Risk & more family games

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Another round of family games. We started with Risk: Lord of the Rings edition, which wasn't too bad. It was a team game with me and the dad dude as the Good Guys, and Stubabes & Son as the Bad Guys. We got about 6 or 7 turns in, then Stubabes won it with a boxcars roll with the Ring in Lorien. So it was a fairly short game for how these things go.

After the Stubabes crew left, mom and dad and I played Pegs and Jokers, which is a mostly luck-based game using standard playing cards. Mom bought this copy of the game from someone (apparently) in their church group. I think the appeal of luck based games is that luck is more or less evenly distributed, so "bad" play, or losing a game, can be blamed on luck, while at the same time, deep thought is not required and people can be more social.

We finished the evening with an introductory game of Pandemic. That is, I introduced the game to them as I've played it many time. I bought their copy a couple of years ago, and it was nice to get it played finally.

All in all a good afternoon and evening of games.

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What to play next?

Deciding what to play next is always a tough call when faced with a closet full of games, all of which were purchased with intent to play. Here's one I'm dealing with the decision.

  • Something New: this means both something new to me and a game which has been published recently, within the last two or three years.
  • Something Classic: I've acquired a number of games properly considered "classic" which haven't yet been played. The current example would be PanzerGruppe Guderian.
  • Something Again: mastery requires constant practice, which means playing games many, many times to allow nuance to appear.
  • Something Vietnam: as I'm on a Vietnam binge. I don't have all the Vietnam games ever published, but I can say that I have a lot of them, and probably more than most people.
  • Something Obscure: as it's fun to poke around in the dustier corners of game design.
  • Something Different: break away from the same old publishers and try a game from one of the new kids on the block. Or, conversely, dip into legacy with a classic tried and true.
  • Something Light: once in a while it's nice to actually finish a game all the way through in one sitting, in an hour or two.
  • Something Heavy: if possible, it's nice to set up something big and complicated which can be left out for days or weeks or even months, for a leisurely stroll through a very large or long game.

There are surely many more ways to choose, but the above method keeps me busy enough, helps me get both breadth and depth into my play, and provides me with a sense of progress.

The odd man out

When there is an odd man out:

  • Have a solo game ready to play.
  • Keep score or advise on a game in progress.
  • Referee a game in progress.