Board Game Night
Every other Saturday night, some local friends and I host our regular board game night. Sometimes we try new things, sometimes we play old favorites. Whenever we do happen to play something new, I do little write-ups on the games and how I feel about them.
Hopefully these help other prospective buyers and tabletop gamers figure out which games are worth trying and which may not be their thing. If you’ve played these games before, please don’t hesitate to leave your own thoughts in the comments!
Happy gaming!
Jolly Roger
Board Game Geek Score: 6.3
Players: 4-10
Yer a bloodthirsty band o’ pirates sailin’ the seven seas, lootin’, pillagin’, and buryin’ yer pilfered booty!
Coming out of the box, setup is fairly easy and straightforward but it’s the rules for this game that you have to spend some time muddling through. Once you get the flow of it, though, the game goes fairly smoothly.
Given that one of the game-ending mechanics is getting through the rewards deck, we actually ended the game in Round 7 (out of 10) so it felt weirdly short and abrupt. Our band of pirates didn’t really mutiny near as much as one might expect, though, so that may have contributed to how short the game felt.
Overall, it was a fun little game but it didn’t really enrapture me to any degree. If you’re a fan of yarr! piracy! then it might make a good game for you, as far as co-op card battlers go, I think there are better offerings out there.
On Tour
Board Game Geek Score: 7.0
Players: 1-8
Name your rock band, then plan out their tour across the map!
This is a lovely little game, finely packaged that comes out of the box really well. Setup and rules introduction is fairly simple, while the game itself can get fairly complex.
Planning out your route requires a lot of forethought, but also being mindful of the present and where you’re placing your numbers. The point of the game being to make the longest connect-the-dots style route across the map, going from smallest number to largest.
A nifty little write-and-roll game that has a subtle level of challenge to it. I always end up boxing myself into a corner somewhere, because I don’t pay attention to where my numbers are. However, if you’re good with planning and seeing the big picture, this game is a big win!
Dragonscales
Board Game Geek Score: 7.0
Players: 3-5
You’re a villain raiding the dragon’s lair! Steal treasure and escape before the dragon roasts you alive! Or stay and defeat the wyrm for the prestige of the win.
Setup is fairly easy. It’s a little rules heavy for all the mechanics involved, but once you get the gist of it they’re actually pretty simple. There are plenty of prompts on the board to remind you about what does what.
The number of characters you have to play offers plenty of variability between plays. I was particularly fond of Grimmveil and his minion army. There’s a little something for everyone with this game: card battle elements, dice rolling, moving pieces, resource gathering, plenty of things to do!
Definitely one worth having in your collection, in my humble opinion!
Marrakech
Board Game Geek Score: 6.7
Players: 2-4
Clever little carpet merchant, dominate the marketplace with your colors to coax Assam to buy your wares!
A beautifully constructed and boxed game, the carpet pieces are a really nice-feeling felt — though be careful, they stick together rather well!
The game itself is simple in terms of mechanics, but it gets pretty complex in terms of strategy! As Assam wanders the market and more and more spaces fill, it becomes a battle royale to find the choicest spaces and invite your fellow merchants to step on your carpets and pay you handsome fees!
I really love this game. We use it as our “end of the night” game because it’s lovely to look at, relaxing, but also a bit challenging in its own right. It plays pretty quickly, so it can also make a nice break game or filler between longer games.
