Princes of Florence

This week I busted out an old favorite of mine - Princes of Florence. I have trouble getting this game to the table because it's one of the few games I'm EXTREMELY good at. Like, I've won tournaments. I have a group of four other experts that I get a semi-annual game in with at certain conventions. But I can't teach new players, because it's just... it's not fair. But everyone really wanted to try this, so I broke down and taught four new players the ins and outs of the game, and what they should do (and avoid letting me do) if they want to boost up their score. I mean, obviously since I've been talking myself up about this game so much I ended up losing by a single point. It was still an awesome time, and now I've got four new players who can put up a real fight against me. That's exciting.

WBC and beyond

I was recently at the World Boardgaming Championships. Obviously I played a zillion games there, but the one that really caught my attention was Merchant's Cove. This is a totally asymmetric game in the vein of Root. Each player is doing a completely different thing on their own boards, spending time as a resource and using that to produce various goods, which will be sold to adventurers coming in on boats. I fell in love with this completely, but we only had a chance to play one (of three) rounds before we had to pack up and make another event. I wanted to pick this up for myself as soon as I got home, but it was a long out of print Kickstarter. But because everything always works out perfectly for me, I had an enormous 400 item game lot traded in to the store a few days after getting home, and that lot obviously contained Merchants Cove and all relevant expansions. Beyond Merchants Cove, the other game I've been hooked on lately is Lorcana. This is a Trading Card Game, like Magic and Pokemon, but all Disney themed. This is NOT a game for the hardcore gamer. But let me tell you this - my kids are absolutely in love with the game. My wife has built more decks than I have. We've got a league starting on Wednesdays, and it's going to be run by my girls. And when my entire family falls into a game, I can't do anything but play with them. Got to encourage this type of behavior, right?

Kid free adult night playing games!

The kids are with their grandparents for a few days, so my wife and I took an evening to have a rare adult night out with some friends - and obviously we played board games.

First Everdell - this is a beautiful worker placement game. Forgive the stock photo, I forgot to take a picture of the actual setup. This is unique among worker placement games, in that each player progresses through the game at their own pace. All workers don't return home during the same step, each player can choose to progress to the next phase whenever they want to. You're collecting forest themed resources to build cute structures and hire absolutely adorable woodland creatures. You're building out 15 spots in your town, and occasionally building into other people's towns, as I learned the hard way. Awesome game, exceedingly beautiful. Will definitely play again.

And after that, I got to teach them Tichu! Tichu is by far my favorite game. Four player partnership game using almost a standard deck of cards. You're trying to play out the cards in your hand, while you're going out you're trying to pick up points. Only certain cards are worth points. I cannot talk this game up enough. If you're a couple and you want something to play with other couples, this game is PERFECT.