Free-range thoughts about design, writing, and play
Suburbia was one of my favorite games to play at BGG Con, and it’s easy to figure out why. It has city building, economics and even a bit of Dutch auction in it, which are all things I love to see in games. That’s why I’m so pleased to see the game show up in…
Several people have asked what my favorite game from BGG Con was, and I’m not sure. There were a lot of good ones. However, the most pleasant surprise is an easier question to answer: Caverna: the Cave Farmers. Caverna is the latest game from Uwe Rosenberg, who is most famous these days for Agricola and…
I’ve got a new game in that awkward stage where it needs lot of attention, so I’m just now catching up with an roundup of our October Library Meetup. Here we go! Attendance was light last month, but we got in some great games. Our Castle Panic game was just about as close to defeat…
Pandemic is one of my favorite games, and for good reason. It’s one of the first and best cooperative games, with a strong theme that puts you in the role of fearless scientists trying to save the world from horrible diseases. It’s easy to learn, hard to beat, and has brought more than its share…
Things got a little raucous at yesterday’s September Library Meetup! One of our members brought a copy of Space Alert, the real-time cooperative survival game of sailing through space while a CD soundtrack warns you that you’re about to get blown up by aliens. Each game runs about ten minutes, and while I didn’t get…
Ticket to Ride has been a hit game for almost ten years. It’s a simple game — collect sets of colored cards and fill up a map with trains — but the variations seem to be endless. Days of Wonder has published at least five different versions of the game, plus a bunch of map packs,…
We had a blast at our August library meetup! The San Marcos Public Library was accommodating as always, and we had a good turn-out of fifteen. We welcomed several new players, and a couple of people stopped by to learn more. One older gentleman was very surprised that people still play board games! Either my hands were shaky…
We have a new event lined up for this Friday evening! Member Vincent would like to get together at Mochas and Javas for longer game; he proposes Settlers of Catan or (if available) Dungeon! We visited Mochas and Javas for our first event, and it’s a lovely place to play games. It’s quiet, the staff were very…
Board Game Bash starts tonight! I’ll be there, and I’m bringing this meeting flyer with me. Our meetup group has already reached 20 members, and I’m hoping we’ll pick up a few more over the weekend. See you at the convention! Archived from the San Marcos Board Gamers website.
Our July meeting at the San Marcos Public Library was also a big success! I actually took pictures this time, so I’ll let them tell the tale. I got to try out Kingsburg, a worker placement game where you roll dice and hope the barbarian hordes don’t steamroll you at the end of the each…