18 at the UNO Park Community Center in North Adams, MA for a Pick-up and Deliver themed session with quick tile games as openers.

IN: Steve & Sandy, Sean, Tim, Armando, Zach, Nicole, Tony, Julie, Danny, Reimi, Amy, Anna, Rob, Ken & Rachel, Carol, Matt

Valdora ( led by Nicole & K-ban) 2009 Michael Schacht pick up and deliver, set collection and drafting game. Those who enjoy the challenge of logistics and optimization will especially take to the puzzle-like challenge that Valdora offers. The page-turning books of orders and equipment are something fresh and create additional interest in route planning.

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/40769/valdora

MistWind (led by Sean) 2024 strategic game of building networks and meeting the demands of each nation. Players gain resources to build outposts or train transport whales, gather and deliver cargo to fulfill territory demands and complete networking contracts with neighbouring nations in an effort to become the most Trusted Trader in Mistwind.

Players have a hand of action disks numbered 1-5 but at the beginning of every round, they must choose one to discard and not use for that round. The game board has 4 sections, each with their own spots numbers 1-5 where players will play their matching numbered action disk. Each spot on the board only allows one action disk. Players take turns placing their action disks until each player has used all 4 disks, thus ending the round. The game consists of only 4 rounds so players must choose carefully when and where to spend their actions to maximize their turns.

Players will earn victory points from completing network cards, delivering resources to capitals, and overall majority of Demand Tokens from each region. The player with the most VPs wins!

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/366251/mistwind

Wormholes (led by Armando) 2022 Peter McPherson design where players collect passengers from planets, each of whom have specific destinations they aim to reach. However, this pick-up-and-deliver process can be quite different once players establish wormholes between different points of the galaxy — and like any good business, services can be used by other players…at the cost of a few points. This winds up being route building set in space, combined with a logistics puzzle. 

Botany (led by Tim) 2024  strategy board game where players take on the role of a Victorian Era flower hunter as they explore the world gathering fortune and fame in order to be named the Royal Botanist. Each player takes on the role of a character whose abilities will shape the way they play the game. Players can focus on exploring the globe in search of the most valuable specimens or can choose to make quick and efficient trips gathering reputation quickly thereby building their estate.

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/380837/botany

Himalaya (led by K-ban) 2004 SdJ nominated game of set collection, action queue and area majority, where players control caravans trying to increase the religious, political and economic influence of their tribe of nomads. Players collect goods (salt, barley, tea, jade, and gold), can make offers to monasteries & temples, send out delegations to different regions or increase their herd of Yaks  to become the most prosperous caravaneer. 

Players program their caravans around the paths on the Himalayan plateau to collect various goods, and then deliver them. Each turn players plan in advance six moves for their caravan, trying to second-guess what other players will do to their best advantage. Delivering goods allows the player to increase their influence in two of three separate categories. Religious influence is marked by the number and value of your stupas in buildings on the board, political influence is marked by the number of sherpas you have in the regions between the paths on the board, and economical influence is marked by the total number of yaks you have on your delivery disks and for having the most of a commodity after the 4th, 8th and 12th turns.

The scoring is unique to the game, in the 4 player game anyway (the player count the game is primarily designed to be played with). To determine the winner, players first total religious influence, with the player with the least religious influence eliminated and their remaining pieces removed from the board. Next, the player with the least political influence is eliminated. For the two remaining players, whoever has the greatest economic influence, in Yaks, is declared the winner. This unusual scoring is what makes the game different from many other similar games.

The game was reimplemented/re-themed as Lords of Xidit in 2014.

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/3800/himalaya

King Domino (led by Tim)  2016 drafting and tile placement game that won SdJ (German Game of the Year). The game uses tiles with two sections, similar to Dominoes. Each turn, players will select a new domino to connect to their existing kingdom, making sure at least one of its sides connects to a matching terrain type already in play. The order of who picks first depends on which tile was previously chosen, with better tiles forcing players to pick later in the next round. The game ends when each player has completed a 5×5 grid (or failed to do so), and points are counted based on the number of connecting tiles and valuable crown symbols.

Nine Tile Panic (led by Armando) 2019 twenty minute opener where each player has a set of nine double-sided town tiles. At the start of a round, three scoring cards are revealed, such as most aliens on a single road, most dogs visible, or longest road. All players then race to assemble their town in whatever pattern seems best, trying to score points for one, two, or three of the scoring cards as they wish. As soon as the first player decides that they’re done, they flip the sand timer and everyone else has 90 seconds to complete their town, then players determine who scores for which cards, with ties being broken in favor of whoever finished their 3×3 city first. Players score points based on the number of players in the game, and players track their score on a chart over multiple rounds.

Nine Tile Extreme (led by K-ban) 2023 advanced version of Nine Tiles that introduces multi-purpose patterns that can be matched by either color or shape.  Will you have to match the shapes this time? Or is it the colors? Here comes the speed puzzle game that will confuse players’ brains even more than the original Nine Tiles!

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/391084/nine-tiles-extreme

Pixies (led by Armando) 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 your 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

Steve