6/27 Recap

Greetings!

This past Friday was another exciting session at Friday Night Dice.  As 6:30 rolled around we only had about nine people present so we were afraid it would be a first sign of summer and people being away, but by 7:00 we had broken the record!!  We had 19 people come today making us one person shy of that coveted 20 person mark!  Lee N., Beth, Brian, Emily, Jen, Diana, Amy, Drew, Annmarie, Dana, David, Lee T., and Tish were all returning members.  We had five new people show up:  Anthony, Erin, Michael, Amber, and Heather!

The featured games all had to do with space themes and that included a lot of the games that ended up being played.  Some games not on the featured games list were played as well.

First, Heather, Amber, Amy, Lee T., and myself (Lee N.) played Galaxy Trucker!  It was everyone's first game except myself but they picked it up quickly - in fact Lee T. ended up being the grand winner because I was dumb and continually neglected putting storage space on my ships.  In the final round the girls looked like they would fight for first place but they both build rather 'interesting' ships which ended up being destroyed.



While we were playing that, Brian, Drew, and Mike played another game of Smash Up, which has been played almost every single week of Friday Night Dice.  Brian won this bout of the game.

Meanwhile most of the girls that were there and not playing these games played a few rounds of Telestrations followed by a few rounds of Say Anything!  I'm not sure the details of these games but judging by the laughter coming from that table I suspect they had a good time.

After the first round of games were done we played some different ones!

Heather, Amber, Amy, and Tish all learned Alien Frontiers for the first time.  They had a good time playing it and in the end Heather was the grand winner.  She played the faction that gets to keep the colony bonus when two players are tied for it.

At another table there was a series of card games.  A group played Uno and then a different group played Dutch Blitz. Dutch Blitz steals some mechanics from solitaire and turns it into a free-for-all card grabbing frenzy.  It is very fast paced and very stressful!  It is Beth's favorite and I know she was excited to teach some people at FND.

Finally we had a truly epic game of Battlestar Galactica take place.  Six people played - myself, Brian, Drew, David, Mike, and Lee T.  That means there were one or two cylons - probably two.  The first turn of the game I (not a cylon), as president, was granted the ability to glance at one other players loyalty cards.  I checked David, who was playing as Gaius, and happened to look at a card flagging him as a Cylon.  Of course he rebutted by calling me a liar and subsequently accusing me of being a Cylon.  After a few rounds, though, I convinced my team that I was being truthful and we tossed David in the brig.  Meanwhile we suspected very heavily he was the only cylon at the time.  Unbeknownst to the rest of us Mike was also a Cylon and was slowly biding his time in rather impressive fashion.  To great sadness the game didn't end as we were running well past our ending time but it would have come down to the wire.

We had a lot of fun at this Friday's FND and it was great to see some new people jump in and have fun.  Our next session isn't until July 18th so mark it on your calendar now.  It would be great to see that coveted 20-person mark get knocked down at our next session, particularly given we have a few extra weeks until then!

Many blessings and we hope to see you next time!

6/27 Featured Games!

Greetings FNDers!

First, I apologize that I am posting the featured games at the 11th hour!  Last week I was finishing my last week at school and this week I've had family in town, so I fell a bit behind.  Which is too bad because this week's theme is one of my absolute favorites - Space!

There are a wide variety of games that involve space combat, space ship construction, and space voyages.  Most importantly we have some light ones and some heavy ones that'll appeal to a wide variety of gamers. 

We aren't going to have a 'featured' party game this week because 1) we've already featured a lot that we own and 2) we don't really have a space themed one, so if you really want to play a party game and make it involve space, we'll do Telestrations and make all the cards involve space in some capacity.

Anyways, on to the featured SPACE games!

Cosmic Encounter:

Cosmic is one of the first games we owned not named Settlers of Catan and it is a delightfully fun game.  It is very simple and involves everyone taking control of one of 90 unique alien races.  You're trying to take over other peoples worlds with very simple combat (basically just flipping a card).  The fun comes from all of the different unique alien powers.  This can play up to six and is a really enjoyable experience with the right crowd.

