Games and James - Games of Christmas 2013

Each year, the vacation I take for Christmas is an extended period of time, always lasting through New Year's Eve.  During this festive time, we celebrate the holidays (in particular Christmas -- "the most wonderful time of the year") and we gather with family and friends.  We've also developed a long tradition of filling many of our hours with gaming, and the three days of December 29, 30 and 31 in particular are almost completely devoted to games.

I heard this year that Adam thinks of these days as the very best days of the year.  It's not hard to understand why this is:  Adam loves games, and he has grown up, his whole life, with this period of gaming surrounding him.  As a young child he could only watch, but as he grew, he got more involved, and now he anticipates "New Year's Gaming."  By the way my other children react and participate, I think the feeling is similar for each of them.

To commemorate the gaming which is such a big part of our holidays, I have written an annual summary of the "Christmas-time games" in this blog for four years now.  (See 2009,  2010,  2011, and 2012.)  Continuing the tradition, here is the annual "Snippets and Wisps" recap of the games which were played over the long holiday vacation.


This year, we had many new games join the roster.  I think I will start with those, and then move on to the older games.

Games New to Us This Year

Alhambra - I wrote about this game back in January of last year, after seeing it on the web series TableTop. I never did buy it, though, so I put it on my Christmas list and received it from Adam and Marisa.  I won the first game we played, and Sherry won the second game we played (and the first she played.) Still, it was pretty clear that everyone who played it enjoyed it.

Elder Sign - Here's another game I saw first on TableTop.  Convinced I would like it, and so would my friends, I bought it.  Still, it sat unopened until this Christmas.  The game is actually pretty fast to play -- Once You Know the Rules!  Well, the rules took a long time to read and explain, which was strange because I watched people actually play it on TableTop (video of the game is here) and I thought it was very well explained.  The game is a trimmed-down version of Arkham Horror, played without a board, and so it is another cooperative game, with all the players trying to defeat the game together.  We didn't actually finish (probably because it was time to eat one of Sherry's fantastic meals) but it was pretty clear we were going to win.  I must play this soon with my Rochester Game Dudes.

Ticket to Ride: Africa and Ticket to Ride: India are new maps, with some rules variations, for the popular Ticket to Ride railroad games.  I greatly enjoy this style of game, but I must admit that I did not play either of these during this Christmas vacation.  Why?  Well, as you can see, there were many games to be played.  And this type of game appeals to several of my guests who did not like playing other games (such as Dominion or Magic: the Gathering.)  So, sometimes there were two different games going on, and I had to make a choice.  Troy and Sarah own almost all of these games, and I see them more frequently, so I figure I will get a chance to play these at some point.  I certainly hope so!  The reviews I got from those who played them sounded quite positive.

Smallworld: Underground - Another Days of Wonder game, and another I did not get to play!  What makes this even more surprising is that I bought this game earlier this year, forgot I had done so, didn't open it until December 29, and had never played it before!  But still, I was busy with some other game, so Lucas, Troy and someone else played it.  They said it was good, and I believe them!  I certainly like Smallworld (it will come up in the list below.)  And while I did not see this version of the game on TableTop, I did see the original there, so this makes the third game on the "New Games" list tied to that web series.

Rayman: Legends (for the Wii U) - Sherry surprised me with this gift for Christmas.  We enjoy playing video games together (she usually watches while I play and gives me ideas of what to try next) so it's not surprising she would buy a game.  What was surprising is that I had not asked for this game.  I guess she saw a short review of it on TV somewhere and thought it sounded fun.  We started it after the crowds had left, and we are having fun with it.  It's a single-player side-scrolling game, with many options.  I will probably write more of a review when we have played more of the game.



Games We Had Played Before

Superworld  is the traditional game of the holiday season at the Will house.  We've been playing this Superhero Role Playing Game for over 20 years on or around New Year's Eve. This year, our group of heroes was sent on a search and rescue mission.  The team included Anastasia, Foil, Solo, Toymaker, Phoebe, Phoenix (no, not that one) and Icebird.  This year's scenario took some real determination and focus on the task at hand.  We captured a flunkie working for our arch-enemy, General Isotope, who has been a thorn in our side since we started playing.  This flunkie could have led us straight to the General's compound!  But, we are heroes, and there were people missing and probably in danger.  We had to put off our assault on General Isotope so we could explore an abandoned mine and attempt to rescue some ordinary folks from the clutches of unknown super-villains, while also attempting to avoid waking what we dubbed "Water Cthulhu" which was living in the underground Lake of Evil. Exciting!

Magic: the Gathering.  Though this is one of the favorites for many of us, we do not typically get to play many games of it over the break, because it does not involve enough of us.  That was true again this year for the times when a large group of us was around, but there were several times when fewer people were available, and then we Magic players played.  There were three 2-Headed-Giant games played, and a couple of Three-For-Alls.  I did not participate in the Three-For-Alls this year, because there were other games to be played.  Including ...





