Friday Night Games

So every other Friday we have game night. I thought it might be fun to post what we played. This last Friday we had a pretty good turnout: 9 people! We had 2 tables going all night.

Table 1 played: Age of Steam. This is Travis' favorite game. He has TONS of different maps. It is similar to Steam (or so I hear) where you build the track and transfer goods using your train.

                          Rex. This is the remake of the 70's game Dune. It can be a long game, but is still fun. You are trying to win the game using your individual way to win. Sometime during the game, ally cards are played and you can try to win with an ally. Also, you're trying to avoid being destroyed :)

Table 2 played: Conquest of the Fallen Lands. This is a simple game where you try to conquer lands by attacking and fortifying them. If you do, then you gain money equal to the cost of the land. Whoever has the most money at the end wins.

                          Alien Frontiers. I've done a review of this game before. It is a worker placement game but your workers are ships that are dice. Each turn you roll your dice and can place them depending on what you rolled.

                          Bears! This is a very quick dice game. Each player has 5 dice and are trying to make matches with the communal dice. Each match is worth a certain number of points and some get you minus points if there are still bear dice in the middle. Everyone who played enjoyed it!

Both tables played: The Resistance. This game is played almost every game night/day. It is quick and fun. It plays up to 10 and really gets your brain hurting with 10. There are so many spies vs. resistance. Team leaders are trying to get their team approved to go on a mission. Spies are trying to fail missions and resistance are trying to pass missions.

                                Last Night on Earth. 3 people left by this game so 6 of us played (which is the limit). I don't know what it is about zombie games, but they all seem the same to me. So this game was just alright. We did not play the advanced game, however, so I would be interested in trying that too. Depending on the # of players you have some players who are zombies and some who are humans. Each team is trying to kill the other. Zombies are actually hard to kill which makes it a little more fun for the zombie players, but the zombies are never completely out of the game like the humans are. I don't really like those kinds of games because if you get out of the game early, you get bored waiting for the game to be done.

Transition Games

I was thinking that many of my friends have never played "real" games before. Sure they've all played Monopoly, Scattergories, Balderdash, Catch Phrase, etc. But most have never even heard of Descent, Galaxy Trucker, Outpost, Summoner Wars, etc. So I want to list a few games I like to call transition games. These games allow most people who've played games you can buy at Wal-Mart to start thinking in a different sense to be able to get accustomed to "real" games. Please do not think I'm trying to be rude by saying "real" games, I just can't think of another way to put it :)

1. Ticket to Ride: This game is becoming quite popular and I've even seen it for sale at Target and Borders. You get destination cards and try to connect your trains from the 1st to the 2nd destination. But beware, you don't know where you're opponents are trying to go, so they may steal your path 1st. It is a fun and easy game to start with.

2. Settlers of Catan: Many people I know have actually played this game already. I have never played with the expansions, which I hear make it super fun, but Michael and I got so sick of this game because it was the only one people ever wanted to play. SO we sold it so no one could play it anymore :)
In this game you are trying to gain resources by building roads, settlements and cities. Your resources may not be produced each round though. Certain conditions get you victory points. Whoever has 10 victory points 1st wins!

3. Roll Through the Ages: This is a dice game. You start with a certain number you roll (I think it's 3) and try to build up your colonies, buildings, monuments, etc from your dice rolls. I like this game quite a bit because the dice aspect makes it a little harder and sometimes frustrating which always makes a game fun!

4. Alhambra: You start with some money cards in your hand and are trying to buy the little square pieces in the middle to build up your Alhambra. So each player has their own Alhambra they're building off of. You can either build, buy, or take cards as your turn. Simple and fun!

5. Citadels: This is a card based game. Each round the king starts (and the king can change each round). The king takes a character card that allows different things to happen. Then they pass the leftover cards to the left, they pick a card and pass it until everyone has a character. Then you start in order - card #1 goes 1st, #2 is 2nd, etc. Each character is trying to gain gold to build up districts. Once someone has built their 8th district, each player gets one last turn. Then whoever has the biggest cost of districts wins!

6. Mag Blast: This is a card based game too. You will start with 5 total cards laid out on the table for all to see. In the middle, you will have your command ship surrounded by 4 fleet ships. Each player is trying to kill off your command ship by shooting at it. Whoever is left with a command ship wins!