Games Weekend

This past weekend was my birthday and one of my friends from Minneapolis came down to help me celebrate. He arrived on Thursday and hung out with Jeff and I until Monday (which is why I didn't get any posting done). It was an incredibly relaxing weekend. We left the house for meals but otherwise it was a quiet weekend at home with plenty of tea, movies, games, and talking. It was a wonderful way to celebrate my birthday. Thanks Jon!

We watched a ton of interesting movies and television but the biggest hit for me was the games. Jon had brought down some of the games from his collection and we played something almost every night. Our first evening was the game I'd asked for by name, Cleopatra. This game has each player acting as an Egyptian architect building a palace for Cleopatra. You must collect the resources needed to build each piece of the building, which gives you money. But some resources also give you corruption, which you must avoid. The player with the most corruption is sacrificed to the crocodile god and the others are left to figure out who made the most money. An interesting strategy game with plenty of fun little pieces to play with.

One of the games that we played regularly was Chronology, Jeff's favorite game. This quick game requires players to figure out where things happen in a historical context. You start the game with one card which sets your baseline year. The next turn you are read a historical event without the date. You have to figure out whether the event took place before or after your baseline year. Each card after that also needs to be put into chronological order. You win when you have 10 cards all lined up in their spots. It's not a game I'm good at (I'm terrible with dates) but we had a great time.

On my birthday we played Apples to Apples with the family. This silly game has quickly become my favorite game although I'm terrible at it. One person reads the words on a Green Apple card while the other players find the red card in their hand that they feel fits the words. Then they turn them into the reader and the reader decides which they think fits the best. It's subjective and silly and a lot of fun. We laughed a lot and talked a lot and had a wonderful time.

The last game we had was the most complicated and ended up being my favorite one for the weekend. Agricola (pronounced A-grick-ola) is the latin word for farmer. In this rather involved game, players start a farm. On their turn they must decide how they will allocate their resources (crops, animals, home improvements....) and with limited turns it is all about finding food fast and building up your reserves. This game had us talking long after we'd finished. There are limitless strategies for ways to win and we each had plans for how we would win the next time. I focused on grains and bread and did well. Jon focused on animal production and easily blew both Jeff and I away. It was a great game though. A wonderful weekend filled with games and laughter and fun.