Gaming Library recently celebrated its 7th anniversary. Along with this milestone, the owners also launched Playtaste, a new board gaming place housed in Spectre Manila. This is a more intimate version of DyceNDyne (which unfortunately closed a couple of years ago). Playtaste was created by Gaming Library, Spectre Manila, and Comic Odyssey and it carries some games for sale (not the full Gaming Library selection, but I'm guessing that if you order in advance, you can pick up your purchase here). There are also some open games that you can play while you are there.
Since DyceNDyne closed, I wanted to support this new board gaming community so I spent one Saturday evening here. Playtaste doesn't have proper meals in its menu but they do have finger food and drinks, both alcoholic and non-alcoholic. A lot of my board gaming mates are good friends with the Gaming Library owners, including Kat who was with me that afternoon/evening that I visited Playtaste. JM also joined us for a couple of hours. We were the only guests there that evening so we got to play games with some of the owners of Gaming Library. Cool!
Most of the afternoon and evening was spent playing new games. I say mostly because I started the afternoon playing Azul. My first Azul experience was not so great because the rules were being explained as we were going through game play so I ended up getting massive penalties for making wrong moves twice. This time around, I had a good idea of how to play, and would you know it? I actually won! With a pretty good score too. Cool!
We were then introduced to Rocky Road a la Mode, which is kind of like a cross between Splendor in terms of scoring and getting free resources (plus it has bonuses that resemble the nobles in Splendor) and Tokaido in terms of board movement (the player behind everyone else gets to move first). It's fun, relaxing, and quick and easy so we ended up playing it twice. I won the first game and ended up in a tie for 2nd in the second game.
We also played Unstable Unicorns, which I is kinda like Exploding Kittens in terms of game play. But unlike Exploding Kittens where players get knocked out of the game one by one, Unstable Unicorn gets played by everyone until someone plays his or her 7th unicorns (that player wins). You'd think this would be quite simple but as it turned out, it was taking quite a while so we reduced the target to 5 unicorns and even then we played for longer than we initially anticipated.
I ended the evening playing GKR: Heavy Hitters, a game which was recently released on Kickstarter. (I think it is not yet available for sale anywhere else.) To quote my friend Cla who saw the picture I took of this game, it looks like Scythe on steroids LOL. And I guess it does. :) Heavy Hitters is a direct conflict game and I don't usually do well in these kinds of games since combat tends to stress me out LOL. I tried to compensate by making the first move and attacking someone but this early aggression backfired and I ended up losing quite badly. Still, it was very interesting to play. I do think it is better for four players than for three. Its name - Heavy Hitters - is also quite appropriate because it is quite a massive and heavy game. :) It makes me wonder how much it will cost the moment it becomes publicly available.
Kat and I already discussed when our next visit to Playtaste will be. I'm hoping that I get to play with some of the Gaming Library owners again since it is always great to play with people who absolutely love and enjoy board and tabletop gaming
Playtaste
https://www.facebook.com/playtastegl/
https://www.gaminglib.com/
2nd Floor 916 Luna Mencias, Brgy. Addition HillsMandaluyong, Philippines
For table reservations, call (02) 725 3066
Operating hours: Sunday to Thursday - 1 to 10PM, Friday to Saturday - 11AM to 12MN
Since DyceNDyne closed, I wanted to support this new board gaming community so I spent one Saturday evening here. Playtaste doesn't have proper meals in its menu but they do have finger food and drinks, both alcoholic and non-alcoholic. A lot of my board gaming mates are good friends with the Gaming Library owners, including Kat who was with me that afternoon/evening that I visited Playtaste. JM also joined us for a couple of hours. We were the only guests there that evening so we got to play games with some of the owners of Gaming Library. Cool!
Most of the afternoon and evening was spent playing new games. I say mostly because I started the afternoon playing Azul. My first Azul experience was not so great because the rules were being explained as we were going through game play so I ended up getting massive penalties for making wrong moves twice. This time around, I had a good idea of how to play, and would you know it? I actually won! With a pretty good score too. Cool!
Azul
We were then introduced to Rocky Road a la Mode, which is kind of like a cross between Splendor in terms of scoring and getting free resources (plus it has bonuses that resemble the nobles in Splendor) and Tokaido in terms of board movement (the player behind everyone else gets to move first). It's fun, relaxing, and quick and easy so we ended up playing it twice. I won the first game and ended up in a tie for 2nd in the second game.
Rocky Road a la Mode
We also played Unstable Unicorns, which I is kinda like Exploding Kittens in terms of game play. But unlike Exploding Kittens where players get knocked out of the game one by one, Unstable Unicorn gets played by everyone until someone plays his or her 7th unicorns (that player wins). You'd think this would be quite simple but as it turned out, it was taking quite a while so we reduced the target to 5 unicorns and even then we played for longer than we initially anticipated.
I ended the evening playing GKR: Heavy Hitters, a game which was recently released on Kickstarter. (I think it is not yet available for sale anywhere else.) To quote my friend Cla who saw the picture I took of this game, it looks like Scythe on steroids LOL. And I guess it does. :) Heavy Hitters is a direct conflict game and I don't usually do well in these kinds of games since combat tends to stress me out LOL. I tried to compensate by making the first move and attacking someone but this early aggression backfired and I ended up losing quite badly. Still, it was very interesting to play. I do think it is better for four players than for three. Its name - Heavy Hitters - is also quite appropriate because it is quite a massive and heavy game. :) It makes me wonder how much it will cost the moment it becomes publicly available.
GKR: Heavy Hitters
Kat and I already discussed when our next visit to Playtaste will be. I'm hoping that I get to play with some of the Gaming Library owners again since it is always great to play with people who absolutely love and enjoy board and tabletop gaming
Playtaste
https://www.facebook.com/playtastegl/
https://www.gaminglib.com/
2nd Floor 916 Luna Mencias, Brgy. Addition HillsMandaluyong, Philippines
For table reservations, call (02) 725 3066
Operating hours: Sunday to Thursday - 1 to 10PM, Friday to Saturday - 11AM to 12MN
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