Galaxy Trucker:

This game is in a league of its own as far as uniqueness.  Each player is a space trucker trying to deliver goods and earn a big pay day.  The company you work for, however, is really cheap, and makes you build your ship out of the parts your delivering - sewer parts.  The first part of the game is a free-for-all of timed building.  You quickly assemble your ship from a common pool of parts.   After that you see how your ship fairs the rigors of space!  Different event cards are drawn and you make decisions on how to respond with fingers crossed that your ragtag ship survives the trip.  This game is much more about the experience than about winning and it is one of my favorites.

Star Wars: X-Wing Miniatures Game

Okay so this is embarrassing but I own the X-Wings miniatures game as well as a few expansions (A-Wing, Millenium Falcon, and Tie Bomber) but have never played them.  We had a influx of new games and I haven't read the rules yet.  I'll try to by tomorrow to properly teach people but it may not happen :-)  Its very popular, however, so if you know it, feel free to teach it or play it!

Alien Frontiers

We actually featured this just about a month ago but it fits the theme so well we might as well feature it again.  Alien Frontiers is the first game to get real success from Kickstarter and is a very excellent area-of-control game.  Each player is trying to colonize a new planet and you use your ships (dice) to take various actions and manipulate the rules to make yours the kings of the new planet.

Eclipse

This game was one of the biggest hits of 2011 and is still one of my favorite games.  Back then you couldn't find it anywhere and while its popularity has toned down a bit, its still an amazing game.  Each player takes control of a alien race and is trying to end the game with the most points.  These are gained through military conquest, building of infrastructure, technology, and other means.  Each player has a 'blueprint' on his board for his different ships and these can be uniquely modified to fit any strategic plan you may have.  Its really fun and not as complicated as the it would seem at first glance.  I have the Rise of the Ancients Expansion and would love to get a 6ish player game of this going. 

Battlestar Galactica

Even though we just featured this last week, we couldn't have a space-game and not feature BSG.  Especially with how much fun everybody had playing it last time.  As mentioned in a previous post, it is a cooperative game with a couple players playing as secret traitors.  It plays a maximum of six and that would be the ideal number.  Unlike last time I fully intend on playing and not just teaching :-)

I'm pretty stoked about these games tonight as are some other regulars I've talked to.  If you've never been out to FND before then this is a great night for your first time.  If you have been, try to get back out as we'd love to see you again!

6/13 Recap!

Greetings friends!

This past Friday saw more excitement at Friday Night Dice.  While we unfortunately stopped the trend of having record numbers of people, we still raked in a solid 16!  That gives us, according to our GCOM page, an average of 13 members per session.  Not bad since our first couple of sessions only had about six people and are included in that averaging!

The theme of the 6/13 session was Cooperative Game nights!  The ironic part of Co-op games is they can result in some less than cooperative feelings, but other than a few of us who ended up being robots bent on humanities destruction, everybody still liked each other by the end.

One of the first games played by the group was Ghost Stories.  I give these guys credits as I taught it to them without having played it myself and having only perused the 'rulebook' (I use the term loosely as I've seen 4th grade essays written better).  Despite maybe a few mistakes and rule-breaking, Amy, Drew, John, and Beth came out victories!  A very impressive feat, even if on the easiest setting, as Ghost Stories is a very challenging game to defeat!

While this was occurring Flash Point: Fire Rescue was being played at an adjacent tables.  Tish brought it and taught it to several players:  Traci, Annmarie, Brian, Lee with a T, and Danny!  This squad of volunteer firemen managed to save the building.  I believe that cat died, which for some members of FND is a bonus!  It looked like they were having a good time throughout!

Meanwhile, Dana, David, and Dan played a game of Hanabi, the score of which was recorded for our tournament and ended up being the highest!  Since I already owned the game, David and Dana got won a copy, as did Dan!  Beth, David, Drew, and Amy tried to beat the score after the first round of games ended, but were unfortunately unsuccessful.

