I was both exceedingly late to game night this week and had terrible timing   Trying to get out of the house full of two girls under the age of 3 is like trying to escape from a black hole, especially in having to get them fed, give them baths, and say goodbye to everyone.  And then I made the trip up to Burlington, arriving right at 8pm only to find two games had just gotten underway.  So, to put it simply, I didn't actually sit down to my first real game until after 9pm on Tuesday night.

Liar's Dice [BGG]

But that game was a long-time favorite of mine and the group, Liar's Dice.  There are like a hundred different versions of this game, but I've never actually played by the rules from the published, Richard-Borg-version of it.  We didn't actually have that version in the store, but Sceadeau taught us the differences and we made a go of it. 

There were 6 of us playing, and poor David (who had never played any version of the game) was out by the second or third round due to the "lose the difference" rule (where you lose dice equal to the difference between the bid and reality, rather than just losing one die for a failed call or bluff).  In the end, I faced off with Sceadeau for the win and beat him down like a rented mule, finishing with 3 dice left and only losing dice when someone else would exactly make a bid (another rule I didn't usually play with). 


Time: 26 minutes
Score: Me - Win (3 dice left); Sceadeau, Adam, Shawn, Michelle & David - Lose
Ratings: Me 8, Sceadeau 7, Adam 7.5, Shawn 7, Michelle 7.5, David 5

I like Liar's Dice a lot.  In fact, I wrote a review of it a long time ago (which also gets into the exact way we usually play it).  In regards to the different rules, I liked them pretty okay.  The "lose the difference" rule makes it very brutal and a lot quicker, which would definitely be good for larger crowds.  I don't know about the "reveal some dice and re-roll the rest" rule though.  Both of these rules make the game stress actual calculations of probabily a lot more (which suits Sceadeau just fine), but I actually perfer to make it more of a social game of bluffing and reading people.  I mean, you need to be generally aware of the probabilities just to be reasonable, but it's a lot more fun when played emotionally rather than analytically.

Factory Fun [BGG]

Then I finally managed to get into a game of the current Game of the Month!, Factory Fun.  Basically, the game is played by turning over one "machine" tile per person and then everyone grabs the one they want, trying not to pick up something that won't fit into their factory.  You then get to maneuver it however you can into fitting, but having to pay for any pipe you use to connect stuff or for anything else you have to move around.  

I (and Adam, who was also new) was pretty clueless about what to do early, and then by the time I had a handle on what to look for, my factory was already all screwed up and I had to basically skip taking a machine on the last two turns.  Chris and Sceadeau won the game, and Shawn was the meat in our odd double-tie sandwich.  

Time: 35 minutes
Score: Chris 89, Sceadeau 89, Shawn 77, Adam* 64, Me* 64
Ratings: Chris 8, Sceadeau ?, Shawn 7.5, Adam ?, Me 7

I liked Factory Fun pretty well.  I don't know that this style of game is my absolute favorite thing, but I could defnitely enjoy it from time to time.  It's certainly very different from almost everything else I've ever played, and hope to get in another game or two this month. 

Carrom [BGG]

Chip and Kenny were still tied up in a game of Julius Caesar, and for a minute it looked like everyone else was going to bug out and leave me gameless once again.  Thankfully, both Adam and Sceadeau reconsidered and showed some interest in learning and playing Carrom (since I had toted my board along with me this week).  

They took turns playing 5 shots each in a couple of games against me, and then I played a third just against Adam.  I won all three games, but they were starting to get a little better by the end. 

Time: 28, 21, and 12 minutes
Score: Me - 3 wins, Adam (and Sceadeau) - 0 wins
Ratings: Me 8, Adam 9, Sceadeau ?

Carrom is so cool, but I still really suck at it.  There's just so much technique and skill involved, and I just don't play it enough to get decent.  Maybe someday, though...

King of Siam [BGG]

Chip finally finished off Kenny (once again), but then headed home to leave Kenny and me by ourselves.  It was late, but I still didn't feel I had played enough, so he agreed to join me in a game of King of Siam.  King of Siam is an interesting little area-majority game where you have to simultaneously manipulate power struggles between three different factions on the board and invest in whichever faction you think will win.  But investing in a faction means pulling their cubes off the board (to go into your influence area), which therefore weakens their position.  And, if that's not enough, you've only got 8 actions for the whole game with which to pull off all this finagling.

Kenny didn't know what he was doing for most of the game (heck, I barely knew either, since I haven't played the game in a year or two), so he probably played his actions a little too early.  I was then able to have my way with the board and still gain control of the faction that was winning (yellow), so I claimed the victory.  

Time: 29 minutes
Score: Me - win (5 in yellow), Kenny - lose (4 in yellow)
Ratings: Me 7.5, Kenny 7.5

King of Siam is a really brutal little game.  It is simultaneously quick and simple, but also deep and brain-burny.  I like it a lot, but it seems a little weak with 2 players.  Maybe I can get it to the table with 3 sometime soon, though, to see if that's true or if it was just because both of us were very inexperienced with how to play. 


Other Games Played

Ascension: Chronicle of the Godslayer
Time: 28 minutes
Score: Shawn 71, Kenny 62, Chris 60
Ratings: Shawn 9, Kenny ?, Chris 10

Egizia
Time: 40 minutes
Score: Chris 134, Shawn 118
Ratings: Chris 8, Shawn 8

Factory Fun
Time: 28 and 16 minutes
Game 1: Chip 87, Sceadeau* 62, Chris 59, Shawn 44
Game 2: Sceadeau 93, Chris 77, Shawn 66, Chip 55
Ratings: Sceadeau 6, Chip 7.5, Chris 8, Shawn 8

Julius Caesar
Time: 198 minutes (end of turn 4)
Score: Chip (Pompey) - 10, Kenny (Caesar) - 3
Ratings: Chip 8, Kenny 8

Wizard
Time: 46 minutes
Score: David 24, Adam* 21, Sceadeau 20, Chris* 6, Michelle 4, Shawn* -3
Ratings: David 8.5, Adam 7.5, Sceadeau 9, Chris 7, Michelle 8, Shawn 6

* First play for that Person