Our team raised $4,526.00 for Sick Kids Foundation through Extra Life!
(First of all, my USB card reader decided to stop working, so I don’t have any photos to upload here from the event. I am working on fixing this.)
(Second of all, this is all serious, including the fact that I didn't win any games.)
(Originally posted on my "real" blog at http://www.tech-right.biz/blog/?p=78)
Pre-game Events
Bright and early Saturday morning (hey, 8:45 a.m. on a Saturday is bright and early), I got to the condo where we would be playing. I got buzzed in by the concierge. While I was fumbling around on my smartphone trying to load the Facebook entry with all the correct data, the concierge said, “You’re going to, right?”
That was indeed a familiar sounding number, so I said yes. As I walked away, he asked, “What is going on up there?”
“Oh, we’re playing board games. For charity.”
I went up to the suite, knocked, and went in. There was a pile of food on the kitchen island, and some gamers. The organizer had some people help set up some tables and chairs, and then by 9 a.m. everyone was there.
Games were organised by having two or three people pick their name from a bag, and then those people would choose the game they wanted to play, and then other people would join in whatever game they wanted to play. As part of prepping for the event, the organisers wrote everyone’s name down on a meeple and used those as tokens in the grab bag.
What is a meeple, if you don’t know? The little yellow guy a third of the way down here is a prime example.
The Games
So for the next 25 hours, I would be playing a bunch of games. I wrote down the start and finish times for each. When I was more awake, I added some notes.
Battlestar Galactica
Yes, based on the popular television series. Everyone is either a human or a cylon at the start, then things happen, then something called the sleeper face happens and people who were human for the first bit of the game might find themselves becoming a cylon. The humans are trying to get Galactica to their destination, the cylons are trying to stop them from doing so.
As you might be able to tell from the above, I know next to nothing about the show. People were concerned that I might get some spoilers from playing the game and I was all like, “Nah, I’m good.” Spoilers about the TV show from playing a game. That’s right. That’s how detailed the character cards are.
Anyhow, I was some guy who I only remember now as “Hot Dog”, which involved me flying a Viper around and shooting at things. Every character has different skills, and abilities, and once a turn powers, and once a game powers. Challenges come up, and people throw in skill cards from their hands to try and beat the challenge toughness number.
The trick is, of course, that sneaky cylons can throw in negative or useless skill cards to try and sabotage the process. If the humans pass the challenge, good things (or nothing, which is good) happen, if they fail, some sort of minor to major catastrophe.
I was a human the whole game. The Admiral and one of the others turned out to be the cylons. We fought a mad battle with cylon raiders, a cylon dreadnought robot thing that I managed to shoot and destroy, and at the end it came down to two skill check cards. The first one wiped out all cylons around the Galactica, and the second one (which we failed) meant that the cylon ships that had been brought back (the cylon ships never go away for good) managed to blow up some of the civilian ships around the main ship and reduced the human population to zero.
Time played: 9:28 a.m.-12:52 p.m.
Terra Mystica
From the dramatic previous game, with its cylon ships and little photos of humans running around the stations on the Galactica, I went to a mystic land where different fantasy type races were trying to colonize and expand their colonies to larger cities. This was my first time playing this, but I had heard a lot of good things about it, so I was eager to try it.
So were three other people, and with the game chooser, this made five. “I’ve never played a five player game of Terra Mystica before,” the chooser said. He did a great job of teaching the game to us, and off we went.
Still a great game, though, and I wound up buying a copy last Saturday.
Time played: 1:09 p.m. – 5;09 p.m.
Dinner Break
You know. Dinner.
City of Remnants
This was one of the games I had brought, and I chose it when my name was pulled from the meeple bag.
In City of Remnants, you have a gang of aliens which have been dumped on this crappy prison planet by the conquering aliens, the Yugai. Your alien gang wants to be the best gang, so you start building shady enterprises and fighting other gangs to try and get the most renown.
