My board gaming story: Noob to Group Organizer

I have been a game teacher and game group organizer for a couple years now. It all began when I visited a FLGS which carried a stock of designer board games. At that time, the only designer game I owned was The Settlers of Catan, as did a handful of other people I knew. I had no idea how huge the board gaming world really was, but I very much enjoyed playing board games or card games whenever I had the chance.

So, while browsing the game selection at the FLGS, I gleefully read the backs of many boxes, eagerly searching for a potential buy. Of all the games I looked at that day, the most interesting was Bruno Faidutti’s Citadels. I didn’t buy the game that day, but I went home and started researching on the Internet.

This was when I first discovered Board Game Geek. I looked around the site briefly and reminded myself to come back later. At the time, I was intent on researching Citadels, so I went to the Fantasy Flight Games website (I had stored away the name of the Citadels publisher in my memory). On the FFG website, I browsed to the Citadels page where they had a free PDF of the rules for download. I read the rules, decided the game sounded fun, ran it by by my wife, and resolved to buy it.

I went back to Board Game Geek and read in the Citadels forums that some people prefer to sleeve their Citadels cards in Yu-Gi-Oh sleeves. I still remember that day: my wife had our only car. I asked her to go over to the FLGS and pick up Citadels. She picked me up from work that evening, and we headed over to the comic store to buy some sleeves. On the way home, I began sleeving the Citadels cards while my wife drove us home.

My wife and I quickly found that we enjoyed playing Citadels as a 2-player game. Shortly thereafter, I arranged for a several of my co-workers to meet me for a game of Citadels at lunch. This was the beginning of a string of lunchtime Citadels sessions. We were soon averaging 5-6 players regularly.

Having newly opened eyes for the world of board gaming, I decided to look at the game section at Walmart one day. In the card game section, I saw a little box with cartoony pirates on the cover - Loot. It said “Reiner Knizia” on it. I remembered reading his name on BGG and so figured maybe this would be a good game. The price tag was $4.98 (or something), so I purchased it. I quickly introduced this game to the lunch group as well, and we found that we had a blast with it.

It was around this time that my friend Jack and I started researching games like rabid beasts, as our eyes were increasingly opened to the gaming goodness that was out there for the grabbing. We communicated about our BGG research every day, and before long we were putting together our first group game order on Thought Hammer.

We found that we were having consistent lunch sessions at least once a week during the lunch hour at work. We work in an IT department, so there are plenty of geeks who enjoy various forms of gaming. After enough weeks of this arrangement, Jack and I decided it might be worth organizing a format for the weekly gaming sessions. This was the beginning of what eventually came to be known as Board Game Wednesday (BG Wed for short).

Jack and I began acquiring more games (as the addiction kicked in...), and inviting others in the group to do the same. We continued placing group game orders to expand our collections. Jack and I were the predominant buyers, while others would get in every so often with perhaps one game they had played and found they liked enough to buy.

Today, BG Wed is a smooth flowing machine. Here’s how it works. Every Monday or Tuesday, I send out an email to the group, including a list of all of the games in our combined collection. This list is organized by weight into three categories: Filler, Light, and Medium. Every person in the group has the opportunity to vote. If they have a game in mind that they know they want to play, they send me a vote for it. If they don't care what we play, they don't vote. All the votes come in to me. Usually 2-5 votes come in. We call the players who send in votes “champions” - they’re championing a game. This is where Jack comes in. Jack maintains a Ladder of Champions, which is just a table containing a list of:

• all players
• when they last won or lost a vote
• how many times they have won or lost when championing a game

When a game you vote for gets played, you get pushed to the bottom of the ladder. Whoever is at the top of the ladder gets priority when they champion a game.

When the votes come in, I look to see which voters are at the top of the ladder. Then, I look at the games they championed and decide how many games we’ll be likely to play considering the number of players we are likely to have that week. Sometimes we can have two or three games played simultaneously depending on how many people show up, and how many players can sit at one game. Then, I send out an email saying which games we will be playing (those chosen by the players highest on the ladder), and I include a number of slots for players to fill in their names for the game they want to play. This way, we can have the groups organized before we meet up on Wednesday. Every so often, the number of players expected to show up can be unpredictable, and we’ll just each bring a couple games and pick one when we meet up, but this is not a common occurrence. We jokingly call this the "arm wrestle" method.

"Let's play my game!!"
"No, MY game!!"
"No, MINE!!!"

Fortunately, the group is pretty chilled out, and we quickly and peacefully select a game.

