Check it out.  Unfortunately, registration is required.

Jacob, Matthew, and I are already registered for a full conference at Gen Con this year.  Last year Jacob and I spent 3 days there and Matthew joined us for a morning.  We'll see how much time Matthew is interested in spending there this year.

Rather than sign up for a lot of the pre-scheduled board gaming events, we will most likely rely on generic tickets this year and focus on pick-up gaming at Game Base 7.  I'm also going to try and do a better job of coordinating with other spielfrieks out there that are interested in hooking up, so please let me know via email or a comment if you plan on attending.

Greg and Patrick conspired on a spontaneous, full-scale garment design cycle.

Jacob and Matthew have a long 4-day weekend (Julie's dad arrives tomorrow morning), so without an early bedtime we decided to play Ticket to Ride after dinner.  I had only played once before and was eager to teach the boys - we love train games and I thought this would hit a sweet spot in terms of complexity and fun.

Jacob and Matthew about mid-way through the game.  I played red, Jacob black, and Matthew blue.

Ticket to Ride is a fantastic game in so many ways.  It plays very fast with almost no downtime, there are strategic elements (many routes or long routes), tactical plays (blocking, throwing down a shorter route out of fear of being blocked), and tension because it can be difficult to estimate the final point totals.  Throw in trains and a decent geography lesson and you have a winner of a family strategy game.  I was able to teach the boys how to play in less than five minutes, so this game should be very attractive to families with younger (7+) kids.

Grin away, Mr. Lucky.

I wish I could say that I was playing to let the boys win, but I was sincerely trying to play my best.  Matthew smoked us as usual, finishing 30 points ahead of Jacob and me.  Some of it was luck of the draw - he drew a destination ticket in his second-to-last turn and picked up a 22 pointer that he had already built!

I'm having way too much fun with my Digital Rebel.  I'm especially impressed with the results I'm getting with high-speed (1/1600, 1/2000) action photos of Jacob and Matthew's baseball activity.  So bear with me if you are only interested in gaming activity - I'll probably be posting quite a few family photos this summer.

Jacob in the dugout with teammate Joey.  Focal length 80mm, F/4, 1/320 sec.

Jacob getting one his many hits on Saturday.  He had one of his best hitting days ever, reaching base every at bat over two games.  Focal length 300mm, F/7.1, 1/2000 sec.

Jacob is doing a great job as the backup catcher.  This is a photo of Jacob taking signs from the dugout coach that he will into ball position for the pitcher.  300mm, F/5.6, 1/2000 sec.

Not much gaming happening lately.  Busy travel schedule again (though things look to be quieter in May/June), and my gaming date in Las Vegas feel through last week.  I did manage to get in a playing of San Juan at work last week with a couple of co-workers, and I taught KC's prototype Northwest Trek to the family Friday evening.

San Juan

Two co-workers, Jason and Arron, took me up on an offer to play San Juan over lunch at the campus center at Corillian.  Jason had played Puerto Rico before so was very familiar with the role-choosing mechanic; Arron hadn't played PR but had at least read the rules, so within 5 minutes or so we were underway.

I experimented with a lot of producing/trading in this game, certainly to my detriment.  Unlike PR, in San Juan everyone can sell any goods, so it often isn't as advantageous to choose the Trader role.  Arron stuck to prospector most of the time and did a nice job getting violet buildings out, but his lack of experience with the card combos hurt him as he didn't get a good multiplier.  Jason picked up the game very quickly, going nuts with lots of production buildings then laying out a Guild Hall, which gave him (I think) a total of 14 bonus points.  He won the game running away, I was a distant last place.

Northwest Trek

The boys asked me to teach them one of KC's new games, so I pulled out Northwest Trek, a fairly light and simple geometric tile-laying game. 

As I have mentioned before, Northwest Trek uses Cairo tesselation - a cool geometric trick which creates some challenges in placement because the tiles are vertically asymetric.  We are working on some different board/piece decorations to make it easier to orient the pieces for placement.

No surprise - Matthew managed to beat all of us with a strong showing - four sets of animal photographs with 6, 4, 4, and 3 in the sets.

Would you be interested in downloadable versions of these games?  If so, leave a comment here.  KC and I are gauging interest in making DTP-style versions of 1 or 2 of his games available.

Joe Huber did a great job of summarizing the impressions of games from the Gathering.  Below is the summary of his work.  The rating system: + = thumbs up, 0 = neutral, and - = thumbs down.   Based on everything I've read, I'm most interested in Power Grid, St Petersburg, and Goa.