After these games ended we split into two games.  A large portion played a couple of rounds of Telestrations which is always a delightful time.  That is my personal favorite party game and judging by the amount of laughter coming from that table, everyone else seemed to be enjoying themselves, too.

The other game was a thrilling game of Battlestar Galactica.  This was the first time any of us had played it and all I did was teach and moderate - which in a game like BSG is almost more of a study in psychology as I was privy to who one of the cylons was early.  Dan and Brian ended up being cylons and Lee, David, and Danny were humans.  Dan played Adama and thus was the Admiral while Brian was playing as Baltar.  Brian's character allowed him to look at another player's loyalty card at any point in the game - he did so to David and claimed he was a cylon (a bold-faced lie).  The rest of the table took the bait and through David in the brig!  During this Dan was able to unleash his hidden cylon ability but for some reason Brian wasn't.  Probably because he was subsequently thrown in the brig.  And then so was Lee for some reason.  Basically everybody was in the brig at some point.

Anyways, the humans ended up winning and it was incredibly fun!

We had a great time this past Friday and are looking forward to this upcoming session on 6/27.  The featured games post should go up tomorrow at latest.

Many blessings and we look forward to seeing you at our next session!

6/13 Featured Games with Prizes and Food!

Greetings!

As mentioned in the recap of our previous session, Friday Night Dice continues to grow on a weekly (or biweekly) basis.  We had a new record of eighteen last Friday including five newcomers!  This is very exciting for us at FND and we want to make the trend continue.  No, that's not true.  The past few weeks the record has been broken by increments of one.  We don't just want nineteen people to show up on Friday - we want at least thirty.  That's where you come in!

If you are reading this and have never come out to FND, what are you waiting for??  We had a couple drive over an hour last time to come out and game with us.  We gamed hard for the full five hours of the session so even if you're late or have to leave early, don't let that stop you from coming out.  This next session will be an exceptional time to come out as we will have prizes and food!  Seriously, what more could you want?

So if you've never been, get out here for your first time!  If you have been, come back - and invite literally every single person you know that would be even remotely interested in hanging out and playing some games.  Use the key words food and prizes.  That does wonders for the 5th graders I teach and I've found adults aren't too different in that regard.

Food!

Normally we encourage folk to eat dinner before-hand, but for this upcoming session FND is going to treat ya'll to some pizza.  We'll order a few sheet pizzas to arrive at 7:00 PM (late dinner I know but that way we can get some games started and eat while we play) as well as have some chips and pop available.  If you are willing to bring pop or chips or salad or brownies or anything along those lines please email me or drop a line in the comments.  We will also have a small jar for donations to FND, though that is 100% optional and in no way expected of you.  All we ask is you use napkins so as not to get any of the games greasy (most of which are personal property) .

Prizes!

This upcoming FND is going to be cooperative game night!   As such, we think it appropriate that we have a team-based competition for the prizes.

Of all of the featured games, the easiest to teach, learn, and play is Hanabi.  Hanabi is a cooperative game for 2-5 players and is purely a card game.  The key thing to Hanabi is you cannot look at your own hand of cards.  Rather, you are holding them facing everyone else at the table.  Through deduction and cleverly timed hints from your team you all have to play cards in the correct order by suits.  It is very fun, very easy, yet still quite challenging.  This is a game that everybody can play.  I would teach this to any non-gamer (and plan to)!

At the end of the game you get points for how many cards you managed to get into play with 25 being a perfect game.  Now I haven't owned the game for long but our high score is 21 and that was with people who really knew what they were doing so I don't expect anyone to tie at a perfect 25.  However, whichever team gets the highest score will each be given a copy of Hanabi to take home.  If two teams tie with a high score we'll go to which of them got more complete sets.  If they're still tied we'll flip a coin or fight to the death, one of the two.