One of the guys in our group set up an online wiki for us. We use this wiki to track our gaming statistics. One page includes a table of:

• every game we have
• how many players each game can handle
• who owns each game
• how many plays each game has had
• when the last play was

Another page is just a simple list of every game we have, ordered by weight (depth of gameplay), as I mentioned earlier. The last page is a statistics page where Jack keeps track of various figures, including:

• who has won the most plays for each category of game
• the Ladder of Champions
• the First Buyer’s Club (how many games each person has been the first to introduce to the group)

Until a few months ago, we were writing brief session logs for every game we played. It turned out that no one was reading them, so Jack and I finally gave up the effort and bailed on logging sessions.

So there you have it - an overview of how I got into the hobby of board gaming, how Jack and I organized a gaming group, and how Board Game Wednesday works.

Currently, my game collection includes almost all games that support two or more players. I also have a handful of 2-player only games. This is because I play primarily with my wife. BG Wed is nice because it gives me a chance to play my games with more than two players, and an opportunity to play other people’s games without having to buy them myself. It’s also a fascinating opportunity to observe different types of gamers and the different ways their brains function with various games. This interaction with others is what makes the hobby so enjoyable. Playing with real people is a chance to talk, share, joke, and get to know one another while engaging in a mentally stimulating activity. Play for fun, not just to win!

BG Wednesday: Masons

Today, we had 5 people show up for BG Wednesday. This tends to be an awkward number because our preference is to split into smaller groups. This week the games which were voted for were Masons and Camelot Legends. No one had any good 5-player games, so we did a 2-3 split. The guy who owns Camelot Legends accidentally forgot to bring it, so three people ended up playing Spree, while Jack and I went 2P on Masons.



I had voted for Masons this week. I've noticed that I'm pretty much always in the mood to play it. I've tried to put a finger on what it is about the game that I like so much, but haven't fully figured out what that "vibe" is that makes it always appealing. I won't mention all the reasons I like it here because it's not a review, but I'll at least mention that the game tends to be light, simple, and has a nice balance of luck and strategy. I would give it a similar weight to Carcassonne.

I haven't played many games by Leo Colovini. In fact, Masons and Cartagena are the only two I can think of right now. If you know of other games I might like by Colovini, please comment to let me know!

The game started out with both of us building in the middle of the board. I had a really crummy hand in the beginning. Fortunately, it wasn't long before Jack passed me up and I was able to swap 5 of my 7 cards out (switching out cards is a benefit of being in last place - yes, it's an official rule. It's a great balancing feature.). About midway through the game, we found ourselves tied at 38 points.

Soon, I completed a city, initiating scoring, and I scored two of the "1 point for each freestanding tower" cards. There were 12 freestanding towers at the time, so I moved ahead 24 points which is pretty tasty for one turn.

Jack had been working on the center of the board for a while, but then shifted over and starting laying loose walls, towers, and houses all over the west border. This led me to the assumption that he must have a card for scoring that guild's region - the red, white and blue guild. I happened to be building on the opposite side, loading up the east with black towers. Once I completed this big city, I scored a "2 points for every black tower in the city" card and a "1 point for every tower in the city" card. There were 7 black towers and 11 total towers, which gave me 24 points, boosting me from 62 points to 86 points. Jack took this opportunity to score his western region. He played two "red, white, and blue guild" cards, bringing in 32 points, launching him from 38 to 70 points.

At this point, the supply stacks were down to: 3 towers, 5 walls, 6 palaces, and a bunch of houses. The board was loaded, pieces everywhere.

I scored a two-triangle card, bringing in 7 points. So did Jack. On top of that, he scored a "2 points for every freestanding gray tower" card. There were 6 gray towers - another 12 points. We were now at 94 and 89 - a narrow lead in my favor.

I joined two large cities, going for the classic Masons "mega city". My hand was full of lameness, so I was trying to score for individually colored palaces (3 points each). This move left us with only 2 palaces in the supply - both yellow. I played the "1 point for every palace" card (8 for 8 points) and a "3 points for rose palaces, 1 point for rose houses" card for 8 more points. I was up to 110 points now, with only 4 cards left in my hand. Jack did nothing more than discard and draw two.

We each scored 6 points on a single triangle city, then Jack joined a mega city. Unfortunately for him, he chose to roll after he had combined cities. He rolled two yellow houses. Joined with the other yellow houses in the city, this used up the last two yellow palaces, initiating the end game. Jack got 12 points for gray towers and 10 points for palaces. I snagged 9 points for yellow palaces and 5 points for green houses in the city.

