I’ve got a golden ticket….

We continue to buy and play games here. This weekend we played some that have arrived in the last week or so.

One is  a relatively short game called Citadels which we all enjoyed.  It’s mostly card-based and rounds go fairly quickly, even with the slowness at which Lego Lover takes his turns.

Another game we played is Nuns of the Run. Game Fanatic pointed this one out as it has a similar feel to Scotland Yard, a game I bought close to 25 years ago while still in college. That game has a lot of memories for both the Scientist and me as we used to play often in the lobby of our dorm. It was a favorite then and it’s now become a favorite of the family. I notice it now sells with a totally new box and (I think) game board design but I quite like our old copy tha t is a bit worn from time and use. It’s a co-op game where a thief tries to stay clear of the detectives of Scotland Yard…there are five detectives against one thief. Each turn the players can use different types of transport to move around the board and the fun is to locate the thief as a team. There are limits on the how often you can use the transport so it’s a matter of making good use of what you have.  Nuns on the Run isn’t exactly a co-op game since everyone is really playing against each other…but one player plays the guards and the others are nuns who have to reach a room with a particular key and then go to another room with a particular item before returning to the cell. All within 15 turns and while the Abbess and Prioress (guards) are roaming different pathways. We played this twice on the weekend and I managed to just win on the first game. The second game I played way too safe and had no chance of getting back in time. So it’s a bit like the reverse of Scotland Yard, minus the cooperative play. There were a lot of little details that we didn’t pick up on the first time playing and I suspect we’ll catch a few more after we give it a few more goes. It was definitely one of the more complex games that we’ve played lately.

We also played a game called Smash Up, which is a card-based game with different decks for play. It”s all about building up points on different bases with cards in your decks to gain points. First player to 15 wins. Game Fanatic won the first game quite easily but it was another one we all liked.

To be honest, I think we’ve liked pretty much all the new games we’ve tried lately. That’s not a bad record considering how many new ones we have now. The other day, we looked on our top shelf at our older games, mostly ones that came with us from the US. We have several versions of Trivial Pursuit there, and most of those will be quite dated by now. There’s also The Game of Life which I have had since childhood. I’ve been thinking about getting rid of that one as we never play it and I can’t imagine us every playing it again. I also have an old copy of Monopoly which is my first board game. I probably won’t get rid of that…we have a newer set that came in a fancy set with Clue and some other games. It plays the same except it uses the British versions… maybe I can just keep the cards from mine to play the US version…

I also got a “Golden Ticket” when the Nuns on the Run game arrived. This was a competition of sorts run by Ozgameshop, the UK based shop where we buy most of our video games and board games now. There were only a few golden and silver tickets placed in random packages. After opening the box, Game Fanatic ran into my room (I was in bed) to tell me the great news. The gift was $150 credit towards future purchases…Game Fanatic immediately began thinking of more games to buy…we now have four more to come plus a Nintendo 3DS game of Animal Crossing for me when it’s released. It’s the first game I’ve purchased since I inherited a 3DS console and it’s a game from a series I’ve liked for several years. Not to mention another one that arrived today.

Not board game related by the Scientist got us onto an online game, Geoguessr.com, using Google street view images where your objective is to figure out where it is as close as you can. Lego Lover just adores the game and he’s quite adept at using Google Earth/maps…and is quite persistent in his attempts to place the marker as close as possible to the location. He has managed to get within a few metres several times but last night he managed to get it spot on. I was impressed although it is exhausting to go through the process at times. Along with his persistence (while good it has some negatives), there are some of his less positive traits that come out. Still, it’s a nice way to spend time together and learn quite a bit together about the world.