A Log of Gaming

NEXT SATURDAY (January 23): We are planning an Open Gaming session from 1:00 to 10:00 PM at the Astoria Senior Citizen Center.

The main attraction at this time seems to be Arkham Horror, but I am bringing many other games as well.


Friday, January 15, 2010:

I was planning my regular Friday trip to Astoria to game with Kevin and Bo. Kevin and I started around 3:30 PM. We couldn't find Bo. I had JUST received an order of several new games, and was eager to try them out even though only one of the three had a two-player option.

We played Primordial Soup--a 3-4 player game, but each of us played two roles. We quit, about halfway through the game--not because we didn't like the game, but because it was awkward to play two competing amoebas. Kevin's best amoeba had "spores, longevity, and division rate," a good combination--breeding fast and everywhere, and living a long time. My best amoeba had "speed, substitution, and frugality" a good combination, mainly because it could find something to eat wherever it went.

I really like the game, and I knew I'd like it when I saw Tom Vasel's review of it (even though it was only like, his 64'th favorite game.) It feels a little like a simulation of life in the primordial soup--when the amoeba was King. And it's got funny little characters on the cards. I'm not sure how it will stand up to the test of many many plays, but I'm really glad I got it.

Next, I spent an hour eating and reading the directions outloud for Race For the Galaxy. (Chomp-chomp-chomp) I tried to pause while I had food in my mouth--really. I liked the game, and I think it would go really fast with players that knew what was going on. But it is a steeep learning curve. With every new card I got, I had to look up the meaning of the symbols on the Player-hand-outs. I ended up with a few more Victory Points than Kevin, but in the end, I didn't really feel like I'd played against him, as much as I played the same solitaire game at the same time he did, and then compared our scores at the end. The sort of game I think I would call "multiplayer solitaire."

I think somewhere, I heard someone mention the role-playing-game term "navel gazing" which means the sort of game where you spend all the time staring at your own belly-button. Particularly, some players were known for getting so much into building their character--they didn't have any time to actually play their character. Race for the Galaxy is a very good navel gazing game, I think. Because you are really putting together the beginning's of a cool galactic civilization. It's just that your civilization never comes across any of the other players' civilizations. (Of course there might be surprises in the deck--we only played once.)

Before I left Kevin's we also opened and looked in the boxes for A Game of Thrones, and Steam. Kevin was surprised that "A Game of Thrones" was made in 2009--he was expecting that it would not be up-to-date with the books. I guess that means, I should get up-to-date on the books, too. I'm sure I only ever read the first two.

At around 9:00, we began to discuss our upcoming weekend of Open Gaming, and we realized that it might be interesting to keep a log of our gaming experiences. Without further Ado--we took a backward trip through memory-land, and produced the following:

Saturday, Jan 9, 2010
Bo, Kevin, and I played Cosmic Encounter, Pirate's Cove, and Stocks and Bonds

Wednesday, Jan 6, 2010
Bo, Kevin, Carol and I saw Avatar! Whoah, cool!

Friday, Jan 1, 2010
Kevin, Bo, and Bo's cousin Tim, and I played Arkham Horror

Dec 26:
I was in Michigan for Christmas--and I played Spore (the video-game), for the first time.

Sat, Dec 19, 2009
Kevin and I played Arkham Horror, while I believe Luke and Bo played Chez Dork with Luke's dad. They probably played Zombies, too.

Fri, Dec 18, 2009
Erica, Kevin, Bo, Luke, and I played Cosmic Encounter, and Citadels.

Fri Dec 11, 2009
Bo, Kevin, and I played Cosmic Encounter, Stone Age, and Citadels.

Fri Dec. 4, 2009
It begins to get a little hazy--but I think there was a game of Puerto Rico, then Kevin and I played HeroCard OrcWars and Settlers of Catan--the Card Game

Nov 27 & 28: Wealth of Nations

Nov 21: Dominion and "Win, Place & Show" with Bo, Kevin, Erica and me
Nov 20: Dominion with O.J, Erica, Issy, Bo, and me

So between the two of us, Kevin and I were able to remember back almost two months.

NEXT SATURDAY (January 23): We are planning an Open Gaming session from 1:00 to 10:00 PM at the Astoria Senior Citizen Center.