2026 Session Reports

5/13/2026 – Berkshire Gamers Session Report #26-19

17 at the UNO Park Community Center in North Adams for a request night.
Our perfect attendance list for 2026 was just halved from 4 to 2 – Julie & Nicole. Who will be the last gamer standing? 
5/13/2026 @ UNO Park Community Center
IN: Steve & Sandy, Kenneth & Rachel, Lauren & Elliot, Sean, Armando, Tim, Nicole, Anna, Julie, Reimi, Cady, Rob, Danny, Carol
ON OUR TABLES:
Diatoms (led by Sean) 2025 tile placement pattern building abstract game where players compete to collect and place diatom shapes into a mosaic form. Players take turns placing tiles representing algae colonies. From that placement they earn diatoms of different colors and shapes which are then strategically placed on their personal boards, taking care to consider how their arrangement will be scored at the end of the game. In the base scoring, players want to achieve matching colors, shape variety, and symmetry along their mosaic’s central lines. A “guest” judge card can be added that brings a unique scoring criteria to the game.

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/370210/diatoms

Windmill Valley (led by Armando) 2024 network and route building economic game that uses a fancy interlocking rondel. Players take on the role of tulip farmers and entrepreneurs who will 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. During their turn, players choose the action by rotating the wheels on their windmill board. During the game they can:
  • Enhance their wheels, by adding enhancements, to build their engine
  • Plant tulips in their fields, which will score VP at the end of the game
  • Build windmills on the main board to activate rewards from adjacent fields
  • Hire helpers that provide bonuses for certain actions
  • Get contracts for endgame scoring
  • Visit the local market and conduct a foreign trade

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

Come Sail Away (led by Anna) 2023 simultaneous play puzzle game, in which players compete to board passengers upon their luxury liner, bringing them to their favorite cabins and facilities. The aim is to guide passengers into your cruise ship as smoothly as possible, earning points in the process. In addition to earning points for filling each room on the ship, you can earn bonus points for filling certain rooms faster than other players. Further, by guiding passengers with luggage to their cabins, players can advance on the luggage track, allowing them to place additional small cabins, gain additional passengers, and earn bonus points. As the game progresses, it is also important to think ahead and make sure one’s ship has room for passengers, or else be penalized for disgruntled passengers.

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/386405/come-sail-away

Knarr (led by Rachel P) 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 one’s crew, and choose the best territories to explore. Depending on the destinations reached (for trading or influence) and the Vikings who accompany them, 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.
LUZ (led by Sean) 2024 trick-taking and deduction card game with a twist. Players hold their cards backwards – while players know the suit of each card in their hands, everyone else at the table knows the values of those cards.

Players look at their opponents’ hands to deduce the value of their own cards and bet the number of tricks they think they’ll will win.

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/420862/luz

Gardlings (led by Nicole)  2024 combination bag builder, tile layer and push your luck puzzle game from Norway. Each round, all players simultaneously build their own garden by drawing and placing tiles from their bag. Players may stop drawing tiles at any time because if too many gnomes are drawn a player will bust and the gnomes will steal some of the gems just mined. At the end of the round, use any gems matched in one’s garden to buy a new tile. Each tile features potential ways to match gems, as well as a creature with a special ability. A player’s garden will grow larger and better each round, and the puzzle of placing tiles will become increasingly complex. The first player to reach or exceed 20 gems and be able to purchase the victory tile wins. 
The game has similar aspects to Quacks but with less rules overhead – so it is closer to a family game than a gateway game. Two or more sets can be combined to increase player count from 4.

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/416059/gardlings

Eternal Decks (led by Kenneth) 2025 cooperative game in which players try to complete the stage objectives before any one player cannot take an action. Players start the game with five cards in their deck, but will quickly look to acquire more cards from the various Eternals (characters within the game) who each have their own unique eight-card deck. On turn, players must perform one action:
  • Play a card (on the field, on the river, or by using an ability)
  • Generate a jewel
  • Give a card to a teammate

There are restrictions when playing a card. All three rows in the field cannot have cards of the same color or same number next to each other. Additional restrictions are applied to a row based on the stage being played. Jewels are used to negate the negative effects brought on by the Eternals.

The game has six stages, and the various stages will have players collect points, survive a ghost town, navigate a labyrinth, defeat a boss, and more to win the game!

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/424981/eternal-decks

Cities USA (led by K-ban) 2026 sequel to Cities, using most of its familiar drafting rules, but with several changes that make it a tad crunchier – skyscrapers, bridges, neighborhoods, construction sites, and food trucks. Point salad scoring with multiple paths to VPs. 

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/457571/cities-usa

Positano (led by Nicole) 2025 drafting and building placement game where players are builders in Positano, Italy, a village stacked upon a cliffside overlooking the clear blue sea. Each round players bid on three simultaneous auctions determining the size, quality and location of their new resorts on the three dimensional cliffside board.

Quality resorts will earn the most points, but only if players have a clear view of the sea!

BID – Players will simultaneously choose and reveal bid cards at the start of each round. Players must balance how they prioritize the auctions and the tiles they hope to draft!

DRAFT – Based on their bids, players draft tiles from the bid board. Their tiles determine where on the cliffside they can build that turn, how many building blocks they add to their stockpile, and the quality of their new construction.

BUILD – Compete for seaside views as players build in three dimensions on a tiered cliffside!

SCORE – players score points for having quality buildings with a clear view out to sea, but also for collecting gelato and capitalizing on the public goal cards! 

We used the crowded cliffside expansion which expands the game from 16 to 25 plots and from 4 to 6 players – as we had 5 players.

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/383190/positano

Steve

17 at the UNO Park Community Center in North Adams for a request night. Our perfect attendance list for 2026 was just halved from 4 to 2 – Julie & Nicole. Who will be the last gamer standing?  5/13/2026 @ UNO Park Community Center IN: Steve & Sandy, Kenneth & Rachel, Lauren & Elliot, Sean, Armando,…

17 at the UNO Park Community Center in North Adams for a request night. Our perfect attendance list for 2026 was just halved from 4 to 2 – Julie & Nicole. Who will be the last gamer standing?  5/13/2026 @ UNO Park Community Center IN: Steve & Sandy, Kenneth & Rachel, Lauren & Elliot, Sean, Armando,…

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