Saturday was my birthday, and today is Gwen's birthday (that's my lovely wife, by the way), so I thought I'd talk a little bit about what games we added to our collection this weekend as well as our "gaming-with-non-gamers" activity.

First thing Saturday, I opened my presents from Gwen, and to my utter delight the "big one" was a copy of Arkadia!   So we drove to town where I dropped her off at the day spa for a massage and pedicure, then hung around looking like a stalker or something reading the rules in my car and waiting for my FLGS to open.  When it finally did, I talked with Denise for a bit while punching all the pretty little pieces and then convinced her to give it a try.  

The main reason I put Arkadia on my Wishlist was because of hearing Doug and Shelley Garrett talk about it on the Garrett's Games & Geekiness podcast.  And then when it was nominated for the Spiel Des Jahres, I got even more excited about it!  After this first play (which I won, by the way), I have to say that it lives up to all the hype.  It's basically a tile placement game (the buildings) that uses an area majority scoring system (getting "seals" for completing buildings and having your builders next to them), but what is really cool about is that there is also a "market manipulation" element (building the castle) that adds an additional layer of strategy on how much your seals are worth.  And to top it off, players actually get to choose when to score their seals (4 times in the game, plus at the end as well), which is another strategical element.

All in all, I was very impressed with Arkadia as a two-player game, and I can't wait to get in more plays with 2 and more people!

Later on Saturday, my parents threw a birthday party for Gwen and I, where we ate far too much and got to play with my adorable godson, Eli.  Afterward, we pulled out the shiny new copy of Diamant that I had given Gwen earlier in the day.  We had seven people playing, including kids and adults, and none of them (other than me and possibly Gwen) were what I would call "gamers".  But as the three games we played proved, Diamant is fun no matter what your gaming background!  It is so quick and simple, and "pushing your luck" gives everyone a chance to be competitive, so it is just a fantastic party-style game.  I have a feeling that Gwen's copy is going to get a lot of wear at family gatherings in the future...

We then managed to convince one of our friends to try out one more game with us, which was my present from my Mother-in-Law, To Court the King.  Now, I know I just wrote a pretty scathing review of this game, but as a quick filler or as a gateway game, it is still a lot of fun and is very accessible to a lot of people.  The learning curve is all about figuring out the different abilities of the character cards, and once he got his head around that, the game went well.  

The next day, we had a big Birthday/Father's Day lunch at my mother-in-law's house on Sunday.  Again, it was filled with far too much food but a lot of great company.  Having and circulating a Wishlist on BGG is a very good thing, because at this gathering alone it netted me Taluva, Time's Up!, and the  "Call to Arms" BattleLore expansion (as well as the other games I've already mentioned).  None of my Wife's family are gamers, but two of them were willing (and even kinda excited) to join us in a game of Taluva.  I took a few minutes to explain the game to them, then proceeded to get my heiney kicked by Gwen's cousin, who managed to place her last hut on the very last round (winning by placing all her huts and temples).  They both liked the game a lot, and both showed interest in wanting to know more about that and other "good" boardgames.  Woo-hoo!  I love new converts! 

The last chance we had to play anything this weedend was on Sunday evening after we took my parents out for Father's Day.  Now, my Mom and Dad have been big card players forever.  They and some of their friends currently have a 20-year-long, weekly "Men vs. Women" Canasta feud going on.  In addition, they used to play Rook pretty seriously, and have dabbled with games such as Phase 10, Pivot, Tripoley, and Kings in the Corner.  

So what would a die-hard gamer like me introduce to my card-playing parents?  Tichu, of course!

After explaining the game to them, I realized I had gone about it all wrong.  I started with the "hard part", the four special cards, which kind of put my mom off a little.  I should have started with the basic "trick-taking with a twist" approach, explaining how you can use the different combinations (pairs, straights, full-houses, etc.) to lead with, then talking about scoring, special cards, and bombs.  I'll do better next time.

But the game itself went pretty well.  As is the tradition in their house, the men played against the women.  Unfortunately, Mom and Gwen won round 1 in this new Tichu feud.   I think that everyone had a good handle on gameplay by the end of the match, but no one (other than me, anyway) felt comfortable enough to venture out and call "Tichu" in any of the hands.  I had only played once before myself, and so none of us really know how to use the Mah Jong card with any actual strategy, but everything else went smoothly.  Gwen already says she likes it better than Rook, and my parents seemed to enjoy it as well.  Maybe we can get it to the table with them again in the near future! 

So maybe it wasn't the most active gaming weekend ever, but I was able to introduce some of the games I love to the people I love most in this world.  And no matter how sappy that sounds, it makes for a great birthday weekend!