Another weekend, another session of board gaming.
Although that wasn’t the original plan. It was a short visit, so we were just going to do some video gaming and watch a movie. But the pull of board gaming is strong, the enjoyment of the player interaction is fun, and there is also a contest at stake here, folks.
So, despite the sunshine and heat, we sat at the table and worked our way through the board games once more.
DAY ONE
JAIPUR (2009)
Remains a favourite in our collection, and we have set up down to a fine art now. It’s all about grabbing those diamonds now, and the luck of the cards was with me this time round. It was our first game to go to three rounds, but I just managed it on the last round with a decent amount of those precious bonus points.
ME: 1
GF: 0
MAG-BLAST (2002)
Despite the fact that I’m struggling to get to grips with this game, and I’m playing my girlfriend who I think could go professional playing MAG-BLAST for her country, I had an extra reason to get this back to the table once more and take a beating.
I had 8 plays of MAG-BLAST under my belt, and two more would get me the rest of the way to completing my 10×10 challenge for 2020.
But other than that personal stat victory, I once again got my butt handed to me as she tore through my fleet with precision and once again toyed with the Flag Ship before blasting it out of the cosmos, sound effects and all.
ME: 1
GF: 1
OTHELLO (1996)
This is the oldest game in my collection. The copy I own was a present in the mid-nineties and I’ve many a game under my belt. It’s rare to hit the table nowadays, but as we make our way through our collection, I thought it would be nice to share a little of my childhood with the girlfriend.
And in return for me sharing with her . . . she proceeded to kick my butt.
I gave her good advice early on regarding the side spaces and, more importantly, the corner spaces. And she definitely listened as we both did everything in our power to not place pieces that would give away those four advantageous plots on the board.
Unfortunately, this led to me losing turns which the girlfriend capitalised on, and then the corners fell anyway. Evenly matched on our first game. Look forward to more.
ME: 1
GF: 2
KIBBLE SCUFFLE (2019)
Last weekend we popped into Forbidden Planet on the hunt for a new game or two to add to our collection. Pickings were slim, and very expensive (I almost picked up a Marvel game that I found online for £25 less).
It looked like we were going to walk out empty handed, when the girlfriend spotted a small, novel game which involved feeding cats.
And what a fun little game it is. Similar in a small way to SMASH UP, you lay cards down at one of three bowls that each contain cat food. Each cat you lay has an ability to help you or hinder your opponent. Once five cats hit a bowl, feeding begins, and food cubes are removed from the bowl with the cats, before the game carries on.
Its silly fun, the artwork is cute, and the abilities all make thematic sense to the cats they relate to. And on top of that, when you have to dispense more food, the box is even designed to have a fold out tab so that you can fill the bowls like you would with real dry cat food. Genius.
The only issue I had with the game is that the first player alternates, and with a 2-player game it can get confusing quickly as you just end up having two turns each. Look forward to playing this with higher player count.
ME: 2
GF: 2
TATSU (2016)
A game we learned on our last play, TATSU is so quick to set up and so tactical to play that we were eager to play it once more.
I saw the BACKGAMMON comparisons more this time round, with the decision of how to use your two dice (move separate pieces, or combine to get one piece further round the board), and I started to see where I was placing pieces and how vulnerable there were, causing me to really think out moves.
I lasted a little longer than last time, but still fell foul as the girlfriend took away my fire dragons and scored a victory once more.
ME: 2
GF: 3
SUSHI ROLL (2019)
One of my girlfriend’s favourite games, I think we will play this every gaming session. And I do not mind that as SUSHI ROLL is so much fun.
I’ve said before that it is all about the puddings, no more so than in two player. With -6 points to the person with the lowest amount of puddings, you’re fighting with the other player to stay afloat, whereas in a larger player count, you only need to stay above last place, and can then concentrate on your own Maki Roll based battle plan.
I am yet to beat the girlfriend at this game. Perhaps because I’ve never eaten Sushi, so cannot become one with the game yet.
ME: 2
GF: 4
MUFFIN TIME (2020)
While we can see the potential for enormous fun with MUFFIN TIME on higher payer counts, we are currently enjoying the brutality of our 2-player matches.
This was the last game of the evening, and it almost got completely out of control. While the Action cards are fun, and the Counter cards are good for hilariously disrupting your opponents best laid plans, its those pesky Trap cards that are the star of the show.
