1/22/2025 – Berkshire Gamers Session Report #25-03
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15 at the UNO Park Community Center for a request night.
Our January 29 session will honor German game author Uwe Rosenberg. This 54 year old prolific designer is responsible for Agricola, Bohnanza, Patchwork, At the Gates of Loyang, Le Havre and many more games of note. Expect to play from among the above plus Nova Luna, Sagani, New York Zoo, A Feast for Odin, Bohnanza Dice and more.
Uwe Rosenberg designer page on BGG
This month celebrates the 25th anniversary of BoardGameGeek.com
BGG has issued their list for the initial 25 Games in their Hall of Fame….we’ve played 14 of them
Cosmic Encounter
Acquire
Catan
El Grande
Ticket to Ride
Agricola (we will on 1/29)
Carcassonne
Dominion
Power Grid
Ra
Tigris & Euphrates
Brass
7 Wonders
Castles of Burgundy
1/22/2025 @ UNO Community Center
IN: Steve & Sandy, Sean, Armando, Tim, Matt, Zach, Tony & Rachel, Chris, Danny, Rob, Kate & Hank, Julie
ON OUR TABLES:
Panda Royale (led by K-ban) 2024 dice drafting and chucking game that can accommodate up to 10 players but is actually just a big bag of polyhedral dice in 7 colors with score sheets that indicate how each different color scores points. There was much laughter as we taxed the limits of the game with 9 of us at the table.
Planet Unknown (led by Matt) 2022 competitive game in which players attempt to develop the best planet. Each round, each player places one polyomino-shaped, dual-resource tile on their planet. Each resource represents the infrastructure needed to support life on the planet. Every tile placement is important to cover a player’s planet efficiently and also to build up one’s engine. After placing the tile, players do two actions associated with the two infrastructure types on the tile. Some tile placements trigger “meteors” that make all planets harder to develop and prevent them from scoring points in the meteor’s row and column. The game innovates on the popular polyomino trend by allowing simultaneous, yet strategic turn-based play via the Lazy S.U.S.A.N. space station in the center of the table.
Trio (led by Armando) 2021 part memory and part set collection card game (same Japanese author, Kaya Miyano, as Panda Panda) in which players are looking for three of a kind. The deck consists of 36 cards, numbered 1-12 three times. Players receive some cards in hand, which they are required to sort from low to high, and the remaining cards are placed face down on the table. In turn, players choose any single card to reveal, either the low or high card from a player’s hand (including your own) or any face-down card from the table. Then, do this again. If the two cards show the same number, continue your turn; if they do not, return the cards to where they came from and end your turn. If you reveal three cards showing the same number, take these cards as a set in front of you. A player wins if they are the first player to collect three sets, two linked sets or a single set of 7’s.
Can’t Stop (led by Tony) 1980 Sid Sackson designed push your luck family dice game.It still works, but games like Quacks of Quedlinburg have taken that genre to new levels. Sid’s best selling game (but not his best design IMHO)
Intarsia (led by K-ban) 2024 Michael Kiesling (Azul series, Tikal, Caldera Park/Savannah Park) puzzle, pattern building and set collection game of designing the finest parquet floors for the Cafe de Paris. The wooden parquet pieces fit together in a unique way and the resource card system makes for an enjoyable efficiency puzzle to solve. If you enjoy games like Splendor or Bazaar give this a try.
Pax Pamir 2nd Edition (led by Zach) 2019 straightforward tableau builder where players spend most of their turns purchasing cards from a central market, then playing those cards in front of them in a single row called a court. Playing cards adds units to the game’s map and grants access to additional actions that can be taken to disrupt other players and influence the course of the game.
Faraway (led by Armando) 2023 runner up Light Game of the Year as voted by BGG users. Players will play square cards as a row of 8 in front of them, from left to right. These cards represent the regions they will come across while exploring the lands. Characters on these cards will grant players victory points, but only score VPs if later cards fulfil the conditions they demand. At the end of the game, players walk back the same way, scoring cards in the opposite order you played them. There lies the heart of the gameplay. Throughout the game, the cards you play will serve both to set new objectives, and to meet the ones you played previously. On each turn, players select one region card from a hand of 3 and a clever priority system governs replenishment drafting. The first play in this 30-minute gem of a filler will likely make your head implode, as you wrap your brain around simultaneously thinking both forward and backwards on your journey to score VPs.
The Bottle Imp (led by Sean) 2024 reimplementation of 1995’s The Bottle Imp quirky 3-suited trick-taking card game based on a Robert Louis Stevenson novel. All players want to acquire the cursed bottle that can grant all wishes… However, they need to get rid of it before the end! Score points by trying to take as many tricks as possible, but make sure to not finish the game with the bottle, or the Bottle Imp will take your points!
This new edition features 54 foil effect cards and two bottles with allows the game to be expanded to 5-6 players.
Splendor (led by Armando) 2014 award winning game of chip-collecting and card development. Players are merchants of the Renaissance trying to buy gem mines, means of transportation, shops—all in order to acquire the most prestige points. If wealthy enough, players might even receive a visit from a noble at some point, which will further increase their prestige. On turn, players may (1) collect chips (gems), or (2) buy and build a card, or (3) reserve one card. If you collect chips, you take either three different kinds of chips or two chips of the same kind. If you buy a card, you pay its price in chips and add it to your playing area. To reserve a card—in order to make sure you get it, or, why not, your opponents don’t get it—you place it in front of you face down for later building; this costs you a round, but you also get gold in the form of a joker chip, which you can use as any gem. All of the cards you buy increase your wealth as they give you a permanent gem bonus for later buys; some of the cards also give you prestige points. In order to win the game, you must reach 15 prestige points before your opponents do. We should explore the Cities of Splendor expansion some day as well as revisiting the 2-player duel.
Steve
15 at the UNO Park Community Center for a request night. Our January 29 session will honor German game author Uwe Rosenberg. This 54 year old prolific designer is responsible for Agricola, Bohnanza, Patchwork, At the Gates of Loyang, Le Havre and many more games of note. Expect to play from among the above plus…
15 at the UNO Park Community Center for a request night. Our January 29 session will honor German game author Uwe Rosenberg. This 54 year old prolific designer is responsible for Agricola, Bohnanza, Patchwork, At the Gates of Loyang, Le Havre and many more games of note. Expect to play from among the above plus…