Alexandros              000----
Blue Moon               ++000--
Boomtown                +++0
Buyword                 ++++
Cargo                   00--

Coda                    +0---
Dawn Under              000--
Die Steven Seagal       +00-
Dos Rios                ++++000000000------
Egg Dance               ++00

Einfach Genial          +++++++++00000000-
Employee Of The Month   +++++000000--
Fifth Avenue            ++++++0000000---
Goa                     ++++++++++++++++++00000
Hansa                   +++++++++++++++000000000---

Immer Oben Auf!         00----
MaNiKi                  ++++
Marco Polo              ++++00000-----------
Memoir '44              +++++++++
Oasis                   +++++++++0000000000---

Oh Pharoah              ++000000---
Power Grid              ++++++++++++++++++++++0-
Saga                    +++++000000000-----
St. Petersburg          +++++++++++++++++++00000000000
San Juan                ++++++++++++++++++++000000

Santiago                ++++++++++
Spy                     +0-----
Sunken City             ++00000-----------
Tahuantinsuyu           ++++0
Ticket To Ride          +++++++++++++++++++++++++++00-

Tongiaki                +++0----

Sorted by approval ratings (assuming everyone who didn't rate a game 
would give it a 0 - thanks to Randy Cox for doing this last time!):

Ticket To Ride          68%
Power Grid              55%
San Juan                53%
St. Petersburg          50%
Goa                     47%

Hansa                   32%
Santiago                26%
Memoir '44              24%
Einfach Genial          21%
Oasis                   16%

Buyword                 11%
MaNiKi                  11%
Tahuantinsuyu           11%
Boomtown                8%
Employee Of The Month   8%
Fifth Avenue            8%

Egg Dance               5%
Blue Moon               0%
Die Steven Seagal       0%
Saga                    0%
Oh Pharoah              -3%
Tongiaki                -3%

Cargo                   -5%
Coda                    -5% 
Dawn Under              -5%
Dos Rios                -5%

Alexandros              -11%
Immer Oben Auf!         -11%
Spy                     -11%
Marco Polo              -18%
Sunken City             -24%

Jacob and Matthew are playing baseball again this year.  Though they are almost two years apart, it seems that Matthew is always only one year behind him in the league.  This is mostly due to mom & dad wanting to push him along a little faster.

In Sherwood, if you play youth baseball you are part of Junior Baseball of Oregon.  JBO is quite a bit different than Little League, and so far I have been impressed.  At each age level, there are three divisions: National, American, and Federal.  The Federal team (there is only one) is the all-star team and plays together all season, often traveling to tournaments outside the city.  The next level is American, which is very competitive and travels frequently, but is not quite at the Federal level.  National is for beginning or recreational level players.

When I grew up, everyone at the same age level played in the same league, and at the end of the season an all-star team was chosen from the teams to compete in the post-season.  I like the JBO model since it allows players to spend the entire season playing with players at about the same skill level.

Matthew posing for his individual picture.

Matthew is in a developmental league (pre-JBO) called Midget International.  This is meant to be a transitional league for players that want to play real ball (stealing, player pitching, etc.) but aren't old enough for Midget.  This is where Jacob played last year.

Matthew's baseball team.

Jacob tried out earlier to see where he would play, and was drafted by a Midget American team.  In fact, his two coaches also coached him in football.  This league is a stretch for Jacob - he is not used to this level of competitiveness, and it is tough not being one of the 2 or 3 best players on the team.

Jacob (right) listening to coach after practice.

So far, his skills are improving and he is hanging in there. It looks like he will be the backup catcher and spend most his time playing outfield.  Jacob isn't the most agile, strongest, or most talented player, but his attitude is amazing and the coaches love him for his listening skills and work ethic.

Action shot of Jacob rounding 3rd base during practice.

One challenge for Julie and I is to keep our feedback as close to 100% positive as possible.  His coaches challenge him enough, and his self confidence wanes at times, so our roles need to be almost completely reinforcing.

Jacob slides into 3rd during practice.

This report is almost a week late in coming, but better late than never.  Spent last week in North Carolina and Colorado, and I head to Vegas this week for a conference where I'll be speaking.

Last Sunday a few folks came over for some casual gaming.  This wasn't a scheduled event so I was surprised at the strong turnout.  Peter, Ken, Brandon, Mike, Kevin, KC, Rita, and Jenna all joined us.  Brandon, Jacob, Matthew, and Jenna spent most of the time playing anything but boardgames.

San Juan

Kevin and Ken arrived first (Brandon went upstairs to play with the boys), so we quickly broke out San Juan, the card game based on the innovative boardgame Puerto Rico.  I had played with Jacob once before so had a decent handle on the rules; in any case, this is a very easy game to explain and learn.

I got off to a strong start, getting a silver mine early and a few production/trading enhancement buildings.  It wasn't a very close game - I got to 12 buildings first and had a sizable advantage.  I'll attribute my victory to the fact that Ken and Kevin were just learning.

Chris and Ken playing San Juan.

This is a quick, light, but fun game that I look forward to playing a lot in the future.  Looks like I even convinced a couple of co-workers to join me for a game over lunch next week!

