Property, Trains, Boasting and Espionage a strange but fun mix of games
We started with a gentle game of For Sale, the property trading game where you can buy anything from a Cardboard box to a Space Station. I think I had the Card Board box and Martin the Space Station but in the end it was
Malcolm who won (by a good margin) with a more judicious selection of potential investments ignoring the extremes.
With this game quickly over the early attendees (5 of us) moved onto the main event – “Ticket to Ride Europe”. I may have mentioned that train games don’t really do it for me, meaning there is a rich selection of games on the railway theme that I have never played (not least this classic) so I was really pleased when Martin offered to bring it along and lead us all through the game, a job he did excellently.
This is a classic game, much talked about amongst gamers as one of the three great ‘gateway games' i.e. good for introducing non- gamers to the richness that is offered by modern board games. The other two classics are Carcassonne and Settlers of Catan, although there are other contenders with Alhambra amongst them (reviewed by me only recently here). Personally I think that for many non-gamers they are still seen as too complex and on this occasion Karen was nervous of learning another game / playing on her own so partnered up with Martin.
In the game each player is competing to complete various routes between famous cities. A fuller and much more interesting description and video of the game can be found here on The Board Game Family’s blog. Trent says it is good with families (colourful and educational) as well as being a good game with adults as it is quick to explain and enjoyable to play and from my first experience of the game then I would have to endorse both statements, even if it is a railway game!
With 4 players (Karen and Martin partnering up as the green team), 3 of whom were new to the game it took close to 1½ hours but once we understood the basic mechanics each player’s turn was pretty quick as they could decide what actions they wanted to take whilst others took their turn. I hate to say it but I might even be prepared to play it again especially as I fancy that Gwen would have really enjoyed it. I am not sure it matters but for completeness I won by a very narrow margin over Oliver – as ever a surprise to all!
During the game Adam, Steve, Nick and ??? (sorry) arrived and immediately launched into Braggart.
Conveniently both Braggart and our game finished at about the same time and with very little encouragement required everybody (9 players) agreed to come together and play The Resistance (a game I reviewed some months ago here). It is a game with concealed identities that requires a lot of interaction between the players as they plan missions and try to work out who are the Spies that have infiltrated the Resistance. Given that many of the group didn’t know each other it was great that they were all willing to give the game a chance and really enter into the spirit (light hearted) of it - final verdict from all was that it had been great fun.
We also raised £9 for World In Need East Africa Drought Appeal.
More photo's from the evening can be seen here.
Our next event at the Blue Anchor, Crowborough is in two weeks time on Sunday 2nd October starting at 7pm - £1 per head. More details can be seen on our Facebook Page Social Gamers - Crowborough
Malcolm who won (by a good margin) with a more judicious selection of potential investments ignoring the extremes.
With this game quickly over the early attendees (5 of us) moved onto the main event – “Ticket to Ride Europe”. I may have mentioned that train games don’t really do it for me, meaning there is a rich selection of games on the railway theme that I have never played (not least this classic) so I was really pleased when Martin offered to bring it along and lead us all through the game, a job he did excellently.
This is a classic game, much talked about amongst gamers as one of the three great ‘gateway games' i.e. good for introducing non- gamers to the richness that is offered by modern board games. The other two classics are Carcassonne and Settlers of Catan, although there are other contenders with Alhambra amongst them (reviewed by me only recently here). Personally I think that for many non-gamers they are still seen as too complex and on this occasion Karen was nervous of learning another game / playing on her own so partnered up with Martin.
In the game each player is competing to complete various routes between famous cities. A fuller and much more interesting description and video of the game can be found here on The Board Game Family’s blog. Trent says it is good with families (colourful and educational) as well as being a good game with adults as it is quick to explain and enjoyable to play and from my first experience of the game then I would have to endorse both statements, even if it is a railway game!
With 4 players (Karen and Martin partnering up as the green team), 3 of whom were new to the game it took close to 1½ hours but once we understood the basic mechanics each player’s turn was pretty quick as they could decide what actions they wanted to take whilst others took their turn. I hate to say it but I might even be prepared to play it again especially as I fancy that Gwen would have really enjoyed it. I am not sure it matters but for completeness I won by a very narrow margin over Oliver – as ever a surprise to all!
During the game Adam, Steve, Nick and ??? (sorry) arrived and immediately launched into Braggart.
Conveniently both Braggart and our game finished at about the same time and with very little encouragement required everybody (9 players) agreed to come together and play The Resistance (a game I reviewed some months ago here). It is a game with concealed identities that requires a lot of interaction between the players as they plan missions and try to work out who are the Spies that have infiltrated the Resistance. Given that many of the group didn’t know each other it was great that they were all willing to give the game a chance and really enter into the spirit (light hearted) of it - final verdict from all was that it had been great fun.
We also raised £9 for World In Need East Africa Drought Appeal.
More photo's from the evening can be seen here.
Our next event at the Blue Anchor, Crowborough is in two weeks time on Sunday 2nd October starting at 7pm - £1 per head. More details can be seen on our Facebook Page Social Gamers - Crowborough
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