Wharfside

 

We backed this on Kickstarter and it arrived about a week ago.  We LOVE Fleet,  but honestly, even with the robots (which work really well for robots), it isn't a great two player game.  You can (and we do) play it two player, but it is better with more. This is a GREAT two player game. I love how the markets change automatically.  This is a simple game, but there is plenty of strategy here. It also isn't that long, which makes it great to pull out for a quick game. 

 

I do wish the captains added more variety in that it really changed your overall strategy, but that's my only "complaint."  We played two games of this, both were close (we each won one).  The rules are easy to pick up, even for someone new to gaming (I would say this is easier to learn than Fleet).  Plus just like Fleet the cards are GORGEOUS!!

Viticulture

 

I have been super excited to try Viticulture and we recently purchased it and just got it to the table about a week ago. It was SO great.  I was so excited that this lived up to the hype in my mind.  We will definitely be purchasing the expansion!  First, I like that this is a "different" theme - the wine making theme comes through really well.  Second, it plays well at two player, but I think it will also do well in a larger setting.  Last, the components are gorgeous and the mechanisms all work really well.  This is not a beginner game, but it is also not super hard to learn to teach.  Definitely worth the purchase price!

Game Night

We are trying to get a monthly game night going...we are slowly building a core which is very exciting.  I'd like a few more people so that we have the option of one larger game or two smaller - right now we are stuck with having to do 6 player games as splitting up is hard.  So one or two more people would be nice, but I am really excited so far as our members are fabulous!

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).