#BoardGamesAToZ

When Covid first canceled our NY-VT-CT #BoardGames weekend, we moved onto #TabletopSimulator. After 400+ remote hours, we were in a rut, so we tried doing #BoardGamesAtoZ to learn some new games. The hardest to find were J and R (and we may have cheated on R). Now what? We may just play them all over again Z to A.

Our 2023 #BoardGamesAtoZ challenge definitely succeeded in pushing me out of my board gaming slump.

* 280 plays across 119 games

* 7 games payed at least 10 times

* Uno made the top of the list because (a) I recorded each hand rather than playing session, and (b) it's my "hospital waiting room" game and there was too much of that this year.

* We completed a Near and Far campaign well before our "N" weeks.

* New favorites: Leaf, Point City, Votes for Women

#BoardGames #BGStats

Lots of variety in December. Earthborne Rangers was a disappointment, and echoes: The Dancer was really more of an audio jigsaw puzzle than a game, but that was more than balanced out by the satisfaction of successfully completing our 2023 #BoardGamesAtoZ challenge.

#BGStats #BoardGames

Final Z tally for #BoardGamesAToZ:

Zooloretto (x2)
+Zooloretto

That's a wrap for the year!

https://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/308826/2023-alphabet-board-game-challenge?itemid=9512214#item9512214

Next year we'll be trading breadth for depth and doing a 10x10 challenge.

#BoardGames

#3GoodThings

1. Played almost 6 hours of the couch co-op It Takes Two with @peterdrake for his birthday. He was very patient with my utter lack of skill with the Xbox controller.
2. Helped my parents with a video conversion and transfer problem that's been bedeviling them for weeks.
3. Played the final game needed to satisfy our 2023 #BoardGamesAtoZ challenge!

With tonight's game of Zooloretto, we successfully met our 2023 #BoardGamesAtoZ challenge! We still have two more weeks to add additional plays of Z games, but we pulled it off.

Zooloretto hasn't hit our table in years. It's not a particularly memorable or difficult game, so I was surprised to see that there's a "junior" version. You basically spend the first half trying to create "truck" sets that are appealing for yourself, and then the second half poisoning trucks for others.

#BoardGames

Final Y tally for #BoardGamesAToZ:

Yahtzee

Previous fortnights:

https://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/308826/2023-alphabet-board-game-challenge?itemid=9512214#item9512214

#BoardGames

It feels like they really missed a "collect 'em all" opportunity with Doctor Who Yahtzee by putting villains on the dice rather than Doctors.

#BoardGames #BoardGamesAtoZ

This is off to a good start. #BoardGames #yahtzee #BoardGamesAToZ

I won our beginner's game of Xia: Legends of a Drift System. It reminded me a lot of Twilight Imperium and Eclipse, but I liked it better because you don't have to take and hold territory.

Since we were playing a short game, mostly with the goal of learning the rules, I took a lot of chances. I blind jumped 4 or 5 times (only once suffering any consequences), turned outlaw, jumped through a defective gate, and shot an undefended opponent out of the sky. Booyah!

#BoardGames #BoardGamesAtoZ

Final X tally for #BoardGamesAToZ:

Xiangqi
Xia: Legends of a Drift System

Previous fortnights:

https://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/308826/2023-alphabet-board-game-challenge?itemid=9512214#item9512214

#BoardGames

It's X fortnight in our #BoardGamesAToZ challenge. We have exactly one game that starts with X:

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/82222/xia-legends-drift-system

It requires more than two players, though, so we'll have to wait until game night to play it.

Game night is scheduled for the very last day of the fortnight. Letting everything ride on that is just asking for us to come down with hemorrhagic gastroenteritis or Dutch elm disease or something, so we played a prophylactic game of Xiangqi on boardgamearena just to be safe.

#BoardGames #xiangqi #xia

Final W tally for #BoardGamesAToZ:

+Wingspan (x2)
*Wordsy
*Web of Power
Wingspan Asia
Wingspan

Previous fortnights:

https://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/308826/2023-alphabet-board-game-challenge?itemid=9512214#item9512214

#BoardGames

Wingspan Asia probably left out the plastic card tray and bird feeder dice tower to make the game more portable, but they are sorely missed. We were lucky that an errant die roll bulldozed through the Duet map only once tonight.

I won 81 vs. 71, but was ever so disappointed that the Rhinoceros Auklet came out too late for me to claim it. It wouldn't have added to the collection of platform/wild nests that gave me a spectacular number of Game End eggs, but still!

#BoardGamesAtoZ #BoardGames

Final V tally for #BoardGamesAToZ:

Verdant
Votes for Women

Previous fortnights:

https://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/308826/2023-alphabet-board-game-challenge?itemid=9512214#item9512214

#BoardGames

Votes for Women keeps you on the edge of your seat for the entire game. Tonight I won as the Opposition by:

1. Delaying Peter from sending the amendment to the states until turn 6. So close to immediate victory!
2. Ignoring the West & Plains to focus on the South & Midwest.
3. Winning the critical Superior Lobbying strategy card.
4. Quietly returning to my foothold in the Atlantic to claim the last two states I needed to win.

Bonus ambiance: 1910s greatest hits.

#BoardGamesAtoZ #BoardGames

We started off both vacation and V fortnight with Verdant. I quite like the plant facts, even if they are in an impossibly tiny font. @peterdrake managed to squeak a 76 vs. 73 victory by going for completed plants and diversity while I went more for matching room, plant, item. And, well, lots of items.

While I can appreciate that Verdant is adding complexity with the draft options and green thumb actions, I think I might actually prefer Calico's harsher simplicity.

#BoardGamesAtoZ #BoardGames

I'm not a fan of dueling games, but Unmatched isn't bad. The first few times I played, I switched characters every time and didn't get to know their cards before playing. Big mistake.

This month, I played three times as Medusa. By today's third play, I knew how to use my advantages and manage my hand.

Sinbad and Medusa were both still standing when we defeated Angel and Willow. It was all but over after I played a lucky Gaze of Stone against the defenseless Willow.

#BoardGamesAtoZ #BoardGames

Final U tally for #BoardGamesAToZ:

Uno (x2)
Unmatched (x3)

Previous fortnights:

https://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/308826/2023-alphabet-board-game-challenge?itemid=9512214#item9512214

#BoardGames

#3GoodThings

1. After six miserable days, finally feels like I'm coming out of the COVID.
2. Resumed my shoulder physical therapy exercises.
3. Kicked it old school with Ticket to Ride to close out the T weeks of our #BoardGamesAtoZ challenge.