Last year, I probably spent 90% of my game time with friends and maybe 10% of my time with family. This year, I probably reversed that. I am playing fewer games away from home and my son Clint has gotten old enough to be included in a lot of the family games. This has made a big difference. Even if he was occupied with a video game nearby, my wife wouldn't play much because he was "left out." Even though I'm not as challenged when I play the games with the family, it really helps fulfill some family togetherness and child development goals. We've had some great fun moments and high-fives as well.
Several decisions I made entailed pulling back from the gaming I did in previous years. I chose disc golf over boardgames at every opportunity. This meant I rarely enjoyed full game-days. especially those where the commute would almost equal the time I'd spend gaming before I'd be ready to play another disc golf . I'm a bit like Goldilocks in that some games are too long and fiddly, some games are too light, and only a few games are "just right." Unforutunately this means I've played a lot fewer games and I've seen fewer of the new ones too.
Meetups were great when we had them. We took off for the summer and during December I was in Seattle and didn't get to host. In January, a lot of our regulars will be at an invitational convention on the 1st. The next week I'll be in Denver so I can't host then either. The thing about being full-time is that I don't get to say no thanks to some of the training opportunities that take me out of town. My sometimes irregular schedule has always kept me from having a weekly game night. The only thing I've done that has come close has been our weekly
Tichu nights on Sundays. I've only missed a few of those this year.
It didn't work out that I could go to Boardgamegeek.con this year. I am salaried now and I had to work through Friday afternoon. I would have missed two days of the convention so I didn't go. Instead I bought a bunch of board games with the dough I would have spent for the hotel room.
Bridge. One of our Tichu guys started holding bridge class on Tuesday nights. This was a difficult time for me because my local class usually starts on Wednesday mornings. I also switched to a restricted, company-owned notebook at work where I couldn't install a bridge game and practice. I did find that I enjoyed playing the game at our low level and even reading about it in hopes of getting better. In the long run, I decided I didn't have much time to pursue the game to any depth. It was frustating for me to forget a lot of the strategy and conventions from week to week if I didn't play regularly. I'm also not crazy about Chipotle and their hard chairs for an extended game session.
Some of the games that I have enjoyed playing in '08 with my family include:
Colossal Arena. We have played this a couple of times and the whole family seems to enjoy it. This small box Knizia had been ignored up to now. We don't attack enough in this game. The "ad hoc" teams that form during this game based on who you bet on are a lot of fun as well. The next "gambling" game I teach the family will be
Manila.
We played Reiner Knizia's
Ilium and I wasn't impressed with that at all. It's just too dry and it's similar to Portobello Market in that you are striving for points on connections. We did like
Lost Cities: The Boardgame. The rules are easy to understand and if you want to use some strategic planning based on what's on the board you can. Of course, your card draws may thwart you too. This has the same risk/reward scenarios as
Lost Cities when it comes to starting an expedition late in the round. I think it would also be fun to play the "shorter game" as a one-round filler but I bet everyone I'd introduce the game to would want to play all three rounds. The random reward token actions scattered on the path make it attractive to pursue paths sometimes even when you don't have the cards you desire.
My daughter Savannah and I enjoy playing word games and we've played
Crossword Pyramids., Boggle,
Scrabble Express, and
My Word!. I'm still enjoying the word games that are hosted semi-regularly through the
Central Texas Boardgames Meetup. Savannah joined me for a couple of those when they fit into her busy, ten-year-old's social schedule for the weekend.
Army of Frogs has been an easily accessible abstract the kids love. They enjoy
Uptown the same reason. Uptown, for me, would be better if it didn't always seem to end in a tie. I'm pleasantly surprised that the kids like abstracts. They are both in the chess club after school so the are comfortable playing other abstracts. I like two-player abstracts and my son and I played
Oshi a few times.
Our play of
Carcassonne was a lot of fun. The kids really enjoy the puzzle aspect of this game. This is the first modern boardgame I bought and my wife and I really played it to death before I moved to Texas. I also played it frequently with my Dad in Georgia beefore we moved out here as well.
Chatea Roquefort and
Los Mampfos are two Zoch games I am glad to have purchased this year. Both of these are a blast with the kids and I know they would also go over well with light-hearted gamers. Who knew waiting for the donkeys to poop in Los Mampfos would be so entertaining for them.
Duck! Duck! Go! This race game requires a little spacial thinking as you plan your card play to move your duck to collect your buoy tokens and win the race. This actually requires more thought than you might think so it's not really a party game for non-gamers. It helps to put the card down in the direction of your duck and figure out your move once you've chosen your card. The ducks are cute and the gameplay doesn't wear out if's welcome if everyone can see their desired moves without a struggle.
HeroScape was a surprise. I thought I'd hate it like most attack the monsters with dice games. It actually is pretty fun to play with the kids and they enjoyed just playing with the terrain and figures. I'd always want to play something different with adults though. I'm glad I waited and got this through Craigslist used. It was a great find at a good price but I wouldn't have wanted to pay anything close to what these creatures cost when they first came out.
Maya was a fun game for our family. I enjoy games that seem to have different stages or phases so it's kind of like playing more than one game.
Hermagor is a little like that but I'm sure it would be too much for the family.
Thebes was a lot of fun. This one has a lot of theme and the drawing of tiles has a nice tension that doesn't feel like experiencing randomness at all.
Sushizock im Glockelwok. Like Pickomino but more fun and it doesn't drag on they way the worm game sometimes can.
Dominion is the best new game of the year for me. My wife and daughter picked up on the game very well. My son can play too if we help him with all of the shuffling. Despite how much I've liked Dominion, it kind of feels like half a game. I like the deck building mechanism but once it's built you should use it to build a city or something. As is, it's kind of like an appetizer. I wouldn't want to play this over and over again like some folks do I've seen online.
Aquaduct and
Portobello Market were filler games that also worked well with the family. We also enjoyed
Settlers of Catan the dice game. Hmm, I just saw there are some of Teurber's more interesting rules avaialble for that
online. I'll have to try that version. Portabello Market was one of those games where the English edition came out not too long after I bought the German edition. Patience rules in the game market these days.
It looks like I enjoyed more fillers and super fillers than meaty games this year. Also, my daughter only wants to play something new. I may have created a gaming monster.
Next year I need to get the kids into auction games. Besides,
For Sale, I wonder what a good introductory auction game is? Maybe I'll break out Fist of Dragonstones or something like that.
I almost forgot, this was the year I turned 40 and celebrated with
GITHOT, Games in the Heart of Texas! I got to play Traders of Genoa, Hamburgum, Yspahan, Crokinole, Tichu and some of my other favorites there. I'm considering running another local game convention event. It may be in the spring. I have to call the hotel in January and touch-base with them again on room availability. Even though I had to pay the hotel cost up front, it was really easier for me to do GITHOT than the monthly meetups. Of course, i take too many games to the meetups but I like for people to have a lot of choices on what they may play and there's always that chance I'll get one of my unplayed games to hit the table and find out it's as much fun as I was hoping.
