12/10/2025 – Berkshire Gamers Session Report #25-49
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Despite a snowstorm, 22 were at the UNO Park Community Center for our Annual Holiday Party and Prize Table.
Thanks to those who made generous contributions to the prize table – all in attendance (as well as those who couldn’t attend but made donations to the table in advance) came away with a bounty of games to add to their collections. Thanks also to all those who helped with the setup, teardown and the schlepping of so many games, tables, refreshments, etc.
Our 12/17 session will be a request night and our last session of 2025 as both Xmas Eve and New Years Eve fall on Wednesdays.
We will resume weekly play on Wednesday January 7 – with the theme being games received over the holidays and from our prize table – Sean will lead that session.
12/10/2025 @ UNO Community Center
IN: Steve, Sean, Armando, Zach, Tony & Rachel, Ethan & Amy, Ken & Rachel, Gus & Nicole, Jesus & Carol, Chris, Rob, Matt, Reimi, Sean K, Landon, Maggie, Cady
ON OUR TABLES:
Panda Royale (led by Armando/Cady) 2024 dice drafting and chucking game that can accommodate up to 10 players but is actually just a big bag of polyhedral dice in 7 colors with score sheets that indicate how each different color scores points.
Crokinole 2x (led by Ethan/Tony) 1876 traditional two- or four-player dexterity game, played on a circular wooden board, with 3 rings and an inner recessed ‘bullseye’. A ring of posts is set around the inner circle, which functions as an obstacle to reach this area. Playing pieces are wooden circular disks similar to checkers pieces. Players take turns shooting disks across the board by flicking them with their fingers in an effort to land them in the highest scoring ring on the board, the highest score (20 points) achieved by shooting a disk into the centre, recessed hole. From the outside in, rings are worth 5, 10, 15 points.
Just One (led by Amy) 2018 co-op that’s become our group’s favorite party game.
Codenames (led by Rob) 2015 cooperative clue giving game. played in teams two teams who compete to see who can make contact with all of their agents first. Lay out 25 cards, each bearing a single word. The spymasters look at a card showing the identity of each card, then take turns clueing their teammates. A clue consists of a single word and a number, with the number suggesting how many cards in play have some association to the given clue word. The teammates then identify one agent they think is on their team; if they’re correct, they can keep guessing up to one more than the stated number of times; if the agent belongs to the opposing team or is an innocent bystander, the team’s turn ends; and if they fingered the assassin, they lose the game.
Spymasters continue giving clues until one team has identified all of their agents or the assassin has removed one team from play.
https://boardgamegeek.com/
Landmarks (led by Armando) 2024 word game of hidden paths and clever clues. We used the co-op version where Armando served as the pathfinder (cluegiver) guiding the team to treasure, avoiding curses, hydrating and trying to exit with treasure in hand. There are multiple ways to fail/die – and our team managed to find most of them. In this jungle, every word matters, as using strategic wordplay sends a chain of one-word clues with the connections between them creating a path leading to fortune and glory. We will try the competitive team play version in a future session.
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 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.
Hot Streak (led by Sean) 2025 racing game for hard luck gamblers who love to bet on and scream at the racers, who in this case happen to be mascots who may (or may not) keep running in the right direction. Best with 5-9 players.
The Gang (group led) 2024 co-operative version of Texas Hold’em where players bet on how good they think their hand of cards will be relative to the other players, then try to make their predictions a reality. Early in a round, without talking to each other, each player chooses a chip indicating how good they think their hand is. Then they begin dealing cards into the middle of the table and have a chance to reassess their hands as more cards are revealed. At the end of the round, players see whether they correctly evaluated their hand. If all players did, you get to open one of the bank vaults! If not, you trip the alarm! If you manage to open three vaults before you trip the alarm three times, your gang wins! The Gang has become our group’s closer game of choice.
Steve
Despite a snowstorm, 22 were at the UNO Park Community Center for our Annual Holiday Party and Prize Table. Thanks to those who made generous contributions to the prize table – all in attendance (as well as those who couldn’t attend but made donations to the table in advance) came away with a bounty of…
Despite a snowstorm, 22 were at the UNO Park Community Center for our Annual Holiday Party and Prize Table. Thanks to those who made generous contributions to the prize table – all in attendance (as well as those who couldn’t attend but made donations to the table in advance) came away with a bounty of…