Pizzza

While waiting for our game of San Juan to finish, KC, Rita, and Peter played a quick game of Pizzza, KC's light family game prototype.  Players are in pizza school and try to make the best pizzas.  This is a tile laying game with a bit of hidden objectives thrown in, and is a blast to play.

Peter, Rita, and KC playing Pizzza.

Schrille Stille

Schrille Stille plays great with 6, so that came out next.  This is not a game of deep strategy and if you can't handle a bit of chaos, say away from this game.  Boy, is this game fun!  Even after the amusement of the voting mechanism wears off, there is some serious tension as the game draws to an end.  We had lead changes on all four of the final scoring rounds, with players bouncing from last to first and back again over the course of two turns.  I think Kevin came out on top this time.

Peter and Ken place their votes in Schrille Stille.

This game truly is a party game, and would be welcome with most casual or even non-gamers in my opinion.

Ticket to Ride

Several folks wanted to play Ticket to Ride, so we broke that one out.  Mike Deans showed up about the same time, and we had 6 people and had to split things up a bit (Peter had to go).  Kevin, Ken, Rita, and KC played Ticket to Ride while Mike and I decided to learn and try Blue Moon.

Ken, Kevin (the unknown gamer), Rita, and KC play Ticket to Ride.

I think everyone was feeling good about this game.  I certainly look forward to playing it again.

Blue Moon

Mike and I decided to play Blue Moon out of the box.  The rules are straightforward, and if you are familiar with combat-oriented CCGs you will pick up this game quickly.  Blue Moon is not a collectable card game though - it has a base set with expansions (and more due this year), but there's no notion of rarity, booster packs, etc.

Each player represents a faction at war with each other.  On a turn, a player will always play a character to duel against the opponent's character.  Each character has a specified strength in earth and fire, so when you lay down a character you must declare the element in which the character will fight.

The opponent must either respond in kind with a character at least as strong as the opponent's character, or retreat.  When a player retreats, the other player wins a dragon to his side.  Three dragons start out the game in the center (neutral) space.   If a player can win all of the dragons plus one to his side, he automatically wins the game.  Dragons only live on one side or the either, so when you win a dragon and the opponent already has one or more on his side, one of those dragons just moves back to the neutral space.

There are other optional cards that can be played with the characters: leadership cards are use-once in nature and give a benefit usually unrelated to the character (like allowing the player to draw more cards).  Booster and support cards usually improve the character currently played or limit the opponent's actions in some way.

Mike plays Chris in Blue Moon while Jacob watches on.

If a player runs out of cards or cannot play a character from his hand when he must, then he automatically loses the hand.  This is the way all of our hands ended, so clearly card management is a key part of the game.

This is a fun game that I hope to play some more.  I'm not sure if it is significantly more compelling than playing, say, the latest pre-constructed starter decks for Magic: the Gathering, but there are some nice differences.  First, the artwork is extremely nice. Second, the cards are much larger (probably twice as big in area) giving it a different feel.  The gameplay is also a bit simpler in that there seem to be fewer timing issues.

Liar's Dice

While waiting for the Blue Moon game to finish, the rest of the crowd played a shortened game of Liar's Dice.

I think Jenna was down to her last die at this point, but she still seems happy!

Mexica

I can't remember how this one turned out, but I do know that everyone enjoyed the game.  I haven't played it so look forward to giving this one a try at some point.

Ken, Kevin (the arm), and Rita play Mexica.

Base Camp Delta

The last game of the day for me was KC's latest prototype, Base Camp Delta.  The theme is pretty cool here - mountain climbers trying to reach the summit of Mt Everest and the other peaks surrounding it in the Himalayas.

Mike, KC, and I play Base Camp Delta.

This is a racing game but with a few twists.  Teamwork is key here, and in the spirit of cooperation of climbing teams, even your opponents climbers will help yours. So when climbing, it helps to have others above you and with you to facilitate those tricky stretches. 

Close-up of the board in Base Camp Delta.  Note the tokens representing hidden values for the different peaks.

There's a certain press your luck element to this game - climbs are attempted with dice rolls (d10) and checked against a difficulty scale based on the terrain, plus any bonuses from helping hands and cards played.  Each climber can make two climbs per turn (a player has 5 climbers), but as soon as a single climber fails, the turn is over.  If you manage to finish a turn without a failed climb, you get to draw an extra card.

Those that dislike dice rolling games may cringe when they see a game like this.  If you like Formula De or other racing games, but want to include some other mechanics such as surprise objectives and resource management, then you'll probably enjoy this game.

DasBlog provides some nice referral tracking that helps me learn how people find the site.  Often the referral is from a strange search at Google, MSN, or elsewhere.  I thought this one was humurous:

“when+wanting+to+play+canasta+and+page+come+up+saying The+requested+URL+was+not+found+on+this+server”