We will let you guys pick your 'teams' for this so feel free to plan that before hand or just find a group there - however we will be trying to make sure everyone is in groups of 4 to make it an even playing field.  If we need to three is okay but we're only buying four copies of Hanabi so no teams of five.  Everyone will only be allowed to play one game of Hanabi (at least in terms of competing for the prizes - if you want to play again after for fun, great)!

Just a head's up, to help facilitate the number of game of Hanabi that will inevitably occur, some of the 'prizes' will be opened and used for the event but then be given to their new owner.

Hanabi itself only takes ~30 minutes to play so let's go to the other featured games for cooperative night!

FEATURED GAMES - COOPERATIVE VERSION!
As already stated we are hoping for huge numbers this upcoming session and so we are going to prepare for it with more featured games than normal.  As stated earlier in the post, this 6/13 session will be Cooperative Game night.  Cooperative games are ones in which everybody plays on the same team and win or lose as a group.   We have a slew of them to choose from ranging from very easy to some pretty meaty ones.  Here are a look at the co-ops that will be available.  Unlike last session with scheduled games, we will be have all of these games out for open use the entire night.  We will still bring some competitive games, but only to support us on the off-chance that we don't have enough games for the people present.  We'd really like to see co-ops played this week.  We will also have multiple copies of some of the games available but if you own any of these please bring them as well!

If you see a game you'd really like to try and want to reserve a spot, say so in the comments and we'll make sure you get a seat at one of them.

Hanabi (very easy)

Hanabi has already been described in the 'prize' section of this post, so please check there.  But again, this is a ridiculously simple game that everyone should play.

Forbidden Island (very easy)

Forbidden Island is a cooperative game where you are stuck on an island that is slowly sinking.  Essentially you are drawing and collecting sets of cards to be used to collect artifacts which will eventually allow you to return to your helicopter and escape.  At the same time you are using your resources and time to prevent the different sections of the island from sinking too soon lest you loose the game.  This game is very similar to another featured game, Pandemic, but is much easier. This is very much a light, family-esque game, so if you're newish to gaming, this is an excellent one to start with that is also very fun for veteran gamers.

Elder Sign (very easy - easy)

Edler Sign is another very simple game  that features a heavy dice rolling mechanic.  It is set in the Lovecraft universe (of which I know nothing about) and involves you preventing big bad cthlulu things from invading the world.  It plays kind of like King of Tokyo in the sense that you're rolling and rerolling dice.  You move through a mansion, solve different room tiles, and ultimately try to complete the objective before time expires and the monsters murder humanity.  No pressure!  Despite the somewhat dark theme, this is one of the easiest co-ops and if that theme sounds like it's up your alley, this may be a good game to try.


Pandemic (easy)

Pandemic stands in a class of its own in cooperative games - at least to an extent.  It is consistently ranked as one of the best cooperatives while also being very accessible.  It is one of the most popular cooperative games out right now if not the most popular.  A lot of other games borrow from Pandemic's mechanics, including Forbidden Island (mentioned previously and has the same designer) and Defenders of the Realm (soon to be mentioned).

In Pandemic each player takes a different 'role' (scientist, dispatcher, medic) and are tasked with the mission of defending the world from a deadly outbreak.  By moving around the board (a map of the world) you are trying to prevent the four different diseases from consuming the planet while at the same collecting sets of cards to submit as 'cures' for the various diseases.  If too many cubes are on the board, the players lose.  If the players draw deck runs out, they lose.  If there are too many outbreaks, they lose.  The players only w
in by curing all four diseases.

We will have multiple copies of Pandemic, including one copy of the expansion On the Brink.  This is a great game for people of any level of gaming and if you haven't tried it definitely give it a go.

Defenders of the Realm (easy-medium)

As mentioned, Defenders of the Realm is very similar to Pandemic in a lot of ways, though in many ways it is quite different.  Defenders is a game set in a fantasy world with some truly nice artwork and graphic design.  In it you take the role of various heroes (paladins, dwarfs, ranger, sorcerer, etc.) and are trying to defend the land and, most importantly, Monarch City, from the onslaught of four different evil races - orcs, demons, undead, and dragons, each of which is supported by a general.

