Friday, November 10, 2006

West Denver Gamers, November 8, 2006


One key to happiness – GAMES


West Denver Gamers met for the second time, although it was an “interim” game night. The group has planned to meet two nights a month, but five of us were ready to meet between those weeks. We played two games and looked at and discussed five others, if I recall correctly.

Iain had asked me to bring Coloretto and Silverado; he brought Speed Circuit and Puerto Rico; and Glen brought I’m the Boss and Samurai. We didn’t get to Samurai, but did see the others. We had hoped to play Puerto Rico, but some time and tables were occupied in Barnes & Noble by an elementary school poetry reading, which didn’t finish until about 7:30. I brought out Coloretto. The other four had not played it, but it is an easy game to learn. We played three quick games: Reed won the first one; Iain won the second; and I can’t recall who won the third. Everyone caught on quickly, making good defensive plays even in the first game.

Iain explained Puerto Rico to the three of us who have not played it, and we hope to play it at the next session. I showed Silverton, which Iain was particularly interested in (and at his request). He and I both have an interest in the railroad history of Colorado and the Rocky Mountain area, and it is neat to see the small towns (some no longer in existence) on the mapboard. Silverton is primarily an economics game, based on railroads. It is a good solitaire game, which is the only way I’ve played it, but I expect it would be more fun with three or four players. Iain may decide to purchase it, and we hope to perhaps have the opportunity to play at least a 2-player game someday.

Iain also showed us his copy of the 3M edition of Speed Circuit, the one that has the racetrack board wrapped around the box. I had the football game made like that, and Reed had the golf game of the same style. It was a successful series of games. Reed had an uncle who worked for the 3M company at the time those games were produced, and he said they always got some of those 3M games for Christmas. Lucky guy!

Glen brought out I’m the Boss to end the evening. None of the rest of us had played it, so it was a learning experience for us. This is a negotiation game, with lots of “gotcha” opportunities. During the game, I drew most of the I’m the Boss cards, while getting hardly any other useful ones. Fortunately, that gave me many opportunities to stop other negotiations and be in the position of attempting to make deals in my favor. I was very surprised when we counted the money at the end of the game and found that Glen and I had tied for the win. It was a fun game, but I’m not sure whether it would be popular in our family group. I’m thinking it would get very chaotic with 7 players, although it would be easy to expand it for that size group.

It was a fun evening. I suspect that some of us may meet almost weekly, with the official game nights set for twice a month. It is already providing an excellent venue for learning about games I’ve heard about, but probably would not purchase or have the opportunity to play, otherwise. It appears that many of us have very different collections of games, although we mostly like the same types. It will be interesting to see how the group develops over the next several months.

--- Gerald … near Denver, Colorado
aka gamesgrandpa -- A grandpa who is a mile high on gaming

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