Game Sessions - Fair Play Games

Even though Fair Play takes up most of our time and our game time these days are limited, we still manage to play.  Below are some of our game session reports.

November 7th and 8th: Great Lakes Games in Toledo, Ohio

Written by Mike Petty

Friends of ours from Grand Rapids, Dave and Theresa Vander Ark and Chris and Elaine Lohroff organized Great Lakes Games. Some regular, faithful customers from years back will recognize Chris' name as the previous owner of Fair Play!

Kendra and I headed down to Toledo Friday morning, about 12 hours after the four-day event began. We had a van full of games, as Dave kindly invited us to represent Fair Play at the gathering. I had never attended an event like this and except for some hopes to play a couple games, I had very little expectations. As it turned out, the event was non-stop fun and I can't wait until they do the next one! The best thing about it for me was everyone brought their games and left them on tables around the banquet hall. Any of these games were available for anyone to play. I immediately saw many titles I'd hoped to try out before, but never had the extra cash to buy. I couldn't wait to get them all on the table!

I was glad to see so many friends from Protospiel showing up. Jeph Stahl and his girlfriend Edith were partners in many games, as was Bill Byrd, who I just met last summer at Protospiel 2004. Playing games with these friends, along with my wife, proved to be a ton of fun. We made a few new friends as well. Here's a brief overview of the games we played together that most stood out to us.

New England

This is really a great game. I've only played twice, so I have much to learn. We played with Matt and Susan, a couple from Ann Arbor and they both played very well. Both times I've played I seem to spread myself too thin. Matt came from behind in the last two rounds and shocked us all by winning. I understand why this game sells so well and made it as Game of the Year in Games Magazine.

Carabande

The one game I hoped to play over the weekend was Pitchcar or Carabande, the original version of the game. I finally got my chance partway through Friday. My wife and I played with Dave Vander Ark's daughter and Christian Leonhard, a very experienced gamer that we just met. It was a nice little game that I easily won due to a couple lucky shots. So extremely simple yet fun, I see why this game appeals to so many gamers. I'd be glad to play this game at anytime.

Thingamajig

This was the hit of the weekend for me, possibly because it reminded me of one of my own designs. The idea is to give clues to the word displayed on the electronic gizmo. In general, everyone gets a point for guessing the word and the cluegiver gets a point for each person who guesses it. If everyone guesses the word, though, the cluegiver gets zero points, so the trick is to be vague. I could have played for hours. Maybe I also liked it so much also because it was one of the few games I won all weekend!

Mystery of the Abbey

I love deduction games. Even though this one is a little too chaotic for any pure deduction, it's a very fun game. Jeph and Bill made it hilarious with their role playing. Kendra absentmindedly stumbled on the culprit when asking one question. I kept questioning about that suspect, thinking it was too early to be on the right track. Then I accidentally gave away enough information that Rob Wood took a risk and formally accused Novice Basil. The game had been going for over 60 minutes, but I doubted he'd be ready to make a correct accusation. He was right, though and he easily won the game with only his four points from the accusation.

Code 7

After Jeph realized how much I liked deduction, he asked if we'd play this classic Robert Abbott game with him and Edith. The idea of the game is to guess the three numbered and colored cards that are in front of you. All players see your cards except you. I've always wanted to try the game, so Kendra and I happily agreed. Andrew Stanley, a gamestore owner from Canada joined us too. It soon became clear that Kendra was very good at this game. Usually I can hold my own in these games, but she won her three points quickly and ended the game. I think I need to improve my note taking techniques. I'd be glad to try this game anytime as well as any of the other versions that were published.

Attribute

Attribute was the second game that really caught my attention at GLG. Again, it's so simple, yet it has room for a lot of creativity. Similarities to Apples to Apples are very clear, as it has to do with adjectives describing words. There's no doubt, though, I'd grab Attribute over Apples to Apples any day. With the freedom to come up with your own categories, Attribute can be played in a style that fits the interest or personalities of the group. Added to the hilarious combinations of words is the action element of grabbing cards. Altogether this is a game that players can't help but have fun with.

Clans

We played this with a couple ladies who were looking for something lighter than the intense strategy games that were hitting the table in other more competitive groups. I was glad to finally see how the game plays, as it has been a very fast seller at Fair Play. Much to our surprise, Kendra and I tied in this game.

On the way home Kendra and I tried to remember all the other games that at least one of us played during the weekend. I was surprised we fit so as many games in as we did in only two days. Here's what we came up with:

Bamboleo, Stermenhimmel, Papua, Turfmaster, Mother Lode of Sticky Gulch, Fresh Fish, Queen's Necklace, Werewolf, Coloretto, Honey Bears and Zendo.

I hope it's clear from this brief report that Great Lakes Games was a tremendous success. I've heard nothing but positive comments from all attendees and I can't wait until Chris and Dave arrange the next one! By the way, if you're interested in getting more information about future Great Lakes Games, write me at mapetty@newworldgames.com and I'll be sure you're kept up to date.

