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

Long Shot by Z-Man Games has become our regular Friday night game this summer, and tonight was no exception. Andrew is back home from Springfield, but he skipped the game to mow Mom's lawn. Non also sat out the game, since she was feeling a little tired.

One of Mom's two horses, Eight is Enough, finished second. She combined his purse with a pile of cash (and one well-placed bet) to win the game with $230. My horse, Wonder Bred, won the race, but I finished second with $150. Gillian's horse didn't show, but she finished third with $135. One of Patrick's horses, Six Gun, finished third, and Patrick finished with $115. Teresa finished with $110.

World Cup ... Again

A third game this afternoon of The World Cup Card Game. This time Andrew led Germany to a PK victory over the US. My Netherlands squad beat the Ivory Coast in the consolation game.

World Cup Rematch

With Andrew back in town, the boys and I tried out a three-player game of The World Cup Card Game. Andrew piloted Spain to the Cup, with a 4-3 final against France. (Germany beat England 4-1 in the Round of 16 in our card game, just as they did in today's actual game.) Andrew's Cameroon lost to Patrick's Algeria in the consolation game.

There's enough luck in the game to cause the occaissional upset and keep it interesting. But the better teams do have a slight advantage under the game's mechanics. Each team's card has a small number of icons that affect the game play to reflect their relative rankings. (Note that this is very primitive -- the game is not at all in the vein of a typical Strat-o-Matic or APBA game.)

Each player controls multiple teams, meaning that you have to make choices regarding which teams to "support" with the limited number of stronger cards. I may want to play my best cards to help the US win its match, but if I also control Germany, I may want to instead play the best cards for Germany -- figuring that they have a better chance of going all the way to the finals. It's a nifty mechanic that gives the better teams an advantage beyond what's printed on their cards.

The game is very enjoyable, but it is tied to its theme. Thus, while it's a blast to play this summer during the World Cup, I can't imagine pulling it out much once the World Cup is over (sort of the same way that Christmas music just "feels wrong" once the holidays have passed). The game's rules could certainly be applied to the Premiere League, for instance. And I'm hopeful that the game's creater, Shaun Derrick, will do this (once he's recovered from today's game).

Wonder Bred Wins by a Nose

Friday night at Mom's meant another round of Long Shot by Z-Man Games. Andrew is still at the Missouri Innovation Academy in Springfield (Missouri), and Non sat out, but the rest of us had one of the closest races ever.

Patrick continued with his strategy of only placing bets -- without ever buying a horse. It worked this time, as he won the game with $240. Dennis bought the race winner, Wonder Bred, and finished with $215. Gillian and Mom tied for third with $190. Gillian owned the second-place horse, Sure Lee, but Patrick had more money bet on the horse, which is why he was able to win. Mom owned the third-place horse, Rex in Effect. I finished with a mere $70, and Teresa finished with only $50.

In the seven weeks since I bought Long Shot, we've played it five times at Mom's. (We took one week off and played The Adventurers once.) I think it qualifies as a success.

World Cup Action

The 2010 World Cup is in full swing, and I'm loving every minute of it. I like international soccer a lot more than US Major League Soccer, and this year's World Cup seems to be full of drama. It's also nice because both boys are really into soccer this year. We spent much of the spring playing FIFA 2010 World Cup for the Wii.

A few weeks ago, I ran across a description of The World Cup Card Game from a British Company, Games for the World, at BoardGameGeek. The game's designer, Shaun Derrick, created a World Cup boardgame in 2006, that allows gamers to recreate the 2006 World Cup. (Gamers can also buy expansion packs that can be used for virtually every World Cup from the 20th century.) This year he adapted the game to a simpler card version for the 2010 World Cup. The game won the Best Cardgame award at the 2010 UK Games Expo.

The game isn't available (directly) in the States, but I was able to order it from the publisher using Paypal. I ordered the game on June 12, 2010 and the Royal Mail was able to get it to me on the 21st. The game cost $13.35 (including shipping, after conversion from pound sterling).

Patrick and I were able to give it a try today. The US won the Cup, defeating Germany in the final. (Italy and Spain took third and fourth.) The scores were completely realistic -- with most games finishing 0-0 or 1-0, with the occaissional 2-1 or 3-2 game. The biggest blowout was Ghana defeating Australia 4-0 in group play.

I'll write a more thorough review once I've had the opportunity to play it a few more times, but our initial impression was very positive. The game consists of 64 cards -- one for each World Cup team, plus 32 action cards. The photo (taken by Nic Chilton) gives some idea of what the cards look like.

More Long Shot

More of Z-Man Game's Long Shot last night. Andrew is still at the Missouri Innovation Academy in Springfield (Missouri), and Teresa had to leave early, so we were short-handed.

Gillian bought the horse Eight is Enough, and the horse ended up winning by about eight spaces. This, combined with some well-placed bets, gave Gillian the win with $310. Patrick tried out his new strategy of not buying any horses, but using all of his money for bets. He had $25 on Eight is Enough, but that wasn't enough, as he finished second with $265. Mom had the second-place horse, Six Gun, and finished with $205. Non had the third-place horse, Slow Jenn, and finished with $200. I was far behind with $110.

Everyone but me finished with more money than last time, and most folks feel that we're understanding the game better than before. Dennis is supposed to get off of work early next Friday, and he has requested that we play Long Shot.