March Board Game Results

28 games played in March, 18 different games.


Here are the highlights.

Top, once more is the ever popular Werewolf with 5 plays. I love to run this game although I do enjoy playing it too. It seems to work well with a crowd and people seem to pick it up fairly quickly. Moderating takes a fair amount of concentration though :)

Animalia is a new game to me, but I've quickly logged 3 plays in March alone. Every player is an Impressario trying to put together the best possible troop of performing animals. The game play is like a simplified Medici (which is a game I love). Animalia takes similar concepts to Medici but does without the auction mechanic and simplifies the scoring a little. It's definitely a game that is a stepping stone to the superior Medici whilst still being a lot of fun in its own right.

Ta Yu is a very elegant abstract game. The theme is one of connecting water flowing from the center of the board, but that doesn't really impact game play. In the simplest version you draw a tile and then play it. Deciding whether to help yourself or hinder your opponent is the main challenge of this game. Unfortunately the original Kosmos version (pictured here) is no longer available and consequently sells for a lot of money. I have the not so pretty but still playable new version instead.

Haggis is a game from a small independent designer that one of the other players in our group was asked to play test. It feels a little similar to Tichu (a game I love), but is actually playable by 2 or more unlike Tichu which really requires 4 players. It's a fun game, though to be honest I'm having a little trouble remembering it now.

Hive makes a return appearance into the 'Most played list'. Ok so it was only 2 plays in March, but when you consider the large number of different games I play, any repeat is a good sign. (last year I managed 378 plays of 186 different games!). As I only received Hive just before Christmas, it didn't make it into the Quarters, Nickels and Dimes last year, but this year I've already played it 11 times! Will it get played enough to topple last years winner (Dominion with 22 plays)? It's definitely possible as I've only played Dominion 3 times so far in 2010.

Tune in again next month to see what game takes the lead :)