We are back on track folks, and it’ll be obvious as to why because one game that came in this month got played a ton of times. I think I’m actually right on pace today. We’ll see if that sticks. I haven’t made a judgement if I’ll stream tonight but with a sick toddler and the streaming set-up right below his room, that gaming might not happen this week.

Let’s see everything that was played.

Orchard: A 9 Card Solitaire Game – 28 Plays

So that is a ton of plays of this game. But I talked about it in my recent review, this is a very easy game to get to the table. It calls itself a 9 card game, there are actually 18. But you only use 9 each game. That means I can shuffle up once, split the deck and play twice in a row. It’s also a good solo game because it doesn’t take up much space. I got in something like 10 plays during under a quarter of a college football game. This is a really good solo game.

Aeon’s End Legacy – 4 Plays

So, like I said, probably not getting that played tonight. But I’ve really loved my playthroughs of this game. It’ll be on the list for the last time next month though. I only have one more to go. But you can check out all the plays over on Malts and Meeples. Really good legacy game and I can’t stress enough, this is how I’d recommend that people learn to play Aeon’s End, it teaches you so well.

Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon – 3 Plays

We’re getting towards the end game of Tainted Grail as well. I do think it’ll run through all of September as we only will get in a couple of plays. But I’m still really loving the game. I and I really like how much the world has changed because of a few things we’ve done. I’m not sure it always changes that way, but it’s given us some cool and interesting things to think about. The story is really what makes this game so good

The Night Cage – 3 Plays

I’ve been waiting on this one to show up for a bit, so when it did, I needed to get it to the table. And it was a lot of fun to get it to the table. I like Night Cage as almost a horror themed game, well, it is one but it gives you that feeling of tension. I think that the candle burning down as you play out tiles and showing how that is shortening up works really well.

Downforce – 2 Plays

It happens from time to time but not all that often that I will get an expansion after playing a game. In the case of Downforce, I liked the two plays of it that I had so much that I got two expansions for it. Those expansions are just more maps to race around, but it’s going to be a lot of fun to get those to the table. I think that this upcoming months board game night might be racing games.

Claim – 2 Plays

It’d been a while but every time I play a trick taking game, I realize that I do like trick taking. It is just a lot of fun to see how well I can play. And it is interesting too because with this game, you are first winning tricks to build your hand to then win tricks to actually win the game. First game was close then dominated in the second one, which is the only downside I have for this game, it can be a bit swingy.

Hanamikoji – 2 Plays

In terms of two player games, I think that Hanamikoji is my favorite. I really like how smoothly and simply it plays. I could have used this for my abstract game example because it’s easy to learn abut offers amazing decision making space. One that I know I’ll keep on coming back to.

Deranged – 1 Plays

Got this during 2020 and needless to say, I didn’t get 3+ player games to the table then. But I got to play the introductory scenario of the game again. And I still really enjoy this game even after so long. This was one that I originally played and demoed at GenCon back in 2019. Another horror themed game but one that is lighter in tone than Night Cage but also more thematic as you try and break curses. I want to play the bigger version of the game just to see how it goes.

Detective: Dig Deeper – 1 Plays

So I’ve talked about Detective: A Modern Crime Board Game a fair amount. It is one of my favorite thematic games where what you are doing matches the theme so well. This takes you into the 70’s, so things are a bit different but still offers an amazing thematic experience. And I am curious to see who will be the next designer they announce for this signature series because it is fun to see what other people are doing.

Terraforming Mars: Ares Expedition – 1 Plays

Got in a really fast play of this game last night. And it was surprising how fast, basically one hour for two players. Generally they’ve taken longer, but we got our engines up and running very quickly. I still really like this game. The mechanics are smooth and that engine building aspect is so much fun. I need to get the paper off of my overlays for the boards so I can make it even easier to keep track of things. I know some people are mad about Target getting retail copies before they got their nicer Kickstarter copies, but it’s a really good game.

Parade – 1 Plays

This small little card game with kind of an Alice in Wonderland theme is always fun to play. I like it as a puzzle to solve, how you can push for a fair amount of one color if you can avoid the rest of the colors. The clever thing of having the most of a color and that making all those cards worth a point each instead of face value really works for me. And the game plays pretty quickly, you need to think a bit on your turn, but you don’t have too many options to get analysis paralysis.

Calico – 1 Plays

Another play of Calico, and the more I get of it, the more I realize how much I like the game. It just works for me because it is a simple game to play but the puzzle gives you hard choices. Plus it’s cats so that theme is always good. I do think it might be too much of a puzzle for really casual gamers, but overall it’ll be one that works for a lot of people.

Cartographers – 1 Plays

This, I think, is becoming my favorite roll and write game. It just works so well and works well with a large group of players. I like making maps and I can’t wait to get more maps and more expansions and stuff for this game. If you want a thematic roll and write, this isn’t the best, Super-Skill Pinball 4-Cade I would say is, but it’s up there. And I think the simplicity of this game with the theme of map making is going to draw people in.

Sonora – 1 Plays

Another roll and write game, but of course this starts with flicking. I really like this game. It is not the easiest roll and write game to play. It is so combotastic that filling out your board can take a while. And for some people that take longer. But I still really like it for that aspect. In fact, it’s very high on my list because it feels different every time. I can pick a new area to try and optimize.

Dice Throne – 1 Plays

A game I got in last night of Vampire versus Samurai and the Samurai had no problem winning. I was rolling really poorly as the vampire. And I was really pushing for blood power. I want to try that match-up again, or play around more with the Vampire Lord. I feel like I need to come up with a better strategy. Even getting stomped, I want to play it again and still love the game.

Railroad Ink Challenge – 1 Plays

Final game played this month. Railroad Ink Challenge I think is a better version of Railroad Ink. I talked about it before, it just offers more to do. This one was fun because we had eight people playing it. That means that we had a lot of wildly different boards and scores. The challenges just offer more direction early in the game. Regular Railroad Ink is fine, but challenge for me is the better of the two, though harder to teach.

Yearly Gaming Stats

So like I said, I am all caught up. 244 total plays and 121 plays left to go in 121 days. With that there are 62 different games that I’ve played and 7 that I’ve played over 10 times. I think that Orchard is going to help me keep up on my plays, and probably a few more of A Gentle Rain coming as well. I’m also now at 22% of the base, not expansion, board games that I own played in this calendar year.

So which of those games would you want to play from this past month?

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