May 17th, 2003

Games Played: Mare Nostrum, Crokinole, Titan:The Arena, Lord of the Rings, US Patent Number One, Werewolf, Bang!, Man Bites Dog, TransAmerica, Mystery Rummy 4, Cosmic Encounter, Paris, Paris, Samurai

We celebrated our first games day last month and it was a success! This year we met at The Coffee Tree Cafe, the new coffee shop in here in Lapeer, Michigan. Many thanks to Mike, the owner, who provided us with free space and plenty of great food and drinks throughout the day.

Months ago I started a rough plan for Game Day. As it approached, I decided my only plan would be to just bring a bunch of games. Normally I bring one plastic tub of games to any gaming event, but this was definitely a two-tub event. Since a few others brought games as well, there were stacks of games around the room offering plenty of variety to choose from. You'll see from the list of games played that we didn't concentrate just on newer releases. Attendees varied from serious gamers to friends who are barely familiar with any of the games out there. I was very happy to see this wide range of players enjoying themselves throughout the day.

Russ and Sandy, our friends from the Detroit area, arrived about 10:30 and we kicked things off with Mare Nostrum. I joined in, along with Terry and his brother-in-law Josh. Two hours later, David (our "shipping manager") took my place. I thought I was pretty much out of the game and I was dying to try some of the many other games available. As it turns out, David came back to power and at over four hours of game time, he won!

In the meantime, my wife Kendra led a game of Titan the Arena and the Lord of the Rings boardgame. That group of players consisted of David's brother Joe and David's friend Mike. Apparently the Lord of the Rings game was won easily with Sauron only moving about four spaces forward. I didn't get many details, but everyone had a good time.

About this time my cousin Ryan showed up. We played a few games of crokinole while the never-ending battles of Mare Nostrum raged on. We first tried a two-player game so I could show him the rules. We then went up against Kendra and Mike and easily won. The crokinole board saw a lot of use throughout the day and once again held its place as a game to be enjoyed by all types of gamers.

We needed a five-player game at this time, so Mike pulled out his copy of US Patent Number One. The group was Mike, myself, Ryan, Kendra and Joe. We plodded through the first couple turns, then once it started making sense we got into the race-a little anyway. The idea was to be the first person to travel back in time and secure the very first US patent for your time machine. Overall, the game was tolerable at best. When Mike had a complete time machine, he was close to the patent office and he easily slipped in for a win. I don't think anyone would have tried to stop him if they could have!

When Mare Nostrum finally ended, we had the whole group together and we tried a couple games of Werewolf. Most of the players hadn't played before, so the first game was a little rough. The second game went better. Werewolf is a strange sort of game where the enjoyment doesn't necessarily come from winning. Consequently, it didn't work for everyone, but given the many outbursts of laughter and discussion, I know most of the group had a lot of fun.

A few people took a break for food at this time and Andy, another friend of David's, joined us. Russ lead us in a game of Bang! next. He came up with a variant based on an overall score throughout two games. The winner would be the person who had the most lives left (at most two) after the two games. If there was a tie, it was broken by the player with the most kills (counting only the kills that matched the objective of the player's role). I had Calamity Janet and her ability to use Bangs and Misses interchangeably worked very well for me. I lived through both games with barely a scratch and won the game.

As if Bang! wasn't light and random enough, we then turned to Man Bites Dog. Terry's wife had just arrived and I know she usually likes lighter games with a lot of laughs. I wasn't sure how it would go over with the others, but it ended up being hilarious. We played with an additional rule that the best (?) headline would score an extra 50 points. Since the game is based more on making funny headlines than it is on skillful play, no one really cared about the points much anyway. We had a few laughs determining which was best though. We later determined that any headline with the word "dog" in it had a pretty good chance of getting the bonus. I'm not sure why "dog" seemed so funny, but I guess that was just the mood we were in. David won. I'm sure the victory was the high point of his day.

A few others split for food just when Terry's sister Tracy stopped in. Kendra, Patty, Terry and I joined with her for a game of Transamerica. The game lasted only two rounds, with Patty successfully closing her track off both times. Terry was the only other player who didn't move off the scoring track, so it wasn't exactly a close game.

After this, most of the crowd returned from eating and we split into three groups. The ladies started out with a three-player game of Mystery Rummy 4. Kendra and I have enjoyed the game a lot as a two-player game, but she said it didn't work as well with three. She did manage to win though.

David and his friends began a game of Cosmic Encounter. Two of them had never played before, but they seemed to enjoy the experience a lot as they learned the game. David came out ahead for his third win of the day.

I used this time to teach Terry and Russ the rules to Paris, Paris. We played a fairly tight game, but I was in the lead the whole time until the last couple turns. I was hoping the bag would provide me with the additional points I needed to take the victory. As it turned out, Terry and I tied with the most businesses in the bag, so I gained no points from it. Russ ended up winning.

For the final game, we turned to Samurai. Russ has always been interested in this one, so he was anxious to learn it. Terry and I had played together once before. There's a lot to think about in this game and every time I play I see more of the depth it offers. As usual, I couldn't quite keep track of what tokens the other two were going for. Russ and I ended up tying in Buddhas and rice, allowing Terry to take a complete victory.

All in all, it was a very fun day. I enjoyed the company and the games. Terry and I are definitely looking forward to hosting another game day sometime later this year. Keep visiting the site, or better yet, sign up for the newsletter for updates on our next event.