards, which will give you more gems
and/or victory points. It's close to being abstract, but also rather
good fun, and the components are gorgeous. I did reasonably well here,
getting a potentially game-winning score but being beaten on the final
equalisation round.
It's been a while since I played
The Stars Are Right;
as often happens, one player picked it up immediately (and won), while
another didn't really get the feel of it. These things happen.
We ended with
Hanabi, another
that's on my "think about buying this" list. Last time I picked up the
way of suggesting which card someone should play next; this time I
started to see how choice of clue recipient would also influence
things (e.g. if A gives a clue to B rather than to C, that suggests
that C has nothing worth playing).
Comments on this post are now closed. If you have particular grounds for adding a late comment, comment on a more recent post quoting the URL of this one.