To win the game you must defeat all four generals, done by attacking them with sets of card collection.  If you played Pandemic, learning the rules of Defenders is very simple as they play similarly, though Defenders has a much higher luck element as to fight the monsters you have to roll dice.  Because of the extra bit of luck this game has some truly exciting moments.  I remember vividly times where the entire game hinged on one dice roll and the genuine shouts of excitement that occurred when the dice went our way.

Ghost Stories (easy-medium)

Ghost Stories is different from the first three games mentioned to a good degree.  In it, people take control of Taoist monks that are trying to protect the city from an evil sorcerer guy and his ghost minions as he tries to haunt the village.  It is essentially a game where you are surviving onslaughts of bad guys while trying to defeat the big boss.  There are, like in many co-ops, several ways to lose and only one way to win.

Ghost Stories, though I have not played it personally yet, is well reviewed and should provide some entertaining moments but without lasting terribly long.

Battlestar Galactica (Medium)

Battlestar Galactica is a cooperative game that is (obviously) based on the famous television series.  While this game is very much enjoyable by people who are not fans of the show, people who are fans will get an even deeper level of enjoyment as they recognize themes, characters, and moments from the show.

Essentially the point of the game is to have the Galactica travel a set distance from the starting point in space and make a final jump.  Of course, throughout the game the Cylons are trying to prevent that from happening.  If you're not familiar with the show, Cylons are the bad guys - robots that want to kill all of the humans.  Further, as in the show, some of them look just like humans.  In fact, some of them are the players.   Before the game everyone is secretly given a card to show their allegiance.  Most will be human, but some will in fact be Cylons secretly trying to thwart the humans' plans.  Even more exciting is that midway through the game allegiance cards will again be handed out, meaning its possible for somebody that was human at the start to realize they were a Cylon (again, this is very much like the show).

This element of being mostly cooperative is what Battlestar Galactica thrives on and it very much captures the paranoia that permeates the show.  You will find yourself analyzing every players move, particularly if they do something that is somewhat less than optimal - because obviously he must be a Cylon!!

I am VERY excited to teach this one so whether or not you watch the show, try to hop in on this!

Robins Crusoe: Adventure on the Cursed Island (Medium)

And finally the one I am most excited for: Robinson Crusoe.  This game was one of the most highly rated games of 2013 and in many people's opinion the best game of 2013.  We just played this for the first time this past week and it was one of the most enjoyable gaming experiences I have ever had and I own a lot of games and have played a lot more.  This is easily in my top 10, probably top 5 games of all time and I've played well over a hundred games at this point.  I. Love. This. Game.

It is set in the world of Robinson Crusoe and comes with six different (very different - feels like you're playing a different game different) scenarios.  The ones we tried was essentially 'try to survive and get rescued.'  The mechanics of the game are worker placement and the general flow of the game is pretty straightforward.  How you win or lose is very easy.  If any of your team dies, you lose.  If you get to the end of the game rounds and haven't completed the scenario objective, you lose.  You win by not dying and completing the objective in the time limit.  The rest of the game though is very meaty with a lot of moving parts.  It's a bit overwhelming at first but after a round it all makes sense.

This is in large part because everything is thematic.  Throughout the game you talk like you're actually on the island.  "I will go scavenge some food from us over on that side of the island while you two work on building a better roof for our shelter because we know the rainy seasons coming."  It is amazing.  I will be sorely disappointed if we don't a game of this in and fully plan on teaching it to four players and just helping out so everyone gets the rules.  If you like games and haven't played this one, sign up now because it is one you don't want to miss.

Conclusion

This is going to be an awesome session for Friday Night Dice.  Lots of great games and hopefully even more people than we've ever seen.  Bring some friends!  Bring yourself!