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Fort Worth Gamers: gaming session 12/02/23
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Michael Ward
Dec 2, 2023, 11:52:39 PM12/2/23
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Saturday, 12/02/23 1:00 PM to 4:20 PM at the Hulen Mall food court, in southwest Fort Worth, TX
This was another of our regularly scheduled Saturday afternoon game sessions. We had three gamers on this slightly cool afternoon.
Today’s first game was Jeff G’s Tutankhamun, which was new to Michelle C and myself. The first thing we did was take turns laying out the tiles, which represented small sections of the Nile River. To make the Nile fit on the table we had to layout the Nile River in a very winding way, or they wouldn’t all have fit on the table. Each tile had an image on it. Most were items (ankh, ring, statue, bracelet, game board, knife, sarcophagus, etc.). But there were a few others that represented different Egyptian gods (Ra, Horus, Ptah, Anubis, etc.) Then there were the six little color coded wooden boats that represented each player. We used those to move along the Nile from its source to the box bottom.
Interestingly, the top edge of the bottom of the box acts as the score tracker, as little slotted colored wooden tokens (which sort of look like old timey clothes pins) are used to keep the scores as the game progresses, by being moved around the periphery of the box edges. (I’d never seen that before.)
So off we went moving our boats down the serpentine Nile (quite the opposite from the ‘real’ Nile, which runs straight north to the sea!).
Scores: Michelle C 28 (won tie breaker), Michael W 28, Jeff G 24. Duration: 42 minutes.
I found Tutankhamun to be a nice little game of set collection. I’d be wiling to play it again. I rated it a “6” on BGG (OK... will play if in the mood).
Next up was Jeff G’s Forever Home. Here is part of its blurb from BGG.
“Forever Home, the puzzly pattern-building game about second chances for shelter dogs.”
Using a combination of tile placement, set collection, and drafting, you and your friends take on the role of shelter workers. Take it in turns to bring dogs into your shelter, complete training cards, and match pups up with new families. You'll be competing for valuable shelter commendations, as well as gaining reputation for training and rehoming the dogs in your care. At the end of the game, the shelter worker with the most reputation wins!
Featuring quick and simple turns; a unique solo mode; and a second advanced side to the player board, Forever Home is a replayable, easy-to-love abstract game.”
Here’s my short version. Play cards to be able to place tiles on a small 5x5 grid board in particular configurations for game points.
Our third game was Jeff’s Forever Home. I found it interesting (after the fact) what the theme of the game was. Apparently all the “dog” cards represented stay dogs that we, as players, were trying to find good homes for. If Jeff ever said anything like that I didn’t hear it. So to me the whole affair was just an exercise in pattern building on the 5x5 board via cards. I won, but I really didn’t care.
Scores: Michael W 30, Jeff G 18, Michelle C 14. Duration: 33 minutes.
There was nothing wrong with the game. It’s just that I found it rather ho-hum. I rated it a “5” on BGG.
Our last game was Michelle’s Phase 10, which I’d played once, years ago and felt rather “meh” about. And
today’s outing did nothing to change my mind for the better. For to me it was as dry as the west Texas wind.
There was nothing wrong with the game. It’s just that I found it rather ho-hum. I rated it a “5” on BGG.
Today’s outing did nothing to change my mind.
It was obvious from the get go Michelle knew exactly what she needed to do to maximize her score and
she proceeded to do so, with great vigor. Meanwhile I was floundering around just try to make legal plays. Jeff was somewhere between these two extremes.
The game went on for eleven rounds. Six of those rounds Michelle made zero (that’s as good as possible). So there was no doubt who was going to win. As for me I knew I was going to finish in a distant third place. But I just didn’t care.
The only thing that surprised me was Jeff’s ultimate score was almost as terrible as mine.
Scores: Michelle C -130, Jeff G -400, Michael W -460. Duration: an hour and 22 minutes.
I hope its many more years before I see Phase 10 again.
I wanted to log my thoughts on BGG about Phase 10. But I couldn’t find what edition we played (BGG lists about ten versions!).
See BoardgameGeek http://www.boardgamegeek.com/ for more information on the games mentioned above. And if you're in the area on Saturday afternoon feel free to join us for a game.
