And that was the 24hr Board Game Marathon 2024 – part 3

We crossed the witching hour with GLEN MORE II finishing around 1am.

The hall was beginning it’s transformation into a ghost town with small settlements of gamers dotted around the tables. Like us, bigger games were being played, and I really do think this is the better tactic. Something that aims for around the 2 hour mark is long enough to make time fly between games, whereas a bunch of short fillers in a row will just drag out the clock somewhat painfully. I’d say unless your looking at getting high numbers (like me aiming to beat 16 different games played over the 24 hours) then big is most definitely better.

Talking of which, I was just one game away from beating my target when we left off in part 2. Let’s see if I can manage one more game in the next 8 hours.

GAME #17 – JAIPUR

After GLEN MORE II: CHRONICLES, I thought a palette cleanser would be good before what we had planned next. A lot of the small box games we’d brought were good for higher player counts, but I spotted something in the games library and knew it was exactly what we needed now we were down to two. Trading goods and camels is the name of the game (actually it’s JAIPUR), a game that remains a 2-player only favourite for me. It was also the game that took me to 17 different games played at the marathon, so that meant my little challenge was complete.

I didn’t have to play any more games now.

GAME #18 – GREAT WESTERN TRAIL

Of course I played more games! There was hours to go yet and I love board games. Hilary had just purchased a copy of the original GREAT WESTERN TRAIL. We own the second edition, but it’s this version that sits unscratched on my BGG Top 100 poster. It’s one I know pretty well and it also followed the long game length rule to get us a big step closer to sunrise. It was an easy teach with just a few things different between the 2016 and the 2021 versions. Hilary leaned a little more into buildings and her train, while I opted mostly for cattle and trying to not be left too far behind on the tracks. It’s been a while since I’ve played with the set locations buildings set up, and it was nice having that flow of actions along the trail that make more sense that the chaotic random set up. Typing this is now is making me want to play our version again.

GAME #19 – SPIRIT ISLAND

I last played SPIRIT ISLAND two years and had a really good time. A solo learning game plus two at 2-player with my wife was all we got though. We both really enjoyed the extra complexity to a co-op game, yet I can give no reason as to why we’ve not played it since. So when, between 4am-5am, Hilary showed a small interest in playing it, I thought it would be a great way to relearn and get back into the game.

[Quick warning now: if you’ve been awake for 23 hours and the sun is just about to come up, SPIRIT ISLAND might not be a good idea, especially if one of you is rusty. Also, don’t pick a Spirit who can’t attack and another who is mostly defensive.]

Other than the struggle we set up for ourselves, and a minor rules goof, we somehow managed to win. The experience wasn’t bad. And I haven’t lost my enthusiasm to get back into the game following this play. But it was the only game this weekend where I felt like I might have actually fallen asleep without realising causing reality to blur a little for me. Loved it though.

GAME #20 – 6 NIMMT!

It was around this time, as the outside world became bathed in morning sunlight, that my wife joined us. Now, there’s been some talk as I struggled to grasp what breakfast was and ended up walking in and out of the main hall twice with nothing to show for it, that I may have been what some people call ‘hangry’. I can neither confirm or deny these rumours. However, I can say that it was quite nice to sit down and play a few rounds of 6 NIMMT! The original Nimmt! game is such a good filler and it’s great for teaching to people (we take it to most meetups). I love the ups and downs between rounds where you can score horribly big one round and then maybe just 1 or 2 points the next. Best with a big group but still good with three of us when it’s 7:30 in the morning.

GAME #21 – NUNATAK: TEMPLE OF ICE

We ended the marathon by coming to the rescue of the stream once more. The marathon team needed players for a game of NUNATAK: TEMPLE OF ICE so we answered the call. I looked it up on BGG and thought it might be a family game of some sort, but the way we were feeling, that was exactly all we could cope with. It turns out that there’s a little more to it, though it’s still not too complex. Players take cards and then place their coloured blocks on a matching location to build an ice pyramid. It has fantastic table presence the more you build and looks awesome at the end. The cards themselves are not just for placement as each of the 6-7 types comes with scoring rules for sets too. Another highlight for me and one I’d definitelyt jump at the chance to play again.

And that’s it. We finished that last game with about 10mins to go. The room started to fill up with those remaining few folks who had lasted the night. Dan and Shelley returned to see out the live stream and thank everyone. And that was another year done and dusted.

The sad news was that the team are taking a break next year (though they have two mini marathons of 12 hours each, one in Feb and the other in Aug) so we won’t get to have another go round until 2026. Of course that gives me two years to plan my Rocky style training montage and learn to play more games for longer.

I believe the team managed to crack the £30,000 across all marathons to date, which is awesome. A big thanks to the whole team who put this all together. I have no idea how they manage it, and I believe they all deserve to enjoy their 2025 break.

Big thanks to Ben Burns for running the BLOOD ON THE CLOCKTOWER games and letting me take another fanboy photo.

More big thanks to the people who joined us for games, especially to Sam, James, and Mark who each put in about 4-5 games with our little three person team which was much appreciated. Great folks.

Also the staff of the Shubbery Hotel were somehow more cheerful and helpful than I feel like they had any right to be at those ungodly hours. Don’t know how they manaaged that (I think they might be robots).

Obviously a big thank you to Hilary, our forever gaming companion, who not only endured many games with my wife and I across the three days, but once again helped keep me sane in the dark morning hours that are most definitely the hardest. Couldn’t have stayed awake without your assistance.

And a final thank you to you, the reader of this ramble about an event you might not have attended, from a person you might not have ever met. I don’t have much of an aim for these posts other than to empty my head of the gaming experiances I’ve enjoyed and keep a record of the personal highlights of the hobby. That you’ve taken the time to read these posts is something I massively appricate. I release you now.

Unless you want to stay and see some random stats before you go?

MARATHON STATS

• Individual games played: 21
• Total plays:24
• New games played: 8
• Games taught: 6
• Total wins: 11
• Total gaming time: 14hrs 35mins
• Played from my collection: 2
• Players who joined us: 9
• Biggest player count: 5
• Smallest Player count: 2
• Favourite new game: GLEN MORE II: CHRONICLES
• Favourite old game: PORT ROYAL
• Games played on live stream: 2
• Prizes won in raffle: 8
• Games sold: 9
• Games purchased: 1 (Lacuna)
• Emergency bags of Skittles opened: 0 (very proud to have not needed the energy boost)