Game of the Month

[ghoti_mhic_uait]

This month the game I have played the most is Tummy Ache. This is mostly because Andreas can only play a handful of games, and this is his favourite - the others take an enormous amount of concentration and thought, so while he likes them when he's in the right mood, that doesn't happen so often.

Tummy Ache is a game about food - you have to fill your plate with one veg, one starch and one protein, a pudding and a drink. Most of the food cards are good things - mushroom quiche or strawberry milkshake, for example - but some of them are not, they are things like wormy tomatoes or tadpole juice. It's one that all the children in our family like, but it's definitely a child game.


Close runner up, though, or possibly even equal as it's been such a big hit, was Munchkin Treasure Hunt, a Christmas present for Judith; move around the board, buy treasure, bash monsters, the person with the most treasure at the end wins. Again, I'm unlikely to play it without Judith but it's fun to play with her, and I can see why she's so enthusiastic about it.

This month we've had quite a lot of new games, too. Not just the Munchkin mentioned above. My aim is to play all our Christmas present games before the end of Christmas, and we're well on the way to that.

We gave Benedict Axis & Allies 1940, which has gone straight to his Dad's house so we can't play that. He wanted War at Sea really, but I couldn't find it in a timely fashion, and it turned out that that was because he didn't know about any of the ones in Inner Sanctum, so I chose the right one. I must pop in and thank them. He also received 12 Days which I saw on Tabletop and liked the look of and a geography quiz game which was fast and hard and quite fun.

Judith had the Munchkin and in her stocking an RPG, Risus, which we've been working through a solo player hobbity scenario. She's enjoying it so far and *loves* having her own dice.

Andreas has Disney Apples to Apples, which is almost but not quite within his reach - there's no reading but it still takes a lot of concentration to not just build up his hand with pictures he likes. I think that was not such a good present choice, but on the other hand, he seems happy so maybe it's OK. In his stocking, Aquarius which we haven't played yet but was one of Judith's favourites at about this age.

For adults/whole family, we have Dominion which I really enjoyed. It's fast moving and fun, and I think we'll play it a lot. Unlike others, I don't think it's too much of an overlap with Ascension although I can see how people describe the latter as Dominion written by a Magic player. I can see us playing both a lot. Unable,Unwilling which is a card game about Quaker organisation but enjoyable in an affectionate rather than mocking way by non-Quakers. We liked it a lot. Tokaido which we haven't played yet but looks to be different to anything we have, about journeying between Kyoto and Tokyo.

In other news, I was introduced to Magic! Various people have been promising to teach me for ages, and alextfish has a few decks specifically set up as teaching decks, so at their game night, I grabbed a couple of experienced players to talk me through it, and had a great time. Thank you! Hopefully I'll have more chances to play.

Comments

[the-alchemist.livejournal.com]

you have to fill your plate with one veg, one starch and one protein

Everyone whose job involves catering for people with special dietary needs should be made to play this until they get that coeliacs still need starch and vegans still need protein.

[ghoti.livejournal.com]

:)

[emperor]

I like Dominion, too, though haven't tried any of the expansions.

[ghoti.livejournal.com]

I've only played the main game, too, and never before this Christmas.

[gerald_duck]

If you're ever free on a Monday evening, you know where to go. GamesEvening has several of the expansions. Indeed, I like Dominion enough that I bought Dark Ages and Guilds despite not owning a base set. (-8

[bookwormsarah.livejournal.com]

I played Tummy Ache for the first time a couple of weeks ago and was very impressed (and the toddler loved showing us how to play)!

Is there somewhere you recommend for buying games? I have several on my list (Red Dragon Inn, Pandemic, one of the versions of Ticket to Ride) and am not sure where to look beyond Amazon and Ebay...

[alextfish.livejournal.com]

I can recommend Games Lore.

[ghoti.livejournal.com]

If you're in Cambridge when you're looking, Inner Sanctum is nice, and they're very friendly and helpful. I know you're generally not, but figured it was worth mentioning anyway.

[ringbark.livejournal.com]

We played Tummy Ache lots when our boys were much younger. I remember it very fondly.

[ghoti.livejournal.com]

It's one that everyone seems to enjoy, thankfully. Some of the ones A could play, and J enjoys, he really doesn't (like DinoBite, which has a roaring dinosaur and he finds scary).

[gerald_duck]

Semi-unrelatedly, I'm an idiot and got the rules importantly wrong for Torres on Monday.

The actual rule is that you score your highest knight in a castle, not all of them. That significantly changes strategy and avoids the silly scores we were seeing.

woodpijn, at least, is eager to have another go with the proper rules. (-8

[ghoti.livejournal.com]

Ah! Yes, that would make a great deal of difference, and yes, I would like to play again with proper rules, but Mondays are generally difficult for me so I'm not sure when it will be.

[juliet]

L got Dinosaur Race for Xmas but doesn't seem to be remotely ready for ideas about turn taking and so on. although not having older siblings to copy (and we are not a board-game-playing family) may affect that I guess? He does really like playing with the pieces though :)

[ghoti.livejournal.com]

I think both the older siblings and the board-game-playing family help a lot. Also, being prepared to accept that you don't *have* to play round and round the board games first - A is nowhere near ready for snakes and ladders yet, but he enjoys Carcassonne occasionally, for example.

[juliet]

Ah, this is perhaps where my lack of knowledge about games becomes relevant -- I was kind of thinking in the round-and-round board game mode. Any suggestions other than Tummy Ache which in your experience work well for not-quite-3?

[ghoti.livejournal.com]

The Orchard Toys games are generally pretty good; we have If you see a crocodile which both children like, but Silly Socks and Dotty Dinosaurs are always popular. Anything where you match things seems to go well, either 'find the red one' or tile laying; Continuo is popular, and we play it just adults sometimes too.

Cooperative games seem more accessible too: Myriad Toys have several, we've played Orchard and Winter, Andreas can't quite manage Winter yet but is good with Orchard. I think he's played Princess but not with me; he was enthusiastic about it.