First Plays: At The Gates of Loyang and Rattus...

Got a 3-player game of ATGOL in last Friday and I must admit I enjoyed it more than I expected.  If you haven't heard of it, it's Uwe Rosenberg's third 'BIG' game following the footsteps of the brilliant agony of Agricola and the resource/engine-building of Le Havre.  Agricola may be the pinnacle of game design and I thoroughly enjoy it so I'll try any Rosenberg game once.  Le Havre is a great design, too, but just way too long for my tastes.  Now, the player interaction in those two games is subtle but definitely there.  Loyang on the other hand has been described by many as a multi-player solitaire/puzzle game where each player has to wait while the others take their rather long turns.  Happily, this wasn't my experience although I can definitely see the possibility of it happening.  It was a churning, thoughtful game with lots of pretty bits.  I would definitely play it again.

Also got some new gaming in yesterday evening at UW games night.  Played Rattus for the second time with the full complement of 4 players.  It's an interesting subtle game of positioning and not entirely what I expected.  It's kind of like the opposite of Pandemic.  I think I like it....

Rattus - Nothing like a good plague to bring people together

Also finally got a play in of Lost Cities: the Board Game.  I've played the original excellent 2-player card game an uncountable number of times now and the board version was exactly what I expected.  Except even more chaotic with 4 people.  Still thoroughly enjoyable.

Hunting for artifacts in Lost Cities

Other games that got played that night included Poison and Hollywood Blockbuster.  Quite the night for Reiner Knizia...

Knitting and Knizia....