Mid-Year Report

The year is half over, so I thought I'd look back on my most-played games at this point of 2010.

As I looked at the totals, I couldn't miss an obvious conclusion. The year 2010 is the year that I found Looney Labs games. While the games are not universally loved by gamers (largely because of their chaotic nature), they are fun and quick-playing.

In some ways their quick play makes for an unfair comparison. I'll obviously get more plays out of a Looney Labs game that take 15 minutes to play than a GMT or Fantasy Flight game that takes seven hours. Because of this I have to give a special recognition to GMT's Here I Stand, which I've only played once this year (plus once in December 2009). At this point it would win the 2010 best "new-to-me" game.

With that caveat, here's the list (through June 30th).

1. EcoFluxx (which I've only owned for about a month, but I've played 11 times)
2. Chrononauts (another Looney Labs game, which I've played 9 times)
2. Farkel (a traditional dice game that I've also played 9 times)
4. Early American Chrononauts (Looney Labs' retheming of Chronauts, which I've played 8 times)
4. Hive (which I've also played 8 times, although about half of these were on the iPhone app)
6. Killer Bunnies REMIX (which was the Friday night game of choice for much of the winter and was played 6 times)
6. Long Shot (which is moving up fast, with 6 plays, having been the Friday night choice for the last couple of months)
8. Roll Through the Ages: The Bronze Age (which I don't even own a physical copy of, but I've played 4 time as an iPhone app)
9. Descent: Journeys in the Dark (a fun dungeon crawl that I've played 3 times, and I think will be played a lot more this year)
9. Scrabble Slam (which I played 3 times with Gillian's family in Jamaica)
9. World Cup Card Game 2010 (which is lots of fun, but probably will be stuck with 3 plays at the end of the year, since the World Cup is almost over)

Long Shot

The boys and I had a chance to try out Z-Man Games' Long Shot this afternoon. I ordered it back on May 6th (from Amazon, for $39.95). Long Shot was listed on several folks' top-10 lists for 2009. It's highly rated as a party game.

The game is built around a horserace theme. Players roll dice on their turn to determine which horses move (and how far). Players also draw and play cards that can cause horses to move forward or back on the track. But Long Shot is far more than a roll-and-move game. The object of the game is to have the most money when the race ends. Players start with $25 and can use the money to buy horses or bet on horses (regardless of who owns them). The buying and betting occurs throughout the race, so as a horse's track position changes, it affects the betting and the players' decisions regarding card play. At the end of race, the owners of the top-three horses earn $100, $75 and $50 (respectively) and the horses pay off to the players who placed bets on them.

Andrew won our game with $425. I finished second with $365, and Patrick had $245. All three of us enjoyed the game, and I think it will be even better with more people.

The game represents my latest effort to find a "Friday night" game. The problem is that no one is in the mood for anything complicated on Friday night. Plus, Teresa and Gillian dislike games with even a moderate "take that" element (such as Uno and Killer Bunnies). Farkle was working well, but I was getting a little burned out. While there is a good amount of interaction in Long Shot, there isn't much negative interaction. Also, Teresa likes horse racing, so I'm hoping the theme will appeal to her.

Return of the Killer Bunnies

We played Killer Bunnies REMIX tonight at mom's after dinner. Andrew picked up three carrots in the first few minutes, but then spent most of the next 30 minutes without a bunny. Meanwhile, Patrick, Teresa and I each picked up one carrot. After Teresa picked up a second carrot, Andrew was able to get a bunny into play -- allowing him to grab a fourth carrot. Andrew then played a bunny-casino card (as a saved special) and was able to get enough money to buy the last two carrots -- giving him a total of six. (Mom didn't have any carrots.) With six carrots in play, it wasn't surpriing when Andrew had the magic carrot (Presto).

Now that we've played a handful ot times, I feel a little more certain saying that I like the game. It was certainly worth the $18 I spent on it. I would compare it with Mille Bornes. It's a fairly light card game (although it has more going on than Mille Bornes), with a certain amount of "take that" when folks play nasty cards on each other. Thus I couldn't recommend it to a group uncomfortable with playing mean cards on other people.

Killer Bunnies REMIX comes with three decks. The first deck has enough cards to get a feel for the rules of the game. Once players feel comfortable with the starter deck (which is just about when the game starts feeling stale), they can add cards (and rules) from the other two decks. Tonight we added the rest of the yellow and blue cards to the mix. In addition to adding a little more money and a couple of new Terrible Misfortunes to the mix, this (roughly) doubled the number of weapon cards -- including a number of weapons that affect bunnies adjacent to the targeted bunny. The newly-added cards also add a few unusual events (such as the casino card that Andrew used to win the game) and Free-agent Bunnies (that act as wild cards for completing sets).

