Nashville, Tennessee
August 2 – 5, 2001
WOW! An absolutely terrific time! Thanks to everyone who made it happen, in particular, Greg, Tim, Vicki and Mark! I consider it a great privilege to be able to participate in such an enjoyable event. Once again, the highlight was spending time with you guys. It’s so difficult to say goodbye on Sunday.
I haven’t yet found my notepad, but here’s some of my initial reactions….
MERIDIAN
I was really surprised by this game. It’s been out for several months and I haven’t heard much about it. Greg talked me into trying it and I was quite impressed. I’m not much of a fan of abstract games, but I enjoyed it… perhaps because it provided me with my only game medal of the weekend (I won several other games, but none that were on the wall). I think this will be a big hit in my group since it can easily be played in a lunch hour. Thanks for suggesting, Greg! I’d rate it a 6.5, which is high for an abstract game from me.
DARK SIDE
An interesting deduction game that I enjoyed moderately. Thanks to Larry Levy for allowing me to play this. See Greg’s session report for the game play details. I believe I gave it a 5 or 6 when Greg asked, which I’ll stand behind even after he told me his rating. I liked the fact that at times players acted as a team in order to figure out information about the other players hand, but deduction doesn’t seem to be Reiner’s strongest suit. I’d play the game again if asked, but probably wouldn’t recommend it for my group. Speaking as a retailer, the game is a bit overproduced, which makes it pricier than it needs to be. Interesting, but somewhat underwhelming… 5.5.
TRADERS OF GENOA
I LOVED this game before playing it at Gulf Games and I still love it, in spite of the 4 hour marathon. I’m convinced the game could be played in 2 hours if all players are familiar with the game and make every effort to keep it moving. At 2 hours, it would be 9, at 4 hours, it’s still a 7 or 7.5 for me.
DIE MAGIER VON PANGEA
This game surprised me. Several people had raved about it on Friday and I’m glad I finally got a chance to play it Saturday afternoon. I enjoyed it immensely, probably not as much as Richard (9.5?), but certainly enough to get one for myself. A couple of distractions had an impact on the final result, which was disappointing (although it didn’t involve me at all), but nonetheless, it was very enjoyable. I’d rate it at a 7.
DIA DE LOS MUERTOS
What a pleasure to have Frank and Sandi teach me this game! I enjoyed it a lot, but feel it will take at least one more playing to really get it figured out. The theme of the game is tight and the mechanics are very sound. As a big fan of trick taking games, I expect this to become one of my favorites. My initial rating is 7, but will certainly rise as I get the hang of it.
VICTORY AND HONOR
This was Ty’s prototype of his game that previously included both trick-taking and board game elements. He has now removed the board and created a unique card game with some fascinating mechanics. Essentially, you’re playing 3 tricks at once and the next player to play is determined by which trick the current player chooses to play on. It is a fascinating mechanic that will take a few plays to really master, but will provide trick-taking fans with plenty of challenge. It was a bit slow, but none of us had played before. Ty tells me that 4 rounds can be played in about 90 minutes, which would be more than acceptable. I think we played for about 2 hours and managed to complete 3 rounds. Except for the slow play, I liked it a lot. I’d rate this experience as a 6, but this will certainly increase if the pace picked up, which it’s sure to do with experience.
HEXEN RENNEN
Probably the biggest disappointment for me. I had heard good things about it, and perhaps I was expecting something different. It’s essentailly a roll and move game with some (not nearly enough, in my opinion) opportunity for interaction. In our game, I was essentially eliminated from the start when I couldn’t get off the first space for several turns because all the spaces ahead of me were blocked. Fortunately, it was a fairly short game (40 minutes) and my opponents were enjoyable. And in case Kyle was wondering, I did indeed sleep with one eye open.
CROKINOLE
I figure I played 15-20 games of this and loved it. The highlights were my 2 matches in which Craig Berg was my partner. I must find one of these, but I’m not a big fan of the $160 price tag.
WEREWOLF
As far as games go, this was by far the highlight of GG8 for me. I had never played before and managed to get several people interested in this on Friday night. Fortunately, Frank and Sandi were there to get it going and I had more fun than I’ve had in a long long time. Richard Glanzer was absolutely hilarious and Sandi did a terrific job of leading both Friday and Saturday night. I definitely look forward to trying this again at my next GG and need to find a way to play it before then. I’d rate Friday night a 9.5 (probably as close to a 10 as I have ever been) and Saturday night an 8.
Thanks again to everyone who helped make this another incredible weekend! Our plans for Pensacola are up in the air, but we will discuss it as the time approaches and see if we can work it out.