Analog Game Night – June 2009

The last few weeks have been extremely hectic with birthdays, end of school, parties, baseball, softball (Sophie is playing in two leagues this summer), etc. but I did manage to squeeze in some time for the June installment of Analog Game Night.

Unfortunately, I don’t have any pictures because I somehow managed to forget my camera. We met at Bob’s house (a first time hoster…thanks Bob!) with a small group of only four this month. Three/Four is, in my opinion, the sweet spot for most games so for me anyway, it worked out quite well. Bob had recently picked up a copy of The Princes of Florence and although it took quite awhile to get up to speed on the rules, I had a great time. I’d never played PoF (I know, I know…) and I was impressed. If I had one excuse as to why I stayed away from it, it was because of the auction. For years I’ve been an auction bigot and if the game had an auction…it wasn’t for me. Although it’s taken a long time, the auction mechanism is growing on me as long as it isn’t a major aspect of the game. The auction, although very important, didn’t seem to dominate the play. I can see how more plays will help me determine the value of items and therefore trigger some more intense auction combat, but I still think there are many other aspects of the game worth exploring. I’m looking to pick up a copy for myself.

Tim had to take off after PoF and I’d brought my copy of Amazonas (Bob had requested it). It’s been a long time since I’d played but we seemed to get up and running pretty quickly and were burning through the event cards as fast as we could. With three, the competition for village building plots was relatively mild. It may have been due to the hidden “goal” cards that we’d been given but for whatever reason, we only had a few times when you could hear a groan when a village was built. I’m not sure I’d purchase Amazonas were I faced with the option again but I have had a lot of fun playing it over the years. It only supports 3-4 players which is too narrow for my tastes these days. I have to really like a game to consider buying it if it only goes up to 4. 3-5 is preferred with 2-5 comfortably clearing the bar and onto other selection criteria.

As a closer we played Sushizock im Gockelwock; a fun little tile/domino collection game. Surprisingly simple to learn and quick to play, it makes a great filler for opening or closing a game night with gamers or some light play with your family. There’s a lot of luck involved with the rolling of the dice but you can work the odds and push your luck. I’m looking to pick up a copy. I had a great time playing.

Well, thanks for a fun time at AGN June 2009 and I look forward to next month.