You see enough of them and you learn quickly that you almost have to be statuesque to survive what may be lurking on your opponents’ side of the table. And sometimes, just sometimes, the trust you have for the person you love can go out the window because you don’t want to spring that trap.
Case in point; the girlfriend had one trap card down. Suddenly she looked over me and started going on about flies on the wall behind me. My head started to turn in automatic response to another human being saying, “look at that”, but luckily the gamer part of my brain kicked in and screamed “Wait! It could be a trap”. So, I shock my head and returned to the game.
But my girlfriend didn’t. She kept on and on about flies. She protested too much in my view, and I felt like I’d made the right decision not to trust her. On and on she went, even taking a picture, which I refused to look at.
We eventually finished the game (made longer by the girlfriend playing a card that starts the whole game over from scratch) and then I turned around to see that there were actually quite a lot of flies on the wall behind me.
That was the most stressed our relationship has been. All because of a god damned Trap card.
God, I love this game.
We played best of three. I managed one victory.
ME: 2
GF: 5
DAY TWO
KINGDOMINO (2017)
I was way behind as we started the second day of play, so I needed to pull out a trump card. KINGDOMOINO is said trump card. It is my girlfriends Kryptonite, and I knew that bringing it to the table was my only chance of getting one more win.
She managed to grab a few of the tiles I was eyeing up, but I was able to switch plans on the fly and took best of three with a clean two game sweep. And I even ended with a perfect 5×5 Kingdom on the second game.
ME: 3
GF: 5
CENTURY: GOLEM EDITION (2017)
I’ve only played this once and thoroughly enjoyed it. It’s like SPLENDOR but a little more to do, and it’s a reskin of CENTURY: SPICE ROAD.
Basic engine building, where you draft cards, play cards, manipulate gems, and eventually purchase Golems worth points.
The girlfriend picked it up quick and soon the back and forth was less turns of a game and more the back and firth play of professional tennis players.
And all the time, looking at your opponent’s caravan and trying to predict what Golem they are going for to know if it will hinder your own plan, or if you’ll have to pivot so as to prevent them getting a better card than you can.
I really enjoy CENTRUY: GOLEM EDITION, and recently picked up the sequel, CENTURY: EASTERN MOUNTAINS. I look forward to getting a few plays of both under us, before combining the two and playing the bigger game while we wait for the release of part 3.
ME: 4
GF: 5
STAR REALMS (2014)
I’ve accepted that the girlfriend has a strength, and that strength is space-based card games.
When we play STAR REALMS, two things happen. First, we get to a point mid-way where whatever damage I do to her on my turn, she inflicts twice as much to me on her next turn. And the other thing is she always seems to have enough coin to get the better cards at the right time.
Except this time, the tables turned, and things were finally looking up for me in the space themed card battle game stakes.
And it all started with me obtaining The Needle, that beautiful little ship that has the ability to mimic. Now there might come a time when you draw it with a load of useless ships, but on this sunny Sunday morning, I kept finding it drawn alongside my heavy hitters.
The game was our longest yet, coming in at just over 40 minutes. And it was tough. But my last hand gave me a nice chain of hits, and the power to draw two more cards which did the job and took the girlfriend to -1
ME: 5
GF: 5
HANAMIKOJI (2013)
This was it. We couldn’t leave the weekend at a draw. Too much at stake. So, we fell back on HANAMIKOJI to decide who walked away the victor.
It was tense stuff, and there were a lot of pauses (mostly from me) as every potential play was mulled over before I committed to a move. First round was tight, so onto the second. I thought I messed up with the pair of cards I removed from play, but when the last hand was played, I saw that I had 11 points. I’d won.
And then the girlfriend cheered at the same moment because she had the other win condition complete by having four of the seven Geishas in her favour.
What a moment that was to both think we’d one the weekend.
Unfortunately for one of us, a quick glance at the rule book would decide our fates. And with points beating Geishas, I walked away with game, set, and match.
ME: 6
GF: 5
THE END
What an epic weekend that was. After falling far, far behind, I somehow managed to claw it back and take it to the wire. I know it’s one that spectators (what am I talking about) will talk about for years to come. That will probably go down as the tightest win margin in our continuing gaming contest; winning a whole weekend of gaming based on a single tie break rule.
So now I move closer to the trophy (that’s right, we’ve had a trophy designed) with a 3-1 lead.
Next weekend will be a big one, and you can bet your bottom dollar that the girlfriend will not go easy on me.
Always Play Blue 