21 at the UNO Park Community Center for a request night.

IN: Steve & Sandy, Tony & Rachel, Kenneth & Rachel, Samuel & Ruth, Carol & Jesus, Sean, Armando, Tim, Zach, Chris, Anna, Nicole, Julie, Cady, Rob, Sean K 

High Society (led by Zach) 1995 auction/set collection game where players bid against each other to acquire the various trappings of wealth (positive-number and multiplier cards) while avoiding its pitfalls (negative number and divisor cards). While bidding, though, keep an eye on your remaining cash – at the end of the game, even though all those positive-number cards might add up to a win, the player with the least money isn’t even considered for victory. We played on the newly released All-Play edition that adds 3 new cards.

Moirai 2X (led by Armando) 2025 light but surprisingly thinky card game based on mythology, where players are drafting and placing numbered cards across various “threads of life.” The twist lies in the three variable scoring conditions (corresponding to each of the 3 Fates) that apply each game—these determine how players organize their cards, push their luck, and decide when to pass better options to opponents. Those shifting combos make each play feel fresh and just tricky enough.

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/429446/moirai

Cribbage (led by Chris)  17th century card game played with a deck of standard playing cards and a signature piece of equipment called the cribbage board. It is traditionally played as a 2 player game. In the version usually played today, each player is dealt a hand of 6 cards, from which they discard 2 into a special pile called the Crib. One card is then cut from the draw pile and turned face up – it is considered part of each player’s hand and of the Crib. The players then play cards in turn, scoring points for hitting certain totals, or for making sets or sequences. Score is kept by moving pegs along tracks on the cribbage board. This is repeated until both players have exhausted their hand of cards.

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/2398/cribbage

Backgammon (led by K-ban) 3000 BC classic abstract strategy game where each player has a set of 15 checkers (or stones) that must be moved from their starting positions, around, and then off the board. Dice are thrown each turn, and each player must decide which of their checkers to move based on the outcome of the roll. Players can capture each other’s checkers, forcing the captured checkers to restart their journey around the board. The winner is the first player to get all 15 checkers off the board. A more recent addition to the game is the “doubling cube”, which allows players to up the stakes of the game. Although the game relies on dice to determine movement, there is a large degree of strategy in deciding how to make the most effective moves given each dice roll and measuring the risk in terms of possible rolls the opponent may get. It may be the first game to be mentioned in written history, going back 5,000 years to the Sumerians of ancient Mesopotamia. During the 1920s, archaeologists unearthed five boards from a cemetery in the ancient town of Ur. At another location, pieces and dice were also found along with the board. Boards from ancient Egypt have also been recovered from the tomb of Tutankhamun, including a mechanical dice box, no doubt intended to stop cheaters.The rules in English were standardized in 1743 by Edmond Hoyle. These remained popular until the American innovations of the 1930s.

Lanterns: The Harvest Festival 2x (led by Sean) 2015 pattern building and set collection game where players have a hand of 3 tiles depicting various color arrangements of floating lanterns, as well as an inventory of individual lantern cards of specific colors. When you place a tile, all players (you and your opponents) receive a lantern card corresponding to the color on the side of the tile facing them. Place carefully to earn cards and other bonuses for yourself, while also looking to deny your opponents. Players gain honor by dedicating sets of lantern cards — three pairs, four of a kind, or all seven colors — and the player with the most honor at the end of the game wins. Always a tight finish, short and sweet. Nice game to mix gamers with non-gamers/family.

Small World (led by Tony) 2009 area majority/influence game where players vie for conquest and control of a world that is simply too small to accommodate them all. It is inhabited by a zany cast of characters such as dwarves, wizards, Amazons, giants, orcs, and even humans, who use their troops to occupy territory and conquer adjacent lands in order to push the other races off the face of the earth. Picking the right combination from the 14 different fantasy races and 20 unique special powers, players rush to expand their empires – often at the expense of weaker neighbors. Yet they must also know when to push their own over-extended civilization into decline and ride a new one to victory!

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/40692/small-world

Medici (led by K-ban) 1995 Reiner Knizia classic perceived value auction game played on the original German Amigo edition.(since reprinted several times when the original went OOP) Bid to your opponent’s ‘point of pain’ in a series of once around auctions…where players are securing cargo both for the products and for bulk weight. Players are bidding with their VPs, so some self-control is imperative to win the game.

Grand Austria Hotel (led by Anna) 2015 dice and board game with contracts and action drafting. Players run a hotel where guests want to dine before they go to their room. Players must serve the requested food first, and then must have a vacant room of a requested colour available before the guests vacate one’s small restaurant and make space for new guests. When the guests go to their room various bonuses are earned, which may include resources and/or discounted actions. The game is played over 7 rounds with 2 basic actions per player per round. The player with the most victory points (VP) at the end of the game is the winner. 

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/182874/grand-austria-hotel

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. We played on the Japan mapoard.

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.

Bohnanza (led by Rachel K) 1997 Uwe Rosenberg bean trading classic game that has been reprinted several times and expanded even more. Players plant, then harvest bean cards in order to earn coins. Each player starts with a hand of random bean cards, and each card has a number on it corresponding to the number of that type of bean in the deck. Unlike in most other card games, you can’t rearrange the order of cards in hand, so you must use them in the order that you’ve picked them up from the deck — unless you can trade them to other players, which is the heart of the game. On a turn, players must plant the first one or two cards in their hand into the two “fields” in front of them. Each field can hold only one type of bean, so if a player must plant a type of bean that’s not in one of their fields, then they must harvest a field to make room for the new arrival.  Next, two cards are revealed from the deck, and the player, on turn, can then trade these cards as well as any card in their hand for cards from other players. After all the trading is complete — and all trades on a turn must involve the active player — then the turn is ended by drawing 3 cards from the deck and placing them at the back of one’s hand. When beans are harvested, players  receive coins based on the number of bean cards in that field and the “beanometer” for that particular type of bean. Flip over 1-4 cards from that field to transform them into coins, then place the remainder of the cards in the discard pile. When the deck runs out, the discards are shuffled, playing through the deck two more times. At the end of the game, everyone can harvest their fields, then whoever has earned the most coins wins. The key to this 45-minute classic is the trading. 

Take Time (led by Tim) 2025 limited communication cooperative game where players must strategically play 12 cards facedown around a Clock, following specific rules for each Test. Players can work together through a series of games to pass all 40 Tests available in the game.

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/440540/take-time

Vivo (led by Armando) 2024 trick taking card game, where each round starts by revealing a harmony type (Solo, Duet, Trio, Quartet). The harmony determines how many suits must be played in the trick—not being able to is considered playing “off-harmony,” making that player ineligible for points. At the end of the trick, the player who played the highest on-harmony card scores two points, and the lowest on-harmony card scores for the value of that card (those bass notes are so important!).

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/420242/vivo

Pixies (led by Rachel K) 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! Players place the card drafted in their 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… but watch out for those X’s (penalty points). We played with the Flower Power expansion

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