Be Excellent To Each Other

Starting to think about the all-important game selection. As well as the obligatory 'Ticket to Ride' and 'Colt Express' (perhaps with horsey expansion if I can be bothered to unpack it and remember how it works), I think I'm going to go for more fun, party-style games this year. Currently thinking about the following, but this list might change:

Decrypto - team game, so as many as feasible (probably 5 per team so everyone gets at least one go at being cluemaster). I prefer this to 'Codenames', and not just because of that unfortunate incident with that mammal.

The Mind - up to 4 at a time as anything more might disrupt our telepathic connections

When I dream - plays up to 10. Are you Team Fairy or Team Bogey?

Metagame - as many as are interested, for as long as we're interested.

Say Anything - goes up to 8. After 10 years of Beex, how well do we know each other?

Telestrations - goes up to 8. It's Pictionary! It's Chinese Whispers! It's potentially-derogatory game naming! It's rather fun.

I also think we should play some rounds of Two Rooms and a Boom. With the numbers we've got, and the fact we've got actual rooms to send people to, it'll work really well. If you've not played, in short some people are on the ['Prime Minister's] team, and the others are on the [Bad Person's] team. Everyone gets randomly assigned a team and a room, and after a short time each round a certain number of hostages are exchanged and must switch rooms. The aim at the end of the game (usually three rounds) for the Bad Person's team is for the Bad Person to be in the same room as the Prime Minister, whilst the PM's team aim to get the PM in the other room at the end of the game otherwise Bad Things happen. It's quick and easy to explain, and a game takes around 10 minutes. Much as I love 'Mafia', in this one everyone is involved throughout.

I would like to play Arkham Horror if at all possible, but it's a bit of a ballache to set up.

Two Rooms and a Boom sounds like excellent fun.

Will we have two Switches and two copies of Mario Party, he asks hopefully?

I'll have my Switch... But no Mario Party.

Gaz and I will both bring our switches but I can't guarantee we'll have Mario Party. Depends whether any clients pay me between now and next week

Looking forward to playing Decrypto, Kern - I've been intrigued by that ever since you posted about it a few months back.

I could bring the Ghostbusters board game? I've only played it once and it was a bit of a faff to setup, but otherwise was relatively inoffensive?

Both your Switches? So he got one anyway.

I'm planning on bringing some games this year (you'd be amazed how much space you save not bringing a kilt!)

Depending on how many I can fit.

I've got crazy maze ( and its expansion), the two spice trading Century games from plan b, and the three games from facade (Salem, Tortuga and Deadwood). Also my son has some of the starwars things if someone (lonewolves?) Is bringing their stuff?

I don't normally play the games as most of them, I find extremely complicated. A couple of yours sound fun though Kern. Maybe I'll join in this year?

Yeah I'll bring the X-Wing games. I hope Curio doesn't forget my star mat!

Yes, I'm well aware of that after bringing 'Dead of Winter' one year and making a complete pigs ear of explaining it so we all packed it away. Often the first game is just about understanding the mechanics and the rules (well, that's my excuse) and at something like the cottage we're not going to play it again to start exploring and enjoying the game. I love Great Western Trail, for instance, and am still finding new tactics and ways to win, but it took a couple of games to initially realise its potential.

This is especially true with games that present you with a large board with hundreds of different symbols that you're supposed to immediately understand and know how they interact with each other. I'm sure 'Race for the Galaxy' is as deep and fascinating as some in my board game group say it is, but having tried to play it four times I've just given up because the learning cruve is just too deep and every time I've wasted two hours and not had fun.




Right, as well as 'Ticket to Ride', I'm going to add Azul to the list. It's a four player game of bathroom tiling that's not only beautifully designed but easy to teach and grasp, and quickly becomes very tense as your friend grabs the tile you need leaving you with all the crap ones. It well deserves all the praise it's been getting from the critics. It's wonderful.

Flame Rouge World Championship is a gogo, BTW.

You're packing trousers this time, right?

With Pinot?

Good catch.

I still haven't played it.

He can make his own way there

in. bags nibali

This sounds a bit like a version of Mafia I was going to try to make with a Doctor Who theme. It involved swapping rooms and secret bad teams and all that. But I could never quite get it to work in my head.



Unless they fall asleep.

You need to remind me on Friday morning or I will forget.

In!

Also, we should have a Ticket To Ride World Championship. I can't believe we have still forgotten every year.

What time can we arrive on Friday?

Yeah so

So people (me) travelling by public transit don't waste luggage space bringing dupes of boardgames others already have, I started a public spreadsheet of games people are bringing:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/ ... BDDY_ywxw/

It should be editable by everyone.

Lunchtimeish?

Iamokwiththat.

Did you know you can book tickets from National Rail's website/app that are exactly the same price as the Trainline, but without their booking fee?

I've just realised that this is this weekend! Excite!

Why isn't it Friday yet?

According to my calendar, in 2016 our trains got into Derby at 13:30 and I remember we had to wait for cleaning to finish up before we could go in. So don't be too early unless you want to wait. Isn't check-out time noon?

I might do my shopping in advance then I spend less time at the As.d.A.'s.

yes it is soooooo far away

I'm still trying to get over the fact that this will be the ninth time we've done it! This means that as a franchise we're level-pegging with the Planet of the Apes films.

The As.D.A's is an essential part of the experience.

Excellent! I came in at the tricky 7th film and am yet to receive my 'best supporting actor' nomination.

Having spoken to Curio, my £100 will be donated directly to:

1) bulk purchase of some communal groceries on the Friday (dishwasher tablets, washing up liquid, loo roll, kitchen towel, bread, bacon, teabags, coffee, milk, butter, ice, kitchen spray, ketchup, brown sauce, etc etc [1])
2) the Yes Chef meal
3) the pizzas

So no-one else get communal stuff (or we'll have too much) and someone tell me if there's anything we need I've forgotten.

[1] obviously I have the shopping list saved from 2016.

I think that was the year I picked you up? If so I think people had already been sat outside drinking for a while, so it probably depends on your definition of "in" /selftitle

Once progressive porch is occupied by Grim... and myself, that's where the party is.

You and I approach life in very different ways, I feel

Have a good one folks, i'm working this weekend, which won't be half as much fun I expect.

I still have the pizza order from 2015 saved...

But then again, that's not any sort of surfeit of organisation skills, that's merely being too lazy to delete the note after I wrote it down.

Pizza X 7

Classic

Chicken atrippers. How many Old Fashioneds had you had by this point?

Our survey says "some."

I have no clue what this meant.

Of course

I am hoping to bring varieties of cake. Anyone with any allergies, shout now so I can accommodate, otherwise sucks to be you, no cake.

I am allergic to cats

Don't worry, I don't tend to bake my cats into my cakes.

Mushrooms.

But I probably won't eat any cake, so you shouldn't worry too much.

More room for booze!