 Dominion. This is the game I have been most interested in for the past year. It might be my new favorite game (perhaps excluding M:tG.)
I wrote about it  before in this blog, and I've played it quite a bit since last Christmas.  Both games which were played this year included the Dark Ages expansion I received last Christmas.  And I even won a game, despite the fact that Adam and Lucas were playing, too (they are very, very good at Dominion.  Very Good.)



The Great Dalmuti - Again, a New Year's Eve tradition. It's not fair, but then again, life is not fair. And we all play for fun.  We called Mike as we started to play, to wish him a Happy New Year and a big Huzzah! This year the ones who earned their way to being crowned Great Dalmuti were Sherry and Paul, so I was always part of the crowd wishing the new Dalmuti Huzzah!





Skip-Bo is an old stand-by and must be played every New Year's Eve. We had a 6-player game one day, and then an 8-player game the next.  The game says it's designed for up to 6, but we figured out how to have two teams of four, and it was quite exciting.  I believe it moved much faster, and that's not a bad thing.

Small World is a really fun game I encountered because of the new web series "Tabletop" on the Geek and Sundry YouTube channel.  I bought it immediately and played it soon after.  I mentioned the Underground expansion above, which I did not play.  But I played this original game again.  I didn't win, but I really don't care much about that.  Honestly.  And I know this is one of the games which Tyler was around to enjoy, so that was a bonus.

 

Star Trek Catan - I am surprised to find that I have not blogged about this game yet.  It's a version of Settlers of Catan, but done in space, and with new rules which incorporate the characters from Star Trek (the Original Series.)  Personally, while I greatly enjoy the original Settlers game, I find this version to be much more fun.  I was glad to introduce it to Paul.  When it first came out, it was only available at Target.  I'm not sure if it's more widely available now, but I was very happy to receive it (for my birthday, I think.)

Lord of the Rings: the Card Game - I have played this game a few times with Troy and Sarah.  We were the only ones who played it over Christmas.  It's another cooperative game (I am quite happy these games are being designed!)  Before playing this game, I had never been involved in a cooperative game where the players lost.  This time?  The game kicked us to the curb, ran over us with its back tires, and splashed mud on us as it left us for dead.  Later in the vacation, Troy and Sarah redesigned their decks to have a better chance of beating the scenario, and they won!  What a cool idea!  Learning by losing, and then cooperatively redesigning to win.



Whoonu - Making its return for the first time since 2009, this party game is a game you play to get to know your friends and family. Paul and Sherry demonstrated their knowledge of the others by sharing victory, though if Adam had not mistakenly put another card in the sleeve when it came time to learn about Sherry, his "Scrapbooking" answer would have put Sherry over the top, we are sure!



Funglish was played in 2010 and 2011, but somehow did not get played in 2012.  I'm glad it made a comeback. It is really funny, as long as you're not too terribly interested in who wins.

Legend of Zelda - The Wind Waker. Apparently, this is a Christmastime game.  Leah looked back through my blog to see when we had played this last, and it was around Christmas several years ago.  In any case, it's been a long time, and as far as I can tell, I never owned the game.  I think it belonged to Lucas.  So, when the game came out for the Wii U, I decided to pick it up again.  The changes for the Wii U are not all that significant.  It is prettier -- it takes advantage of the High Definition capabilities of the system.  We finished beating Ganondorf the evening of December 28th, just before company arrived on December 29th.  For the record, we only had 12 Hearts of health, and we completed the final battle with a fairy left in a bottle.  I am glad to have it in my library of games, and I bet I will go back to it again in a few years.

Forge of Empires - I must include this as an Honorable Mention, since I have played this online multiplayer game over the break.  I've completed all of the ages which have been released to this point (Progressive Age is the last one so far.)  I mentioned this game in late January, 2013, so I guess I have been a part of the game now for about a year.  It's something I would probably have given up (Mike and Adam have) if I didn't have a couple of friends and a couple of family still playing.

Dave and Buster's - I haven't mentioned this before, but during many of our recent Christmas seasons, the Will family has gathered at this restaurant which features a large number of arcade and video games.  I can't possibly enumerate each of the games which were played, but we certainly had fun playing them!

I think I have listed every game, though I reserve the right to revise this post (I almost forgot three games as I was preparing this!)  As you can see, the Will House is a very game-filled house over the long Christmas-to-New-Year's-Eve break, and we enjoy those games quite a bit!  In the coming year, I will be looking for even more new games to add to next year's gathering.

But I would be remiss if I did not list the most entertaining part of Christmas and New Year's:  James!  Having a grandson around for all of the eating and talking and gaming was extremely special.  In fact, when we were playing Great Dalmuti, we assigned the Least Merchant the job of sitting out and watching this nearly-9-month old.  That position -- Least Merchant -- was the most coveted position in the game!


              HUZZAH!