Happy Birthday to Mom

We celebrated Mom's birthday today. (The photo to the right is from our trip to Washington, DC last August.) Her birthday is February 29th, so she doesn't have an actual birthday this year. We all met at her house for dinner and games. Part of Mom's present was that we didn't force her to play games.

First we played a game of Killer Bunnies REMIX. This is the second time we've played the starter deck with six players. It seems too easy for someone to go half of the game without a bunny. I'm hoping that adding in the additional decks (from the REMIX set) will add more bunnies. Otherwise we may need to limit the game to five people. I wasn't dealt a bunny today, and it took me about five draws to get one in play. He was quickly killed by Teresa, and I then went about five more rounds without one. Andrew had two bunnies at one point, but lost them both; he then spent the second half of the game without a bunny. Gillian lost her only bunny in the third round (on an attack by Patrick) and never had another one for the rest of the game. I ended up buying two carrots at the end of the game, and one of them (the martial arts carrot) ended up the magic carrot. Dennis played and didn't like the game.

Patrick beat me in two games of Hive this morning on the iPod Touch. We brought the board version over to Mom's, and Patrick beat me while we explained the rules to the rest of the group. Patrick also beat Dennis, but then Andrew beat Patrick. Patrick is the best in the group at the game, but he's also played it the most. I would definitely recommend Hive anyone who likes abstract strategy games, especially anyone who would like something faster and easier than chess. The simplicity and portability would also make it attractive to anyone looking for a light filler game. Anyone curious about the game can try a free online version (solitaire, against the AI) at the Hive website.

Return of Killer Bunnies

We played a game of Killer Bunnies REMIX tonight at Mom's. I held the magic carrot (Remington) at the end of the game. Also playing were Gillian, Patrick, Mom, Andrew and Teresa. Everyone seemed to have a good time. Mom and Teresa want to play again with the starter deck before adding in the extra cards.

Two Killer Bunnies Quests

We played Killer Bunnies REMIX at Mom's last night and again this afternoon. Both games were a lot of fun. We're starting to get the hang of it, using the starter deck, but I don't think we're ready to use the full deck yet.

Teresa won last night's game. I spent most of the game without a bunny in the circle. Yet only one of my bunnies was killed by an attack -- the other three bunnies were killed by Terrible Misfortune cards. So, when the game ended, I lost my one carrot to Teresa, giving her a total of two. Mom and Andrew had three apiece, while Patrick had two. The magic carrot ended up being Tucker the Pirate Carrot -- held by Teresa (giving her the victory). It took everyone awhile to figure out the rules, and get comfortable with the idea of attacking each other without feeling guilty. Well, to be honest, it didn't take the boys long to enjoy attacking each other, but Mom and Teresa felt guilty for most of the game.

Andrew, Patrick and I played another game this afternoon. While Andrew had the most bunnies for most of the game, he wasn't able to get many carrots -- and one of them was stolen by Patrick. At the end of the game, Patrick had six carrots, I had three, and Andrew had only one. Patrick had the magic carrot -- Butch, the construction-worker carrot -- and won the game.

It's a hard game to explain to someone. Killing bunnies isn't a theme that attracts most people. Mom described the game to Non, who said it "sounded awful." But it is fun if you can get past the silliness. I'm also sympathetic to those who complain that the game is too driven by luck. In Friday night's game there was literally nothing that I could do, since I didn't draw a bunny after the first ten minutes. Also, while I like the mechanic that allows anyone with one bunny and one carrot at the end of the game to have a shot at winning, it may be overly frustrating for some folks to lose despite having a majority of the carrots. In short, while I enjoy Killer Bunnies, it probably is a game that should be tried first before buying.

Killer Bunnies on Clearance at Target

I was shopping at Target last night, and Killer Bunnies REMIX was on clearance for 30% off. The game is regularly $24.99, but I was able to pick it up for under $18.

The Killer Bunnies series started in 2002 with Killer Bunnies and the Quest for the Magic Carrot. I've never played the game (or seen it played), but the idea of a silly card game appeals to me. In Killer Bunnies, players try to manage a group of bunnies and acquire carrot cards. Players can play cards to slow down other players' progress and protect their own bunnies. The cards have funny artwork and (somewhat) clever titles. While the game's ratings at BoardGameGeek aren't all that strong, the game was popular enough that a series of expansion packs have been published over the last eight years -- adding more cards and more silliness.

The set that I picked up at Target -- REMIX -- is a collection of 310 of the best cards from the various sets (as selected by the designers). It's sort of the greatest hits collection of the series. I'm not sure that the game will be that great, but I thought that it would be worth a try for $18. My only concern is that I may have pulled the trigger too fast; my Target had about six copies, and I wouldn't be surprised if a week or two from now I could have picked it up for 50% or 75% off.