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Hyperminds! BoardGame Night in Burlington, NC
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Gaming in the rural south... not always a successful venture. But we appear to have quite a little gaming group going at the Hypermind FLGS in Burlington, NC these days! I thought I'd create a GeekList to chronicle our gaming exploits, and I sincerely hope that our continuing story brings inspiration to other hopeful game-group organizers in similar small towns all around the world. This is the Geeklist Blog of the first 3-4 months of our weekly boardgame night. Check the end of the list for links to our latest gaming adventures!
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Posted On: 2007-02-21 09:05:58
Edited On: 2007-04-03 22:49:43
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January 16
As do many stories about the evolution of gaming somewhere, this tale also begins with a few games of Settlers of Catan.
Back on January 9th I wandered into Hypermind frustrated with the fact that I had been unable to play virtually any of the nine new boardgames I got for Christmas. Alton and Mark were there playing Pirates of the Spanish Main, so the three of us talked with Denise (Hypermind's co-owner and operator) about setting up a regular BoardGame Night! The date was set and Settlers was chosen as the game of choice.
I contacted Chip and Ian here on BGG, who are also local gamers, and so it was just the six of us (plus Chip's wife and kids) that first fateful night. Chip, Ian, Alton, Mark, and I played one 5-player game of Settlers while Denise and Chip's family played Gulo Gulo
and Tsuro
.
Then Chip and Ian had to go, so the rest of us finished the night with two more 4-player Settlers' games. |
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Posted On: 2007-01-31 15:23:04
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January 23
For our second session we chose Shadows Over Camelot, which is one of my favorite games. Our first game consisted of a full array of 7 knights. The players were (left to right/clockwise in the picture): Ian, Chip, Zack, Alton, Mark, Denise, and myself (not pictured, obviously).
It was the first play for everyone except myself, but everybody picked it up pretty quickly. We were doing pretty well until we lost control of the seige engines and "Morgan" plopped down the last two for the loss. Mark was the traitor, so he alone enjoyed the sweet taste of victory. Unfortunately, we (okay, it was actually Chip) later realized that we could have at least delayed the end of the game because we had already won the Excalibur quest and could have used it to cancel out the Morgan card as it was played. [I should write a nasty little letter to Days of Wonder, because apparently writing that little rule on every one of the Knight cards is clearly not obvious enough for the "(slightly-below)average" gamer to notice.]
(Just before the last two seige engines were placed)
Anyway, we played again, but apparently the forces of evil were destined to win that night. It was paranoia and infighting that doomed us on the second attempt, as three of our white swords were turned to black from false accusations. Ironically, there was no traitor at all in the second game. After two lost relics, two dead knights, six black swords, and twelve seige engines, Camelot was in flames and the round table disbanded for the evening. |
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Posted On: 2007-01-31 15:23:04
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January 30
As our third BoardGame night began, I was a little worried because several of our "regulars" were not there when 6:30 rolled around. We did, however, have three new players (Chris I., "Magic" Chris, and my wife Gwen). So, to kill a little time, the six of us started a game of For Sale.
In the meantime, several more people rolled in to join us. In fact, our numbers increased so much that we had to divide ourselves among two different games.
Chip taught the first group Ave Caesar...
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Posted On: 2007-01-31 15:23:04
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January 30 (continued)
while I led Zack, "Magic" Chris, Chris I., and Gwen in a game of The Princes of Florence. My wife, Gwen, won the game (she's 3-0 now, by the way), edging me out by one Prestige Point.
Afterwards, we shuffled ourselves up a little and split up into another game of Shadows Over Camelot (Zack's new favorite game) and Citadels.
There was also at least one game of Pirates of the Spanish Main played during the evening as well.
In total, there were 11 of us that actually played games this week, plus Ian's wife and baby and another mom who spectated.
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Posted On: 2007-01-31 15:23:04
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5.
Ra [Average Rating:7.87 Overall Rank:20]
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February 6
We had one illness and a couple of people that couldn't make it this week, so our numbers were a little down. We did, however, add one other person to our group. When time to start rolled around, there were 7 of us ready to play, so we divided to play two games.
Ian, Chris, Zack, and myself started playing Ra, which none of us were terribly familiar with. After conducting two auctions wrong (with blind bids) and then scoring monuments wrong (after each epoch instead of only at the end), we finally finished. Despite the errors in gameplay, we still had a good time and hopefully will play it again soon.
Meanwhile, "Magic" Chris, Gwen, and Kendall (a new first timer nabbed here on BGG)played San Juan. Gwen and Chris hadn't played before, but they still had a great time. |
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Posted On: 2007-02-07 14:27:08
Edited on: 2007-06-03 14:59:47
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February 6 (continued)
So then we jumped in another couple of games. The two other Chris's, Ian, Gwen, and myself (also a Chris), played a game of RoboRally. Only Ian and "Magic" Chris had played before, but we all picked up on it quickly. After lots of falling into pits, being pushed off the board, getting shot with lazers, and other assorted mayhem, I tagged the third flag first and took home the victory! Woo-hoo!
Kendall taught Denise how to play Blue Moon City during the daring robot race.
I really hate that I couldn't play in both games, because Blue Moon City has been off and on my wishlist for a long time.
Alton also came in late at this time, and he and Elliott (Denise's middle child) played a game of Kinder Bunnies.
We finished up the evening with another game that was new to us, Diamant. Kendall taught us all to play (us being Gwen, Chris, Chris, Alton, Denise, and myself), and we had an instant hit on our hands (enough to play 3 games in a row). Of course, we all recognized that the game is mainly luck, but sometimes fun can just trump "proper" game mechanics.
As you can see, Denise's youngest (Aiden) was on hand to help us out whenever we needed some instruction.
Things are still going well, and we are making plans for a big Saturday event in the near future as well as our weekly sessions. |
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Posted On: 2007-02-07 14:27:08
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February 13
My wife was not feeling well this week, so we were unable to attend BoardGame night this week. The show carried on without us, however. See the comments below for a description of the games. Thanks to Denise for these pictures.
The evening started with a game of Acquire (but for which no pictures were taken).
Afterwards, that half of the group immersed themselves in a war to build the best casino in Vegas Showdown. The game took about 2 hours (which sounds a little bit long to me) but everyone I've talked to seemed to have a good impression of it.
Meanwhile, the rest of the crowd started out with On the Underground...
And then Iliade.
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5 Comments []
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Posted On: 2007-02-21 09:05:58
Edited on: 2007-02-28 13:27:00
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Posted On: 2007-02-24 00:38:46
After that we broke out Vegas Showdown for a 5 player game. The players were Mark, Chip, and 3 Dudes Named Chris. "Magic" Chris has the game, but it was the first time playing for all of us. I think it was a success. I was really surprised how much I enjoyed playing this game, so much that I went back a few days later and purchased it(I think Mark did the same). My enjoyment may have been helped by my victory.
While we were playing Acquire, a 5-player game of On the Underground was started on the next table. I believe the players were Kendall, Alton, Ian, Sherry, and Denise. I don't know how the game went, maybe one of them could chime in here.
And during Vegas Showdown, a 3-player game of Iliade was played by Kendall, Alton, and Denise. Overall, I believe a good time was had by all.