It was Niko’s birthday and he celebrated by stepping away from the register to play his board game, Spirit Island, so we could eclipse our record of 17 gamers in an evening. Happy Birthday Niko….and thanks for opening your door to our game group every Wednesday evening. Please show your appreciation, for playing with no admission charge, by purchasing your games at the store.

Welcome to Alyssa on her first visit and welcome back Kaleb, Edward & Kitty for their seasonal appearances.

Only one Greyhound, Xander, for this session as Glyph stayed home, providing thunder therapy for his greyhound mates.

The bar has been raised for sweet refreshments….Tim started the trend and dentists in the area are rejoicing.

Our June 21 session will feature former LI Gamenite members Stan Spector and Bruce Graye, coming out of gaming retirement while visiting Steve and Sandy. This session will feature party games as well as nostalgic games that both our visitors played back in the day – such as Medici, Ave Caesar, Take It Easy, Take 6, Liar’s Dice and more.

Our June 28 session will be the celebration of our second anniversary at Purple Dragon Games. Expect multiple Crokinole sets (mine, Ethan’s and Tony’s), Loopin’ Louie and other activity madness to open the evening. Since this session has an ‘8’ in its date, we will also play a game or two that has a rating of 8.0 or higher on the BGG (Board Game Geek) website. Our Vermonters, Tim and Drew, will select one longer 8+ pre-arranged game.

Akropolis

(led by Tim) 2022 tile laying game. Players are drafting a tile to add to their own city. Overlaying tiles can get you more stones which gives you more drafting options. Stacking tiles gives base points according to the height of the tile. Different neighborhoods score in different ways and separate multiplier spaces are not actually part of the neighborhoods they multiply. Tiles all have a mix of neighborhoods, multipliers and “quarries” and you are simply trying to draft and assemble tiles in a way that honors the neighborhood requirements while maximizing the points.

Dorf Romantik

(led by K-ban) 2022 co-op board game version of a very successful chill/relaxing PC game of the same title. Players work together to lay hexagonal tiles, creating a beautiful landscape and fulfilling the orders of the population, while at the same time laying as long a track and as long a river as possible, but also taking into account the flags that provide points in enclosed areas. The better the players manage to do this, the more points they can score at the end. In the course of the replayable campaign, the points earned can be used to unlock new tiles that are hidden in initially locked boxes. These pose new, additional tasks for the players and make it possible to raise the high score higher and higher. 

Cahoots

(led by Sandy) 2018 card driven co-op with limited communication. The team WON !

Fun Facts

(led by Sean) 2022 light party game from the publishers of Just One and Codenames.  Write your name on an arrow, listen to a question and write your answer on the other side. Then you put them in order from lowest to highest with only the name side showing. It’s easy, it’s fun and it encourages you to get to know people you thought you knew better! Scores from all 8 rounds are added together for the group score.

Take 6/ Category 5/ 6 Nimmt

(led by K-ban) 1994 Wolfgang Kramer classic card game that was the first game we played as a group 2 years ago. We played a single round 7-handed until stragglers arrived for our ‘great divide’ into multiple meatier games.

Flamecraft  (led by Sean) 2022 worker placement game where players take on the role of Flamekeepers, gathering items, placing dragons and casting enchantments to enhance the shops of the town. Dragons are specialized (bread, meat, iron, crystal, plant and potion) and the Flamekeepers know which shops are the best home for each. Visit a shop to gain items and a favor from one of the dragons there. Gathered items can be used to enchant a shop, gaining reputation and the favors of all the dragons in the shop. 

Quacks of Quedlinburg (led by Amy) 2018 Kennerspiel winner (gamers game). Players have their own bag of ingredient chips. During each round, they simultaneously draw chips from their bags and add them to their pots. The higher the face value of the drawn chip, the further it is placed in the pot’s swirling pattern, increasing how much the potion will be worth. Push your luck as far as you can, but if you add too many cherry bombs, your pot will explode! At the end of each round, players gain victory points and coins to spend on new ingredients, depending on how well they managed to fill up their pots. But players whose pots have exploded must choose points or coins — not both! The player with the most victory points at the end of nine rounds wins the game. A push your luck game that belongs in everyone’s game collection, especially with the deluxe bits.

Spirit Island

(led by Niko) 2017 complex card driven, hand management and thematic cooperative game about defending your island home from colonizing Invaders. Players are different spirits of the land, each with its own unique elemental powers.  Every turn, players simultaneously choose which of their power cards to play, paying energy to do so. Using combinations of power cards that match a spirit’s elemental affinities can grant free bonus effects.  The game escalates as it progresses: spirits spread their presence to new parts of the island and seek out new and more potent powers, while the Invaders step up their colonization efforts. 

Moonrakers

(led by Tim) 2020 crowd-funded game of shipbuilding, temporary alliances, and shrewd negotiation set in a space-faring future. The players form a loose band of mercenaries, but while they are united in name, actual alliances are shaky as players are pitted against each other in the quest to become the new leader of the Moonrakers. It is a deck-building game in which players choose Contracts to attempt alone or with Allies in order to gain Prestige and Credits. 

Steve