Gulo gulo....means "Wolverine"??

Surely this is a mistake.... when someone mentions a Wolverine, the first thing I think of that guy with the hair and claws from the X-Men. Not little cute furry things clutching eggs. But so it seems they are. "Gulo Gulo" is a great little game and much enjoyed by the kids. We played a couple of games last weekend.


Then last night, Anita and I played a great game of Ticket to Ride: Europe - after lights out for the kids and over a glass of wine and a drop of Malibu white rum. :) It turned out to be a complete thrashing by Anita - 120 points to 55. I tried desperately to link up Copenhagen to some place in Turkey but Anita cut me out by using all the trains up, leaving me with a 21 point penalty! Yikes! We agreed we should get the Ticket to Ride:USA edition at some point.


Final Score: Anita 120 Me 55

This morning we decided to crack open the new game Mystery of the Abbey - an interesting Whodunnit based in a monestary. A monk has been done over and it is up to each character to find out which of the 24 characters on the detective sheet did the deed. The abbey is divided up into a series of Latin named rooms, such as the Chapel, Bedrooms, Library etc. On each turn, the players visit rooms and question their fellow monks in the game to determine the characteristics of the wrong-doer - such as fat/thin, bearded/unshaven and which of the three Chapters. This is done by questioning the other players about the cards they hold or which they have marked off on their sheet.


Rooms also allow certain events to take place or cards to be drawn which effect the game. On each rotation of the game circle of players, the current First player moves a little Mass bell one space on the current Mass card until 5th rotation when mass is called (The little tinkling bell is shaken for effect) and all characters return to the Chapel.

It took a little while to get into with me returning to the rule book several times to help people out, but eventually we all got into the game with Anita finally revealing who she thought had done it and was successful. It was a little difficult to understand, especially for the children, what were the right sort of questions to ask, but eventually we all got into the swing of things. It was generally enjoyed by all but again, introducing adults-only to the game may present a different level of game play. Beware, this is a long game - 1 to 1.5hrs recommended.

Games games and more games!

Anita has gone games mad! She msn's me at work and says She's found Mystery of the Abbey - a sort of advanced version of Cluedo by Days of Wonder (So it must be good....) on Amazon from a US supplier for a decent price. Since when do wives go out and find games or take an interest in their husbands hobbies? That may sound incredibly sexist, but before I get a million complaints, she's never been interested in my games before. It must be to do with the fact that most of the games are a) WW2 based b) Some other war or modern battle based or c) Games Workshop.

Now she is buying games all over. Well I say she, she finds them, I pay for them lol. Anyhow, we found some more in the 'states. Would have been really good price too with the $0.5 to the £1.00 except for the outrageous postage costs......

Spread the joy of gaming

I was chatting to an old friend on msn the other day, a great guy from school who is a PhD in Astrophysics or something. Anyhow, we started talking about our game collection and I introduced him to boardgamegeek. He came back in a few days and was enthusing about two games he wanted to get and where to get them from, Puerto Rico and Pandemic. Even his wife wanted to get in on the act and was interested in Eketorp! Spread the news people! Yay!

Our ever increasing collection - in a trunk!

And here is a picture of our ever increasing collection of Euro games - This is just a part of our total game collection. Hidden in a sturdy oak trunk in the front room that is also a handy play surface.

When neighbours play games!

Friday was a great success. Andy and Maggie came over in the evening bringing wine and chat. We got down to a game of Zooleretto, which after a few moments of confusion and questions, was thoroughly enjoyed by all. Having adults only play adds a certain spin to the game - immediately Andy started to impliment a strategy and was doing very well. It was a VERY close game, with final scores:
Anita - 28
Maggie - 26
Andy - 25
Me - 22

With some more red wine poured out, we ploughed ahead with a game of Eketorp. The first round is always a little slow to start which helps in a way to get the newbies used to the rules. Then we started in earnest and it turned out to be a very good game, Andy turned into quite an opponent and I daftly went for broke on the last turn to get some extra building materials, leaving no one in the village to find it attacked from two sides!! With no defence, they got away with two bales of straw! The rotters! Final scores -
Me - 40
Anita - 31
Maggie - 26
Andy - 21

Overall they loved it and enjoyed themselves. It was a great way to de-stress and they couldn't believe there was such well designed games which had well built parts and were fun to play. They are looking forward to the next game evening - especially to play "Mystery of the Abbey".

Mystery of the Abbey arrives!

Hurray, Mystery of the Abbey has arrived! Why am I enthusing so sadly?? It took about 5 weeks to arrive! Ok, they sent it from the US but by what? A paddlesteamer? Anyhow it's here now and looks a typical Days of Wonder game - gorgeously printed board, well made cards and pieces. Can't wait to get on with it!

A Friday night of gaming fun planned

Just been around to invite our neighbours and friends, Andy and Maggie, for a relaxing evening of wine, nibbles and games. Ok it may not sound great, but they are both teachers, a highly stressful job, and next Friday marks the start of half-term (hurray they say!) so it'll be good for them to cool their heels with a free evening of fun, over a bottle of wine or three. Probably introduce them to Ticket to Ride: Europe, then maybe a quick filler like Formula Motor Racing and then finish up with something like Zooleretto or Citadels. Should be a nice evening in!