Well, except for the gaming at work.
I have a contract (quite independent of the people we know who work there) to do some work in Fraser's building - and that meant lunchtime games!
Tichu and Panther (Mü) were the games of choice.
Games night at home last Friday saw a festival of lightness - Loopin' Louie and Diamant. I'm keen to get a copy of Incan Gold, as well, because Diamant is definitely my filler of choice.
Unavailability of babysitters (my parents were busy, and my brother and his wife are in literally daily expectation of their first baby) meant that even though I was in the Gamers@Dockers building on two consecutive Thursdays, I had to leave and come home to collect children from school and daycare. But last Thursday I made up for that, turning the kids over to mum and dad and heading in for Teh Gamez.
Game 1: The Princes of Florence (played previously 3 times on BSW, never in real life).
This really is my strongest 10-rated game, ahead even of Goa.
I was a little nervous as the pieces were distributed - would I remember how to play? Would I love the game as much as I did online? - but we quickly got into the swing of the game and I had had such good teachers on BSW that the game felt very familiar.
A stupid newbie error in Round 6 and a stupid idiot error in Round 7 cost me a convincing win (I came in second by 1 point) but this game has skyrocketed up my "must play" list.
Of course, to do that, I would have to punch it first...
Game 2: Heckmeck am Bratwurmeck (Pickomino)
It loses something without the BSW sound effects. Huge dicefest, but fun.
Game 3: Funny Friends
I'm really conflicted about what to write here.
First, the rules SUCK. Trying to find something - ANYTHING - that we were looking for, was nearly impossible. I've been thinking lately about what makes for good rules, and this game just doesn't cut it.
We had a lot of fun playing this game. And I won, yay. But underneath it all, there isn't really that much game there. I can see that Funny Friends can be great fun to play, especially with the right group of people (::wishes once more to go to BGG.con::) - but if I really want to talk about sex I can just go play Attribut. It's faster, and you never need to wonder what the little symbols mean.
Online gaming has been a little busier. I'm really enjoying Die Säulen der Erde (Pillars of the Earth) on BSW, as well as the usual werewolf game and a smattering of others. Musing about rules and translating rules (in the post-Essen frenzy, there are always chances to get in some practice).
The good thing about the excess of work is the extra cash it should bring in. While I need to be responsible with most of it, I'm sniffing around the new releases and considering what to buy. Unfortunately, there is probably too much German for my game group on the cards for Die Säulen der Erde (well, excepting all our german friends), so I will sadly hold on for an english-language release of that.
For today, though, I will leave you with a photo of my adorable children. Who I haven't done much gaming with lately.
6 comments:
I generally disagree with the assessment that there isn't much game to Funny Friends. It's a formulaic auction game, and thus you constantly have to make decisions about costs for elements that you want to finish your formulas. I see it as a very similar design to Traumfabrik, though of course not up to the quality of Knizia.
And you're right, the rules are pathetically pathetic. They almost ruin a good game they're so bad.
I actually wonder if there might be TOO much game in Funny Friends. Accomplishing your goals, including the ones at cross purposes, can be quite challenging and figuring out how to use the game system to do this can be tough. The problem is that this isn't the sort of game you'd want to play three weeks in a row (at least I wouldn't), but if it comes out every six months, you'll forget what works and what doesn't. The theme and art might be enough to carry it with the right group, but I'll really be impressed if the game inside clicks as well. By the way, these comments are based on the prototype to FFFF; I've never played or even seen Funny Friends.
Maybe I had a bad run - my goals seemed to play themselves, the auctions were just auctions (hmm, that could be another issue with it for me) and it felt like there wasn't much game behind the giggling.
Sounds like I should maybe give it another try before I write it off.
I like Funny Friends, and if I got more time to game with my sister and her husband I'd buy a copy and we'd play it a lot. Sometimes you get goals that all fit together, but sometimes they don't and you have to figure out an alternative plan.
In the first game I played I married the NPC Nancy but never had sex with her. Nancy did manage to have sex with a couple of the other players instead. So in a subsequent game I treated her badly :-).
I think Friedemann's market mechanics, such as in Power Grid and Fische Fluppen Frikadellen are always awesomely clever, and Funny Friends is no exception. In Fearsome Floors it's just the monster movement which is awesomely clever.
Your daughters are really growing up. Enjoy them as much as possible at every age.
Our grandchildren will soon be 9 and 11. I can't believe that I retired almost 9 years ago, just a week after our grandson was born. Now, he beats me badly at Memoir '44, and sometimes beats the whole family at Settlers of Catan, Bohnanza, Around the World in 80 Days, and many other fun games.
Ha! Friendless likes Funny Friends! :-)
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