7/8/2026 – Berkshire Gamers Session Report #26-27
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22 at the UNO Park Community Center in North Adams for an evening of our table leaders teaching some of their favorite games.
7/8/2026 @ UNO Park Community Center
IN: Steve, Sean, Armando, Tim, Zach, Nicole, Chris, Tony, Norm & Hope, Jason & Sarah, Julie, Maggie, Cady, Carol, Rob, Sean K, Anna, Peter & Faryn, Shon
ON OUR TABLES:
Chomp (led by Chris) 2023 half hour drafting, pattern building and tile placement game where players collect, assemble and feed dinosaurs making sure their herbivores don’t get chomped. At the end of the game, each living and fed dino scores 1-3 points depending on its size, and the player with the highest score wins.
Lord of the Rings Duel for Middle Earth (led by Armando) 2024 two-player drafting game that re-themes the outstanding 7 Wonders Duel for Lord of the Rings by the same authors. There are multiple win conditions for each side and this version adds area control replacing the military track from the original. Instead of drafting Wonders upfront in the original, this version replaces them with 3 public landmarks on a first come first serve system. There is a tempo control in this game that’s not found in the original, an improvement, as it gives more tactical decisions – taken somewhat from Pantheon expansion.
Drive (led by Nicole) 2003 Michael Schacht card game (originally the 2-player Crazy Chicken) best played with 2 or 3 players. Each turn, players draw two cards – from the two draw piles or two discard piles, with each card coming from a different pile – then either discard one card or lay down a set of cards. To lay down a set, you need at least two cards if that type of automobile hasn’t been played or more cards than are already on the table if it has been played. Any cards of the same type on the table are discarded onto a single discard pile. The round ends when one player has six types of cars, all types of cars are on the table, or only one draw pile remains. Players then earn points based on which types of cars they own..
After 3 rounds, the player with the most points wins.
https://boardgamegeek.com/
Biblios (led by Zach) 2007 card game…..The object of the game is to score the most Victory Points. Players gain Victory Points by winning any of the 5 categories: Illuminators, Scribes, Manuscripts, Scrolls, and Supplies. Players win a category by having the highest total number of workers (Scribes, Illuminators) or resources (Manuscripts, Scrolls, Supplies) in that category. This is determined by the numbers in the upper left corner on the cards. At the start of the game, each category is worth 3 Victory Points. As the game progresses, the values on the Value Board will change and some categories will become worth more or fewer Victory Points than others. The game is divided into 2 stages: a Donation stage and an Auction stage. During the Donation stage, players acquire free cards according to an established plan. In the Auction stage, players purchase cards in auction rounds. After the two stages, winners of each category are determined and Victory Points awarded. The player with the most Victory Points wins.
https://boardgamegeek.com/
Take It Easy (led by K-ban) 1983 puzzle game that is a true multi-player solitaire, in which each player individually completes a hexagon-shaped board with spots for 19 hexagon tiles. There’s no limit to the number of players provided you have enough copies on hand. One person (the caller) draws a tile randomly and tells the others which of the 27 tiles featuring colored/numbered lines crossing in three directions, with numbers from 1 to 9, it is. “The 9-8-7,” for example. Each player then chooses which empty spot on his own board he’ll play the 9-8-7. This is repeated until the boards are filled.
The idea is to complete same-numbered lines across your board. Scoring is calculated by multiplying the number on the tile with the number of tiles in the completed line. A complete column of three 9s is worth 27, for example…but a lot of players will hope for five 9s to fill the big column down the middle. It is often compared to Bingo because of the familiar pattern of a number being called and then everybody looking at their cards to play it, and then scoring if a line is completed. But that’s as far as the comparison goes. Bingo is sheer luck; Take It Easy is a game of skill.
Wilmot’s Warehouse (led by Tim) 2024 storytelling game where players work cooperatively to organize the warehouse, using memory, imagination, and silly stories the group makes up. Players draw product tiles from the stack, discuss what they look like, and place them somewhere they’ll remember. After each tile is placed, it is flipped over and can’t be looked at again until the end of the game. As a result, the team has to remember where previous tiles were placed as the group decides where to place new ones. At the end of the game, in a five-minute rush, the team has to match all 35 face-down tiles with customer cards. Consult the team’s performance review to see how well you did! Our intrepid quartet went 35 for 35 in just over 2 minutes.
Big Shot (led by Zach) 2001 Alex Randolph (Twixt, Raj/What the Heck/ Code 777) auction game in which a set of colored cubes is put up for auction each round based on a random die roll. Whoever wins the bid, places those cubes in areas on the game board. Once an area has seven cubes in it, that area is locked and no more cubes can be added. Whoever has the majority of cubes in that area owns it — except that ties for majority are disregarded, so in a spread of 3/3/1 cubes, the player with only one cube owns that area!
