A weekend at Origins...

We just got back late last night from Columbus and another great game convention.  This time two gaming friends of ours joined us which gave my partner some relief.  He likes board games, but not enough to spend all day swooning over and playing them.


Goa with the guys

As usual, I bought a bunch including the new Z-Man Games re-print of Goa, which was utterly abstract but thoroughly engaging, and Morels, a lovely independently produced 2-player card game about harvesting mushrooms, which I'm dying to try.  There were tons of booths set up in the trade show and Mayfair Games had a major presence.

Collapsed Saturday night on the giant Settlers of America rug/game board

We also had some great meals and wandered the lovely city.  And for the second year in a row, I had chocolate-covered bacon with my breakfast (I think a visit to The Jury Room will now be an annual pilgrimage.)

Asmodee's gorgeous new version of Evo is streamlined and ridiculously fun.

Overall, a great day and much more enjoyable with friends who are willing and wanting to game the entire day away.  I think it'll be a longer visit next year....

Best Origins-themed drink menu ever at Barley's Brewpub

Kelly, Daryl, and Shane - this is for you!





Amazing miniature tables as always



The haul, including Friday for my brilliant mother

Someone must have filmed us playing.....

My net- and game-savvy sister points me to this must-watch video which I think must have been made about MY gaming group.  Very slick and very, very funny.

You know these people, I know you know these people....



(But I still hate Settlers....)

Oh Tichu, how I hate thee....

Two games of Tichu.  

One last night ended with a friend shouting at his girlfriend and me shouting at the friend and calling him a rather immature term for a man's bits and pieces.

A game tonight with more heated arguments between another friend criticizing his partner and me trying to tell him his tone was out of line.

Sigh.  I think we need to shelve this one for awhile and go back to Dominion.  Does anyone else get this angry and passionate about Tichu?  It's actually becoming for us more volatile than a drunken game of Risk....

A little competition....

Yesterday, Vince and I were taken out for dinner. We had a competition with a couple of very good friends of ours, a straight couple we usually play board games with. Each game we scored according to our placement - winner getting 4 down to loser getting 1 - and totalled it up, gays vs. straights.

The gays won. And our reward was a dinner out. The competition for February pits the 'Primates vs. the Trophy Wives'. And in case it's not clear, Natalie and I are the Trophy Wives.

Here's a picture of 'Wasabi', one of the great games we played (Yes, it is a game about making sushi rolls with various ingredients. Awesome...)

Latest Dominion Strategy: Using the Remodel card to turn crappy Curse cards in your deck into game-winning Estates.