The final scores: Jack - 117, me - 130. It was a close game. Jack technically had the opportunity to take back that last move and roll before joining the mega city. But because we were running low on time, he stuck with his original move. Had he taken it back, the two yellow palaces wouldn't have been used up, and Jack could have scored more cards for lots of points - likely bringing him the win. Jack's always a good sport.

BG Wednesday: Captain Treasure Boots

Today only 4 players showed up. This low number of players has been the case for a few weeks. I work at a university. At the end of the last semester, we had 8-9 regular attendees for each BG Wednesday. Since then we've had one person leave, other players' schedules have kept them from playing with us, and it has been a busy several weeks.

So, despite three games being voted for this week, only one got played - Captain Treasure Boots. This one was voted for by Adam, who owns the game.

The game consists of a few cardstock flats which look like an overhead view of the ocean with some little islands scattered on various squares of a grid. Each island bears a number which helps you determine where to place new treasures. During the game, you travel around and pick up these treasures and then cash them in at various ports to earn points.

We didn't choose a point limit. Rather, we just played until the hour was up, making sure everyone had an equal number of turns.

Everyone uses their own marker for this game. I chose to use one of my little ships from the Pirates CSG. From the beginning, the dice had it in for me. I was consistently rolling 1s, which brought me pearls, but didn't allow me to move very far. While the other three players sailed around, attacking, pillaging, and cashing in treasures, I struggled to get anywhere. Eventually, I collected a little hoard of loot and managed to safely trade it in for points at a port. That was the first and last time.

Jack was sailing around with the apparent strategy to steal guns from everyone else to keep them from attacking him. Adam and Vernal managed to stock up on good loads of treasure, each of them cashing in 3 times during the game. Jack only cashed in once.

Toward the end, I had treasures of all 4 colors (5 total pieces) on board, eager to head for port. My lousy luck continued as I struggled to get a good enough movement roll to get me home. It wasn't long before Jack had swept in to block my passage to the nearest port, attacking me himself, and with a privateer as well!

Jack wanted to drop his treasure off at the same port, but Adam landed there, ruining Jack's chance of a final drop-off.

There is a lot of luck in this game. You're rolling dice for almost everything. Then, once you've rolled the dice, you can strategize to some degree as you move your ship around, seeking treasure and battle. As such, the final scores were a pretty good spread: Vernal - 17, Adam - 14, Jack - 7, me - 6.

We were wishing it was International Talk Like a Pirate Day, but alas, we must continue to wait until September 19th. Don't forget to mark the day on your calendar!

BG Wednesday: Carcassonne

As I've mentioned before, my coworkers and I have an organized session every Wednesday which we call BG Wednesday. People can vote, there is a ladder of successful plays per vote, records of wins, session logs, etc. My buddy Jack and I organize it.

Today, I had voted to play Pillars of the Earth (would have been my second play), and Jack voted for Carcassonne, his favorite game of all time (and he's played a lot of games).

Only one of us (out of 5) hadn't played. So after teaching him briefly, we started laying down tiles. Jack and Jeff are both Carcassonne pros, owning several expansions. The general trend during this game was:

• Adam was cursed by the luck of the draw, accusing the game of being "broken" (a classic joke at our table).
• Jack made sound plays each turn, maximizing his potential as always.
  
• Jeff played wisely and solidly, always feeling the bag to gauge how much time remained.
• Leif, the Carc noob, was instantly playing like a veteran, as is his knack. He can always compete with the best right off the bat.
• I was just drawing and laying. On the flip side of Adam's coin, I think I was getting all the lucky draws, and had good places to play.

Now, I'm not a big fan of Carcassonne. I'm willing to play, and enjoy it more against bots online than against human opponents because of the incredibly short playtime with bots. The design and mechanics of Carcassonne are original and very well-crafted, with quality art and nice components. I certainly think Klaus-Jürgen Wrede did a great job with this game. It has rightfully earned its fame. And yet, I'm just not wild about the game. Jack and I have analyzed this preference of mine to some extent, but I still haven't landed on a good reason for not appreciating the game on a higher level.

So, when I play, I tend to just lay tiles wherever seems immediately best, trying to avoid AP. Today, my draw must have been good because I won, which was not expected against Jack and Jeff. But I think that is a feature I like in a game: noobs and non-pros (casual players) have a shot at winning.

Final scores: Timothy - 121, Jeff - 117, Leif - 80, Jack - 76, Adam - 66.