With Brian’s health issues pretty much behind him now we saw the welcome return of Claire and Brain after what has been for them a difficult year. Taking one of our occasional trips to Daniella’s we were joined by a couple of her offspring plus ‘mum’ bringing our number to 10.
Crispin and Malcolm led a game of Ticket To Ride: Europe at one end of the room (eventually won by Leonie) which saw Tom either desperately disappointed at loosing to his sister or listening for the sound of trains on the track depending on your interpretation of the photo’s! Mum had never played a game of this type before and was heard during the rules explanation to say “maybe I should have stayed watching the TV”. However by the end of the game she had enjoyed it so much she was talking about the possibility of buying a copy of the game.
On the other table I led a game of Article 27: The UN Security Council Game. This was mentioned in my Essen report and has been played a number of times with other groups since my return and largely enjoyed although it does have one issue for some people. The aspect that attracted me to the game was the amount of player interaction called for in negotiating your issues onto the floor of the UN and thereby into the next motion. This negotiation can take many verbal forms but centres on giving influence points to other players to get them on side with your objective and threatening to abstain and or in some cases veto the motion. This level and style of negotiation is something that many social gamers have never encountered before and at times they struggle with the whole concept or can do it but feel uncomfortable doing so.
A little like Bohnanza you have to be active and vocal in the negotiations; being quiet and or hesitant will ultimately allow other players to profit while you miss opportunities. This was the second game on the trot were I noticed that what seemed natural and easy to me (having played so many games this is no real surprise) was something that initially at least my friends struggled with. That said Brian went on to win with Daniella in second place and all bar Daniella felt they wanted to play it again.
If you would like to try some of the games talked about on this blog come along to our next evening at the Blue Anchor, Crowborough is in two weeks time on Sunday 25th November starting at 7.00pm - £1 per head. More details can be seen on our Facebook Page Social Gamers - Crowborough
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