Games!

Following Christmas and my birthday, we have several new games, a couple of which have really been a hit.

We first played Ticket to Ride at Thirsty Meeples Board Game Cafe in Oxford when we went to stay with my brother and sister-in-law almost two years ago and enjoyed it then and had asked for it for this Christmas.  There was some upset the first time we played, when M got rather upset, not because she didn't win, but because she didn't manage to complete one of her routes.  Apart from that though, it's has lived up to our very positive expectations from playing it that one time in Oxford.  This is one of those games that is just as good with just two players as more (max 5), which is good for us, as often it's just M and I who play things.

Ticket to Ride, mid-game

Another Christmas present was Mapominoes  (Europe edition).  It is a very clever game, although rather slow, at least for us it is.  If you already have a very good knowledge of which countries border which in the part of the world your game covers I guess it might speed up a bit, but fast-paced it is not.  It does come with a timer, but we haven't used it as yet.  On the website they suggest it's suitable for ages 8+, but I think that is a bit young.  M is 10 and enjoys all sorts of board and card games and did like this one, but I don't think she would have done a couple of years ago.

Europe Mapominoes - mid-game.

Another one, which we've played a couple of times, but more often M has tested either A or me, is Tension.  It's a category game, you are given a category and have to attempt to guess the same 10 things that are on the card within a set time, moving round a board depending how many you manage.  The categories are pretty variable, from Hogwarts professors to citrus fruits, 3-letter animals to Disney songs.  It's quite fun and we will undoubtedly play it again, but it's not set to become a family favourite.

The game that we have played most other than Ticket to Ride, is the one I requested for my birthday having been introduced to it by friends visited over Christmas; Fluxx.  This is another one that works well with 2 or more and is really clever.  It starts with the basic rules of draw one card, play one card, but that can and does change as you play.  There are 4 types of cards, yellow rule cards that change or add rules,blue action cards,pink goal cards that tell you what you need to win the game (usually 2 particular keeper cards) but there's only ever one (or occasionally two) in play and they change too and the aforementioned green keeper cards.  A isn't quite so keen on this one, but doesn't know why (I've just asked him!), but the girls and I really like it and would thoroughly recommend it.

Mid-game Fluxx.

Finally, we learned a new card game over Christmas that we all like.  Our friends who taught us call it the penny game or 31.  Each player starts with 5 pennies and is dealt 3 cards with the player to the left of the dealer getting two hands, this person looks at the first hand and decides whether to keep it or take the other hand (without looking at the second hand), the rejected one is put face up in the middle, then for each turn the player can choose: to swap one of his/her cards for one of those in the middle;  to swap all three or to stick.  The aim is to get as high a score with cards of the same suit as possible with an ace scoring 11, picture cards 10 and the rest face value.  Once one person has stuck, the rest of the player get one more turn and the lowest scorer loses one penny, unless someone has 31 points in which case all of the other players lose a penny.  The winner is the last one with any pennies left.