16 at the UNO Park Community Center on 8/13/2025 for an evening of mostly TRAIN games.

Congrats to Reimi giving birth to a baby boy (Jun, 8 lbs) late Tuesday night – the first Berkshire Gamer baby.

My mother, Helen Kurzban, peacefully passed away last night in home hospice at age 95. She had a wonderful full life built on education, family and making new friends into extended family. She will be missed by all who knew her.

We have renewed our group’s rental agreement for the UNO Park Community Center for another year commencing on September 1. We have reserved 50 Wednesdays at our usual 6:30 to 10:30 PM time slot (skipping Xmas Eve and New Year’s Eve) Membership renewals will be sent out over the next two weeks.

We’ve had 2 wonderful years playing games together at UNO after 2+ formative years at Purple Dragon Games before they permanently closed. Thanks to all that have joined our vibrant community of gamers and shared wonderful experiences together.

IN: Steve & Sandy, Sean, Tim, Chris, Zach, Tony, Amy, Nicole, Julie, Rob, Sean K, Maggie, Quinn, Edward, Matt

Ticket to Ride 2x (led by Nicole) This 2004 German Game of the Year (SdJ) that features set collection and route building is probably Alan R. Moon’s most widely known design, and a mainstay in game collections everywhere. 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 Tickets – goal cards that connect distant cities; and to the player who builds the longest continuous route.

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/9209/ticket-to-ride

TransAmerica (led by K-ban) 2001 game of route building that comfortably handles up to 6 due to lightning quick turns to connect one’s 5 cities before the other players. We added the ‘Vexation’ expansion that adds 3 player colored tracks for sole use of that player… to add to the tension. There was a sequel, the 2005 Trans Europa edition, set on a map of Europe and adding ferries.

Cretaceous Rails (led by Sean) 2025 route building, tableau building and worker placement game where players travel back in time to the Cretaceous era, build a rail network into the jungle, take time-traveling tourists on safari to see their favorite dinosaurs in the wild, and build a resort full of attractions to customize their strategy with exciting abilities. Utilize the resources of the Cretaceous jungle to build the optimal combination of attractions for abilities and scoring.

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/363547/cretaceous-rails

Next Station: London 2x (led by Tim) This 2022 flip & write game asks players to optimise 4 different color tube lines, drawing one line each round. Each line is scored by multiplying the number of sectors the line crosses by the number of station stops in the sector with the most stops, adding points for each time the line crosses the Thames. Visiting tourist attractions and connecting multiple lines to the same station provide bonus points at the end.

Ticket to Ride : Northern Lights (led by Tony) 2022 standalone game in Ticket to Ride series, designed for 2–5 players and introduces various end game bonus cards – 4 of 11 are selected every game, so now there are games where, for example, longest route gives extra points, but in other games you will score some extra, if most unused trains are in your supply. Tony & Rachel picked up this exceedingly rare version in a Scandinavian gift shop on their  cross country skiing trip.

Parade (led by Tim) 2007 card game where players are putting on a parade of characters from Alice in Wonderland.  In turn, cards are placed (from a 5-card hand) to the end of the parade. Unfortunately, that card might cause other cards to walk off the parade. These cards count as negative points in the end. The length of the parade line is important. If the number of the card you just played is less than the line length, a player may receive the excess cards (counting from last played to the first of the line). But players don’t take all the relevant cards, only the cards that meet one of these requirements:

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/56692/parade

Knarr (led by Chris) 2023 race, set collection and drafting card game.  Players are leaders of a band of Vikings that are sent to new destinations. Manage the recruitment of your crew, and choose the best territories to explore. Depending on the destinations reached (for trading or influence) and the Vikings who accompany you, players can increase their reputation to gain even more wealth. On each turn players either place a new member in their Viking crew, activate the effects of all of them with the same icon, and get another one from those available under the matching color on the central board, or they can explore new destinations, with the opportunity to trade with those places and get more gains or reputation.

Harmonies (led by Tim) 2024 abstract pattern game, with simple rules, and a beautifully implemented nature theme. Players optimize by synchronizing, but at the same time try to outbalance luck by diversifying their scoring options, while growing a beautiful 3D habitat in front of them. Landscapes are built by placing colored tokens and creating habitats for their animals. To earn the most points and win the game, players must incorporate the habitats in their landscapes wisely and have as many animals as they can settle there.

Tiger & Dragon (led by Tim) 2021 beautifully produced shedding card game played with chunky tiles. Players play tiles from their hand to participate in waves of attack and defense. Be the first player to empty their hand to score points based on whichever one of ten scoring cards are in use this round. The game contains 38 tiles: 36 numbered tiles with one 1, two 2s, etc. up to eight 8s, along with a tiger and a dragon. The tiles are shuffled face down, then each player takes tiles based on the player count, with the round’s starting player taking one additional tile.The start player attacks by playing a tile from their hand. The next player can either pass or defend the attack by playing the same tile. Note that the dragon defends against any odd-numbered tile and the tiger against any even-numbered tile. After defending, place a tile of your own to attack. If a player passes, the next player either passes or defends. If all other players pass on your attack, place a tile from your hand face down, then choose a new tile to attack again. If you attack with the dragon or tiger, a player can defend with any odd- or even-numbered tile, respectively. The first player to empty their hand wins the round and scores points based on the last tile that they played and the specific scoring card for that round. They score 1 bonus point for each time an attack of theirs went undefended. At the end of a round, if a player has scored 10+ points, they win.

Steve