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.

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.