Games Played: Land Unter!, My Word!, Finstere Flure, Formula De, 6 Nimmt!
Gamers: Jeff, Mark, Joyce, Chip, Vitas, Theresa, Josh, and others
Thanks to Chris for hosting!
Welcome to Jeff and Theresa, our newest SOG additions!
LAND UNTER! (0:18)
Josh: 5
Marianne: 2
Chip: 1
Josh brought a copy of this game, and easily convinced Marianne and I to play it. After all, I like sheep, and Marianne likes to watch people suffer. Either I was going easy on Josh (as it was his first try at the game), or my brain hadn't kicked into gear yet. I found myself making very poor choices, even with a good hand (especially the last round).
Marianne did very well with Josh's opening hand, and Josh did well with Marianne's opening hand (in fact, he was the only one to stay above water). Each round ended prematurely with either Marianne or me being eliminated from the game, something that rarely happens with four or more players.
This is a really good quick game, and I'm happy to play it.
MY WORD! (0:05 or less)
Marianne: 24
Josh: 17
Chip: 7
Joyce: ?
Joyce and I discussed other word forming games after UG7, so I had to bring My Word! It's a twitch game, but a short one, so I thought it wouldn't be too bad.
Josh and Marianne called out most words almost simultaneously, and he, being a gentleman, let her take most of the cards. I'd have to say that it was closer than the scores make it seem.
FINSTERE FLURE (0:53)
Josh: won
Joyce, Chip, Marianne: lost
I had heard quite a bit about this game, especially the comparisons to RoboRally, so I was looking forward to playing Josh's copy. There was a little confusion about the rules at the beginning, but we quickly got the hang of it.
My plan (if I had one) was to leave one of my people behind to distract the monster while my other tokens ran for the exit. Unfortunately, the monster gobbled up three of my people (two for good), and I was left with little hope for victory. Fortunately, I was able to get one guy to escape, and used the other one to attract the monster towards Marianne's last piece. This had little effect on the final outcome (Josh would have won anyways), but it felt good.
I like this game, and would play again.
FORMULA DE (1:31)
Mark: 1st
Jeff: 2nd
Vitas: 3rd
Theresa: 4th
Chip: 5th
Joyce: dropped out
Mark brought out his new copy of Formula De. I was torn between playing this and trying to get a game of Attika going, but I opted for the racing game. I've only previously played with the Mini rules, so I consider it a psuedo-new game.
The good news is that the additional mechanics of the full version are not overwhelming and, after a few plays of the Mini-version, were easily incorporated into my understanding of the game. The bad news is that it still seems to suffer from the runaway leader/unwinnable position problem.
Mark was well in the lead for well over half of the game. There was a little shifting in position behind him, but nothing terribly interesting - Vitas and Jeff traded spaces once or twice as the second player. Battling for fifth place is not as exciting as it sounds (and that's not saying much). Joyce was sufficiently frustrated with the game as to drop out in the last round. I've seen other last-place players drop out of this game (or at least lose all interest) previously. I've given Formula De three plays, and I'm not inclined to play it again.
6 NIMMT! (0:30)
Joyce: 26
Chip: 31
Jeff: 35
Mark: 46
Looking for something quick to play, I suggested that we introduce Jeff to 6 Nimtt!, SOG's pain-inducing game of choice.
I didn't take any points in the first round, offloading most of them to Jeff and Mark, but the tides of fortune change quickly, and I took 20 points in the second round. Mark outdid me in the final round, taking 23 points. Joyce suffered the least and won our abbreviated game.
This is a great game; I'll play it anytime.
posted by FlyingSheep @ 12:24 PM
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