I got attacked hard by one of the other players early in the game and spent the rest of the game trying to rebuild my gang. The one who attacked me won, mostly because I didn’t attack him back and the other player attacked a couple of times. He did have a few problems, though, because once a turn the Yugai drop down, and if they land on you, you have to fight or bribe them. And they were mostly dropping down on him.
Fun game, though, and one of my favourites. (Obviously, or I wouldn’t have brought it.)
Time played: 6:15 p.m..-8:44 p.m.
Omen
Game times don’t end conveniently sometimes, and two of us wound up playing this game until everyone else had finished their games.
This is a fun little game where you fight over Greek cities with your Greek heroes, beasts, and oracles, to try and perform heroic feats and finally beat your brother (yes, you are battling each other as brothers in this game) by getting that last feat.
I have a copy, but have not played a lot. So, the other guy steamrolled me.
Time played: 9:15 p.m.-9:44 p.m.
Thurn and Taxis
A game based upon building the first postal mail system in Germany.
It sounds dull, but it’s actually very interesting, as you try to build the longest routes, the route that passes through all the provinces in a region, and so on. Not too complex, so the three of us wound up playing two games.
Time played: 10:00 p.m..-11:19 p.m. Score: me 10, the others 19 and 9.
Time played: 11:25 p.m..-12:21 p.m. Score: me 13, the others 26 and 22.
You might note I haven’t won a game yet. Spoiler alert: I don’t ever.
Goa
My name is drawn again from the meeple bag, and I pick my second game I brought, Goa. This is probably my favourite game in my collection of its type (the Euro).
I get to teach two people who have never played, and refresh the memory of one who has played before.
Basically you are trying to build a colony on Goa to be the best colony there is. This is all highly abstract, but it does feel like you are doing it.
Final score, me 35, the others 42, 36, and 33.
Time played: 1:00 a.m..-3:30 a.m.
Seasons
My first time playing, but I’d heard good things, etc. etc.
You are some sort of wizard in a contest to determine who the best wizard is. Through careful use of cards you pick from a pregame draft and dice you pick from a common pool each turn, you try and maximize your energy. Which is to say, points.
I had no idea what the cards did, and people who did were able to build powerhouses that were getting them all kinds of points every turn. A fun game, but not one I’m ever likely to buy.
Final score, me 73, others 209, 184, 150.
Time played: 3:39 a.m..-5:54 a.m.
DC Comics Deck Building Game
That is the actual name of the game, by the way, not the result of me taking notes at 6 in the morning. The publisher didn’t work very hard at all on the title.
This wasn’t a very complex game, which is good at 6 in the morning. It also seems to suffer from a runaway leader problem, because once someone gets a really good card in their deck, there’s nothing you can do to get it out of their deck.
Final score, me 11, others lots more. (My notes are almost non-existent at this point.)
Time played: 6:25 a.m..-7:03 a.m.
Bamboleo Tournament
At this point, peoples’ brains were fried, so we had a Bamboleo tournament until the end. Bamboleo is a game where a huge wooden disk on a pillar has smaller wooden shapes on top of it, and players alternate taking pieces off until the huge wooden disk overbalances and everything falls over.
Chaotic fun. I lied when I said I didn’t win anything, because I did win two games of this before being defeated the third time.
Pass the Potato
You know Hot Potato. We passed around a wrapped prize. When the music stopped, we unwrapped a layer.
There were a lot of layers, but finally the last one was reached. And someone else got the prize. The prize being a game of mini Jenga.
Post Game
People hung around, chatted. One of the player’s wives brought their two children over when picking him up. I made the baby smile by waving at it as mom was heading out, so I actually won another game.
Then people were starting another game of Battlestar Galactica, at which point I decided it was a good time to get out. I said my goodbyes and headed home.
One of my favourite indie coffee places in town was just around the corner. I got a snack and a coffee, sat down, and suddenly the fatigue hit. I finished up and headed home for a few hours sleep.
