@Kempeth

Finally got an old fave back to the table—UNO! I haven’t gotten anyone to play that with me since the nineties. So fun ♥

Weirdly enough, once we started playing the “keeping score” variant, a lot of the tactics went away and play became more automatic. Less “probability calculation for a 2% edge” and more “high value cards bad, play them fast”. But then as I realized we were all doing that, some tactics re-entered the fray since I could then strategically play a lower card early etc.

Also we discovered the “when you have two of the +4 cards, select a color you don’t even have for the first time so you can play the second one soon after” tactic which is pretty punishing and unfun towards whomever’s next to you.

Played Dune Imperium for the first time, solo. The game is a lot simpler (in terms of rules) than I expected it to be. I thought the game was just ok. The bot system was one of the lowest maintenance and easiest bot systems I’ve ever used. I’ll probably play it again this week to see if I can get more into it.

This week I played Neanderthal by Eklund. It’d been a while since I played it, so we played it a bit wrong. But now I’ve got the rules down for next time!

I’ve played several games of Cosmic Encounter. Definitely my top 1 boardgame. It’s chaotic nature makes sure it never gets old.

We had a very busy week and only managed to squeeze in one game of Ark Nova. It remains my favorite game for two players.

We also had some family over with whom we played some games before even though they are not that much into boardgames. They usually play lighter Euros like 7Wonders Duel of the like. We introduced them to Castles of Burgundy. It was a gruesomely long game, at least 3.5 hours. In particular one of the relatives was stuck in analysis paralysis for a long time. Even though he was the last player, it felt like he did all the thinking when his turns start. However, Burgundy remains a really strong game and I usually just try to reach at least 200 points towards the end of the game.

The good thing was, since the game lasted until 2am, we had the prime-time window for the Peresid Metero Shower which was really spectacular. One was so strong that its tail remained visible for much longer than normal ones and was not a thin streak but more a thick line tapering on both ends. We also spotted Andromeda with our Binos.

We played Grand Austria Hotel, Terra Nova and Clever 4Ever.

We also picked up a copy of Fancy Feathers from the FLGS. Imagine if Friedemann Friese designed Sushi Go and you get Fancy Feathers. I like that each drafting decision often gets you multiple cards so it plays very quickly. Card quality is good and the art on the pheasant cards is nice, happy with it for the price.

I played Azul. I’ve owned it for a few years, but never felt like trying it out. It was great fun, both with 3 players and 2 players! I’m not usually into euro- or abstract games, but Azul is easy enough that it’s basically like scrabble. You rarely see a new mechanic that’s both this simple and well executed; I can see this becoming a staple in my collection. I guess that’s why it’s top ranked.

Broke out Ragusa finally, and played a couple solo games with it. I really enjoyed the “other players benefit from your action” aspect of it (for clarification, you’re placing houses at the corners of resource hexagons, and when you activate certain hexagons, each other player who has house(s) around it also take the action).

The rules take a bit to sink in, but I found it pretty satisfying.