Boardgames and Weight Update

Because of my vacation I'm only just getting around to posting this. :(

We won't talk about my weight - I'm still substantially lower than I was at the beginning of this year...but my weight has been creeping up for a while now. It's tougher for me to get the motivation to exercise as it makes my legs hurt. I have these nodules that have formed on both achillies tendons. I've been seeing a doctor and I'm going to have them removed, but we opted to do it in the New Year as I'm doing a fair amount of traveling before then which would have been inconvenienced by me having to have my foot in a boot.

Of course I really can exercise even though it does hurt some, and in reality the stretching exercises are good for the nodules, but it has become an excuse that is a little too convenient. I will do better this month!

Anyway, on to the games.

October was a surprising month for games. 45 Games were played in total of 25 different games. And 2 games came from nowhere to take the top 2 spots on the list. The reason for this was of course my English vacation and playing games with the rest of the family!

What was the top game of October?

Alhambra (6 plays) - is a great tile laying game. You are purchasing different buildings to make your own Alhambra. My brother and his wife really like this one so we played 6 times on the vacation. I think the final scores were Janet 2, Steve 2, Peter 2, Bugs 0, but I could be mistaken.

Uno (5 Plays) - a surprise entry played in a surprising variant. My nephew Tommy has difficulty holding all the cards and so we played their family variant where everybody's cards are placed face up in front of them in a tableaux. It completely changes the game and causes you to do a lot more strategizing about your plays!

Some other games of note this past month.

Carcasonne (3 plays) - this is one of the top 'gateway' games for introducing people into modern board gaming. I haven't played it that much and so I was a little dubious of its power, but I took it on the Chapelwoods Mens Retreat and was amazed at the response. I've never viewed board gaming as a spectator sport, but we must have had about 8 guys all watching us play this. I taught other groups the rules and their were quite a few heated battles and I know that some of the men have since purchased this for their families. I opted to use the original European Scoring as opposed to the American Scoring as I think it is a) Easier to learn and b) Makes for a better game.

Endeavor (2 plays) - this is one of the 'hot games' right now. I remember really liking it, but we played before the vacation so it's kind of slipped my mind right now! I'm sure it will make it to the table again soon.