So this weekend I played:

So this weekend I played:

Pack the Pack -- a Tetris-like tile-laying game where you try to fill a back pack with matched colors of loot.  It was...ok, but the basic scoring mechanism seemed to be a bit broken (with 3 players anyway) and the advanced scoring seemed like too much to deal with.

Love Letter -- the micro card game that took the gaming world by storm when it first came out.  I can see what all the fuss is about.  It's a short, filler game, but there's a fairly good mix of luck and tactical play.  From a pool of 16 cards you try to be the last suitor standing in the  round.  Win five rounds and you win the game.  Would not mind having this in the collection.

Hanabi -- A cooperative game where everyone works together to create an impressive fireworks display by playing cards in six colors down to the table.  The gimmick here is that you hold your hand of cards face out.  So you can't see what you have.  I only screwed up once on that score.  Play consists mostly of providing one of two pieces of information to another player about their hand and managing the token system that lets you make those statements.  Some shining moments of logical deduction in this game.  Possibly too easy to collude on the game via vocal inflection but it is fun.

Bacchanalia -- this is the card-based re-working of a story game by the same name.  Everyone plays someone on the run from Rome who all turn up in a village to meet up with their beloved and escape as Bacchus and a few other Roman gods show up for fun and games.  Usually everyone dies.

I have been dying to play this game for a while but it's designed for dark, sexy stories and that can be a hard sell for most game nights.  We only went for an hour due to time limits, but oh man is this game fun.  It's a little fiddly at first, but once you've been through a round or two the pace picks up.  The artwork on the cards is gorgeous and it really pushes for these amazing stories if you're willing to commit to it.  Totally something I want to try and play through to the end sometime.

Fun times all around and special thanks to Julia Ellingboe , Meguey Baker, and Evan Torner  among others for a pleasant Saturday.