Game Night

When we first started working on this blog, we filled out player profiles which included our favorite games. I listed mine as Castle Panic, Shadows Over Camelot, and 7 Wonders.

In the nearly two years since then, we’ve played a lot of new games or revisited older games with a new expansion or end goal. A lot of other things have changed as well, so I don’t think I’d pick the same games today as I did back then.

Castle Panic is a great co-op game, and it’s often one I like to pick as a new game for someone.

Shadows Over Camelot we don’t play as much. It’s a co-op game, but with how many quests there are to complete, you end up splitting up and working alone, so a lot of the time you don’t feel like you’re working together.

7 Wonders is a great game, but we haven’t been able to play it lately. It’s hard to be excited about a game that doesn’t see a lot of play. Right now it’s just Professor and me, so we’re more likely to play 7 Wonders Duel.

So I think today I would say my favorites are:

1. Terra Mystica
2. Splendor
3. Oregon Trail

I’d say Pathfinder, but it’s just Professor and me playing that, so I’d rather stick to games we can invite others to play with us.

I had to pick Oregon Trail because it’s fun and nostalgic. It’s unpredictability and randomness really works. Sometimes everyone dies before you’re even halfway to Oregon, and sometimes you make it all the way. It’s easy to set up and clean up. It’s a quick game (especially if everyone dies early), so you can play multiple rounds.

When we got the Splendor app, I spent a lot of time playing. If I wasn’t in the mood to read while rocking our son to sleep, I would play Splendor. I came to enjoy the different strategies I had to come up with to win, so I gained a new appreciation for the game.

I love so many things about Terra Mystica. It’s played over a series of rounds, and no two rounds are exactly the same. I find it to be an easy game to understand. While it involves a lot of strategy, it’s actually pretty easy to plan your moves out over several rounds. I like the different races available, and all the different ways to gain points. I just have a lot of fun playing.