15 at the UNO Park Community Center for a request Night.

IN: Steve, Tim, Armando, Zach, Matt, Tony & Rachel, Julie, Nicole, Sean K, Anna & Peter , Rachel P, Matt, Carol

Point Galaxy (led by Nicole) 2025 card-drafting, sequence-building game game from the team that brought us Point Salad and Point City. The rules are simple: Take any two cards from the dynamic market and add them to your expanding galaxy. As you place cards, create solar systems by arranging planets in numeric order and earn bonuses by collecting suns, asteroids, moons, rockets, and research projects to score the most points! There are over 140 unique double-sided planet/space cards, so a completely different galaxy is created on every play. 

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/431998/point-galaxy

Windmill Valley (led by Matt) 2024 network and route building game that utilizes individual rondels. Players take on the role of tulip farmers and entrepreneurs. They build and enhance their windmills, look for new tulip bulbs in foreign trades or among local vendors to buy and plant, and try to get an edge with hired help and lucrative contracts. 

It is a game with quick turns, a smart action-selection mechanism, multiple options to build one’s engine, all in a lovely setting. 

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/403441/windmill-valley

Power Grid (led by Zach) 2004 Friedemann Friede (he of the green hair) classic network building and auction game that has spawned several editions and many expansions. The objective is to supply the most cities with power when someone’s network gains a predetermined size. Players mark pre-existing routes between cities for connection, and then bid against each other to purchase the power plants that they use to power their cities. However, as plants are purchased, newer, more efficient plants become available, so by merely purchasing, you’re potentially allowing others access to superior equipment. Additionally, players must acquire the raw materials (coal, oil, garbage, and uranium) needed to power said plants (except for the ‘renewable’ wind farm/ solar plants, which require no fuel), making it a constant struggle to upgrade your plants for maximum efficiency while still retaining enough wealth to quickly expand your network to get the cheapest routes.

Pixies (led by Tony) 2024 drafting, set collection and connections card game, where players move through the seasons to meet little creatures emerging from a flower or sheltering in the hollow of a tree. Choose one of the revealed cards, but be careful which ones are left to one’s opponents! Place that card in your playing area according to its number. Cards placed one on top of another are validated and earn players points at the end of the round, as do the largest color zone and spirals. Easy…yet you’ll find that the other players won’t be short of bad advice.

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/411875/pixies

Art Society (led by K-ban) 2023 art collection game that is part auction and drafting, part Tetris and set collection. Players are art connoisseurs trying to impress their peers by putting together the most fashionable art collection of them all. Players bid on the hottest works of art, then arrange them on their drawing room wall into a tastefully curated gallery that’s the envy of the local art scene. But beware! Fashion is fleeting, and trends are difficult to predict. The paintings that you and your fellow collectors do not buy will eventually make their way to the museum, changing the worth of your collection.

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/395375/art-society

Railroad Tiles (led by Tony) 2025 tile placement and pattern building game. Players start each round by drafting tiles from the sets available in the common pool, then they place their routes on their tableau, trying to make as many connections as possible, while being careful not to lock themselves in with choices that are too constraining. Each round, players can also place cars, trains, or travelers to populate the landscape they are creating. The available actions change from round to round, so players need to prepare in advance! The more pieces of the same kind each new placement connects to, the more points that players earn. One can also score bonus points at game’s end for placing tiles in a large rectangle without gaps and for creating sets of three adjacent city tiles.

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/418062/railroad-tiles

Rebel Princess (led by Zach) 2023 trick-taking card game with variable powers.  Snow White, The Little Mermaid, Cinderella, and many other fairy tale princesses are celebrating a five-day party. The prince charmings, who haven’t  been invited, will try to infiltrate the ball to propose marriage to the girls. As a princess, you have to avoid marriage proposals and remain single and independent after the celebrations. The game takes place over five rounds and each round has a special rule that makes each game totally different. The general mechanisms are those of trick-taking games, in which each player plays a numbered card into each trick, following one of the four suits in the game. The player with the highest number of the suit that started the trick takes all the cards of that trick — but that’s not necessarily good as players want to avoid taking cards with prince charmings, who each bring one marriage proposal, aside from the enchanted frog who brings five proposals. The player with the fewest marriage proposals after five rounds wins. Each player assumes the role of a different fairy tale princess and has a special ability that they can use once per round.

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/381249/rebel-princess

Agent Avenue (led by K-ban) 2024 2-player card game of bluffing and set collection. Players assume the roles of retired spies in a suburban neighborhood, outsmarting each other with cards that can score points or trigger special effects. Players utilize the “I split, you choose” mechanic to play one card face-up and one face-down each turn from a 4-card hand. Your opponent chooses one, and the divider winds up with the other -influencing both player’s strategies. Cards feature different agents and tools that impact scoring and game progress on a track, advancing the “catch me” race to uncover the opposing spy. Very addictive 15-minute filler that elicits much laughter due to the bluff/double bluff aspect.

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/422732/agent-avenue

Splendor (led by Armando) 2014 award winning game of chip-collecting and card development. Players are merchants of the Renaissance trying to buy gem mines, means of transportation, shops—all in order to acquire the most prestige points. If wealthy enough, players might even receive a visit from a noble at some point, which will further increase their prestige. On turn, players may (1) collect chips (gems), or (2) buy and build a card, or (3) reserve one card. If you collect chips, you take either three different kinds of chips or two chips of the same kind. If you buy a card, you pay its price in chips and add it to your playing area. To reserve a card—in order to make sure you get it, or, why not, your opponents don’t get it—you place it in front of you face down for later building; this costs you a round, but you also get gold in the form of a joker chip, which you can use as any gem. All of the cards you buy increase your wealth as they give you a permanent gem bonus for later buys; some of the cards also give you prestige points. In order to win the game, you must reach 15 prestige points before your opponents do. 

Steve