I joined two game nights this month, and both times involved playing new games. I spent one Saturday with Denise, Zaza and Drew at Denise's house and I brought a few games with me, including Forbidden Desert and Lords of Waterdeep which I borrowed from my friend Myna. Forbidden Desert was created by the same maker of Pandemic and the premise of this cooperative game is that you are stranded in a desert and you need to find a Flying Machine to take your entire group to safety. The way that this game is designed makes it feel like you are actually trying to survive dehydration, being swept away by the sandstorm, and being buried under the sand. I think on average, players win only 1 out of 4 or 5 times playing Forbidden Desert and on this first attempt, we didn't win (we were close though). However, the mood and the vibe while playing this game makes it quite exciting. My friends actually said they want to play it again.
I spent another Saturday playing with my other board gaming friends. The first new game I played that night was Roll For It. This is a quick and fun game and while luck plays a large part, there is also some strategizing involved because you need to make decisions based on probability and card layout. Another new game I played was Kodama. The objective of this game is to grow your tree by placing branch cards in clever arrangements to maximize your score per round and your Kodama card bonus at the end of each season. Finally, I played Through The Ages: A New Story of Civilization. I won't even go into trying to explain how to play this as it is really complex. However, it is very good. It did take us 5 1/2 hours to complete the game but if you have the time and the energy, I do recommend playing it. (Just make sure you read the instructions very well. Thankfully, we had the benefit of having an expert game master who is very knowledgeable and explains the game very well.
On a sadder note for gaming aficionados, DyceNDyne officially closed at the end of January. One of my friends is part of the DyceNDyne network and, as such, had access to the pre-sale. She shared the list of games being sold with us. I wanted to get both the good-condition Istanbul and the like-new Fresco but I was strapped for cash - I was still feeling the sting of the Christmas expenses due to credit card payments I've had to make LOL - so I ended up getting only one of them, Istanbul. (Once the pre-sale was over, I kinda regretted not getting the like-new Fresco). So while DyceNDyne isn't around anymore, I at least still have a piece of it with me.
Forbidden Desert
I spent another Saturday playing with my other board gaming friends. The first new game I played that night was Roll For It. This is a quick and fun game and while luck plays a large part, there is also some strategizing involved because you need to make decisions based on probability and card layout. Another new game I played was Kodama. The objective of this game is to grow your tree by placing branch cards in clever arrangements to maximize your score per round and your Kodama card bonus at the end of each season. Finally, I played Through The Ages: A New Story of Civilization. I won't even go into trying to explain how to play this as it is really complex. However, it is very good. It did take us 5 1/2 hours to complete the game but if you have the time and the energy, I do recommend playing it. (Just make sure you read the instructions very well. Thankfully, we had the benefit of having an expert game master who is very knowledgeable and explains the game very well.
On a sadder note for gaming aficionados, DyceNDyne officially closed at the end of January. One of my friends is part of the DyceNDyne network and, as such, had access to the pre-sale. She shared the list of games being sold with us. I wanted to get both the good-condition Istanbul and the like-new Fresco but I was strapped for cash - I was still feeling the sting of the Christmas expenses due to credit card payments I've had to make LOL - so I ended up getting only one of them, Istanbul. (Once the pre-sale was over, I kinda regretted not getting the like-new Fresco). So while DyceNDyne isn't around anymore, I at least still have a piece of it with me.
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