Double Dancing

At our last monthly meeting, Tim brought Dancing Eggs, a kids dexterity game that involves rolling dice and keeping eggs in odd places like under your arm or trapped between your neck and your shoulder. It was funny to watch Tim, Jeff, and Jill play that. A couple of times the chairs went flying as everyone stood up and prepared to race around the table with their eggs.

We followed that up with a simultaneous dice fest elimination game called Dancing Dice. Hey, one dancing game deserves another. We had six people play this game and it was perfect for a late session in which we didn't want to start anything too long and were kind of killing time until the Kingsburg game broke up. Since that game, I've already heard of two copies of Dancing Dice that have been bought as a result. Who knows what's going to be a hit. Nick got two copies of the game including one gift for a mostly non-gaming mother-in-law.

We had a fun word games session on Saturday. Since then, Anita has said she would be word games organizer and make more happen. I know of two people, Anita and Holly, who joined the meetup specifically because of the word games event. That may be a nice gateway for people who may be more familiar with these games than the ones we typically play at our monthly meetings.I recorded my first game of Scrabble on Boardgamegeek as a result. I've played before just not since I've started recording games. That's pretty sad. Since I rate the game a 10, I'd like to get 5 plays out of it this year.

Several of the ladies in the tea house dropped by to see Crossword Pyramids. I'm really glad I bought that game from the designer at Boardgamegeek.con it's first year. That game is tough to find now and it's a lot of fun and shorter than Scrabble. This time I remembered to bring business cards with our meetup on them. I haven't seen any new sign-ups as a result but at least I had something to give interested bystanders this time.

Zing at Barnes and Nobles

There were several games marked with a green sticker at Barnes and Nobles (La Fronterra) marking them as 50% off. Zing is Die Sieben Siegal and it's about $5 at that price. If I were still in door prize mode I would have picked up some. I have a boxed copy but this copy in the little metal tin is nicely portable. Of course, like Relationship Tightrope, it may be a decent game but I've never played my copy. I'm really enjoying trick-taking games right now and I'm especially interested in learning Bridge from Nick. I browsed through a couple of Bridge books at Barnes and Nobles and actually understood some of what they said. Of course, one was called Bridge for Idiots.

They also had some nice Mahjongg, Domino, and Backgammon sets. I didn't see any other cheap Eurogames though.

Weekend MeetUps

We've got disc golf at 10:00 Saturday. I may bring some charcoal for the new hibatchi but we'll probably just go to a restauant after playing. Brushy Creek is newbie friendly and it doesn't usually take too long to play. I'll probably play Wilco Friday night.

3:00 Saturday, we've got word games at Keria's teas. I think our boardgames meetup can be so much more than a monthly game group. Maybe one of the ladies who comes will step up and be an organizer. We've got several Scrabble games coming. Depending on the numbers, I might play a social game. Generally I prefer Scrabble as a two-player only game. It's a little frustrating when a player always opens the high scoring plays for another player. I'll also take Crossword Pyramids, BuyWord, or Parlay. Besides myself and a maybe from Michael, this meet-up is almost an all women's event. That's something people on the poll on the meetup said they were interested in as well.

Sunday at 3:00, Nick's new bridge group kicks off at Bear Rock Cafe, a rustic restaurant in Round Rock. I'm tired of throwaway games with no replayability. Bridge has people who are passionate about it for years. Lately some of my favorite game sessions have been either Tichu or Cosmic Eidex so I'm really enjoying cards right now. They are portable and I like partnership games. It's helpful that several of us will be starting at ground zero at the same time at bridge. I understand the fundamentals of the game and still need to learn more about bidding conventions.

Tichu? I haven't sent out the invites yet. I may be over committed to games this weekend so I don't know if I'm up to back-to-back Bridge and Tichu sessions with a small break in between.

This year, I'd like to have more sessions of very high quality games. I'd rather do that than have a lot of one-offs with games bought on speculation. Sure, I'll still try new games now and then. I'll also try and play Traders of Genoa more this year. I'd also like to play some of the games I've gotten that I haven't played yet:

• Factory Fun
• El Capitan
• StoneHenge
• Some of Mu and More
• I'm the Boss
• Buy Low Sell High
• Inkognito
• La Citta
• Timbuktu
• San Marco
• Industria
• Dschunke
• Wildlife
• New England
• Maya

Once again, my goals are at odds with each other.

Won a Hibatchi

We played Tichu Saturday night and Cosmic Eidex Sunday. We had someone drop by and say she was an avid game player and asked what we were playing. Touch explanation. We had a Mu and More box, Rage cards on the table, and we were playing Cosmic Eidex. I always forget the Central Texas Boardgames Meetup cards; she would have been a good candidate to receive one.

Unfortunately I left the special powers printout at home. Nick had them on his I-Phone and that was in Florida with Stephanie. We called Stephanie to find out what our powers were. I had printed up a modified player aid that uses a Rage deck instead of a standard deck of cards. I thought it would be easier for new folks to learn Cosmic Eidex, one of my favorite games. There are no face cards in a Rage deck so I just brought cards from 6 to 14 in four suits. The Rage deck also has some +5 cards so I brought one to leave on the table so we could easily remember the player to take the last trick gets 5 points. I like that card and may bring it when we switch back to a standard deck or to the Eidex deck.

Nick won Eidex tonight. The score was was pretty close. On the way home, I dropped by TGI Friday's to watch the rest of the superbowl. I was pleased to see the Giants win but I wasn't a huge fan of either team. Like John Hathorn, I'd always rather be playing a game than watching one.

They had free raffle tickets for patrons at TGI Fridays and some nice large screen tvs. Maybe this year after a disc golf Saturday we'll get to use the hibatchi I won. I wouldn't mind a good, nearly burnt hot dog.