(First of all, my USB card reader decided to stop working, so I don’t have any photos to upload here from the event. I am working on fixing this.)
(Second of all, this is all serious, including the fact that I didn't win any games.)
(Originally posted on my "real" blog at http://www.tech-right.biz/blog/?p=78)
Pre-game Events
Bright and early Saturday morning (hey, 8:45 a.m. on a Saturday is bright and early), I got to the condo where we would be playing. I got buzzed in by the concierge. While I was fumbling around on my smartphone trying to load the Facebook entry with all the correct data, the concierge said, “You’re going to
That was indeed a familiar sounding number, so I said yes. As I walked away, he asked, “What is going on up there?”
“Oh, we’re playing board games. For charity.”
I went up to the suite, knocked, and went in. There was a pile of food on the kitchen island, and some gamers. The organizer had some people help set up some tables and chairs, and then by 9 a.m. everyone was there.
Games were organised by having two or three people pick their name from a bag, and then those people would choose the game they wanted to play, and then other people would join in whatever game they wanted to play. As part of prepping for the event, the organisers wrote everyone’s name down on a meeple and used those as tokens in the grab bag.
What is a meeple, if you don’t know? The little yellow guy a third of the way down here is a prime example.
The Games
So for the next 25 hours, I would be playing a bunch of games. I wrote down the start and finish times for each. When I was more awake, I added some notes.
Battlestar Galactica
Yes, based on the popular television series. Everyone is either a human or a cylon at the start, then things happen, then something called the sleeper face happens and people who were human for the first bit of the game might find themselves becoming a cylon. The humans are trying to get Galactica to their destination, the cylons are trying to stop them from doing so.
As you might be able to tell from the above, I know next to nothing about the show. People were concerned that I might get some spoilers from playing the game and I was all like, “Nah, I’m good.” Spoilers about the TV show from playing a game. That’s right. That’s how detailed the character cards are.
Anyhow, I was some guy who I only remember now as “Hot Dog”, which involved me flying a Viper around and shooting at things. Every character has different skills, and abilities, and once a turn powers, and once a game powers. Challenges come up, and people throw in skill cards from their hands to try and beat the challenge toughness number.
The trick is, of course, that sneaky cylons can throw in negative or useless skill cards to try and sabotage the process. If the humans pass the challenge, good things (or nothing, which is good) happen, if they fail, some sort of minor to major catastrophe.
I was a human the whole game. The Admiral and one of the others turned out to be the cylons. We fought a mad battle with cylon raiders, a cylon dreadnought robot thing that I managed to shoot and destroy, and at the end it came down to two skill check cards. The first one wiped out all cylons around the Galactica, and the second one (which we failed) meant that the cylon ships that had been brought back (the cylon ships never go away for good) managed to blow up some of the civilian ships around the main ship and reduced the human population to zero.
Time played: 9:28 a.m.-12:52 p.m.
Terra Mystica
From the dramatic previous game, with its cylon ships and little photos of humans running around the stations on the Galactica, I went to a mystic land where different fantasy type races were trying to colonize and expand their colonies to larger cities. This was my first time playing this, but I had heard a lot of good things about it, so I was eager to try it.
So were three other people, and with the game chooser, this made five. “I’ve never played a five player game of Terra Mystica before,” the chooser said. He did a great job of teaching the game to us, and off we went.
Still a great game, though, and I wound up buying a copy last Saturday.
Time played: 1:09 p.m. – 5;09 p.m.
Dinner Break
You know. Dinner.
City of Remnants
This was one of the games I had brought, and I chose it when my name was pulled from the meeple bag.
In City of Remnants, you have a gang of aliens which have been dumped on this crappy prison planet by the conquering aliens, the Yugai. Your alien gang wants to be the best gang, so you start building shady enterprises and fighting other gangs to try and get the most renown.
