Hi again gaming friends!
This week’s gaming session was a little disjointed as some of us (me included) couldn’t get to the session for the start time. BUT, that didn’t stop us from playing 3 games on Board Game Arena (BGA), one of them new. Here they are
The first game we played was the new one - called:
So - this is another roll-and-write - I just wanted to start out by noting that I won this game! 😝
None of us knew how to play this game so we worked through it together
Each round, one player rolls (number-of-players+1) dice. The player that rolls takes the first die and places it, the second player takes their choice from the remainder and places it, and so-on finishing with the first player taking the last remaining dice and placing it (so the player who rolls gets 2 dice, everyone else gets 1).
There are 6 sections into which players must attempt to place their die. They are:
- Rowing
- Skateboarding
- Rock Climbing
- Hurdles
- Long Jump
- Golf
Each section has different rules as to what dice you can place in there - for example, in rowing, you must place pairs of matching dice, in rock climbing, you have to place the numbers ascending 1-6 starting with 1.
Basically, strategy-wise, the golf section is like the “chance” in Yahtzee so it pays to keep these empty until you have to use them.
But - ultimately - the dice roll when you can’t place a die - you are out!
The game was fun and easy to pick up (clearly, as I won!) and I’d be happy to add it to our regular rotation.
I really enjoyed this game and actually looked to see if it was available to buy - I couldn't find it anywhere - so if any of you have seen it, please do get in touch
The second game we played was
This is a game we all already knew how to play - one of the group was playing on their phone so we needed something to play that was easy to play on a phone. This one fit the bill but actually was over way too quickly! Some of us were luckier than others - I did NOT win this one!
This game is really about pushing your luck and collecting items.
The premise is that you are all explorers, exploring various Incan ruins. Your only choice each round is whether to continue exploring or head back to camp.
Each round, a new card is revealed, showing what explorers have discovered. It could be treasure (in the form of gems, which are split equally between players, with any remainder left on that card to be collected by the player who exits first), artifacts (which again, stay until a player retreats to collect them) or “events” - these are things which can kill you - snakes, mummies, rockfall, fires or spiders. Players can survive one of each of these events, but if players are exploring when a second of any of the cards is revealed, exploring players are “killed” and must leave, losing any jewels they have collected up to that point.
So - push your luck and continue exploring (potentially getting a greater share of the loot if other players choose to exit) and risk dying and getting nothing, or exit, and potentially get the “remainder” loot and artifacts (BUT, if multiple players choose to exit at the same time, NEITHER of them gets the remainder loot!)
I really enjoy this game - it’s a really nice quick filler game and doesn’t really rely too much on skill. I pushed my luck too far and ended up with very few points - normally my “go big or go home” approach pays dividends! Ah well 🤷♀️
This game can be played on BGA, or a real copy can be bought here
The third and final game we played was:
I had played this game before but it was quite a while ago, so I wasn’t at all surprised when I didn’t win - but man - I lost by a very long way!
I’m not entirely sure I can explain this game very well but I’ll give it a go!
The aim of the game is to get rid of all the numbered cards in your hand whilst avoiding collecting any of the cards already played (which happens every time you complete a “line”)
Players choose a card to play to lay in any one of the 4 rows. Your hope is that your card will be closer to one of the cards already in a row than the cards that any of your opponents have played. Once all players have chosen a card, they are laid in the middle in ascending numerical order and then starting with the lowest number, the cards are added to one of the lines, either before the first card, or after the last card (depending upon how close it is numerically).
Players can hope that their card will be placed in a particular row, but depending upon what other players lay, that might not be the case.
If you are unlucky enough to be the player that completes a line, you have to collect that line of cards, and you lose the number of points equalling the number of “bulls” on the cards you have collected - this can be as low as 6 bulls, or as high as 30 if you are super unlucky!
The winner is the person with the highest score (even if that score is the 0 they started with!)
I do enjoy this game, but find it a little anxiety-inducing as it feels to me like there should be some strategy to be had if only I was better at counting cards….🤔
So - that's it for this week - come back next week to see what we played 😀. There are so many great looking new games on BGA - I'm hoping that I get some time to learn some new ones! Thanks to my Tuesday afternoon Zoom group (M, T and S)