The Past Month's Gaming

by Susan Rozmiarek

Yeah, I know. It’s been quieter than a tomb in here lately. I’ve been playing loads of games, my weekly gaming group ensures that, but my opportunities to plant myself in front of the computer to write about them have been few and far-between. Rather than bore you with excuses related to my personal life, I’m going to sweep out the cobwebs here, squash those chirping crickets, and comment on all the stuff, much of it new and shiny, that I’ve played over the last month or so. I’ve gotten some great close-ups of most of these games in action, but alas, we are having problems with the Picture Gallery software right now, so I can’t use them here in this blog :-(

Betrayal at House on the Hill

Despite the numerous flaws, this game is just plain fun. The haunts don’t always quite work or seem balanced and you may find yourself plugging holes in the published rules with house ones, but it’s a fun ride of a game, nevertheless. The theme is great and I loved the exploration aspect of it. I predict that the fun is really going to be group dependent, however. Players need to lighten up, not take the game seriously and just enjoy watching the story unfold.

Dancing Dice

Sigh. I really wanted to like this one more than I did. It has a unique theme, some nice ideas and really cool dice. There just really isn’t enough tension or a push-your-luck element to it. Only one gamer in our group seemed to really like it. I thought it merely “okay.” On the other hand, my 8 year-old son, Shea, loved it and wanted to play it over and over. It has a Yahtzee-like feel to it and probably reminded him of his old early childhood favorite, Pokemon Yahtzee. I’m wondering if it would appeal to my Bunco–loving friends as well. Like Bunco, it would be easy to socialize while playing, as it doesn’t require a great deal of concentration.

Viking Fury

This one has been climbing higher and higher up my all-time favorites list with each playing. Ed really needs to get busy painting the little ship miniatures that he found for it.

La Citta

This is one of those games that you wonder why the heck it doesn’t come out more than it does. I enjoy every playing of this game, even as I’m getting walloped as soundly as I was this time. People were just leaving my cities in droves. I highly recommend keeping up with your population and grain during the game with the scoring track found on Boardgamegeek.com.

Boomtown

It’s no secret that I’m fond of a western theme in a game, but I’m not letting that color my view when I’m say that this game is loads of fun. As expected, it’s got a hefty Bruno dose of luck and chaos, but the clever, clever auction mechanism in this game adds plenty of fun decisions as well. Its shorter playing time makes it a very good lunchtime game candidate too, I think. I do have to gripe about one thing however and with me being female, I think you know what that is. The art! Sheesh. Put some clothes on, sweetie! I could be placated, though, if a hunky cowboy replaced one of those gap-toothed geezers.

Oltre Mare

It’s rare that I want to play the same game again right away, but Oltre Mare has the distinction of being one of those rarities. This game has so many little interlocking mechanisms, all driven by the same set of cards, that it is really hard to digest the first time around. The second time around, I got “into the groove,” so to speak, and really enjoyed it. While some of the mechanisms remind me of other games (Hansa, Bohnanza), the sum of the whole feels like nothing else I’ve ever played.

Well, that’s about the best I can do for now. Pretty lame when compared to the longer session reports that I usually write. Hopefully, the picture problem will get resolved soon, too.

Posted by Susan Rozmiarek at December 5, 2004 5:08 PM