I got attacked hard by one of the other players early in the game and spent the rest of the game trying to rebuild my gang. The one who attacked me won, mostly because I didn’t attack him back and the other player attacked a couple of times. He did have a few problems, though, because once a turn the Yugai drop down, and if they land on you, you have to fight or bribe them. And they were mostly dropping down on him.
Fun game, though, and one of my favourites. (Obviously, or I wouldn’t have brought it.)
Time played: 6:15 p.m..-8:44 p.m.
Omen
Game times don’t end conveniently sometimes, and two of us wound up playing this game until everyone else had finished their games.
This is a fun little game where you fight over Greek cities with your Greek heroes, beasts, and oracles, to try and perform heroic feats and finally beat your brother (yes, you are battling each other as brothers in this game) by getting that last feat.
I have a copy, but have not played a lot. So, the other guy steamrolled me.
Time played: 9:15 p.m.-9:44 p.m.
Thurn and Taxis
A game based upon building the first postal mail system in Germany.
It sounds dull, but it’s actually very interesting, as you try to build the longest routes, the route that passes through all the provinces in a region, and so on. Not too complex, so the three of us wound up playing two games.
Time played: 10:00 p.m..-11:19 p.m. Score: me 10, the others 19 and 9.
Time played: 11:25 p.m..-12:21 p.m. Score: me 13, the others 26 and 22.
You might note I haven’t won a game yet. Spoiler alert: I don’t ever.
Goa
My name is drawn again from the meeple bag, and I pick my second game I brought, Goa. This is probably my favourite game in my collection of its type (the Euro).
I get to teach two people who have never played, and refresh the memory of one who has played before.
Basically you are trying to build a colony on Goa to be the best colony there is. This is all highly abstract, but it does feel like you are doing it.
Final score, me 35, the others 42, 36, and 33.
Time played: 1:00 a.m..-3:30 a.m.
Seasons
My first time playing, but I’d heard good things, etc. etc.
You are some sort of wizard in a contest to determine who the best wizard is. Through careful use of cards you pick from a pregame draft and dice you pick from a common pool each turn, you try and maximize your energy. Which is to say, points.
I had no idea what the cards did, and people who did were able to build powerhouses that were getting them all kinds of points every turn. A fun game, but not one I’m ever likely to buy.
Final score, me 73, others 209, 184, 150.
Time played: 3:39 a.m..-5:54 a.m.
DC Comics Deck Building Game
That is the actual name of the game, by the way, not the result of me taking notes at 6 in the morning. The publisher didn’t work very hard at all on the title.
This wasn’t a very complex game, which is good at 6 in the morning. It also seems to suffer from a runaway leader problem, because once someone gets a really good card in their deck, there’s nothing you can do to get it out of their deck.
Final score, me 11, others lots more. (My notes are almost non-existent at this point.)
Time played: 6:25 a.m..-7:03 a.m.
Bamboleo Tournament
At this point, peoples’ brains were fried, so we had a Bamboleo tournament until the end. Bamboleo is a game where a huge wooden disk on a pillar has smaller wooden shapes on top of it, and players alternate taking pieces off until the huge wooden disk overbalances and everything falls over.
Chaotic fun. I lied when I said I didn’t win anything, because I did win two games of this before being defeated the third time.
Pass the Potato
You know Hot Potato. We passed around a wrapped prize. When the music stopped, we unwrapped a layer.
There were a lot of layers, but finally the last one was reached. And someone else got the prize. The prize being a game of mini Jenga.
Post Game
People hung around, chatted. One of the player’s wives brought their two children over when picking him up. I made the baby smile by waving at it as mom was heading out, so I actually won another game.
Then people were starting another game of Battlestar Galactica, at which point I decided it was a good time to get out. I said my goodbyes and headed home.
One of my favourite indie coffee places in town was just around the corner. I got a snack and a coffee, sat down, and suddenly the fatigue hit. I finished up and headed home for a few hours sleep.