Game Day 04/28/2005

Game #1

For Sale

We started out with the short game For Sale. This was the first time that I played it (which is sad since I have owned it for a while now) and I liked it. The quality of the game is nice. The artwork is pretty and the card quality is solid.

The first half of the game plays like a game of chicken. Players can either take the worst building or offer money not to take a building yet. If a player takes the worst building, then they give half of their money that they offered to the bank. The last player left gives all of the offered money to the bank and takes the last card. Any remaining money will contribute to your score. In the second half of the game, players compete for checks which are the other part of their final score. This part of the game involves blind bidding where players select a building from their hand and reveal them simultaneously. The person with the highest building takes the most expensive check.

Game #2

Strand-Cup

We decided to play another quick game since some other people might show up soon. I suggested a speed game of Strand-Cup. This is a good game and it fits its theme well. As long as people do not agonize and play the game like they would a volleyball game, you will have a fun time. Doug and I felt the pain of not having a well rounded hand of cards. However, the game can accomidate that by allowing you to discard a card during the serve and rolling a dice instead, or having another team mate volley the ball.

There is a randomness to the game with the dice, but it is offset by the number of points that is needed to win the game. However, Doug was having bad luck during the game. He rolled 1-1, 2-2, and 1-2 when he was trying to volley the ball. He should not have been on the sand that day!

Game #3

Attika

In this game, I was the start player. I only had two types of cards and I did not have my city out, so I decided to draw counters and put them on my mat (and fortunately, I drew my city). On my next turn, I put my city close to Jeff. On Jeff’s turn, he decided to hose me and put 3 roads around my city. After that I was out of the running to win the game. Had Jeff played better he could have won the game. Instead, Doug won it.

Game #4

Euphrat & Tigris

I suggested that we play this game. This is another game that I wish we would play more of. During the game, I did not have the right mixture of tiles when I wanted to go on the offensive and attack. Consequently, I didn’t do much during the game and lost. We had new players in the game and I was surprised that it was a quick game.