European Board Games Marathon

On my way to the new bus stop (with new route number), I and others near the Third Street Promenade were given Bloomingdale’s shopping bags in promotion for the reopening of the renovated Santa Monica Place on Friday 6 August 2010. The beige canvass bag with orange lettering was my first freebie on a day in which I would be playing games. Yes, another trip to Mar Vista and another day of board games (actually most of the games I played didn’t have boards). It was a day of old games, new games, and variations on games – just the typical games afternoon.

After arriving at St. Bede’s and signing in with Brian, I began an afternoon of game playing – “Dixit” (old), “Bubble Talk” (new/variation), “Perudo” (new), “Ticket To Ride” (new), “Diamant” (old), and “Liar’s Dice” (new/variation). I’ll be kind and I won’t go into detail on all the games, just three of the new ones I played – “Bubble Talk”, “Perudo”, and “Ticket To Ride”. For the record, six of us played “Dixit” and I came in third; out of the six players of “Diamant”, I tied with one other person for second; and in “Liar’s Dice” I came in fourth out of five players. No last place for me today!

The first new game of the day was “Bubble Talk” and Brian enthusiastically introduced it. Six of us played “Bubble Talk” – including me, there was Brian, Michael, Mike, Patrick, and Stacey. “Bubble Talk” is a “…game in which players match silly quotations to photographs. One player per round judges which one is the best or funniest. The game comes with a variety of photographs and cards with quotation "bubbles." . - boardgamegeek.com. It is similar to “Apples To Apples” only visual in nature instead of definitional. The pictures are amusing, but the many quotations (e.g. “Oh don’t pretend you don’t like it”, “You will feel my wrath”, or “The things I’ll do just for some chocolate”) become really funny when paired with the wacky photos. In this game the winner was Mike, with Brian a close second and Patrick coming in third. The rest of us tied for fourth place. Although I like “Apples To Apples”, if there is a choice between playing it and “Bubble Talk”, for the time being I will choose “Bubble Talk”. The combination of visuals and words hits the right chord with my brain.

Of the six games I played today, “Perudo” had the largest number of participants. There were eight of us - Aaron, Brian, Gilly, Michael, Michael P., Mike, Stacey, and of course me. “Perudo” is a game of dice and “The object of perudo is to be the last player with a die or more.” - boardgamegeek.com. “Perudo” is a variation of “Liar’s Dice” and though I actually won this game - it came down to a duel (diel? dicel?) between me and Aaron – I don’t think I’ll be seeking to play it often. Does become somewhat tedious quickly, but I liked the color coordinated cups and dice. Glad to learn a new game, but I guess the dice game that I prefer is “Yahtzee”, though I haven’t played it in a long time.

A real board game finally came my way – “Ticket To Ride” – and the others joining in were Aaron, John, Michael, and Sky. And what happens with a “Ticket To Ride”? “Players collect cards of various types of train cars they then use to claim railway routes in North America. The longer the routes, the more points they earn. Additional points come to those who fulfill Destination Tickets – goal cards that connect distant cities; and to the player who builds the longest continuous route." - boardgamegeek.com. Have only played a couple of other train games and unfortunately I can’t remember their names – I think the object in one was to build railroad tracks. In this game I completed two destinations, tied with Michael for the longest route (though neither of us received any points), and placed third overall. And I accomplished all this while playing the board upside down! Would definitely play this game again.

During the last game of the day for me (“Liar’s Dice”), Brian made his usual 5:00 p.m. announcements regarding future game days and the naming of today’s four game prize winners. And he had a giveaway of packets of the “Racer Knights Of Falconus” card game for everyone in attendance – my second freebie of the day. The best announcement Brian made was that he and Jen are expecting their second child in January! Congrats to them! As “Liar’s Dice” was ending and the group role-playing game “Werewolf” was beginning, Jen, Finn, and Lynn arrived. Visited with Jen and Finn for a bit before taking Lynn up on her offer of a ride home. Had a pleasant ride with Lynn and she graciously dropped me off near the Whole Foods Market in my part of town, before doubling back to the one in hers. Bought food for dinner and happily walked home after another fun day of game playing and learning.


Images:
Left: Box cover of “Bubble Talk” from the website boardgamegeek.com
Center: Box cover of “Perudo” from the website boardgamegeek.com

Right: Box cover of “Ticket To Ride” from the website boardgamegeek.com