12/19 Featured Games

Hello Friends of FND!

This upcoming Friday (one week from the day this is being posted) is our next FND Session!

The past two sessions have been exceptional - over the course of them we've had five new people show up and have averaged around 16 people per night.  It's been great.

This upcoming FND is particularly exciting because it is our final one of 2014!  Our gaming group is approaching our one year anniversary in a few months, having started in Spring of 2014, and it's great to see how the group has grown.  Our first session had around six people.  Now we average fifteen and have had well over fifty total different people show up.  We look forward to seeing that growth continue!

As this is the final gaming night of 2014, we will be celebrating all of FND's favorite games of 2014!  Now the GCOM webpage has a system for ranking our most 'popular' games based on the amount of times they've been played, but I'm not strictly going to use that so much as the simple eye-test for what people seem to really enjoy and also play a lot.  Of course you are more than welcome to bring games not on this list and play them :-)  Our featured games are always just an outline, not a strict set of rules!

Splendor:

We've played this SO much over the past three months.  It's not my favorite game of 2014, mainly because personally its a bit abstract and light for my tastes, but it is highly enjoyable and is many people's top game of 2014.  It was the runner-up for the Spiel de Jahres (the German Game of the year award) and many thought it should have won.  In this game you either are taking gems or buying things with gems on your turn.  The things you buy make it easier to buy subsequent things.  They also give you points.  You want the most points.  Sound simple?  It is.  And it's very fun!

Lords of Waterdeep:


Lords of Waterdeep is probably the #1 most played game at FND.  It is a very intro-level worker placement game but it is great fun.  In this game you are different factions in the D&D universe competing for the most prestige in town (aka points).  You recruit different people (warriors, rogues, mages) to go on stereotypical fantasy quests.  Who ever has the most points at the end wins.  This is a great gateway game doesn't take too long provided everyone is efficient with their turns.

Battlestar Galactica:

The first night we played this at FND was somewhat of a revelation.  Nobody had played it before and it was such a great time - there was in-character banter, accusations, and monologues.  It was exactly what you wanted a game of BSG to be.  Since then we've played a few more times and it's always been great.  I've also picked up the Exodus and the Pegasus expansions since our first time and am anxious to implement some of those components.  I think we're going to try and start with this game so that we definitely can finish with time to spare.

Telestrations:

Everyone loves Telestrations (or mostly everyone). You draw, you guess, you repeat.  Laughter ensues.  This game is the 'telephone game' with drawing.  If you're good at drawing it's fun.  If you're bad at drawing it's a riot.  Some of the hardest moments of laughter in my life were while playing this game and most of the top levels of hilarity at FND have occurred while flipping through Telestration's flipbooks.

Kingsburg:

Kingsburg hasn't hit the table a ton at FND, but each time it has everyone has walked away enjoying it.  And that's also true in my experience outside of FND.  So maybe this one is a bit of stretch, but when thinking of 'games people seemed to enjoy more than others' this one was near the top of the list.  In Kingsburg you are rolling dice, placing them, and taking resources.  It sounds simple (and it is) but it's a good deal of fun.


Dead of Winter: A Crossroads Game

I almost didn't put this one on here because it is so similar to BSG but I've had SO many people say they've thoroughly enjoyed this game, myself included.  This is one of the best games (in my opinion, THE best game) of 2014.  It, like BSG, is a semi-cooperative game in which everyone is trying to survive the zombie apocalypse.  However, somebody might be a traitor.  Everything you do is highly thematic and the game itself is such a delight to play.  It is also very hard to find in the USA right now so if you come just to play a copy, I'm totally fine with that!

Ultimate Werewolf

How could I not list this?  We play it at least once a month.  People request it.  It's great fun.  People get lynched and eaten.  If we're going to feature FND's favorite games of 2014, then this had to be on the list.  Hopefully we'll have a large crowd and can get a 15+ player game of this going.

There are so many more games that we played in 2014 and very rarely did it seem like people had a bad time playing.  Again, these games aren't the only ones allowed to be played, so feel free to bring your own and join in the fun!  If this is your first time coming, we're glad we go to see you at least once in 2014!!

Many blessings and hopefully we'll see you all Friday!