So I have played the solitaire flash game a couple times in preparation for when I finally received the game, but today was my first time playing with someone else. I taught the game to a neighbor, Rob, and we played. Here are a few of my thoughts.

1- We flipped a tile to determine the starting player, and I didn't get it. I never took the start player/minor improvement action (getting my minor improvements elsewhere), and it came back to cost me the game. My neighbor, Rob, realizing late in the game that he could keep me from getting the "family growth without a room" action. Well, he ended up with a full 5 family members while I ended up with only 3. I should have done something different.

2- Not entirely knowing what he was doing, Rob never plowed a field or planted anything. It cost him a lot of points, but he made up for them by having a bigger family than I had.

3- It is a lot easier to feed a family in the multiplayer game than it was in the solitaire game. The 2 food per family member is much easier than 3 per member, especially since you start the solitaire game without any food.

4- We only purchased 3 major improvements in our game. Is that normal? Did we miss the value of them?

5- The occupation and minor improvement cards really add a lot to the game and make for a lot of fun. I wonder if it would be easier to teach a new player if we started out with fewer cards, say 4 occupation and 4 minor improvement, and added 3 more of each later in the game? It would be easier to concentrate on a smaller hand as a beginner.

6- It can be a little bit confusing at harvest time to keep everything straight. "Wait, did we already replenish the actions? Did I breed my animals already?"

7- It took us about 2 hours to teach and play. But I definitely think the 1/2 hour per player could be doable after a few more times.

We had a fun time and can't wait to play again. I think it will only be more fun with more players. Great stuff!