A Game A Day In Review

A Game A Day

70 straight days of playing a different board game each night and writing a review. From Day 1 I wasn't really sure how many days that this project would last; I was hoping that I could make it past 40 days. Thanks to the support of friends and family letting me borrow some of their games, the support of Rio Grande Games, Minion Games, and MindWare for their game donations, and especially the amazing support from The Wife who put up with me blogging every night and playing a game when the day didn't even have time for it. A big SHOUT OUT and THANK YOU!

I am still amazed that I made it this long. And yet, there are many more games out there to be played. I will definitely continue to review the games that I own and have played for you all. You will be able to find a list of all of my game reviews which I will organize alphabetically. I love board games. Sometimes I will just find myself reading reviews and rules to board games just for fun. This has really been a really fun project and I have enjoyed it immensely and I hope that you have as well.

If you didn't notice, most of my reviews were 3 fingers up (equivalent to an 8 out of 10 or better. This is because most of the games I played are games that I actually own...and why would I buy a game that I don't love? So, there are a lot of 4 fingers up (or 9/10) which are all amazing games, but the top games that all received a thumbs up (10/10) are listed below (Chess and Scrabble are not included in this list just because they are so well known already, but they also received the full 10/10 thumbs up):

Top 10 (listed alphabetically)

Agricola

Carcassonne

Citadels

Dominion

Forbidden Island

Hive

Nile DeLuxor

Power Grid

Slide 5

Zooloretto

Now on to the Scoreboard results. The Wife and I were pretty much neck and neck throughout the project although The Wife had a winning streak of like 13 games in a row I believe. In the end, I came out on top (even with my losing record, I had the most victories):

                            W-L-T

Lou                      32-35-3

The Wife              28-39-3

Nicole                  3-2-0

Nathan                 2-4-0

T.B.I.L.                1-0-0

Sauron                 1-0-0

F. I.                      1-0-0

Jackie                   0-1-0

Spencer                0-1-0

Bryan                   0-2-0

I did not get to play all of the games that I would have liked to, but that is one of the great joys of board games. There are so many fun games out there that all offer something a little bit different. Some of the games that I did not get a chance to play or review include (consider it my watch/wish list in no particular order; I have played a lot of these games, but I do not own or have easy access to them):

Tsuro, The Resistance, Black Friday, Friday, Crows, Flash Point Fire Rescue, Ricochet Robots, Fearsome Floors, 7 Wonders, 221 B Baker Street, Nuns on the Run, Pandemic, Ticket to Ride Europe, Alhambra, Le Havre, Blokus, and the list goes on and on.

Thank you again for supporting this project by checking out my blog. I may be taking a break from the Game Reviews for a while, but don't fret everyone. I have a new project on the horizon. Everyone prepare for (drum roll please) .... A Yoga Pose A Day. Now, it may be a little while before I start this project. I have to start some research and find a killer Yoga outfit, but I plan on at least attempting a different Yoga Pose every day and posting a picture to prove it! If only they had a Yoga themed board game. Get excited folks and that is How Lou Sees It! 

AGAD is Finally Settled

Day 70 - Settlers of Catan
Designed by Klaus Teuber

After 70 days of a game every night, we finally wrap up this project with one of the greats, Settlers of Catan. Tomorrow night I will be writing a summary or review of the A Game A Day (AGAD) project, but for tonight I write a short review on one of the major players in bringing the popularity of board games back to the U.S. and the game that introduced many to the wonderful German strategy type board games. Catan won the German Board Game of the Year (Spiel des Jahres) award in 1995. I still remember the first time I played Catan. It was like nothing I had ever seen before and I was addicted (more on this tomorrow). Some of the key elements that set the game apart include its great replay value with different board set up each game. The game still has the luck element with the die roll, but strategy is key to winning. The game has great player interaction as players trade resources and use knights to steal goods. Players strive to gain the most victory points by building settlements, cities, longest road, and buying development cards. The game is very easy to understand and it is really fun. I do have a few issues with the game. My main issue with the game is that only 3 to 4 players can play the game as-is (you can purchase an expansion for 5 to 6 players). I actually own The Rivals for Catan (a 2 player card version - which is also really fun) so I can play with The Wife all the time. There are other expansions for Settlers of Catan (including an expansion with a 2 player variant), and I have played a couple of them that really change up the game and make things more entertaining. I highly recommend the game to everyone and that is How Lou Sees It.