Players have a limited amount of money with which to bid. They can take one loan each turn, but the first loan gives them only $9 more, while the second loan gives them $8 and the third $7. At the end of the game, the player must repay $10 for each loan taken, with that money coming from the value of the property they now own.
At the end of the game, players tally the value of what they own (with some properties being doubled in value if the player owns that region’s doubler as well as areas within that region), then repay all loans. Whoever has the most money wins!
https://boardgamegeek.com/
Puerto Rico (led by Chris) 2011 game where players are plantation owners in the days when ships had sails. By growing up to five different kind of crops – corn, indigo, sugar, tobacco, and coffee – they try to run their business more efficiently than their close competitors: growing crops and storing them efficiently, developing San Juan with useful buildings, deploying their colonists to best effect, selling crops at the right time, and, most importantly, shipping their goods back to Europe for maximum benefit. The game system lets players choose the order of the phases in each turn by allowing each player to choose a role from those remaining when it is their turn. No role can be selected twice in the same round. The player who ends up with the most victory points – achieved by shipping goods and building – wins the game. We played on the original version, but the game has been reprinted with expansions several times. There is also a card game version, San Juan.
Skyrise (led by Tim) 2024 area control/majorities bidding game where players are building a magnificent city in the sky, dedicated to art, science, and beauty. A very clever spatial auction system is utilized to win building sites, earning favor across Islands and factions, scoring secret and public objectives, courting mysterious Patrons, and building one’s own unique Wonder. This deluxe crowdfunded design has incredible table presence with 3D buildings and a unique modular board made up of islands. It is inspired by Sebastien Pauchon’s 2008 Spiel Des Jahres recommended Metropolys.
Cosmic Encounter (led by K-ban) my all-time favorite game dating back to 1977 when taught to me at the first session I ever played with Herb & Lynn Levy. Players represent alien races that are seeking to colonize onto five foreign worlds. To accomplish this, they make challenges against other players and enlist the aid of interested parties. But alien powers, which are unique to each race, give players ways to bend or outright break some rule in the game.
The game continues until one player occupies five planets in other systems to win. Shared victories are possible and a player need not occupy one’s own system to win. We had a 2-way shared victory between The Vacuum and the Observer. Other alien powers included General, The Pacifist and the Mutant.
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. Our trio played on the unique Korea mapboard where players must pick from either North or South Korea to buy from one of the constrained markets. The North supplies nukes.
Cockroach Poker (led by Peter) 2004 reverse set collection game that has nothing to do with poker – except that the game is all about bluffing, with cards that show cockroaches, rats and stink bugs. The goal is to force another player to collect 4 of any one type of critter.
Heat Pedal to the Metal (led by Sean) 2022 car racing game that uses deck building and push-your-luck in a unique combination to simulate the stress of a Grand Prix race. Simultaneous card actions determine speed, ability to corner and slipstreaming. ‘Heat’ cards allow for the ability to shift 2 gears up or down but clog up your hand while stress cards add chaos when required. Our quintet raced on the England course. Once all are re-familiarized with this very hot game we would like to add the advanced features for customizing one’s racecar as well as exploring the other tracks and expansions.
5ive Straight (led by K-ban) 1958 card and peg-board game best played by teams of two (for 4 or 6 players) or individually for 3 players. The plastic board has 100 holes, numbered in a often reversing spiral with 1 in the center. A deck of numbered cards from 1-100 is shuffled and players start with 4 each. Players may either play a card and stick a peg in, or draw a card, the hand limit being 4. Players are trying to get five of their pegs in a row to win. Simple, except that playing a card allows you to place a peg in that number, or any empty number above. So with a 60, I can fill a space from 60 to 100, the outside rows effectively, but with a 6, I can play practically anywhere, especially the key points in the center area. The game works best when played in partnership, as partners can communicate by their pegging relative to their card choices. We usually play a best of 5 series.
Splendor 2X (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. Rumor has it that Armando likes this game very much.
Steve
22 at the UNO Park Community Center in North Adams for an evening of our table leaders teaching some of their favorite games. 7/8/2026 @ UNO Park Community Center IN: Steve, Sean, Armando, Tim, Zach, Nicole, Chris, Tony, Norm & Hope, Jason & Sarah, Julie, Maggie, Cady, Carol, Rob, Sean K, Anna, Peter & Faryn, Shon ON…
22 at the UNO Park Community Center in North Adams for an evening of our table leaders teaching some of their favorite games. 7/8/2026 @ UNO Park Community Center IN: Steve, Sean, Armando, Tim, Zach, Nicole, Chris, Tony, Norm & Hope, Jason & Sarah, Julie, Maggie, Cady, Carol, Rob, Sean K, Anna, Peter & Faryn, Shon ON…