This book is bringing everything together for the big finale. It is great to have all the disparate paths winding up nice and neat. There are several things that I wasn’t expecting at all to come out of the book, but were very nice surprises. The book, since it is so close to the end, didn’t create many of those unanswered questions and cliffhangers that were so annoying about then end of the last few. I really enjoyed it and am going to be sad when there isn’t any more to listen to. I’m excited to start the last book, and think I’ll get to that right now.
I played a round of Race last night with Adam and Steph. I chose very poorly on strategy, and also wasn’t able to get anything going with only developments in hand. Steph and Adam were both going strong military. Steph really ran away with it at the end, despite Adam an I having prestige. I enjoyed it despite losing terribly.
Last night I went to join a group at beachhead for drinks. It was Jeremy B, Adam, Tina, Riley, Rong, Steph, and myself. Adam had made some fruit soaked liquor. It was really tasty, but the kind of drink that would make you expect to look down and find a pink dress. I made the spinach gnocchi that I had bought a couple weeks ago, and it was really tasty.
I had a good bike ride home from Steph’s this morning with stops by Fry’s and Milk Pail. The rest of the day I spent with the Kitties.
The first thing Archer did this morning when I walked in was to jump up onto my shoulder. I really love my shoulder kitty! That might become one of the things I put into my kickstarter is the shoulder kitty for anyone who backs us. They were fun to play with as I made a toy out of the ribbon they like. I had them running around for at least 15 minutes straight. After that they were really cuddly, and I was able to get Archer to fall asleep on my lap.
The kitties are doing really well, Lana is chill and Archer is amazing. I think that I got really lucky with my choice of kitties. They are getting along with Howard a lot better, if not great yet. Howard has started trying to herd them. Lana won’t put up with it at all, but Archer will let it go for a bit before getting pissed off at Howard. I’m surprised to see them able to be in close proximity.
This week I am going to start training them with the toilet. It is convenient that Rob will be out of town this week. I will be able to get them past the really messy point before the roommates have to deal with it, I hope. I’m loving my kitties so much, and am really glad I was able to get them.
This game was ok, but not terribly fun. There was a decent amount of strategy to it, but the mechanics were really slow to develop and the game was quick to finish. Since there were so many people going between your turns there was very little control of the board, but at the same time a single piece might not move from the spot it was in before for several rounds of the table. I know a good number of things I’d do differently if I were to play again, but I don’t really want to. This was a roll and move, plus strategy; which didn’t do it for me.
I really like this game. It was a market heavy day, but the market simulation in Fish Cook was really enjoyable. The game went really well for me, even though I had 2 of my recipes stolen. The workings of the game are really cool, and I wouldn’t mind playing something with that kind of market simulation for a bit longer. The mitigated randomness was really nicely done.
We played another round of Glory to Rome today, and I really ran away with it. It was to the point that we didn’t even bother counting the points at the end of the game and everyone but Tina gave up about half way through. Everyone was a pretty good sport about it, and Steph did a move that would just end the game more quickly. Tina was about to be able to steal one of my buildings but I already had too much synergy going for it to matter significantly. I really like this game and how all the mechanics work well together. I also like that the game loop is spelled out on the game cards directly. It makes such a complex game much easier to understand and play.
This game was rather simple, but annoying to play. The game started with 30 gears (currency) per person with the one who got the most currency by the end of the game winning. The game ended with little more than 40 currency as the winner, and some people had lost money along the way. The mechanic of manipulating the market price was frustrating when playing with 4 people. The boosts weren’t very powerful, and usually caused more frustration. I won the first game with 44 points and Steph won the second with 36 points. Nick and Tina played along with us, and none of us enjoyed the game. The theme didn’t have much to do with the game, since it was a pure market simulation. There was nothing to do with Mars and little to do with Mechanics. The art was steam punk, but nothing beyond that was.
It's an Exciting World 