The gaming group decided to play board games this week. The Friday players have all decided that we are taking a month off from roleplaying games, but this has more to do with the fact that we won't be playing on December 24th and 31st for obvious reasons.
Last night started off simply enough with a game of Ticket to Ride: USA. I sat this game out, as did SteveB. It was a pretty spirited game between the three ladies and the two boys, and in the end, there was some dogfighting going on around the New York and Phoenix areas. In the end, the final scores reflected a very tight game: Kathy 114, Nick 116, Tom 100, Joanne 111, and Angela 99. Very tight game, very nervy right to the end.
The second game for the evening was Ticket to Ride: Europe, and this one was a pretty good game. I sat this one out again, as did Angela and Nick. Joanne managed to complete her route from Edinburgh-Athina, but both Kathy and Tom suffered terribly in this game, being blocked out of Moscow and Stockholm respectively, and thus they had the low scores of the night. Final scores in this one were: Kathy 69, SteveB 111, Nick 65, Tom 108, Joanne 142. Good game, even if Kathy and Tom both felt extremely frustrated by the end of it.
The final game of the night was Tales of the Arabian Nights, one of the most enjoyable board games that I've ever played. For this one, I sat the game out, but did all the reading of the Tales while the players did their best to avoid being cursed, hurt, tortured, imprisoned, and enslaved. One of the things I really like about TotAN is the social nature of the game, and to be honest, the players had a blast getting into and out of trouble. Angela, who had never played the game, quickly caught on to the fact that the fun in the game is not had by keeping out of trouble, it's had by seeing what messes you can get yourself into and then figure out how to get out of them. Suffice it to say, the game was filled with all the wonder, the humour, and the absolutely dumb decisions that one takes during this game to make it all the more enjoyable, and the players said to me that they really want to play this game more often than not.
By the time we broke up for the night, around 12:10 in the am, the players were ready to call it a night, and I was pretty exhausted from the whole day that I had. Overall, a really good Friday night with friends and some fun board games. And the snacks weren't too bad, either. ::wink::