Tempest 2015

Today was the first board gaming event at Tempest 2015.  Adrian, James, myself, and George all showed up to play as many games as we could in one day.  There were over 50 players at the event whom also were invited to come join us for a game.  We had one family come over, and they had a game of Chicken Cha Cha Cha.  Also Lucas, came over to have a look, and joined us for a few games.  Overall it was a great success, and everyone left with a very good feeling.  I love how board games are for everyone.  We had men, women, and children playing.  Ages ranged from 4 to 43.

First, we started with Castle Panic.  This was Adrian and James first time playing.  It was an excellent game that went down to the wire.  Adrian pulled draw four monster.  One of the four monsters he drew was the Goblin King, which means draw another three monsters (all this when the Orc Warlord was drawn the turn before).  This resulted in use losing all but one tower, when we finally killed all the monsters.  At this point we had about 8 monsters tokens left.  The barbarian had not yet come out, and about 20 cards were left in the deck.  James had the scavenge card, but we decided not to trade or use it until the barbarian card came out, so we can use the barbarian twice.  This turned out to be a good idea because the last lot of monster tokens revealed 2 trolls, 1 orc, and a goblin.  As the monsters moved the barbarian still was not coming out.  With 2 trolls in the swordsman ring, it was my turn.  I drew up to 5 cards, still no barbarian, but I got draw 2 cards.  I discarded one card and drew a new card, no barbarian.  Then I played my draw two cards and got the barbarian on the 2nd card drawn.  So I played the barbarian, killing a troll, played scavenge, scavenged the barbarian and killed the last troll.  It was an excellent first game that came down to winning with one tower at the very last minute possible.

This family enjoyed a game of Chicken Cha Cha

Next we played Love Letter.  This is a great, quick card game.  You are drawing to win the hand in marriage of the princess.  Whoever can get their love letter closest to the princess wins a token of affection from her. In the end we all had four tokens, and it came down to the last game with Adrian winning.

After Love Letter we played three games of King of Tokyo.  Our youngest players, George and James ended up winning all the games.  The younger players really enjoy this game, especially collecting the cards.  This is a great game where you are a Godzilla type monster destroying Tokyo city.  Very easy rules and fast gameplay. George won the last game easily by having a baby, then getting a shrink ray.  He went in Tokyo city, and knocked everyone out in three turns.

Lucas had a game of That's my fish with Adrian, and then also got a game of King of Tokyo in.  Next I showed everyone Catan Junior.  This was everyone's first time playing.  This is a very easy pirate game, which I review in my last blog.  Everyone enjoyed this game, and Adrian ended up being the first pirate to build all 7 liars.  Again the younger players, loved collecting the parrots.

With time running out, we finished with a game of Small World.  I played the two younger players James and George.  It was a very close game.  George scored 89, James 95, and I won with 100 points.  I was very impressed how close the game was.  George and James are quick learners, and really did well, and I was happy to get my first win on the last game of the day.  James and George walked away with the prizes for getting the most wins, and being great sports.  Overall great success.  I plan on offering more tables for the next big tournament, Conquest. Hopefully Tim will be willingly to offer this as a exhibition, and provided some prize support.

Board gaming is a great way to enjoy some quality family time, and meet new people.  Look forward to the next tournament and report.

Catan Junior - Review

"Land Ho me hearties"  This is a game where you are trying to be the first pirate to build seven pirate liars.  You build the liars by collecting resources.  You get resources by rolling a D6 and comparing the results to the map.  You can trade resources at the market, or with the bank for different resources.  You can also take a chance on Coco the parrot, or by moving the ghost pirate.  The ghost pirate gives you resources while stopping your opponent from getting them.  This game is an awesome gateway game into board gaming for all ages.  My five and seven year old love it.  They can play completely unaided, and love blocking dad so I cannot get any resources.  Gameplay is different every time. Fast, fun, and well balanced.  It is funny to see how some people punt on the parrots, while others go for the resources.  This game is so good, it will be the first game played at my upcoming board gaming day.  A must for every board gamer to have in their collection.

Ticket to Ride - Review

Ticket to Ride is a game for 2 to 5 players.  You are a railway tycoon from 1912, trying to build the most routes in the USA.  You make routes by drawing cards from the face up cards, or the face down cards.  The cards are coloured passenger cards and a few engine cards (wild cards).  You have to match the coloured train cards with the coloured trains on the map to build  a route.  You get points for building routes (connecting two cities), and finishing destination cards (connecting many routes between cities that are far from each other).  I would highly recommend Ticket to Ride as a gateway game for non-board gamers.  The cards and map are of high quality.  It is also very easy to learn, and quick to finish.  My 5 and 7 year old can both play unaided.  In this  game my youngest, whom is 5, finished (beating me soundly) in around 60 minutes.  Even though my oldest does not usually play, she still likes to watch and hand out the train cards to us.