Twitch Gaming

This week, four gamers congregated in Easton where Adam hosted in a house that I barely recognised from last time. Kitchen, stairs, sofa, it all seemed so new. Katy and Joe weren’t so new, I’d seen them only a couple of weeks before, but still a welcome sight.

We began with Marrakech, a favourite on BGA, but my first time playing with real materials. But since we’re accustomed to BGA setting everything up for us, we had to read the rule book (like a bunch of Luddites) to make sure we were doing things correctly.

We played the nice version, where a player can turn Assam before rolling and moving. Joe built a huge 12-tile carpet in the centre of the board which we then circled around cautiously, never daring to set foot on it. It didn’t pay out until the very end of the game (maybe twice) but it looked impressive.

Adam 50

Joe 46

Andrew 38

Katy 33

Then we had to put the thing away! And Marrakech The Real Board Game is a bit tricky with all these fuzzy-felt rectangles refusing to go back into the white paper band they came from.

After this was a new game, Wingspan. It is, as it says on the box, an engine building game: a get stuff to get stuff kind of thing. Albeit a game with lovely illustrations and pastel coloured eggs that look good enough to eat.

In the game you get food (from dice that are rolled using a pretty but unnecessary dice tower. Then use the food to build birds (we didn't bother with accurate terminology), use the birds to get eggs and then score points. These birds can also be activated for extra actions, as described with lots of text on cards. The cards also tell you the wingspan of each bird. This has no purpose during the game but it is a tie-breaker at the end. Is this the only board game named after a tie-breaker?

Once underway, the rules are pretty straightforward and it was all quite familiar. There was end of round scoring and hidden end of game bonuses. There was a moment when Katy challenged a move I'd made except I'd been copying Adam so instead of trying to undo the game untill then, Katy and Joe got an egg to even out our advantage. Of course, a computer would never let us make that move in the first place.

I was also chastised for asking Adam about his half-carpeted stairs when it was his turn, threatening to make an already slow game even slower.

And that was its main failing. It was a little too sedate with only limited interaction. Joe was frustrated by Katy picking up the only worm (or snake, as I insisted) from the dice tower but then he realised that the game allows you to exchange any two food for one anyway.

It ended at about eleven o'clock, which surprised us all. Still, it was very mellow.

Andrew 83
Joe 78
Adam 77
Katy 75

Adam blamed his third place on a bird that gave away seeds whenever he activated it. Generosity was never Adam’s style. Apart from when it comes to hosting, of course! Thanks, Adam and thanks Joe and Katy too. See you all/some soon.