--
Michael Ward
Fort Worth Gamers
And check out our MeetUp page http://www.meetup.com/FortWorthGamers/ .
This was another of our regularly scheduled Saturday afternoon game sessions. We had three gamers on this slightly cool afternoon.
Today’s first game was Jeff G’s Tutankhamun, which was new to Michelle C and myself. The first thing we did was take turns laying out the tiles, which represented small sections of the Nile River. To make the Nile fit on the table we had to layout the Nile River in a very winding way, or they wouldn’t all have fit on the table. Each tile had an image on it. Most were items (ankh, ring, statue, bracelet, game board, knife, sarcophagus, etc.). But there were a few others that represented different Egyptian gods (Ra, Horus, Ptah, Anubis, etc.) Then there were the six little color coded wooden boats that represented each player. We used those to move along the Nile from its source to the box bottom.
Interestingly, the top edge of the bottom of the box acts as the score tracker, as little slotted colored wooden tokens (which sort of look like old timey clothes pins) are used to keep the scores as the game progresses, by being moved around the periphery of the box edges. (I’d never seen that before.)
So off we went moving our boats down the serpentine Nile (quite the opposite from the ‘real’ Nile, which runs straight north to the sea!).
Scores: Michelle C 28 (won tie breaker), Michael W 28, Jeff G 24. Duration: 42 minutes.
I found Tutankhamun to be a nice little game of set collection. I’d be wiling to play it again. I rated it a “6” on BGG (OK... will play if in the mood).
Next up was Jeff G’s Forever Home. Here is part of its blurb from BGG.
“Forever Home, the puzzly pattern-building game about second chances for shelter dogs.”
Using a combination of tile placement, set collection, and drafting, you and your friends take on the role of shelter workers. Take it in turns to bring dogs into your shelter, complete training cards, and match pups up with new families. You'll be competing for valuable shelter commendations, as well as gaining reputation for training and rehoming the dogs in your care. At the end of the game, the shelter worker with the most reputation wins!
Featuring quick and simple turns; a unique solo mode; and a second advanced side to the player board, Forever Home is a replayable, easy-to-love abstract game.”
Here’s my short version. Play cards to be able to place tiles on a small 5x5 grid board in particular configurations for game points.
Our third game was Jeff’s Forever Home. I found it interesting (after the fact) what the theme of the game was. Apparently all the “dog” cards represented stay dogs that we, as players, were trying to find good homes for. If Jeff ever said anything like that I didn’t hear it. So to me the whole affair was just an exercise in pattern building on the 5x5 board via cards. I won, but I really didn’t care.
Scores: Michael W 30, Jeff G 18, Michelle C 14. Duration: 33 minutes.
There was nothing wrong with the game. It’s just that I found it rather ho-hum. I rated it a “5” on BGG.
Our last game was Michelle’s Phase 10, which I’d played once, years ago and felt rather “meh” about. And
today’s outing did nothing to change my mind for the better. For to me it was as dry as the west Texas wind.
There was nothing wrong with the game. It’s just that I found it rather ho-hum. I rated it a “5” on BGG.
Today’s outing did nothing to change my mind.
It was obvious from the get go Michelle knew exactly what she needed to do to maximize her score and
she proceeded to do so, with great vigor. Meanwhile I was floundering around just try to make legal plays. Jeff was somewhere between these two extremes.
The game went on for eleven rounds. Six of those rounds Michelle made zero (that’s as good as possible). So there was no doubt who was going to win. As for me I knew I was going to finish in a distant third place. But I just didn’t care.
The only thing that surprised me was Jeff’s ultimate score was almost as terrible as mine.
Scores: Michelle C -130, Jeff G -400, Michael W -460. Duration: an hour and 22 minutes.
I hope its many more years before I see Phase 10 again.
I wanted to log my thoughts on BGG about Phase 10. But I couldn’t find what edition we played (BGG lists about ten versions!).
See BoardgameGeek http://www.boardgamegeek.com/ for more information on the games mentioned above. And if you're in the area on Saturday afternoon feel free to join us for a game.
--
Michael Ward
Fort Worth Gamers
And check out our MeetUp page http://www.meetup.com/FortWorthGamers/ .
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