Game of States

 

I found this for $10 at the swap meet - The Game of States. It is actually 2005, but seems much older. It really isn't that bad of game - it is actually a pick up and deliver game (very basic...it is a kid game) and actually not bad to play (pretty quick).  For a "regular" board game, this was rather cute and I could see how you could work this into geography homework.  I got all my capitals right for the bonus...Ray only got one!  He needs to work on it! 

 

This is a "gamer" game, but still a fun little find.  I am not sure we'll keep it that long, but I think the kids might like it. 

Our "recycling" plan

 

So we "recycle" - we sell games to buy new ones!!  The Anchorage game store (Bosco's) stated having "swap" meets where you can rent a spot and sell your old stuff.  We took in some games we weren't enamored of and got enough to buy this pile!! Yah!!

 

With such a large collection, we constantly have to be going through and we are hoping they will keep up these swap meets and we can do this at least once a year as it really hard to try to sell games online due to shipping (and the Alaska thing).  We've done some online trading with our gaming networks, but even that has been quite a headache (setting up meetings, etc....they feel rather clandestine as well!).

Ticket to Ride Switzerland

We bought this recently, based on the fact that Tom at the Dice Tower said it was great for two player.  It really was a fun little version.  The fact that there are more "open" destinations that you can go many ways on was very interesting!  And the board is definitely tight at two, we both had to go around a couple of times! This is a great find, easy to play, as all the Ticket to Ride games are, and great for that two to three player group, which we do a lot of.

Therapy the Game

So my sister in law found this at a thrift store and being that's she's a psychologist, she had to have it. This is an 80s game and therefore has many of those pitfalls (roll and move, needing to be on certain spaces, etc.), but yet if you take this with a grain of salt and play for fun (meaning don't get all serious about the answers to the personal questions) and augment a few rules, it really is a bunch of fun.  So this has a trivial pursuit like mechanic in that you are moving around a board, collecting patients, which you get by successful "therapy."  Therapy is when you ask a question to someone and they write down their answer (so like how would you rate your self-esteem from 1 to 10) and you also write it down. If you are get it right, they are "cured."  (you get a 1 point leeway on each side for the numerical ones, so like if their answer as 8, you could put 7, 8 or 9).  You also do group therapy where they write it down and then the rest of you come up with an answer.  The one caveat here is you do need to know each other!  We had a bit of an issue with that with one person only knowing one other, so that was a bit hard at times.  We did change the rule where we never took away pegs (to shorten the game).   

Parfum

This is a great game and I love the theme - perfume making!  I feel my husband got a bit shafted this year...he was running around Origins, buying "girl" themed games - I wanted both this and Rococo! 

 

This is a nice worker management game, not too heavy, but not super light either.  You bid on turn order and, based on how early you go, you get less actions.  So the later you go, the more actions you get....but then you might not get the good customers or the good perfume options.  If you are in the lead, it doesn't matter...you pick last and get's what left.  You actually roll dice to see if your perfumes take and you actually get nothing.  I really enjoy that this is a fun, different theme that really appeals more to the female audience.  While Ray and I have played this, I have also been playing with my sister-in-law and mother (as you can see here).  Lots of fun!

 

This does work pretty well at two player, but having now played it three player, it is better with a larger group. Much more competitive!

Kingsburg

Yes, that's really Kingsburg under the cat!  She was playing I guess!  We removed her to finish the game.  She was not amused.

 

If you haven't already played it, Kingsburg is a great dice management game. What is cool is that you role and then use the dice totals to "influence" various advisors to get your resources.  You can always build one building, but you have to get the resources first, which can be quite tricky. You also have to worry about the end battle of each round, meaning you also need to think about military strength.  This is a great little game, quick and easy to play two player. 

 

I'd avoid the cat in the game though.